glory

Yeah, teams are not going to spend any money this winter. Betts isn't getting $400m anymore. The Jays payroll is practically nothing. I don't expect Rogers to increase payroll or anything, but the Jays more than most teams should have the flexibility to fit a big contract in there, even if they have to buyout Anderson, non tender Shaw, etc. Sign Mookie, and then put future Mookie in CF. Outfield problem solved.

Nothing related to his clients. Just general statements about the game. He was talking about how little league's participation rate with kids is so high but after that there is nothing keeping kids from continuing to play beyond that. Talked about Kyler Murray choosing football over baseball and how the league has to create a system where kids after little league can remain in the game and have the best athletes choose baseball over other sports. I didn't catch all of it, and Boras can turn a 30 second answer into 45 minutes, but basically talked about how the game needs to grow from a talent standpoint. Nothing on Martin or anything, at least not from the part I saw.

Scott Boras spitting facts on ESPN2.

CJ Van Eyk.

Of course the Rays pick Bitsko.

1. Pearson 2. Martin 3. Groshans 4. Woods Richardson 5. Manoah That would be my guess. Man I miss minor league baseball. FU Covid.

The fact that this happened because the O's messed up makes it even sweeter.

Shane Farrell making up for his father. Can’t believe we got Martin.

Austin f***ing Martin, let’s go!

Being an O’s fan must be depressing as hell.

If Veen is taken, I think it will come down to Meyer or Hancock. Usually I'd be against taking pitching this early in the draft, but I really don't like Gonzales' lack of positional versatility, and that's going to put a lot of pressure on his bat. At least with Veen, based on what I've read, a best case scenario for him offensively is very high even if he moves off CF. If the only question with Meyer is his height, and he's still like 4-5 inches taller than Stroman (who has had a pretty good career), then I'd probably take that gamble if there isn't a bat available that I think is worth the pick. Really depends on how the Jays view Gonzales. Shatkins is known to like exit velocity, barrel%, etc, based on all of their pickups, so depends on how Gonzales ranks in those areas.

I don't think 2 weeks would have done much either, that's why I was rooting for them to come back on July 4. Would that have made young people flock to baseball like it was the 80's? No, but there was so much potential there to give the sport the entire sports stage for a month and maybe bring in some new fans along the way. Come back on the 4th, mic the players up, show their personalities, give the sports world dying for any content an opportunity to fall in love with the game. That's what I was hoping for. It frustrates me because I want to see the game become more popular. It's my favorite sport, but I'm seeing it gradually become closer to the NHL in terms of popularity than the NBA or NFL, and that sucks. I envy you for having friends who like baseball. I hate being the one guy in my circle who likes baseball while everyone else is into basketball and football. As far as 48 games, I agree and disagree. I agree a shorter season has the potential to engage fans more as each game will have more meaning. Where I disagree is a shorter season for a less popular sport up against practically every other sport going on at the same time seems like it will have less engagement. I hope I'm wrong. I hope a 50 game season brings in more fans, it does better ratings than basketball, and I'm proven dead wrong about this potentially hurting the game.

I’m probably saying that partly out of frustration, as normally I’d agree with you, but a 48 game season delayed because of money would tick me off enough to make me tune out a bit. Of course if a 48 game season means the Jays win the whole thing, then I’ll take it.

Yeah I definitely remember Warmoth and Manoah heavily linked to the Jays before those drafts. I don't recall Groshans, but maybe he was and I missed it.

In my completely uninformed opinion I'd prefer Veen over Gonzales for position players, and Meyer over Hancock for pitchers. Three of those four should be available when the Jays pick (Royals will take one of them), so curious to see how the Jays rank them. Have read so many differing mocks.

Yeah, seems like they'll just wait until a certain point and then say they were "forced" to go with the 50 game schedule due to timing. No way the players agree to this.

Racist John Rocker having a black son would have been incredible. Until there’s a birth certificate to prove otherwise, I’m going with it.

I don’t know how old you are, but people in my age group (30’s) and below don’t give a s*** about baseball. Went to a game with a bunch of people two years ago, everyone scattered by the 2nd inning. It gets practically no engagement on social media platforms. Baseball needed to go unopposed in July more than any other sport. The Spanky’s of the world will keep watching baseball but fans like him will always watch. I’ve been a lifelong baseball fan but I’d choose the NBA over MLB if they were head to head, especially if one side is giving the playoffs and the other side is playing like 25% of a full season. That’s worrisome. Cue Spanky “savagely” roasting me up next.

According to Joel Sherman, the proposed 76 game season would begin on July 10 after a 3 week ST. So using that timeline, if it ends up being a 48 game season, then it's likely going to start later than that since they won't need as much time to get through that many games. If it's a 48 game season, then it would not surprise me at all if they begin it in August and run it through September, and start the playoffs as normal in October. They don't need 3 months to get through 48 games. No one will care because if MLB hasn't started by July 31, then everyone's attention will go right to the NBA. I'm sure Canada will be focused on hockey instead of the Jays as well. I think a 48 game season is fine as an experiment to see if a shorter season would be more interesting for audiences, but if it goes directly head to head with other sports like the NBA and NHL (and eventually NFL), then 1) MLB likely isn't going to get the casual fans to watch with other options available, and 2) the core fans who are old and don't like change are going to hate the shortened season. They'd be turning off both sides. I think MLB had to start on July 4, or at least in July where they could get a couple of weeks of regular season games in before the other sports start up. I guess it's not too late to still do that, but they seem to be waiting for a reason.

Manfred can still unilaterally start a season at any length as long as the players get their prorated salary. So if the MLBPA turns down this latest offer then Manfred can just say "48 game season starts on (insert date)" and the players either show up or strike. So I think there will be baseball, just a really short season that no one will give a damn about when all is said and done.

According to Passan, sounds like 48 game season with no expanded playoffs is the likely scenario for 2020. The fact that these group of morons could not get the season started on July 4, not due to health but due to money, makes this entire season pointless. They had one freakin' job. Get the season started on Independence Day, and then wrap themselves around the damn flag while they had an entire month to themselves to promote the game as 'Murica's National Pastime. I can't believe greed got in the way of something so easy. A 48 game season can be finished in a month and half, so I fully expect baseball to be stupid enough to begin the season after the NBA already starts up.

The one thing I heard was that they wanted to start the season Dec 1 so that the Finals wouldn't conflict with the Olympics in Japan, which the international players want to play for. I can see the logic there, but still, they could conceivably play Game 7 of the NBA Finals in the 2nd week of October, and then have to prepare for training camp like 3-4 weeks later. Yes it will only apply to the two teams in the Finals, but even the Raptors got 3-4 months off after winning the title last year. It's a grind. This playoff schedule will have no travel, but also less time off in between games, after they will have already been off for 3 months quarantining. If the Olympics is the reason, then I could see it staying on December 1, but a lot of players are going to hate it. And yeah, I think this will be a permanent change for the NBA. Without the Olympics, they might start the 2021-22 season on Christmas Day, which is what I thought they'd do this year, but either way, it's better for them to avoid the NFL as much as possible, and a December start date does that.

I would be shocked if training camp starts 3 weeks after the end of the NBA Finals. I think the players union will have that changed. Regardless it’s good to see the NBA coming back. I expect baseball to (begrudgingly) come back as well, but if they don’t at least the NBA will be running for a while.