Good news: we have a great new closer. Bad news: he wasn't good enough to play shortstop for us. 2012 Blue Jays thread

everyone else is starting the 2012 team threads today, so why not join in.

I would like to go into September playing games that mean something. I dimly remember that that was fun.

2014, my friend. 2014.
maybe 2015.

i think the two most important things i'd like to see this year is for Lawrie to keep hitting like he did in 2011 and for Rasmus to hit like, well... better.

maybe a rebound from at least one of Snider and/or Drabek (esp Drabek). Snider is probably on his last legs with this franchise if he can't turn things around. if Thames builds on his season last year, Travis is def in some serious trouble.

Yeah, Lawrie's the big attraction this year. Is he still eligible for ROY? Anyway, I thought the extra wild-card spots go into effect this year. If you can have both wild-cards from the same division, surely the Jays could conceivably contend. But maybe they have to come from different divisions. And maybe it doesn't happen this year. Maybe I need to read up on all this.

The BP podcast guys were drooling all over the Jays' system a couple weeks ago... "8 million teenage pitchers with high ceilings," Travis d’Arnaud is the best catching prospect there is, etc.

Klaw is all over them too.
it's amazing what i'm reading about their system - considering it was in the dregs three years ago.

Lawrie no longer eligible for ROY btw

can't believe how fast home opener tickets sold out! going to have to dish out for some on a reseller or somesuch.

$45 to sit in the 500's? nevermind.

i can still get tickets in Clevelend for the season opener tho!
not sure i really want to go back to that town ever again tho.

What happened to you in Cleveland?

nothing awful.

city's just kind of run down and there's mot much at all to do. i had a hard time buying beer too, as no one there apparently knew what a passport was.

(apologies if you're form there or anything)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s983TpLdTdU&feature=player_embedded#!

The new wild card spot has our name all over it.

we still need to pull ahead of one of the yankees, bosox or rays to do it tho.

We let them beat up on each other while we sneak in through the back door. (What's that you say? Oh--we have to play them too? Never mind.)

I read today that Farrell plans to bat Lawrie seventh, to keep the pressure off. When he was brought up last year, sure, that made sense. But can't you at least start him off at fifth and see how he does, with an eye towards moving him up to third? Were not in New York here; I'm not sure how much pressure has been involved playing with the Jays for the past 10-15 years.

also he is killing it in spring training, for whatever that's worth

I see what you mean (Bautista, too). And to state the obvious, they've got to get the most out of Lawrie from a marketing standpoint.

Snider's been killing it too.

team canada 2, blue jays 0 after one inning, after bc's own scott richmond yields two doubles and a single

Has Paul Henderson done anything?

i think he's done enough already

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIMra-7MsgM

Vizquel on board

http://espn.go.com/mlb/spring2012/story/_/id/7748625/spring-training-2012-44-year-old-omar-vizquel-added-toronto-blue-jays-roster

bless

Only two teams in the past 20 years played as well as the Jays have this preseason, and both went on to have great years:

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/22220/do-spring-training-records-mean-anything

I've been wondering if there's a point where a truly dominant preseason might portend good things ahead. I was extrapolating from an old Abstract piece the year after the Tigers started 35-5; I remember James wrote that by the time they got to 7-0 or 8-0, the mathematical chance that is was a fluky start was extremely small. On the other hand, I know--spring training.

brett cecil sent down

thanks to prince fielder's dad, every time i encounter that name i have to stop and think about how it's pronounced

I used to have the opposite problem with Prince Fielder's dad, thanks to many years of Cecil Cooper.

wtf? McGowan out - who in? Drabek and...

so the rotation shall go thusly: Romero, Morrow, Joel Carreno, Henderson Alvarez and Kyle Drabek.

Jeoy Bats getting a head start on the HR title!

*Joey

on pace for 350 homers

wow, heading to the 15th inning on opening day ... pretty sure this is the longest opening day game in Jays history.

loved the insertion of vizquel as fifth infielder and the resulting double play in the 12th

rajai davis needs to run tho

how's that larussa free colby looking

just as well arencibia can't bunt, i guess

Good thing Farrell held off on using Santos until the 16th. Whenever you can trot out less than your best relievers in a marathon tie game on the road and have the option of sitting your best reliever for the save situation that might come about, you have to do it.

might *never* come about, that is

hadda loosen up the whole pen

oh well - it's not like the rest of the pen are scrubs.
honestly, i trust Santos about as much as Jansen and Cordero (not saying i don't see your point tho)

omg. END!

thank you.

