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With their strongest, deepest talent pool in several years and financial flexibility to work with the next great era of the Blue Jays could be underway. Every little thing matters now that the clock is running on this new competitive window.
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PHILADELPHIA Perhaps at some point this year, the Phillies will have Citizens Bank Park nearly filled with fans.
But first things first, they must get through Spring Training. Phillies pitchers and catchers held their first workout in Clearwater, Fla., on Wednesday. The team left Clearwater last March, when the world shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Life has not returned to normal, but things slowly seem to be moving in that direction.
Here is a Spring Training FAQ for Phillies fans interested in following the action in Florida:
What s the new name of the spring ballpark?
The Phillies will play their home games at BayCare Ballpark, as the ballpark has undergone its third name change since it opened as Bright House Networks Field in 2004. After it shortened its name to Bright House Field in 13, it became Spectrum Field in 17.
Today in Blue Jays history: Jays trade Roger Clemens
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Blue Jays traded
Yankees
After the strike-shortened 1994 season, GM
Pat Gillick resigned. To put a bit of background to it, he put together a Blue Jays team that finished first in the AL East in 1985, 1989, 1991, 1992, and 1993 and had won the World Series in 1992 and 1993. 1994 didn’t go as well. The Jays finished 55-60, finishing 15 games back. We discounted it, figuring that it didn’t count since it was a shortened season.
Pat, well, maybe could see the writing on the wall, or perhaps he just figured he had done it all with the Jays and needed a new challenge.
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I love James Paxton. When the Yankees landed him from Seattle, I was ecstatic. He’s exactly the kind of pitcher I like, offering high, hard fastballs and a breaking ball that makes the best hitters in the world look stupid. He’s Canadian. He’s still the only player whose BreakingT shirt I actually own.
Paxton was also never really everything we wanted as a pitcher. He came to New York and was exactly as advertised, striking out a higher rate of batters than any Yankee starter except for literally Gerrit Cole while he was in the Bronx. In fact, on a per batter basis, Paxton was the second-best pitcher on the club across the two seasons he was here, trailing only Cole in K-BB%, ERA, and FIP. But of course, the other side of Paxton was evident, as he only threw 171 innings in pinstripes, and his entire 2020 was overshadowed by a serious of ailments that cut his velocity and significantly reduced his effectiveness.