By Muk
The 2015 AL MVP, Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson, said today that he expects to hit free agency after the 2018 season.
Donaldson said that although he has spoken with the Jays on a contract extension, the talks have not been very encouraging. According to Donaldson, "We’re not at the same type of area, the same ballpark, to make a discussion moving forward.”
This is big news for the rest of the league, because a player of Donaldson's caliber can significantly alter any team's future. Even though he had somewhat of a down year in 2017, he still put up awesome numbers, and he will be only 32 when he hits free agency and will likely sign a long-term deal.
When the Blue Jays resigned Donaldson for this coming season, they made it clear that they were looking to remain contenders for at least one more year, but if things start to go south for Toronto this year, it wouldn't surprise me to see them look to deal the former-MVP, to try and get something in return for that talent. By DjackSandy Alderson, General Manager of the New York Mets, made a comment saying that he believes Tim Tebow will play in the MLB. After playing one season in A ball the Mets GM, who has been around baseball for decades, believes Tim Tebow will be a major league caliber talent. Tim Tebow, hadn't played baseball in 12 years, now he decides to pick up the sport again, and after just 18 months of playing baseball the Mets GM thinks Tebow is ready for the show. Just when I try to help cover the Mets asses a little with the David Wright blog I wrote, their GM goes out and says this. Honestly, it's like they're trying to get criticized.
To share my truth, I believe this is just Sandy Alderson covering up the marketing tool that is Tim Tebow. They've already admitted they brought him in as a PR stunt, so why continue to try to cover it up instead of embracing it. Instead of just letting Tim Tebow be at spring training for PR/Marketing purposes, they continue to try to build this narrative that he'll actually play baseball for the New York Mets someday. Just say it for what it is, show some semblance of transparency with your fan base, and then just maybe they all won't hate you. As for Tim Tebow playing in the MLB, I'm all for it. Of course I want to see this guy in the big leagues, pretending it's reasonable and the best thing to help the team win though, I will not tolerate. Only way I see Tim Tebow ever playing for the Mets is if they're god awful this season and they need something to entice fans to buy tickets. That's the only way I can see Tebow touching the field for the Mets . I do truly believe one way or another he'll play somewhere in the MLB one day. Think of all the small market teams that need something to drive traffic to their stadium in late August early September, Tim Tebow would be the easiest way to do it. Soon enough Tim Tebow will play in the MLB and Sandy Alderson's prediction will be correct. However, it won't be for the Mets. By MukScott Boras is the real life Ari Gold. An evil genius.
Adding some momentum to a slow MLB free agency period, 28-year-old Eric Hosmer has agreed to an 8-year, $144 million deal with the San Diego Padres. The Padres are in rebuild mode, with young talent at the major-league level, and budding talent in their farm system, and they now add a veteran leader in Eric Hosmer, who will look to help his young teammates grow. Hosmer is coming off a great season with the Kansas City Royals, batting .318, with 25 HR’s and 94 RBI’s. The fans of Kansas City will surely miss Hosmer, and the Royals are now clearly shifting their focus towards a rebuild themselves. The Padres have done their best to make some noise this off-season, acquiring both Chase Headley and Freddy Galvis, and now adding Hosmer. With Hosmer and Yu Darvish both finding new homes in the last week, Jake Arrieta and J.D. Martinez remain the two biggest names on the market, but I would bet the house that Scott Boras is going to work his magic for them as well. By DjackJustin Verlander took exception to MLB Network's coverage that said the Yankees are the team to beat in the AL and took to twitter to voice his opinion... A team that was a win away from the World Series, that just added the NL MVP,and returned essentially every player on the roster should have very high expectations. The Yankees should have World Series or bust expectations, I expect nothing less. With that being said saying the AL runs through the Yankees when the reigning World Series champs are in the AL is a bold claim. Especially since the Astros are returning all valuable pieces and they added ace Gerrit Cole from the Pirates to enhance an already very solid rotation. I'm not here to say who the better team is for two reasons. One, I'm clearly biased as fuck and will say the Yankees are 100x better than those chumps, they were one win away from World Series in a 'rebuilding year', and they just added the goddamn NL MVP. Two, the champs are the champs until knocked off. They earned that title and they get to keep it until dethroned. That's just how these things work, there's really no discussion to it.Therefore, Astros are still top dawg... for now. Oh, as if that wasn't bad enough being reminded that the Astros are still a speed bump in the Yankees path of glory, Justin Verlander went full salt bae dropping this in the wound shortly after. I already have drafts saved up on twitter for the moment they get eliminated by the Yankees and I get to throw Justin Verlander's comments right back in his face. My God, I am triggered. Too early in the long baseball season to be getting this worked up over a tweet. Sorry I'll try to be better, just letting you know now; I'll inevitably fail.
