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Blue Jays: Who’s the PTBNL they gave up for Taijuan Walker? – Jays Journal

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The player going the other way to the Seattle Mariners is apparently among the top 30 prospects in the Toronto Blue Jays organization

The Toronto Blue Jays made two trades with the Settle Mariners this week. The first one saw the Blue Jays acquire Daniel Vogelbach for cash considerations. The sum the Jays are sending the Mariners way will probably never be revealed as these types of deals are never reported.

The second and more recent trade between the Blue Jays and Mariners was Canada’s team acquiring Taijuan Walker for a player to be named later. According to MLB analyst Jim Bowden, the player to be named later is among the top 30 prospects in the Jays organization.

Originally, there was a rule stating only players among each team’s 60 man player pool can be traded although they later altered that rule to allow players not named to training camp to be apart of trades.

As the player to be named later has been narrowed down to 30 players and we know for a fact that this player is not among the 60 invited to training camp, we can speculate in regards to who the return might be.

Further, baseball writer Joe Doyle who writes for Mariners sites has speculated that the player will be a position player.

With what we know, we can narrow it down to who it might be. 14 of the Jays’ top 30 prospects are pitchers meaning they are not the ones heading to Seattle. Among the top 30 that are not pitchers, Austin Martin, Jordan Groshans, Alejandro Kirk, Santiago Espinal, Kevin Smith, and Riley Adams are among the 60 in the Jays player pool. This means they are not headed to Seattle either as if they were, it would have been announced.

This leaves us with the following players of who could have been the return for Walker: Orelvis Martinez, Gabriel Moreno, Miguel Hiraldo, Otto Lopez, Griffin Conine, Leonardo Jimenez, Estiven Machado, Dasan Brown, Rikelvin De Castro or Will Robertson.

I highly doubt it is any of Martinez, Moreno, or Hiraldo as they are ranked in the top 10 among Jays prospects and it’s extremely unlikely the front office would part ways with a top 10 prospect for a rental. I wouldn’t suspect that it would be Lopez (15) or Conine (16) either as they would probably be ranked too high for a rental either.

That leaves us with Jimenez, Machado, Brown, De Castro or Robertson. I will go ahead and eliminate Brown as the Jays likely view him as a potential homegrown talent as he hails from Mississauga, Ontario.

Despite the outfield trio of Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Randal Grichuk and Teoscar Hernandez exceeding expectations this year, the outfield still has question marks regarding its future. With the Jays potentially in need of outfielders down the road, I would assume Robertson is not the return either.

That now leaves us to three players that could be the return for Walker: Jimenez, Machado or De Castro. All three players are middle infielders which they are all currently blocked at the big leagues by Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio. Eventually, Groshans and possibly Martin will be part of the infield leaving them nowhere to play.

Jimenez is the Jays 17th ranked prospect and can play on either side of second base. The Jays signed him as an international free agent for $825,000 in 2017. In the minor leagues, he’s combined to slash .278/.358/.360 and has yet to leave the yard once. He’s reached Single-A and has an estimated time of arrival (ETA) of 2022.

Machado was signed for $775,000 last international free agent signing period and is the Jays 18th ranked prospect. At the age of 17, scouts are saying he’ll need a lot of time to develop in the minors and isn’t expected to reach the majors until 2024.

Like Machado, De Castro was also signed last year as an international free agent albeit for $1.2 million. Also 17 years old, he isn’t expected to reach the big leagues until 2024 although he’s been lauded for his defence and is compared to former Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes.

It really could be any of the three but if I had to guess, I think Jimenez is heading the other way. The Mariners have two top prospects on the verge of reaching the majors and would probably like to compete sooner rather than later in order to give Mariners fans competitive baseball as they haven’t reached the playoffs since 2021.

Another reason why I think Jimenez is the return is that they currently have a shortstop in J.P. Crawford and although he doesn’t contribute much at the plate, he’s gifted defensively. They also currently have Dee Gordon as their second baseman whose contract ends after next season.

A top prospect for Walker is pricey, especially considering he’s a rental, but that’s sometimes the price you have to pay to buy. Also, Walker was targeted by other teams on the market including the New York Yankees.

Next: Blue Jays: Brandon Drury experiment comes to an end?

So far this season, Walker is 2-2 with a 4.00 E.R.A. with 25 strikeouts while walking only eight in 27 innings for an opponent average of .210. If the Jays end up signing Walker to an extension this offseason, then the return won’t matter but if he signs elsewhere, it might be seen as a bit of an overpay.

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DeMar DeRozan scores 27 points to lead the Kings past the Raptors 122-107

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.

Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.

Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.

The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.

DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.

RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.

Takeaways

Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.

Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.

Key moment

The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.

Key stat

Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.

Up next

Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.

Kings: Host the Clippers on Friday night.

___

AP NBA:

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Whitecaps take confidence, humility into decisive playoff matchup vs. LAFC

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VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.

To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.

Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.

“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.

“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”

The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.

The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.

First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.

Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.

No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.

“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.

Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.

“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.

This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.

The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.

“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”

Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.

Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.

“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”

The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.

Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.

“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”

LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.

“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

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PWHL unveils game jerseys with new team names, logos

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TORONTO – The Professional Women’s Hockey League has revealed the jersey designs for its six newly named teams.

Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.

The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.

Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.

“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.

“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”

Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.

Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.

Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.

Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

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