Bluebird Banter: FanPosts

What would YOU do?

bunner — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:42:42 -0000

With the comments from Richard Griffin on what he'd do if he were GM of the Jays, wonder what people in the Jays community would do if they were GM?

I have 2 schools of thought on this one, but will post the most fun one...I'd have to put together a strong business plan to Teddy Rogers for the extra cash, but with NYY falling, Boston not as dominant as in the past and TB being new to winning (who knows what they'll do next year), the AL East is at it's most vulnerable right now!

1. Let AJ Burnett walk, he's a nice to have as a # 2 but with Marcum/McGowan behing Doc we're still pretty strong, hoping Purcey can improve in his 2nd year leaves only 1 hole.

2. The BIGGEST move would be to make a deal with the devil (Scott Boras) and sign Mark Teixeira to a 5 year deal $19-$22M, he'll give us the much needed power that's been lacking from this lineup.

3. Fill the biggest hole in the lineup at SS with either FA Orlando Cabrera or Rafael Furcal, either is a productive top of the order bat with sound Defense at SS

4. Fill the last spot in the rotation with FA SP Oliver Perez, Derek Lowe or Randy Wolf, someone that can eat innings and keep their team in the game.

5. Sign minor league FA 3B Dallas McPherson, give him a chance at meaningful DH ABs and he'll be a fill in for when Rolen goes on the DL.

6. Lose Zaun, keep Barajas as the everyday C and get a quality defensive minded backup.

7. Trade Lyle Overbay, he's got a nice bat but no power for a 1B and with Teixeira he's easily expendable. Get some bench depth and some youth

This leaves the Jays with a lineup like:

SS Cabrera or Furcal

RF Alex Rios

CF Vernon Wells

1B Mark Teixeira

LF Adam Lind

3B Scott Rolen

2B Aaron Hill

DH Dallas McPherson

C Rod Barajas

Bench: keep Stairs, Scutaro, Inglett, back up catcher, maybe keep Wilkerson

Rotation: Doc, McGowan, Marcum, Oliver Perez, David Purcey

Bullpen: Janssen, League, Downs, Carlson, Tallett, Ryan

With a team like this the city would have some high hopes and deservedly so, this is a team that could make a run at a pennant and for sure the wildcard. I do realize it's a pipe dream and it's highly unrealistic to beleive that Ted Rogers would spend an additional $30M+ on the team but it was all for fun!

What would YOU DO?????

Two Words JP: You're Fired!

bunner — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:05:55 -0000

I was personally hoping the Jays would throw in the towel and trade the likes of AJ Burnett, Gregg Zaun/Rod Barajas, Matt Stairs, David Eckstein and even (if they could get a king's ransom) Roy Halladay. I feel that this team is not close to competing in the AL East of even seriously for the WC and they need to start with young players and build a strong core and then surround it with some vets, enough of this patch work system we've had for a while now.

But, then I heard grumblings the Jays were looking at Bay and/or at Ibanez to help boost the offence and thought that even though it may not be great to continue patching a lack luster team at least JP was looking to do something and was trying to show the players and fans that he had faith that with a little tweak the team may get right into the WC/AL East hunt.

In the end JP did nothing...which is by far the worst possible thing for the team. JP has proven once again he has no sense of direction for the team. He's not trying to rebuild and he's not trying to seriously make a run for a WC. He has told the players and fans that he doesn't know what to expect from his team and he's not willing to guide them down a path whether it be for now or the future.

So now the Jays will lose AJ Burnett and get 2 supplemental draft picks for him and with JPs draft history who knows what to expect from them. They still do not have a SS for the future that can play everyday, catching both offensively and defensively is a gaping hole as is producing runs on offence. Which moving Burnett along could have filled a few of those holes at least.

The only hope I have is that the upper management blocked JP from making any moves because he will not be the one running the team in the future and they did not want him screwing things up more. I pray that the off-season brings the removal of JP as GM and that his replacement has a plan for the team that he will actually execute!

McGowan out for season, at least

SuckaMD — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:39:37 -0000

Bluejays.com reported today that Dustin McGowan will have season-ending surgery on his pitching shoulder. That's the bad news.

The worse news is that rather than going under the knife to repair his rotator cuff, which was the injury to which his current DL stint was originally attributed, the operation will focus on fixing "fraying" of his labrum.

