leaffie

Lol.

never gave it a thought. :-)

Won't that be every one from Kansas City now?

Anyone keep reading to the bottom to the note about first base coach for the Jays - Trey Hillman. Possibly

And he twists his ankle and is out until May.

Not disagreeing, but didn't they do the same with Halladay

What is funny, is that XM is now using it as a headline. "Bautista says that Farrell didn't win the WS". Not quite what he said, but you can see how they have twisted it.

Says he got the word today that he can start full body workouts. He is feeling great. Was asked about the disappointing season, and if it was the pitchers fault. And he said that he doesn't believe in blaming one person or group. He said, that everyone on the team had down years. Was asked about playing third, and he said that he has told the Jays that he thinks he is more valuable in RF, but if that is where they want him to play, he will. But he didn't think so. Then they asked him about Farrell and what kind of manager he was, since he took the Sox from last to first. I think it was Bowden that asked him if he had phoned Farrell to congratulate him. Dead silence and then Bautista said, no I didn't phone him. If I see him, I will congratulate him, but that is all. Then he said that managers don't win, the players do, and managers can lose you a couple of games, but it is the players not anyone else that decides the outcome of the game. Rather chilly moments there. Said that the players liked Gibbons and thought he had done a really good job, considering all that he had to deal with last year. Asked him about the loss of Reyes, and he said, he thought that was the biggest loss they had last year. Said that AA has assured him that they are going to do everything they can to add to this team, and that everyone from Rogers on down, wants to win.

At the break there was talk of Bautista for Profar+. But can't remember who was talking about it, but he said that it was a rumour that he believed, but couldn't track it down. Obviously, just talk. But it was out there.

The Jays gave away Michael Young and Jeff Kent too. No embarrassment there.

Ferrin and Duquette talked of the Jays chances of going from last to 1st next year. Slim Said if they didn't get some pitching, could easily see them in last again. :-( Said that AA would deny it, but Ferrin said that he definitely had heard from other sources, that Bautista would be available for the right pcs. Pittsburgh or St. Louis would have the best players to offer. Talked a lot about Encarnacion, and said that the rest of the league didn't really appreciate how good he has been. Josh Johnson was the biggest disappointment to the club. They were shocked at how poorly he pitched. Said that the Jays would be in on Santana and Garza, but not Tanaka. Kept promoting JPA was going to be on air to talk about Jays, and he cancelled at the last minute, supposedly because he was packing to go to Europe. Strange. FWIW.

A.J. Mass, whoever he is.

From ESPN insider this morning: Second base was a bit of an offensive black hole for the Toronto Blue Jays this past season. A six-headed combination of Mark DeRosa, Emilio Bonifacio, Munenori Kawasaki, Ryan Goins, Maicer Izturis and Brett Lawrie put together an anemic 2013 stat line -- a .216 batting average, a .297 slugging percentage, 47 RBIs and only eight stolen bases. Clearly, it's a position the team is hoping to upgrade. One player whose name has already entered the conversation is Chicago White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham. According to Scott Merkin of MLB.com, the Blue Jays explored a possible trade for Beckham last off-season and are still interested in making a deal. The arbitration eligible Beckham won't be a free agent until 2016, which means that in order to acquire him, Toronto might have to give up a couple of prospects such as pitchers Aaron Sanchez, Marcus Stroman, John Stilson and Roberto Osuna, and/or catcher AJ Jimenez, in order to seal the deal. However, the White Sox would probably have to feel confident that Marcus Semien, who hit .261 in 69 September at-bats with the team, would be ready to step in at the position going forward in order to pull the trigger.

The only good thing is that finally this nightmare season will be over. Hopefully, everyone can move on from how wonderful that saviour Farrell was.

Didn't know whether this should have been under the prospects thread or not. But here it is. Top 30 prospects for 2014 draft October, 24, 2013 Oct 24 10:00 AM ET By Keith Law & Christopher Crawford | ESPN.com Recommend36 Tweet8 Comments0 Email Print Carlos RodonJeremy Brevard/USA TODAY SportsN.C. State's Carlos Rodon is the clear-cut No. 1 draft prospect as of now. The summer showcase season is over and other than a few major fall high school events and some college fall ball, most of the year's amateur baseball activity is behind us. It's a solid class for pitchers who throw hard, with a lot of exciting high school arms and a handful of quality college starters, but is light on position players, especially at catcher and shortstop. Here's our first ranking of the players for next year's draft, focused just on player quality with no consideration of where they might be drafted. 1. Carlos Rodon, LHP | N.C. State Owner of perhaps the best amateur's slider in recent memory, Rodon is a power lefty with present stuff and a strong track record of missing bats (184 strikeouts in 132 innings last spring). He brings ace potential to a draft that lacks much of that kind of impact. 2. Jeff Hoffman, RHP | East Carolina He popped for scouts in the Cape Cod League this summer, moving up boards with a very sudden velocity spike that jumped him ahead of almost all other college arms, but he has never shown the kind of dominant performance that Rodon has, and has to show he can hold this stuff for a full season. 3. Alex Jackson, C | Rancho Bernardo HS (San Diego) He’s more likely to end up in right field than behind the plate, but Jackson has elite bat speed and above-average power potential to all fields. 4. Jacob Gatewood, SS | Clovis (Calif.) HS Boasting enormous raw power, Gatewood has one of the highest upsides among prep hitters this year, but has to show he's got the hit tool to make the power play and will likely end up at third base in pro ball. 5. Braxton Davidson, OF | T.C. Roberson HS (Asheville, N.C.) Davidson may have the most offensive upside of any hitter in the class, thanks to a plus hit tool and the ability to drive the ball to all parts of the ballpark. 6. Grant Holmes, RHP | Conway (S.C.) HS Few pitchers were as impressive as Holmes was this summer, showing off a mid-90s fastball that is complemented with a plus breaking ball and an average change. 7. Brady Aiken, LHP | Cathedral Catholic HS (San Diego) Aiken is the top prep lefty in the class, sitting in the low 90s with an average-to-plus curveball, very good deception from his delivery, and little effort to get to that velocity. 8. Tyler Kolek, RHP | Shepherd (Texas) HS Kolek doesn’t offer much in terms of projection and some scouts worry about his already massive 6-foot-5, 250-pound frame, but a fastball that will touch triple-digits and a curve that will flash plus also has some scouts salivating. 9. Justus Sheffield, LHP | Tullahoma (Tenn.) HS The younger brother of Vanderbilt freshman and former Red Sox draft pick Jordan Sheffield, Justus is a good athlete who brings low-90s velocity from a strong 6-foot frame and flashes three off-speed pitches with promise. 10. Sean Newcomb, RHP | Hartford A fastball that will touch 97 mph along with a plus slider and average change could see Newcomb shoot up draft boards, though he will face inferior competition all spring, which will make it hard for scouts to get a great read on him. 11. Max Pentecost, C | Kennesaw State It’s a weak catching crop this year, but with above-average power and improving receiving skills Pentecost is not just a "best of a bad group" option. 12. Nick Gordon, SS/RHP | Olympia HS (Orlando) Son of Tom Gordon and half-brother of current Dodger infielder Dee, Nick is a two-way prospect who plays a solid shortstop with good bat speed but little power, and also can sit in the low 90s as a potential power relief prospect who probably lacks the height to stay a starter in pro ball. 13. Alex Verdugo, OF/LHP | Sahuaro HS (Tucson, Ariz.) Another two-way prospect, Verdugo has outstanding feel for hitting with a quick, direct left-handed stroke and above-average running speed, but is also up to 92 already off the mound from the left side and could go either way at this point. 