saskjayfan

1980 was a different time. The NFL and the NBA certainly weren't anywhere near as popular as they are today and they weren't the marketing moguls they are today. I mean, Vince Ferragamo chose the CFL in 81 over the NFL because he got offered way more money. Baseball was America's past time. The options for kids entertainment in 1980 was completely different. Video games were for the rich and pong was the pinnacle of gaming! No internet, no computers. Baseball was way more accessible to kids in 1980 because so many kids played. It was far cheaper. 40 years later there's way more choice for kids entertainment hours at very affordable rates. Less kids play sports in general and a lot less kids play ball. This drives the costs up. I don't really think "the black" viewership is important. I don't like defining people by the colour of their skin. We need to look at low income, middle income and high income earners and their participation in TV watching and in game attendance. The reality is ticket prices have driven the low income earnings out of stadiums. The romance has been lost. In 1980 going to a baseball game was a very reasonable priced family outing compared to going to the movies and other forms of entertainment. Black people statistically as a proportion of total population have far more low income earners. Baseball has lost this group because of rising choice of low cost entertainment options outside the sporting world, as well as increased competition within the sporting world and the rising costs in baseball have priced out some of this segment to some degree.

Yeah, I was wrong. In hindsight especially with the new ownership it makes sense for him to take the QO, especially after not pitching last year.

I was wrong, I thought he would go to free agency, but the QO is a higher number than he would have got AAV on a longer term deal. With the new ownership and willingness to spend he bets on himself with a team that likely spends more and has a shot at competing. I wouldn't be surprised if the mets got Realmuto.

You're probably right. They do lose a lot of their salary after next year too. I just look at the money they are spending next year and their team and it's pretty gross.

The cardinals aren't going anywhere. I wonder if they would hit the reset button and trade Flaherty? He's got three years of control. It would cost a lot, but I wonder if they would make him available for the right package.

I'm with you on the first couple, but enough with number 4. We should have a lot of payroll to add to a team was really good last year. We didn't lose anyone. We should be expecting to make the playoffs.

The most important part of my post was winter sucks! I spent three hours shoveling my driveway yesterday and late in the day when I finally thought I could get off my crescent I backed my vehicle out got stuck and 10 minutes later after help from my neighbors they helped me get my vehicle unstuck and I just drove back into my garage..lol.

I agree.... Bauer Ryu Paxton Ray Pearson Trevor Rosenthal added to the pen..go Jays! ps....winter sucks!

I hope they move him to the bullpen.

That's not true. AA was very aggressive with early signings last year with Atlanta.

I sort of straddle this line myself. When I look at the available free agents there's many more that I would have preferred, but we added three starters last year. I think we will do the same this year. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they saw something in Ray they were working on that they feel can get him back to being the pitcher he was the previous 4 years. A one year commitment is palatable.

Roark's contract was horrible. I hated it the minute was signed and made those thoughts known in the thread on here relating to it. Many thought it was fine. I don't feel that way about the Ray contract. It's nice to get some certainty early. It's a one year deal and Ray has some real upside.

I kind of feel like most agents who see this deal will feel like it's time to call the Jays about the players they represent. The Jays mean business.

Robbie seemed like a good guy. It's Rogers money and it's only a one year deal. I feel like they Jays need to sign 3 starters. Ray has good stuff. I don't mind a one year deal on him.....and a million or two isn't going to kill us. If Ray is worth 8 that bumps Morton up significantly though. Other teams might not like this signing.

I'm sort of answered it by saying I'd rather keep all three and trade for Story. I wouldn't trade one year of Lindor for any of those three. If Lindor was willing to sign a long term extension at the time of the trade it might be a different conversation.

I think I'd rather have Story, because the price will be less and I don't feel like players in Colorado are properly evaluated. Colorado gives with Coors field but it also takes away. Travelling from altitude to away destinations is hard on the body and adjusting to breaking balls is incredibly difficult on the road. The adjustments take away for the advantages that Coors gives players, but it doesn't give anything back to Rockies players on the road who deal with challenges no other players in the league have to deal with on the road.

You can't ignore the exit velocity and barrel percentage. Teo can handle the heat. XWOBA .381 last year for Teo. I really don't want to trade for Lindor if we can't sign him to an extension.

Teoscar is a guy who always has a smile on his face. He's just a fantastic person. I'm so happy for Teoscar. I hope he can continue his play in the coming years. What a beauty!

It's not very often I laugh out loud for real when reading the forum. Well done.

In this scenario I'd rather trade grichuk and save the money and use Rowdy/Vlad as 1st base and DH. You spent a fair amount of cash there....about 75 mil...save some cash on grichuk and sign Trev rosenthal. You can't make all those moves and not address the bullpen.

I feel like this is an old wives tale. Whether they are serious about letting Vlad play third really effects the off season. If they were, Rowdy moves to first full time and he's a good defensive first baseman. Springer makes a lot more sense in centre or JBJ might even make sense and you could rotate the other 3 in the DH role.

so what happens first, the first free agent signing in the MLB or the finishing of the original vote count in the US election.

I never said Springer didn't grade out better defensively. I said the upgrade wasn't enough for me to pay an older player an extra year or 2 and an extra 8 mil a year. These are subjective matters. Feel free to disagree. I don't think either should be our priority. We need starting pitching and bullpen support along with a 3rd baseman or a short stop. Those would be my priorities. I'm intrigued by Kim....maybe just because he's the wildcard.

I'm all for saving Rogers money. If we can't win the world series with a Tampa bay Rays payroll, is it even worth winning?

Ozuna had that one really bad defensive highlight, which probably also killed his defensive statistics as well, but for his career he's decidedly average defensively. Springer isn't miles better than Ozuna defensively. If you look at outfielder jump that last 4 full seasons Ozuna edged out Springer in the rankings 2 of the 4 years and overall Springer was a tick above Ozuna, but both were very average. I would want to move Grichuk if we made a move for either. I just like the shorter term and 7 or 8 mil per year discount you get with Ozuna and I feel like he might be the better offensive player over the next few years.