2020 Blue Jays General Season Thread

[herman]

Ian Desmond (COL Rockies) is opting out of the season for good reasons
In his own words: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCCp7aSptTr/

https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/rockies-ian-desmond-sit-season-help-youth-baseball-program-florida/

 

[L K]

I just genuinely wonder how many deaths and potentially serious illnesses people are willing to accept to watch baseball for four months.

Right. And at this point maybe most of the league has resigned themselves that they will get sick eventually but every person who doesn't consent to that is going to be collateral damage. And I mean, they'd have to pick a spot somewhere, and I'm being a bit selfish since I live here but this makes it even more stomach churning for me.

It really kills all of the "we need to keep them out" bluster from Ford when he jumps at having meaningless baseball played in Toronto.  Aside from a tiny bump in staff to maintain the stadium, it's minimal jobs due to the lack of crowds.  It is however bringing teams across the border to play baseball coming from a country that doesn't believe in reality.

 

[Bender]

I don't really like Cox's writing but he's kind of bang on for once.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/bluejays/opinion/2020/07/02/first-the-nhl-now-the-blue-jays-toronto-is-about-to-become-a-coronavirus-petri-dish-for-pro-sports.html

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I don't really like Cox's writing but he's kind of bang on for once.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/bluejays/opinion/2020/07/02/first-the-nhl-now-the-blue-jays-toronto-is-about-to-become-a-coronavirus-petri-dish-for-pro-sports.html

When it comes to sports opinions he's either usually well behind the times or just writing things to provoke a reaction from people... but when it comes to social stuff like this he's usually decent.

 

[Nik]

I just...I just don't get it. Doug Ford, sure, I don't have a lot of faith there but Tory and the Feds I really thought were smarter than this. Or at least on this issue I thought they had better judgement.

I just really don't understand what the upside is here.

 

[Frank E]

I just really don't understand what the upside is here.

It's the cash for a severely ravaged economy. 

And before you say it's not much money, it's certainly something, and the hope is that they'll allow fans in the seats soon.

 

[Nik]

And before you say it's not much money, it's certainly something

vs. the chances of a worse outbreak which, aside from the human costs, would further damage the economy. In exchange for, at best, an insignificant amount of money in any sort of macroeconomic picture.

Even if we're going to be as cold blooded as possible and dismiss the potential human costs, this doesn't even make economic sense. There's no real value here other than as an entirely meaningless symbolic gesture that runs counter to good health practices.

 

[Nik]

Not that there was much concern here but Austin Martin has apparently signed.

 

[bustaheims]

Not that there was much concern here but Austin Martin has apparently signed.

Nice to have that out of the way, though.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/brodienbcs/status/1279519044706742273

 

[bustaheims]

With how many players are testing positive, it?s hard to justify going forward with the season.

 

[Bender]

With how many players are testing positive, it?s hard to justify going forward with the season.

Would that not be similar to your thoughts on NHL start up?

 

[bustaheims]

With how many players are testing positive, it?s hard to justify going forward with the season.

Would that not be similar to your thoughts on NHL start up?

Yup. As much as I?d love for sports to be back, it just feels so irresponsible given the state of things south of the border. The NHL might be in a slightly better position, with all the games taking place in Canada, but it still doesn?t seem like a good idea.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/dougherty_jesse/status/1279817791403626497

 

[Nik]

Doolittle is a thoughtful, intelligent guy and his line about sports being a reward for a functioning society is pretty good. I think it underscores what's becoming a frank reality which is that for all the talk about sports "being put into perspective" whenever a tragedy occurs some people have never and will never put them in its proper perspective. Not during a pandemic, not when major cities in the US are running out of ICU beds.

And if you took this argument and reframed it to be about other forms of entertainment the ridiculousness of all of this would be undeniable. If I said to someone "We're going to make the best video game of all time but four or five people will die as a result" anyone being in favour of that trade-off would be seen as a sociopath.

 

[Bender]

Doolittle is a thoughtful, intelligent guy and his line about sports being a reward for a functioning society is pretty good. I think it underscores what's becoming a frank reality which is that for all the talk about sports "being put into perspective" whenever a tragedy occurs some people have never and will never put them in its proper perspective. Not during a pandemic, not when major cities in the US are running out of ICU beds.

And if you took this argument and reframed it to be about other forms of entertainment the ridiculousness of all of this would be undeniable. If I said to someone "We're going to make the best video game of all time but four or five people will die as a result" anyone being in favour of that trade-off would be seen as a sociopath.

Hear, hear!

 

[Peter D.]

It's the cash for a severely ravaged economy. 

And before you say it's not much money, it's certainly something, and the hope is that they'll allow fans in the seats soon.

Any little bit helps, but Ontario/Toronto has been doing a great job.  The last thing I think we should allow is people from Florida of all places to fly into the country.

And I'll be beyond dumbfounded if the government actually allows the Jays to play their home games here and have teams from the states fly in and out of the country frequently. 

 

[Nik]

https://twitter.com/thehazelmae/status/1280947636552507392

So the Jays will be exceeding their bonus pool but not by enough to cost them picks but they will get hit with the fine/tax.

 

[herman]

Scott Boras got the Jays to sign him at Slot 2 value, then?

 

[Deebo]

Scott Boras got the Jays to sign him at Slot 2 value, then?

No, he signed for 7,000,825

2nd slot was 7,789,900. This is between 3  (7,221,200) and 4 (6,664,000).