14. Derek Fisher, OF | Virginia Fisher possesses above-average to plus offensive tools across the board, though consistency has been an issue over his first two years in Charlottesville. [+] EnlargeTyler Beede AP Photo/Mark HumphreyBeede is likely to be a rare two-time first-round pick. 15. Trea Turner, SS | N.C. State Turner has elite speed and should be able to stick at shortstop, but there might not be much offensive upside. 16. Erick Fedde, RHP | UNLV Fedde was up to 95 this summer with Team USA and showed good tilt on a low-80s slider, but needs to fill out his 6-foot-4, 165-pound frame and tighten up his changeup to help him miss more bats. 17. Brad Zimmer, OF | San Francisco The brother of Royals 2012 first-round pick Kyle; Zimmer is a good enough athlete to play center field and has some power projection in his left-handed bat. 18. Tyler Beede, RHP | Vanderbilt Beede was a first-round pick out of high school but didn't sign with the Blue Jays after a disagreement over a medical question; he has since picked up several mph on his fastball but lost a grade or more of control in the process. 19. Jeren Kendall, OF | Holmen (Wis.) HS The breakout star of this year's New Balance Area Code Games, Kendall is a four-tool player, lacking only power at this point, with good feel for hitting for a kid from a cold-weather state. 20. Luis Ortiz, RHP | Sanger HS (Fresno, Calif.) Ortiz has a very quick arm with an easy low-90s fastball and some feel for a low-80s slider, coming from a three-quarters arm slot, with a projectable 6-foot-3 frame. 21. Brandon Finnegan, LHP | TCU Left-handers who will touch 98 mph with feel for pitching generally don’t last long on draft day, but Finnegan’s diminutive size and somewhat violent delivery raise some red flags. 22. Dylan Cease, RHP | Milton (Ga.) HS Cease has top-10 velocity, with a fastball in the mid-90s, but his secondary stuff isn't there yet and there's some violence in his delivery as well. 23. Mac Marshall, LHP | Parkview HS (Lilburn, Ga.) Parkview HS, outside of Atlanta, has produced first-day picks in each of the past two years, and Marshall has a chance to be the third with a low 90s fastball along with a curveball and change that will both flash plus. 24. Michael Cederoth, RHP | San Diego State Cederoth may be the hardest thrower in the class -- it's either Cederoth or Louisville closer Nick Burdi -- but awkard mechanics and average-at-best secondary pitchers have most believing he’s a high-leverage reliever in the end. 25. Aaron Nola, RHP | LSU Nola pounds the strike zone with a low-90s fastball and comes from a low three-quarters slot (nearly sidearm) that makes it tough for right-handers to see the ball, although only a few MLB starters work from a slot that low. 26. Scott Blewett, RHP | Baker HS (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) The northeast's best high school prospect has a solid-average fastball and good spin on a two-plane curveball, needing to smooth out his arm stroke for better command and future health. 27. Touki Toussaint, RHP | Coral Springs (Fla.) Christian Academy There’s no denying Toussaint’s talent -- a fastball that can get up to 95 and a hammer of a curveball -- but there’s also no denying that too often he has no idea where those pitches are going. 28. Jakson Reetz, C | Norris HS (Hickman, Neb.) The best prep catcher in a weak overall catching class, Reetz has strong hands and good coverage on the outer half with average throwing times to second and good athleticism behind the plate. 29. Michael Gettys, CF/RHP | Gainesville (Ga.) HS No prospect improved his stock more than Gettys over the summer, though his 70-grade speed and plus raw power are useless if he can’t hit, which is still up for debate. 30. Ti’Quan Forbes, SS | Columbia (Miss.) HS Forbes is one of the youngest prospects in the class and looks like he’ll be able to stick at shortstop with average offensive projection.

