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I guess that depends on what Price has left in the tank. They've also got Urias who had potential to be quite good I think. Bauer's career numbers are remarkably similar to that of Tanner Roark, just one or two good seasons and the rest OK/mediocre. I doubt he'll be as good this summer as he appeared to be last summer but only time will tell.

Bauer going to the Dodgers Earlier in the winter people tried to link him to the Jays... I don't want my favourite team to have anything to do with this guy. Phew. Forget the off-the-field stuff, I'm not convinced he's that good of a pitcher.

The Jays traded for Steven Matz: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/01/blue-jays-nearing-deal-to-acquire-steven-matz.html He wasn't good last summer, but I guess we're hoping that was an anomaly. Not that he was especially good the seasons before last summer. He showed some promise during his first two seasons in the league and has fallen off since then, it seems like (you can tell how closely I follow the Mets ) Most pitchers really like working with Jays' pitching coach Pete Walker, so I hope the Jays coaches and analytics team can help Matz unlock some more of his potential. I like the idea of having another lefty in the rotation, even if he's just an end of the rotation innings eater type of guy. Maybe he'd even be a long reliever. I guess we'll see how it all plays out in the spring! edit: Forgot to mention they got Marcus Semien on a one-year deal as well. Even if he's not as great as he was in 2019, he's still an upgrade over some of the guys they were running out in the infield last summer. I think it's a nice little signing. Can't believe the A's couldn't keep him on a similar contract. Either he wanted out of Oakland, or Oakland just isn't spending _any_ money this year (they're a bit of a trash organization...)

Springer is still reason enough to get excited

OK so they didn't get Brantley

Reports now that the Jays have also signed Michael Brantley

The Jays signed George Springer yesterday! They finally found somebody who would take their money Nice addition to the outfield. Honorable mention to Kirby Yates as well. I hope he will continue to be a reliable guy in the bullpen.

Forgot to reply to this bit earlier I will never find baseball boring, but I think the game - especially in the later innings - has gotten painfully slow. Sometimes it feels like there is absolutely no flow/rhythm to the game. There are some things that have a big impact on overall game time that will be hard to change, like TV commercial breaks probably aren't going anywhere, but they can do things with the rules to encourage a better flow to the game. The 3 batter minimum rule has helped a bit I think, but what gets me the most is slow pitchers. I hate watching guys that take so much time between pitches. It's truly awful. The worst is when you've got a slow pitcher who has a habit of stepping off the mound, and a guy at the plate who wants to step out of the box after every pitch. MLB still isn't doing enough to cut down on that stuff. I now realize how lucky I was as Blue Jays fan for so many years, they had some really fast workers (Halladay, Dickey, Buehrle). Buehrle especially. He didn't waste time and almost never shook off the catcher. His philosophy was that he wasn't the game caller, the catcher was, so he'd just do his best to execute every pitch that was called. You love to see it.

I tend to disagree on your first point. In many cases it's a very simple decision for the manager when the pitcher's spot is coming around in the lineup.

I prefer a DH to watching pitchers hit because hardly any pitchers seem to take batting even remotely seriously. Ideally pitchers would hit and actually try to be kinda good at it. Roles in the game are so specialized now though that it's hard for a pitcher to focus on anything other than pitching. Lots of guys on the mound look like they could barely field a ground ball cleanly, forget about swinging a bat...

I was just reading an article on The Athletic re: the universal DH and Jayson Stark presents an interesting idea: That's a really interesting concept that could help to restore the importance of starting pitchers in today's game. It's hard to say though if this rule would have the best interest of starting pitchers in mind. More innings and more pitches can be harmful to a pitcher's arm with the way the game is played these days with 100 mph fastballs and max effort style pitching. The proposed rule obviously incentivizes leaving a starter in as long as possible I kinda like the idea though.

Dang. Mets are getting Lindor and Carrasco from Cleveland Your Mets are really having a great time since Cohen bought them, gralic. It's killing me to see the Padres and Mets really going for it like this when I hoped that I would be seeing the Jays making these kinds of moves this winter. Toronto totally has the flexibility to do it, and I think they've been trying - and of course the winter ain't over yet - but so far they haven't added much. I'm 100% on board the Padres bandwagon this year, but I will pull for the Mets too. I want to see more teams trying to win like this and not just dumping salary. Also Cleveland is a damn joke. They're absolutely gutting that team. edit: Also also about the Padres recent acquisitions: Why were there not more teams in on acquiring these guys? It's pretty nuts to me that SD could make these big acquisitions at a relatively low cost to their farm system. Normally the price tag would be higher. Good on them for making the deals and improving the team. I just don't get why more teams are not trying harder to win.

I'm not sure. The cynic in me assumes the reason is to maximize merch sales before the change comes into effect. I think they've stopped putting the Chief Wahoo logo on all their hats and jerseys, but a quick look at their official store website still shows a lot of jerseys with "Indians" across the chest.

I didn't really read all of the details at the time the news broke. Apparently they're dropping the name *after* the 2021 season. I guess some folks are gonna be mad about that. If they're dropping the name, just do it right away like other teams have.

Reports came out over the weekend that Cleveland is planning to change their team name. I'm surprised they held out this long.

Yeah I'm not sure how much incentive he has to practice But even if he does keep up his training regimen, if he starts losing bat speed like many aging players do, there's not much he can do about that. It can be hard for dudes in their late 30's to keep up with 100 mph fastballs. MLB offseason has been so boring so far. NBA free agency was a crazy weekend with trades and signings all over the place, just constant movement. The Blue Jays are getting tied to some impact players - both because they've said they want to add an impact player and because everybody knows they have the money to do it - but it's hard to say how legit the reports are. Get somebody already so I have something to get excited about please, Blue Jays

Yeah things were looking up for the Mets with Cohen taking over and starting to clean house in the front office. The Cano news is a bad look, even if it's not really the team's fault. I wonder if there's some loophole where they can just cut him due to multiple PED suspensions and not be on the hook for the rest of his contract..? He was actually pretty decent in 2020, but now it's hard to say if that was legit or not. His deal is for $24 million annually until 2023 The drug suspension will make him forfeit his 2021 salary though.

Robinson Cano suspended 162 games for PED violation This is his second violation so he got a full season ban. If the 2021 season is a shorter schedule then I wonder if the ban carries over into 2022..?

Did you guys know that the Platinum Glove Award was a thing? Ten years they've been doing it and I swear I've never heard about it once Basically, all of the Gold Glove winners are eligible for it and it's a fan vote to decide who the #1 defensive players are in the AL and NL. This year's winners were Alex Gordon, Royals LF (WTF ) and Nolan Arenado, Rockies 3B. How the hell does a LF win the award for top defensive player in a league!? LF is basically where you hide your weakest defender who can't play the infield, doesn't have enough range to cover CF, and doesn't have a good enough arm to make throws from RF. Obviously it's because it's a fan vote, but my mind is blown that Gordon has won this award twice (!!) as a LFer...

Turner gets off without punishment Sounds like there was quite a bit of confusion and miscommunication at the time. He made a (IMO) poor decision, but you can't lay all of the blame just on him for it. Also the new Mets owner isn't wasting time, already shaking things up. Apparently Van Wagenen is out as the GM, which I think is a good start. Get a more competent GM in there. BVW can go back to being an agent.

The Tigers named AJ Hinch as their manager last week and reports are out today that the Red Sox are going to bring back Alex Cora to manage again... I wasn't sure how the fallout from the Astros cheating thing would affect these guys long term, but I guess at least some teams have no problems bringing them back. I'm curious to see how it goes for both teams.

I read a free agent contract predictions thing on The Athletic yesterday, and IIRC they predicted a two-year, $16 million deal for Hand. Not sure which team will give him that contract, but I think it's pretty fair in the current environment... but I still think it's stupid of Cleveland not to pick up the $10 million option. He was very good this season and earned that money. Relievers can be so random year-to-year, but even if he turns into a pumpkin next summer... it's only a one-year deal. Seems like a no-brainer to me If you're not up to speed on the Turner thing, I'm pretty sure it went like this: Before game 6 he had an inconclusive COVID-19 test, so they took another sample and let him start in the game. During the game the second test came back positive so he was pulled from the game (in the 7th inning IIRC?) and put into isolation. After the game he was allowed on the field to celebrate and take a photo with the team. At first he was wearing a mask but was still hugging and getting close to teammates and coaches. And then he just stuck around out there continuing to celebrate the victory, eventually losing the mask and seemingly not taking any care to protect people from catching COVID from him. It was all playing out on live TV. Very weird situation.

Hand had a 2.05 ERA in 23 games this summer, 22 IP and 16 saves. 0 HRs allowed, 29 Ks and only 4 BB. He's a pretty damn good reliever! And he's only 30 years old. Obviously $10 million isn't nothing, but it's not unreasonable amount for a talented reliever like Hand in today's game. This really doesn't bode well.

Teams are declining options on players' contracts left, right, and centre. Good players, bad players, doesn't seem to matter how much or little the options are for. I think free agency and the winter is going to be pretty ugly. Seems like all the teams are crying poor. Sucks big time for the players.

White Sox to hire TLR as their new manager The White Sox had a very good year, finished 35-25 this summer, and have a talented young core of players. I'm not sure I could think of a worse pick for manager than La Russa I'm calling it now: It's not going to end well.