jaysblue

Was flipping between games and managed to catch Cam Smith's first big league hit haha. Was watching mainly the Braves/Padres, Giants/Reds and Pirates/Marlins. Fun to see Skenes vs. Sandy, both arms looked great!

If Jays are even money tomorrow, putting down $100.

Incoming Masterbather posts coming your way haha.

This aged so well haha.

This aged well.

Yankees should still be decent, but I don't seem frontrunners for the AL East and winning 90+ games anymore. AL East is wide open. Even the Orioles have some holes.

There really isn't an AL powerhouse team like the NL has with the Dodgers, Braves and Phillies. AL is definitely wide open. Blue Jays definitely have a chance. Tough to pick the division winners in all AL divisions. Everyone is so closely-grouped together. Shocked predictions are so low on the Reds. I could see them contending with the Cubs for the division, especially if Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo are healthy. In the NL East, still have the Phillies over the Braves right now.

AL East is definitely up for grabs. Tough to pick a clear favourite right now. Anyone of them could win the division. My pick is Boston, but I wouldn't be surprised if even Toronto or Tampa managed to win the division. Hopefully the Jays get off to a good start and force Atkins' hand at the trade deadline to make some big moves.

At least Leafs tickets resell haha and most season ticket members recoup their costs even for dog games. They've been hiking prices for the Raptors ever since they won the Championship in 2019. I understand modest increases like for 2-3 years after they won, but they should have froze the prices for season tickets. Instead they kept increasing the prices every year even after the Raptors have been awful and in the midst of a rebuild. Like there is no justification to increase ticket prices when the team is performing poorly. I likely was going to renew again if the prices stayed the same or if they decreased prices a bit, but when I saw another increase that brought me close to $10K, I was turned off.

Cancelling my Raptors season tickets after over 10+ years. MLSE can go F themselves!

Atkins playing 4D chess!

To Stang and L54

Spanky quoted my previous post from another thread below where I said the Sean Murphy extension should be a benchmark for Kirk and I wasn't that far off at all.

Do the Jays really have anyone else? lol.

Gotta hope you ride the starters for 7 innings. No babying them. If you can squeeze an extra inning out of them, you probably have to.

As a free agent, he would be 28. If he has another two seasons where he's struggling to crack 100 wRC+ offensively or barely cracking 3 WAR, given his age and physical conditioning, not sure he gets much more than what he just got from the Jays. Glad the Jays didn't have to pay Kirk $20M like some on here suggested that's what it would cost 🤪

I doubt Kirk would have topped the Sean Murphy extension as a free agent, unless he all of a sudden regained his 2022 form with the bat over the next two seasons. The last two seasons he's been a 95 wRC+ bat with under 3 WAR. He needs to return to being a 125-130 wRC+ bat offensively in order to demand way more. If he sticks as just a 95 wRC+ bat and as a 3 WAR player, he's not getting much more than what he got now as a FA.

Yeah it's a win-win for both parties. Kirk gets financial security for him and his family at such a young age and is set up for life. If he suffered a major injury and missed a lot of time this season, he likely gets non-tendered and has to fight for a one-year deal like Jansen got this offseason for something under $10M. He enters the FA market during his age 32-season, so if he proves to be a 3-4 WAR catcher each season during the duration of his contract, he should still land a favourable deal afterwards as well. For the Jays, they are set behind the plate for the next five seasons and that should give them enough time to hopefully develop a young catcher or two in the minors via the draft etc. Signing Kirk to an extension now was the right move since if he rediscovers his 2022 bat, he likely would cost more. If he just stays as a 3 WAR defensive catcher, this contract is still very good. Just got to make sure you have a good backup and that Kirk stays healthy.

AL East: Red Sox AL Central: Twins AL West: Astros NL East: Phillies NL Central: Reds NL West: Dodgers AL Wild Card: Blue Jays, Athletics, Orioles NL Wild Card: D'Backs, Braves, Cubs - AL East is wide open this year given the Yankees and Orioles injuries. Wouldn't even count out the Jays or Rays, though think the Red Sox are in a better position. - AL Central is a tough one: tossup between the Twins, Guardians, Tigers and Royals. Not really sure who to go with, but I like the Twins if healthy. - AL West: will go with the Astros over the Rangers. Athletics I think win enough to grab a WC spot, but won't win the division. NL East: will be a battle between the Braves and Phillies, but will go with the Phillies since they're healthy and a veteran club. Bullpen will be the real test for them. Once Acuna and Strider are back, Braves will be threats. I think the Mets don't make the Postseason. Nationals could be a sleeper team and win 80 + games maybe but not enough to win a WC spot. NL Central: Cubs I suppose are the favourites but gonna go with the Reds. Think Terry Francona manages them to a division title with the talent they have. NL West: Dodgers lol.

Since Opening Day is this Thursday, post some of your picks below for the following: Divisional Winners AL/NL MVP, Cy, ROY, Comeback Player MLB HR Leader, SB leader etc.

The Rockies have to be the worst ran organization in baseball. It's a real shame since Coors Field is awesome to watch a game and one of my favourite ballparks.

Whoever was suggesting $20M AAV for Kirk a couple weeks ago was on something lol. Great signing if Kirk continues to be around a 3 WAR catcher and figured he would sign for something around $11.6 AAV over 5 or 6 years. No way he was topping Sean Murphy's contract extension and that was the benchmark used. If Kirk rediscovers some of his 2022 magic with the bat, he's likely a 4 to 5 WAR catcher, so good they locked him up now at this rate. Runs through 2030, so he'll be 31 by time it expires.

Clement having a monster spring which is great to see! Hopefully he's made some adjustments at the plate and some of that success carries over into the regular season. If he can be like a Brandon Inge at third base, would take that in a heartbeat! Roden deserves to make the MLB roster. Love his OBP skills and would be nice if he turns into a Brandon Nimmo type of player!

We need to use Fantrax for this league. I can't even sign into my Yahoo account. Always have to reset my password FFS and so annoying!