2017 MLB Thread News & Notes

[hockeyfan1]

Alex Anthopoulos becomes new Braves GM.  Atlanta owns one of the best farm systems in the league.
He was the former GM of he Toronto Blue Jays, and the GM of the 2017 World Series finalists L.A. Dodgers.

Anthopoulos talks of why he chose the Braves posting, and of his fond memories of the late great Roy Halladay.


https://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/2017/11/13/anthopoulos-lands-on-his-feet-in-atlanta-get-over-it-jays-fans-arthur.html

[Nik the Trik]

Farhan Zaidi is the Dodgers GM and has been since 2014.

[hockeyfan1]

Roy Halladay Memorial service/Celebration of Life to be broadcast  this afternoon. (3pm)?  Will be broadcast on all Sportsnet networks.

[hockeyfan1]

Anthopoulos was previously the VP of player operations in the Dodgers organization.

Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi is Canadian-born Phillipine raised, and the  first-ever Muslim GM in MLB.  Zaidi has kept close ties to his Canadian connections via relatives living in Canada.

[Nik the Trik]

Gregg Zaun has been fired apparently. CBC is saying it's because of "sexual misconduct".

[Captain Canuck]

Gregg Zaun has been fired apparently. CBC is saying it's because of "sexual misconduct".

Sportsnet is calling it "inappropriate behaviour and comments."
Sad as it is to say I'm not surprised by this. He seems like a "good ol boy" type and it comes across on the broadcast when he gets comfortable and lets his guard down.

They are out for blood right now south of the border with this stuff, was only a matter of time before it hit here.
I was saying to the guys at work the other day that it is to the point now where you don't even want to so much as acknowledge a female co-worker anymore for fear of reprisal.

We had a case at our work a few years ago where my old boss and a close co-worker were suspended from work about a month and nobody would say why. I got interrogated by HR about it, but of course they wouldn't say who made the complaint so it was like fighting the boogeyman because the whole thing made no sense.
I found out much later on it was this young female worker who made false accusations against them as revenge. She was angry because she wasn't hired back. The reason she wasn't hired back is that she wasn't pulling her weight at work and part of the reason was she was having an undisclosed sexual relationship with a fellow co-worker (who also wasn't hired back). I saw the two of them together for a couple years after that so it must have been pretty serious.
Prior to that occurring she had sexually harassed a bunch of guys at work, myself included. It made me uncomfortable at the time, but like most guys would I just brushed it aside as a one time thing and didn't report it.
The whole situation just makes me mad thinking about, as SHE was the one in the wrong, but she played the system to make everyone else's life a living hell. The stain never did leave the guys she falsely accused and to this day HR has no clue what really happened. I run into this individual around town from time to time and she always pretends to not know me at first. When I say hi then she wants to know if I am still working at the same place. She doesn't know that I know and the guilt is all over her face every time.
Long story short, there are always two sides to these things and it's not always the guys fault.

[herman]

Speaking of two sides to a story, now people are finally listening to women.

Thread:

Sadly, the Gregg Zaun news doesn’t really come as a shock to me. Six years ago, he asked for my email over Twitter DM. He then sent me, a 21-year-old girl he’d never met, an invitation to a Grey Cup “Party” in Vancouver.

— ☃️ Katie ☃️ (@katielawrenceb) December 1, 2017

[bustaheims]

One of the least surprising, for sure. Tried too hard to be baseball's Don Cherry, and just came off as a jerk - because, clearly, he's a jerk.

[hockeyfan1]

This thing with Zaun had been going on for a long time.  Many of the Sportsnet analysts knew of his behaviour and his comments towards women. It was only a matter of time before some of the female employees there came forward regarding the matter, and rightly so.  If that's the kind of mentality Zaun harboured towards the female gender in general, then that is not acceptable behaviour or attitude. Especially in the workplace (or any place) where the general environment can be made to feel 'uncomfortable' and tense.

What's been happening south of the border illustrates that perfectly. 

As for the situation that Captain Canuck found himself (& others) in, yes, sometimes one can take advantage for their own personal gain or revenge.  But, once again as illustrated by the sexual allegations leveled at the various men such as Matt Lauer, Senator Al Franken, Roy Moore,  Bill OReilly, et al., I don't think one can say that there are two sides to those stories.  Because for most of them, there aren't.


https://theathletic.com/171452/2017/12/01/behaviour-of-blue-jays-manalyst-gregg-zaun-had-long-been-normalized-at-sportsnet/

[Arn]

Well, the Yankees are gonna be fun to watch next year eh?

Let's hope for a Judge sophomore slump

[hockeyfan1]

Former Blue Jay Josh Donaldson signs a 1 yr/$23M deal with the Atlanta Braves, where his former Blue Jay boss Alex Anthopoulos is the GM.

Story:
https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/braves-donaldson-deal-upside-another-big-win-anthopoulos/