Blue Jays facing tough decision on Alejandro Kirk’s WBC participation

Alejandro Kirk might not represent Team Mexico during the 2023 World Baseball Classic after all.
The Toronto Blue Jays catcher has yet to report to Dunedin, Florida, for spring training while awaiting the birth of his child. He has been training at home in Mexico and travelling to San Diego, where his partner resides and is expecting to deliver their baby in the coming days.
Kirk continues to receive support from the franchise to be with his family, and rightly so. Though the longer he is away from the team, the likelier his chances of participating in the WBC will dwindle. No decision has been made yet, but as the calendar turns to March next week, both sides will eventually need to reach an agreement – sooner rather than later.
“You’re getting to the point where you really have to make the best decision for the club,” Schneider said. “Nothing yet on the baby front, so we’ve talked through a number of different scenarios regarding what’s best for him and what’s best for us. If it does get to that, then that will be part of the equation.”

Sounds like the #BlueJays will soon need to make a call on Kirk’s participation in the WBC. He’s still yet to arrive at camp as he awaits the birth of his first child: “You’re getting to that point to where you really have to make the best decision for t …

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Author: Thomas Hall / Blue Jays Nation

Raptors mock draft: Toronto adding 6-8 son of NBA great

Masai Ujiri may think that his team is capable of doing some damage in the playoffs this season and next year, but the team’s sub-.500 record at the All-Star break is not going to stop the Toronto Raptors mock draft predictors from coming out of the woodwork in the next few months. Toronto has already […]
Raptors mock draft: Toronto adding 6-8 son of NBA great – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Mike Luciano / Raptors HQ

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Clippers insider reveals laughable Fred VanVleet trade package

The Toronto Raptors were supposed to be the team that set the trade deadline on fire, trading away names like OG Anunoby and Fred VanVleet to move ahead into a brand-new era. Unfortunately for some fans, none of those moves came to fruition despite some juicy rumors. The Jakob Poeltl trade brought a quality rebounder […]
Clippers insider reveals laughable Fred VanVleet trade package – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Mike Luciano / Raptors HQ

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Abruzzese heating up, Rifai impressing and more: Marlies Weekly

Meet the AHL’s hottest team at the moment: the Toronto Marlies.
Strength is definitely not a problem for a youthful team like this one as they’re currently undefeated since the calendar shifted to 2023, with eight-straight wins, tying a Marlies record.
More importantly, Toronto broke their record for most consecutive road wins in a season, now sitting at 10 after defeating Laval on Saturday.

Road Warriors 🔥👊 pic.twitter.com/KeSELj6QPR
— Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) January 21, 2023

Let’s discuss this week’s games, beginning with Wednesday’s game against Belleville, which the Marlies won 6-5 in a shootout. Toronto led for a majority of the game but the Senators didn’t give up, scoring two goals in the third period to send it to overtime, and then the shootout.
Marlies captain Logan Shaw was the only scorer in the shootout, giving the Marlies yet another win.
Friday night saw another close game between Toronto and Belleville, though the Marlies just edged the Senators out 4-3. The same occurred on Saturday afternoon in Laval as both teams played incredibly well forcing the shootout. The second for both teams this week.
Again, though, the Marlies found a way to grind it out. Adam Gaudette scored on his attempt and then Shaw, similar to Wednesday, was the player who scored the shootout-winning goal.
It’s been a fascinating season for this Marlies team and it seems like Marlies head coach Greg Moore and Marlies GM Ryan Hardy have really created something special.
“With the amount of young guys that we have, they’re doing a fantastic job of making sure that they’re mentally ready,” Shaw told Marli …

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Author: Nick Barden / The Leafs Nation

AHL’s hottest meet moment team Toronto

Chris Boucher calls out media as reason for improved Raptors bench play

The Toronto Raptors were the only team in the NBA to have all five of their starters average above 15 points per game in 2022. Fans pointed to Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam playing well in the starting group as cause for celebration, but some were frustrated with Chris Boucher and Malachi Flynn, among others, […]
Chris Boucher calls out media as reason for improved Raptors bench play – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Mike Luciano / Raptors HQ

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Raptors trading Gary Trent Jr. could set franchise back years

The Toronto Raptors are a team that is often mentioned as the key player at the 2023 NBA Trade Deadline. With names like Fred VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr. being mentioned as candidates to go elsewhere potentially, the Raptors have some big decisions to make. The latest buzz from league insider Marc Stein suggests that […]
Raptors trading Gary Trent Jr. could set franchise back years – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Mike Luciano / Raptors HQ

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World Juniors: Bedard, Wright score but Canada lose to Czechia in Boxing Day stunner

Team Canada entered Monday’s action as heavy favourites to win the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship, but, ultimately, it was Team Czechia that came away with the Boxing Day TKO.

