Could McGuire be sent down for something stupid that harmed nobody, just his reputation? Even if his hitting regresses, he is still a quality receiver and I'd rather him pair with Jansen as a young catching duo that will develop with the rest of the team.

I just looked at the Jays schedule. 31 games played by the end of April. 4 KC, 3 Os and 10 Boston. Boston and all the other teams we play consider themselves contenders. Contenders (93 wins). Competing (85 wins).

Boston and the Jays may have close to the same record but the Jays FO are not "saying" that they are competitors. Not yet. Boston IMO would never say that they expect to suck. In 2012 they did suck winning only 69 games.

What ever happens by the end of April for the Jays is sort of expected by me. Good record and 1st place or bad record and last place in the AL. If Boston is in 1st then Ok. If last in the AL not Ok. Their schedule also has 7 easy games Os 3 and Mariners 4.

Yanks and Jays game will be broadcast on Sportsnet today for those who can watch. Roark vs Cole.

From Mike Wilner:

First round of cuts from #Bluejays camp: RHP Thomas Hatch, RHP Elvis Luciano, RHP Julian Merryweather, RHP Patrick Murphy, RHP Hector Perez, RHP T.J. Zeuch optioned.

C Alejandro Kirk, INF Patrick Kivlehan, INF Nash Knight, INF Logan Warmoth reassigned to Minor League camp

McGuire is scheduled to appear in court on March 16.  If the whole thing blows over, I can't imagine him being sent down.  But if he seems to have a problem arising from it, I can see the club sending him down for developmental reasons.  My money is on the former.

There's also a possibility that McGuire won't be able to immediately enter Canada, particularly if he's found guilty of something that is equivalent to a criminal offense in Canada or if there's no resolution on March 16th. Caleb Joseph or any other backup would require a spot on the 40-man roster; I can't see McGuire being demoted unless absolutely necessary.

ah come on he was yerking it in a car. nothing story.

Agree UO. Although hearing the court procedure/arguments should be interesting. I wonder if there will be video ( invasion of privacy?) or eye witness testifying.

If there was video, TMZ would have released it by now. I mean, it's not like he 'pulled' a Robert Kraft...

Good joke mathesond. Hahaha. Way back in the 60s they did this thing called streaking. Maybe that was a law breaking act. I don't know.

With 2 weeks to go. it looks like Cole & Panik are 2 non-roster players likely to make the opening day roster and I would say Alford is on the outside.

Panik has looked good so far, but I don't see why you need Panik and Drury on the same team.

Borucki and Dolis to the 60 day DL retroactive I expect.

Borucki possibly but not Dolis. He should be good to go 2 to 3 weeks into the season and I am sure they want him active asap as he was scheduled to be the set up guy in the 8th inning.

I agree that only one of Panik or Drury should make the team, and would lean toward Panik at this point. I’d rather the Jays keep a 5th OF with speed as the 26th man. If they have Shaw, Biggio, Bichette, Guererro, Tellez and Panik, for example, I don’t really see where Drury fits. It would be nice to have a real CF like Johnathan Davis on the team. Davis might not be much of a hitter, but he could probably at least match the 45 and 66 wRC+ Drury has produced on the last two years.

Dany Jimenez had another pretty good outing for the Giants today - he's outpitching a lot of the more established bullpen candidates, and looks like he has a good shot at making the team.

Panik over Drury is a no brainer, IMO. But the organization has a thing about Drury and they're going to have to be hit over their collective heads to realize he's not going to help the team.

The rotation is looking good. Only 1 minor injury, to Borucki. Really hoping for good health for Shoemaker. He's had more than his share of injuries, and he's pitching great.

Really disappointed that Alford has been so bad this spring. Starting to think he's not going to make it.

Dany Jimenez has faced high A quality pitching in the spring so far (5.9 OppQual) and has far from dominated. Its really too early to tell if there is anything there with him. Romano and Cole have faced slightly higher level of competition (6.9 and 8.1 OppQual) and have pitched better.

