MLB - NEWS & NOTES

Makes zero sense... I dont understand a lot of their recent moves.

 

@Underdog

Do you know when the season starts and if their going to do 162 games or shorten it?

 

Found that the ST schedule has been released...

(Pitchers and catchers; Full squad)

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Orioles -- Wed., Feb. 17; Mon., Feb. 22

Red Sox -- Thurs., Feb. 18; Feb. 22

White Sox -- Feb. 17; Feb. 22

Indians -- Feb. 18; Feb. 22

Tigers -- Feb. 17; Feb. 22

Astros -- Feb. 18; Feb. 22

Royals -- Feb. 17; Feb. 22

Angels -- Feb. 17; Feb. 22

Twins -- Fri., Feb. 19; Tues., Feb. 23

Yankees -- Feb. 17; Feb. 22

Athletics -- Feb. 17; Feb. 22

Mariners -- Feb. 18; Feb. 23

Rays -- Feb. 18; Feb. 23

Rangers -- Feb. 17; Feb. 22

Blue Jays -- Feb. 18; Feb. 22

NATIONAL LEAGUE

D-backs -- Wed., Feb. 17; Mon., Feb. 22

Braves -- Thurs., Feb. 18; Tues., Feb. 23

Cubs -- Feb. 17; Feb. 22

Reds -- Feb. 18; Feb. 22

Rockies -- Feb. 18; Feb. 23

Dodgers -- Feb. 18; Feb. 23

Marlins -- Feb. 18; Feb. 23

Brewers -- Feb. 18; Feb. 23

Mets -- Fri., Feb. 19; Feb. 22

Phillies -- Feb. 17; Feb. 22

Pirates -- Feb. 17; Feb. 22

Cardinals -- Feb. 17; Feb. 22

Padres -- Feb. 17; Feb. 22

Giants -- Feb. 17; Feb. 22

Nationals -- Feb. 18; Feb. 23

 

Everybody gets going for real on April 1st...

 

Sorry, i answered my own question.

 

They are starting on time and playing 162.

The owners made a proposal to start a month later and only play 154 games, while still paying them for the full 162, but the players rejected it. I have no idea why and admittedly have not as yet looked into what the players’ objection to a seemingly favorable offer was.

 

Same.

I think Bloom was just itching to make a Tampa style move lol. Benintendi certainly wasn’t terribly expensive, but they do gain a little room under the tax threshold (personally I’m hoping they use the proceeds to retain JBJ), and moving from the question of whether Benny can regain his form to the one of whether Cordero can ever harness his talent is probably no worse than a lateral move at this point.

Like I said every team in this deal is taking a risk on an outfielder...Cordero has the highest ceiling but also the lowest floor. He can’t really be any worse than Benny was last year.

 

Sox signed Marwin Gonzalez for 1 year and $3M...basically exactly what they saved from the Benintendi trade. Kinda reinforces the head-scratching of why they gave Kike 2/14, though.

 

Blue Jays expect to play in Florida, Buffalo and Toronto



TORONTO (AP) The Blue Jays expect to split the home portion of this year’s regular-schedule among their spring training complex in Dunedin, Florida, their Triple-A ballpark in Buffalo, New York, and the Rogers Center in Toronto.

Toronto announced Thursday it will play the first two homestands of the season in Dunedin because of Canadian government restrictions during the pandemic.

Team president Mark Shapiro said a return to Buffalo is a likely option in June because of the heat and humidity in Florida. He hopes for games in Toronto at some point during the summer.

“The alternatives for our season lie with some combination of Dunedin, Buffalo and Toronto,” Shapiro said.

The Blue Jays played home games during the shortened 2020 season in Buffalo and were 17-9 at Sahlen Field, home of their Buffalo Bisons Triple-A farm team. The Canadian government didn’t allow the team to play at home because of the risk of spreading COVID-19, citing frequent travel required in the U.S. during a baseball season

Shapiro said he didn’t ask the Canadian government to start the season in Toronto because public health has not yet improved sufficiently and the border remains closed to non essential travel.

After starting the season with three-game series at the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers, Toronto’s schedule has a homestand with four games against the Los Angeles Angels from April 8-11 and the Yankees from April 12-14.

The Blue Jays follow with a trip to Kansas City, Boston and Tampa Bay, then have home games against Washington on April 27-28 and Atlanta from April 30 to May 2. That is followed by a 10-game trip to Oakland, Houston and Atlanta.

It remains unlikely they would gain approval to play May games in Toronto. A return home in the second half may be more realistic, after players and large segments of the population in the U.S. and Canada are vaccinated.

The TD Ballpark in Dunedin seats about 8,500 fans and had a major renovation in 2019-20. The Blue Jays intend to limit capacity to 15%.

