Saturday Bantering: Bits of Jays stuff

Robert Murray tells us that the Blue Jays have hired a new director of amateur scouting. Shane Farrell replaces Steve Sanders, who went with Ben Cherington for Pittsburgh. Shane is John Farrell’s son.

The Jays drafted this Farrell back in 2011, in the 46th round, as a pitcher (likely as a favor to their then manager). Shane never pitched in the Jays system. He soon became a scout for the Cubs and was their ‘west coast crosschecker’ last most recently.

On the player side, there isn’t any coming from the Jays.

I’m always going to be a fan of Edwin’s but I’d rather leave the DH spot open to rest the regulars. I’d love to know what a ‘competitive offer’ on Ryu is.

The Tigers have made a couple of signings:

If you haven’t read it yet, John Lott has a post up about what losing baseball would mean to Bluefield. I hate what baseball is doing, all in search of making yet another dollar.

Bluefield is also a target because it’s a member of the short-season Appalachian League, and by 2021, the entire Appy League could be dead too. Nine of its 10 teams are on MLB’s hit list. The plan would also eliminate two other rookie-level circuits, the Pioneer League and New York-Penn League.

The reason: Most players in those three leagues will never see the high minors, let alone the big leagues. A few elite prospects – like Appy League graduates Guerrero and Ronald Acuña Jr. – go through those leagues, but they could easily have started at a higher level, and their teammates aren’t worth paying to develop, MLB argues. Thus, those low-level leagues represent a market inefficiency and should be killed.

I think the Mets win Christmas: