Brownie19

Suggestions the Rangers are looking to move Lance Lynn. I wonder what the cost would be. He's a FA after this season.

Perry Minasian has been hired as the Angels' new general manager, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Minasian quickly emerged as the favorite this week as the Angels began narrowing down their long list of initial candidates with a final round of interviews. He spent the last three seasons serving as an assistant to Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos, and before that he worked for nine years in the Blue Jays' front office and scouting department. BJ connection getting a shot. Best of luck with the Angels.

Right, well there's obviously a disconnect in what Law sees v. everyone else.

Badler clearly knows nothing about pitching mechanics.

Man I really prefer to remain positional player heavy. The hit rate is so much higher. Draft positional players, buy the pitchers when the time's right.

He was lights out last year. He's always had a ton of arm talent. It will be interesting to see if he can put it all together as he has a chance to be a top of the rotation guy entering his age 30 season. It's crazy to think he was DFA'd last year.

I'd love to know how much money is put into bball programs across the US. To pay for coaches, shoes, court time, travel, etc. for leagues across all ages is pretty insane. For football, maybe coaching and extra development doesn't matter as much at a young age? I'd equate football in the US to hockey in Canada in terms of popularity and such. In Canada, you typically just get volunteer coaches at the minor league programs. Some are great, others are s***. I'm yet to see any kid simply play 2-3 times a week at minor league hockey who goes on to have significant success. For the vast majority it often requires $$$ for extra ice time, private/semi-private lessons, etc. and eventually a move to an expensive AAA travel team. I'd even suggest that to even make rep team at the age of 8 through 10 that you typically need to pump some extra money out to get them on the ice more and to give them extra opportunities. Otherwise they're destine for the local league program, which are mostly full of kids who just play for fun - no focus, no effort, etc. Edit - Hurl kind of beat me to the punch...kids simply can't start playing baseball or hockey at age 13 and go on to great success.

Why are football and basketball athletes able to develop and excel in the US without playing for expensive high end travel teams? Or do they, but those programs are subsidized so families who can't afford it can still enroll their kids? I mean in Canada to excel in almost any sport, you need the $$$ for extra training and/or to join travel teams.

And if true - might that not be why TLR's comments were what they were? Seeing as he worked for MLB, perhaps his comments were meant to be dismissive and were more based on his knowledge of the efforts being made and struggles to make it work (regardless of the outcome - this is a complex issue with many layers and issues). Maybe he was just a little sick of people complaining about it without knowing much about the issue and the challenges they are facing... But probably not. I mean if Adam Jones complained about it, it must be true.

I assume the Indians have to give us permission to discuss an extension before a trade is made. Is it that permission that drives up the prospect cost? or the actual extension? I mean it's in Lindor's best interests to have the Jays keep their prospects. Couldn't he just say he won't sign one prior to the trade, the Jays give up less and then he agrees to sign one a few months later? Or would that be collusion?

Would you two shut up.

Marcus Stroman indicated on his Twitter account on Tuesday morning that he has ruled out signing with the White Sox as long as Tony La Russa is manager. "No amount of money honestly," when asked by a fan about the possibility. "Peace of mind is always priority." La Russa's hiring came under fire for his previous comments on race and the decision by the White Sox is being scrutinized even more after it was learned late Monday that the Hall of Famer was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol on October 28. I wasn't familiar (or had forgotten) what LaRussa said about race, so I googled it and came up with this: Former Major League Baseball manager Tony La Russa says he recognizes there are issues that affect the black community in the United States but takes some issue with what Baltimore Orioles star Adam Jones said and questions the motives ofSan Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Appearing on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on ESPN Radio on Wednesday, La Russa said that while he respects Jones as a person and a player, the Orioles outfielder was off base when he said baseball is a "white man's sport." "When he says it's a white, like elitist, kind of sport, I mean how much wronger can he be? We have tried so hard, the MLB, to expand the black athletes' opportunity," said La Russa, who spent two years working for Major League Baseball. "We want the black athletes to pick not basketball or football, but want them to play baseball; they should play baseball. And we're working to make that happen in the inner cities. We have a lot of Latin players. We have players from the Pacific Rim." Jones' opinion on the lack of African-American players in MLB is supported by the league's demographics. Only 8 percent of the league classifies as African-American, according to USA Today, with a total of just 69 black players being on the Opening Day rosters of the league's 30 teams. La Russa agreed that there is an issue but said effort is being made. "It's very difficult in the inner cities to get black athletes to play the game," La Russa said. "So what [MLB is doing is] expanding the opportunity so the black athlete gets a chance." La Russa further said baseball is the smart choice for young athletes, regardless of race. Is that the quote he's referring to? I found more stuff about him not supporting players kneeling, but he has since said his views have changed (since his initial reaction) over the past 4 years. Am I too white to see what he said wrong?

Is Heyward finally fixed? I know it's only 50 games, but he was awesome at the plate last year. The type of player the Cubs thought they were getting when they signed him as a FA. Heyward in CF and Bryant at 3rd would be a pretty sexy upgrade. I'm fine with Baez too though...as exciting as he is to watch, I suspect it's extremely frustrating to watch him day in and day out.

Suggesting a team is interested in a FA means next to nothing. I'm sure they're interested in upwards of 40 FA's. They should be kicking the tires on almost every FA.

That doesn't mean anything either...it's all ********.

Ross Stripling was a very good pitcher until 2020. As good or better than Ray, Walker or Roark have ever been. Hopefully whatever the f*** was wrong with him can be corrected as he'll probably end up as our 3rd or 4th best starter if he returns to the pitcher he was in 2018 and 2019. The issue is probably having too many reclamation projects without a ton of depth to replace them if they flop. You also have to consider that Ryu is a major injury risk while Pearson may have innings limits. We will hopefully have the likes of Roark, Kay, Murphy, Hatch, Zeuch, etc. as our #6 through #10 starters (which isn't too bad), but I have to think that probably puts us out of the running for risky guys like Paxton, Kluber, Walker, etc. Obviously Bauer is a perfect fit (especially if he wants to start ever 4th day), while I'd have to think someone like Quintana would be on the list.

I think that remains to be seen. Ray was horrendous last year. Everyone on the team was essentially better than Robbie Ray was in 2020 so he certainly could take away pitches from several players who are better than him.

Bryson Dechambeau would beg to differ.

Acknowledged; however, Shapiro likely still signed off on it. I just don't like the "well last time we jumped the market, we got Morales" talk without acknowledging we've had success doing that also. We also don't talk about failures we've had when signing people later in the FA season. It's just an empty opinion IMO.

I'm curious to see what guys like Kluber, Archer, Quintana, Odorizzi, Paxton, etc. get. I mean we all know the 'stuff' is electric, but there's nothing more frustrating than watching pitchers walk guys.

Don't forget how they re-signed Happ and Estrada very early in free agency period after the 2015 season....they successfully jumped the market that year, got those 2 at reasonable contracts and they anchored the rotation to a 2016 playoff birth.

Chris Davis has been back on Adderall for the past 2 season I believe. He was granted permission and he's still horrendous.

I guess having a lot of money to spend is the first step, their building blocks seem non-existent (yes they've had some waiver wire success, but you're not building around Yas, Dickerson and Dubon) and they don't have this incredible farm system that's about to dumps lots of talent onto the ML roster. I guess they can try to buy a winning team through Free Agency, but history suggest that's often unsuccessful. Seems odd - usually it's teams that have that solid base there, with a stocked farm system who see a window to contend and use free agency to put them over the top. I just don't see the Giants being anywhere near that. I just see a horrible roster that should probably be selling high on Yas, Dickerson and Dubon to try and rebuild. Maybe add some short term FA's that you could sell at the trade deadline to add talent. Maybe it's just me though.

That's because literally everyone on their team overperformed last year. Fair point about spending and then trading it for long term assets, but post COVID it seems unlikely many owners will be looking to do that.