Thursday Bantering: Bits of Baseball Stuff

We are coming to the end of another year. Once again, I'm hoping next year will be a better one. It could hardly be worse, but that seems to be a challenge to the gods.

I didn't get anything baseball-related for Christmas, but I did make out pretty good. One of the things I got was the Paul McCartney' Lyrics' book, which I'm sure I'll enjoy.

As usual, there isn't a heck of a lot for Blue Jays news.

Keith Law answered some questions about the Blue Jays' top prospects. Among the things he said:

• Gabriel Moreno likely won't be up until mid-way through the 2022 season.
• Of the 'surplus of catchers' Law things Moreno should be the long-term catcher, Kirk should be traded as he looks to be a full-time catcher, and because Jansen and McGuire "are backups at best."
• The best pitching prospect (not counting Manoah and Pearson) is Gunnar Hoglund. But Eric Pardinho or Sem Robberse could take that spot with a good year.
• Hitter' most likely to take significant strides this year': Estiven Machado.
• And that the Jays will drop in his 'organizational rankings' this year.

Law also tells us about his Hall of Fame ballot. Law has Bonds, Rodriguez, Ortiz, Rolen, Jones, Sheffield, Ramirez and Helton on his ballot. He has taken Clemens off because he's learned more about the Mindy McCready stuff, which I understand. As much as the 'character clause' isn't defined at all, he says, "if Clemens' transgressions with McCready don't call for invoking the character clause, then we might as well remove it entirely." Bobby Abreu is borderline for him. He doesn't mention Schilling at all (something that we should

As wayler pointed out, Bill Humber was named to the Order of Canada for his work as a baseball historian. A terrific and well-deserved honour.

I was surprised that Kyle Seager announced his retirement. He's just 34. Kyle didn't have a great 2021, but he's been very consistent over his 11-year career. If he signed with a team that had a more batter-friendly ballpark, he likely would have had a bounce-back season.

But getting to choose his own time to leave is a good thing. Most don't get that choice.

Craig Calcaterra had his annual ranking of managers by 'handsomeness.'

At the top is the list is Gabe Kapler.

Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

At the bottom is Brian Snitker, who he likens to "an MCU villain who says things like "All I want is peace. Is that such a bad thing?" before releasing his killer robots or some pathogen or something." Which seems a little mean, he says as someone who would be rejected by Marvel for the role of MCU villain for being too ugly.

Charlie Montoyo sits near the middle at 14th. Saying that he looks like he could star in 'one of those prescription drug commercials:

That image 100% appears as a voiceover says “don’t use Blixonvira if you are pregnant or may become pregnant.” With Blixonvira, of course, being a pill which treats, like, fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva or foreign accent syndrome or something and costs $12,500 a month. Unless you have health insurance in which case it’s $32. Stay in Canada, Charlie. Then drug ads and those kinds of drug prices will never be a problem for you.

Which is less nasty than saying he looks like an MCU villain.

Today's Cup of Coffee is free, so you can see it here.

If MLB could end the lockout soon, I'd appreciate it. It would be nice to have some news to talk about.