This is quite the memorable start to the season.

I don't foresee following this myself, but a Jays blog has been added to ESPN's Sweet Spot: http://mopupduty.com/.

santos filling up the BS column

Everyone now agrees that losers are the most overrated commodity in the game.

Unless you don't have one.

"closers"!

lol excellent typo

always be (c)losing

Santos wanted leads--everything was always leads, leads, leads with him. So we gave him leads. Couldn't close.

http://30fps.mocksession.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/2012-April-9-20-22-46.jpg

where will they be when travis d'arnaud arrives

(i shouldn't complain; those are my initials)

> Grady's Ladies

Sounding the Joey McLaughlin alarm.

Drew Hutchinson getting the call tomorrow! he's 21 and only thrown... 6 games in AA!! (to the tune of a .171 era tho)

I've been waiting since 1970 to see a triple play--call me Walter Matthau, not that I'd be watching a Friday night game these days anyway. Trivia question guaranteed to confuse any Jays fan: prior to last night, who hit into the last triple play the Jays turned? (Damaso Garcia, 1979, when he was still a Yankee.)

from the comments in tonight's yahoo game preview: "Canada will turn another triple play."

will be listening intently to this one - hoping all goes well for Hutch!

this is not good.

I may injure myself at some point jumping on and off this bandwagon.

that was pretty uncharacteristic of hutchison -- he only gave up four homers all last year and walked 2.1/nine innings.

he's known for being very calm and in control, but yeah he could probably use more than six starts above single a.

wait brett lawrie stole home?

yes. and JPA stole 2nd!

When was the last time we were in 1st place after 16 games?

Gotta keep this up against teams other than the Royals though.

like the O's?

iirc they J's had an epic start to the season 3 or 4 years ago. so i don't think it's been that long!

I haven't decided yet how much I'm willing to pay for Series tickets. I guess there's still time.

weren't the jays in 1st place into June a couple years ago?

Maybe. All I know is we're 10-6, and I'm pretty sure that's the best start in major league history.

today in 2009, they were 13-5!

No way...science fiction!

Seriously, though, the fact that they were able to sweep KC seems significant to me. I want to check this when I get some time, but instinct tells me that one major problem with the Jays in recent years is how they didn't take advantage of the worst teams in the league--they didn't seem to roll over those teams like they should have. (By which I mean something on the order of .600-.650.) Maybe I'm wrong--like I say, I want to check that out.

i've noticed that in the past too! they'd take a series against Boston and then NY and proceed to roll over for some crummy, sub-500 team.

Hmmm yeah I somehow forgot that we were in first until late May in 2009.

http://www.fangraphs.com/not/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/colby-Jonathan-Ferrey-getty-yahoo.jpg

yo adrian

Why it's a good idea to check these things...

It's hard to know where to set the parameters, but I quickly looked at how the last five Jays teams to play .500 or better fared against the teams in those leagues (A.L. only) that were under .450. The years were 2011, 2010, 2008, 2007, and 2006.

Jays overall for those five seasons: 422-388 (.521)
Overall record of the 19 AL teams that were under .450 for those five seasons: 1131-1622 (.411)

Jays against the rest of the league for those five seasons: 301-309 (.493)
The under-.450 teams against the rest of the league for those five seasons: 1010-1543 (.396)

If you go to this page, you can calculate the probability that a .493 team would beat a .396 team:

http://web.williams.edu/go/math/sjmiller/public_html/103/Log5WonLoss_Paper.pdf

The formula says the .493 team should play .597 baseball against the .396 team; during those five seasons, the Jays were 121-79 (.605) against the sub-.450 teams--very close, but they actually exceeded expectations by .008. I will say that that was mostly due to beating up on Baltimore: 39-15 during 2008/10/11, 60-31 for all five years. If you take away that, they only played around .560 against the 14 other crummy teams.

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/4/24/2972514/omar-vizquel-turns-45-making-history

Ugh, what is going on with this team lately.

