The Blue Jays brought up the idea of a contract extension with Bo Bichette, but no offer has been made

Welcome to the era of pre-arbitration, long-term contracts.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen more and more teams opting to hand out guaranteed dollars to players with short track records in order to save money on free agency years down the road.
The big example this off-season, of course, is Fernando Tatis Jr., who signed a massive 14-year contract with the San Diego Padres worth $340 million. Tatis has only played 143 games at the major-league level but, based on his trajectory as a player and the steady rise of free-agent salaries, the Padres are more than likely going to have a bargain deal in a few years.
The Blue Jays have two young franchise cornerstones, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, who could end up with a mega extension sooner rather than later. Bichette said on Monday that the organization discussed a contract extension with him this off-season, but no actual offer was made.
“I’m happy for Fernando,” Bichette said. “I’ve always admired the way he plays from the minor-leagues until now. He’s an exciting player. I think it’s really powerful that an organization believed in him enough to put the commitment they did. Obviously …

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Author: Cam Lewis / Blue Jays Nation

Toronto Blue Jays Consensus Top 30 Prospects, Part 1

I have made it a habit, for several years, to find every Top Prospect list published by virtually anyone (save some message board rando like me) and aggregate them into consensus lists.

Typically, I do one made up of five-or-six high profile outlets (Baseball America et al) and another eight-to-ten lesser (though still respectable) or more less-heralded or team specific sites, aggregated into a separate ranking and this gives me a sort of idea about how the “pros” view players as opposed to more, I don’t want to say amateur because some of the latter set seem to be people who put a lot of effort into their list, but just not necessarily achieved the star status of the former group.
BUT in this weird year/offseason, several of those second-tier sources have chosen to either not do a ranking at all, or have not published one as of this writing. At this moment I’ve only got three of the ten I found last year. So I can spare you any digression about how the two lists compare and contrasts. What is on the menu today, then, is a consensus list, constructed in the typical points system fashion, …

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Author: Tammy Rainey / Blue Jays Nation

Raptors: Will Teresa Resch become the first female GM in NBA history?

Raptors: Will Teresa Resch become the first female GM in NBA history?

After a few years of breaking glass ceilings, women are working their way into increasingly more prominent, powerful roles throughout the NBA and the broader professional sports landscape. The Toronto Raptors are no exception, with Masai Ujiri behind the hiring of 14 females among the team brass, chief among them Teresa Resch. The current VP […]
Raptors: Will Teresa Resch become the first female GM in NBA history? – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Ben Fisher / Raptors HQ

Toronto Raptors: Was a rough first week a sign of things to come?

Toronto Raptors: Was a rough first week a sign of things to come?

After years of regular-season domination, it might be time to recalibrate our expectations for the Toronto Raptors. Week one of the NBA season has come and gone, and the start to the campaign for the Toronto Raptors has been anything but inspiring.  They find themselves two games under .500 for the first time in seven […]
Toronto Raptors: Was a rough first week a sign of things to come? – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Eddie Huband / Raptors HQ

Filip Hallander is the Leafs 5th ranked prospect

In recent years, the Leafs prospect pool has started to dry up. Of course, this is a given with the Leafs’ increase in competitiveness and their emergence out of their rebuild phase, but solid prospects aren’t so easy to come by these days. Building through the draft is one way the Leafs have stocked up their prospect cupboards, but their fifth ranked prospect arrived in Toronto via trade. The Leafs acquired forward Filip Hallander, along with the pick that would become Rodion Amirov, in the six-player trade that sent Kasperi Kapanen to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
While the Leafs truly did want to shed salary in that trade, it’s no doubt that Toronto got valuable prospects in the deal. Leafs fans should be overjoyed with the addition of Hallander to the team, who could be seen in the blue and white in just a couple of seasons.

