I agree, I just thought you got more info on Niku. I can't watch Winn games cause I'm with bell and they only show regional games unfortunately other than highlights on tsn and sportsnet.

Alot these sites report the same to be honest.

https://thehockeywriters.com/latest-nhl-rumors/

Can be good read and of course The Athletic too.

Yeah but sometimes they have different takes or provide some different details. I've read the hockey writers a few times and found their material to be pretty good. I would love to read the Athletic but it's hard to justify paying for content when you have kids and so much free content readily available. Thanks again bud.

You are most welcome.
Anything new on the Jay's

Did you see that JT goal just now?!?!?!
What a shot.

Yeah, I was reading an article on MLBTraderumors earlier titled Blue Jays notes (I'm going to try and add the link but I'm not sure if it will work as I've never done this before lol) https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/11/blue-jays-notes-pitching-pineda-tsutsugo-tellez.html

It just talks about how the jays missed out on Gibson and with Odorizzi accepting his QO that the pitchers that the jays have targeted are starting to come off the board and they need to act fast. Sportsn't just did the article recently I believe they have the link. It's all just media (sportsnet) driven babble to rile up the casual fans.

They talk about Wheeler having red flags (again link that I didn't read because it wouldn't tell me anything I don't already know. They also talk about pineda and other 2nd tier options and tsutsugo (a Japanese FA who was recently posted by his team making him a FA). He plays 1st and he can play the corners but has primarily played left field and could be a replacement for Tellez.

This offseason will be the same as always...us blue jays fans all get excited looking at the big name FA (like kids with shiny new toys lol) only to start to lose hope because we remember we're jays fans and we don't sign good players....only players who are looking to rebound lol. Then our FO confirms our fears and does nothing of substance to improve our team. But hey it's a fun few weeks lol.

The way I see it is we have 3 options
1a) sign top end talent....which they won't do
2b) trade for bad contracts to acquire prospects
3c) sign 2nd-3rd tier players to cheap contracts and hope to hell they work out.

I'm fine with the first two options but sadly our FO will once again choose door #3 and unnecessarily prolong our rebuild because even if said players do work out we don't get good enough prospects back to make a difference. Especially when we're constantly signing the same types of players in FA.

Anytime you wanna talk baseball I'm always up for it! Especially when it's about the jays!

Not yet got it on pause trying to get the kids to sleep.

So true, hate that door #3 so much.
Please fire Atkins and Shapiro???

Bell and Rogers is not the issue. If you want out of market games, then you need the NHL package which both services offer.
I used to have it but...it gets expensive after a while. It all comes down to how much you want to pay.

Yup, I'm all for firing Shapiro and Atkins but the only person available who could help us that I can think of is Dombroski and he would just demolish our farm system. In all fairness to him, if he was our GM and or Pres I can 100% guarantee you Cole would be donning a BJ's jersey next year and I'm confident @oneX would agree with me.

Yeah, I can't afford that and really no need for that... Get an Android box, you pay roughly $20 a month but you get every channel in Canada, the U.S. (including NHL center ice, NBA season pass, NFL Sunday ticket and MLB at bat... I think that's what it's called) in other words you can watch any game you want from any league and channels from other countries, plus all the new movies that come out when they come out. Now you do have to know somebody who sells the package but that's easy enough to find on the internet.

Yes Dombroski is abit of a cowboy. He takes chances and many of them. They don't always work out but you can't ever say he's not trying.

You been following the Houston/Boston mess this off-season? So embarrassing to be a baseball fan.

That's assuming the internet at your location is good enough for an Android box. This is not the case in my area. Rogers especially is terrible internet wise. Bell is steady but...the biggest issue here is old infrastructure and that means slow speeds....not good enough for Android boxes or any streaming really. ?

I'm not trying to trash talk dealer dave, he is good at extracting value out of his trades for the most part and it's hard to argue with the results but you also can't say he doesn't strip the farm to do it. I'm not gonna lie part of me wanted to see him come to TO after he got fired from Detroit and even now...it would be fun but look no further than the Red Sox. When he got their they had a bright future but now after the moves he made (again hard to argue, he did win a world series after all) and extensions + FA signings their looking very bleak to put it nicely.

Are you talking about the Astros stealing signs? And what about Boston? Did I miss something or are you talking about them trying to get under the luxury tax and rumours of dealing Betts to do so?