In other news, Cal Stevenson, now with the Rays, only got 1 AB out of spring training so far.
Travis Bergen isn't close to making the team.

Now, Edward Olivares, there's a guy who has looked pretty good for a while now and I don't know if there' s room for him on the Padres.

Regardless, the Jays should try to trade someone from the 40 roster.
Or they could outright Drury. The smart move would be to release him and save the money, but at 2M, nobody is picking him up if they want to give him enough chance to bounce back.

I don't think Alford going to make it either -- if there's a bright spot, it's that he might not get claimed on waivers after striking out 13 times in 23 PAs. If unclaimed, he would likely be outrighted to Buffalo for the season.

MLBTR lists 8 out-of-options players to keep an eye on and 3 started as Jays and who were once top 100 prospects - Alford, Barreto and Hoffman.

ESPN posted the Ceasars Vegas lines from a couple of days ago. Jays at 76 wins, 100-1 to win the WS. Strangely, the Jays odds to win the AL (40-1) are lower than winning the AL East (50-1). Yankees are at 100.5 wins, Rays 91 and Red Sox 83. And the Jays 9 win improvement only leapfrog's 4 teams- the Mariners, Rockies, Pirates and Giants.

ST with Montoyo running it is quite unimportant. For Example Roark has pitched in 2 games 6 innings total. 2 and 4 innings yesterday. He did have the flu I believe. With 2 weeks left in ST Roark should be ready to go 6/7 innings so he built up without pitching in any other official games.

No shortage of out of option players IMO. Also non tender. Players on minor league contracts.

A big arm is always a tempting add. A Gose and A Perdomo.


There are Elite contenders like LAD, Houston and NYY. Then non-elite contenders like Minnesota and the Phils. What we need to do is see if ANY of their regulars are glove first players. I think probably not. If so then glove first is for the bench.

"Kay,- LH longmen"

I'd be shocked if the Jays do this. Kay will almost certinly be in AAA starting every 5 days and will probably be first starter up if someone gets hurt.

Don't see Alford making the team. He's been bad for 2 straight years and is bad in spring. Don't have a lot of faith in Fisher but at least he hit at AAA.

Could McGuire be sent down for something stupid that harmed nobody, just his reputation?

It's not necessarily accurate to say he "harmed nobody", because I think many people would find it quite upsetting to come across a guy masturbating in the front seat of his car in a busy parking lot while they were doing some shopping.

But that aside, McGuire just showed staggeringly bad judgment, and I think the organization should have some serious concerns about a man who shows bad judgment about about when and where he pulls out his penis.

Not that he needs to go to jail - though McGuire should thank his lucky stars that someone with kids didn't cross his path, because people have ended up registered as sex offenders for stupid stuff like this. And he doesn't necessarily need to be released. But a few months riding the AAA bus and being periodically quizzed on the appropriate times & places for masturbation wouldn't hurt.

I'd keep Espinal as Panik's backup. Send Drury to Buffalo. He can play every day there. And if he can't hit there, dump him.

It's the spring, but always good to beat the Yankees and always good to get the lead out.  Chase Anderson had his first decent appearance- although I guess you have to put an asterisk next to it because of Orioles magic. 

If it were what I would do rather than what they will do, then I would (relative to what Mike set out) probably punt Drury and Fisher in favour of Espinal (so that you have a true SS backup) and keep an 8th reliever (given the historical health of the starters I think you want to ease the starters into the season). I would be keeping Kay in the pen for the start of the season knowing that you are likely to be able to use him for 2-3 inning stints in April and he's probably the only other viable LH reliever right now). If the starters are healthy and performing you can always return Kay to Buffalo later. Keeping Davis over Fisher is just my personal foible for wanting someone on the roster who can actually play CF.

Here's an interesting piece on Charlie Montoyo from Alexis Brudnicki. 