Good news: we have a great new closer.

was there any beanball action tnite before the one behind Kinsler's head?

Morrow and Alvarez threw the first back-to-back CG shutouts on the road in team history.

Thought I'd check '92, just because the depth of that staff has always fascinated me, and they came real close in Kansas City Sept. 8 and 9: Key (CG), Cone (8.1 IP), and Henke (0.2 IP). Anyway, I'm back on the wagon.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA199209080.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA199209090.shtml

a friend of mine has convinced himself Drabek will make it three!

In the paper this morning: while the Jays' payroll is 75 million, the Red Sox currently have 77 million on the DL. (And boo to your friend!)

We flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami.

That was classic (mostly because he made Hamels look like a fool [not that Hamels wasn't a fool beforehand, up to and including the two-out/bases-empty IHBP]).

Oops. Who is the fool now?

WTF, I guess Eddie not having to worry about playing the field has finally allowed him to become the hitter he always seemed to have the talent to be. (Keep in mind this is from a Reds fan that saw Encarnacion play a whole lot of games and kept looking at him thinking, crap he could turn into Gary Sheffield as he would make a Brooks Robinson stop then only to throw the ball six rows up behind first base.)

http://members.tripod.com/q_a_z/images/siren.gifBLUE JAYS HAVE SIGNED VLADIMIR GUERREROhttp://members.tripod.com/q_a_z/images/siren.gif

i'm assuming to close.

Guerrero was what, 50% of his former self last year? Maybe he'll be down to 40% this time round. The fan in me is irrationally happy anyway.

40% of an ancient Guerrero might still be better than Adam Lind, unfortunately.

Bautista now has ten homers in ten career games at Target Field.

last night they were saying it's 3 or 4 more than Mauer and Morneau combined!

well, that was an ugly finish

Who hasn't wanted to spike a helmet off an umpire?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8xkwqgnxnOY/T7MJKD0wgmI/AAAAAAAAD3Y/NUkLPbSH2vA/s1600/Lawrie-Smash.gif

...and then he got hit with a beer.

http://blogs.thescore.com/djf/2012/05/15/lawrie-falls-into-red-bull-rage-after-loss-to-rays/

That's not gonna be good for business; that's not gonna be good for anybody.

such an intemperate canadian

figured it was only a matter of time before Lawrie did something fucking stupid. glad i was at the movies for this.

The other reaction .gifs are something, too:

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/5/16/3023351/brett-lawrie-umpire-helmet-suspension-blue-jays

You know Fernando Rodney was laughing to himself.

this one is pretty great...
http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1120557/LawrieUmpire2.gif.opt.gif

#BlueJays' announcement: Lind to AAA, 1B/3B Yan Gomes to majors. Lind earning $5M.

i played on travel teams with yan when we were kids... although as it pertains to me specifically "played" is a pretty loose term

did once get a hit off him in little league... one of the highlights of my athletic career

zuh?!

hey, 2-3!

Slapping the Yankees around feels good.

That's a great story, Jordan. (What is a travel team?) Somewhat surprisingly, the first Brazilian-born player ever.

Lawrie drops appeal, will miss Mets series

That's a great story, Jordan. (What is a travel team?)

basically "all star teams" that travel around and play each other. sorta like baseball's version of AAU or whatever.

JPA now with 4 hr in 3 games!

wow and now Rajai with a hr somehow! J's radio announcer: "Niese ready to cry uncle"

The slapfest spreads to all NY teams ... sounds good to me.

A series that High Heat Stats has been running--very, very tough choice:

http://www.highheatstats.com/2012/05/the-mount-rushmore-of-the-toronto-blue-jays/

Interested to hear Thinwall and NoTime's picks. I went with Alomar, Fernandez, Delgado, Henke. No, I can't rationally defend choosing Henke ahead of Halladay, or even ahead of Stieb--I voted more as a fan than as an analyst.

I'd go with Halladay, Stieb, Alomar, and Delgado. Fernandez is one of my all time favourite Jays, definitely in my top four, but he wasn't the face of the team like those four were.

And I never would have figured that Aaron Hill is in the Jays top 15 in player WAR.

i don't care what they say about my computer blowing up, i would put Carter up there.

also Lind on outright waivers.

