Thursday Bantering: Bits of Blue Jays News

After last night’s rather weird play, I feel kind of baseballed out a bit.

I don’t blame the umpire for thinking it was a catch. I thought it was a catch and I had a better view, on TV, than he did. I don’t blame the runners for being a bit confused. It’s a play that we haven’t seen in that way. As it turns out, it is much like a trapped/catch ball on a dive. It is a play that’s hard to call.

In the long run a run scored and I think that’s the best we could have hoped out of that deep fly.

In other news:

• The Jays game on April 18th will not be on Sportsnet. To me this is silly, but:

I’m really not a big Facebook fan, I have a Facebook page, but mostly because we have a Facebook page for the site. I agree with ones that are against it because of privacy worries. I hate the idea that the only way we can watch this game is on Facebook. I have a nice big TV that I got as much for baseball as anything else. I like watching games on that. I’m not going to enjoy watching in a different way.

• Grant Brisbee writes about what it is like to watch baseball on Facebook. It isn’t a happy thing. I agree with this:

Facebook is more of a kid-picture-delivery service for me now.

And, of course, this:

Facebook can’t compete on video quality. It can’t compete when it comes to someone who’s used to sitting down on the couch and watching a recorded game on a 65-inch TV, and it can’t compete with the companies selling movies from a streaming service that’s already programmed into their cable box or smart TV.

Like many things baseball does it seems just badly thought out.

Anyway....go read it. Grant can make anything entertaining but this was way too easy for him.

• Keith Law listed the “the most stacked minor league rosters of 2018” and no surprise the New Hampshire Fisher Cats rate a mention:

The Weasels will start the year with two of the top 20 prospects in baseball in Vlad Guerrero Jr. (No. 2) and Bo Bichette (No. 17), something no other minor league roster can boast for Opening Day. The roster also will include several former first-rounders trying to re-establish some value in catcher Max Pentecost and right-hander Jon Harris, plus former top-100 prospect Sean Reid-Foley and outfielder Harold Ramirez, the latter acquired from Pittsburgh in the Francisco Liriano trade.

• I got Vegas odds on the first manager to be fired this season, and, for a change, John Gibbons isn’t on the list. Number one on the list? Buck Showater at 3/2. Gabe Kapler is 6th on the list at 10/1. If I was a betting man, I’d go with Gabe, it sounds like his team is already complaining about him.
• At the Athletic Jim Bowden has ‘5 bold predictions’. One of them is that Josh Donaldson will be traded to the Cardinals this season. I don’t know, I don’t buy it, but who knows.

The Toronto Blue Jays would like to keep Josh Donaldson and sign him to an extension, but the reality is that they’re not going to be able to. The game’s best prospect, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., is soaring through their farm system, with some analysts believing he’ll be ready as early as next season to take over third base. So Donaldson’s expiration date has now been set for this offseason. However, if the Blue Jays are not contending by the trade deadline, to let him leave for a draft pick is just not good enough. That means he’ll most likely be dealt by late July. The interesting part is that most contending teams don’t need a third baseman: Just ask Michael Moustakas of the Kansas City Royals who, after hitting 38 home runs last season, had to sign a discounted, one-year, $6.5 million deal back with the lowly Royals.

• Johan Keri tells us that the Jays should be fine if Josh Donaldson had to spend most of the season playing at DH. I don’t disagree, but I don’t think it is going to happen. I’d be happy with Yangervis Solarte playing third and Josh at DH. I am doing that in OOTP Baseball. I don’t think Kendrys Morales is totally without value, but likely more valuable as a pinch hitter, though he finds it harder to get his timing.
• This lineup looks pretty good: