Laika

I agree that the interest is probably genuine Some other team will simply have more money to offer though If Toronto offered $600M, one of New York teams or the Dodgers would match or top it.

I dunno. It's not a big deal. Why should the initial times be assumed ideal and set in stone? Why not tinker and find the best balance? Maybe 20 seconds was just too long to the point that it did not have the desired effect.

I think some team will trade for him. It's not that much $$$ and his results were good for long enough (2020-2022) that some might think he is a DIPS overperformer. 2023 looked like full regression. But, 99 innings. If he sucks in 2024 then yeah he was just getting lucky in 2020-2022. One last try for Cal. I think for Toronto specifically he would be a nice addition. Kind of like adding another Manoah... lottery ticket SP5. Will only be 29. Has decent velo, I wonder if a repertoire change could work. He is a kitchen sink pitcher with 6 pitches but the stuff grades are all over the place. Fourseamer 19.1% 80 Cutter 24.1% 101 Splitter 13% 115 Sinker 23.7% 84 Change 9.1% 86 Curveball 10.9% 102 So, bad fastballs but the cutter is okay. I guess he's already throwing about as many cutters as he can. Hard to do like, 35% cutters. Similar to Bassitt except Bassitt has an extra command level AND a better sinker. 92 stuff+ sinker is a lot different than 84.

Two interesting DFAs today Josh Staumont and Cal Quantrill

Probably? But I don't know. They are different things. VAA is responsible for some portion of the results that people in recent years have been attributing entirely to high spin 4 seamers. VAA will be increased by FB velocity, pitcher height, and pitcher release point. I would ASSUME that VAA does correlate with spin because the pitchers from a strategy perspective would be trying to maximize both, if they pitch like that. Basically, you can have a great VAA and succeed even with middling spin. Or amazing spin but get hit if your VAA really sucks.

it's one of those things that people don't really understand if your farm system is any good at all then you need to be trading players from it constantly because you can't keep them all

Personal decisions by him for sure

Stroman could have been an Ace but decided to be a #3 instead.

Man, this was 2021 Vlad. He SLUGGED 1.178 on pitches middle-up (not OPS.... SLG). .634 in-up, and .733 away-up and SLUGGED .688 on pitches middle-above, i.e. above the zone but centred over the plate I dunno what happened, he has lost it. Kind of came into the league pounding the low pitch with a hole up, then fixed it in 2021, then lost the fix and also now cannot touch anything low and away at all. Blargh.

You don't need intent to KILL for manslaughter to stick. It can just be intent to hurt or whatever. In Canada if this guy was charged like this, the Crown would probably need to prove something like.... intent to commit an ASSAULT. Which would probably mean intent to do some violent act that is outside of the common practices of the sport. Something like that.

The broad trend the last 2 years has been shaping sliders. That normally means a sweeper but some guys are doing that tight gyro slider. The broad trend that started like, eight? years ago was the high rising FB.... so yeah it's very possible the cutting edge teams don't care much about this anymore. Who knows. It still seems pretty f***ing powerful though. So many MLB hitters are just USELESS against a good high fastball. It's such a deadly pitch. That makes much more sense if VAA is just on the four seamer. Totally tracks for Kikuchi and the entire bullpen. Bassitt would only be like 10% 4 seamers but maybe they are shaped nice. Berrios was more sinkers than 4 seamers in 2023, I think, that was one change he made.

Yes Well, it's not really counter anymore as most orgs want pitchers to have fastballs that do not drop But traditionally teams chased pitchers with a steep angle. Hitters basically all have uppercut swings, or at least a slight uppercut. The swing plane and the dropping pitch angle then tunnel or run together, so the hitters make more contact. If a pitch can come in more level than the hitters swing, you will get more whiffs. But it's not as simple as VAA = good because it is pitch and player specific. A sinkerballer doesn't want to chase VAA. VAA is great if you are throwing 4 seamers and particularly up in the zone (but pitchers with elite VAA can literally get whiffs down the middle on 4 seamers). A team could have ideal VAA on all their pitchers but if 1/3 of them are sinker ballers ideal VAA does not mean higher VAA. So team level rankings aren't necessarily that informative. It just tells you the type of pitchers Toronto likes. Well, that and their effectiveness. I am kind of surprised they would be absolute tops in it. The rotation doesn't strike me as one that would lead the league in VAA. Isn't Gausman's fastball shape kind of mediocre? The pen is definitely all these kids of guys though. Except for maybe Mayza?

Yes

Would this count as a "big" set of moves? 1. Sign Shota Imanaga 1. Sign Jung Hoo Lee 2. Trade Manoah for Jonathan India+

Interesting. "doing something big" this offseason probably involves a big trade.

this one? i guess the only possible defense would be that he had an acute injury at the time that limited him to 60% of top speed and prevented him from sliding. lol

I'm about 10 years younger than you I suppose. Grades 1-6 you are just introduced to different sports in gym class. And the odd "track day" or whatever while the weather is nice. Grade 7-8 same thing, with some small other opportunities. There may have been "clubs" for certain sports but these weren't like, competitive teams that played other schools. High school, actual sports begins. Lots of high school sports people have literally never played before grade 9. Volleyball I did and some people trying out didn't even know how to bump. Same applies even for some major sports like soccer and basketball - if the school is not big there will be kids who make the team who have never played the sport before. We had long poles in field lacrosse who had never touched a lacrosse stick before trying out. Almost nobody plays organized football or rugby before high school. There is ZERO emphasis on being competitive while kids are ages 4 through 13. It is almost discouraged. Very feminine, our schools. I'm not from SSM but I am not from the GTA either. Maybe it's different in different places.

Nope. I think in middle school (7/8) there were a couple of teams, incl. mixed volleyball, but they didn't do that much. Just went to a tournament or whatever. Actual sports with practices began in high school.

You talking about high school sports? They are that watered down??? I don't remember ANY competitive school sports before high school.

I think it absolutely has. At a minimum, it will have a big impact on those teams. Lots of kids and young people these days are Lightning and Golden Knights fans, lol. But I think there are probably kids who are playing other sports because the Canadian NHL teams have been so bad and uninspiring and boring for so long.

Every Canadian NHL franchise is such a f***ing joke. Overwhelmingly incompetent and hopeless. I wonder why? Overconfidence? Owners putting too much faith in the old boys over the years? Why are they all so clueless? It's funny that the Leafs, with all of their perpetual issues, are objectively the best Canadian NHL franchise and it's not even close, when we look at recent years. The past decade has been the darkest in Canadian NHL history, no? Since 2013-2014 (ten full seasons) VAN: 2 playoff appearances CAL: 5 playoff appearances TOR: 7 playoff appearances OTT: 2 playoff appearances EDM: 5 playoff appearances MON: 5 playoff appearances WIN: 6 playoff apprearances 32 playoff tickets in 70 chances by the franchises that should have the most non-payroll resources in the league. 1 Stanley Cup finals appearance (loss) 5 Conference finals appearances (1-4) Actively squandering the careers of superstars like McDavid, Draisaitl, Matthews Could not get a cup for guys like the Sedins, Luongo, Iginla, Karlsson, Sundin, Alfredsson, Price. Thirty f***ing years since a Canadian team won the whole thing. Thirty years. Guy Carbonneau and Denis f***ing Savard were on that team. They are 63 years old now?

Fighting is much more rare but could happen Vegas is great and Washington is horrible You might see a huge hit but the player will probably be suspended lol Game is all about speed and possession now

You're literally special

Atkins is in the lab perfecting his 91 win roster for 2024

The Atkins haters will ignore this