I would not be surprised to see the start of the baseball season disrupted or postponed because of COVID-19. Today, the NCAA announced that its March Madness basketball tournament will be played without fans. The NBA's Warriors are playing without fans tonight. NCAA's Ivy League has cancelled ALL spring sports. Seattle's XFL team will play without fans on Sunday. All of these things were announced in the past 24 hours.

MLB still has time to monitor and make alternative plans - teams are scheduled to break camp in ~10-12 days. However at this point, I expect some disruption.

Interesting question, Mike. Surprised you don't have either Font or Romano in your bullpen. Anyway, here is how I see it:

C - Jansen and McGuire. Jansen plays against lefties and roughly 55-60% the time against righties, roughly 115-120 starts for Jansen. McGuire plays the other games. If Jansen has a breakthrough with the bat, like I expect, then he plays more like 125-130 games.

1B - Shaw is the regular. I would like a good righty bat to platoon with him, but the team doesn't have one.

2B - Biggio plays basically every day.

3B - Vlad plays most games, with maybe 20 games at DH.

SS - Bichette plays basically every day.

OF - Gurriel LF, Grichuk CF, Hernandez RF most days. Fisher gets some starts in RF against righties and Hernandez DH's. If Hernandez doesn't hit similarly to what he did in the 2nd half last year, and other players are hitting well (Fisher, Tellez) then Hernandez' playing time is reduced.

DH - Tellez would be the main DH. Some games Vlad DH's and Panik plays. In that scenario, you could play Panik at 2B, Biggio at 1B and Shaw at 3B. When Fisher is in RF, Hernandez would usually DH.

That's 12 position players. If Alford can start to show something positive in the next couple of weeks, I would keep him around, and use him as an occasional player in RF, against lefties, with Hernandez moving to DH and Tellez playing 1B, Shaw on the bench. Alford could also pinch run and perhaps be used as a defensive replacement in RF late in games for Hernandez if his fielding improves. Otherwise, I guess Drury is the 13th guy, and can be used as a defensive replacement for Vlad, and occasional starter at 3B or 1B vs lefties.

The same rotation as you have, Mike - Shoemaker, Thornton and the 3 new guys. Borucki (once healthy), Pearson, Kay starting at Buffalo gives some very nice depth in case of injury. Expect Pearson to be called up by late May and the least effective guy not named Ryu moves to the pen. Yamaguchi could also move to the rotation in case of injury.

Bullpen, assuming Dolis is on the IL to start the season, is Giles, Yamaguchi, Bass, Romano, Font, Gaviglio, Pannone and whoever looks the best of Cole, Waguespack, Miller, Bergen, Moran, Baker, Tice. Let's say it's Cole for now. Dolis bumps Cole (or Pannone if he pitches poorly), when he is healthy. I would like to see SRF tried as a late inning reliever in AAA, and I would like to see Giles signed to an extension.

Romano and Font have very good arguments.  It's an interesting question how you shape your bullpen vis a vis length of average outing.  I'm going long for four of them, but I suspect that I would end up in the minority. 

I'm not sure I follow Nigel's math.

You can keep an 8-man pen, and have room for 5 bench/DH options - backup catcher plus four others. If Tellez starts in Buffalo, that's room for two outfielders and two infielders; otherwise, three between IF/OF. So you could keep at least Davis and Espinal plus one of Drury or Fisher at a minimum.

I certainly hope we don't see a disruption to the season due to Covid-19. There are roughly 1,000 people in the USA who have been diagnosed with the illness. That's about 1 out of every 360,000 people. In a typical baseball stadium, there would be nobody with the virus. If roughly half of those people with the virus know it, and are staying home, that means you'd have to attend roughly 20 games to be in the same stadium as somebody who had it, and the chance you would be sitting beside, in front, or behind that ill person would be about 1 in 8,000 if there are 32,000 at the game. Multiply that out, and you have a 1 in 160,000 chance of sitting beside, in front of, or behind somebody with the virus. Say that gives you a 50% chance of catching it, now you're at 1 in 320,000. The advanced mortality stats out of South Korea indicate the mortality rate is about 0.6%, which would mean a roughly 1 in 53,000,000 chance of getting catching the virus and dying from it if you attend a game. Of course, you are more likely to die in a car crash on your way to and from the game.

