The Week

The week of Nov 11-17, 2012 has proven to be monumental for Blue Jays fans, a population that is desperate and competitive by nature. Now we can consider ourselves competitive and, perhaps, arrogant. I for one am embracing the change.

THE WEEK! The week that changed everything, the week that morphed 2012 from a one-night stand you aren’t proud of into a trophy wife. It has been the week that righted a sinking ship and, for those of us who are spiteful, the week that pushed back against the giants in the AL east, most notably John Farrell and the Boston Red Sox.

Like many fans, I try my best to keep in the loop with regards to all things Jays related. I am dialed in to the twitter feeds of all the regular contributors and I stay on top of the written contributions from our favourite local sports writers. What I have found astonishing, besides Mike Wilner’s impressive ability to maintain rationality, is the amount of people coming out to warn off our fans about the risks associated with THE DEAL and subsequent Melk man signing. How is this anything but a tremendously positive step in the right direction for our ball club. Sure there will be heightened expectations, sure there are injury risks, sure it’s a lot of money. Is it yours? Is Rogers’ bottom line going to be significantly impacted? NO. Injuries happen and owners inevitably get richer. Let’s forget about all that and get excited about this team. Excited like Jose Reyes in his new Jays duds. This team is going to be ready to bring some serious game to the AL and I am looking forward to every minute of it. My fondest dreams of a routinely packed Rogers Centre and of opposing teams dreading the trip north of the border because they know they’re facing an uphill battle are that much closer to coming to fruition. I can picture Matt Wieters saying conversing about scenarios with Reyes and Bonifacio on 2^nd and 3^rd during his flight to Toronto. I can picture James Shields talking about how Joey bats has his number…about not letting those speedy guys get on base…about how there will be no easy outs.

With all that’s been done during THE WEEK that changed everything, few would agree that things are finished. Questions remain unanswered. We have too many catchers, we have some serious OF depth and, oh ya, we need a captain for this ship. A leader to manage not only the players, but the renewed expectations, a leader to take the reins of this mighty steed and guide it to the promised land.

Pitchers and catchers report in 3 months.

All-star week…the good, the bad, and the Ortiz!

At long last, All-Star festivities are upon us and have taken Kansas City by storm! Let’s set the scene for tonight’s epic clash of MLB Titans. Kauffman Stadium…a beautiful ballpark filled with beautiful ladies, baseball fans, and MLB superstars itching to showcase their skills on the grandest of stages! Wait…let me rephrase…MLB superstars itching to get the hell out of there and get some much needed R&R.

While the disinterested attitude isn’t prevalent across the board, surely there are some players soaking it all in but for many of the players, this is old news…simply showing up is a formality to acknowledge a flawed fan voting and selection system. This post is dedicated to the all-star week…what’s good, what’s not…and my two cents.

The good:

-          David Ortiz: It is undeniable that this guy is having a good time whenever he’s at an ASG. Watching him last night involved in the derby, in which he wasn’t even competing, was highly enjoyable. Let me preface my next sentence by noting that I am a staunch heterosexual but Ortiz has a smile that’s infectious…you can’t help but feel all warm and cozy inside. Watching him last night brought back memories of watching Shaq at the dunk contest where Vince Carter put on an absolute clinic.

-          Kauffman Stadium: Looks like a real good place to take in a ballgame.

-          The effort: I like that in MLB, unlike pretty much every other sport, the players TRY TO WIN. This definitely enhances the enjoyment of the game. I have no problem with awarding the winner home field advantage in the playoffs…it’s an interesting solution to add some spice to the game.

-          The trade rumors: gotta love this time of year for good ol’ fashioned speculation. Gotta love how everyone, myself included becomes a qualified general manager…makes for great reading and false hope (Yu Darvish anyone?)

The bad:

-          The Yankees: The source of all evil. I hate that, because their market is so gigantic, they get their players voted into the game…deserving or not. If we look at the numbers should Granderson be in the game over our beloved Edwin Encarnacion? NO! EE has a better AVG (.295 vs .248), OPS (.947 vs .854), RBI (58 vs 48) and they are tied at 23 HRs…I guess Granderson has 11 more runs scored but an All-star that does not make.

-          Berman: Watching the HR derby gets tiring real quick. While I give the panel some credit for being able to sustain their feigned excitement for HRs, listening to Berman say “back back back back back” is worse than forgetting to wash the suicide wing sauce off your hands prior to using the mens room.

