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OT: The Toronto Blue Jays

Yeah, their corporate culture leaves much to be desired...shame we don't have a Mark Cuban kicking around in Toronto to own this team.

I mentioned this early. This country has almost no free wheeling, forward thinking billionaires. Most of the big money in this county has been made from avoiding risk and competition.

When one of the country's best sports properties went for sale (The Habs), it took American George Gillet to buy them on the cheap, elevate the brand by selling nostalgia (retired jersey ceremonies) and then flip the team to a Canadian group for 3x the price in less then a decade.
 
Despite his love of the city and the team he built, I truly believe AA is happy not to work for Rogers.

I have personally sat in meetings with many of their top execs, and I've never met a more smarmy, unintelligent group of douche-nozzles. Everybody is basically a clone. It's terrifying.

Not even a little bit surprised.
 
I wonder if Eddie Rogers ran the 5yr. deal he offered AA past Shapiro before he made it. If it wasn't the Jays could have not only the PR nightmare of AA leaving but also a disgruntled President/GM on their hands.
 
I fully believe the 5 year offer was only extended after they knew it was going to be rejected, just so they could say they offered it.

The 1 year with an opt out was a joke.
 
ERs comments about stadium upgrades and rogers centre WiFi also worry me.

You'd think his focus would be on the on field success and building on 2015 rather than deflecting to capital costs....
 
If Shapiro mentions anything about fixing the pipeline and being good now and in the future, you know we're in trouble.

Yep. The simple truth is that 2-3 good drafts and international free agent windows can fix any system. AA has 'fixed the system' twice in 6 years.
 
Yep. The simple truth is that 2-3 good drafts and international free agent windows can fix any system. AA has 'fixed the system' twice in 6 years.

ya, when you get to pick 50 guys in a draft you can turn around your prospect pool in real short order, if you're good at drafting.
 
Yep....just for example, in 2009 we drafted:

Chad Jenkins, James Paxton, Marisnick, Goins, Loup, Yan Gomes, Drew Hutchison,

2010: Aaron Sanchez, Noah Syndergaard, Asher Wojicie...**** it, Justin Nicolino, Sam Dyson, Sean Nolin, Dalton Pompey, & Kris Bryant (yep...that one). 2011: Daniel Norris, Aaron Nola (yep...that one), Tyler Beede, Anthony Desclefani, Kevin Pillar


Throw in some good international UFA signings and all of a sudden your system can look packed. For those who don't think the above list is impressive looking....there's 10 Baseball America top 100 prospects (at one time or another) listed there. We weren't able to sign 3 of them, and that's fine, extremely common when you're reaching for high upside high school talent. 7 in 3 drafts is still pretty impressive. If you can consistently add 2-3 BA top 100 prospects to your system with every draft, you can use your system the way AA has the last few years, without ever really worrying about "gutting" it.
 
For shits and giggles, here's Shapiro's drafting record (min 1.0 career WAR...with career WAR in brackets) (and **** it...the Jays in Blue). I'll also omit players who didn't sign from both.

2001

Luke Scott (12.1)
Gabe Gross (4.6)
Brandon League (2.6)


2002

Jeremy Guthrie (18.2)
Ben Francisco (2.2)
Jensen Lewis (2.3)
Dave Bush (3.5)
Erik Kratz (1.1)


2003

Ryan Garko (3.6)
Kevin Kouzmanoff (7.7)
Aaron Laffey (2.5)
Aaron Hill (23.4)
Shaun Marcum (13.4)
Ryan Roberts (5.7)


2004

Jeremy Sowers (1.6)
Tony Sipp (4.6)
Adam Lind (11.3)
Casey Janssen (7.6)
Jesse Litsch (3.9)


2005

None
Rickey Romero (9.7)

2006

Josh Tomlin (2.9)
Vinnie Pestano (4.4)
Travis Snider (4.6)

2007

None for Cleveland
Arencibia (2.7)
Cecil (6.6)
Scrabble (2.1)


2008

Lonnie Chisenhall (6.2)
Zach Putnam (1.7)
TJ House (1.1)
Roberto Perez (2.4)
None

2009

Jason Kipnis (16.1)
Vidal Nuno (2.3)
Chad Jenkins (1.4)
Jake Marisnick (3.5)
Ryan Goins (4.2)
Yan Gomes (8.7)
Drew Hutchison (4.4)


2010

Drew Pomeranz (3.3)
Cody Allen (5.0)
Aaron Sanchez (3.2)
Noah Syndergaard (2.5)
Sam Dyson (1.6)


2011

Francisco Lindor (4.6)
Cody Anderson (2.4)
Anthony Desclefani (1.0)
Kevin Pillar (5.9)


2012

None
Marcus Stroman (3.5)

2013

Kyle Crockett (1.2)
Kerndall Graveman (1.3)



I really fail to see where Shapiro got his reputation as a draft and develop guy...because frankly, they were worse than us during what was a pretty poor drafting and development period for the Jays.
 
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It's speculated that Shapiro is going to do away with the 5 year limit policy for FA's at tomorrow's presser, but possibly insert a new policy of signing no Free Agents under any circumstance.
 
For shits and giggles, here's Shapiro's drafting record (min 1.0 career WAR...with career WAR in brackets)

2001

Luke Scott (12.1)


2002

Jeremy Guthrie (18.2)
Ben Francisco (2.2)
Jensen Lewis (2.3)

2003

Ryan Garko (3.6)
Kevin Kouzmanoff (7.7)
Aaron Laffey (2.5)

2004

Jeremy Sowers (1.6)
Tony Sipp (4.6)

2005

Desmond Jennings (12.2)
Tim Lincecum (22.7)

2006

Chris Archer (8.8)
Josh Tomlin (2.9)
Vinnie Pestano (4.4)

2007

Lonnie Chisenhall (6.2)
Zach Putnam (1.7)
TJ House (1.1)
Roberto Perez (2.4)
Adam Warren (5.1)

2008

Jason Kipnis (16.1)
Vidal Nuno (2.3)

2010

Drew Pomeranz (3.3)
Cody Allen (5.0)

2011

Francisco Lindor (4.6)
Cody Anderson (2.4)

2012

None

2013

Kyle Crockett (1.2)

Yikes.

Leave it to Rogers to find a way to sour our most successful season since I was a toddler. And they didn't even manage to wait a month after we were done playing to **** things up.
 
It's speculated that Shapiro is going to do away with the 5 year limit policy for FA's at tomorrow's presser, but possibly insert a new policy of signing no Free Agents under any circumstance.

He'll also come in and say that he'll be expediting the process to move the team to Columbus. Get a grip man, you are better than this.

I can't wait to hear what he says tomorrow. From the interviews i've watched of Shapiro he's been very well spoken so it'll be interesting to see how he plays the media. Hopefully some of the mediots in this city ask good questions.
 
I get it. I get big time hurt feelings when anything stupid happens for the Leafs. Which unfortunately is consistent theme in my life as a Leaf fan.
 
He'll also come in and say that he'll be expediting the process to move the team to Columbus. Get a grip man, you are better than this.

I can't wait to hear what he says tomorrow. From the interviews i've watched of Shapiro he's been very well spoken so it'll be interesting to see how he plays the media. Hopefully some of the mediots in this city ask good questions.

Just wait til you see Columbus Isotopes on your Jays hot dog wrapper.


And i guess the point is moot, if Rogers is only giving him 30M to play with.....that kinda puts a kybosh on free agency, or at least anyone good in it.
 
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