Weekly Takes - Monday, August 8 Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, August 8 Edition

1. The Flames had no choice but to sign Johnathan Huberdeau to the contract that they signed him to.

No, the contract will not age well, but if they win a Cup in the next three seasons, it will not matter how poorly it ages.

This is the cost of having elite players on your team.

2. If Canada is going to win Gold at the World Juniors this month, they will be doing so without a horse on defence, given there will be no Owen Power or Kaiden Ghule.

The offence, led by the trio of Kent Johnson, Mason McTavish, and Connor Bedard, though, should flat out take over any game they play in.

3. Thoughts on each player acquired by the Blue Jays at the deadline…

• Zac Pop is a very nice addition, as I think he can be a lights-out reliever in the back-end of a bullpen if he lives up to his potential. The Jays bullpen also needed to get way younger, too, and he most certainly will help with that.

• Anthony Bass is the kind of reliever they needed, as Bass’ slider can generate the swing-and-miss that the bullpen greatly lacks.

• The Mitch White addition is the biggest one for the Jays. With Ross Stripling the only free agent for the Jays after this season, they just found his replacement while also adding much-needed depth to the 2022 rotation.

• Whit Merrifield can play on my team any day. He puts the bat on the ball, can run, and play all over the diamond. Ian Happ would have been my go-to target here but Merrifield is not a bad second option.

So, the Jays made four nice additions that not only help the team this season, but next season as well, given all four are under team control beyond this season. That is important as the Jays are in a two-year window here.

But whether it was a rental or another pitcher under team control, they needed to add to an elite reliever to this year’s roster and failed to do so. They had the prospect system to make it happen and did not pull the trigger.

They are still a playoff team and should come out of the Wild Card round, but they did not do enough at the deadline to put them in the same conversation with the Yankees or Astros. That is disappointing, as I truly believe they were one elite reliever away from being right there with those two teams.

Adding to the bullpen with a wipeout arm or two needs to truly be the only focus for Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins this offseason, with the team not really having any other holes elsewhere.

And there is no excuse, given the team will not have to re-sign any notable free agents and given they have a top-half prospect system.

Never mind the fact that Danny Jansen is going to be expendable on the big league roster and should fetch a very nice return.

4. The Mariners made the right decision in trading for Luis Castillo.

There is no promise that the prospects they traded will pan out and even if they do, Seattle has not made the playoffs in over 20 years. They have to go all-in.

5. There is certainly risk in trading for Frankie Montas, but the Yankees had no choice.

So many of their best players are having career seasons, highlighted by Aaron Judge, who may very well walk at the end of the season. This is the year that this core is at their absolute peak.

They have to end this season in a dog pile.

6. The Nationals got the biggest prospect haul in baseball history for Juan Soto, yet it is still a disaster of a trade for them, because they traded Juan Soto, one of the greatest baseball players of our generation.

No prospect haul makes it worth it.

7. The losers of the trade deadline? The Orioles, who cowardly sold, telling their young core that they do not believe in them.

Not too far behind them are the Cubs and Red Sox, both of whom show no direction.

8. The video review reversal of the Merrifield play at the plate on Sunday was the right call.

If Gary Sanchez had to block the plate to catch the ball, then sure, Merrifield should have been out. But he blocked the plate with the ball already in his glove. A pretty easy call to me, unless we want to go back to runners blowing up catchers who are blocking the plate.

9. You can pretty much take the Raptors out of the Kevin Durant sweepstakes after the news that the Celtics are willing to trade Jaylen Brown in exchange for Durant.

The only path forward to a Raptors-Durant trade is if the Raptors put Scottie Barnes on the table, but I would be shocked if that happened.

10. Judge Robinson completely whiffed on her ruling on Deshaun Watson.

Suspending him for only six games, because the sexual assault he committed was “not violent” is a truly wild reasoning.

I do not care that the precedent for “non-violent” sexual assaults was no more than three games. This was the perfect case for her to set a new precedent – one that should be the standard in 2022.

More so when Judge Robinson agreed that Watson’s assaults were premeditated and predatory.

11. Dionate Johnson is a top 20 wide receiver being paid like a top 20 wide receiver.

That is a win for the Steelers, who obviously see something special in him, given they so often do not bother re-signing wide receivers coming out of their rookie deals.

Johnson, George Pickens, Calvin Austin, and Chase Claypool is quite the foursome for the Steelers moving forward.

12. It is always disappointing when Canadian soccer players go to Europe and do not succeed, but Richie Laryea returning to TFC is a game-changing addition for this season and – quite likely – beyond.

This upcoming offseason for TFC will truly be about finding a star goalkeeper, re-signing Jonathan Osorio, and finding a starting centre-back.

The list is getting smaller and smaller with each transfer window.