TheHurl

Don't get me wrong I think these guys are insane and 95% of Jays fans don't deserve a comp...but how long ago did Law leave us now? I think it's 9 years now and he can't write anything bad about a Jays prospect without something being said.

as a comparison...297 last year would have him in the top 30 in all of baseball if he were eligible (top 30 doesn't necessarily mean a huge HR hitter Wilson Ramos hit 11 and was in 13th...I'll let you look at the list and make your own assessments about FB distance) but his 288.13 had him in 85th. 284.12 in 2012 was 121st. 279.16 in 2011 had him in 144th. http://www.baseballheatmaps.com/graph/distanceleader.php Like I said FB distance doesn't guarantee anything with HR's but his expected HR to FB rate last season was 15.4% and his actual HR to FB rate was 9.7%. I wasn't a fan of the move but I think more positively about it now.

Got to say this is an impressive sign http://cdn.fangraphs.com/fantasy/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Justin-Smoak-Distance-Trend.png Flyball distance for Smoak.

In the time I've been posting around you guys, seldom have I been really down on a prospect that I labelled him a non-factor when others were high on them, and I was wrong! Stewart, Molina, JPA, Gose's bat, Sierra and Musgrove are the examples I can think of (Sanchez to a lesser extent as I never labelled him future bust just questioned his ability to start). There is one example I can think of that I was dead wrong and it wasn't even a case where I had watched the guy pitch. That was Tiny Tim. It's not that I don't like minor league relievers (I love Storen) I just don't like them to be undrafted high school midgets that are max effort. With Osuna, the body is part of the concern for sure. But also how the TJS has stunted the development. He's still super young but in the past four years he's seen the 6th inning once. BA used to say that despite the bad body he's athletic enough to keep control later into the games...but I didn't see it when he was 18 in Lansing. He was super inconsistent which could be attributed to age and has shown that he gives up solid contact, leading to HR issues. The slider has never been a finished pitch but when will he be allowed to pitch enough innings for it to be a finished pitch. I just see him as a reliever by the end. He might Tiny Tim me...or he'll Nestor Molina the rest of you. For the record. where you shouldn't listen to me is the guys that I like more than the numbers show or I guarantee to be MVP's like how I was really wrong on Snider, Deck, Cardona, Smith Jr., Hech, Perez, and Handsome Jake (jury is still out)

I think making the cake is a plus...showing others is a lot lot lot of points off.

Brent Grimes wife goes off on the entire NFL on Twitter.

He went from a very good defensive catcher in the minors (you can read my scouting reports on the old boards, I hate that place so I won't search)...Mets had him concentrate on framing (something that it's possible he was never asked to do previously) and they think he took it too seriously and keeping his glove steady was causing the passed balls. He put it together really well in a small sample near the end of the season. I suspect those DRS numbers will change considerably this season. But once again I'm biased. I heart TdA.

3,700 Blue Jays scouts watched Latos, Gio and Dickey live, interviewed their pets and gave their high school coaches a handjob in exchange for information. 3,640 of them agreed that CitiField's beer was the most free.

I like our prospects to be playing at a level where I can watch them. If you'd like me to point out a positive about Hoffman, ECU is not a college powerhouse but the reliever from Hoffman's college team (who actually pitched more innings than anyone else on ECU in Hoffman's Junior year), Ryan Williams pitched very good in 24.2 innings in low A for the Cubs. It means not too much as they are different guys (Williams was a $1,000 Senior signee), but as I wasn't a big Hoffman guy I thought I'd be positive about how the ECU stats might convert over to the minors.

and the first part of Rogers PR starts. Not saying the story isn't 100% true but it's just such fantastic timing. Hoffman rumoured to be asked for in the DD situation. Rogers looks bad over it. Now you pump up your prospect and everyone says, see we weren't even willing to give him up for Upton. DD stuff is no longer being discussed. I mean why not have his college coach on when they drafted him?

and a second pitching mound at 75 feet which counts as 3 strikes if you get a strike (foul balls 2)

and for me auction makes no sense unless it's a keeper league. I'm all for a true roto keeper league as well but it has to be the right people or it's not going to work.

If it's a league where the person who makes the most moves wins (ie. a lot of bench spots). I'd love to see a roto All players count with moves once a week. There is still strategy (pooching a stat, trading pitching for hitting or vice versa, also going for 2 start pitchers later in the season might work) and pickups still mean something but it's not about who you play. The negative is that teams are out of the pool much earlier in the season.

I think the 40 man/25 rosters, options and September call-ups and watching how they are managed are among the most interesting things in sports.

Liriano would be f***ed...he walked 22 on 4 pitches last year. Didn't the AFL go to not having to pitch for an intentional walk, just point to first.

Rays are pissed off too. I'm not sure why but we are always upset over back office stuff. Plus it puts our Maddon tampering case into perspective.

If a team wanted Beeston for a bottom 10 draft pick with as much promise as me, I'd do that deal in a second.

Do you consider a visit to the mound part of the game? From the catcher? Pitching coach? defense? That's probably the best way to save a few minutes.

that'll go over well with those that paid a billion dollars for the TV contracts.

Give it another year and maybe the Tigers will negotiate that for you. Of course you have to take on the last 5 years of Verlander's contract.

He was representing the team, while having no contract. There is an implied contract there.

A suggestion of Minaya, Towers, Malone should be enough for a fanbase to revolt against their owner. For those that care Shi is going to talk about it on the Fan at 2:15

In a way shouldn't the Jays fans also? Jays now have an outgoing President who's boss tried to replace him without telling him. That's got to be some awkward meetings in the future for Pelley (who I honestly believe had little idea what Rogers was doing). Beest is known as easy-going so Jays fans can hope that he just laughs it off as an idiot owner sticking his nose in. I'd pay to sit in on the first meeting between Eddie and Beest though (I wonder if Harbour 60 would let me just hang out there and order water all day)