now with $86 million more to spend on middle relievers - your 2011 Toronto Blue Jays!

just to recap:

new 1B: the old DH
new DH: the old 3B
new 3B: the old RF but at least this one has played 3B before
new RF: inert filler
new CF: slightly more cost effective
new C: was just traded - we're now back to the old new catcher
new manager: can only be an improvement
new opening day starter: is now a deranged Canadian infield prospect
new closer: first 500 people in attendance on opening day will get a shot

it has been a weird of season.

also - if anyone cares to continue the debate from the HoF thread about the 10 best all time J's - have at it.

Number one is this guy. Middle name is Bolt and is from my hometown. (Saw him pitch a few times but never faced him -- I was too young.)

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/whitesh01.shtml

any new closer candidate is far and away better than octavio dotel..

hear, hear

He is not any worse than Gregg, is he?

The Jays have never had any luck/skill/karma in signing free agent closers, going back to the days of Bill Caudill laying a giant egg in the 80's. You'd think they'd have learned by now.

Gregg worked out alright, imho.

he wasn't light out or anything - but no one expected that.

discus?

http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/mlb/bluejays/article/930115--griffin-jays-top-10-most-important-trades?bn=1

It's a Richard Griffin column, so don't expect anything approaching intelligence. There can be no discussion about #1, all the other spots are up for grabs IMO.

The Jays haven't made all that many big trades, so most of these deals would make the top 10 because there aren't a lot of other choices. It's also hard to compare the "importance" of salary dump trades like the ones for Wells and Randy Myers with trades for actual players who are expected to make an impact.

Haven't read the text, but one omission that jumps out at me was getting Cone in '92. Not a lot of long-term value there--he went 4-3 down the stretch (pitched much better than that) and started four games in the post-season, but surely getting that first WS win was much more important than Eric Hinske's tenure in Toronto. The Jays had a great team in '92, and maybe they would have won without Cone, but I remember how psychologically important it was when management went out and got him that summer.

Here's the complicating factor, of course: they gave up Jeff Kent in the deal. With Alomar already in place, would Jeff Kent have gone on and had the career that he did if that trade hadn't been made? I don't know--but I'm guessing if he wasn't part of the Cone deal, he was going to be shipped out in some other trade.

A little more context for something that seems absurd on the face of it--that 12 games of David Cone was worth Jeff Kent's HOF career.

For anyone who remembers that time well, the Jays had a reputation as post-season washouts by '92: blew the '85 ALCS, folded up in '87 before even getting to the playoffs, exited playoff series quietly in '89 and '91. The biggest step in getting past some sort of psychological barrier that had started develop was obviously the Alomar trade a couple of years earlier; the final step, for me, was the Cone trade. I remember clearly how stunning that trade was at the time; it was like, "Whoa--they really want to win this." I can't point to any numbers that prove they wouldn't have gone on to win in '92 without Cone, but intuitively I suspect that season would have ended in another playoff loss to Oakland. And if they don't win in '92, maybe they don't win in '93 either.

Because of Alomar, Kent's days in Toronto were numbered one way or another. And even there, he still had to pass through two more teams before he really found his way. Linking Kent's time in San Francisco to the player Toronto traded away five years earlier is as tenuous as linking the fall of the Soviet empire to money spent on Sputnik...Not that anybody'd actually be dumb enough to make the Sputnik connection.

You're right about the Cone trade -- the list is supposed to be the "most important trades", not the "most lopsided trades that came out in the Jays' favour". The Cone trade was huge, as was the Rickey Henderson trade the next year (although Rickey didn't play well so it doesn't belong on a list like this ... amazing to think that they Jays used to be the team with the highest payroll in MLB and were renting big stars to win championships).

In all my years of watching baseball, I think the single biggest mystery to me is what happened to Rickey Henderson on that flight into Toronto in '93. You can draw a line right through his career before and after the trade, and it's just not the same player. His numbers in Oakland for the first 90 games of '93: .327/.469/.553; the rest of the way, .215/.356/.319. And while he hung around for another decade, he was a different player--still effective at scoring runs, but not Rickey Henderson.

I know he was 34 when he came over to the Jays, and decline at that age shouldn't be surprising. But it's amazing how sudden it was, and how perfectly the decline phase of his career lines up with the exact moment of that trade.

