MLB Offseason 2020-21: I'm a Hall of Famer baseball person

If the Royals allow fans in, I'm going.

(Not a Royals fan but they are the closest to where I live. No airline reservations to cancel!)

My dad says that the minor leagues are starting up again so we definitely plan to go to some Storm Chasers games.

 

Yeah, I'm trying to be realistic about all this - obviously I can't go to games in any major city (like NYC, Toronto, Boston, etc.), because they're presumably all still on lockdown, but every little bit of good news helps. So I'm trying to hold onto that. I don't care if it's major or minor leagues - ANY games will do.

At least Kauffman Stadium is not actually in Kansas City, so even if the city's on lockdown, the ballpark doesn't necessarily have to be.

Edit: Are the Blue Jays playing in Buffalo again this year?

 

The team just finished a massive upgrade to the spring training facilities in Dunedin. Local media seems to believe they want to be there before Buffalo.

 

Holy cow! Fernando Tatis, 14-year, $300+ million extension.

Also, Tim Tebow retires.

 

Jeremy Jeffress who went 4-1 with a 1.54 ERA and eight saves in 10 chances for the Cubs last year gets a minor league deal from the Nats. WTF? Sure he's 33, but how does he not get a better deal than that from any team, let alone the idiot Cubs?

Maybe Kimbrel is all the way back from his troubles, right? RIGHT????

 

WTF is right! Seriously, what are you fucking thinking, Cubs?

 

I'm watching the Blue Jays/Yankees game and apparently the Jays are going to start the season in Dunedin, in their spring training park. Doesn't look like Buffalo is on the table.

Edit: Only an hour and a half into spring training and Angel Hernandez is already trending.

 

We also saw the Yankees stream today on the network that owns the team...that had staff down there, including the play by play man from the radio side that they got rid of (they will simulcast the TV stream on the radio) and Buck Martinez, who while I dislike him, can do either play by play or colour. All Sportsnet had to do was turn on some cameras and beam the broadcast back out. But I guess after being in one of the only industries that was still making money hand over fist during the pandemic, it was just a little too much for them.

 

They canned John Sterling? What the hell for?

Or did you mean the Jays' radio guy? (Neither team's site has anything about this...)

 

The Blue Jays will not have a dedicated radio crew this season because of pandemic protocols. The TV broadcast (Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez) will also be the radio broadcast.

 

No radio guys huh? that should be interesting, if it goes ok I can definitely see other teams doing it, why pay 4 guys when you can just pay 2?

 

Radio guys need to do less idle chatting and way more play by play I'd imagine. It's been decades since I listened to a radio broadcast, but that's my 2¢.

 

So how are the Jays team going to do radio and TV simultaneously?

They obviously can't play the TV track on the radio...are they going to have one guy do radio and the other TV?

And what does the pandemic have to do with all this? Did one of the radio guys get covid?

 

Both TV and radio feeds for the Jays last year were called off monitors at their Toronto headquarters, so it is more likely they are using "travel" as flimsy justification this year and then using this year as precedent for following years.

What makes it difficult for a lot of people in Toronto and in Canada in general is that the two major sports networks have cut multiple personalities. Bell, who owns TSN, cut several right after #BellLetsTalk Day where they pretend to give a damn about mental health and then cut one personality in particular, Dan O'Toole, who had his infant daughter kidnapped by his ex last year and opened up to the public about it. Neither they or Rogers, who own Sportsnet, are winning any brownie points right now and this is just more on the pile.