Toronto last played at 49,000-capacity Rogers Centre on Sept. 29, 2019, an 8-3 win over Tampa Bay.

“That’s where we want to be,” Shapiro said. “That’s just not a realistic possibility right now with the circumstances being what they are and with the border being closed,”

Shapiro said Buffalo might not have to be used as an option if the Blue Jays are allowed to play in Toronto sooner expected. He said the Triple-A affiliate team in Buffalo would shift games elsewhere if the major league team plays in Buffalo, and the Blue Jays would need to build a permanent weight room if fans are allowed to attend games in Buffalo. A temporary weight room last season was located on Sahlen Field’s concourse.

The border remains closed to nonessential travelers who are not Canadian citizens. Canada requires those entering the country to isolate for 14 days. And starting Monday, air travelers who arrive in Canada will be forced to quarantine in a hotel for up to three nights as they await the result of a coronavirus test.

Ongoing challenges with the pandemic and how that affects the process of crossing the border between the U.S. and Canada will also keep the Toronto Raptors in their adopted Tampa, Florida, home for the remainder of the regular season, the NBA team said last week.

Blue Jays ace Hyun-Jin Ryu signed with the team before the 2020 season and has yet to pitch a game in Toronto.

“Last season we had a new park and adjustments that we had to make,” Ryu said through a translator in Dunedin. “All these struggles we need to overcome.”

Catcher Danny Jansen called TD Ballpark is a hitters’ park.

“It plays a little smaller,” he said. “We’re going to have to deal with it.”

Jansen said the team is spoiled to have a newly renovated complex in Florida.

“It’s obviously nicer weather here than it is in Buffalo,” he said.

Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo is happy to know where home games will be after not knowing last year until just before the season’s start.

“That was kind of tough on everyone,” Montoyo said.

The Blue Jays went went 32-28 last season, finishing third in the AL East behind Tampa Bay and the Yankees and qualifying for the expanded 16-team postseason. The Blue Jays were swept in two games by the AL champion Rays in a first-round series.

Last year’s Major League Baseball regular season was played without fans.

Toronto has been among the busiest teams on the free-agent market, including agreeing to a $150 million, six-year contract with outfielder George Springer and an $18 million, one-year contract with shortstop Marcus Semien.

 

Thats super crazy! wow

 

Chris Sale has tried not to think about the future as he began working his way back from Tommy John surgery in April.

As virtually the only person at the Red Sox’s training facility in Florida this offseason, it helped keep the 31-year-old left-hander sane as he began the first steps of a recovery program expected to take a minimum of 14 months.

He has had a few hurdles that have slowed the process, including neck injury and a mild bout with COVID-19 last month that required him to quarantine for two weeks. But as Boston’s pitchers and catchers arrived in Fort Myers to join him for their first spring training workout on Thursday, Sale said he’s a full-go and is concentrating on checking off each benchmark of his throwing program as he inches closer to a return.

“I was here by myself the whole summer, it’s nice to get back and have people around and be like a ballplayer again,” Sale said Thursday. “I’ve never been more excited for spring training. … Just, you know, feeling normal again.”

That journey has been a slow one for the seven-time All-Star who is 109-73 in 10 major league seasons and is entering the third season of a $160 million, six-year contract.

But after helping the Red Sox win the 2018 World Series, he went just 6-11 in 2019 with a 4.40 ERA in 25 starts last year, marking his fewest wins and starts, highest ERA, and the first time he failed to finish among the top six in Cy Young Award voting in any full season as a starter.

He then missed the start of spring training in 2020 with an illness that the team described as a flu that it said turned into pneumonia. The Red Sox later revealed he had a flexor strain near his pitching elbow, and after consultation with doctors Sale decided ligament replacement surgery was the best option.

He eventually underwent the procedure on March 30.

While Sale said he believes there’s no doubt he will be a better pitcher after having the surgery, he isn’t allowing himself to ponder what it will look like yet.

He’s yet to throw off the mound, but is content to be doing the conditioning and limited baseball activities that he’s allowed to at this point.

“I’m not looking at, a month from now, two months from now, even really even a season,” he said. “I can’t. That wouldn’t be fair to myself for my teammates or anybody involved in this process. So, the mound comes when it comes and I just take it a day at a time and I’m doing everything I can to get back out there.”

When Sale does return, he’ll join a pitching staff that looks vastly different. But he says he’s confident the group will be able to find its way with Alex Cora back for his second stint as manager after serving a one-year suspension for his role in the Astros sign-stealing scandal

Cora said Thursday that there is currently isn’t a timeline for Sale’s return.

 

Ridiculous cash these days!

 

Gonna be a cold Opening Day for the Tribe and the Tigers! Hopefully no snow.

 

Red Sox-Orioles postponed