An Open Letter to David Price

Dear David,

Can I call you David? I think we've reached a point in our relationship where we're on a first-name basis. I'm definitely okay with you calling me Andrew, or a nickname of your choosing. Or Bob, or Tony, or Bridget. In short: call me whatever you like.

Now that you're officially a free agent, I feel it's time to address the elephant in the room: are you re-signing with Blue Jays? Are you? Are you? Are you? Are you?

(And FYI, the second elephant in the room - the Alex Anthopolous-shaped one - will be addressed at a later date)

Like much of baseball-loving Canada, I'm still trying to come to terms with the end of the Blue Jays' season - as I'm sure you are too - but the business of sports never rests, so onto the business at hand. I'm going to take this opportunity to implore you to re-sign with the Blue Jays.

As you're surely well aware, there's untold teams currently on their way to court and woo and throw absolutely obscene amounts of money at you. You're also going to be on the receiving end of promises and sales pitches the likes of which I can't even fathom. But hear me out, the info below may help clarify things for you a little.

Baseball's Top-6 Unwritten Rules

There are unwritten rules everywhere. They pervade almost every aspect of life in some way: at work, while driving, in line at the grocery store, and of course, in sports. And in the sporting world, I'd wager baseball has more unwritten rules than any other.

Initially, this was going to cover all of baseball's unwritten rules, but then I started researching, and frankly, I don't want to write (you definitely don't want to read) 50,000 words about arcane - and ultimately stupid - ungovernable rules that most people don't even know about. (For example: "Don't walk over the mound". Seriously, that's an unwritten rule. Sometimes baseball has to GTFO.)

Therefore, here are the top six unwritten rules that seem to pop up more often:

5(ish) players who should be in the Hall of Fame, but (likely) won't make it

The 2015 National Baseball Hall of Fame honoured its newest inductees this past weekend, with bronze masterpieces bearing the likenesses of Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, and Craig Biggio - worthy recipients all - now lining the hallowed halls.

However, despite 314 inductees filling the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, there are still players who should be enshrined, but due to a number of factors likely won't find themselves among the luminaries.

Here are five(ish) such cases:

Why the 'pitcher wins' stat is outdated & pointless

Like most sports, the baseball decision-makers are an old-boys club who are slow to accept change - if they accept it at all. Hence, there's a reticence to employ, look at, learn, or acknowledge new or advanced statistics. At best, useful and indicative stats like WAR, BABIP, OPS+, FIP, UZR, wRC+, etc are accepted at a glacial pace.

Case in point: pitcher wins. During baseball broadcasts and in many written pieces, a pitcher's won/lost record is displayed before any other stat. The colour commentator and the analyst always lead their roundup of the pitcher with the number of wins he's accumulated, or losses he's endured.

The dichotomy of the situation is incredible; is there a more prominent stat that's as pointless as pitcher wins?