glory

He's a free agent after this season so he's likely trying to show he's healthy to get a contract. Unfortunately, he's likely damaged goods at this rate.

Urshela probably doesn't develop into what he is in any other org. Complaining about losing him is pointless.

He's reduced his K and whiff rates, but aside from that, he seems like the same player more or less from a results standpoint. Streaky, low OBP, good power. I was buying into the reduced K rate being more significant, and maybe with a bigger sample size it will prove to be, but still too early to tell.

Yeah, I think if they had the stars of each team make the selection, explain their selection, and then the team chosen has their star respond in a back and forth, it would make for great TV, especially if the players chosen have personality. The #1 seed right now in the AL is the White Sox. I have no doubt that Tim Anderson choosing an opponent would be entertaining. Unfortunately, the Rays are the 2nd seed, so not only would their star player be boring as hell, but their reasoning for choosing a specific opponent would probably be 5 minutes of in depth statistical analysis. Regardless, imagine a scenario where the Yankees choose the Astros to play in the 1st round. Judge, who got screwed out of the MVP in 2017, has to explain why. Bregman being the dbag that he is would have to respond. And so on. As long as there are no "unwritten" filters where the players are afraid to trash talk, it would help give teams some identity and give ammo to the teams selected in the first round. Plus, no other sport does it, so if done properly, it would be unique to MLB, which would help. I realize I probably made baseball purists vomit, but it's a new day. Time to embrace change.

Agreed. If seeds 1-4 have all the home games in the 1st round, get to choose their opponent, and only have to win 1 of the 3 games, then I'm fine with 16 teams. It makes being a 5-8 seed pretty unattractive, but at least it gives more teams a chance to have post season play. My guess is they won't do the "higher seed only has to win 1" model. The other two seem likely. I have said before, "choose your opponent" is a money idea. Have a 30 minute show where the star of each team represents their team and chooses their opponent. It would be great, and make the first round a lot more meaningful. Too much money to be made with more playoffs. I read that ABC will be airing some of the Wild Card games this year, and all the others on ESPN and ESPN 2. They instantly become a more valuable commodity to TV networks with more content. There's no going back to the old playoff format.

I did too, but surprised they kept it at 16. I thought they might go 14 and give the top teams a bye like was rumored many months ago. If they keep it at 16, then they need to give the top seeds an advantage, otherwise the regular season loses any meaning. Maybe in the 3 game WC series, the lower seed has to win 2 while the higher seed only has to win 1. At least that makes finishing higher more of an incentive.

I think everyone knew Kawhi left a better team 'weaker' conference to go home, so clearly championships was not his main objective. Still, the Raptors went as far as the Clippers did, except they didn't wet the bed in Game 7 like the Clips did.

If everyone is healthy, we will probably see Ryu, Shoemaker, and pick one at random between Walker, Stripling, Ray, Anderson, and Roark (hopefully not Roark) in the Wild Card Series. Teams with rotation depth are going to benefit from this playoff format (ex. Cleveland).

7 pitches for Giles. I wouldn't put him out there for a 2nd inning, but it's probably tempting considering the circumstances.

Charlie should have tried to squeeze a bit more out of Walker before pulling him. The Jays are f***ed for the next week, at least.

Yamaguchi's going to have to take one for the team here. He's at 47 pitches. See if he can get to about 75. His season high is 59. He can be stretched out a bit. A quick inning would be helpful.

Nope he is out of options. That's why him and Alford both made the team. The IL is a good idea if you want to hoard him for next year and work on his yips (or whatever the hell his problem is) during the winter/spring.

Roster spots are pretty important right now. The team isn't rebuilding anymore. The only way to work on his defence/confidence is to get him to Rochester, but without any options, they'll have to DFA him and hope no one claims him. Do you project him to be a good enough hitter to justify having a DH on the bench? The Jays had Vogelbach who could at least play 1B and he was no use to the team after a week. I'm just saying, the roster hoarding days are over. If the team wants to make a good showing in the playoffs, they'll have to value their entire roster.

Buntoyo had Villar at DH recently, so I'll agree putting Fisher at DH on those days instead would be fine. However, there are 14 (13 after tonight's loss) games left. They can't afford to work on his defence, especially since the flinch right before the ball dropped from his glove seems to indicate that it's mental with him. This is work he has to put in during the winter and into next season. Once Teoscar and Tellez get back, I'd much rather have Davis on the bench than Fisher.

He can't play the OF. This is not one game, this is practically every piece of sample size we've seen from him since the trade. I think he has intriguing offensive tools, but if he's strictly a DH, then he's not worth holding on to.

Have Fisher pitch the 9th, and then DFA him. Sanchez sucks, so no need to try to justify that trade. It was trash for trash.

I saw the replay of the missed catch, and it looked like a guy who flinched at the last minute. He has fly ball PTSD from that time it hit his face.

Fisher f***ed this inning and potentially the game here. Walker could have easily been out of the inning with a competent RF out there. Now who knows how many runs they'll pile up.

I think they'll play Biggio in RF and go with Villar and Panik in the IF. I was intrigued by Fisher's bat, but if he still can't catch routine fly balls, then he can f*** off.

You could tell by his face during the first error, it's a mental thing. Dude looked scared that the ball was going to hit his face. The Jays can't afford to play him in the OF right now. Not with every game mattering.

Fisher should never play again. I'm serious. Either DH him or play Davis.

No days off in the WC/DS/CS. Curious to see how teams manage a 5-7 game series with no off days. Starters will likely have to pitch on short rest.

Being well run and being bad for the sport are not mutually exclusive. Literally nothing the Rays do benefit their players or the sport. So while they have found a formula of getting the most out of very little, and it is very impressive based on their success, it's going to do more harm than good for the game if more teams start to emulate it. I would never want to root for a team like that, and hope the Jays don't steal some of those concepts in an effort to save money.

https://nypost.com/2020/09/15/mlb-playoff-contenders-to-enter-quarantine-before-season-ends/

Dinner is a disgusting comparison based on how he turned out, but there are some similarities there. Like I said, just comparing how they look mostly, and skill set, but hopefully Kirk has a much better career. Yeah I think once Fangraphs started incorporating framing numbers, Navarro's value torpedoed. He went from an average player to replacement level (or below replacement level) in a hurry.