I suppose that disrupting the schedules of major sporting events may help to slow the spread of the virus, but in my opinion, there is a pretty major overreaction to this virus. People getting in fist fights at stores over toilet paper. Ridiculous.

Unlike a car crash, COVID-19 is infectious and being around people increases the number of cases which in turn makes it a bigger and harder problem to solve.

Also there are 15 games being played a night (roughly). That means every 2 days there would be a person with COVID-19 attending a game.

Yes, like I said, it may help to slow the spread. The question is to what extent does society want to disrupt things to accomplish that? We don't do it for flu, which kills way, way more people than Covid-19, and is easier to catch. Roughly 30,000 people a year die from flu in the USA every year, but no games are disrupted because of flu.

The US has 1000 confirmed cases now. There are real questions about how many unconfirmed cases are out there. More importantly, the question is what to do to limit the extent of the epidemic. Maybe we keep it under control with current measures, or maybe we're just a couple weeks behind Italy (~100x the intensity); and it's hardly unthinkable for Covid-19 to infect a substantial portion of the population. Korea is doing great comparatively, but the overall estimate is 3.4% mortality; Italy is over 6% already.

Frankly, disrupting major sporting events is the low-hanging fruit for limiting the spread of Covid-19.

There's a vaccine for the flu.

I'm sure once there's a vaccine for COVID-19 things will be different.

Not only is there a vaccine for flu but COVID-19 is proving to be much more infectious at this stage - I heard the Mayor of NY estimate that it's likely until September before NY gets control of the spread - I don't think the season will be delayed but rather be played in empty stadiums for the broadcast revenue - the luck of the NFL - crowds are probably back for the NFL regular season.

It's hard to predict because of the US health care system--or lack thereof.
Hardly anybody is being tested in the US.
Testing, when available cost a few grands, but it's not even widely available because the US decided to develop their own version of the test which turned out to be faulty.

I don't know if fans will want to expose themselves in stadium, but the key to keeping the season intact is to keep the players secluded from the population so they can at least play in empty stadiums.
It's just a matter of extending the netting a little bit more to keep the fans from the players.

In other news, Baltimore is gearing up for an historically bad season.
Home games in Baltimore and Tampa are normally played in empty stadiums anyway.

ugly, I think we should get back to baseball. Obviously politics is not going to be a reasoned area of discussion.

The US is assuredly not outperforming Europe; like Canada, America has simply had fewer interactions to date with travelers from affected regions than many of the European countries. Meanwhile cases have already doubled in both countries ina short period of time.

Were we slow off the mark. May be. What is clearly appalling is that Trump continues to hold mass rallies, encourages hand shaking, and downplays the seriousness of the situation.

Unfortunately there is too much focus by many on the absolute number of deaths to date and debates about the true mortality rates. The broader issue is the high proportion of people who get seriously ill, requiring extensive hospital care and specialized equipment that is in short supply. Neither Canada nor the US have the resources to deal with a geometric rise in cases.

Some how I think this is more important than attendance at baseball games.

Oh I will show the reasons every step of the way, gabriel.

Neither Canada nor the US have the resources to deal with a geometric rise in cases.

Some how I think this is more important than attendance at baseball games.

Agreed grjas. I'd add that nobody has the medical capacity to deal with this outbreak if it really gets going - it's not just Canada & the US. As for US/Canada relative to Europe - I suppose time will tell, but the US and Canada are both still at roughly a tenth the incidence of even non-Italy western Europe. We might still get to that point, but it's been a slightly slower rise than we've seen in Europe. But you're right, it's too soon to make any conclusions about how things will shake out.

OK gang - time to stop with the Covid 19 stuff outside of 'crap, we can't go to baseball games' or 'did you hear player xyz is sick from it now'.  This is a baseball site, not a politics one or a medical one or any other kind of one. 

NBA has just banned fans from all games.