-          The hiatus: I get that there needs to be an ASG and that the players can definitely use the break. The problem is that there is nothing going on in the world of sports and I have to go 3 days without any action in my fantasy league. BRUTAL!

-          Kansas City…Missouri…how does that make sense?

Moving on…let’s look forward to a solid wrap up to the season and let’s hope that the Jays can turn some heads at the trade deadline that will carry them to the Promised Land. This city is yearning for a winner!

Blogaroo time …

Just a few thoughts about the 2012 ASG:

I think we’re all in agreement that the ASG is a meaningless affair, and that trying to validate its existence by awarding home field advantage is ridiculous.

I heard Gregg Zaun say that in 2006 when the Cards won the World Series, they finished the season with 80-something wins and were awarded home field throughout the playoffs because the NL won the ASG. The kicker is that the Yankees had 100-something wins and were by far the best team during the regular season. I’m all for kicking the Yankees while their down, but I feel that the best team during the season should be awarded home field in the playoffs.

Anyways, this is a philosophical difference that I think people will continue to debate.

About last night’s HR derby: truth be told, I’m a fan. I liken it to watching Blake Griffin in the slam dunk competition. I know it means nothing, but it’s interesting to watch what is possible. Take for example Mark Trumbo’s blast off the roof of the structure in left field! Because of that, I believe it is now apt to refer to Trumbo as Paul Bunyan or Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter because dude can swing a stick.

Another thought I had was, are there any ribs left in all of Missouri after John Kruk and Andrew Jones got to town. The banter between Kruk and Nomaaaaaaaa (my twin) was entertaining as well.

Who would have envisioned seeing four players on an Albert Pooholes team yucking it up and high-fiving without seeing Pooholes. For the record those players are Weaver, Wilson, Trout and Trumo. All of whom are deserving of being there.

Lastly, and somewhat more seriously, watching the ASG in Kansas City made me aware that revenue sharing between teams actually works. Take the Royals for example. Kauffman stadium is an amazing ball park, and the Royals are a very talented, young team with the likes of Moustakis, Gordon, Perez, Hosmer etc. I imagine that a large part of the money the Royals received from teams like the Yankees and ‘Sox went into renovating the stadium and improving team scouting.

Let’s look at a couple other examples. The Bucs, currently first in the NL Central, also play in a gorgeous park (PNC) and have a team built around excellent scouting. The Orioles, currently second in the AL East play at Camden Yards – my choice for nicest ball park in the league.  The Orioles boast a young core of players, namely Weiters and Jones, and have a bevy of pitching prospects coming up the pipeline.  All three stadiums ranked very high on ESPNs nicest ballparks in North America list.

It appears as though these three teams are following a similar formula; first build a facility which is beautiful and will attract fans, and second invest in minor league scouting and marketing of those players.  It’s almost too bad that during the dreary years of the Jays, the team wasn’t quite bad enough to take advantage of the revenue sharing opportunity. It’s encouraging to see perennial cellar dwellers; the Bucs, O’s, and Royals doing well and having a bright future.

Another thought goes out to those who disagree with the rule that every team has to have a representative at the ASG. I encourage this rule - infact I embrace it. Think about what would happen if this rule didn't exist ... the entire AL starting line up would consist of Yankees and 'Sox players. As a Jays fan I already have to watch 30 games against these teams, none of whom I'm excited to see. The only reason I'd watch the game is to see guys I don't get to very often, mainly NL players or the AL teams on the left coast.

In lieu of my lack of interest for the ASG, who do you think is being sent home on Hell’s Kitchen tonight ?  

Fresh Talent

Here’s your chance.

Your “what-was-he-thinking” moment.

With the influx of young talent in the MLB; most recently Anthony Rizzo and long tossing phenom Trevor Bauer, it seems like a good opportunity to reflect on pre-draft strategy going into the season.

What if you could get up to 88mph, activate the flux capacitor and go back to 1985 … With respect to Fantasy Baseball, would you do anything differently?

There is no one to blame but yourself if you were foolish enough to draft Carl Crawford in the first five rounds - Doc Brown can’t save us all.

With an uber talented crop of young players now making an impact. The question becomes, would your draft strategy change.