By DjackIt's never easy calling it quits in anything when it's not on your own terms. If a doctor were to tell me I could never eat Salmon again, a food that I don't even enjoy, I'd have an uncontrollable impulse itching at me to eat salmon. I'm sure that's exactly how David Wright feels, except multiplied by a million. Baseball is his passion, his first love, after a decade of putting up with the shitty Mets he finally gets his chance to win and it gets taken from him. Spinal stenosis is basically a death sentence when it comes to sports, look at the likes of Rick Dipietro, Don Mattingly, and Michael Irvin, once they got the diagnoses their career were all respectively over. All great players, all devoted to the game, unfortunately all the same diagnosis, inevitably leading them all to retirement.David Wright, arguably one of the greatest players in Mets franchise history, will be amongst those names. He already should be, however he just refuses to let go, and it's hard for me to crush him for it.
Try telling a guy that has put in countless hours trying to get back on the field, even if it's in a limited role, to just quit trying because it's never going to happen. Fact of the matter is David Wright has earned the right(no pun intended) to do whatever it is that his heart pleases when it comes to the Mets organization. He carried them through some rough years, he earned that contract, and deserves every penny coming his way. Now, with all that being said, David Wright is single handedly handcuffing the Mets organization from making any big free agent splashes. The absolute last thing I wanna do is give the Mets organization a cop out for being dormant in the big free agent market. Not going to give a big market team any breaks in that area. However, when you're uncertain about $20 million of cap space potentially not being picked up by insurance on the off chance that David Wright ends up being able to play, I can't blame them for being hesitant. Knowing the Mets misfortune they would sign a guy like Mike Moustakas and somehow, someway, David Wright would miraculously heal, leaving the Mets with a financial fiasco, along with a log jam at third base. Basically, if David Wright retired it would remove the last excuse the Mets have for not putting on their big boy pants and spending New York money. Not that they really have any excuse not to spend money now since they're way under the tax threshold and are 10 years removed of the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme. Regardless, the Mets are being somewhat handcuffed by their former franchise player. Funny how shit ends up working out, the guy that carried pathetic Met teams for years is now part of the reason the Mets can't take the next step. I was all for the David Wright comeback story, at this point though, it's time to hang em up. It's just not going to happen and accepting that is the first step. By Muk
Tragic news coming out of Pasco County, Flordia, as the sherif has confirmed that the body found in the crash of a small plane in the Gulf of Mexico, is in fact, Roy Halladay.
Halladay, a 16-year MLB veteran, who was selected to 8 All-Star games, won 2 Cy Young's, and finished in top-5 Cy Young voting 5 other times, was an incredible competitor on the field, and a great person off. "While he was a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, Halladay and his wife invited children and their families from the Hospital for Sick Children into "Doc's Box" at Rogers Centre during Blue Jays games. The remodeling of the suite to be more kid-friendly was documented in an episode of Design Inc.. As part of Halladay's contract with the Blue Jays, he also donated $100,000 each year to the Jays Care Foundation Halladay was the Blue Jays' nominee numerous times for the Roberto Clemente Award for his work with underprivileged children. For the same reason, he was also the Blue Jays' nominee in 2008 for the Players Choice Awards Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award." This is a truly devastating loss for the entire MLB community, and especially the passionate fans of Philly and Toronto where he gave so much, and left everything he had out there every single night. "Doc" Halladay died doing something he loved dearly, and will leave behind a wife and two children.
Halladay will be remember as one of the most dominant pitchers during the steroid era, and absolutely should be inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in the near future, and it is a true shame that he won't be alive for the ceremony. That will be an emotional one for sure, and my thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.
At just 40 years old, he had his whole life ahead of him. RIP Doc. 9/7/2017 Dodgers Losing Streak is Now at 6 Games as Dbacks Winning Streak Extends to 13 GamesRead NowBy DjackThe Diamondbacks completed a sweep of the Dodgers last night with a 3-1 victory. The Dbacks have now won 13 straight dating back to August 23rd. This is the second time they've swept the Dodgers in that stretch, yet they're still 11 games out of the NL West division lead. Just goes to show you how much distance the Dodgers put between themselves and the rest of the pack throughout the first 5 months of the season. The Dodgers have hit a bump in the road, they've now lost 6 straight games, and have lost 11 of their last 13 games. Good thing they got off to that amazing start or they might actually be in some trouble right about now. Truly amazing how a team can go from nearly unbeatable to looking horrendous in the matter of a couple weeks. This is why I love baseball.