I have heard this "outside of Toronto the view is he was mistreated" before. Where does this come from? I have never read this anywhere, other than on this board. Was there something I missed, or is this just supposition.

Well we could have had Bobby Valentine as our manager and he left us for the Astros. .....:-)

Of course, there is no discrimination with me. I hate them all.

They could be one in the same.

Keith Law Blog 10 disappointing AFL players October, 16, 2013 Oct 16 11:05 AM ET By Keith Law | ESPN.com Recommend15 Tweet10 Comments5 Email Print On Monday, I wrote about players I saw last week in the Arizona Fall League who made positive impressions on me, some of whom caused me to improve my own evaluations of those players over where they were before my trip. Today I'll look at the other side, 10 players who didn't meet my expectations, and in some cases who'll slide down my prospect rankings as a result. I've also appended notes on other players of interest who didn't fit squarely in either category. Aaron Sanchez | RHP | Toronto Blue Jays The Blue Jays' top prospect had an up-and-down year around minor injuries and a failed experiment with a sinker, but Toronto could at least look at his premium stuff and feel confident that he was advancing toward a spot near the top of their major league rotation. Unfortunately, Sanchez's delivery has gone backward in the past year, with a shorter-than-ever stride and a very upright release that causes his fastball to stay up and hurts his command of all pitches. An upright torso at release is also correlated with higher risk of arm injuries, so it's something the Jays and Sanchez need to try to correct. Sanchez's stuff remains ace quality -- 92-96 mph on the four-seamer, a plus curveball at 76-79, a hard changeup from 85-89 -- but he has to let his athleticism and looseness on the mound show up in the delivery. Taylor Lindsey | 2B | Los Angeles Angels Lindsey has outstanding feel for hitting, with consistently high contact rates thanks to quick hands and a direct path to the ball, but other aspects of his game were lacking in Arizona last week. At the plate, he's gone from a very short stride to no stride at all, so his swing is all hands and arms and he's cutting off any chance to hit for power. At second base he showed below-average hands and range in either direction, and he's a fringy runner even at full speed. He's just 21 years old and his stats to date are solid for a player his age, but I see a lot of untapped potential here, especially on offense. Alen Hanson | IF | Pittsburgh Pirates Hanson looked great in BP, with plus bat speed and average to slightly above-average power from both sides of the plate. But once the games started, the plan to get him out was simple and easy for pitchers to execute: fastballs up, sliders down. He punched out five times in the 10 plate appearances I saw, and it wasn't fluky given how lost he looked. He was actually fine at shortstop, which has long been the concern with him, but he couldn't have looked worse at the plate. Stephen Piscotty | OF | St. Louis Cardinals Like Hanson, Piscotty sported a 50 percent strikeout rate in the first week of play, all with me in the stands, wishing a pox on the Stanford coaching staff for what they did to his swing. (I left and he went 4-for-4 on Monday, so maybe he just found me intimidating.) Piscotty shows pull and opposite-field power in BP, but once the games started, he looked discombobulated at the plate -- trying to go the other way with fastballs in, trying to pull everything on the outer half, swinging and missing when he wasn't rolling over. As I said above, these are brief impressions based on the first week of play, so I'm not suggesting everyone in the Piscotty Appreciation Society should run for the exits. It's just not what I wanted to see. Tommy La Stella | 2B | Atlanta Braves It's not so much that anything was wrong with La Stella but that you're banking on one tool here, the hit tool. He's a fringy defender at best and a below-average runner, and I don't foresee much power with a no-load swing and a flat finish. He can hit, though -- his hand-eye coordination is very good, and the swing is simple and hard, like a quick hack at the ball that could produce line drives and hard ground balls, but few hits likely to leave the park. That might be enough for Atlanta fans sick of the Dan Uggla Show -- just two more years, folks! -- but it's more average regular than star. Mitch Haniger | OF | Milwaukee Brewers Another one in the "fine, but not great" category, Haniger disappointed with his lack of visible speed or athleticism. I consistently got run times that put him at grade 40 or worse (that is comfortably below average), and twice caught him losing his focus, including one potential infield single that he lost because he was watching the fielder rather than running to the bag. Haniger, a supplemental first-round pick in 2012 who lost most of last summer to a knee injury, already lost some luster with an underwhelming half-season in high Class A this year, and this doesn't help. Andrew Chafin | LHP| Arizona Diamondbacks Chafin regularly hit 95 as a starter (every seventh day) at Kent State, but the stuff has backed up, and he was 88-91 with a maybe-average changeup last week in Arizona. A supplemental first-round pick in 2011, Chafin seems certain to end up in the pen between his current velocity and low strikeout rates in the regular season. Keyvius Sampson | RHP | San Diego Padres Another guy who left his fastball at home before heading to Arizona, Sampson was 89-91, from a higher slot than in the past but without an average secondary pitch. With no life on the fastball due to the raised arm slot, he's fly ball-prone, and I don't see how he'll miss bats in the majors unless he gets back into the mid-90s or finds a better breaking ball. Kyle Crick | RHP | San Francisco Giants It's still power stuff, 92-95 mph with at least an average slider, but when you walk the first three guys you face in your first AFL outing of the year, no one is going to walk away thinking "We gotta trade for that guy." He settled down a little in the second inning, throwing more strikes but not locating effectively. I know a lot of scouts who believe Crick has to be a reliever because there's enough effort in his delivery to preclude him having average command. If this was all I'd ever seen from Crick I'd be hard-pressed to disagree. John Barbato | RHP | San Diego Padres When I saw Barbato he walked four in two-thirds of an inning of work, so the Javelinas had to go to their bullpen in the first inning instead of the third or fourth. His performance in relief this year was adequate, but he struggled when the Pads shifted him to high Class A Lake Elsinore's rotation in late July. They might want to just return him to the pen, where his 92-94 fastball and mid-80s slider could make him an interesting middle or setup man, rather than trying to start a guy who can't throw enough strikes for it.