Oklahoma players pulled off court.

Suspected illness amongst players.

That censorship might get people killed, John Northey.

And here's why the players were pulled off and the game cancelled:

https://twitter.com/MikeBeauvais/status/1237899118485397504

Rudy Gobert tests positive for covid:


https://twitter.com/SInow/status/1237913375675420672

And this is him infecting all the media before the game:

https://twitter.com/DanWeiner/status/1237909108071809030


And of course, all his teammates.

NBA SUSPENDS SEASON

~5 hours ago, I posted "I expect some disruption". Now, I think there's 100% chance of it. The logical assumption being that the start of the season will be delayed and games will either be postponed or canceled. Maybe everyone just stays put in Flordia or Arizona until travel can resume as normal.

Thanks UO.

if this is where they have to get the information to counterract their disinformation, then its as good as anywhere.

I'm OK with the conversation uo FWIW.

While I find the discussion fascinating, and want to chime in myself (for example, we'd probably be pretty close in alignment on containment thoughts, UO, and I have thoughts on an apples-to-apples mortality rate and flu reporting). At the same time, it's probably best to not clutter the thread with them (especially the charts, illustrative though they were). These things can grow unweildly-big when we stay just on the topic of baseball, forget it if we drop off-topic landmines all over the place.

As for the PSAs for those who only get their CORVID-19 news here: wash your hands frequently, sneeze into your elbows avoid large gatherings and limit travel. Get ready for some social distancing (as a work from home addict, I've been practicing social distancing for years from germy work environs). Get ready for empty stadiums and baseball disruptions. And stop touching your face! Damned near impossible for a chronic beard-stroker like me. No, I said beard. B-E-A-R-D. It's not a euphemism, Reece.

Why not mimic BTF and put up an off-topic thread for COVID-19? That will let people choose to participate or not at their will.

With the events of the last 24 hours, it's hard to ignore COVID-19 and just talk baseball as a singular topic. The NBA has suspended its season, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the NHL do the same later today.

What implications does this mean for MLB ? I think the opening of the season will be delayed, but for how long? Would MLB go with an abbreviated season ? It's pretty hard to play longer into the fall in the colder states. Would players stay at the spring training sites and keep practicing, and then would there be a short round of exhibition games to build up the pitchers again?

For baseball to shut down is not unprecedented if you think of the lockouts but even then the minor league players were able to play. If MLB shuts down this time because of fear of spreading or catching the virus, it will be from top to bottom I would think. I would much rather be discussing what the Jays are going to do with Brandon Drury and who is going to win the last spot in the bullpen, but it seems COVID-19 and it's implications are going to render these discussions moot, for a while at least.

it's hard to ignore COVID-19 and just talk baseball as a singular topic

I hear you, but that is a different conversation. How COVID-19 is affecting MLB is one thing. The topic of COVID-19, in and of itself, is another. The latter is fascinating, to be sure, and many here surely visit any number of sites to stay informed. I was just suggesting that if people here felt inclined to discuss COVID-19, in and of itself, then a separate, devoted thread would accommodate that.

The absolute best case for MLB would be playing in empty stadiums for the first month or so in order for the games to still be televised and the season uninterrupted, but even that seems very unlikely at this rate. Most likely they are going to have to bite the bullet and suspend the season until it is deemed safe to start playing again in front of crowds. This impacts MLB more than the other sports league since baseball is played outdoors and pushing the season into Nov-Dec is just not a realistic solution. Another potential drawback from a business standpoint is if the NBA extends their season into July/August because of this, then that's more eyeballs off MLB in the summer, which is exactly what they do not need.

Manfred is in a no-win situation here.

The NBA just showed how impractical the "play with no crowds" plan is - one player with a confirmed case, and now apparently two of his teammates already confirmed. The NBA, best case, is skipping to the playoffs from here. Likely the same with the NHL.