Two weeks ago we're talking about how the Dodgers are on pace to break the all time regular season wins record, now that's definitely not going to happen. Now, the conversation has shifted to are the Dbacks are real threat to the Dodgers. I'd say they made that pretty clear after they swept them at home and on the road. The Dbacks and Dodgers will most likely face off in the NLDS as long as the Dbacks don't get upset in the wildcard, something that could likely happen I. A one game playoff. Something I'm sure the Dodgers are hoping happens since they just can't seem to beat those pesky Dbacks. Everyone thought after the Yu Darvish trade that the Dodgers were the clear cut World Series favorite and they'd essentially be unbeatable. Well, Yu Darvish hasn't been good and the rest of the pitching staff has begun to fall apart. Mix that in with the lineup beginning to slump and there's no wonder why the Dodgers are in this skid. I'm sure a skid is all it is, however now is not the right time for a team to be losing momentum. The Dbacks have all the momentum in the world heading into the postseason, whereas the Dodger do not. With these teams on a collision course to meet up in the NLDS, that is bad news bears for the Dodgers. Imagine having this awesome regular season just to lose in the NLDS, that'd have to be one of the biggest let downs of all time. Ask Nationals fans, they're used to it at this point. The Dbacks have none of the pressure and all the momentum, which is a dangerous formula for October. I'm not going to make any hot takes just yet, but just know if these trends continue we should be in for one of the biggest first round upsets in MLB history. By DjackWas watching the MLB network when I heard the guys bring up a very valid point... When Addison Russell is cleared to return what are the Cubs going to do about the shortstop position? In Russell's absence Javy Baez has proved he is a premier shortstop in this league. Seems like every night I see a new clip of him making some acrobatic play that only Javy Baez could make. The increase of production at the plate has also helped Javy Baez's case for staying put at shortstop, although it's going to be awfully hard to just cut off Addison Russell from the position he's done so well at for the Cubs. The case one can make for Javy Baez is that he is clearly the better defensive player. This is true, but by no stretch is Addison Russell not capable of making all the plays at shortstop. Javy Baez brings an element of making plays that no one else can, however Russell is just as good defensively as essentially any shortstop in baseball, so it's not like he's a liability whatsoever in the field. On the base paths I give Javy Baez the edge as well, he's just so explosive, he makes opposing pitchers nervous, and his baseball IQ is off the charts. He stole home, I don't think Addison Russell has that game changing ability on the base paths. At the plate most would say Addison Russell is the more consistent bat. I tend to disagree. Yes, in 2016 Russell was clearly the better hitter, he drove in 95 RBI's, hit 20+ dingers, but he had a batting average below .240. Javy Baez, has shown he can hit for power just as good if not better than Russell by putting 21 balls over the fence this season. He hits for a much better average, hitting about 30 points higher than Addison Russell. He hasn't been able to drive in nearly as many runs as Russell did a year ago, but that could also be to the lack oppurtunities. Let's be real, the Cubs offense was a lot better last year than it is this year, so it's totally possible that the 95 RBI's Russell had last year are just a mirage. Baez does strike out a bunch, but if he's hitting for a higher average, has a better on base percentage, and hits for more power, I don't really see that to be much of a problem. The plate discipline needs improvement with Baez, which will come with the experience of being an everyday player. If I'm Theo Epstein I'm telling Joe Maddon keep Javy Baez at shortstop. In the offseason I get a nice haul for Addison Russell since his value is still incredibly high and the Cubs can start getting some elite prospects back in their farm system. These last two seasons have kinda dried up the farm in Chicago with all the win now trades they are making, so this is an excellent way to start retooling. It's not an easy decision, although I do think it's the necessary one. Russell still has the beef with his ex-wife looming over his head, so who knows how that will play out, and Javy Baez has those special intangibles that just can't be taught. I feel it'd be a huge mistake for the Cubs to take Javy Baez out of the spot he's produced so well for them at. It's unfortunate that Russell loses his job due to injury, however that's the nature of the business. What do you think the Cubs should do? Keep Baez at shortstop, move Baez and put Russell back at shortstop, or do you have a different theory? Let me know in the poll below. By DjackI was sick to my stomach when I woke up this morning and saw the final score was Baltimore 7 Yankees 6. I feel asleep in the 8th inning, something I'd almost never do, however the game didn't start until like he 10pm last night, so I'm sure a lot of fans missed out on this one. Let me just say right now, this was a good game to miss. A game that looked like it was won early in the 3rd inning, turned into one of the most devastating defeats the Yankees have encountered this season.
