vladimir guerrero.

What is the league's rationale for letting guys come up June 1st without losing a year, but not April 1st?

the deal that the union negotiated with the league basically left this loophole open, where a certain amount of service time is required to burn a year of team control. not sure why the union agreed to it, but for the league it means happier owners who can play effective (sometimes REALLY effective) players for longer without paying them a lot. i guess it allows smaller market teams, if they're good with scouting, coaching and shrewd with contracts, to compete at a high level with a "bigger window" to sync up their quality youngsters. it's gotten completely insane now, though, where these arb-eligible/young guys are SO much cheaper than free agents, that there's no incentive to hire those free agents if you have a guy who's half as good and a tenth of the price.

as much as i don't want to miss any baseball, it's fucked up and i support the seemingly inevitable strike to get these folks paid

i'm not sure that answered your question lol i had too much coffee. it's all trash, let vlad play in toronto until there's a new montreal team for him to join

i have mixed feelings about that last detail.

ahhhh but look montreal isn't getting a team for like 20 years at this rate so you'll still get the best of vlad jr

Montreal can still hope for Vlad Jr Jr

Vlad Guerrero, Third of His Name, Breaker of ERAs, King of Baseball North

out 3 weeks with an oblique strain.

let's see, 3 weeks from march 10 is...

*checks calendar*

yep, late april

Rumored to have been called up to AAA Buffalo.

homer, double, four RBI in his first game with buffalo

i believe we have passed the point where the jays have gotten their extra year of control, so it could be any day now

Lot of talk on the radio tonight: how much notice will fans get, will the debut be a sell-out, is this the most anticipated debut of any Toronto athlete ever (any sport), etc. If there's enough notice, I might just try to buy a couple of cheap seats immediately and figure out who else can go later.

you live there, but i guess i'd be surprised if vlad's debut is a bigger deal than auston matthews'

Matthews' name came up, and the three hosts seemed to concur that this was bigger (in part because Matthews' four-goal debut was on the road).

ah, cool

I kind of agree with Matthews myself. I also thought of Vince Carter--not sure how long it for "Vinsanity" to take hold. I looked up his home debut: third game overall, 22 points, attendance ~15,000.

Something that made me laugh: Halladay's name came up, it was pointed out that he began with relatively little fanfare, and someone asked "Does anyone remember Halladay's debut?" Well, his first start was on the road, but in his first start in Toronto he came within one out of a no-hitter. So yeah, I think quite a few people remember.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqtzmTHHZlA

.500/.583/.900 through 12 AB in Buffalo. Probably ready...

I’m sure if social media was what it is now back then, Halladay’s debut would have been a bigger deal.

He was a first-round pick, but relatively low (17th), and he hadn't done much in the minors before he arrived. Everything's a bigger deal on social media, but I don't think he would have approached the Guerrero/Matthews/Carter kind of anticipation.

Wow!

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. now has exactly the same number of at-bats his dad had before his MLB debut. Through 1,055 AB's,

Vlad Sr: .343 AVG, 45 HR, 184 RBI, 95 BB, 115 K in 285 G
Vlad Jr: .332 AVG, 42 HR, 206 RBI, 149 BB, 137 K in 283 G

— Kelsie Heneghan (@Kelsie_Heneghan) April 15, 2019

According to my source this will come true. https://t.co/gj5a1i2Lmk

— Héctor Gómez (@hgomez27) February 7, 2019

uh... i meant:

SOURCE: The Blue Jays will call up Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He will make his MLB's debut on Tuesday vs @SFGigantes, at Rogers Centre.#ZDigital #ZDeportes @z101digital @ZDeportes

— Héctor Gómez (@hgomez27) April 19, 2019

Another reporter is throwing cold water on that report. Going to the game either way, so I’m hopeful.

*hoping.

I've got a busy week, so unless they hold off till Saturday I'm out of luck. The other thing is, if I were to go, I want an actual ticket, not a computer printout. So that would pretty much necessitate buying the day of.

no Vlad tmrw. that means it will be either friday or May 6th (barring a mid-series injury).
already got seats lined up for friday!

.379/.438/.724 with three homers in eight games for buffalo now

come on

I've got my tickets for fridays game!

(xpost) If not for the Leafs, he would have been up Tuesday; I agree with their decision there, both economically (no way it would have sold out with the Leafs playing a game 7) and as a matter of fairness to fans.

i don't think the leafs had anything to do with it. they'd been saying for a while they wanted him playing a full series before getting called up, which didn't happen over the weekend because of rain.

call up biggio too tbh

yes. my suspicion is it will happen once they are clear of the super-two whatever it is with him.

It’s official. He’s up Friday.

Mike Fiers made his MLB debut in 2011, the same year Vlad Guerrero Sr. retired.

Now he’ll become the first pitcher Vlad Jr. faces in the big leagues on Friday.

— Faizal Khamisa (@SNFaizalKhamisa) April 24, 2019

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D49POxjVUAAswAb.jpg

The range of names here is amusing: from Lou Gehrig to Nick Swisher, and everybody in between.

https://www.mlb.com/news/vladimir-guerrero-jr-projections-10-years-c303459710

if you asked me a week ago to name the teams of this guy and Tatis Jr, I couldn't have done it

Lot of talk on the radio tonight: how much notice will fans get, will the debut be a sell-out, is this the most anticipated debut of any Toronto athlete ever (any sport), etc. If there's enough notice, I might just try to buy a couple of cheap seats immediately and figure out who else can go later.
― clemenza, Friday, April 12, 2019

70,000 for the three games (29/21/19). I don't know why I too thought they might sell out Friday (or Saturday). As Mike Wilner pointed out, they didn't draw for Clemens in '97 and '98, having two historically great seasons--when they contend it's a zoo, when they don't it's half-empty, and it doesn't matter who's on the field.

Which is typical for most teams, and halfway between the few that draw no matter what, and the few that have trouble filling seats even when they contend.

Getting the day off tonight. No concern at all, although with so much scrutiny, you don't want a slow start to take on a life of its own.

Finally a multi-hit game today (2-2). It's been ugly--here's hoping Mendoza Land's in the mirror within a week or two.

home run derby bound!

Is it normal for them to invite rando non-all stars?

What's the record for lowest amount of HRs (or lowest SLG) to be invited to the HR derby?

ffs you people hate fun and/or 20-year-olds

would you rather have ketel marte and renato nunez

ffs you people hate fun and/or 20-year-olds

come join me on the Soto thread...

would you rather have ketel marte and renato nunez

BlueJays rookies ranked by ISO:

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2019&month=0&season1=2019&ind=2&team=14&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2019-01-01&enddate=2019-12-31&sort=10,d

Mookie otm I hope Senior throws

tbh the entire home run derby should be keith law pitching to jeff mcneil

i just want to point out that Cavan Biggio has a 18.6% walk rate.

Waiting, waiting, waiting...The notion that the HR Derby would get him going, that didn't happen. I realize that he's 20 and that this whole season could be a write-off and it really wouldn't matter. I'm just a little surprised by how much of a flat-line his season has been.