The Czechs defeated Canada by a 5–2 score on Day 1 of the 2023 World Juniors. Despite the best efforts of Connor Bedard and Shane Wright, the latter of whom was recognized as Canada’s top player, the hosts fell behind 2–1 in the first period and never recovered.
Bedard and Adam Fantilli both tried to score on “The Michigan” move in the first period of the game but couldn’t get the puck past Czech goaltender Tomas Suchanek, who made 36 saves in the victory.
At the other end, Canadian starter Benjamin Gaudreau allowed five goals on 17 shots before being replaced by Thomas Milic, who stopped all 10 he faced the rest of the way.
Wright opened the scoring for Team Canada at the 10:33 mark of the first period, deflecting a long-range shot by Anaheim Ducks defence prospect Olen Zellweger between Suchanek’s legs for a goal on Canada’s first power-play opportunity.

The Captain strikes first for Canada, Shane Wright makes it a 1-0 game! 🇨🇦#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/JPJZfd7Nqz
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 26, 2022

But a pair of Czech defenders named David — Spacek and Moravec — responded in kind before the end of the first period to give the visitors a 2–1 lead, and Stanislav Svozil made it 3–1 for Czechia less than a minute into the second period.
The C …

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Author: Mike Gould / The Leafs Nation

action Canada entered heavy Monday’s team

Raptors rumors: Toronto still showing interest in Myles Turner

For the last few seasons, every team in need of rim protection, the Toronto Raptors included, have tried to get the Indiana Pacers to give up on Myles Turnehasith the Pacers projected to be in the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes at the beginning of the season, Turner appeared to be as good as gone. Things changed […]
Raptors rumors: Toronto still showing interest in Myles Turner – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Mike Luciano / Raptors HQ

every last need protection season’s team

Examining the Shapiro Era Trades, Part two: The Losses

As a team, you will have your losses here and there.

On Saturday, we looked at the 19 trades since the Mark Shapiro era started that was considered a win by voters on Twitter. Today, we’ll look at the “losses”
Just a few notes before we begin:
Yes, Shapiro doesn’t make the trades, but they likely run through him. Not just that, but when Mark Shapiro was brought in, so too was Ross Atkins. Hence why I call it the “Shapiro era”.
Secondly, I don’t think most of these were actual losses. So I’ll give my reasoning and context as to why I thought otherwise. Let’s start with the first ever trade of the Shapkins era.
The Liam Hendriks trade:
Fun fact, this is the only trade in any of these articles for which Ross Atkins wasn’t the General Manager.
The Jays traded reliever Liam Hendriks for Jesse Chavez. In 2015, Hendrik had a 2.92 ERA and 2.14 FIP in 64.2 innings pitched. With the Jays in 2016, Chavez had a 4.57 ERA and 4.82 FIP in 41.1 innings pitched. He was later traded to the Dodgers in exchange for Mike Boslinger. On paper, it definitely looks like the Jays lost this trade, but let’s look at the context.
Context:
When we think of Liam Hendriks, we think of one of the best closers in the MLB to this day (and a standup guy). This wasn’t always the case, however. While his ERA and FIP sparkled in 2015, it was by far his best up to that point. Between 2011-2018, Hendriks had a 4.72 ERA and 3.91 FIP in 406.1 innings pitched.
In his first three seasons in Oakland, he had a 4.01 ERA and 3.24 FIP. Fun fa …

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation

have here losses team will your

Toronto Raptors 2022-23 season preview: SF Otto Porter Jr.

Historically, the Toronto Raptors are not a team that is going to spend a ton of money in free agency. In spite of their past desire to lay low in the offseason, the Raptors went and splashed the cash and nabbed Otto Porter Jr. away from the reigning champion Golden State Warriors. Porter was a […]
Toronto Raptors 2022-23 season preview: SF Otto Porter Jr. – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Mike Luciano / Raptors HQ

going historically Raptors team That Toronto