TheHurl

Sometimes we release players because it's best for them. Give them a chance to get somewhere where they can get full time AB's. Honestly I wouldn't have figured the Jays Minor League affiliates were so stacked with OF'ers that they couldn't get him AB's but I'm not 100% sure of their plans. I'm going to get the Baycats manager to give Kalfus a call. Would be the closest he gets to playing baseball in Toronto

Back end loading contracts works for teams that don't mind trading players and hurting their fanbase (also known as teams that don't have much of a fanbase). Jays have never been that team. I think Lawrie is the biggest star they have traded following a winning season since the McGriff deal (maybe Shawn Green I can't remember our record in 99)

He wants a full NTC though. Not saying this makes him un-tradeable just adds difficulties to it.

May have started as a joke for some. But there were plenty that saw "broke the college hit streak record", and thought we had a huge late draft winner like Pillar. However, when some rained some reality on their parade more and more wished him to be successful that they began to speak like it was fact.

If there were any plans to replace the Rogers Centre I would think it would have been discussed in the Pan Am structure discussions (even building Tim Horton's field for baseball as a short term solution would have likely been discussed, assuming they wanted to build on the RC location). I also think that the wind issue could be built around by correct architecture, I still hold out hope for a casino/resort at the Ontario place location so I don't want a stadium there...unless it's part of the casino resort.

I think Donaldson is more Lawrie than Martin from what I've heard. Work hard first, think later.

they can't amputate a leg of a guy that has no spine and has trouble standing on two legs most nights.

Friend of a friend went to Cancun for his anniversary. They knew he was a Jays fan and brought this for him.

I don't hate it...but I don't like it either. They are still depending on offensive health to be a Playoff team IMO. It also probably limits the trade deadline wiggle room (unless the crowds/hype is absolutely huge for the team at that time). The two available guys I would have made the move for have both been traded now (Zobrist and Valbuena), so I'd be more willing to now, rather than a month ago when they would have been my targets. So much depends on how hard of a cap they have (no mid season wiggle room sucks), and whether Shields has any desire to play here.

Because the rumour was he had a $100M offer. I doubt it's true but if he opens with 4 years $80M he probably gets it.

and now it's been said in English

I can't compete with Boxy

Hurt his value to me over his overall value. I traded two 3B's now and still have two in the top 100 overall (Yahoo O-Rank), while i sit with underrated but still s***** Infante at 2B.

Against all my adviser recommendations (and ignoring my own opinions of Bradley) I have made a trade. Carpenter for Franco, A. Bradley and the 30th MiLB pick.

No offense Boxy, I don't think he wants you touching his legal work.

Yet so many are asking for what the 2014 Tigers did...go out and pay for/trade for relievers.

Heard an interesting stat today. No free agent has signed for more than $50M after February 1st. Could Shields be looking at 3 years now?

...and chop off his testicles.

and is still one sided. Spanky and Gibbers are the only ones that talk about Tercet when he's not around.

Woodbine run or one of the others?

After playing in Japan in 2014, Cuban third baseman Yulieski Gourriel will return this year to the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, where he will be joined by his younger brother, 21-year-old shortstop Lourdes Gourriel. The BayStars announced today that they agreed to contracts with the two brothers, who are Industriales teammates in Serie Nacional. Yulieski, 30, is a longtime star in Cuba who entered the 2014-15 season ranked as the No. 1 player in the country. After sitting out early in the Serie Nacional season upon his return from Japan, Gourriel is hitting .322/.422/.575 in 102 plate appearances this season. He played for the BayStars in 2014 and batted .304/.349/.536 in 62 games. While major league scouts are already extremely familiar with Yulieski, of greater interest to them will be the ability to get more in-person evaluations of Lourdes Gourriel, a rising star in Cuba who’s hitting .326/.402/.486 in 214 plate appearances this season. While scouts have long admired Yulieski’s talents from a far, there has mostly been resignation among them that he would never leave Cuba due to his family situation. However, if at some point in the near future relations between the United States and Cuba continue to improve to the point where the embargo is lifted and teams are able to sign Cuban players more freely, Lourdes Gourriel would be a priority player for MLB clubs. The Cuban government allows certain players to participate in foreign professional leagues, with the government brokering those contracts and the players returning to Cuba when their season abroad concludes. Outfielders Alfredo Despaigne and Frederich Cepeda, along with righthander Hector Mendoza, all signed with Japanese teams last year as well, and it’s believed they will return in 2015. The Gourriel brothers are both in Puerto Rico right now for the Caribbean Series, which begins today.

Was with a guy that had a largish bet on the over and NE. So that ending was pretty fun. Carroll coaches the same way all the time. He's going to take the statistical edge no matter the situation. I think he also thought he'd have more time to think it over, as NE should have been calling a Timeout there. Overall entertaining game.

11 was the winner. I had 10...stupid knowing that odd scores have a slight edge cost me.

Not until pitchers and catchers report. We have rules around here, we aren't about to throw away our integrity for a few weeks. Now back to 4B and his drunken rants.

Agreed (although the Donaldson deal took some depth I liked). Now the 30 something position players...different story behind them. No team has replacements for 5 WAR players in the minors, but having above replacement level would be nice. Anything near 100 games lost for Reyes, EE, Donaldson and Bautista, requires one of these minor league signees playing well above their projections to make up some of the loss. It wasn't so bad last year as those 4 only lost 64 games between them.