Yankees were riding high coming into this game, just having taken 3 of 4 from Boston in the previous series, and they won the opener in this series. Now, all was left to do was win this series, even better sweep this series, carrying all momementum into the Yankees next serie as they continue to chase the top spot in the AL East. Unfortunately, any momentum we had is probably gone after last night. The Yankees were leading 6-1 in the 3rd inning. A lead that anyone would feel comfortable with saying this game is essentially won, especially when you have a great bullpen like the Yankees do. Anyways, Manny Machado comes up in the bottom of the third, hits a laser beam homer to left center, and the Yankees lead was cut to 6-2. Still, no big deal, big enough lead where I'm very comfortable. Then, in the bottom of the 5th Jonathan Schoop, who is quietly making a nice little MVP campaign, blasts his 31st home run of the season, and the score was now 6-3. Still not worried. The 6th inning is where the scaries started creeping in after Mark Trumbo hit a 2 run Camden Yards special that just made it over the wall. Anywhere else, even at Yankee stadium this a routine fly ball, but at Camden Yards it was a 2 run homer cutting the Yankee lead to 6-5. Now, I was worried. Still a one run lead with a bullpen of unlimited flame throwing arms should be enough to get the Yankees the W. Tommy Kahnle came in to finish off the 6th and that's exactly what he did without much problem. David Robertson shut down the O's in just 10 pitches in the 7th. Aroldis Chapman came in the 8th leaving me in doubt due to him being awful this season, but even he was lights out last night. We were about to win the series and remain just 2 1/2 games out of first place in the AL East. Dellin Betances came in for the save, usually I'm more than confident with him on the mound, however there's something about him closing games in September that just never sits right with me. Probably because last year he was horrendous as the closer in September. Whatever, that was last year, this is this year, I had nothing to worry about, right. Well, turns out my initial gut wrenching feeling was right, Betances just isn't the same pitcher in September for whatever reason. Worst part was he gets the first two outs of the inning, Yankees are marching on to victory, then he walks Tim Beckham, big mistake, leaving Manny Machado an opportunity to win this game for his team. Machado hit an absolute bomb to centerfield, ball game, walk off, Orioles win, and the Yankees suffer a devastating loss blowing a 5 run lead. Nothing worse than being one out away from victory and then losing the game. Demoralizing loss for the Yankees, hopefully they bounce back quicker than I do because I might be upset over this one for awhile. Yankees had their chance to bury the Orioles, instead we gave them a second life. Big big mistake. Yankees need to bounce back in a big way today, I have faith they can do it, I mean that has been their mantra all season. Forget about the last one and move onto the next one, baby. Unfortunately, Boston won a marathon game against Toronto in 19 innings, so the deficit in the AL East is back to 3 1/2 games. Still plenty of time to catch those cheating basterds, though. 9/5/2017 Red Sox Get Caught Cheating Using an Apple Watch Further Proving All Boston Sports Franchises Need to Cheat to WinRead NowBy DjackStop if you've heard this before, Boston team gets caught cheating using electronic technology to try to gain an advantage over their opponent. No, this isn't the Patriots involved in Spygate, this time it's Boston's baseball team doing the cheating. Apparently, the Yankees caught the Red Sox using some elaborate scheme involving an apple watch, yes an apple watch, to steal signs from opposing teams, specifically the Yankees. They were then relaying the signs to the batters and getting an unfair advantage against the opposing pitcher. Classic Boston team trying to get an advantage anyway possible. Do they not teach sportsmanship, hard work, and respect in Boston? I guess not because these teams get involved in more scandals regarding cheating than any other sports town.
The saddest part about this whole situation is that the Red Sox lineup knows exactly what pitch is coming and they still can't hit the ball. If I'm a Red Sox fan right now I'm very nervous. Your team was stealing signs and they still couldn't produce with runners in scoring positions, they are still the worst power hitting team in the league, and the Yankees still crushed them in the season series. As far as I'm concerned that Rafael Devers home run off Aroldis Chapman was a result of this cheating, therefore the Yankees should be rewarded the winner of that game. Of course that won't happen, though. That's why these Boston teams continue to cheat. They get caught, they get a slap on the wrist, and if they don't get caught they cheat their way to championships. Well, at least the Patriots do anyways, Red Sox on the other hand aren't quite in the same tier of dominance as the Patriots, which makes this even more sad. Bunch of cheaters that can't even win, pathetic. Realistically, Boston will probably just get fined and all will be forgotten. I mean for Christ sake their GM, douschebag Dave Dombroski, was literally laughing his ass off at these claims because he knows Rob Manfred is too spineless to do anything about this. The only thing we have going for us is that Joe Torre handles the discipline in these types of situations, so hopefully good ole Joe will hold it down for the Yankees and screw over the Red Sox due to his history with the ball clubs. At least we know that this season for the Red Sox has an asterisk next to it now, anyone that disagrees might as well admit that cheating should be allowed, and the league should just be total chaos. Why have rules if no one is going to follow them. This Red Sox season is officially a sham and anyone that thinks otherwise doesn't respect the game of baseball. |
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April 2018
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