Baseball teams play every day - if a single team is quarantined, the whole schedule breaks. No sense pretending otherwise. Playing real games in the spring training stadiums sounded vaguely reasonable, except what do you do with the minor leagues? Current baseball also breaks without minor leaguers being ready and available.

On the assumption that the schedule is severely impacted, I'd be curious what an 81 game schedule looks like - maybe within division games only? Certainly interleague play should be cut out of any short season. I'd almost prefer a tournament bracket set up for September-October, seeding the 32 teams into a bracket of 9 or 11 game series based on 2019 records (top teams get a bye in 1st round). Every team plays every round to get more or less equal seasons for everyone. 5 rounds determines a champ. Do something insane and different on purpose, because it looks like that is being thrust upon MLB whether they have acknowledged it yet or not.

The absolute best case for MLB would be playing in empty stadiums

That would protect the fans from each other. But what about the NBA scenario where a player tests positive?

Not a good year to hold the Olympics. Apparently SARS-1 was not seasonal like influenza, meaning that SARS-2 may not be either. There may be no magical summer reprieve.

In saying it was hard to ignore COVID-19, I meant more in the way it will affect baseball. As usual it will be the little guy that will be affected most - the concession worker, ushers, parking attendants, clubhouse workers etc., not to mention workers in restaurants and hotels near the ballparks, all of whom rely on those jobs.

Of course, it will also hurt the ones who pay for everything, the fans. Just think how we've passed the last few months on here talking about prospects, evaluating free agent signings, complaining about the antics of the Houston Astros, and looking forward to a season that now may not come for a while. Sure, baseball is not important compared to things going on in our lives and the real events of the world, but often it is a much-needed distraction from life's problems. Now it seems like COVID-19 is forcing its way into our baseball sanctuary.

Anyway back to baseball. Kiley at ESPN has the AL East team prospects up. The Jays:

1. Nate Pearson, RHP, 60 FV (No. 6 on the Top 100)
2. Jordan Groshans, 3B, 50 FV (68)
3. Simeon Woods Richardson, RHP, 50 FV (70)
4. Alek Manoah, RHP, 45+ FV
5. Alejandro Kirk, C, 45+ FV
6. Gabriel Moreno, C, 45 FV
7. Orelvis Martinez, SS, 45 FV
8. Anthony Kay, LHP, 45 FV
9. Miguel Hirado, 3B, 45 FV
10. Thomas Hatch, RHP, 45 FV

2020 impact: Nate Pearson and Anthony Kay
Ranked breakout pick: Orelvis Martinez
Unranked breakout pick: Dasan Brown

Jesse McKinley @jessemckinley

.@espn reporting that Major League Baseball is suspending operations.

From MLBTR:

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/03/mlb-suspends-spring-training-games-coronavirus.html

Hope everyone here gets through the next few weeks and months OK - Canada's numbers are going to get much, much worse in the next little while, and it's likely a few of us here will be in self-quarantine at some point.

Late March/early April is normally a great time to be home sick, as far as that goes, thanks to sports being at a yearly peak (nhl and nba playoff drives, playoffs, march madness, early baseball!). Aside from the very serious risks associated with the virus, it's become an extra bad time to be isolated at home all day. As trivial as baseball is I still love it, and hope it can get back to a new normal as soon as possible.

I recognize there are much more important things than baseball in a time of a global pandemic.

However, question for people:

If there is a player suspended for 50 games and the first 45 games of the season end up cancelled due to corona virus and we play a shortened season, do the cancelled games count for the suspension? I.e., is the suspended player back for the 6th actual game or do they need to miss 50 games on top of the 45 games that were cancelled.

It is good that so many Bauxites are informed and very intelligent. I am not one of them. I don't want to insult Manny and Yogi but they said a lot of strange things and were not ALWAYS wrong.

The old people and people with weak immune systems are at the highest risk level of dying if they get the virus, from what I have heard. The survivors will have developed an immunity to this virus. When a person gets the disease, the symptoms don't show up for 5-10 days.So we probably have all been exposed by going shopping, church, a bar, the bus etc. As well the people in our lives/family have exposed us by going to school and work.