Maybe he read Keith Law's latest assessment of him. Kind of disappointing.

FWIW, Kevin Kennedy has him ending up with Jays

Who should get him? So, if McCann gets his $100 million, who's the most likely to give it to him? For a team that wants to overpay, New York (the Bronx, not Queens) is the most logical destination for McCann. Even with the Yankees' self-imposed salary cap, they need a catcher for 2014. Top prospect Gary Sanchez has only 23 Double-A games under his belt and isn't ready yet, and Chris Stewart is as obvious a non-tender candidate as anyone on the roster. If McCann holds up well at catcher, Sanchez's raw power potential, if it fully develops, gives the Yankees a surplus of quality catchers, a very nice problem for anyone. Even if McCann doesn't hold up well, he still has some short-term value behind the plate and a left-handed pull hitter who can crush a mistake is a good fit for Yankee Stadium. Buster Olney has mentioned that the Rangers could be in on McCann, and they also would make sense in that their starting catchers from 2013, A.J. Pierzynski and Geovany Soto, are headed to free agency, they can carry a high payroll and don't currently have a catcher in the pipeline. The issue for the Rangers is that Nelson Cruz, David Murphy and Matt Garza also are eligible for free agency and they might decide it's wiser to spend their free-agent dollars on the outfield and rotation. Another team with playoff aspirations that got very little from its backstops this season is the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2013, Jays catchers combined for minus-1.1 WAR per FanGraphs, which is less than every team but the Marlins. Toronto's issue is that it already has $110 million committed for 2014 even before factoring in arbitration raises for the likes of Colby Rasmus. Considering the Jays carried a $119 payroll in 2013, it's hard to see McCann as a fit unless they clear a lot of money elsewhere. When you break it down, the Yankees are the obvious fit for McCann in terms of finances and need. They would be happy with him in the short term, but if he really gets more than $100 million, there are going to be a lot of disappointed Yankees fans come 2017.

