Tag Archives: Sports Blog

Blue Jays rumour mill: Springer, Wong, Bradley Jr. among free-agent candidates

The Blue Jays have been linked to free-agent CF George Springer. Photo credit: Keith Allison / Wikimedia Commons.

MLB Free Agency began nearly one month ago on November 1st, but the dominos for big-ticket items have still yet to fall with December knocking at the door.

The Blue Jays made the postseason for the first time since 2016 in a 2020’s shortened 60-game season, but management, players, and fans are certainly hoping that was just the beginning. Last offseason, the team bolstered their starting pitching by signing former Dodgers’ LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu to a four-year, $80 million contract. The move paid off well for the Jays as Ryu went on to post a 5-2 record with a 2.69 ERA in 12 games, good enough for a third-place finish in AL Cy Young voting.

This offseason, the Blue Jays seem to have their eyes set on improving defensively up the middle of the field while adding some more offensive punch to their lineup in the process. The team has been linked to high-profile names like CF George Springer (Astros), CF Jackie Bradley Jr. (Red Sox), 2B DJ Lemahieu (Yankees), and 2B Kolten Wong (Cardinals).

At the moment it seems like Lemahieu will find his way back to the Yankees, clearing the path for a Kolten Wong signing if both sides can find some common ground. He certainly won’t dazzle you at the plate with a career .261 batting average and 53 home runs in 852 career games, but he also won’t be a hindrance to the lineup. More importantly, he’s coming off his second straight Gold Glove victory thanks to his stellar play at second base. This is where the Blue Jays can really use his help, as the club finished in the bottom third of the league for errors committed in 2020. Having the 30-year-old Wong between young infielders Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Rowdy Tellez will help bring some stability to the Toronto infield.

Beyond the infield, the Blue Jays do have a solid outfield trio in Teoscar Hernandez, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and Randal Grichuk, each of which are under club control until at least 2024, so the team won’t be completely lost if they fail to land a big-ticket item like George Springer. Hernandez had a terrific year offensively last season, blasting 16 home runs and 34 RBIs in just 50 games played, while Gurriel Jr. posted similar numbers at the plate (11 HR, 33 RBI, 57 GP) and was named a Gold Glove finalist in left field for his tremendous defensive play. Grichuk had himself a fine season offensively as well with 12 homers and 35 RBIs in 55 games played, but his defensive play has been below average since joining the Blue Jays in 2018, making him the most likely candidate to be moved to DH or dealt away via trade if a big free-agent comes in.

At this point, rumours are just that. Until pen meets paper and the figures are reported, nothing is guaranteed. But it seems like Toronto is attracting mutual interest as well. According to MLB Network’s Jon Morosi, George Springer has given playing for Toronto some “serious thought.”

Springer is a three-time All-Star that would bring a career. 270/.361/.491 slash line along with 174 home runs and 458 RBIs to the Blue Jays, instantly improving the top-end of their lineup. He was also named World Series MVP in 2017 when the Astros defeated the Dodgers, although that might be less of a talking point for the Springer camp in his negotiations given that accusations of sign-stealing and cheating have since made that the most controversial World Series in history.

Still, there’s no doubt that Springer would make the Blue Jays a better team in 2021. If they end up losing out on him, look for them to be all-in on Jackie Bradley Jr. who has proven to be one of the best defensive centerfielders in the game. He doesn’t have the same offensive pedigree as Springer, but he’ll certainly be a cheaper option while still bolstering Toronto’s defense.

Toronto has also been linked to names like left-handed relief pitcher Brad Hand, as reported by Jon Morosi, and veteran catcher J.T. Realmuto, per Craig Mish.

It could still be a while yet before any of these rumours play out, if at all, however. As R.J. Anderson and Mike Axisa have noted, “MLB free agency is a marathon, not a sprint.”

We the South: Raptors to temporarily call Tampa home to start 2020-21 NBA season

Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry. Photo credit: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images.

One season removed from being named the NBA Champions, the Toronto Raptors will have a new challenge to contend with this upcoming season, courtesy of the Canadian federal government.

The Raptors released a statement penned by president Masai Ujiri on Friday, confirming the team’s upcoming absence from Toronto. It reads in part, “The Raptors worked diligently with public health officials at the local, provincial and federal level to secure a plan that would permit us to play our 2020-21 season on home soil and on our home court at Scotiabank Arena.”

Ujiri maintains that conversations were productive, but due to the public health crisis and the Raptors’ urgent need to find a home for the upcoming season, the decision was made to make Tampa their temporary home. As a result, the Raptors will be playing just over 80 miles down the road from the NBA bubble where they spent two playoff rounds this past summer before bowing out to the Boston Celtics in a seven-game series.

NBA teams and fans have poked fun at the Raptors’ slogan, “We the North,” for several years now, pointing out that the Trailblazers (Portland, OR) and Timberwolves (Minneapolis, MN) actually play their home games further north than Toronto. Of course, the defining point of the Raptors’ argument is that they play for and represent the entire country of Canada, but their new home is prompting some to suggest a new slogan.

While the location clearly makes sense for the Raptors for several reasons, it’s difficult to ignore the irony that the only team further south than Tampa is the Miami Heat. In that regard, an adjusted slogan might be warranted. With NBA training camp being less than two weeks away, Toronto was in a hurry to find a home in the US, so what’s most important right now is that they got that done.

It remains to be seen whether Toronto will have to play all 36 of their home games this season in the US or if they’ll be able to make the transition to Toronto at some point this winter. If the Raptors are looking for advice on how to settle in to a temporary home away from home, however, they can look no further than the MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays who were forced to play in the US this past season at the hands of the Canadian government.

Masai Ujiri said in his statement that the team will continue to work with public health authorities and the federal and provincial governments as they prioritize “planning for a safe return to play in Toronto.”

As of right now, the NBA has not released an official regular season schedule for any of its 30 teams, but the start date is tentatively set for December 22nd, 2020.

CFL announces 2021 season schedule for all nine clubs

Photo credit: Geoff Robins / CFL Photo

The Canadian Football League is among professional sports leagues to have taken the biggest hit as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to having their entire 2020 season wiped out, the league also requested and was denied $150 million in financial assistance from the federal government in April, before also being denied a $30 million loan in August.

Unlike other sports leagues which have been able to resume play without fans in the stands thanks to lucrative TV deals, the CFL doesn’t make nearly enough money from broadcast partners. The nine-team league relies heavily on the presence of fans in the seats, with ticket buyers providing the greatest source of revenue.

When the CFL officially ruled out the possibility of a shortened season on August 17th, it left many questions to be answered about the future of the league. But two days shy of what would have been the 108th Grey Cup in Regina this weekend, the league has officially rolled out its plans for the 2021 season on Friday.

To kick things off, the B.C. Lions and Calgary Stampeders will face off in Calgary on May 23rd for the first game of a three-week, two-game preseason for each team. The contest won’t count for anything in the standings, but the significance won’t be lost on the fact that it will be the first CFL game in 546 days by the time the players take the field.

As an all-Canadian league with an 18-game schedule, all nine teams are already quite familiar with the other teams in the league. However, in order to minimize travel across the country, the CFL will is implementing more divisional games than normal.

The B.C. Lions, for example, will play Ottawa and Montreal two times in 2021 but will only face Toronto and Hamilton once each. In 2019, they played all four teams in the East Division twice. Similar tweaks will be made to the schedules of all nine teams to keep teams closer to home during the season.

Still, the season won’t be without some exciting inter-division matchups. Hamilton and Winnipeg will square off on June 10th for opening day in a rematch of the 107th Grey Cup that saw Winnipeg come out on top 33-12.

The regular season is set to conclude on October 30th with a handful of rivalries. The Toronto Argonauts will host the Montreal Alouettes while the still-unnamed Edmonton Football Team will wrap up its season in Winnipeg against the Blue Bombers.

