[Official] Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball thread

[ReggieBush]

I don't mean to rub it in, but it is absolutely insane to me that the NYY are 20 games above .500 before July without having a healthy Judge or Stanton.

 

2 hours ago, Rob_Zepp said:

An equivalent hockey player would be, for example, a Kris Russell or a Brayden Schenn.    You likely would easily recognize those names hence you follow hockey.   Baseball is clearly something you pay attention to if one or two teams are winning and/or you hear a dozen or so names.   It isn't a big deal, just means you are not a baseball fan.   I don't follow cricket.   It happens.

Meh. I feel like Skaggs is more of a Riley Sheahan.

[Rob_Zepp]

2 minutes ago, ReggieBush said:

I don't mean to rub it in, but it is absolutely insane to me that the NYY are 20 games above .500 before July without having a healthy Judge or Stanton.

 

Meh. I feel like Skaggs is more of a Riley Sheahan.

And they added parrot-man.   Scary team.   Likely getting Stroman too....figure they are frontrunners.

[Standing_Tall#37]

1 minute ago, ReggieBush said:

I don't mean to rub it in, but it is absolutely insane to me that the NYY are 20 games above .500 before July without having a healthy Judge or Stanton.

 

Meh. I feel like Skaggs is more of a Riley Sheahan.

It seems equally as crazy to me that the jays are 22 games below .500 before July  but what blows my mind is there’s teams worse than them.

[RUPERTKBD]

The Rays are exploring the possibility of splitting time between Tampa and Montreal:

 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/report-rays-get-permission-explore-playing-montreal/
 

Quote

Starved for fans despite success on the field, the Tampa Bay Rays have been given the go-ahead by Major League Baseball to look into playing a split season in Montreal.

No timetable for the possible plan was announced. An idea under consideration is for the Rays to play early in the season in Tampa Bay and later in Montreal.

Commissioner Rob Manfred made the announcement Thursday at the end of the owners’ meetings, saying the executive council had granted the Rays "broad permission to explore what’s available."

Manfred said it’s too soon to detail the particulars — as in, where the team would play post-season games, or in what stadiums

But the revelation is sure to spark interest across Canada, where the Expos flourished for years with a truly international flair.

 

As a guy who grew up cheering for the likes of Steve Rogers, Ken Singleton and Rusty Staub, it would be nice to have a team (at least partly) based in Montreal to cheer for, as well as the jays.

[RUPERTKBD]

So Kawhi showed up to watch part of the Jays-Angels game last night....of course, there was a huge ovation from the fans as he walked in with his girlfriend.

 

Jays pitcher, Clayton Richard apparently didn't see the Klaw and was unsure what the ovation was about:

Quote

“I got 0-2 on (Kole) Calhoun and I was like ‘man, I know I haven’t gone 0-2 on a lot of hitters, but they got excited for that one,’” he said.

[Ralph.]

On 6/20/2019 at 1:11 PM, RUPERTKBD said:

The Rays are exploring the possibility of splitting time between Tampa and Montreal:

 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/report-rays-get-permission-explore-playing-montreal/
 

As a guy who grew up cheering for the likes of Steve Rogers, Ken Singleton and Rusty Staub, it would be nice to have a team (at least partly) based in Montreal to cheer for, as well as the jays.

Interesting idea. If they think they can work it I'd be interested in seeing it happen for a season. Especially since by the time I'll be living in Ottawa... Having another MLB location close by would be great. 

 

7 hours ago, RUPERTKBD said:

So Kawhi showed up to watch part of the Jays-Angels game last night....of course, there was a huge ovation from the fans as he walked in with his girlfriend.

 

Jays pitcher, Clayton Richard apparently didn't see the Klaw and was unsure what the ovation was about:

That's hilarious. It was funny watching the ball/bat kid chatting him up too. Guy looked so unenthused to be there tho, almost embarrassed. 

[RUPERTKBD]

6 minutes ago, Gäz said:

Interesting idea. If they think they can work it I'd be interested in seeing it happen for a season. Especially since by the time I'll be living in Ottawa... Having another MLB location close by would be great. 

 

That's hilarious. It was funny watching the ball/bat kid chatting him up too. Guy looked so unenthused to be there tho, almost embarrassed. 