I hope all of you and your families stay safe.

On a personal and lighter note I will be 68 in a few days. So I am old. It shows in my mental abilities. I KNOW that I will not get it. SARS, 2003, had no effect on me and I was exposed to it a lot at work. I did a ton of overtime. There was a scare in the fall of 2009 about a bad flu. I don't know its name.

To be clear I am NOT a scientist. I get the flu shot. It does not cover everything. I never get the flu because I put a table spoon or so of the cheap vinegar in a large glass of water and drink it. No flu and my cholesterol which is always good improved to excellent. Vinegar is safe in pickles and salad dressing. Once again good luck to all of us.

New thread up for the virus now the MLB is suspended as well. 

"The survivors will have developed an immunity to this virus".

I understand that at least one survivor got the virus a second time, so not so sure that they will develop immunities.

Thanks mathesond. This is helpful to know. This survivor can continue to infect others.

I don't know how accurate the ST stats are but so far SRF has much improved bb numbers.

Maybe the ball is not juiced.

Well, now that spring is done the Jays got a win to finish which was nice to watch (was on Sportsnet) vs Pittsburgh.  Also pounded poor team Canada but I'm sure those kids were happy to play a ML team.  A 12-6 record vs ML teams is nice, tied for 2nd overall, tops in the AL.  #1 in the Grapefruit league with 120 runs scored.

Yesterday , I posted the Vegas betting line for the Jays at 76 wins. With the season looking like it will be truncated by multiple weeks, what happens? Are all bets off or are the betters who took unders going to win pretty well every bet? I don't gamble, just curiosity.

Jesse Barfield's son moving up in Arizona. From MLBTR:

"Josh Barfield was promoted to the role of farm director for the Diamondbacks this offseason, as The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan (subscription required) looks at how the former big league infielder has quickly climbed the ladder during his five-plus years in Arizona’s front office. Hired as a scout by former D’Backs general manager Dave Stewart in the 2014-15 offseason, Barfield has moved from assistant director of pro scouting to assistant farm director to his current position. Barfield’s rising star hasn’t gone unnoticed around baseball, as current GM Mike Hazen told Buchanan that other teams have tried to hire Barfield away. A future position as a “manager or GM might not be far behind” for the 37-year-old Barfield, Buchanan writes."

Cool - would love to see Barfield's kid get to the majors as a manager or something.  A shame his kid couldn't have been as good a ballplayer as his dad was - that was so much fun watching Jesse in RF throw guys out at the plate.

Yesterday, I posted the Vegas betting line for the Jays at 76 wins. With the season looking like it will be truncated by multiple weeks, what happens?

Everyone takes the under?

I actually found my answer in a basketball story. If a team doesn't play at least 81 of the 82 game schedule, the bets are nullified.

Bringing back some baseball talk. Michael asked some V good questions about PED suspensions etc... Sorry I don't have any answers.

I can add some questions. Based on a 2 month delay if that happens.

1) 60 day DL for Borucki can be postponed and hopefully will not apply.
2) Would Pearson still be kept down for service time? Pearson's innings limit should not be an issue.
3) Over the next few days the media will inform us about how player salaries will be handled.

4) Rule 5 selections minimum time on the 26 man roster is affected somehow?

Other stuff:

1) C Sale had arm trouble. If surgery is required they will find out and do it 2-3 months later. So he will miss 2020 and a bigger part of 2021.

2) L Severino's surgery is done. So NA?

3) M Betts value is reduced to LAD.

4) SWR and Kay somehow will be more ML ready if development is not shut down.

5) Postpone/delay the draft?

Anyone else here have MiLB TV? Figure I'll use my sports downtime to catch up on some of last years archived games involving our prospects. Just wondering if there is a quick way to navigate the site to find games of interest( e.g, Pearson starts)

Hope this helps

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/nate-pearson/sa3005097/game-log?position=P

Thank you, mendocino

Without an escrow mechanism, I doubt the players get paid for services not rendered.