The temptation here would be to include a table of statistics including BABIP, WAR, SLG, ISO and wOBA. However, visualizing the statistics right before your eyes might bias your opinion. If you’re reading this, then arguably you are a baseball person and are aware of whom I am referring. But in case you are from 1985 and need a reminder, specifically I am speaking to the likes of Bryce Harper, Brett Lawrie, Mike Trout and Giancarlo (don’t call me Mike) Stanton.  

What is interesting about this group of players is that each offers something slightly different. So I imagine you might take into account position eligibility when selecting your pick. Lawrie for example offers power and speed at 3^rd base, typically a power only position. Harper, plays a premium position, CF, where there is arguably very little power, but great speed. Trout is “put me anywhere coach” kind of player - available in all 3 OF positions. And Stanton offers a world of power potential, with some strike out, many strikeouts actually.

So, instead of picking Carl Crawford in the 5^th round, or I don’t know, Chipper Jones in the 4^th, if you could go back and do it all over again. Would you ?

Jays pitching in shambles…does it have to be?

This past week, we bore witness to a series of unfortunate events. Like clockwork they fell, one by one, much to the chagrin of Jays fans.  Somehow the team has shown a great deal of resiliency with a series sweep in Philly and a home run showcase in Milwaukee. Watching the balls fly out of the park last night brought me more joy that that time at Canada’s wonderland when I shared a tube with the Raptors Dance Pack on White Water Canyon! My apologies for even mentioning the Raptors on this site…it will not happen again.

 The organization seemingly has but two choices, the Panic Button or the Easy Button (shout out to Staples). No Drabek for 1+ year, Hutch also potentially a Tommy John candidate, and Morrow out 4-6 weeks with an oblique strain which is an injury that has notoriously plagued pitchers. Rolling the rest of the way with Ricky and a struggling Alvarez is NOT OK. We cannot allow the team to roll out bullpen arms and triple-A starters for the rest of the season.

 Should we choose to hit the panic button as an organization, we will go into full blown “Sellers Mode” and start the paring down of our potentially expendable assets such as Thames/Snider, Kelly Johnson, Yunel Escobar, and Edwin Encarnacion. This is an option that will be about as enjoyable as dinner with Bobby Valentine.  The Panic Button options are nothing more than innings eaters who will get us to 2013 where we can start fresh….again.

 Panic Button options:

-          Jeremy Guthrie

-          Jeff Francis

-          Sean Hill (haha…please NO)

-          The continual rolling of Villanueva, Laffey, and Chavez

The Easy Button options, while they may not seem “easy” in that we will have to give a little to get a little. Easy refers to the decision that the Jays as an organization need to make.  Is the time to win now?  YES! Seems like a no-brainer. The attendance numbers are escalating nicely and there is a tangible buzz around the city about this team. Crisp new duds can be seen in every ballpark we travel to and excitement about any potential winner in this city will snowball.  The time is now… I think that AA believes this and that his plan was to make some difficult trades leading into July/August. Unfortunately these injuries have forced his hand and perhaps driven up the price for SP because of our clearly desperate status.  Choosing the Easy Button will bring joy to the fanbase, sheer and utter joy, like 20 puppies in your back yard…you know, the cute kind.

 Easy Button options:

-          Gavin Floyd

-          Joe Saunders

-          Matt Garza

-          Off radar pickup…because that’s the AA way.

 These options will cost the organization, a lot, but adding SP depth needs to happen. The offence can carry us only so far and has shown that it can score runs with the elite offenses in the American League. Our bullpen, provided we don’t completely blow them up with overuse during this transition period, is a good one. People are settling in to their roles nicely and the influx of Santos can’t hurt us. The time to make these difficult decisions is now.  Waiting gets us nowhere.

-          Snider vs Thames

-          JPA vs D’arnaud

-          Gose vs Marisnik

-          Cooper vs Lind

-          Hechavarria vs Escobar

-          Lansing SPs….how many high ceiling pitchers do we need at this level when we are replenishing thought the draft effectively?

The time is now to hit the Easy Button.

Life of Brandon

Last nights effort by Brandon Morrow, here in known as B-Mo, is akin to parents watching their children grow up in front of their eyes. Just last week I was changing his diapers, and now he’s in college doing keg stands and playing hackey-sack in the quad. Or drugs, whatever kids are into these days?

Blue Jays fans are used to roller-coaster seasons; we take the good with the bad and never really get too high or too low. Unless you’re one of the aforementioned college students, in which case you do go through highs and lows.