Ordinarily, I'm not much of a fan of The Toronto Star, or Bruce Arthur, but I think he's bang on with this:

 

https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/opinion-story/9447395-toronto-needs-to-channel-its-inner-kawhi-be-cool-and-leave-the-poor-man-alone-/
 

Quote

 

Toronto, nice to see you. You look beautiful, as always. You do still have a bit of a dishevelled hungover-but-still-drunk vibe going, but that's to be expected, I suppose. A championship! What a feeling, right? Watching Marc Gasol guzzle an entire bottle of wine atop a double-decker bus and then sit next to the Prime Minister and mumble, "I'm drunk, man," was the rare and treasured Canadian-Spanish Heritage Moment.

 

But Toronto, it's time for a talk. First, put the phone away. I know, big ask. But put it down, because otherwise you might use it to take a picture of Kawhi Leonard. And — not to put too fine a point on this — we need to leave Kawhi the hell alone.

 

Seriously. I know Toronto just won its first major-league title since 1993 — all due respect to the CFL and MLS and the National Lacrosse League — and it was euphoric. The playoff run was incredible for the city, for basketball in Canada, for basketball writers who wanted to compare happy hours in Orlando, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and San Francisco. (Milwaukee, land of cheap beer, wins.)

 

But it's frankly becoming creepy and invasive, and I say that as someone with regular access to and understanding of the internet. Kawhi went to Niagara Falls! Kawhi ate at a mediocre chain restaurant! Kawhi went to a home improvement store and bought what appeared to be … moving boxes!

 

Look, if you were renting a house and you didn't know where you were going to live next year, and you had already bought a $14-million (U.S.) palace outside San Diego, you might need moving boxes, too. Bless Kawhi Leonard, one of the best basketball players on the planet and a two-time NBA champion, for going to the Home Depot and buying the damn boxes himself. To borrow a phrase, the cardboard man gets paid.

 

But that is not the point, and we are getting sidetracked! With Kawhi, it is easy and even understandable that we get sidetracked, because he carried the Raptors to the NBA title and he is a free agent and he is from Los Angeles. And while the Lakers traded for Anthony Davis without understanding the salary cap, the Los Angeles Clippers have basically waited outside his house holding a boom box over their heads all season.

 

And now ESPN's Brian Windhorst says the Clippers are "hyperventilating" over what Kawhi will decide, and the Raptors are also keen to know, and amid all the rumours and the smoke flying around all you can say is that at least it seems like it's a real decision. Kawhi is the literal difference between the Raptors getting a second chance to do a parade correctly, or not. Kawhi changes everything. Toronto knows, now. And it loves him.

 

But this city needs to calm the hell down. Kawhi is not a public guy. He didn't go out a lot in his year as a Raptor, as far as anybody can tell. At one point midway through the season someone asked him where in town he lived, and Kawhi said, "I don't know," because he had a driver. He keeps to himself, most of the time. He went to the Jays game Thursday night, which just shows he enjoys solitude. Fun guy, family guy.

 

And this city is responding to Kawhi doing literally anything by taking his picture, and tweeting it. It's like a collective ex-boyfriend stalking program. GUYS.

 

Look, yes, smartphones have become appendages so essential that young people are growing hornlike bones in the back of their skulls from looking down at their phones so much. Yes, Instagram and Twitter have warped our brains in ways high school could only dream. Yes, when the Raptors were introduced at the end of the parade Monday, every single person in the crowd held up their phones. And yes, the internet may have been a mistake.

 

But Christ on a bicycle, Toronto. It's hard to say act like you've been there before to a city that has never been there before, and harder still to say it to a city that has been arguing over Vince Carter leaving for 15 endless years. But do you know how they treat celebrities in Los Angeles, by and large? They accept them. They absorb them. Celebrities are so ubiquitous there that they can just walk around in L.A. like people, enjoying the sunshine and finding good tacos and watching for the lurking silent electric cars that could kill them at any moment.

Any basketball player not named Kobe or Magic or LeBron can stroll around L.A. without a care in the world, other than the terror of wildfires or earthquakes, the worrisome future of climate change, and traffic. And nobody cares about the Clippers there anyway. Kawhi could visit tourist attractions and eat at mediocre chain restaurants and buy moving boxes, and nobody would freak out.

 

Well, it feels like we are freaking out. Do you want him to stay? Do you want the Raptors to have a chance at a dynasty? Or do you want to smother him, love him to death, and drive him for good into the waiting arms of his hometown?

 

Be calm, Toronto. Let him be. We're supposed to be a big city here, a world-class city. The Raptors fought their way to a title by staying level-headed, by never panicking, by following Kawhi and his equilibrious example. So if you see Kawhi, be like Kawhi; cool, chill, easygoing as a breeze. Be like Kawhi, Toronto. Unless he leaves.