I don't know where you're from but I'm from Hamilton and Rogers sucks here and Bell ain't much better but it's also depending on what box you get (don't go for the cheapest one like I did lol). I'm gonna guess London or Oshawa?

Talking about both teams sign stealing using technology. There's speculation Boston used it during their world series year and Houston during their world series year and during this past season.

I hope both organizations get heavy suspensions and loss of multiple high draft picks. Not sure you heard last year the Dodgers were accused of paying money under the table for latin American players as well.

Honestly, it's kind of hard to be a fan with this much crap going on at major league level.

Brampton. Rogers absolutely sucks for most parts of Brampton. Bell is better for sure. The problem like I mentioned is old infrastructure.
If Bell upgrades this area to Fibe 1gig, I will switch in a heartbeat.

Ahh, yes I heard that. The Yankees were accused of that to during Girardi's last year too. I don't pay to much attention to that though I mean I do but it happens so frequently that it's kinda like white noise to me now... Remember a few years ago when the Astros hacked the Cardinals system to see their game plan?

They will get hit hard just like the Braves did and so will the Dodgers if proven guilty although I didn't hear about the Dodgers or I read it and forgot.

Don't let this **** sway you away from the game. I mean your an adult and of course you can do whatever you like but it's about way more than this petty crap... It's about the art of the game and the love and passion for stats and watching each season unfold. I always say the main thing teams pay for is consistency as it's the hardest thing to find in MLB. I get team's pay for talent but baseball is the most inconsistent sport there is.

I read an article that said 92% of all prospects don't even make the majors! Whether that's true or not speaks to how much harder it is to work in baseball compared to the other 3 major sports and how little room there is for error. Like I said do what you want but for me I love everything about baseball and I love my Jays even more.

To me there is nothing like watching a pitcher pitch and pick apart their arm slot, delivery, release point/release and their command/control. Plus watching batters stance, how/where they hold the bat their eye for the strike zone and how much patients they have at the plate + power and contact, base running skills/ base stealing skills, throwing a pitcher off or getting in their heads when a runner at 1st has speed and so much more.

But hey that's just me and I get what you're saying but it's the Jays man...not the front office, not the management staff/coaching staff it's the art of the game and rooting for the best team ever outta all sports (did my bias show???) Lol.

Sorry for the rant but when talking about baseball every post could be a novel lol

I hear ya! I live downtown Hamilton and everytime I go to Jackson square (our main mall) my service cuts out and it's literally in the center of our downtown. BTW I always used to argue when I was a kid that Hamilton is Canadas Detroit but everyone told me it's Canada's Pitt because of our steel factories, but we've been used in a ton of films and shows that are supposed to take place in Detroit. The reason why I bring this up is to tell you it's not all that bad you could live in Hamilton aka Canada's Detroit lol.

I have nothing against sign stealing the old school way, it's part of the game. This other stuff is disheartening tho.
You know what's hard to imagine? When it comes to the Leafs, we are a big market...yada yada yadayada but as soon as we talk baseball, the Jays are considered small potatoes.

I want an ownership that doesn't mind throwing it's weight around when neccesary. Rogers does not strike me as that.

What do you make of that?

Same, and I totally agree. Toronto is the 4th largest market In MLB and should be viewed as a big market team. Without going into a rant or at least trying not too Rogers should care more about the product on the field and less about their shareholders.... I mean it's not like they're going to go bankrupt if they exceed the luxury tax or anything.

That's the fan in me, but in reality it's understandable that they don't want to spend big. Our fan base is frugal to say the least. Look no further than these last couple of years... The fan base doesn't show up when we're bad to support the team only when we have marketable players. I understand the fans point of view but everyone talks about "showing Rogers" by boycotting the jays until they spend but why would they want to spend when no one shows up?

I want an owner(s) who will spend when the time is right but what company could spend more than Rogers? Bell is the first one that comes to mind but look at how much the Marlins sold for and imagine how much the jays would sell for. The point is even if Bell or another company bought the jays they wouldn't have money to spend for at least a few years and we'd be in the same boat we're currently in.

Unfortunately with Rogers and to a lesser extent Shapiro they constantly prioritize "risk aversion" (which you definitely need to do to an extent otherwise you become the Rockies), but you also need to be willing to spend when the time is right and we both know that time is now for us.

In conclusion whether we like it or not the jays will continue to operate the same way....give us hope only to rip it away from us with a bunch of mediocre signings and they don't seem to want to sell anytime soon... at least as long as they own sportsnet.