‏

@gregorMLB
Encarnacion on May 29, 2011: .236 AVG, .582 OPS, 0 HRs, 9 RBIs. May 29, 2012: .274 AVG, .914 OPS, 16 HRs, 41 RBIs. #BlueJays

so Hammel is now insinuating the J's were stealing signs?!

I shouldn't complain, we're only two out, but this is such a maddening team.

lolby rasmus

Base hit

http://30fps.mocksession.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/LOLBY-RASMUS.gif

sad, sad trombone

So we managed to salvage something from the Boston series. Seems like we're hanging in every year before getting mauled at home in a June Series by Boston or New York.

Morrow left the game vs Washington after nine pitches. This can't end well.

strained muscle thingy.

and Vlad has been let go. apparently he had given the Js an ultimatum. :s

no doubt on a plane to norfolk as we speak

.228/.255/.348 = what the Tigers have gotten from the DH position

Meanwhile they have two DHs playing in the infield

The Tigers have nine DHs who can neither field nor hit, two DHs who can hit, one infielder who can't DH (not that he hasn't been in the lineup as a DH!), and one outfielder who can field and hit.

I'd be OK with the Tigers acquiring someone who can 1. hit better than Delmon Young 2. force Delmon Young off the team.

"...two DHs who can hit (but play in the infield)," that is.

Lol very true

Hutchison left the game vs Philly after nine pitches. This can't end well.

even with this pitching crisis and the team being in the basement of our division - i am loving this team this year.

Yahoo mixed up Reed Johnson and Kelly Johnson in their recap:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/rasmus-hits-grand-slam-ninth-201239502--mlb.html

Not sure if they'll fix this or not, but of course my reaction was "Reed Johnson is back with the Jays?!?!?"

i thought he hit a 3-run shot?!

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8096807/toronto-blue-jays-sign-jamie-moyer-minor-league-deal

yup.

They're hurting bad, I know, but (above and beyond Moyer's other liabilities) it seems weird to lose Guerrero in a showdown, then go sign another guy who just got cut loose because of a showdown.

By the way: 1) I'm only one year older than Moyer, 2) I was co-MVP of the 1974 Georgetown Pee-Wee house league (developed a knuckle-curve that had hitters buckling like crazy), and 3) they could have me for probably 5-10% of what they're paying Moyer (one or two million? no idea).

who will play moyer in the inevitable heartwarming family film about his perseverance? chris cooper?

If you want to make some money and like to bet baseball, track the Jays. Wait them out for a few games until that moment when it finally looks like they might be turning a corner--a surprise sweep, a successful road trip, a mini-winning streak. And then bet lots and lots of money against them the next two games.

I was actually expecting that the Jays would try to sign Moyer, obviously it would have to be a team with a bunch of injuries in the rotation.

I wonder how many HR's he will give up in Rogers Centre? On second thought they might want to give him only road starts.

do we even know for sure that he'll be making the majors?

What the hell is wrong with Romero?

what did i miss? (no i will not google, i want it explained in ilx-ese!)

nevermind. 8 runs to the Royals. understood.

And his ERA is up over 5.50.

ya, i had no idea it was getting up that high.

CORDERO YOU SUCK

I still say we pool our money and go large on my "bet lots and lots of money against them the next two games" system. Even if it's some crummy team like the Royals--especially if it's some crummy team like the Royals.

One out, Colby.

I was listening to Bob McCown in the car, and he called the Jays offense "scary good." They're third in the league in runs, headed for around 850. Perhaps a slight exaggeration.

more like McClown, amirite?!

also: E5 - 3 years, 27m.
still not totally sold on this guy.

Batista out with a wrist injury ... not to sound alarmist, but power hitters usually don't come back easily from wrist injuries. Time to start thinking about '13 I guess.

i've thinking about '14 for months now.
Syndergaard/Nicolino/Sanchez!

I still get the spelling of Jose Bautista/Tony Batista mixed up myself.

so, we get to see Gose today.

Lawrie injured. Enough with the injuries already!

fuck.

ok - not *too* serious (unless this means E5 going back to third - in which case, god help us all)

jeff mathis-yan gomes battery

so i'll see you guys in 2013. been a pleasure.

yep, that's a wrap

16-0 ... jeez

Someone want to tell me what just happened?