The CFL Playoffs will begin on November 7th, while the 108th Grey Cup will take place one year from tomorrow on November 21st, 2021 in Hamilton, Ontario. It remains unclear if fans will be permitted into the stadiums by the time action is set to begin this spring, but for now Canadian football fans have a tangible date to hold onto which is a step in the right direction.

You can check out the full 2021 season schedule here.

NHL eyeing all-Canadian division with January 1st as a potential start date

Oilers’ goaltender Mike Smith fights Flames’ Cam Talbot on February 01, 2020, in Calgary, Alberta. Photo credit: Gerry Thomas/NHLI via Getty Images

Well into our second month without NHL games now, hockey fans are clamoring for some NHL action, and with any luck, they’ll be seeing it by New Years’ Day.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has spoken multiple times now about the possibility of a January 1st start date for the upcoming season, but as we inch closer to that date without any plan formally in place, you have to wonder how realistic that target really is. Of course, the biggest obstacle for the league right now is the current surge in cases of COVID-19 across both the United States and Canada.

The Canada-US border is still closed until November 21st, after the closure was once again extended last month. However, with cases on the rise, and the deadline being only one week away, it’s incredibly likely that this closure will be extended again very soon. Even if we see a dramatic improvement in the number of cases in both countries, it’s doubtful that we’ll see the border open before January or perhaps even February.

So, where does that leave the binational National Hockey League? With 24 US-based teams and only seven in Canada, the vast majority of matchups for Canadian teams during any given season are against American opponents. However, that could be changing this upcoming season, as rumours continue to float around about an all-Canadian division for the 2021 NHL season.

Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton are all currently in the NHL’s Pacific division and typically play each other about four or five times per season. The same can be said for Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal, who account for a good portion of the Atlantic division. On the outside looking in are the Winnipeg Jets, who are presently joined by six US-based teams in the Central division, and consequently play their fellow Canadian opponents less often during a regular 82-game season.

If the Canadian division ends up going ahead, we’ll be treated to more frequent matchups between Pacific and Atlantic teams, as well as between the Jets and the other six Canadian clubs. However, with January 1st as the target date, it’s unlikely the NHL will manage to squeeze in an entire 82-game schedule, which typically runs from October to April.

The NHL does have experience planning a shortened season, though, having played a 48-game campaign in 2013 due to a CBA-related lockdown. That season ran from January 19th to April 28th, so with a two-week head start, the NHL should be able to pencil in another half a dozen games or so, and still finish relatively on time. With travel also being less of a concern, the NHL has suggested that teams play short series against one another, similar to how the MLB operates. This would allow teams to play two or three games in one city over a shorter period of time, without wasting as much time on the road.

At this point, it’s still all up in the air, however. The NHL has also tabled the idea of short-term hubs, where teams would play in one location for 10 to 12 days before moving on to the next one. Essentially, this would be a miniature version of what we saw in Edmonton and Toronto this past summer for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

No matter how it all shakes out, what seems to be almost a given at this point is that we will see an all-Canadian division. It’s entirely possible that the teams branch out and play US-based teams later on in the season if restrictions lift, but we’ll be seeing a lot of all-Canadian action this season regardless.

Now, just for fun, let’s see how an all-Canadian division with all-Canadian matchups would’ve turned out last season. Obviously, the sample size will be incredibly small, and this won’t take into account any roster moves made by the clubs during the offseason, but let’s take a look anyway.

Despite the fact that the Vancouver Canucks went the farthest of any Canadian team last year in the playoffs, making it to game seven of the Western Conference semifinals, they had a dreadful regular season record against the other six Canadian clubs. Winnipeg played a handful fewer games than every other team against their Canadian counterparts but using points-percentage as the measuring stick for success, they sit atop.

Of course, there’s no telling what will really happen this coming season and one person’s guess as is good as next’s. The NHL is running out of time to set everything in motion if they do want to accomplish that January 1st start date.

For now we’ll sit back and wait, and imagine the possibilities.