Oh--and I still love how after the Henderson trade, WAMCO (White-Alomar-Molitor-Carter-Olerud) became HAMCO!

Geez, just realized: now that Alomar's in the HOF, how many teams ever had Hall of Famers filling the first three spots in the order? It's probably not as uncommon as you might think--there must have been at least two or three Yankee teams, the Dodgers from the '50s, Reds from the '70s, etc.

Maybe it is as uncommon as you'd guess. I'm only going by the lineups for the opening WS games, but the '27 Yankees (Koenig), '36 Yankees (Crosetti), and '53 Dodgers (Gilliam) all had non-HOF'ers batting either first or second. The '75 Reds led with four: Rose, Morgan, Bench, Perez (even though Rose, Griffey, Morgan, Bench, Perez might have made more sense). I guess this needs a separate thread, but can anybody think of any other teams with HOF players batting 1-2-3?

Happy 43rd to Roberto Alomar. Insert Jamie Moyer and Omar Vizquel jokes here.

The '95 Indians would usually lead off with Lofton-Vizquel-Baerga -- two possible HOFers (YMMV) and a guy who was considered by many to be as good as Alomar in the mid-90's. Then they'd send some combination of Belle-Murray-Winfield-Manny-Thome, in total, a lineup with six or seven HOF-calibre players. I'm not sure we'll ever see the likes of it again.

a lineup that had three eventual 500 HR hitters (one of them almost definitely 600+, another one possibly so), another guy with 465, and a fifth w/381.

so i guess we know now what the J's planned on doing with the money they saved on Wells.

i'm hoping the $65MM over 5 years isn't true. this could be bad.

dude had a career .72something OPS before this past season..

wow. i think i read some where that bautista has a 5.9 career WAR, 5.6 of which comes from last year. he'll totally repeat, right?

jparencibia9 jp arencibia
Cant believe I haven't shared with my twit fam my special bed for spring training.....
15 Feb Favorite Retweet Reply

jparencibia9 jp arencibia
That thing even looks fast! Watch out!! http://yfrog.com/gzugmnnj
15 Feb Favorite Retweet Reply

now with $21 million more to spend on middle relievers - your 2011 Toronto Blue Jays!

now with $86 million more to spend on Bautistas - your 2011 Toronto Blue Jays!

Man walks into nine-foot metal spike, the spike ends up lodged in his brain for six or seven years. He finally manages to remove the spike. Next day, he walks into nine-foot metal spike all over again. But, as they say, such are the realities of the marketplace.

at least this one's like half the size

I'm trying to stay positive about this. If he hits 35 HR/110 RBI with a 900 OPS this year, then it would have taken Jason Werth money to sign him past 2012, so maybe the Jays know something we don't. I hope.

xpost: True...Jose Bautista: the Jays' new four-and-a-half foot metal spike. (I'm being silly--like No Time, I really do wish him well. I'm not confident at all, though, that the contract will yield 125+ home runs, much less the 175+ that would be the floor for justifying the amount.)

i don't foresee an obs above 900. i think mid 800s, if i was a betting man. which isn't terrible, but a bit of an overpay.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/jose-bautista-cashes-in/

there are some ludicrous statements in here but maybe it will make you feel better!

aside from the bit about Casey McGehee - seems fair enough.

If he can be a 30+ HR guy it might not be a bad deal.. Power is hard to come by and it seems that in the 'post roid era' or wtf you want to call it thumping 3Bs are less common than they used to be.

The idea of Bautista being "a fan favorite" and "the new face of the franchise" is super weird to me. But he did have a great year.

so apparently Brett Lawrie is being moved to 3B! and is hitting (with token small sample size acknowledgement) up a storm in spring training. hopefully he works out at the hot corner and we'll see him in the bigs part way into 2011 - Bautista can move back to the OF and Juan Rivera can sit down!

He looked really good when I saw him on tv on sunday, i'm pretty excited about him. Apparently his defense has been looking great this spring as well

i just read this piece about Lawrie which throws some water on his performance so far :s

It sounds like he is expecting him to bust, which is possible, but I'm going to trust the majority on this one that he's closer to a top-50 prospect than 101-125

So Rajai Davis is hitting the ball pretty hard in spring. Clearly this is a mirage?

