Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman took a swipe at MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday as the baseball boss talked about marketing the sport through starting pitchers.

Gausman implored his followers not to believe what Manfred said about starting pitching.

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"Don’t believe a word this man says," Gausman wrote on X. "Get ready for 6 innings you get to keep the DH, if not a fan hits in their spot."

Gausman’s jab came weeks after the possibility of implementing the "golden at-bat" rule, which would allow teams to pick one batter per game to hit even if they are not next in the batting order, was floated into the baseball world.

Manfred spoke as part of the "Questions for Cancer" podcast. He said he did not think a minimum inning requirement for starting pitchers would be a great idea to help with the issue.

"I don’t think a specific inning requirement even with exceptions are workable in our rule," Manfred. "It’s just too blunt an instrument to fix this problem. I do see both problems as really serious. I think the injury issue – our physicians have studied this carefully. They continue to believe that the focus on velocity and spin rate is a significant cause in the increase in injuries.

"Look, marketing the game, just think about a broadcast. The name and face you see the most is the starting pitcher. The matchups of great starting pitchers have historically been important in terms of marketing the game and I do think we need to get back to that."

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Manfred said rules should be developed to create incentives for teams that develop pitchers who can go deep into games.

"To me, this needs to be addressed in a more subtle way. I think rules surrounding transactions, that is how often pitchers can come on and off the roster. One of the things that happens today, guy pitches three days in a row, he gets outrighted, they bring somebody else in. They give him some rest as opposed to him staying on the roster the whole time.

"I think we need to create incentives through things like roster rules, transaction rules for clubs to develop pitchers who go deeper in the game. I don’t think it can be prescriptive, you have to go six innings. I think it has to be a series of rules that create an incentive for clubs to develop pitchers of a certain type."

CBS Sports noted that the inning per start rate sat at 5.2 during the 2024 season – more than an inning lower than it was in 1984.

Gausman started in 31 games in 2024 and led the majors with two complete games and one shutout. He completed at least seven innings of work eight times.

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Let the bidding war for Juan Soto begin. 

Five teams have offers on the table for the superstar outfielder, according to multiple reports.

Those five teams are the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays.

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Those contracts were made late last week, according to the report. The next step in the process will be negotiations between the teams and Soto’s agent, Scott Boras. 

Soto, 26, is reportedly believed to be seeking a 15-year contract that is worth more than Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million deal. Ohtani’s deal is 10 years, and he deferred the majority of his contract, whereas Soto apparently is not interested in deferring money. 

The four-time All Star is coming off the best season of his already remarkable career, batting .288 while slugging a career-high 41 home runs, finishing third in AL MVP voting while batting in front of the MVP in Aaron Judge. 

During the Yankees' run to the World Series, Soto was even better, hitting .327 while having an on base percentage of .469 while hitting four home runs. 

The Blue Jays tried to trade for Soto last offseason but could not get a deal done with the San Diego Padres. The Blue Jays also tried to sign Ohtani but fell short in their pursuit of adding a superstar.

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Some are questioning whether the Dodgers can afford to sign Soto after handing out over $1 billion dollars of total money in contracts last offseason, but with Ohtani deferring a lot of his contract, they have enough money to at least make an offer.

The Red Sox met with Soto for three hours in California in their hopes of luring the five-time Silver Slugger away from their bitter rival, according to MLB.com.

The Mets have the richest owner in the sport in Steve Cohen and may need every penny they can muster to steer Soto away from the Bronx and over to Queens, where he and star shortstop Francisco Lindor would form a dynamic duo atop the lineup. 

Soto met with the Yankees last Monday, when the team sent owner Hal Steinbrenner, team president Randy Levine, general manager Brian Cashman, special assistant to the general manager Omar Minaya and manager Aaron Boone to California, according to NJ.com.

Soto posted a video on Instagram on Tuesday with the caption "The announcement you’ve been waiting for (eyes emoji)," teasing fans about his free agency, but instead announced a brand deal with Celsius.

"What, you were expecting a different announcement?" Soto said with a smile at the end of the video. 

Soto is expected to sign with a team during MLB’s winter meetings, which take place Dec. 9-12.

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Rico Carty, a former Atlanta Braves star outfielder who played 15 years in Major League Baseball, has died, the players’ association and the team said on Sunday. He was 85.

A family friend told the Dominican Republic’s Listin Diario that he died on Saturday night in an Atlanta hospital.

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"Carty was one of the first groundbreaking Latino stars in the major leagues, and he established himself as a hero to millions in his native Dominican Republic, his hometown of San Pedro de Macoris, and the city of Atlanta, where he was a beloved fan favorite," the players’ association said in statement.

The Braves added that Carty left an indelible mark on the organization.

"While his on-field accomplishments will never be forgotten, his unforgettable smile and generous nature will be sorely missed," the team said in a statement.

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Carty got his start with the Milwaukee Braves in 1963 and played full time by the 1964 season. He finished in second place in National Rookie of the Year voting. He played with the Braves until 1972.

In 1970, he made the All-Star team for the first and only time. He won the batting title with a .366 average and led the majors with a .454 on-base percentage.

He then played for a smattering of other teams, including the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays.

He hit 204 home runs and drove in 890 runs in 1,651 major league games. He batted .299 for his career.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.