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Can we agree that the rule might look good on the printed page but not so much at the ball park ?

I want to see it put into practice for a bit. There are some televised spring training games coming up, hopefully we'll see an instance or two where it comes into play.

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  • 4 weeks later...

There's a lot of hype for this weekend in Montreal where the Jays and Mets are playing a two-game exhibition series. I get that the baseball supporters are trying to drum up a lot of support and that getting two big crowds is nice but I don't think that alone correlates to the market being ready for another baseball team as many seem to be suggesting. It'll still be good to watch though. Will Youppi make an appearance at his old stomping grounds?

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There's a lot of hype for this weekend in Montreal where the Jays and Mets are playing a two-game exhibition series. I get that the baseball supporters are trying to drum up a lot of support and that getting two big crowds is nice but I don't think that alone correlates to the market being ready for another baseball team as many seem to be suggesting. It'll still be good to watch though. Will Youppi make an appearance at his old stomping grounds?

This was a topic for discussion on Prime Time Sports yesterday. I would have to agree with them. the issue isn't the market but finding a deep pocketed owner who has enough pull to not only purchase a team, but also get a stadium built. Those are the two issues that compromise major league baseball in Montreal.There may be a precedent set, i am not sure, but I believe they used tax dollars for the (NHL arena ?) in Quebec City?

PS--- you would also need the blessing of MLB for a transfer/expansion exercise.

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Although the local government (I think) is kicking in for the Quebec arena, I don't see them being as quick to approve any sort of MLB stadium funding. Hockey is one thing, baseball is another and especially if no NHL team is there within a few years, they won't want to pay for a second 'what if we had something already built' scenario.

As PTS noted, it's a money thing. How many billionaires out there are wondering what to with their money and come up with bringing a baseball team back to Montreal? That number has to be pretty low.

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  • 2 months later...

So we're 1/3 of the way through the season and the Blue Jays are 2.5 games up in the division. Suffice it to say, I didn't see that coming.

Nothing is going to be further off than my prediction for the year. i think AA will still be around at the All Star break. Who could have predicted the rest of the division falling apart? And Whoo is me--- Who predicted that the Blue jays would be good against all comers.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Nothing is going to be further off than my prediction for the year. i think AA will still be around at the All Star break. Who could have predicted the rest of the division falling apart? And Whoo is me--- Who predicted that the Blue jays would be good against all comers.

So now we are past the all star break and will the real Henie Youngman please stand up! Is AA the GM come Jan 1?

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So now we are past the all star break and will the real Henie Youngman please stand up! Is AA the GM come Jan 1?

If they turn it around and have at least a decent finish to the year (meaning they're in the hunt at the very least), I think he sticks around. If this current run continues, I suspect he'll be out.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It looks like Oakland is going all-in pitching wise. After getting Samardzija/Hammel earlier from the Cubs, now they've gone out and added Jon Lester (and they still have Kazmir/Gray as well). That's quite a rotation. St. Louis picking up Masterson as well gives them a high quality starting staff as well. Edit: STL also gets John Lackey, quite the arms race going on though they paid a lot for him.

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I am not quite sure what AA had in mind to use as collateral to make a deal. He didn't want to give up roster players, he didn't want to give up top end prospects and despite what he claims, there is no evidence that he would be able to add salary. That leaves you with low end prospects. If I remember correctly, as recently as last year, he himself would not accept players than were not major league ready, even though his team was out. Don't figure. I would say this, despite what I just said, I think AA can be commended for nor falling to the pressure. I think he did just fine!

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I am not quite sure what AA had in mind to use as collateral to make a deal. He didn't want to give up roster players, he didn't want to give up top end prospects and despite what he claims, there is no evidence that he would be able to add salary. That leaves you with low end prospects. If I remember correctly, as recently as last year, he himself would not accept players than were not major league ready, even though his team was out. Don't figure. I would say this, despite what I just said, I think AA can be commended for nor falling to the pressure. I think he did just fine!