RANK
GRADE
NHL ETA

5
B
1-2 YEARS

Position: Centre
Age: 20
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 190 lbs
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2018 2nd round, 58th overall
What kind of player is he?
The first thing Leafs fans should note when it comes to Hallander is that he is already a familiar face for Toronto’s front office. …

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Author: Matthew Rodrigopulle / The Leafs Nation

How Do Nick Nurse’s First Two Seasons Stack Up Against the All-Time Greats?

In his first two years, Nick Nurse won his first coach of the year award and led the Toronto Raptors to a championship. Now who else has done that? On Tuesday, news broke of the Toronto Raptors re-signing Nick Nurse to a new multi-year contract. The contract was universally praised after a strong 2019-20 season […]
How Do Nick Nurse’s First Two Seasons Stack Up Against the All-Time Greats? – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Thomas Waind / Raptors HQ

3 things the Leafs need to do to become Stanley Cup contenders

Last year’s season was an unexpected one. Newly acquired Tyson Barrie didn’t pan out, there were a ton of injuries and the Leafs were a very inconsistent hockey team.
But there’s a list of requirements that Kyle Dubas needs to hit to make sure Toronto is ready to go for next season, as well as the playoffs.
Dubas said he wasn’t done making trades and that’s one place he needs to be perfect in, if he wants success next year. There’s also a few other things on his to-do list, but you have to watch the video to find out.

 

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Author: Nick Barden / The Leafs Nation

NHL History: Toronto Maple Leafs sign Eric Lindros 15 years ago today

It was 15 years ago today that the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Eric Lindros.

The deal was a one-year, $1.55-million contract and it marked the only year he spent in the big city.
It was a short year, however, as Lindros’ year was cut short due to injury much like his whole career. Playing in 33 games, Lindros scored 11 goals and as many assists.
All those games came at the start of the year and on Dec. 10, 2005 he suffered a tear of a ligament in his left wrist. Lindros recovered and returned after 27 games on Feb. 28, 2006, but reinjured his wrist a week later ending his season.
The Hall of Famer only spent one more year in the NHL, a 49-game season in 2006-07 with the Dallas Stars where he scored 26 points.
On Twitter: @zjlaing

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Author: Zach Laing / The Leafs Nation

Toronto Raptors: Relive Vince Carter’s iconic dunk in bobblehead form

Twenty years ago (anyone else feeling old?), Vince Carter dropped an iconic dunk in the dunk contest. So Toronto Raptors fans are going to love this bobblehead. You know what? Let’s party like it’s 2000. When Vince Carter was on the Toronto Raptors and regularly putting opposing players on posters. When he was dominating the […]
Toronto Raptors: Relive Vince Carter’s iconic dunk in bobblehead form – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Nathan Cunningham / Raptors HQ

NHL History: Toronto Maple Leafs acquire Cody Franson nine years ago today

It was nine years ago today that the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Cody Franson.

The deal saw the Leaf give up Brett Lebda, Robert Slaney and a condition fourth-round pick in 2013 to the Nashville Predators for Franson and Matthew Lombardi.
While Lombardi only lasted one season in Toronto scoring 18 points in 62 games, Franson played the best years of his career with the Leafs.
Over parts of four seasons, Franson scored 20 goals and 115 points in 236 games. He was a tough defender for the Leafs standing at 6’5, 225 lbs., but was still able to provide lots of offence for the team over his three-and-a-bit year stint.
He posted a career-high in points in the season he was traded back to the Predators with 36 total — 32 of which came in 55 games with the Leafs.
On Feb. 15, 2015, the Leafs traded him back to Nashville along with Mike Santorelli for Olli Jokinen, Brendan Leipsic and a first-round pick in the 2015 draft. Toronto later traded that pick, 24th overall, to the Philadelphia Flyers for a 2015 1st, 29th overall, and a 2015 2nd, 61st overall.
The Flyers used their pick on Travis Konecny, while Toronto traded down from the 29th spot for a package that included 34th overall …

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Author: Zach Laing / The Leafs Nation