Brownie19

My favourite part is how Ortiz is able to back his opinions with logic and reason...

Fair points. I typically go in early March, which does factor into how many innings the ML guys play. That said - I love the prospects myself. I'd rather see the prospects, I look forward to the prospects - but it always seems like I only get to see a couple of them and for every top prospect, there are 15 Dan Johnson/Adam Loewen types who I'm not interested in watching. I will acknowledge it would be better if could watch Jays games (as I'm much more in touch with even their lower tier prospects) - however, it's an hour and a half away and the park is awful compared to the Port Charlotte Stone Crabs stadium....which is by far the best ST venues I've been in.

Don't get me wrong, it's worth going if you've never been, but I always find the anticipation and "thought of it" outweigh the experience. My parents are in Port Charlotte (home of the Rays) and I've been going to games for the past 8 years. In addition to the Rays games (which we go to every year), I've been to Fort Myers to see the Red Sox (at the Fenway replica) and Twins and up to Dunedin twice now to see the Jays. Watched a couple of innings with Tinnish last time I was there. I always seem to leave a little disappointed. The starters typically only go a couple of innings and there simply aren't enough "good" prospects that you want to see play. By the 6th or 7th inning, it's a AAAA game usually. I find the players only sign autographs for kids (which is fine) and most generally seem disinterested in interacting with the fans. My oldest kid is getting old enough to actually start watching the game (instead of just running around). I'm hoping that infuses some interest back in the experience.

Agreed. For the same reason, I never understood why a Golf Pro has to maintain a certain level of play. What on earth does being able to be a scratch golfer have to do with your ability to teach people how to be better at the sport? That would be like saying an elementary teach must maintain an 80% grade average in University level calculus in order to be able to teach Grade 7 math.

Wildcards usually have some upside sir.

Noah Syndergaard.

Should have clarified I was referencing the possibility of Gio falling one more spot to the Jays (who I'm assuming would have taken him). I didn't realise Seager went right after Davis. I just threw up in my mouth a bit.

If only the Jays got Giolitto instead of DJ f'ing Davis...........(although if the got Giolitto, they may have taken Davis over Stro - which would have been counterproductive, thus exemplifying how pointless it is to play the "what if" game - my apologizes, this was a waste of time).

Aren't the Jays due to convert a top prospect starter (who can't hack it as a starter) into a high leverage reliever? Ala Wade Davis, Cecil, Andrew Miller, etc? I'm holding out hope that Drabek is hitting 97 MPH as a reliever.... In the meantime, AA - go get Zach McAllister and Josh Fields and call it an offseason man!!!

It's interesting to see contenders like the Dodgers, Tigers and Giants all listed below the Jays on that list...

To be honest, Buehrle was the first one that came to mind.......until I was reminded they are playing the Yanks. I think it should be Stroman (although I'd prefer to keep the pressure off him for now), but imagine it will be Dickey or Buehrle...I personally don't think Gibby will care about the Martin catching the knuckler angle or the Buehrle vs. Yanks thing.

Are you suggesting the Yanks will sit a couple of starters on opening day because Dickey is throwing?

Cotts 2014 - 3.58 FIP and 3.86 xFIP Belisario 2014 - 3.54 FIP and 3.69 xFIP Only think AA missed out on was wasting more money on Cotts on a guaranteed deal.

This might be the best thread I've ever read. Who knew beer was calorie free!!!

New guy question - is RealAccountant always this annoying?

I don't understand why anyone would assume Izturis is going to be playing a lot. The last time he was serviceable was 2011. An infield of Donaldson, Reyes, Goins and Smoak would be very solid defensively on it's own and that doesn't factor in the utilization of shifts. Whether people like them or not, the "shifts" have produced results and you need groundball pitchers to utilize the shifts properly. It's a minor league deal - it's a good deal. End of story.

He was able to trade Vernon Wells and that contract, take the 27th best farm system in baseball to a top 5 system in a matter of 2 years and he got us Josh Donaldson! We should all have sore knees and jaws~!

OK - I can see this point, but at some point, trading from an area of strength for an area of weakness becomes necessary.....we're in that situation RIGHT NOW with Navarro....aren't we all hoping he can deal him away for a decent middle RP? Snider for Lincoln hasn't bite us (although there was clearly potential for it to) Molina for Santos was a good risk that didn't work out for anyone. Napoli for Franciso sucked balls - nothing more to say Aviles and Gomes for Rogers didn't work out - although I think Gomes is an outliner - nobody, not even Cleveland thought he'd be that good. Thames for Delabar worked out for one year at least. What about dealing League for Morrow? Reliever for a pitcher with Morrow's arm was a great gamble. Deals for Rasmus and Lawrie were excellent deals IMO.

And were there any signs that he was going to become above average defensively behind the plate and/or that he could be a fulltime catcher? He was always touted as a utility player. No GM is ever going to be perfect and I don't think many (if anyone) around baseball thought Gomes would be anywhere near the player he is today.

Learn me - what moves did he make that suggest he previously ignored WAR? This is likely a whole conversation on it's own.

I think the question is - should he be... Perhaps I'm drinking the kool-aid, but I really support the vast majority of the moves AA has made and the re-development of our farm system has been phenomenal. Sure he took on a lot of $$$ in the Marlins deal, but he basically gave up nothing outside of a hard throwing, power sinkerball pitcher who doesn't miss many bats......sounds just like Sanchez (albeit with better control) and nobody on seems overly concerned if we trade him. All the other guys he gave up have been nobody's. You can argue "he could have gotten more for that package" but you don't know that. To be honest, I expected more out of Reyes (and Bonifacio), but I didn't expect this much out of Buehrle. JJ was a great "risk" to take that didn't pan out. I think overall, we got a lot out of that deal. It's eating a lot of our proverbial salary cap now, but reality is, FA's aren't lined up to sign here. I always prefer consistency and never support a revolving door at the GM or manager position - however, with a new President likely to take over soon, I think there's a fair chance he's gets the boot simply b/c the new Pres will want to put his stamp on things. I hate that with a passion, but accept that's life.

I think the commish is going to need to focus his energy on maintaining the pace of the game during video reviews - as I suspect the use of these will continue to expand. IMO, they have a lot of work to do on this, as it really kills the momentum of the games pace/drama. Improvements elsewhere will be needed to speed up the game and offset the video review times...

Screw the west coast. I only care about myself obviously At least people on the west coast are awake when the games end....unlike most on the east coast who are fast asleep - unable to stay up until 12:30 to watch the end of the god damn 4 1/2 hour playoff game.

Good god - no. Don't change the fundamentals. Start playoff games at 7, shorten the commercials and don't let cable money rule the roost (not that I think that will ever happen).

Someone must have a stat on the average time of a game....my proverbial gut says it's longer than 3 hours. The average playoff game must be 4+ which drives me insane. We have to start those games past 8:00 for TV ratings and then I have to say up wayyy to late to actually see the end of the bloody game. Insane....drives me insane. Insane in the membrane. I get that playoffs are all about the commercials and that's big revenue, but I hate it to death.