Sunday Bantering: Ventura, Press Conference

Just 35 days until spring training. 35. Days.

• Kansas City Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura passed away in the Dominican Republic last night following a car accident. Many players around major league baseball have paid their tributes to the player.

• Jose Bautista held a brief press conference yesterday afternoon, one which failed to amaze or provide any new information. Mostly, Bautista stuck to “a happy-to-be-here script,” as John Lott of The Athletic puts it. Lott, along with other reporters, also spoke to Jay Alou, Bautista’s agent. Lott artfully (and humorously) describes the cat-and-mouse game between Alou and reporters in a highly recommended read.
• Marcus Stroman attended this press conference, sitting in the back and simply enjoying the event. Enjoying it, that is, until he got involved - comically asking Bautista about his partnership with Booster Juice. You can watch the video of the exchange here.
• Jack Magruder of FanRag Sports ranks Aaron Sanchez as 21st among MLB players 25 or younger, commenting on his immense skill from, mostly, a scouts point of view. As Margruder indicates, to get a sense of Sanchez’s skill, you don’t have to look further than the extent to which Toronto went to limit his innings last season. “Sanchez was third in the American League with a 77 percent quality start rate... Sanchez also gave up 7.5 hits per nine innings, tied with Chris Sale for fourth in the AL, and only Corey Kluber and Porcello had a higher ERA-plus than Sanchez.”