 

 

[Ralph.]

9 minutes ago, RUPERTKBD said:

Ordinarily, I'm not much of a fan of The Toronto Star, or Bruce Arthur, but I think he's bang on with this:

 

https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/opinion-story/9447395-toronto-needs-to-channel-its-inner-kawhi-be-cool-and-leave-the-poor-man-alone-/
 

 

Fair enough. I don't follow basketball at all (only given it the sliver of thought that I have lately because of the Raps championship) and know virtually nothing of the guy, but having that kind of microscope on you... Yeah, he deserves some space.

[RUPERTKBD]

18 minutes ago, Gäz said:

Fair enough. I don't follow basketball at all (only given it the sliver of thought that I have lately because of the Raps championship) and know virtually nothing of the guy, but having that kind of microscope on you... Yeah, he deserves some space.

i think Arthur's point (and one I agree with) is that the constant love fest is as likely to drive him away, as it is make him want to stay.

 

Toronto has already made it's case: If Kawhi stays, he's got a good chance to repeat as champion and he can make more money. He doesn't need people offering him free food, free apartments and generally following his every move....

 

...as you say, "give him some space".

[ChuckNORRIS4Cup]

On 6/19/2019 at 12:27 PM, Sean Monahan said:

I’d take it and run. 

 

On 6/19/2019 at 12:33 PM, RUPERTKBD said:

As would I. (BTW Chuck, it was me trying to swing the deal with Reggie. Have been for a couple of seasons and FTR he accepted)

 

https://www.mlb.com/news/indians-prospect-clint-frazier-scouting-report/c-157028552

 

Still, the demotion might even be an advantage, as they could reasonably request the Yanks add to make the deal happen: NY doresn't have any room for Frazier in the outfield. They definitely do have room for Stroman in the rotation.

 

 

I get the trade for skill wise, if it's just a skill trade then yes it's a win for both sides imo, but Clint's true colors have started coming out due to this and that's where my issue is now with it. Before, I never saw this side of him, so I was actually in favor of this trade before, but now I'm starting to see an entitled side of him almost like Tulo and that's the part that worries me more for down the road with him. If he's not getting his way he will whine and cry because he believes he's entitled already and that ego I don't want, especially on a rebuilding team that's the last thing you want with young guys coming into your system, will also rub them the wrong way and that's not good either. 

 

If I was the Jays I'd be looking at someone else probably a pitcher hopefully a young arm coming back instead.

[Wilbur]

Hats off to Gurriel, after a slow transition to the North American life/game, he is really thriving.

[RUPERTKBD]

18 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Hats off to Gurriel, after a slow transition to the North American life/game, he is really thriving.

Added to that, the transition to the outfield, where he's played quite well. I can't remember if it was on consecutive games, but he just threw out two players at the plate in the same week.

 

BTW: Loved the Uni that his dad wore on Father's Day, when the Jays were visiting the Stros:

 

[ChuckNORRIS4Cup]

Gurriel Jr. is just tearing it up right now crazy, good to see!

[Gurn]

4 hours ago, RUPERTKBD said:

Added to that, the transition to the outfield, where he's played quite well. I can't remember if it was on consecutive games, but he just threw out two players at the plate in the same week.

 

BTW: Loved the Uni that his dad wore on Father's Day, when the Jays were visiting the Stros:

 

I'd get dizzy if the sons switched places.

[Wilbur]

Gurriel!!!!

 

That is all.

[YummyCakeFace]

If Grichuk would just get his top hand over top a little more, it would force his stance to open up and allow him to see the ball a split second longer.  Why don’t his coaches get on him about this?!  He could have a much higher average. 

[YummyCakeFace]

On 6/26/2019 at 2:48 PM, gurn said:

I'd get dizzy if the sons switched places.

Holy. They look like twins lol

[YummyCakeFace]

Watching the yankee/shtsox game intro.  Is Frank Thomas sitting on the floor?  The man is a monster and he looks like my nephew sitting at the kids table for Christmas dinner. 

[Jaimito]

56 minutes ago, YummyCakeFace said:

Watching the yankee/shtsox game intro.  Is Frank Thomas sitting on the floor?  The man is a monster and he looks like my nephew sitting at the kids table for Christmas dinner. 

I think with so many games in a season, having a series in other markets is nice.  Can do one in Vancouver, Japan, Taiwan, South America, China, etc.  Maybe even Cuba one day. 

[Wilbur]

not a good day to be a pitcher in Europe.  Yikes