Well...about ownership, Leafs, Raptors, TFC and Argos are owned by MLSE which happens to be a conglomerate of two companies (Bell and Rogers) and Larry Tannenbaum.
Jays are the team that sticks out like a sore thumb. The other thing is that the Jays have a nation wide following and even when bad, still draw better t.v. rating than most baseball teams.

I don't know...I feel the fanbase deserves better...whether that's with MLSE or not, I don't know and it's way above my pay grade. There has to be smarter people out there who can figure this out.

At least Hamilton doesnt have that unique Detroit smell.

Btw did you know about TMLFANS site for Leafs talk??
I used to post there occasionally, I mostly just lurk and read about Leafs.

Yeah I know MLSE own's the Leafs, Raps, TFC and the Argos and that they're a conglomerate company owned by Rogers, Bell and Tannenbaum. It makes no sense to add the jays to MLSE (even though I would like them to be) because Rogers owns exclusive rights over the jays and they wouldn't want to give up viewership rights to Bell and Bell and Tannenbaum wouldn't want to buy the jars or part ownership if hey don't get viewership rights.

I also get that the jays have a nation wide fan base(just like the raps) and the dan base deserves better. I guess I'm different in the fact that I try to look at things from both sides.

The fans side (not saying you) is they want the team to spen, spend, spend whereas Rogers still treats it as a business (which is not uncommon amongst most owners in all sports). Also the Jays had a top ten payroll from 2012 I believe, and most don't factor in the currency exchange rate and the fact that they have to pay the coaching staff, training staff...well everyone in American money while making most of their profit in Canadian money.

Your a smart guy and no need to turn to "smarter people" to figure this out, it's simple.... Rogers needs to do more to bring in fans but fans casual ones anyway need to understand that NO TEAM can spend top dollar every offseason and that baseball more so than the other sports fluctuates year to year for a good portion of the players and teams. Look no further than Boston or Harper, Machado...you get the point.

Also, it's hard to blame Rogers for not spending when our fan base (again casual fans and bandwagoners) don't show up to support them. Fans have it backwards thinking that their "showing" Rogers by not showing up or tuning in. This isn't to say I'm on their side or anything, I'm a fan and the last All-Star I can think of that we signed was Clemons which is absolutely unacceptable IMO. We both agree that they need to spend now while the team is young and cheap and there is no reason why Cole shouldn't be in a jays jersey next year.

Guaranteed money next year....
Grichuk-$13mill
Anderson-$8.5mill
Gurriel Jr.-$2.966,666mill (let's just say $3mill)
Tulo-$14mill ($4mill buyout)
=42.5mill...thats it

Arb projections(based off MLB Trade Rumors projetions)....
Giles-$8.5mill (roughly I can remember the exact amount)
Shoemaker-$3.5mill (none tender candidate)
Law-$1.5mill (again roughly and another none tender candidate)
Drury-$2.5 or 3.5mill (can't remember but I think it was 2.5)
Maile-$800k (potentially none tender as well)
Assuming we keep Shoe, Law, Maile and Drury (God I wish he would be none rendered but we both know that ain't gonna happen) and the projections are accurate....
=$16.8 to 17.8mill
That means total before pre-arb players (which I'll get to in a min)
=$59.3-60.3

Now the pre-arb players (I'm going to count them all at $600k even though most are about $560k)
Jansen, Mcguire, Vladdy, Bo, Biggio, Tellez, Teo, Fisher, McKinney, Davis, Alford, Urena, Espinal, Godley, Gaviglio, Thornton, Borucki, Pannone, SRF, Romano, Kay, Merryweather and Pearson at some point.

I count 23 names which obviously won't all be on the team or at least all at once but just for arguments sake let's count them all....
23×$600k=$13.8mill

Add it all up and we're looking at a grand total of(drum roll please lol) $73.7-74.7mill for 31 players with a 26 man roster lets trim 5 pre-arb players which frees up $3mill. Although, like I said the Jays could none tender a few players which would free up even more. I decided to make it pre-arb players, for now, to air on the side of caution. And our new total is $70.7 to 71.7mill.

The reason why I added the extra pre-arb players is because I wanted to show you just how little we've spent to this point and why like I said there's absolutely no reason why we can't/shouldn't sign Cole and a solid #2 for our rotation and a few bp arms + a bat or two.

Sorry for the rant but that's my reasoning/point of view on this).