Brownie19

first time I've read anyone suggest Kirk lost weight this offseason...good stuff if true.

Which #1/#2 starter are you referring to? Ever consider that person doesn't want to sign in Toronto and thus the FO had to shift gears?

Not that I recall. I'll pay more attention though. I know W gives me trouble at times though. Someone asks "where do you live" and I usually have to say "the beach - Wasaga Beach". I can't lead with the W word.

Matz and Chatwood don't prevent us from signing Paxton or Odorizzi or even Bauer....

As Laika points out - easier said than done to attract someone like Archer on a pillow contract when you play in the AL East. They must see something in Matz.

Well this one is confusing. Is there something in his underlying metrics? Candidate to abandon starting and become a dominant reliever?

It's funny how certain situation make it worse. For me lately, it's words that start with d.

I didn't - I just f***ing struggled through it and learned to deal with it. Eventually it went away and I was all good....until recently. 20 f***ing years later and suddenly it's come back when I'm talking to people I'm not overly comfortable with. Super awesome stuff. Kind of crazy that 4 regulars here all dealt with it. It makes me gravitate to Springer even more as a fan.

Cool - I don't know if everyone knows this, but Springer stutters; however, where most will avoid public speaking like the plague (to avoid the embarrassment), Springer tries to advocate for those with speech impediments. I think he's part of a national speech impediment organization too. I struggled with stuttering from like Grade 5 through the early part of high school. It's horrible. I managed to overcome it; however, I have notice it creeping back over the past year or so. Just thought I'd share.

This is generally bad for baseball. Tanaka is great for the sport and I always enjoyed watching him pitch (even if he was shutting down the Jays). Hope to see him back next year, but I wouldn't count on it.

wouldn't his recorded stats fall under his playing ability? Maybe they mean awards?

So the HOF wants voters to consider integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played. How in the f*** do voters take that into consideration? I mean if you were the beat writer for a team, you might be around the team enough to get a decent take on someone's integrity, sportsmanship and character - but that limits you to players from that one team. Otherwise, you're going to go off 3rd party opinions, written articles - or simply your random gut opinion/perspective. That process seems to be extremely flawed, especially in today's age of s***** reporting and fake news (f***, we can't even get it straight on whether Schilling wore the shirt, or re-tweeted someone else wearing a shirt). Even 'contributions to the team(s) on which the player played' is super vague. I mean if someone's a great player, he obviously contributed a lot to the teams he played on....or are they looking for the leadership quality? or mentorship? Many look at Russell Martin as this great leader and teammate - but was he? How the f*** would a voter know? Funny enough Jansen said Luke Maile helped him more than Martin ever did. IMO, voters need to consider the quality of the information they have when deciding how to weigh a player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played. It's probably different for every player - but for most, I have to think playing ability would be 90% of the consideration, with all those other factors making up about 10% - given most of the information you have on those matters is completely flawed.

What the hell is "a player's record"? like his team's W-L record or playoff success? his criminal record?

Tommy La Stella to the Giants...

Is it time to upgrade our Manager now? or do we think Charlie will make the 2nd year jump?

We've been through this. Stop repeating this. 4th OFers typically get 500 at bats a year. It's perfectly fine for him to be earning $10M. If the FO needs to shed $10M to sign someone else (based on the Ownership cap), then I'm sure you'll see them do something to clear it. Otherwise, assume he isn't preventing us from making additional moves to help the team as he clearly isn't pushing us up against the luxury cap.

You repeat this view about twice a day. Perhaps let's leave that up to the perfectly qualified organization to figure out? No need for you to worry about it right now.

- 3rd in AL MVP voting in 2019 - massive defensive improvements over the past 3 years - reportedly due to his awesome work ethic. - can likely play 2nd, SS and 3rd - and provides the ever valuable second SS to protect in the case of injury (no good team starts Espinal at SS) - floor is a 2.5-3 WAR player - ceiling is a 6-7 WAR player - wasn't qualified and thus we don't give up a draft pick - can be qualified by the Jays if he dominates this year Is there anything not to like about this deal? Best I can come up with is he doesn't bat left handed or pitch. Well done by the FO and I'm very happy if they decided to toss him a few extra million if it was necessary to get this deal done. It's a great fit.

Swing and miss guy? He had a 13% K rate in 2019.

like the ex. Cleveland Indians player?

You didn't factor in how stupid Dave Dombrowski is...

I can practically guarantee you people will get sick of his antics no matter how good he is on the field. He'll quickly fall into the Jose, Stro, Lawrie category - teetering on the fence of simply being an intense competitor who isn't afraid to speak his mind or show emotion and that of a complete douchebag, who, at times would be better off just playing the game and shutting his yap. There will always be lots of fans who don't like that type of player (or who get sick of the antics). While I can appreciate their passion and what they bring to the team, I often get stick of how they act and thus they are never amongst my favourite players on the team (Jose, Stro, Lawrie, Kyle Lowry, etc.). But that's OK. Different strokes for different folks.

I agree with those concerns, but I must say I don't miss the 'emotional event' of a base umpire blowing a call. I much prefer getting the call right (even if that hurts my team).

I'm good with that. The art of fooling an umpire is a pretty s***** component of the game anyway. If implemented, it will emphasize the need to call a good game, block the ball well and control the running game. Seems fine to me.