I could see him developing more gap power but he's never gonna be a slugger.

agreed. i think the best way for this guy to improve would be to just get on base/walk more.

jp leading the majors woo

Thermo, did you go to the opener this year?

I missed this, just heard the report. Here's something weird: I saw Wire last night, and at one point Graham Lewis said, "You'd think you'd won the Series already" (one of about three instances of patter all night). I now have to search all my Wire albums for hidden baseball references.

http://cdn3.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/999143/209068_twins_blue_jays_baseball.jpg
http://cdn3.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/999143/209068_twins_blue_jays_baseball.jpg
http://cdn3.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/999143/209068_twins_blue_jays_baseball.jpg

i couldn't get tickets! i'm going to sunday's game instead.

watched the game at a friend's place and wow. what an opener.

xpost hah ah ahahaha

btw, this play:
http://cdn0.sbnation.com/photo_images/2333281/209062_Twins__Blue_Jays_Baseball.jpg

i was pretty trashed last night and forgot about that play until i saw the pic this morning!

and one more thing: WHY WAS ENCARNACION PLAYING THIRD?!

The video of Arencibia finishing the interview looking like that is comedy gold

must find!

i guess kyle drabek has arrived

prediction: Jayson Nix will hit 54 home runs this year.

drabek looked great today

I know it's only opening weekend, but it's hard to not be excited that Bautista has hit two homers already. 4 Real?

kinda feeling bautista's "realness" less for the HRs from last season and more from the fact that he drew 100 walks, plus the number of 50 HR guys who were not for real out of the previous 25 who accomplished that feat is basically 1 (arguments for l-gone, g-fost, andruw, and maris could be made, i guess, but brady's the only dude whose power didn't exist before and pretty much evaporated immediately after.)

oh i don't think anyone denies the "realness", dude is unnaturally good at laying off of outside pitches from what i've seen, it's just more likely that his swing change turned him into a 30-35HR guy who immediately had a fluke great season, than that his swing change turned him into a 40+ HR guy

Yeah, I'm not saying that he's Brady Anderson and will go back to being a 15 HR guy, but there's this weird intermediate area where you have players like Derrek Lee, who have big seasons once in a while and look like they're breaking out into a 35-40 HR zone, but end up hitting 20-25 most years.

i think derrek lee maybe would have broken out in that way but the wrist injury sapped his power. i figure w/him at this point it's just age catching up after his comeback season in '09.

YUNEL!

AL East Standings

Baltimore 4-0
Toronto 3-1
NY 3-2
Tampa Bay 0-4
Boston 0-4

Gotta love week 1 baseball

IF the playoffs started today: Orioles, Rangers, Royals, Blue Jays

what a wonderful world it would be

that would be amazing.

http://i.imgur.com/xf9hb.png

needs explanation

so i was asleep by the time it happened last night - but the consensus online seems to be that the runner interference call that stole the win from the J's was pretty terrible.

SMDH

David Purcey DFA'd. Someone had to take the bullet for last night

that's too bad.

last night was awesome.

... and the flip side of making a comeback vs Rivera = getting beat by Bartolo Colon

ya, wtf.
it's bizarre-o baseball world, Rivera blowing and Bartolo glowing!

mcdonald again!

almost back to .500!!

I think maybe Bautista is legit

i was at the game today and was saying the same thing.
the rays have yet to get him out this series!

Chris Woodward was still w/ the Jays!

Did you guys know that Richard Griffin invented the idea of the second wild card on Oct 27, 2010? Is there no end to his talents?

http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/mlb/bluejays/article/985845--griffin-jays-are-no-playoff-shoo-in-with-second-wild-card?bn=1

ha ha. it's like he knew we were talking about him.

so they've had Zaun doing the radio broadcasts. i first heard him a few days ago and he was brutal. alot of pauses and he sounded nervous.
today is better tho - he's actually made me laugh twice. not sold on his analysis chops yet tho.

bautista not missing a beat

when Zaun talks he sounds sort of like Bill Murray from Caddyshack.

Holy cow.

This Bautista kid is pretty good.

words really fail at this point.

And isn't Target Field supposed to be one of the toughest fields for hitting HRs? He hit a couple there last year too.

they were saying during the broadcast his numbers there have been reddic.

the man likes a challenge.

