glory

Props to Atkins for identifying SWR. It is hard to get top prospects from other teams in trades, and while Brody is an agent parading as a GM, it was still a nice move to be able to get a young SP pre breakout.

If I had to make a prediction, I'd say the Jays will sign McHugh. Shatkins seems to like the high spin rate pitchers and McHugh comes from an org that Atkins traded with like every couple of months.

The QO screwed Ozuna as it did Odorizzi. In the next CBA, the MLBPA might want to fight to get rid of it completely.

Whoever it is, my condolences when his name is released.

Drury has an option left. Wonder if they put him in AAA and use Panik as the utility IF, although he's only really played 2B in his career (where he's good defensively).

Interesting. The one thing baseball has over all the other sports is quantity (there's a shitload of games) and MLB TV is very Gen Z friendly. I got MLB TV on my phone during the season, and it's a great app. Can watch every game, can pick which feed you want to watch, get highlights of runs/relevant plays almost instantly, get the entire game available to watch later if you want to, and so on. With Gen Z the game itself is almost irrelevant. No one is going to sit and watch a 3 hour game on TV anymore, but an app that allows you to consume anything you want is a damn good start. That's why it is frustrating that they don't allow more freedom for YouTubers to post MLB clips, although maybe they are becoming more liberal with it because I do see certain videos out there now, and Jomboy seems to be allowed to post stuff with his commentary over it. One of the things Manfred said in an interview before was that MLB was trying to get kids to play baseball at a young age, and that to me will be a difference maker. A kid may not have the attention span to watch baseball when they are young, certainly not with so many options available, but playing the sport itself? That's more likely to create a long term fan. It's going to be interesting to see what happens to MLB in the next 10-20 years. I think it's clear they will probably never be a mainstream/national sport again, but they can still thrive as a regional sport. A lockout after 2021 is not going to help though so they better not go that route.

Agreed 100%. I saw a video with A-Rod and Gary Vee from last year talking about how they would fix MLB, and that's the first thing they said (BAM/MLBAM). Having the only baseball highlights on YouTube being on MLB's official channel (which has multiple ads at the beginning, middle, and end of videos) is ridiculous. A big reason why the NBA is so popular is that the moment something happens, even if it's just a great dunk by a player, it will be on multiple YouTube channels with different feeds/commentary. It will be posted on Instagram, Twitter, etc. ESPN can show condensed highlights of any NBA game they want to on their YouTube channel (which has over 6 million subs). That's how kids/teens are going to find the product. MLB has stifled that for their own financial gain, but don't realize that will eventually kill them. This scandal will do nothing. The game will go on as usual once the season starts. The real issues with baseball will remain and no one will talk about it. That isn't the only issue, there are many more, but that's a huge one. Hopefully with the success of JomBoy and his videos, MLB will start to loosen up a bit. Edit: found the A-Rod/Gary Vee video I referenced above. Worth a view if you have 15 minutes and care about this type of stuff. MLB really needs to see this if they haven't already.

Baseball was suffering even before this stuff came out so I would hope no one blames baseball's issues on this scandal. They are making record revenues but popularity in the sport seems to dwindle every year. The funny thing is, MLB has actually gotten more mainstream buzz with this scandal than they have for anything I can recall in the last 5-10 years. I don't even know if it's a good or bad thing at this point. If any sport needs to be talked about in the mainstream it is MLB, but obviously not for the best reasons. I think the worst thing to come out of this is that it robbed MLB of a Yankees/Dodgers World Series. That would have been a huge boon for baseball.

Of course some will get hurt, some will suck, or some will look like relievers, but at this rate the Jays have a lot of arms on the 40 man roster who are not yet ready for the bigs but are potential SPs. They won’t be able to stretch all of them out. Putting a guy like SRF in the big league pen wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Altuve went from lovable underdog to cheating villain in an instant. Wow.

Yeah, I don't know where the Jays are going to keep all of these arms. Not counting the vetrins in the MLB rotation (Ryu/Roark/Anderson/Shoemaker/Yamaguchi), we have: Pearson Kay Zeuch Thornton SRF Waguespack Borucki Merryweather Hatch All needing spots either in the AAA rotation or MLB/AAA bullpen. All of those guys except Pearson are on the 40 man, and Pearson should be added some time during the season. Then there's also Murphy, Diaz, and Perez on the 40 man roster. They'd all have to start in AA due to room. I would expect Thornton to win the #5 spot and Yamaguchi to be a multi inning RP, but even then there will be decisions to make on who pitches in what role in the minors. Some of those arms mentioned are likely better off in relief anyway, but Shatkins does not value minor league RPs so I think they'll want to stretch everyone out if possible.

Clarification on the option by Passan: So it's 4/84 with a $16m team option in year 5 or a $8m buyout. That makes more sense.

Passan and others have worded it the same way, so it does sound like the option is for $8m, but no one has outright said that. Donaldson will be in his age 38 season if that option is picked up, he'll pretty likely be washed at that point, so maybe that's why the option is so low.

What did he say that was wrong? Cora questioned how Stroman plays the game, and we later find out Cora has been cheating in two different orgs. Stroman is 100% right here. Maybe being petty by throwing dirt on someone who is about to get buried by MLB, but right nontheless.

Seems like it was more the players cheating than the front office, but can't ban the players.

Lol at including me as a Rays jockrider. I hate everything about the Rays. Their stadium sucks, their ownership sucks, they have no fans, they trade someone the moment they have to pay them a 7 figure salary or sign them to lowball contracts, etc, etc. They are horrible for baseball. But one thing they do well is develop talent and get the most out of them. I can't deny that. The Yankees develop hitters better than anyone. The Astros can fix pitchers (....and cheat) better than anyone. The Rays have a mixture of both. When I expect everything the Rays do to work out for them, it's not out of worship, it's out of spite. I hate that they can do that.

Agreed. Betts turned down $200m after the 2017 season and that was on a loaded Red Sox team with Dombrowski throwing money around like a drunk man. Based on his quotes he seems to be looking forward to being a free agent. Give him the most money/term, and he'll probably sign. Of course it would help if the Jays looked like they were ascending as a team, which hopefully they will given the youth on the roster, but whether the team has a closer or not likely isn't going to make or break his decision. If the offers for Giles suck right now, then hold him until the deadline and see what happens. If there's a deal out there now, then make it.

And the Dodgers seem to be saving up for him, so it will be a tougher sell if it's LA versus Toronto. Of course, offering more money + term can do wonders.

Yeah I don't think people realize that OF is the biggest hole in the entire org, not pitching. Who is the best OF prospect in the system? Maybe Chavez Young since it sounds like he can play CF but his bat has to catch up. The best OF on the big league roster is Grichuk who has 2 good months a year and is likely a 2 war player at best. I'm a Gurriel believer but he has to prove he can do it over a full season. It's just really bad top to bottom. Betts would be a great addition, although it's going to be a gross overpay and we'll likely regret the deal towards the end, but that's free agency.

He will be 33 next year. If his performance dips or even remains in line with what he did in 2019, he's probably not getting more than a two year deal anyway. Pretty smart deal on his part, IMO. Corner outfielders in their 30's are not a hot commodity in free agency.

I wasn't expecting the Astros to actually get anything for him, just that the Rays spot talent better than anyone in the league. I'm curious to see how Stevenson does now.