We didn't make a deal for Garza or Dempster because we're not contenders, Snider was probably a lost cause anyway, no biggie.

lincoln has been good this year as a reliever; heard the jays might use him as a starter? anyway, i'd rather the pirates had him than chad qualls

Kinda sucks about Snider... He's still so young. Seems like overkill too with Thames getting shipped out.

It was a good trade. Snider wasn't working out for whatever reason, and the Jays have a much better track record developing pitchers than hitters.

Btw - on my way back from watching Aaron Sanchez pitch in Lansing!

nice. niccolino's a badass too

Yup - and Sanchez was my plan B when I realized I wouldn't be able to see Snydergaard (sp?)!

http://blogs.stthomas.edu/opusmagnum/files/2011/01/packers-dont-throw-in-the-towel1.jpeg

The team, that is--seemingly.

supposedly going to be a big expos rally thing on sept. 2nd at the skydome, keep an eye out!

rallying for what?

retronaming the "rogers centre/skydome", lets hope.

the Expos have taken on some weird baseball hipster identity over the last few years up here, so not really surprised.

e5 just killed a ball

Rajai Davis broke the Buehrle-meter.

don't think i know what that is?

It's a thing they used to do on Baseball Tonight -- don't know if they still do -- where the best defensive play of the day was compared to the Mark Buehrle between-the-legs flip to 1st in 2010.

just watched the highlight. holy shit.

no, a bunch of montrealers are going to go to the... sorry, rogers centre, and feebly try to convince bud selig to stop being an asshole for a minute. it's some charging windmill ass shit but hey! fun people in expos caps.

its funny to watch/read the rajai video on yahoo sports news and the comment section is a raging debate on whether Obama should be credited with taking out Bin Laden.

I don't think I've ever seen a catch like that, where he looked like he'd given up on the ball but he was really just waiting for the ball to come down so he could get a good running start.

you don't normally (or ever) see people time balls like that... usually what you see, even with great outfielders, is they get to the fence - wait - and jump straight up when the ball gets to them. the waiting, then fencing running was pretty surprising.

It's like he did five or six decathlon events all at once.

xpost and the fence in Rogers Centre is too high for that! Normally OF's end up standing on the track and watching the ball clear the fence.

Our robo-convertible stadium still uses those high fences that almost all the multi-sport stadiums used to have. Mike Trout robs somebody of a HR every week, but he only has to jump a foot off the ground!

Seems about right for this team--they're locked in a death struggle with Adam Dunn.

8 BB, 0 K night for Ricky Romero.

One of the BBs was a four-pitch, bases-loaded walk to Delmon Young.

shut the game off immediately after that. would rather be watching Hell On Wheels.

Was looking forward to posting "Happ outduels Verlander!" around the seventh inning. So much for that.

Although Happ pitching well is encouraging.

what are the odds he has more starts like that in him? feel we might have blown a rare opportunity there...

(not saying he's normally awful or anything either there btw)

I'm really starting to believe that we can catch the Twins.

Guys

http://twitpic.com/anph3l

omg

Bautista aggravated his wrist again. I wouldn't be surprised if his season is over.

@ notime: ugh; @ Andy: UGH!

gotta be the cornrows

http://blogimages.thescore.com/nhl/files/2012/08/Lindros-Jays.jpg http://blogimages.thescore.com/nhl/files/2012/08/Lindros-Jays-2.jpg

only just seeing this, dear god

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=24391923&topic_id=&c_id=mlb&v=3&tcid=tw_video_

i turned the TV on yesterday just in time to see that beauty. thing was epic.

Thinwall and No Time: would you guys have any interest in seeing Felix pitch in about 10 days? I've looked at the schedule, and he'll be taking his turn here one way or the other, whether his 5th day is based on the Mariners' game days or the calendar--he'll either start the series or finish it.

Never would have guessed this would be on YouTube: the insane play in '85 where Buck Martinez took a throw at the plate, got the runner out but broke his leg, then took a second successful throw at the plate as he sat there dazed. I was watching that game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBoriyxPTuk

clemenza - yes.

If you mean the Jays game, e-mail me and we'll set something up (sayhey at rocketmail dot com). Do you have any way of contacting NoTime?