It came up during the broadcast how connected the Jays are to 4-HR guys: Delgado, Green and Whiten with other teams, today almost Bautista (almost insofar as he got one more AB).

Whiten is a name i haven't heard in a while!

He's always paired in my mind with Glenallen Hill--didn't they come up at the same time? Whiten was the one who wasn't afraid of spiders.

whiten hit some epic homers

bautista is pretty good for an ex-pirate

feel bad they blew jojos 1st win in like 2 yrs

i know; what a shitty thing to do.
somebody owes him a coke.

JOSER

guy thrives on the wkends

i will be watching history unfold in person tonight, as Jo-Jo will be "trying" for longest running non-winner in MLB history!!!

good luck?

run support!

standing O!

what a hilarious game.

man. poor Kyle Drabek, Jo-Jo Reyes and Brandon Morrow.

Ashby just suggested that based on the Pythagorean Expectation that the Jays should be 41-40 rather than 40-41. My estimation of him has risen dramatically

O_o

although - they've probably memorized alot of ways to explain how the team is doing better than we think.

Loved watching Halladay take the lineup today as the stadium went crazy. I think he was smiling more than for the no-hitters.

can't wait to see him tomorrow. splurged on some fancy-pants seats too!

Just got a last-minute ticket...I had to take a single one row behind and a few seats over from friends. Will there be more than a couple of hundred people rooting for the team with the .500 record?

it will be a fine thing to see him pitch again. and seeing him lose 10-1 will still be fine.

If the calendar said sometime between 1983-1993, I'd be with you 100%. A Jays win these days means nothing--although 10-1 would definitely play well in Ashby's Pythagorean fantasyland.

(That's frustration with an organization that's been lost since '94 speaking.)

well they've been playing in a and abouts .500 ball for the last few seasons now. it's not like they're the Nationals here!

two things:
A) this fucking bullpen
B) BAUTISTA!

fucking love this guy

I'm now firmly on the fence as to whether he's for real or not. I'm half-kidding, of course, but only half...He's something more than a one-year phenomenon by now, but still not quite a two-year phenomenon. I don't know that I've ever seen anything like him in terms of reinventing yourself past the age of 30. Luis Gonzalez, sort of, but there may have been an explanation there.

i think lots of one-year phenoms can be explained away by luck but bautista isn't lucky. slightly more than a 1 1/2 seasons of this, too; he started raking like this in the fall of '09.

y. overall this can't be a fluke. maybe hitting .330 is, but even if that comes back down he's still going to be a phenomenal hitter without the reddic BA.

a good start to the 2nd half!

missed the end but they were showing this where I got dinner and Colon got rung UP

(good except the thing with Bautista)

unf i missed that inning :(

they batted around iirc!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e3f4sWNFh4&feature=player_embedded#at=97

That's the first time I watched that! I do remember watching the first baseball game at Skydome though (which took place the next day IIRC).

ha ha omg!

Notes from yesterday's 7-1 win over the Yanks:

Frasor made his 452nd appearance for Toronto, tying Duane Ward for first on the franchise’s career games list.

!!!

huh. i had no idea. doesn't really seem like Frasor has been around that long.
it's funny that he's been around long enough to do that, yet the average fan probably barely knows who he is!

also, not bad for someone taken in the 33rd round!

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/6783914/toronto-blue-jays-retire-roberto-alomar-no-12

i wonder where they'll hang his jersey in our hideous stadium...

Roberto talking about his HOF speech on TSN: "It's gonna be half Spanish, half English, and maybe a little bit of French." Yogi Berra approves.

ha!

Davis had Seattle so discombobulated tonight. It was like watching Rickey Henderson.

which certainly says more about the mariners than it does rajai davis

I don't follow the Mariners--I barely follow the Blue Jays these days--but he is tied for the league lead.

oh nice! when i left the house, they were down! :D

I love this!

http://mopupduty.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/roberto_alomar_bobblehead_giveaway.jpeg

A friend and his fiancee will be there on Sunday; I was trying to explain to him why they didn't need two of these, but apparently they do. I guess the other prototype for the bobblehead didn't go over so well:

http://cdn0.sbnation.com/legacy_images/camdenchat/images/admin/40_ralomar.jpg

Dave Stieb turned 53 yesterday. As tribute, I glared at seven randomly selected people over the course of the day.