McCannDaniel Shirey/USA TODAY SportsIf the rumors are true, Brian McCann's free-agent contract will be sky high. For the Atlanta Braves, the 2013 season ended prematurely, with the franchise getting dispatched in four games by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series. There's little time for the Braves to ponder that unpleasant coda, as the team's starting catcher going back to summer of 2005, Brian McCann, will hit the free-agent market. That McCann will come at a hefty price is not in doubt, and it's unlikely the Braves will be willing to bring him back. Earlier this week, one MLB general manager told Andrew Marchand of ESPN New York that McCann's next contract could top the $100 million mark. But does McCann's value going forward really match that price or would that be a case of paying for past rather than future performance? Don't pay for the tools of ignorance Eclipsing the $100 million mark is no longer a groundbreaking contract, with baseball history now having 46 deals of $100 million or more. However, you don't see a lot of catchers topping that mark. Joe Mauer's eight-year, $184 million contract and Buster Posey's nine-year, $167 million deal lap the field, by far the richest among those that have worn the tools of ignorance. One reason to wonder about McCann's future value is the very nature of playing catcher, a grueling physical position. McCann is no longer a young player and the contract extension that expires this month bought out a few years of his free-agent eligibility. He enters the market coming off his age 29 season (Mauer was 27 when he signed his contract, Posey 26) with a lot of tread worn from his tires. He already has 1,046 games behind the plate under his belt -- or in the case of a catcher, on his knees -- and the position tends to wear down players in their 30s. Only 26 other players in baseball history accumulated 900 games or more behind the plate before their age 30 season. Not counting Yadier Molina for obvious reasons, only nine of the 25 catchers on that list played 600 games at catcher over the rest of their career. Posey got $167 million, but he was younger and better than Brian McCann. Even among those survivors, most of those catchers did not age gracefully. Gary Carter's last year as a force was at age 32 and his knees were shot after nine surgeries. Jason Kendall bounced back well from a gruesome ankle injury, but was done as an underrated star by age 30. Time caught up with Bill Dickey at 32 and Benito Santiago, a four-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner, spent his 30s as a journeyman stopgap. Even more concerning in McCann's case is that he already has specific injury concerns, rather than simply the more generalized concern we have about catchers. He already has had one season, 2012, ruined by a torn labrum that required surgery and after coming back this past May, didn't start at catcher in 41 of the team's remaining 132 games. The idea that a team could move him to first base or designated hitter later on isn't even a consolation. Mauer and Posey both have enough offensive value to play other positions, with a career OPS+ of 136 and 144 respectively. McCann is at 117 for his career (115 in 2013), so even if he holds up physically behind the plate for three or four years, he's likely to be a below-average 1B/DH by that point (all first basemen, including backups, had a collective OPS+ of 116 this year). Because no projection piece would be complete without consulting the evil supercomputer under my desk, I ran McCann's numbers through ZiPS to get a baseline of what to expect from him in the coming years. Because ZiPS compares players on a positional basis, the risks of playing catcher are built in to the projections. ZiPS sees McCann continuing to perform well in 2014, hitting .263/.339/.462, good for a 115 OPS+ and 3.0 WAR. (FanGraphs and Baseball Reference had him at 2.7 and 2.2 WAR, respectively, in 2013.) Problem is, it's all downhill from there, with McCann profiling as a below-average player by the fourth year of his new contract. Marchand's GM source figured McCann would get a six-year deal. Using $5.1 million per win as a guideline and 5 percent salary growth, that comes out to 13.1 WAR and a six-year, $73 million market value. Playing first base or DH, he would only be projected to be worth 2.0 WAR in 2014, demonstrating the idea that his bat isn't enough to consider an easier defensive position to be a good fallback position. A shorter contract that covers just his projected years as an average-or-better player comes out at four years, $58 million, but given the lack of impact bats in the free-agent lineup and the likelihood that this is his last big contract, a team might have to get into the $20 million a year range to land him.

I voted for a 20 million dollar boost. Isn't every team getting an additional $25 million in revenue sharing this year.