jaysblue

Looking to trade Stephen Strasburg.

MLSE cares about the regular season lol. It's a freakin' business. When the Raptors sucked, the ACC was empty. The Raptors aren't like the Leafs, who can still fill an arena even if they suck. I don't think the Raptors need to go into a complete rebuild after KL leaves and I doubt Masai does that anyways. He'll have Siakam and OG already with more experience, and if they keep Lowry and Gasol around, resign Green and bring in another piece or two to replace KL, they still have a very competitive team in the East. The Raptors still have a very bright future with guys like Siakam, OG and Freddy to build around long term with some vets like Lowry, Green, Gasol and Ibaka. Add some other complimentary pieces to that, and the Raptors are still a very good team in the East.

They don't need to pull the trigger on a complete rebuild though, even after KL leaves. You surely don't remember some of the awful seasons the Raptors had - did the win a championship after from it?

Where is the draft taking place? Like how can we see who is available?

He was ahead of Joey Votto as well lol.

Not really. Travis Snider I think was ranked as a Top-10 prospect in baseball at some point and there was a lot of hype surrounding him on the message board in 2008. Not as much as Vlad obviously. Lawrie was maybe considered a Top 20-25ish prospect in all of baseball, but with him being Canadian there was a lot more hype around his callup.

Don't forget Travis Snider.

I'm not worried about the future as well. This team isn't going to go through a complete rebuild like tank for the next 4-5 seasons. Even if KL leaves, the Raps can retool on the fly and still be competitive. They likely will still have Lowry and Gasol, unless Masai trades Lowry and Gasol declines his player option. Siakam and OG will have another year experience under their belt, so will Freddy. Better to stay relevant rather than being the Atlanta Hawks or the New York Knicks for the next 4-5 years. Basketball isn't like hockey here in the city. Fans won't be filling the arena if the Raps are only a 20 win team for the next couple of seasons.

I would sign Moose in a heartbeat if the Jays didn't plan on having Vladdy Jr. play at 3B this season once he comes up. Gio Gonzalez or Ervin Santana would be nice pickups for the rotation. Romo would be a nice pickup as well for some BP depth.

We have a female owner in that league now?

But during the regular season? Raptors were selling out every night, the games were fun to watch and there was a lot of fan interest. Do you really want to go back to the days of the Raptors being a bottom team in the Eastern Conference. Those were some awful years and it didn't amount to winning an NBA Championship. Obviously the end goal is to win a NBA Championship at some point, but I'd rather the Raptors still be competitive and make the playoffs every year as the 3rd, 4th or 5th place seeds, instead of being irrelevant for 4-5 years.

Looking at the standings of the Eastern Conference right now. It would be perfect if the standings finished this exact way at the end of the season. Boston and Philly as the 4th and 5th seeds would have to play each other in the first round. Bucks and Raptors if they finish 1st and 2nd would face either Charlotte or Miami in the first round, with Detroit or Orlando as the other possibilities knocking on the door. Pacers in third would then play the 6th place Nets in the first round. Looking past that, Boston or Philly would be taken care of in the first round with both of them battling it out. If the Pacers beat the Nets, and the Bucks/Raps moves past their first round opponents, then it even becomes better. Bucks would have to play the winner of the Celtics/76ers series, and the Raptors would play Pacers in the second round. Ideal matchup. So when the Eastern Finals roll around, Raptors likely only have to beat one of the Bucks, Celtics or 76ers instead of two of those teams. As things are right now and if the season finished today, I'd love the Raptors position entering the playoffs. Most important thing for the Raptors though is to finish in 1st or 2nd. Gives you an easy first round opponent that you could likely walk over in 4 or 5 games. Finishing in third likely means playing the Nets, and I think the Nets could be a thorn in the Raptors or any other teams side as a first round opponent. They are a threat to upset IMO, more than a team like Charlotte or Miami. If you can get Boston and Philly to finish in 4th and 5th and battle it out in the first round, that would be so sweet.

I find it f***ing hilarious how people are crapping on the Raptors all of a sudden after some struggles as of late and how they think this team is going to go through a complete rebuild next season after KL leaves. Why weren't those same people complaining about the last couple of years then when Lowry and DeRozan were leading the Raptors to first and second playoff exits? The Raptors even if they lose KL still will have a solid team next season. Gasol likely opts in with his player option, Lowry is still here for another year, and Siakam and OG likely will continue to get better. Will they be a Top 2 or 3 team in the East? Likely not, but nonetheless they will still be competitive. As long as Golden State is where they all, regardless if the Raps have KL still, it will be difficult to win a championship. I'd rather see the Raptors win 50 games and come in 4th or 5th, rather than the days of the early 2000's after VC left which were awful. I have full faith in Masai keeping this team competitive as he is one of the most creative NBA minds out there. If the Raptors lose KL, I'm sure Masai will shake things up (Lowry trade possibly, add an elite player who is on an expiring contract again etc.).