HBDS!! As a tribute I think I'll juggle and play catch with 27 eggs, dropping only the last one.

To Toronto:
Colby Rasmus (From St. Louis)
Mark Teahen (From Chicago)
To St. Louis:
Edwin Jackson (From Chicago)
Marc Rzepczynski (From Toronto)
Octavio Dotel (From Toronto)
To Chicago:
Jason Frasor (From Toronto)
Zach Stewart (From Toronto)

I like it.

I've never been sure what to think of Rasmus, but I'm definitely not pumped on Teahen and his contract. I guess he's a good lefty bat off the bench, cuz he sure sucks at 3B

Also, Arrieta is lucky the fans didn't storm the field and tear him apart after he brained Joey

all 500 of them

AA seems to be doing really well. I feel like unloading Wells and singing the greatest hitter in baseball to an affordable contract was great but trades like these are pretty heads-up and should allow them to compete for the next few years in a tough, tough division. Kinda feel like the Jays would smoke the AL Central if they re-aligned the divisions.

there was at least one season recently (2008?) when the jays were the 4th best team in the AL after BOS/NYY/TBR

anthopolous is a fucking beast of a GM

Love this trade!

there was at least one season recently (2008?) when the jays were the 4th best team in the AL after BOS/NYY/TBR
Yep, that was 2009 I think. Infuriating for a Jays fan to watch lesser teams get into the playoffs.

I spoke too soon on the details of this deal. We're getting Tallet back? Good long man, fantastic chops

i don't think Tallet has been good at much lately.

i'm not sure about trading off Stewart either. he was starting to get some dec attention as a prospect.

otoh - Colby?!

Kinda feel like the Jays would smoke the AL Central if they re-aligned the divisions.

63-48 since '08.

The fact that we're not in a division with Detroit (like 3 hour drive away) doesn't make sense

colby broke out today

Yeah, I miss the Detroit-Toronto rivalry.

I was there for Alomar's big day today. Loved seeing all the old guys: Cito, Ward, Devo, Gruber, and Maldonado, with lots more on video. (I was of course worried that Gruber might come down with an injury up on the podium.) They fudged the truth a bit--Robbie was continually referred to as the greatest second baseman ever, rather than of his generation (arguable but defensible)--but today, that was fine. And, of course, I got my bobblehead.

If anyone's interested, here's the 10-minute film they played before Alomar's jersey-retirement on Sunday:

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=17562137&topic_id=21757352&c_id=tor&tcid=vpp_copy_17562137&v=3

Half game out of third place!

if mlb actually ads another wildcard next year, the jays are almost a lock

OH MY GOD

oh jesus - i read that as they ~were~ addig another wild card.
so very tired.
must now un-lose my shit.

there is a really good chance that they will!

asshole! stop toying with me!

The Jays would have made the playoffs as the fifth seed only once, in 1998 (Tim Johnson RIP in the jungles of Nam). But they were within three or four games of the fifth seed a few other times (including '06, '08, and '10).

The horror...the horror.

lawrie called up.. hes on my fantasy team but I dont know how excited I can be about someone crushing it in the pcl..

hr!

0e!

so i totally forgot to share this when i uploaded it. Bautista's HR off Halladay from a few weeks ago:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6010/5952605433_977b3dcc9f.jpg
Bautista hits number 26 ver2 by dysign, on Flickr

a bit bigger:
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6010/5952605433_977b3dcc9f_b.jpg

Nice picture!

thanks! i timed it pretty well!

good story on the jays potentially stealing signs

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/6837424/baseball-toronto-blue-jays-suspicion-again-stealing-signs-rogers-centre

just came here to post that--really interesting imo.

yeah, i definitely remember ppl last year being all "the blue jays are hitting a crazy amount of homers! what's the deal??" so maybe that's why

Love: stories about teams stealing signs, especially when it's the Blue Jays (which seems to happen every year), every comment by Alex
Hate: players who get butthurt about sign stealing

that graph isnt very convincing.. especially the huge dip down in the middle.. were still in small sample size territory (I think)

Hate: players who get butthurt about sign stealing

― NoTimeBeforeTime, Wednesday, August 10, 2011 3:18 PM (38 minutes ago) Bookmark

even when it's being done via some kind of relay to a plant in the stands??