Also, word of warning: I'll be rooting for Felix. (As exciting as the worst-in-league race with the Twins is.)

he was my first pick in my keeper league, so you'll get no static from me over that one!

Sorry I didn't respond, I was out of town for the week and wasn't online much. Of course I would love to see the game with you guys ... if I was in the country and all that. :(

I have a mental block against rooting for Seattle ever since that game when Thermo and I taunted Rich Franklin until he was finally ejected (correlation: unlikely but not altogether impossible), but I would probably make an exception for Felix.

I remember that! you were iffy on the merits of heckling; but after taunting Franklin into that implosion you were pretty sold on the concept! ahhhh good game, that was.

Of course I meant Ryan Franklin, not Rich Franklin (the MMA fighter). The first name is irrelevant to the story since of course the taunt was just FRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNKLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN.

My heckling was more of the old school "you suck (name of crappy player)!" or "open your eyes ump!" kind of stuff until Thermo's steady influence led me down the path to corruption (see also: drinking hobo rum in the park at 2AM, debating the merits of Erik Hinske while wasted during the 9th inning of the final game of the 2005 WS).

I think the Jays have finally found a team more demoralized than they are.

the hobo rum was all you dude!

well, mainly the hobo... but then you!

Why do they keep starting Romero??? He needs a vacation or a rehab assignment or something to get himself straightened out, getting hammered every start isn't doing anyone any good (especially if he's injured, which he probably is).

he sat out his previous scheduled start!

He looked (and pitched) worse than Dontrelle Willis during that eight-walk start against the Tigers.

Encarnacion eighth Jay to hit 40 HR; I was able to name six of the remaining seven right away, but it took me a couple of minutes to remember the other. I was there last night (met up with Thinwall), so I've seen two out of the eight hit their 40th, separated by 26 years.

huh - coworker and I came up with five (Barfield, Bell, Green, Delgado, Bautista). hmmm...

anyways - was an enjoyable game last night!

Oh! *Tony* Bautista! now one more...

jesus fuck. we didn't want to believe it, but we guessed the last guy. ugh.

And that was the same guy I couldn't remember--not exactly thought of as a Blue Jay.

dont make me search.

here's a hint: the ball off his head did not count towards his total that year.

lmao

@stats_canada
87% of baseball games broadcast in Canada are just reruns of the 1993 World Series

lol

http://www.flickr.com/photos/james_in_to/7997101156

If that image is real, Yunel should be suspended for the season. "@wheeler_josh: @keithlaw thoughts on this? flickr.com/photos/james_i…"

— keithlaw (@keithlaw) September 17, 2012

Totally unsurprising from this guy.

3 game suspension.

Hey, you got your wish--Buffalo into the fold.

Fuck ya! AAA game next season?!

Absolutely. The classical beauty of Buffalo is worth the trip in and of itself.

I'm not even sure what to think about Escobar's suspension, the whole thing is too weird. In a way it's like Ozzie Guillen's "I love Castro" comments. He's free to say whatever he wants (including writing stupid and offensive things on his face), and the team is free to do what's right for business and suspend him for being a dumbass.

Maybe you guys already saw this, but I just stumbled onto this interview with Travis Snider:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/2012/09/25/travis_snider_saga_clashes_with_cito_gaston/

Summary: they ruined him. Or rather, Cito Caston ruined him, yet another casualty in the long list of young Jays players that that idiot manager fucked over.

E-mail an hour ago: "2013 Spring Training Flex Packs on sale now!" Probably was going out today regardless, but they added the exclamation mark this morning.

does that include some free flexing from Bret Lawrie?

Continuing to move ahead...John Gibbons?

http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/blue-jays-bring-john-gibbons-back-on-as-manager-1.1045693

I didn't pay much attention during those years--is he any good?

early predictatron: phillies eat shit in the first half and get d'Arnaud returned with a few other pieces for Halladay shipped back to TOR.

Jon Morosi ‏@jonmorosi
I have been saying the #BlueJays needed a manager with presence. John Gibbons has that.

GREAT WORK JON, JAYS.

Unfortunately not every team can afford the luxury of having a manager with that quality.

You can guarantee that John Gibbons will be wearing that uniform for 162 games a season and be in the clubhouse and dugout, even when it seems like he is not really there.

only a matter of time until buck martinez gets the job

I actually always was a little surprised they never gave Ernie Whitt a shot. Think he coached the national team for a while.

