Back at it after a COVID enforced break. The Jays are in Atlanta tonight for a three game series. They will end the week with three games in Boston before going home to Buffalo for next week.

Baseball has changed significantly over the last 20 years. There was the Moneyball revolution that is almost 20 years old. The newer advances we have seen on the field in the last couple of years, shifts, openers, pitcher usage, less bunting, catcher framing and on and on. Most of these changes are readily observable and often lead to analysis on Fangraphs or similar sites. We may not appreciate their impact on the enjoyment of the game but we understand why teams use those options.

The Jays are 2-2 after four games. It's too early to make any sweeping statements but lets just note that Vladdy is not hitting, his average is .222. And while Bo is hitting .250, he has no walks and no extra base hits. Danny Jansen and Teoscar are leading the offense.

Finally, opening day is here. It's going to be a weird season. The Jays could go 40-20 and win the division, or 20-40 and be way out of it. But with 16 teams in the playoffs, the Jays just need to stay close and, if they could get into the playoffs, who knows?

Of course COVID will be a factor. We have seen it already in Washington. With the players travelling, and presumably heading out at night, there will likely be more COVID issues. While the NHL and NBA are going with hub cities, its business as usual for baseball.

The Jays are going into their final week of camp homeless.

Since many want to ... here is a new thread for just talking about COVID - this is where you can vent about those who refuse to wear masks, or about the 'restriction' on your freedom by requiring you to wear one (do you fight the same about needing to wear pants?)

Well, the Jays and all of MLB have already released 2021's schedule (far ahead of usual) probably to try to hype things up a bit before wave 2 hits this fall. The Jays signed all 5 of their draft picks - 5 years in a row they have signed their picks in the first 5 rounds (last missed was 2015 Brady Singer who is with the Royals, signed for 2019 season out of the first round in 2018).

Dedicated Bauxite poster Richard Stewart Spackman (known as Richard S.S.) passed away at the age of 65 April 25, 2019 in Lethbridge, Alberta due to ALS. He will be missed.

The Jays have released their 60 (58) man roster for Summer Training. 30 will make the big team, 30 will be playing with each other for the season. Hmm...gotta find a better way of saying that.

The two sides are getting closer and closer to a deal - I think we will get some baseball this year after all.
EDIT: We have a season! The league has issued an announcement stating that the owners unanimously agreed to launch the campaign after further negotiations with the players failed to result in a new deal.

With the first ever 5 round draft done I've been wondering how effective are those later rounds that cost MLB a lot every year. Are those rounds really useful?

The 2020 MLB draft concludes tonight with rounds two through five. You can watch here or check out the draft tracker here. #BlueJays


Vanderbilt infielder/outfielder Austin Martin was taken by the Toronto Blue Jays with the fifth overall pick of the 2020 draft Wednesday.

---

Round 1 of the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft is tonight. Detroit has taken Arizona State slugger Spencer Torkelson with the first overall pick and Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad goes to Baltimore with the second pick. Miami selected right-hander Max Meyer from Minnesota at number three and Kansas City grabbed Texas A&M lefty Asa Lacy. Vanderbilt shortstop/outfielder Austin Martin—predicted by many to go number two overall—is now a Toronto Blue Jay at pick number five.

You can watch here or check out the draft tracker here.


The Blue Jays selected right-hander Alek Manoah with the 11th pick of the 2019 MLB draft from West Virginia.

Well, not a ton of stuff but what we do have is big.  Owners and players fighting over compensation for players should MLB get going again.  Also time for anew thread that is purely about what is going on now in baseball, even if it isn't much.