Friday Bantering: More draft signings

I spent yesterday working in the front yard, I all stiff and sore today. But with luck, most of the work will be done by the end of the weekend.

While I was reminding myself that I hate physical labour, the Jays signed their second and third draft picks.

• C.J. Van Eyk signed for $1.8 million, slightly over slot.
• Trent Palmer signed for $850,000, again slight over slot.

With Zach Britton’s signing, they have about $240,000 in excess bonus money for Austin Martin and Nick Frasso.

Shi Davidi tells us that the Jays are making plans to play in Toronto or, if they can’t, play in Dunedin. With the COVID numbers coming out of Florida, I really can’t imagine wanting to play there. But then all the southern states seem to have the same troubles.

And the Jays will have a lobbyist to try to get the government to allow players to skip the 14-day quarantine. The lefty in me thinks it is terrible that rich companies can skip any rule they don’t like, but the baseball fan part wants to see games from Toronto.

Or course, all that depends on the players and owners agreeing. Right now, the owners want 60 games, and the players want 70. If they could actually negotiate, it would be quite easy to meet at 65. But, with these guys I doubt that will happen.

The Twins are taking down the statue of Calvin Griffith.

Rod Carew has nice things to say about Griffith, further down in the thread. I do not doubt Carew at all. I think both stories can be true and one doesn’t change the other.