Same here, staying the course made sense to me. Get your core guys back (Encarnacion, Lawrie, Lind, Morrow) over the next few weeks and see what the team needs are then (someone else will be hurt, I'm sure). At that time, if you need to make a move, you can try to make one before the August 31st deadline and as a shorter-term rental, the lower end prospects would be a sufficient price to pay.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's quite rare that a game goes 19 innings. It's really rare when there is a 19-inning game on back-to-back days and yet that happened this weekend (BOS/LAA on Saturday, DET/TOR on Sunday). It was quite the finish to the latter though I must admit I'm glad I didn't watch all 6.5 hours of the game.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Jays are officially in their annual death spiral. just happens to be a full month later than usual. I have a feeling that those who endorsed AA and Gibbons for next year, may not be sitting in their same chairs come spring.

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Jays are officially in their annual death spiral. just happens to be a full month later than usual. I have a feeling that those who endorsed AA and Gibbons for next year, may not be sitting in their same chairs come spring.

No one publicly has done that, the report came from Steve Simmons and that's about it. Beeston likes Anthopoulos but he has eyes on going back to MLB. It's too early to speculate on anyone's future yet though, especially the way the Jays have a knack for extremes.

It will be interesting to see if Tampa's protest of today's game gets upheld. They seem to have a decent case.

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  • 2 months later...

Free agency is underway and the first 'big' name to go is Michael Cuddyer. Why, I'm not quite sure. The Mets are giving him $21 million over the next two years despite him playing just 49 games last season. He'll be 36 next year and on top of things, New York is parting with the 15th overall pick to make this contract happen. That's a puzzling move to say the least.

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I don't sip of the lemonade that the Jays were close last year. However if you did, it would follow that you must retain what you had and add. Hopefully AA will see fit to supplement this lineup with more than waiver wire pick-ups.

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I don't sip of the lemonade that the Jays were close last year. However if you did, it would follow that you must retain what you had and add. Hopefully AA will see fit to supplement this lineup with more than waiver wire pick-ups.

Well, they're not retaining what they had when they let about 20% of the team go in one fell swoop the other day by declining a bunch of options. I like the waiver pickups they made in Smoak and Dirks but yes, they'll need bigger names than that to contend. Because they let so many guys go, there will be a fair amount of newcomers, I'm sure a couple of those will at least be somewhat noteworthy players.

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Well, they're not retaining what they had when they let about 20% of the team go in one fell swoop the other day by declining a bunch of options. I like the waiver pickups they made in Smoak and Dirks but yes, they'll need bigger names than that to contend. Because they let so many guys go, there will be a fair amount of newcomers, I'm sure a couple of those will at least be somewhat noteworthy players.

Obviously your not drinking the lemonade either. I am just getting my digs in before someone tries to paint last year as some kind of success. I like AA, but I like success, and we just haven't seen enough. Yes there has to be radical changes, looks like AA gets another kick at can. There is something drastically wrong if he isn't on a very short leash.

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Obviously your not drinking the lemonade either. I am just getting my digs in before someone tries to paint last year as some kind of success. I like AA, but I like success, and we just haven't seen enough. Yes there has to be radical changes, looks like AA gets another kick at can. There is something drastically wrong if he isn't on a very short leash.

Last year was an improvement and a step in the right direction with several prospects showing they can contribute so although it wasn't a huge success, it wasn't a disaster either. (Such is often the case with treadmill, middle of the road teams though.)

They like Anthopoulos. I wouldn't be shocked if he moves up the ranks in a couple of years to replace Beeston as team president. If he's getting the go-ahead to make substantial changes, he has a longer leash than you might think. If he was at the end of his rope, they probably wouldn't let him commit to any big trades or contracts.

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If you believe that a third place instead of a fourth or fifth place in the division is an improvement so be it. It sure isn't enough after 20 odd years, for me. I believe AA knew he had to spend to improve the team last year and the money was just not there. AA is wise enough that he knew that throwing Roger's under the bus would be fatal. He was reprieved because it wasn't his decision not to spend.

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AA will continue his drive-by shopping until we get into the modest price tag range---- linked to everything that moves until we see the price, pretty much like we did for the entire year last year.

Lots of teams will do tire-kicking right now, not just Toronto. They have a few holes to fill via free agency so I'm not sure they realistically should be going after the big names anyways. I wouldn't read anything into them being linked to the big names - they'll do their homework and check on what the price would be but nothing further. It's the agent then who will leak Toronto's name to try to get a team to up an offer.

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