jaysblue

Bills or Lions today?

Most of my team is on the IL now and LeBron James decided all of a sudden to disappear for no reason which leads me to believe he's on the Diddy list. Things aren't looking too good for the Tune Squad right now.

Nashville is one of the coolest cities in the States. If I had to live anywhere, would either be Nashville or Tampa.

Yeah I like Fried and all, but not sure he was an upgrade worth $218M more than Cortes.

Forgot about Jos Musgrove. But yeah AA definitely was smart and took advantage of the loopholes. He was one step ahead of other GMs/Front Offices in the games. We kind of need Atkins and this front office to be the same way in some different areas when it comes to player assessment and evaluation. Maybe we see it with them targeting high WAR defensive minded players like Varsho and Gimenez who seem to be undervalued and won't ever become crazy expensive in comparison to other players. First round draft picks can be a crapshoot and the success rate isn't as high as let's say in the NBA. We've known that in baseball for sometime. One thing AA did was draft/acquire high end talent which was sought after by the other 29 clubs, and therefore used a lot of those prospects as assets in trades to acquire elite players. He also was very limited when it came to spending in free agency, since Paul Beeston had the 5 year max rule for contracts. So AA had to be creative on the trade market since they couldn't spend a lot of money and years on free agents. Some trades were meh but some turned out to be really good. Regardless, yeah the draft picks under AA all didn't turn into studs. There were a lot of misses, so yes he wasn't a super genius or awesome in that department. Will give him kudos for exposing a loophole which allowed the Jays to restock their farm system quicker and also by using those assets in traded for MLB players. But still doesn't mean we should give Atkins and this front office a free pass when it comes to drafting and player development. They came in promoting how they would be that type of organization which focused on that area and have done a satisfactory job to this point.

Downtown Toronto wasn't as nice as it was 10 to 15 years ago. Definitely a lot has changed. Tent cities pretty much have popped up everywhere, lots of homeless and schizophrenics around especially on Yonge Street. You have guys shooting up in the streets as well sometimes in public which is awful. It's kind of depressing and feels like a Gotham City. Traffic is awful, so don't even bother driving. Always take the TTC, GO or UP. Even still, the TTC can be a hellhole or break down anytime so be careful. Restaurants/bars are overpriced downtown and aren't anything special. A lot better places for nightlife outside of the downtown core which are safer and less expensive. I only go downtown when a Raptors game is on or Jays game.

I get the feeling Barnes is going to be an injury prone guy for most of his career. The guy seems to get freak injuries all the time and misses a good chunk of time. Even that play earlier last week against the Knicks, there was no need for him to be that aggressive jumping trying to block Karl Anthony Towns from behind. Like need to tone down the aggressiveness in some circumstances especially plays where you can easily hurt yourself.

Yeah I hope the Jays would explore that possibility. If Atkins knows Vladdy is going to go to free agency and not sign a contract extension, have to explore that option. His value isn't going to be any higher like you said, with Soto just coming off the board.

The JPR regime was pretty awful at drafting/developing players. Off the top of my head, Adam Lind/Aaron Hill/Shaun Marcum/Ricky Romero were probably the best to come out of his draft picks. As for AA, he did build up the farm system very well during his time here and used those prospects as assets in trades. Did all of them turn into superstars? Not really other than Syndergaard for a couple of years with the Mets before he got injured. Matt Boyd, Jeff Hoffman, Travis d'Arnaud turned out to be alright down the road. For the Jays who they kept, arms like Stroman, Sanchez, and Osuna turned out to be really good. Devon Travis was a very nice trade - too bad he never managed to stay healthy. AA did sign Vladdy as an International FA and well he's the superstar of this team now, so that's gotta mean something. But yeah he wasn't turning out superstars or elite guys with every pick/prospect if that's the point you're trying to make. Wouldn't say the AA regime was awful at drafting/developing players.

Has it really got that bad? Last time I was there was in 2015.

Just upgrade the damn roster however possible. Screw the babel about "payroll can increase for a unique player" and then start listing all the second tier guys as "unique" after the first tier guys are off the board lol.

I will reserve judgement on Atkins at the end of the offseason after all moves have been made. I said the same thing last year that I didn't mind some moves he made like with IKF if he was brought in as a super utility guy and if KK was brought in as a 4th OF who gets around 300 PA, as long as the Jays go out to add two big bats. Instead both were in the starting lineup and the Jays didn't add anyone with any thump lol. They spent approx $45M on IKF, KK, Green and Turner, which was awful. I think the trade is fine. I understand Atkins' reasoning and the thought that it was a cheap way to add a 3 WAR floor guy via trade. If he finds his way with the bat, he's shown he could have 5 to 6 WAR potential. His age and the years of control are definitely nice, and it gives the Jays some insurance and infield stability when Bo decides to walk as a FA next offseason. Kinda shows you that Atkins isn't just thinking about this season, but post 2025 as well. Now let's hope the Jays are able to add two more power bats, in order to compliment the rest of the lineup. Need some balance and its obvious power is a missing ingredient when it comes to the lineup. Cannot ignore it again and only focus on slap hitting defensive first players. As well, let's hope the Jays have more in their payroll in order to add. If it's only $20M left as being suggested, would be very disappointed.

I think Burger will DH a bit more than play 3B in Texas, but yeah definitely a very good offensive infield with some pop.

The Jays could use a bat like Jake Burger.

Have no issue with the Gimenez trade as long as the Jays add a masher now in LF and at DH.

Nice! Glad they brought back Yimi and a nice deal as well. Need two more relievers ideally now: a lefty and a closer. Then I think the BP is good.

Thanks Jay!

I'm tech illiterate can't figure it out haha.

How do we post a post from Twitter again?

Bills are 2.05 and Lions are 1.80 for next week money line. Point spread is 2.0 at 1.90. Yeah Bills likely had their minds on the Lions game. It's a big statement game if they could beat them in Detroit.

He put up 1.5 and 1.4 WAR seasons in 2021 and 2022. Spend the $2-3M to bring him aboard!

Any idea how much Kelly or Cobb signed for? Just curious.