ian_mendes
AA: "I have a lot of respect for ESPN, but this is one instance when they're wrong. They haven't done their homework."

ian_mendes Ian Mendes
AA: "Every one of our games is broadcast. Go back and look at the tapes and try and find the man in the white suit. Do a little work."

ian_mendes Ian Mendes
AA - "This whole thing is stupid. It's unbelievable that we're sitting here. There is zero truth to this."

well, the piece makes it clear multiple times that it's only circumstantial evidence. but there does seem to be some sort of paranoia amongst teams in the AL east, and combined with that confirmed anecdote about bautista being screamed at by a bullpen, makes it at least worth reporting on

You'd think an ex-player would come out at this point?

The article definitely is convincing as you're reading it, but yeah I think we need to find some footage of this guy if it exists. Also it kinda leaves out the Jays pitchers HR rates home and away which is pretty important to this whole thing. Making a big deal over a .4% difference in HR rates is ridiculous and the article seems prett biased.

for example, the Yankees home/road splits are even wider than the Jays, but whatever

http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/article/stealing_signs_in_toronto/

Tom Tango chimes in - basically saying that 2011 is showing Rogers to be a hitters ballpark and that the Jays actually have less HFA than league average, and while 2010 looks as though they had a big advantage, it's within one standard deviation and is likely not anything.

I'm surprised no one has accused the Brewers of sign stealing (besides Tony LaRussa), because they're 41-15 at home and 25-35 on the road. That makes the supposed evidence for the Jays look a lot shakier doesn't it?

Grand slam Lawrie, Jays go ahead and eventually win. Didn't see it, but I'm making final arrangements to climb aboard the bandwagon.

i was listening - wish i coulda seen it.

http://media.thestar.topscms.com/images/d3/35/c03efc12461cbb32fe4e299848ef.jpeg

thinking more about sign stealing, the fact that there may or may not be a noticeable bump in home runs or runs doesn't mean that the jays aren't stealing signs. people in baseball pass on cheating traditions that may not work i.e. corking bats or using PEDs

"One stood in the batter's box while another stood on the mound. From the batter's box, it was clear the man in white had been perfectly positioned just above the pitcher's head so that the batter would not need to move his own head, or even alter his gaze, in order to see his signal."

This made me rmde. Pitchers' heights, postures, stances, positions on the rubber vary wildly. This guy in white would need to be able to move up and down several rows and up and over several banks of seats if true.

http://www.sportslogos.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/jays-2010-whitesox1.jpg

http://stealofhome.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/maninwhite11.jpg

how did it come out that it was the white sox?

http://stealofhome.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/maninwhite2.jpg

bloggers be blogvestigating:
http://stealofhome.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/blue-jays-caught-stealing-signs-but-by-whom/

so do they have footage of what those guys are actually DOING?

seems it wouldn't be hard to actually prove this if it's true.

well - there's some guys wearing white, alright. case closed. *que Law & Order "guh-gunk"*

xposts

it would be v. sad if it turned out to be some fan trying (and failing) to get the wave started...

lol

Bobby (LA): Kevin, should the Jays trade Arencibia in the off-season because D'Arnaud looks close to being major league ready?

Jason Parks: I agree with that, although catching prospects are fickle creatures, and just when you think you have an abundance of depth at the position, you find yourself trading for a Molina brother

OTM also i'm not exactly sure why ppl haven't talked about just moving arencibia to first -- his bat wouldn't totally play there but it's not like the jays will have trouble scoring runs

or DH

escobar
rasmus
bautista
lind
lawrie
d'arnaud
arencibia
snider
hill

or some shit idk, that line up would be ridiculous, & that's not even taking into account that they have a bunch of money to play with

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/2011/08/12/mendes_bracketology_b_sides/

Missed this when it happened:

1. Tony Batista needlessly runs to the outfield wall

In 1999, Batista barely beat out an infield single in a home game against the Orioles. But instead of stopping just after first base, Batista inexplicably ran all the way to the outfield wall in right field, some 328 feet away. He then casually walked all the way back to first base. Thankfully, baseball games are in dire need of pointless breaks like this so nobody was too critical of his bizarre behaviour.