A similar trend has been observed with the Blue Jays starting rotation this season. Good starts are followed up by lets-walk-the-bases-loaded and its-not-my-fault-its-my-gloves. On two occasions this year, Hutchinson has been the one to reverse poor performances from the order 1-4. And those efforts were stellar.

However, little compares to the efforts B-Mo put in on Wednesday night. He threw 119 pitches for his MLB leading third shutout. B-Mo finished the game striking out 5 and allowing on 2 hits.  He also sat down 18 in a row at one point during the game.

Let’s compare some stats for the season:

Player A: 64.2 IP, 0 W, 11 BB, 66 K, 2.92 ERA, 7 QS
Player B: 81.1 IP, 4 W, 19 BB, 69 K, 2.55 ERA, 8 QS
Player C: 78.1 IP, 7 W, 23 BB, 74 K, 3.68 ERA, 7 QS
Player D: 77.2 IP, 7 W, 24 BB, 67 K, 2.90 ERA, 8 QS

Any guesses? I’ll give you a hint. No fat-ass Colon’s, nor old-man Moyer’s on this list. What you’re looking at are the current stats for Cliff Lee, Kershaw, Sabathia and B-Mo. If you have him on your fantasy team you must be laughing at not wasting a top-5 pick on getting similar production.    

Wednesday’s game lowered Morrow’s ERA to 2.90. Impressive considering the scoring change on an error in Tampa led to 6 earned runs, instead of what should have been 1. Opponents are batting a Mendoza like 0.191 against Morrow and his WHIP is 0.99.   

What was most impressive about B-Mo’s outing on Wednesday was his fastball command. Of his 119 pitches, 78 were thrown for strikes and according to Mike Wilner only 10 were breaking ball pitches – TEN!

Where does B-Mo go from here. Well if he continues developing at the rate he has, by this time next year he’ll be cashing out his RRSPs and buying property in Gulf Coast Florida. Until that time, let’s remain hopeful that he stays consistent and healthy and that the young Jays starters – Drabek, Alvarez, and Hutch pick up a few things along the way.

Depatures and Arrivals...rainy day ramblings...

Yunel...

I don't know about you...but every week I am getting a stronger feeling that Escobar will be traded by (if not before) the trade deadline. Now that we know that Hech's paperwork is definitely all sorted out (has been for awhile apparently) we can assume that it's only a matter of time before our current SS is dealt for our future SS wizard. I have no doubt that AA will most likely look for another arm, either a SP or a better arm for the pen with Santos' return date still up in the air orrrr maybe he looks for a bat. There are def. some teams out there in need of an upgrade at SS. AA has been quiet, very quiet. Yes,  I know that some will say that it's early on in the season...but really, it's not. It's June 1st and we're almost a third of the way through the season...the Silent Assassin could strike at any moment...and one thing is for sure, we won't know about the trade until it happens.

Lind...

Has officially been taken off the 40 man roster...anyone surprised? Maybe Lind was....

Vladdy

He's cominnnnnng!!!! With his recent promotion to Las Vegas at looks as though he'll be with the Jays within the next 2 weeks. I'm jacked to see him slap the ball around the concrete convertible!!

Red Sucks..

I strongly hate Boston. I'd like to echo 'Tom Cheeks Touch' by  complaining about Beckett's (and their entire teams for that matter) ridiculous pace in which they play the game. I hate how they and the Yankees are allowed to do this. There actually is a rule that states the following:

8.04
When the bases are unoccupied, the pitcher shall deliver the ball to the batter within 12 seconds after he receives the ball. Each time the pitcher delays the game by violating this rule, the umpire shall call “Ball.” The 12-second timing starts when the pitcher is in possession of the ball and the batter is in the box, alert to the pitcher. The timing stops when the pitcher releases the ball.
The intent of this rule is to avoid unnecessary delays. The umpire shall insist that the catcher return the ball promptly to the pitcher, and that the pitcher take his position on the rubber promptly. Obvious delay by the pitcher should instantly be penalized by the umpire.

I encourage you to time the Red Sucks pitchers this weekend and see if this rule is violated. Bucholtz isn't too bad if my memory serves me correctly, but Beckett is a chronic 8.04 violator. Would love to see us lengthen the gap between us and the last place team in the East, which so happens to be Boston.

Enjoy the weekend.
Let's go Blue Jays!!!!

"THANK YOUUUU!!!!!"