JoeC

Read "Bullpen Gospels" and "Out of my League" by Dirk Hayhurst. tl;dr summary: minor league living conditions are atrocious. All that aside, athletic performance and development are significantly hindered if you're living in conditions of poverty. Why not invest the extra $500K a year to put the minor leaguers in better housing and give them better food / amenities during the season? The equivalent of 1/10 of Leury's salary (0.1 Leurys - it's a new Sox currency conversion unit) could be a damn good investment for the future.

I'm partial to baked empanadas from Argentina (rather than others that are typically fried).

https://www.tsn.ca/MLB/video/phillips-blue-jays-fired-montoyo-because-they-dont-want-things-t~2483861 Headline kind of says it all.

Puerto Rican oatmeal is underrated.

You can't talk about late '90's attendance without mentioning the '94 strike.

Should we all have a group watching session of a Star Wars movie or something? Or an episode of Letterkenny?

This could get quite confusing. I like it.

I guess that's one way to save the bullpen for game 2 - only have to pitch 8 innings in game 1. All that aside, good job by Martin, all things considered. Just sucks that this offense is absolute dogshit.

Odds of where we'll see Leury making an appearance in the daycap?

McGuire doesn't have any options left. That was the main selling point for Toronto for the trade (straight up) for Collins; McGuire was out of options, and Collins had an option remaining.

I'd honestly like to see 3 catchers, especially knowing TLR's propensity for DHing / 1Bing Grandal. I'm not a fan of the prospects of burning the DH when Leury comes in to pinch hit for McGuire / Zavala late in the game.

Color me optimistic, but I am thinking he'll go back to being an OBP machine.

Just curious - what do you think has been happening?

You're saying that big league hitters can't make adjustments mid-season?

I think therein lies one of my main issues. The team in 2020 exceeded expectations. It was supposed to be the last year of the "rebuild." Instead, the team was thrust into contention (yay), and the organization shifted its focus from player development to "win now." Well, player development was far from complete for a lot of guys. Instead of having dugout leadership that emphasized the development process like RR, we got TLR, whose idea of "development" is to bench you in favor of Leury. Yes, these guys are professionals, etc., but the guys I'm talking about (Moncada, Robert, Eloy, Vaughn, Burger, Sheets) are still kids who need guidance and development. Shifting the focus away from player development to "win or die trying as long as you don't have to run too hard; also, Leury's playing today" has been to the detriment of those guys.

RR was great as a developmental manager. He was the right guy to have leading the team during the rebuild. Kind of wish he could have been kept on as a bench coach post-rebuild, but completely get why they wouldn't

This team is utterly unwatchable. ...I can't stop watching.

To be fair, also before that hit.

mlb.com has him at 15 pitches. "Let's not make it AAAAANY harder than it already is for them"

...along with both smart and hard baserunning.

Now 9 to 6.

Number of pitches Quantrill has sent to the plate: 6 Number of hitters Cleveland has sent to the plate: 7

Does take skill. Gotta make contact at least twice for that number to happen.

On the replay of that near-miss collision catch, it was clear that Naylor was extremely distraught at what was unfolding in front of him. I hate the guy, but you gotta feel for him.