good to see Wells getting the standing O today. (until the HR at least)

jays' color guy after lind's slam: 'it's almost like he knew what was coming' lol

lol

John McDonald led off the bottom of the with a single in the bottom of the 8th, with one run down.
He was then sacrifice bunted to 2nd. I thought I'd look at fangraphs to see what they thought of this.
http://i.imgur.com/R4lct.png
The win probablity went down 4.3%! Why does this strategy always seem to be universally praised?
>:( I hate this shit, especially when Rajai Davis is on deck - not a real gidp candidate.

never mind about that rajai part, that didn't make sense

fuck, i really wish i could delete a post and re-do it. there were no outs when mcdonald singled, and it was the bottom of the *8th

AA is holding a press conference at 3:30. No idea what it is but Im sure the bloggers will be super pumped about it!

ah hah. here it is - The Diamondbacks have traded 2b Kelly Johnson to Toronto for 2b Aaron Hill and SS John McDonald.

interesting -- i figured they had claimed wandy

p interesting trade -- sorta comes off as "let's flip two underperforming but talented players & see if their fortunes change" -- i think kelly johnson is pretty awesome

do not like.

guess AZ really needed a SS too

idk aaron hill has been dreadful for two straight years and even his really good years haven't been great

Kelly Johnson has a .209/.287/.412 line this year.

Aaron Hill's line is even worse.

Hill's contract is the largest, and longest (although I think the Dbacks can opt out after this season).

hill has actively hurt the team since his 'breakout' 09 season though. i dunno if he just fluked his way into the 30+ HR and then started swinging for the fences to try to do it again, or what.

I won't miss "Johnny Mac." He's loved in Toronto like it's 1973--grit, hustle, selflessness, etc. Not that such qualities aren't desirable in a player, but when they come packaged with some of the most hideous OBPs imaginable year after year, you kind of pine for a selfish player who can get on base.

it looks like hill has had massive babip issues for the past few seasons but he also can't take a walk to save his life and his defense isn't any great shakes

if KJ's babip normalizes he should be pretty good for a 2B next year

you kind of pine for a selfish player who can get on base.

― clemenza, Tuesday, August 23, 2011 3:11 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

they've had yunel for a full year now!

Yunel's been a model citizen here...so far.

I'm hoping my own babip starts to normalize at some point--it's starting to make me very self-conscious when I'm out in public.

i <3 Johnny mac. f u!

Hey, that's okay. Normally I'd be the guy defending him, so I'm grateful for any old-fashioned sentiments that show up on ILB.

havent been crazy obsessive about baseball for very long but this sort of trade one major leaguer for 2 others seems pretty rare these days.. especially since nobody involved in a reliever.

i understand why anyone would look on paper and go - "this guy sucks." he def should not be an everyday guy. but i always liked watching him play. like a lot.

lol for the past hour i've been trying to figure out why they call aaron hill "johnny mac", i think i have it figured out now.

ha ha ha!

i will bet you guys a crisp, new Canadian $5 bill that Johnny Mac comes back in 2012.

I will not take that bet.

"a crisp, new Canadian $5 bill" = $5.06 American at today's market close. Just something to think about when weighing the Johnny Mac bet.

http://forgifs.com/gallery/d/188953-1/Bounce_with_me.gif

wtf...

anyways. the last few days have been painful.

18 years of this, mostly at arm's length: every time I want in, they push me back out again.

Scoring Summary
Bot 11th: Toronto
- B. Lawrie homered to deep left center

beautifule

the guy is just amazing so far.

like inhuman.

not human.

Just looked up my grade 3 journal specifically to get this:

http://soupofturtles.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/rob.png

Monday/30 - never forget

Speaking as a grade-school teacher, love it!

(Your teacher was kind of short-changing you on the commentary--I respond with at least three or four sentences for my grade 6s.)

xxpost: It'll be the 15th anniversary in a few weeks!

How many times have the Jays been blown out by the Red Sox this year??

best not tho think about it.

last night's game was interesting for the first half at least.

I'm glad Wakefield ended his tortuous quest for 200--hopefully he will now go quietly into the night.

i just wanted to point this out: in 458 PAs, batting usually around 7th or 8th, JPA has accumulated 78 RBIs - while batting only .222 (but SLG .453).
is it just me or is that a really impressive amount of RBIs when you consider everything else?

what're the OBPs of the guys hitting 5th/6th?

revolving door - but Encarnacion was one of the main ones, to give you an idea.

