Bobthe4th

I went to the Red Sox Jays in the final series of last season. I'd say Fenway is the best "old" park I've seen baseball at. For new parks I'd rank Seattle's Safeco Field as my favourite that I've been to.

Apparently the attendance for the USA vs DR game was the highest ever at Marlins Park. Just shows that the WBC could be successful if more stars decided to play.

Another handicap for the WBC is that the vast majority of elite players already play in the same league. If a player wants to test himself against the best, or if a fan wants to see that contest, the MLB is a much better opportunity. Compare to the cricket (one day version) or rugby union world cups. Both have only around 6-8 elite countries but all the best players play, and they are both seen as the pinnacle of the sport. A big part of this is because you have separate elite domestic leagues around the world, dispersing the talent.

Also, in football (soccer) the winner of the World Cup can be any of numerous countries, and there are lots of countries that can field good teams. This competitiveness means players want to test themselves on the world stage against the best. At the WBC you've got at most 3 or 4 countries that can regularly field a decent team.

Yeah and Bogut still gets paid too that's not really the point. Hawks have claimed Jose now but I would have liked to see him back, if only for nostalgia- I was always Jose over TJ.

Which is worse, Calderon deal rescinded by the Warriors before reporting because of Durant's injury, or Bogut breaking his leg 1 minute into his Cavs debut? Feel sorry for both, but at least Jose will get to play for someone.

Relax, this thread is a bit of fun! Technically anything that is less likely to happen is a bold prediction by simply not being the favourite outcome.

TBF he probably means on this board. A lot of people seem to think Pompey's worst case would still be quite good. We've already seen his worst case though, when he was given a starting role in 2015 and he was so bad that he ended up being demoted all the way to AA.

1. Giancarlo Stanton will finally have a healthy season and will hit 50 home runs. 2. Bryce Harper will have a higher WAR than Mike Trout. 3. Jose Bautista will have a higher WAR than Edwin Encarnacion. 4. Jim and Boxcar will realise that there is a thin line between love and hate and stop constantly insulting each other in the politics thread.

Don't get me wrong, I hope so too and wouldn't want to simply get rid of Tulo as simply a salary dump, or if we didn't have a quality replacement lined up. But with arbitration rises due, and if we want to extend certain players (like JD), we may have to be flexible salary wise. I mean obviously ideally we win the World Series this year and Rogers authorises a $180m+ payroll negating any issue! But more realistically, it's good to have options.

Yeah it's the flexibility and the possibilities that are exciting. If he's good enough to start every game (by no means guaranteed) then that gives us options as above. I agree ideally he'd be an upgraded Barney mainly rotating with Travis and Tulo but starting every day. But if we need to reduce payroll then Tulo is an obvious candidate if we have a cheaper replacement (as much as I love Tulo, he is one of the best paid players and isn't getting any younger). And if Travis has another injury marred season (hopefully he doesn't of course) then it's quite possible the front office will look to replace / upgrade him.

Author concludes article with "get the sense that the Blue Jays feel it would be best for Gurriel Jr.’s development to focus on one position and master it" but doesn't give any evidence for why he thinks the Jays are focusing on that, other than the general feeling that you'd rather have a star positional player than a flexible role player. Depends on how well he settles in this season and his development but the possibilities are exciting: could be the roster replacement for Barney next year, i.e utility guy and first reserve when someone goes down; if at shortstop could make Tulo expendable, meaning we could trade Tulo to save payroll (for extensions / arbitration costs); if at second base could make Travis expendable (only a desirable option if Travis has another injury filled season); if at outfield covers for the fact that we currently have only Pillar coming back next year unless Bautista's option is picked up (and he can still play OF next year). Would be nice if he showed enough this season to have the ability to fill more than one of the above, giving us more options of who to target in free agency / trades.

He's not a very good MLB player, that's for sure. But no bat, very good defense, with positional flexibility is a commodity teams will often utilise for the 25th man on a roster. The Jays don't need that at the moment because we have Barney, who is better. But I'd be surprised if Goins could clear waivers without being claimed.

Bickering, wild statements on player's careers based on the most recent inning, and personal insults - good to see the GDTs are in mid season form!

Claudio Ranieri, the manager of Leicester City, has just been sacked. Yes that Leicester, the team that less than a year ago he led to the biggest upset in sports history by winning the Premier League.

I doubt that. I think it's much more likely Pearce is

Quite a large percentage of sports bars will still buy TV sports packages, but you're right that individuals will mainly use the internet in the not too distant future.

That's one of the main reasons I thought a team would give him an opportunity to play - it's such a low commitment for any AL team that's out of playoff contention but wants to drum up some ticket sales as they'd only need to pay pro-rated minimum salary.

I think him trying to overtake Babe Ruth would be entertaining enough just for opposing fans booing him every at bat! The Yankees are still paying him $21m this year, making him the 16th highest paid position player in 2017. Crazy.

A-Rod has told reporters that he's now officially retired. Not really that surprising, but with 696 career home runs I thought he might have signed on for a cameo role somewhere like Seattle to either catch Babe Ruth or just hit 700 and help sell some tickets.

So Magic's first trade now he's in charge of the Lakers is Lou Williams to the Rockets for Corey Brewer and a 1st round pick. Not sure I particularly like this for the Rockets when Eric Gordon is already there as the 6th man, and his role is mainly to shoot the ball.

He "only" missed 31 games last season - that's the biggest risk factor IMO. As long as he's relatively healthy I'm expecting good things.

If Tulo simply repeats last year, without the historically bad first 6 weeks, we'd be looking at a 3.5 to 4 WAR season from him, which would ignore all the other benefits that aren't recorded (like leadership etc).