Miscellaneous
With the Mid-Summer Classic firmly in our rear-view mirrors and a sprawling road ahead with 68 games left to play, the Toronto Blue Jays find themselves fighting for respectability as the second half of the season begins. All that remains now is a glorious opportunity for a beleaguered management group to demonstrate leadership in finding value for players who aren't part of their long-term future. In essence, one could make the case that this is the most important trade deadline in years, and will likely end up having a significant impact on their blueprint for 2019 and beyond. On this episode of the baseball show, I'm pleased to be joined by April Whitzman (@Alleycat17), former Blue Jays digital marketing manager, whose wisdom and expertise on the subject of connecting with the fanbase is put on display as we (existentially) discuss: how she feels about the way the current Blue Jays leadership group is representing itself in the face of lingering on-field/of-field adversity and if this front office is modernized enough in their thinking to prioritize the fans before the price of doing business. We also explore what she would do in managing such and established and coveted brand while looking to the future with unheralded optimism.Next, we're visited by Geoff Falbo (@gfalbo13), former writer for DeepLeagues.com, who drops by for a quick segment I like to call: "Five Minutes with Falbo" - a new addition to the show which features brutally candid truth mixed with incendiary resolve that only a diamond purist like Geoff was born to produce. He looks back at the first three months and what it would conceivably take to one day re-conjure those powerfully indelible feelings from September. 2015.Finally, writer and blogger Hayden Godfrey (@haydengodfreyy) from the Jays Journal sits down to talk about a season of underachieving efforts and catastrophic injuries, true disappointments from the first half, his official projections for the remainder of the season, and how much responsibility should fall squarely on the shoulders of Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins.