glory

Yeah that's probably not going to end well, but versatility can't hurt.

If Kawhi leaves I find it hard to imagine Masai not blowing the team up. Even if they could make the playoffs without Kawhi, why wouldn’t they try to use the giant expiring contracts to add long term assets as opposed to keeping them, finishing as a 5th or 6th seed, and losing them for nothing? Cap space for the Raptors is meaningless. No good free agent with options wants to play here. Actually, considering who owns the Raptors, maybe a 45 win season and a competitive first round series would be preferable to a rebuild.

Yeah I think I read that analytics favor Gasol by a significant margin. He is better defensively, a better passer, and spreads the floor more. A lineup with Siakam/Gasol up front is going to be an upgrade. Enough of an upgrade to win the EC? I don't know. They couldn't really realistically improve at SG, SF, and PF, and Lowry is probably untradeable with his contract, so the only other option was to upgrade C, and they did. The way the roster is set up, Masai is preparing for a rebuild after this year. This is basically his AA-2015 push except he actually cares enough to maintain flexibility, whereas AA threw both his middle fingers up and knew he was gone anyway.

Gord Ash was one of the worst GM’s I have ever seen and probably will ever see in my lifetime. No way JP was worse than him.

Yeah even something more minor that eliminates the incentive to tank/openly rebuild would help the league. Like if the Jays knew they couldn't lose 90+ games in 2019, then they would have spent some money on free agents, as would the majority of the teams in the league in a similar spot. It makes sense. Plus, even when the Jays are rebuilding, I'd like to see a watchable product on the field.

There is a long string of tweets from Sherman about proposed changes. I agree with a lot of them. I really like forcing teams to be competitive rather than tanking and sitting on their money. The above seems a little excessive, but it's a starting point.

Like both changes if they happen.

Do Canadians have a really, really low standard for excellence?

Lol, I read the Thanos post and not the one he was quoting. My point still stands though. Stop quoting Keith Law. Don't even type his name out in parody. Please?

Is there a way to use the ignore feature for any post with Keith Law in it? Geez man, why do people keep quoting that guy?

Shatkins doesn't really put much value on defence (at least so far in their tenure). They like exit velocity, barrels, launch angle, etc, so Bryce is like the perfect Atkins player. The Jays won't be getting him, but kinda wish they were less risk averse and more willing to jump on opportunities, assuming of course that Harper would even want to sign in Toronto (he probably doesn't).

Steroid ball saved baseball, and now it's looked down upon while the game sinks into obscurity. What a joke.

Decreasing the number of regular season games while more teams make the post season is something that I will absolutely hate but seems like the only real compromise. More teams in means more fan interest in more cities. Right now the AL has like 4 good teams and whoever this year’s version of the 2018 A’s will be. That’s about it. Attendance and ratings are going to suck worse than ever before. There also should be a way to make tanking less appealing. I’m sure one sport will figure it out and the rest will follow. Man baseball needs to change so many things and we will be lucky to see any real change any time soon.

Yeah I don’t know when it will happen, probably when it’s already too late, but at some point they will lower the amount of games played in a season and shorten the season in general (late March to f’n November is insanely long).

Baseball has also followed the NBA in terms of teams intentionally tanking, and there's a lot of them now, so when more than half the league sucks ass and there are 162 games in a season, it's a really bad combination. They might have to start a system that does not incentivize rebuilding. Like there was nothing preventing the Jays from signing Morton, Happ, and Brantley (assuming they all had interest in signing with the Jays) while still hoarding prospects and rebuilding the farm system in the background. Instead they chose to sit on the money and purposely suck. Good for the team in terms of draft position and stuff like that, but horrible for the game when the majority of other teams are doing the same thing. Also, analytics (while it makes sense to use) probably bores the hell out of the casual viewer. Watch an episode of Inside the NBA with Barkley, Shaq, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson. No one says a word about in depth stats. It's a bunch of guys shooting the breeze, making fun of each other, and watching basketball. It is simply more fun to watch even if you're not a basketball fan. In baseball, you either listen to Brian Kenny types or Harold Reynolds types. It's boring and unentertaining. Like I said this goes beyond cosmetic changes to the game. I think baseball should change a little bit, hell, look at the NBA during Jordan's time versus today. It's night and day. They changed so many rules but the NBA is more popular than ever. Baseball has to make some cosmetic changes, but also have to market the game better. Manfred has the toughest job of any commish in sports. Saving MLB long term is going to be very tough.