I'm glad Gibbons has Presence, but what is his opinion on Physical Graffiti?

Billy Martin = In (and Out, and In, and Out, and In) Through the Out Door

Gibbons plays unexpected career CODA

jays managerial position = carouselambra

Bobby Valentine = The Mother of All Communication Breakdowns

Tim Johnson = what is and what should never be

Gibbons' record as Jays manager was fairly good, but didn't the players get sick of him and his meddling, confrontational approach? I think that was the main reason he was fired, not because of his W-L record. Which is also why they did a 180 and replaced him with the ultimate potted plant, Cito Gaston.

Anyway, new players, new GM, etc. so he's (re)entering a completely different situation. I'm not sure there were any better choices out there.

This makes a good case for Gibbons:

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/30984/blue-jays-make-safe-move-in-hiring-gibbons

Basically, with so much happening at once, throwing a first-time manager into the mix complicates things.

Tom Cheek gets the Ford Frick Award (is that the broadcast equivalent of being inducted into the HOF, or is it something separate?):

http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/mlb/article/1297899--tom-cheek-long-time-blue-jays-broadcaster-honoured-with-frick-award

I was never crazy about him--found him a little bland--but the 4,347 consecutive games is pretty astounding.

i always liked him - probably because he was the voice of the J's for me from before i was born until i was 28.

WTF, Cheek was great!

Not "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" or "Go crazy, folks!" or "We'll see you tomorrow night!" great--I find his Carter call relatively subdued, considering the circumstances.

"We'll see you tomorrow night!" is really subdued ... the other two calls are more the exception than the rule, especially for radio announcers. But I can see why you would prefer the exceptions. Those calls are special *because* the usual decorum breaks down and the announcers get caught up in the excitement of the moment. I have no idea how Cheek, or any Jays employee, could be so calm and eloquent at a moment like that, but that's the radio announcers' disposition I guess.

I think there might be two famous "We'll see you tomorrow night" calls--Game 6 of '91, after Kirby's HR (the one I had in mind), and again in 2004 after one of Ortiz's game-winners.

i do not like this trade.

Win-now means win-now. How many Wins are TDA or Syndergaard going to bring the Jays in the next 3 years?

It's not a steal as us Jays fans have come to expect, but it works...Dickey's been a very, very good pitcher over the last 3 years.

I'm excited to watch him; my main concern is how his name will add to the exasperating I <3 BJ'S trend

Of course, the full details are only known if and when an extension gets worked out.

well - our staff is good enough without him... why not just spend more money on a FA signing like Marcum or Jackson (i realize they're not the same caliber as RA) if we still need another starter and keep our prospects? i think, or i was expecting, D'arnaud would have been up this season at some point - i think he very easily could have been an impact player very soon.

aaaand it looks like this might be official now :s

C'mon now, who's been better for us - can't-miss prospects (like Snider/Lind/Rasmus/Drabek) or low-cost Major League guys the Jays see potential in (Bautista/Morrow/Encarnacion)?

Obviously I'm cherry-picking here, but my point is the Major Leauge is elite and not everyone hacks it/can make adjustments - also we don't have Buck OR Mathis anymore, so that's a huge boon to the backstop potential.

Can you tell I'm trying to convince myself of all this?

I miss winning so much, I'm ready to mortgage the next 20 years for a wild-card spot.

i presume you guys would be overjoyed with two years of clayton kershaw at this price? stop disrespecting robert allen dickey

"I can't believe [Anthopoulos is] thinking about doing this," said one AL official Saturday, before the Jays and Mets finished the structure of the deal.

"He's out of his mind," said another.

Our pitching staff was far from a sure thing, Buerhle was the only consistently good and healthy starter.

In terms of salary, I don't think we're overpaying any of the players we've added this offseason (maybe Reyes). Encarnacion and Bautista are earning way less than market value. We're getting a bargain for this supposedly "win now" team, look at what the Jays have spent compared to the Dodgers and Angels for instance.

Would be weird if the Jays rejected his physical and kiboshed the deal because he's missing a UCL ligament.

I'm sure they saw the documentary.

http://i.imgur.com/MbYee.gif

otm