Blue Jays Discussion: Off-Season Pt VIII: Spring approaches and less (fewer) things are happening

[The Nemesis]

continue from the last thread: Blue Jays Discussion: - Off-Season Pt VII: Things keep happening!


*Mod hat on*

And a note about rumors and sources: Please ensure if you are posting rumors that they are from official, confirmed, legitimate sources. A verified checkmark is always the best way to tell, but not every reporter necessarily has one. Just make sure you're not getting suckered by a fake Morosi or Rosenthal account sharing info.

And if you have inside info or connections, please contact a mod about the vetting process. It does not require you to publicly disclose your source, but the site administration does need to know some stuff about you and your source to verify its legitimacy. Unsourced/unverifiable rumors are against site policy and will be taken down. I realize people are going to say "it's just a rumor, who cares? Don't believe it if you don't want to." But this is not a matter of just wanting to quiet hearsay. This is site administration declaring that they cannot and will not be party to the spreading of unverified, potentially false information for reasons that are, frankly, above my pay grade.

*Mod hat off*


Thanks everyone. Now let's sit back and see how management finishes this winter off.

Click to read more...

 

[phillipmike]

John Gibbons was on Overdrive and they asked him about Houston sports and Gibby said “I have watched very little sports this year, you know why? I don’t care what sport it is, once it became political, I said I need a break. Sports is an outlet to get away from all that BS. When everything went a certain way I said that is not what it’s about. I’m sick of that, I don’t want to watch it for awhile. I saw they traded harden... maybe they will trade some guys to mavericks so they don’t have to listen to the national anthem. Maybe that’s where they want to go.”

And Hayes and Noodles panicked and were clearly uncomfortable. They smiled and tried to change the subject.

Gibby definitely speaks his mind.

 

[Varcus]

John Gibbons was on Overdrive and they asked him about Houston sports and Gibby said “I have watched very little sports this year, you know why? I don’t care what sport it is, once it became political, I said I need a break. Sports is an outlet to get away from all that BS. When everything went a certain way I said that is not what it’s about. I’m sick of that, I don’t want to watch it for awhile. I saw they traded harden... maybe they will trade some guys to mavericks so they don’t have to listen to the national anthem. Maybe that’s where they want to go.”

And Hayes and Noodles panicked and were clearly uncomfortable. They smiled and tried to change the subject.

Gibby definitely speaks his mind.

It really did take the enjoyment out of the NBA for me personally. I understand what they are trying to do, I just want to watch a basketball game and not politics for a country i don't live in.

 

[Thornbury]

John Gibbons was on Overdrive and they asked him about Houston sports and Gibby said “I have watched very little sports this year, you know why? I don’t care what sport it is, once it became political, I said I need a break. Sports is an outlet to get away from all that BS. When everything went a certain way I said that is not what it’s about. I’m sick of that, I don’t want to watch it for awhile. I saw they traded harden... maybe they will trade some guys to mavericks so they don’t have to listen to the national anthem. Maybe that’s where they want to go.”

And Hayes and Noodles panicked and were clearly uncomfortable. They smiled and tried to change the subject.

Gibby definitely speaks his mind.

Gibby's clearly a good old redneck.

 

[The Nemesis]

Careful with the political talk, please. We're toeing the line at the moment and I'd hate to see it get crossed.

 

[Anthrax442]

 

[Joel Ward]

Gibby is forgetting that it isn't amateur ball, this is for-profit pro-sport. Activism/virtue signaling promotes an image of corporate social responsibility which is very important to the younger consumers that teams are trying to get the attention of. The NBA just knows how to promote its product better than any of the other major leagues.

Always find it ironic when people who make their living through professional sport complain about how business elements tarnish its "purity".

 

[canucksfan]

From here

TSN's top 50 Blue Jays prospects: 11-30

2020 GOSSIP: If you’re looking for a pitching prospect in this system who could break out in a big way and onto the national scene this summer, Zulueta is the guy. In some circles, he’s already there. Signed in June of 2019 with the late international bonus pool money acquired by trading Kendrys Morales to the Oakland A’s and Dwight Smith Jr. to the Baltimore Orioles, Zulueta underwent Tommy John surgery almost immediately — an issue the Jays were aware of at the time — so his prospect status hasn’t had an opportunity to move much over the past year and a half. That started to change in the fall when the Cuban right-hander started ramping up when he was 15 or so months removed from surgery. In Dunedin, he was regularly touching high-90s with his heat, including one secondhand report of a session where he faced Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in November and hit 99 mph on the gun, drawing a bit of an oh-my look from Vladdy.
2021 OUTLOOK: Featuring high-90s heat and a hard curveball, the delivery is smooth enough to project as a starter. Being 23 years old, Zulueta is ready to be tested, even if the innings and pitch counts will be monitored closely in the early going

 

[Canada4Gold]

From here

TSN's top 50 Blue Jays prospects: 11-30

2020 GOSSIP: If you’re looking for a pitching prospect in this system who could break out in a big way and onto the national scene this summer, Zulueta is the guy. In some circles, he’s already there. Signed in June of 2019 with the late international bonus pool money acquired by trading Kendrys Morales to the Oakland A’s and Dwight Smith Jr. to the Baltimore Orioles, Zulueta underwent Tommy John surgery almost immediately — an issue the Jays were aware of at the time — so his prospect status hasn’t had an opportunity to move much over the past year and a half. That started to change in the fall when the Cuban right-hander started ramping up when he was 15 or so months removed from surgery. In Dunedin, he was regularly touching high-90s with his heat, including one secondhand report of a session where he faced Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in November and hit 99 mph on the gun, drawing a bit of an oh-my look from Vladdy.
2021 OUTLOOK: Featuring high-90s heat and a hard curveball, the delivery is smooth enough to project as a starter. Being 23 years old, Zulueta is ready to be tested, even if the innings and pitch counts will be monitored closely in the early going

Looking at his numbers in Cuba he doesn't strike out many for someone who throws high 90's, and walks a lot of guys. We'll see how he does I guess.

 

[canucksfan]

 

[phillipmike]

 

[phillipmike]

 

[Hoverhand]

Pretty obvious swing and a miss from Gibby there. I respect HFBoards' wish to not get political here so I'll tow the line the best I can.

Whether we like it or not, politics has always been heavily engrained into sports. Whether in a very literal sense like stadium funding or like the poster Joel Ward touched on, using politics to promote the brand for your ideal consumer.

The Mavericks removing the national anthem from their games is removing a highly political nationalistic song from their pre-game, so why does Gibby (who I adored during his time in Toronto) not like it?

He isn't mad that politics is in sports, he's mad that it's no longer his politics in sports.

 

[Isaac Nootin]

Gibby is forgetting that it isn't amateur ball, this is for-profit pro-sport. Activism/virtue signaling promotes an image of corporate social responsibility which is very important to the younger consumers that teams are trying to get the attention of. The NBA just knows how to promote its product better than any of the other major leagues.

Is that why the NBA had historically low ratings this past playoffs?

 

[Hoverhand]

Is that why the NBA had historically low ratings this past playoffs?

Competing with the NFL.

 

[landy92mack29]

Actually gibby was spot on with his take

 

[Joel Ward]

Is that why the NBA had historically low ratings this past playoffs?

Sure, it was the fact that they used their platform to promote social activism that reduced their ratings, not the society altering pandemic and layoff that resulted from it. I have no way of proving causation either way, but I suspect that the lifestyle changes imposed by the pandemic played the biggest role in that. It's not as if the NHL playoffs held up any better despite the clear difference in activism.

 

[Jmo89]

Pretty obvious swing and a miss from Gibby there. I respect HFBoards' wish to not get political here so I'll tow the line the best I can.

Whether we like it or not, politics has always been heavily engrained into sports. Whether in a very literal sense like stadium funding or like the poster Joel Ward touched on, using politics to promote the brand for your ideal consumer.

The Mavericks removing the national anthem from their games is removing a highly political nationalistic song from their pre-game, so why does Gibby (who I adored during his time in Toronto) not like it?

He isn't mad that politics is in sports, he's mad that it's no longer his politics in sports.

He doesn't sound mad at all.

Outside of anything to do with politics it would be interesting to see what Gibby could do with the current roster.

 

[stickty111]

He doesn't sound mad at all.

Outside of anything to do with politics it would be interesting to see what Gibby could do with the current roster.

Gibby isn't suited for a young roster

 

[GoonieFace]

Gibby isn't suited for a young roster

Gibby would be suited for any roster. Great manager

 

[Kurtz]

Is that why the NBA had historically low ratings this past playoffs?

NHL also had historically bad ratings, and their players said f*** all. Golf also had historically bad ratings, and that's a notoriously Republican sport.

 

[The Nemesis]

NHL also had historically bad ratings, and their players said f*** all. Golf also had historically bad ratings, and that's a notoriously Republican sport.

The Super Bowl had bad ratings too.

It's almost like there's this giant universal thing going on that's eating away at sports-watching audiences in a broad and general sense that isn't necessarily tied to political stances or cause marketing.

 

[Kurtz]

The Super Bowl had bad ratings too.

It's almost like there's this giant universal thing going on that's eating away at sports-watching audiences in a broad and general sense that isn't necessarily tied to political stances or cause marketing.

Yeah, I'm tempted to ask Isaac Nooton up there if he was hit in the head by something larger than an apple, but I'll refrain. Fact is sports got massacred in 2019, and it was due to a culmination of factors. Here's a Times article on it, with an exerpt:

TV Ratings for Many Sports Are Down. Don’t Read Too Much Into It Yet.

Ratings for the N.B.A. finals were down 49 percent, and the N.H.L.’s Stanley Cup finals were down a whopping 61 percent. Baseball, golf, tennis, horse racing and other sports have all seen huge declines. Even the usually untouchable N.F.L. was down 13 percent through Week 5.

 

[Discoverer]

Pretty obvious swing and a miss from Gibby there. I respect HFBoards' wish to not get political here so I'll tow the line the best I can.

Whether we like it or not, politics has always been heavily engrained into sports. Whether in a very literal sense like stadium funding or like the poster Joel Ward touched on, using politics to promote the brand for your ideal consumer.

The Mavericks removing the national anthem from their games is removing a highly political nationalistic song from their pre-game, so why does Gibby (who I adored during his time in Toronto) not like it?

He isn't mad that politics is in sports, he's mad that it's no longer his politics in sports.

Yeah, I would love to hear an explanation of how playing the national anthem before a game is all good, but not playing it is "too political".

 

[canucksfan]

Anyone see a Spring Training TV schedule?