I don’t see any way MLB doesn’t end up like NHL where it’s completely off the mainstream radar and national TV deals are not as lucrative. It’s not about shortening the game, it’s about removing the stigma of it being “an old white man’s game”. That’s why Kyler Murray coming to baseball would be a coupe for MLB. Elite athletes choosing baseball over other sports needs to happen more often, and I see no reason why they would with minor league pay being nothing and now free agency not being lucrative to most free agents. The Bill James quote that got him in hot water is going to end up being close to a reality in about 10-20 years. At some point the league has to adapt to the social media era. Make the players more accessible. Encourage them to create social media content that appeals to young people. That’s probably a step in the right direction at least.

I would have agreed with you guys last year since the Jays were trying to be good enough to contend for a 2nd wild card spot, but in 2019 they are better off trying to get playing time for the younger players. Even if Teoscar, McKinney, etc, are not long term pieces, at least see what they have, maybe they develop better than expected. If not, you move on. If the Jays signed Happ and Morton for the rotation, and needed some offensive help, then I'd be down with the idea of taking advantage of the cheap FA market. But unfortunately the timetables just don't match up.

Yeah, and no novelty games anymore. The Yankees/Red Sox might be an exception but 03-04 was the peak of that rivalry (in the last 25 years at least) and it hasn’t come close since. It’s amazing how mainstream baseball was 20 years ago and how irrelevant it is now. The game hasn’t changed. The games were still long back then, but the stars were a lot more popular. Baseball hasn’t been able to adapt to the social media age.

I agree with that. MLB is a regional sport now. MLB does not cater to a mainstream audience due to lack of individual stars. With ESPN being basically a sports version of TMZ now (mixed with some SJW pandering), they care more about what is trending and what can get views, and baseball isn't it. This was inevitable. The only time ESPN talks about baseball is if there is a PED or DV related suspension.

ESPN only cares about LeBron James, the NFL, and the NBA. MLB needs to find a new network. Getting money from a network that doesn't promote them is not going to expand their reach.

Arbitration is more lucrative than free agency at this point.

With the way the game is evolving, I think we will see a very fluid roster with guys (except for the stars like hopefully Vlad, Bo, etc) playing everywhere. Of course if Drury's bat doesn't improve then it won't be an option, I'm just saying if he takes a step forward then it becomes an option. He can still cover 2B, 3B, etc. Just makes the lineup more versatile. Plus it means I won't have to see Tellez play 1B, which is a bonus.

Yeah seriously, there is not a single likable quality about Law, and his baseball insight doesn't make up for it (it actually makes it worse).

Shatkins loves Gurriel. They might use him all over the field (our version of Marwin), but I don't think he loses playing time to Galvis of all players. Vlad, Gurriel, Drury at 3B-SS-2B is what I'm expecting. If Drury learns how to hit then maybe he can be moved to 1B and Gurriel can shift to 2B once they trade Smoak.

Yeah I don't know why the team is so adamant about keeping him at third. He is a big dude and clearly won't be above average defensively. He'll be closer to bad than good, most likely. Just move him to 1B, let him hit like a mad man, and then find a good defensive 3B. That is my one criticism of Shatkins. They don't give two shits about defense. Signing Galvis was the first time I can remember them valuing it at all. We are going to see a bunch of hitters with offensive upside hemorrhaging value defensively for no reason at all.