Profar or Berrios?

In the playoffs, you play all your top guys more minutes anyways, and the Raptors still have a deep bench with VanVleet, Ibaka, OG and Powell if everyone is healthy. Guys like Wright or Miles likely wouldn't even be getting that many minutes anyways off the bench in a playoff game. It would be nice if the Raps had another 3 point shooter.

Ellington or Matthews would be nice.

All my draft picks are available FYI.

It would have to be a number that still gives managers flexibility and doesn't suffocate them completely in a 9-inning game. Like I said if pitchers get injured in game, that is an exception to the rule. If you had a maximum of 5 pitching changes in a game, that is pretty much on average I would say in a regular season game where a starter goes 5-6 innings anyways. Another idea to add on with this would be have a reserved roster of 2-3 spots where a player can be scratched from a game, whether it's for rest or healing up from a very minor day-to-day injury. So let's say if you have a reliever pitch 2-3 innings and can't go the next day, you scratch him and use one of the reserves which is likely a bullpen arm to fill that pitchers place. Pretty much it's like having a 26th and 27th player, but they aren't active for every game. I'm sure many teams would utilize those extra roster spots throughout the season so those players would still get some innings in and would mean more MLB contracts handed out to relief pitchers to fill up those spots. I'm not advocating for this, but just cool to talk about different ideas.

They should adopt the DH in the NL as well. I'm sure the MLBPA would love that because that means an extra 15 starting jobs available for players. MLB does need to speed the game up a bit without completely tampering with the overall game. Like Jim alluded, they should cut down on the amount warm-up pitches relievers throw from the mound. A way to maybe reduce the amount of pitching changes would be to have a maximum number of pitching changes per 9 innings. Would add a bit more strategy and prevent managers from wasting a reliever just for only one out. Not sure what the number should be, maybe 4 or 5? Nothing too extreme where managers have no flexibility whatsoever. Also, if there is an injury, then that should be the exception, though that pitcher would have to go on the DL for a minimum of 10-days so no teams take advantage of that loophole. If the game goes into extra innings, then each team gets another 4 or 5 pitching changes for another 9 innings.

Even if he has a competitive team, I'm sure he can find another OF who can put up similar numbers to Meadows in 2019.

I think it'll be easier to trade for another OF or two. Meadows isn't like a Soto or Acuna. I wouldn't pass on getting a potential MIF stud in a 30-team dynasty league.

More bat flips please.

A couple of reasons why it might be tough to draw a lot of hype and the casual fan to watch MLB games during the year: 1) April-June: this is the time when both the NHL Playoffs and NBA Playoffs are on. Here in Canada, do you think people in Toronto will care about the Jays in April/May when the Leafs and Raptors are making deep playoff runs? What about viewership across Canada when the Flames or Jets are on? Even in some parts of the US, especially in the north regions, baseball probably isn't that popular during April & May. 2) NFL starting up in September: for the most part, majority of MLB teams are out of it, and with the NFL season starting, likely the fanbases of those teams and casuals don't care anymore since its a lost season anyways. More casuals will tune into the NFL every Sunday. 3) There are 162 games over a full season and most of the games are really long in comparison to basketball or hockey. Baseball games likely last between 3-4 hours on average and for someone who is a casual fan, it could be a lot. NBA games are fast paced and there is always something happening. It's tough to get excited about a baseball game every night in comparison to games in the NBA. There seems to be more buildup to a regular season Lakers/Warriors game than there is for a Yankees/Red Sox series. Maybe because in the NBA those teams only face each other 3-4 times versus 18 times like in baseball. 4) The NBA is a star driven league: NBA teams only carry 12 players on the active roster and its not like everyone on the bench plays. In the NBA, one or two superstars can carry a team, where in baseball that doesn't work. So it's easier to promote guys like Steph Curry, LeBron, Giannis, Harden etc. We have even seen a player like Giannis carry his team, whereas in baseball that doesn't work. Just look at the Angels all these years with Mike Trout. Casuals prefer going to baseball games only in the summer. It's an afternoon or night out with a group of friends. They don't even go to Blue Jays games to watch any of the game. More just to sit in the stands, get some sun, talk, drink beer and to take selfies. 2-3 games over the course of the summer are enough for these kind of people.

I'm probably one of the very few who love watching late night west coast baseball games. So relaxing! I'll usually watch a game if one of my favourite pitchers is on the mound or if its a good pitching matchup. I was a huge Tim Lincecum and Dan Haren fan, so I would always make sure to try and catch all of their starts. But not every fan is like that lol.

But are they going to playing like this for the rest of the season? Do you really think that?