jaysblue

Took Jamal Murray

Sorry guys. Was on the road. Took Ayton from Phoenix. Going young here. Maybe a little reach but ah oh well.

I'll take KLaw with one of my first two picks. Deciding on who to take next.

How much were tickets? Corks inside the Longos is a great bar to head to before the game. Great beer selection and food at very reasonable prices. The wings and pizza are quite good. Sit at the bar though if you could for faster service, but for the most part the service is pretty good. Will be busy before Raps games. If you want a good place for cocktails and late night eats, Ellven is actually quite good. A little on the pricey side, but the food is good and its right outside the Scotia Arena. You might bump into a player around that area or one of the coaches inside the restaurant later after the game, since some players/coaches live in the condos up above. If you want something more casual and are good to walk further, Bar Hop on King Street or the location on Peter and Queen are great for craft beer and late night eats. Inside the arena, try to visit the Hot Stove Club or Scotia Club at halftime. Great bartenders, and drinks and could squeeze in a good app if you order right away or could go before the game and order for halftime. Hot Stove Club is always jammed packed for Leafs games, though for Raps games its always easy to get a spot. When it was the ACC club, everyone was allowed in but since its now the Scotia Club, sometimes they give you a hard time when entering. I'm good friends with one of the bartenders at the Scotia Club. Either one is good though! For merch, the Sports Chek across the street is really good. If you want stuff customized then Real Sports inside the arena is your best bet.

Count me in again if this gets set up!

Verlander at his age showing no signs of slowing down. Him and Scherzer are both something to watch. Enjoy it!

I've always liked Font's arm. Great find & pickup by the Jays. Hope they keep him around for next year as well and use him as an opener + middle reliever.

Rockies were a huge disappointment this year. Outside of Marquez and Gray (who are both on the IL now), the rest of their starting rotation pitched awful. Freeland took a huge step back in comparison to what he did last season. Their bullpen outside of Oberg and a few other guys were terrible. Wade Davis was brutal. Lineup wise, Arenado, Story, Blackmon, Dahl were solid. McMahon was meh but at least he has provided positive value. The rest of their lineup was awful. Murphy was a huge disappointment at first base. Hampson sucked. Tapia and Desmond were negative WAR players. Awful bench as well. Letting DJ LeMahieu walk last offseason and sign Daniel Murphy instead proved to be a big mistake. 2 years at $24 million was a steal. LeMahieu has posted a 4.8 WAR thus far with the Yankees, proving to be one of the FA signings and bargains from the offseason. They need to take advantage of these years that they have Arenado and Story both in their prime. Otherwise, what a waste.

Seems like a good buy low this offseason lol. Still a Top 20 asset in fantasy leagues IMO, with the upside to be in the Top 5 one season if he recaptures his 2015 or 2017 form. Like the article said, he's not a consensus Top 5 pick like he has been treated as over some of the last several seasons. Trout is still No. 1 by a long shot and there are many other players I would take over Harper afterwards.

Kijijji really banned all ticket sales? WTF?

I'll take Peyton Krebs. As for my next two picks, just autopick the highest rank draft prospect. Thanks.

15 Keepers: 1) Patrick Laine 2) Patrick Kane 3) Matt Duchene 4) Gabriel Landeskog 5) David Pastrnak 6) Ryan O'Reilly 7) Jakub Vrana 8) Tyler Bertuzzi 9) Justin Faulk 10) Tyler Myers 11) Rasmus Ristolainen 12) Justin Schultz 13) Ben Bishop 14) Joonas Korpisalo 15) Antti Raanta Prospect cuts: Shane Bowers Daniel Sprong Colin White I'm in Poland right now, so sorry for being late with the cuts.

Are any of those guys relevant with the A's right now?

Like Abom said a couple of pages ago, maybe most of these teams viewed Stroman as a mid-rotation guy rather than an ace or a No.2 type starter. Remember Stroman was awful last year. Regardless, the Jays still had three days so there was no rush on their part. Wait until closer to the deadline and maybe one of those teams become desperate. I still think the Jays could have done better.

lol

It ended up being pretty bad, but that's hindsight. Otherwise at the time, I didn't have a problem with it. Who would have thought Josh Johnson was going to completely break down right after? He was coming off a 3.3 WAR season and was only 28 at the time. Mark Buehrle gave the Jays three solid years: 2.2, 3.7 and 2 WAR from 2013-2015. Jose Reyes was 29 and coming off a 3.8 WAR season. He wasn't the greatest with the Jays. Injuries and defensive inefficiencies really hindered his success, though still 2.5 and a 3.8 WAR season in 2013 and 2014. Reyes was completely useless in 2015. Do the Jays really regret giving up anyone in that deal? The only players that went on to have somewhat decent careers were Jake Marisnick and Anthony DeSclafani, and they were with different clubs after. The only thing about the Marlins trade that makes it bad is that it created a domino leading the Jays to go all in and that made AA trade Syndergaard for RA Dickey.

Raps are doing a victory lap anyways this season so why not?

Well Robinson Cano was scooped up quickly. Same with Kyle Ryan.

Cano was dropped in a lot of leagues this week lol. Watch someone use their waiver to pick him up.

Isn't Daniel Murphy their first baseman? Alonso in Coors might be able to put up some decent power numbers. But he essentially replaces Mark Reynolds as a power bat off the bench. Jays likely wouldn't get a lot for Smoak from Colorado. They won't give up anything of value. Don't think you're getting a Jon Gray or anyone like that.

Daniel Hudson has been a solid pickup for the Jays. He's done a great job out of the bullpen, which has turned him into a trade chip this July. Sogard is having an unbelievable season. The Jays could actually turn him into a young asset.

East coast cities like New York, Philly, Washington DC are dreadful in the summer. So humid! I remember when going to Philly in 2010 to see the Jays play, I couldn't survive through the Sunday afternoon game at 1PM. It was unbearable.

Yankees ticket prices through the box office are extremely expensive. Always best to just purchase on StubHub or Vivid Seats. Also, most tickets behind home plate or the dugout are probably corporate owned I imagine. As well, I'm sure a lot of New Yorkers in the summer months are away at the Hamptons or on vacation. Being in NYC during the summer is dreadful. Would not want to sit outside during an afternoon game anywhere on the East coast lol. Yankee Stadium is still a bit of a commute from downtown. Not much around the stadium as well, since its in the Bronx. It's not like Fenway or Wrigley that is surrounded by a bunch of bars/restaurants etc. As well, I don't consider Yankee Stadium one of the nicest ballparks in baseball. It's still decent, but nothing special IMO. Citi Field is a lot better. Another reason could be because Yankees fans are pretty much spread throughout the US and Canada. Not all live in NYC. Thats why when the Yankees visit another ballpark, they're swarmed with Yankees fans.

The commissioner here doesn't rule with an iron fist, like in the DDL.

Matthew Allan