Has the Jay's decision to go back to a similar version to their original blue jay + maple leaf logo been discussed?

http://l.yimg.com/a/p/sp/editorial_image/bd/bd5023267a32f9f84aeb4ee6fef89f40/another_logo_leak_blue_jays_new_design_looks_familiar_and_sweet.jpg

i'm still taking in the news. mixed emotions here.

like the darker blue and more detailed brow - but the leaf is way too big.

is this just an alternate tho? they haven't even had the current so-so one for all that long.

Didnt read up on all the details, just basically saw the image and heard about a change. I kinda hate the new-ish versions so Im down with this..

Now we just need to change the brewers back..

YES!

AND THEN HAVE THEM SQUARE OFF INT HE WORLD SERIES.

They might have spoiled the Angels' playoff chances yesterday. Today they might have done the same to the Rays. Nice.

I don't know...we used to win World Series. I know that a couple of games above .500 is better than 10 or 20 under, but they've been on this treadmill for almost 20 years now.

while treading water for the last 10 years isn't exactly a reason to throw a party, i'm glad that for the last decade i've had a ball club in town that the odds are beter i'll see them win rather than lose if i go see them play. even under Riccardi we had a quality team that was competitive in the toughest league in baseball. what i'm saying is at least we're not the Pirates or Royals!

I know what you mean, but--and I'm not trying to be jaded, or pull an I-was-there-when--I just can't get the least bit excited by this never-ending string of okay teams, or feel anything if they happen to knock a couple of teams out of contention. If I were in Pittsburgh or Kansas City, I don't think my interest level would be any different.

"even under Riccardi"

MONEYBALL!

Who's comparing this to winning the WS? It's fun to see them winning games and playing the spoiler for other teams. That's all.

Why did the Blue Jay get a nose job?

Beak job rather.

New logo is sharp IMO.

the leaf is a bit on the large side.

Honestly: the only time I can ever imagine enjoying being a spoiler would be if you were knocking a hated rival out of the playoffs, like the Dodgers did to the Giants that one season about ten years ago (beat them 11-0 or something). I would have enjoyed knocking the A's out of the playoffs during the LaRussa years; I hated the A's then. But knocking out Tampa Bay? I really admire what they've done the past few seasons, and I'd much rather see them in the playoffs than the Red Sox.

me too, i hope you guys lose!

well on our way!

recent Blue Jays departures that will be in the playoffs:
Lyle Overbay
Aaron Hill
Johnny Mac
Shaun Marcum
Roy Halladay
Octavio Dotel
Marc Rzepczynski
Corey Patterson
Mike Napoli

Which guy is not like the others?

Two guys who drove me crazy, Overbay and McDonald, which goes to show you never can tell. I think.

or it shows that you can still make the playoffs if you kinda suck

Mike Napoli was on the team for about half an hour

and it was amazing.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/2011/09/30/mendes_jays/

Written by an old friend (we grew up together in elementary school). He's part of why I was such a massive Expos fan, and I remember him being bummed about the Carter trade.

mike napoli was 8th in WAR among AL players this year (in 113 games!)

Behold!

http://www.nesn.com/2011/11/new-toronto-blue-jays-logo-released-photo.html

i'm so happy that all these teams are going back to the old logos

the leaf is WAY too big - but overall i'm pretty happy about this.

Does this mean that BJ Birdy will be back next season? And the ORIGINAL Blue Jays theme song, not the shitty 90's remix??

I want Fergie back--I think I was his only fan.

wish they'd used the TO font for BLUE JAYS as well -- the whole white-line-in-the-middle thing is way too NASL

do not know what nasl is, but disagree.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dIkeIzr_jl8/TsaJGMNICnI/AAAAAAAAAI4/98SHOQSq8iw/s1600/bluejaysnotes.jpg

literally every single point off the money

yet still better than the previous one

No new Jays thread, so I'll post this here--just speculatin' about a hypothesis (skip to bottom).

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/20509/joey-vottos-future-early-speculation

i had never seen that logo-flaw graphic before.
what a pile of horseshit. only maybe a couple of points are valid and some are completely idiotic.

where did that come from?!