Tuesday Bantering: Catching Up

I’ve been ignoring baseball for the last few days, and the Jays did make some news. I had a great time with family and friends on the weekend. In only slightly related news, some friends and I are doing Dry February, and we are trying to raise some money for the Canadian Cancer Society. If you would like to donate, you can check it out here.

They announced the new outfield distances:

• Center field is reduced from 400 feet to 397.
• Left-center power alley moves from 375 feet to 366.
• Right-center power alley moves from 375 feet to 357.

The fence will be higher in some spots, which will soften the effect of the shorter distances some, but we are likely going to see more home runs. I’m not a fan of making home runs too easy. We make fun of Yankee stadium. I don’t want to be making fun of our home park. That and the odd angles will make for some interesting watching.

Improving the outfield defense, while making the outfield smaller seems strange, but we’ll see what happens.

It does make me a little sad that they traded Teoscar Hernandez. It would be fun to see what he could do with the shorter fences. I wonder who will benefit the most from the new dimensions?

But if it improves the ‘fan experience,’ I guess that’s good.

They announced the signing of some free agents:

Originally they listed Ivan Gomez as a lefty batter and thrower, which caught my attention. Left-handed throwing catchers are a rare thing. I can’t find a left-handed throwing catcher in the majors in the last 70 years.

The Jays had their ‘Winter Tour’, which gave us a bunch of cute moments:

And Vlad tells us that they haven’t talked about a contract extension, which doesn’t please me. Let’s lock him up.

And:

• He will miss Lourdes and Teoscar but he understands baseball is a business.
• He will play for the Dominican Republic in the WBC.
• And he feeling ‘physically stronger’ now.

More fun video: