It merits mention that both of us are Blue Jays fans. We met in a Blue Jays fan group on Facebook (we are also in a Raptors fan group on Facebook) and to a degree our friendship grew from sharing interesting and esoteric sports-related internet ephemera via Facebook Messenger and, occasionally, Instagram.
Both of us are also realists, and as realistic Blue Jays fans we don’t have super-high expectations for this season. That said, there are still some intriguing (or at least interesting) storylines, talented prospects, and other things to keep an eye on in what we’re calling The Silver Linings Jaybook until Matthew Quick’s publisher and/or David O. Russell comes after us.
1. Vladito
Will the most-hyped hitting prospect in ages live up to the billing or [REDACTED]?
Beyond the second coming of Guerrero, we can look forward to the major-league debuts of Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio, and 18-year-old Elvis Paulino (which actually already happened). Don’t forget to enter your office pool for Vlad’s call-up date! (JY)
2. Troy Tulowitzki Revenge Watch
From the Score:
After Tulowitzki missed the end of the 2017 season with ankle injuries and all of the 2018 campaign while recovering from surgery to remove bone spurs in his heels, the Blue Jays released him in December, absorbing the $38 million remaining on his contract in the process.
New York signed the five-time All-Star for the major-league minimum in January.
Okay, sure, fine, whatever. This was a tidy piece of business by the Yanks because Tulo may have something left in the tank and they’re not paying much to find out. The sticky thing for me is that Tulo has decided that the Blue Jays fucked him over by releasing him (and staying on the hook for paying him $38m) despite the fact that he was on the IL for approximately 40,000 consecutive days.
“That was the team that basically told me I couldn’t play anymore,” he said after pimping a Spring Training home run.
As of post time, Tulo was already injured because of course he was. (DJ)
3. Strochez Regain
If Instagram means anything — and it does — it looks like Blue Jays starters and former BFFs Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez are pals again. Best pals? We don’t know, but posts like this are encouraging. So too were Strochez’s first-week starts against Detroit and Cleveland. (DJ)
4. Ricky Romero is back, in pod form
Ricky Romero has a podcast, and it’s amazing. During his playing days, Romero came across as serious and taciturn, but in his new podcast he is open, gregarious, engaging, and profane. So far most of his guests have been ex-teammates and the focus has been less on baseball and more on their relationships and lives. It’s a great listen for anybody who wants to know how the sausage is made, especially during the Meats Don’t Clash era. (JY)
5. We still talkin’ ‘bout won the trade
As Raptors fans we have been spoiled by the early years of the Masai Ujiri front office, whose greatest hits include making the Knicks front office look stupid(er), trying to tank a way off the treadmill of mediocrity and falling upward instead, and making exceedingly shrewd moves to bolster a future contender — like the Greivis Vásquez trade that turned into Norman Powell and OG Anunoby.
It’s easy to point to these trades and say we “won” them — but is that how it works?
We ask this in the context of the Marc Gasol trade. It’s been two months since the trade that brought Gasol to the Raptors, yet there is still much hand-wringing about it and loudly-expressed concerns that maybe the Raptors were on the “losing” side of the trade.
Trades aren’t a zero-sum game; there isn’t always one winner and one loser. Both teams can also get better, or worse. Frankly, if GMs went into trades knowing that every deal had one winner and one loser, a lot fewer trades would get done — and it’s already hard to get trades done, given the rules governing NBA trades.
Things we’ve learned since the trade:
Marc Gasol is a great facilitator on both ends of the floor, providing dimensions of passing and team defense that the Raptors didn’t already have
Pretty much everybody’s 3FG% has gone up since the trade; the team was ranked 23rd in the league before the trade, and ended the season ranked 6th
Patrick McCaw is a pretty useful defender
Jeremy Lin filled in competently during Fred VanVleet’s absence, and that’s all he needed to do
Things we already knew:
Jonas Valančiūnas is a skilled offensive player but below-average defender, and wasn’t going to find 30+ MPG as a Raptor
Delon Wright is pretty talented, as evidenced by ending the season with three triple-doubles in four games, and he also wasn’t going to find 30+ MPG as a Raptor
All told, both teams are benefiting from the trade. And isn’t that why teams trade with each other?
6. Orlandwho?
As you may know, the Raptors/Magic first round playoff series starts this weekend.
As you probably also know, no one without a 407 phone number thinks Orlando is going to prevail here. That said, it’s not like Toronto’s regular season games vs. Steve Clifford’s weird group of odds-and-ends answered any and all questions that one might have about this matchup; Toronto’s two losses weren’t close and there’s no easy answer for why that is.
We’re assuming the Raptors win this series handily but, that said, the best/worst case scenarios are as follows:
You get your choice of topping: With much love and respect to Terrence Ross, the Magic bench is thinner than Evan Fournier’s hairline. This isn’t the only reason the odds are stacked against the team curiously named for the 2001 Jim Carrey vehicle The Majestic, but it’s a big one.
The toppings contain potassium benzoate: The Magic played well above their heads this season, especially against the Raptors, and we’re not sure what that means but it feels weird and uncomfortable, like when you put a sock on inside out.
Rest assured, Oddball won’t be Toronto-specific that often because we do our best to not be weird homers about our teams. A hallmark of our friendship is that we like sports, not just teams. Except Boston.
Fuck Boston.