Dick_Pole

If I was commissioner I'd rename it the Gay Tranny List and force anyone on it to wear a sweater with a picture of that Ramos thing everyone hates. Therefore injured players would know that they're pussies if they go on the GTL and they should just play through the pain or take HGH like real men or hockey players would. Manfred is such a cuck.

1. Lowry is declining and FVV is improving to the point where there might not be a noticeable drop off in talent once Lowry leaves. 2. The team has played the last two months without JV or Gasol and has posted a winning record, including the games without Leonard. 3. It's debatable if Ibaka is even a tradable asset by next year. Though if he is playing like how he is right now, he would be. 4. Depending on the timing of any trade, the Raptors may have significant salary cap to work with to restore their depth if the current bench guys are promoted to starting roles. 5. Have you seen the pile of s*** that occupies the rest of the Eastern Conference? Siakam would be arguably the best player on every team not currently slotted in a playoff spot. Unless the Knicks or some other team reverses the talent exodus to the West this offseason I don't see how that will be any different next year. The cynical comparison of the Raptors to the Jays as a perpetual .500 team just because they aren't tanking is nonsense. Ujiri has thus far shown himself to be a much more capable GM than Ash, Ricciardi or AA. He's had mixed results on free agent acquisitions and re-signing players on the team but has been brilliant with trades and drafting. Once again Ricciardi's legacy on this city reigns supreme because people still have this loser mentality that no one wants to come to this city, Toronto teams can't compete to big cities like New York and Boston and that you need to embarrass your franchise like the 76ers did to get anywhere. The Spurs had 50+ win seasons every year basically since the Raptors came into existence until last year and they're located in San Antonio FFS.

The Raptors' depth was choking them up against the cap. A Golden State-like payroll without a Golden State team. This had to be done if the team has any shot of showing Leonard it's serious about building a winner by at least retaining Green. I don't know why people keep throwing around this word rebuild. The team had a short bench and no Leonard tonight and manhandled a team actually in a rebuild on its home court after a bad start. This is basically next year's team if he goes to LA. If by rebuild you mean 45 win team with a first or second round playoff exit, then yeah I guess that's a rebuild. It's certainly no Jays 2018 team though.

I like this trade, moreso this is a positive impact on cap space starting next year.

Strange that the 76ers would be a willing partner in the deal too.

As everyone is s***ing on Ash, I'll be the Devil's Advocate and remind everyone he was the guy in charge when the Jays got Cruz for two average relievers. So that in itself should increase his rank a bit. Of course he was also blocked from doing that horrid Astacio trade but did manage to pull off Loaiza. And the David Wells trade lol. I still think Ricciardi is worse. He was good at constructing the 25-man roster with valuable filler, but was horrid where it counted on the draft and development end of things. The Jays drafted Halladay, Wells, Rios and Young under Ash. Not bad even if he traded or wanted to trade them all away for rentals. My ranking of the 5 GMs is: Gillick Atkins AA Ash Ricciardi

As a die-hard conservative I greatly approve that A's hat. Washington's hat looks good. The Cincy hat looks like something 50 Cent would wear. I got a chuckle out of the Royals hat. That Angels logo with a crown. Maybe you can pull it off if your team's not going to lose 90+ games. I don't get the love for Milwaukee's bm hat.

I actually agree with what Jim says about stolen bases and limiting pitching changes. Stat nerds and the pursuit of roster efficiency have played a role in making the game less exciting. The worst thing that could have happened to baseball is the Tampa Bay Rays. Instead of putting the Rays in a market that can support a $100M+ salary they have to let that atrocity of a franchise find new ways to exploit every possible loophole to compete and then other teams have to follow suit. Instead of drafting and developing pitchers who are good enough to get players out in the first and ninth innings (because drafting and developing pitchers is risky), we're going to get a bunch of fringe specialized pitchers who are interchangeable and easily moved between the 25-man roster and AAA. Even worse if the league decides to expand beyond 27 players. So now instead of the classic Maddux versus Gwynn type of matchups, you'll have your star hitters face four different Joe Blow Nobodies during the course of the game. That does not help marketability. Now imagine if you had an NBA team with unlimited roster changes and in-game specialization. You go to central Sudan and find yourself a couple of 8-foot tall 180 pound Manute Bol clones and stick them at the back end of your roster. Every defensive play you have them stand in the paint with their 11 foot reach and once your team takes back the ball you change on the fly and put competent shooters in. Extreme example but that is what baseball is turning into with relief pitchers right now.

They tried changing baseball to make it more exciting and marketable in the early 2000's and the end result is that Clemens and Bonds can't get into the HOF because a bunch of 140 pound writers who still manage to have beer bellies have decided what an athlete should be.

You guys make fun, but there is a reasonable theory to this. Defer paying players for as long as possible and inflation will mitigate the impact of their salary. Really how much does $1.6M get you now? A s***** reliever? The Mets did these types of deals because their money was managed by Bernie Madoff and he was always making killer returns. Now of course with people talking about baseball in decline (supposedly with salaries inflation slowing), these types of contracts become far more risky.

Brady...LeBron. How are you a Jays fan when you are just about the biggest bandwagoner possible for every other sport? Guess you started following baseball in 1989 or something.

s***, I knew I should have bet the under. 55 and it wasn't even up for grabs at any point of time. I was just worried about a Pats/Chiefs type of finish.

I can see why people rag on you constantly on this forum.

Google is your friend: https://www.google.com/search?ei=74lUXN0W4uqPBLiQnugN&q=giannis+antetokounmpo+masai+ujiri&oq=giannis+antetokounmpo+mas&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.0.2938.3830..5616...0.0..0.112.338.3j1......0....1..gws-wiz.......35i39j0i131i67j0i67j0i20i263.5Ri3MmjIpL4

Look Axford is never going to be signed because the FO needs him to remain unsigned so people are busy talking about him instead of guys who could actually contribute to the team like Keuchel or Moustakas.

Wants to be, and reality are two different things. For anyone who thinks the Raptors are going into tank mode if Leonard leaves isn't too familiar with the rosters from teams below the Pacers in the standings. If the Raptors stand pat, lose Leonard and sign Green, I predict two zombie 45ish win seasons until all the contracts run their course then they make their run at the Greek and hope the young guys have matured into reasonable #2 and #3 options on a competitive team. That's not such a bad situation to be in. If you consider a first round exit purgatory well that is half the league right now and for at least the next 2-3 years. You can't have 25 teams in the NBA dumping players for picks and cap space and vying for a high draft pick. There is value in not embarrassing your franchise. You'd rather be in the Knicks spot? If that was anywhere other than NYC, their plan of hoping to sign two big stars would have little chance of working.

LOL Knicks. The east/west imbalance gets even stronger. I really hope they get the #1 pick because they'll still be irrelevant even with Williamson. Just remind yourselves every time the Yankees thrash the Jays this year that our city owns them in the winter months.

"Is Vlad Jr the best prospect ever?" or is "x the best prospect ever?" is a stupid question to ask. If the Jays brought him up last year he wouldn't be considered a prospect at all. If the Jays kept him in the minors another two years to swat a 1.500 OPS he probably would be. "Most hyped prospect" is the only one that can really make any sense being asked. Might as well ask if Pluto is the best dwarf planet ever or just a really s***** regular planet. Just look at the debate that's happening. "He can't be because he's a 3-tool player". Well what if his three tools produce more value than a player with 5-tools? What if he puts up Barry Bonds numbers as a career DH? Is he the most valuable prospect ever then? We'll find out in about 20 years I guess so I hope the admin has secured this URL for a while. That's the kind of dumb what-if argument that can happen when dumb questions are asked. The only relevant questions are "Does he have the best trade value?" or "Does he have the highest WAR/salary projection/potential?"

As far as the rebuild, it would be just the 1.5 years if the Raptors are in on who we all think they'll be in on, plus whatever return for Davis and Lowry (might as well dump him too if they're going that route).

I think we have been through enough playoffs to recognize that the Raptors haven't been winning with superior depth, might as well try something different. A top 3 of Leonard, Davis and Lowry trumps anything outside of Golden State and at least close enough to them to make a 7-game series interesting, particularly if the Raptors secure home court.

There is 0% chance the deal gets done without Siakam. Though Aunoby AND the pick (they're probably assuming Raptors are trash by 2021 with this deal) is a little rich. But I agree with the rest of the sentiment. Go for it. This is the best shot the Raptors have and if they can somehow get Davis and Leonard in the same room and convince that this team has a better chance at winning with them as the core than the *snicker* Clippers organization, that would be even better. What I find comical is the continued portrayal of Ujiri as a "risk taker" instead of merely being a smart GM. The San Antonio trade was brilliant from all possible angles, both for the short AND long term health of the organization. That's okay though, let the NBA think that's he basketball's version of AA. It seems like the NBA and the media that covers it is a few years behind in thinking versus MLB when it comes to efficient roster construction. Which is strange because they've had the cap for years and teams have always had to do moves with that in mind, like divvying off expiring contracts in Davis-like deals.

With the rise of the 60+ gender identities thing, this is only going to get worse with time.

Not to crap on Stieb too much because he was a great pitcher, but I'm looking at his very meh 1986 and 1987 seasons and him s***ing the bed those years cost the team at least one playoff run. If the Jays were to ever make the playoffs in the 2000's, it would be because of Halladay.

You know I always hear this narrative about Stieb that he played on horrible teams. He played half a season on the 1979 team and a strike shortened 1981 team. So basically 3+ seasons on bad teams and 1982 wasn't that bad and 8+ seasons on good to excellent teams (counting 1991 and 1992 as "+"). Halladay was on consistently mediocre teams AND he was in a tough division during schedule imbalance.