Many, including Will Carroll of BP, have written that the track record of pitchers who are able to come back from labrum tears is quite bad. This does not mean that they never make it through rehab or that they never throw another pitch in the bigs, but that they never get back to their previous skill level. If this is the case with Dustin, that is a major setback for any short- and medium-term plans the Jays have to contend (assuming they actually have such a plan, which is no given).

According to Torgen in the last game thread (5 game winning streak, woo!), the location of the tear is important for prognosis (rear tears being worse than front, meaning Casey Janssen's tear might not be terrible). The report said nothing of the location of the tear, so let's hope that DMC is able to come back. I've not heard this before, but I'm certainly no expert on the subject. Information on the topic is welcome.

The surgery will also explore the rotator cuff to see if it needs repair. Seems to me that the best case scenario is that he's back for next spring training nearly as good as new. Worst case, he needs cuff and labrum repair, is out longer term and never makes it back to his current form or reaches his future promise.

ICE...COLD...BEER

bunner — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:52:32 -0000

I'm not sure if you guys have read this or not but it is absurd in my mind.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Baseball/MLB/Toronto/2008/07/16/6171536-sun.html

I was at Rogers centre a few weeks back, ordered a beer and got ID'd (I'm 30), then a few innings later went to a different beer stand and ordered beer and didn't get ID'd, so did the person that didn't ID me get fired because apparently to someone else I looked under 30. OH WAIT, it's subjective, how can you rate someone's work performance on something so subjective and then fire him without even a warning even though in the past he's never had problems at work...sounds like a lawsuit to me!

Also wanted to say I just found this site and so far it's really great, keep up the good work

McGowan out for at least 4 weeks...

domefan — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:16:03 -0000

Right rotator cuff tear...with surgery a possibility. I'm finding JP his usually cagey self, refusing to comment on the severity of the problem.

I think we need to assume he will be gone well into August, and worse-case-scenario till the end of the season. That vastly complicates trading AJ.

Best case scenario: Marcum gets better quickly, we trade AJ, Parrish stays up, and give Purcey a chance to shine.

Worst case scenario: We trade AJ, Marcum stays down, and our rotation is Halladay, Litsch....Parrish? Purcey?.....do we even have another major league ready fifth starter? Should we consider stretching Downs? Something I've thought had some upside.

How crazy would it be if we had to trade AJ for pitching after all of this.

Kane Davis sign korea league team.

DemianBlue — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:00:00 -0000

Hi, I'm baseball fan in Seoul, South Korea.

New team of Kane Davis is Kia Tigers in Korea Baseball League

The team won 9 times Korean Series Title. (Since 1982)

Kane Davis will play in place of Jose Lima (yes, "Lima Time" ).

Signing Bonus : $ 0.04M

salary : $ 0.16M

He will first start in Korea League on weekend.

But, most of Korean baseball fans don't know Kane Davis. (me, too)

So, Jays fans give some information about Kane Davis. , please.

The Pitchers Mid-term

rincewind — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:14:58 -0000

The Pitcher Mid-Term Report Card:

Anyway….the pitchers……I’ll note that the league ERA is about 4.10……

Halladay B+…Doc is amazing….has his strike out rate up this year, only bad thing you can say about him is his record, only 8-6 but with our offense a winning record is an amazing thing.

Marcum A+…He’s been amazing, is very sad that he got hurt because he’s been so good. He should be going to the All-Star Game.

McGowan C+… ERA in June is 4.99. Inconsistent would be the term for him.

Burnett C…This month he’s had two terrible starts and 4 good to very good starts. Today he was amazing. But anyone that can have an 8-7 record with this offense is doing something right.

Litsch B….Amazing in May, less so in June but his last start was great. I’m hoping he just went thru a dead arm period and that he’ll be consistently good the rest of the way. But you couldn’t hope for a better 5th starter. And a red head. As the father of two red head boys….I gotta love him.

Tallet B…Has been having a rougher time of late…7.00 era for June. Cito seems to like him and there is little not to like.

Carlson A…Cy’s still amazing, He has been used more as a LOOGY but would rather see him pitch an inning or more at a time.

Downs A+…Can we give a higher mark than A+. Hasn’t given up a run since April 30th. If it were a fair world he’d be in the All-Star Game. Nice to see Cito leave him in for a couple of innings at a time.

Frasor C-…Gibby had no confidence in him and Cito will likely learn to have no confidence in him.

Ryan A+…Damn near unhittable till June, then well very hittable. Couldn’t expect him to be perfect all year long after coming back from Tommy John surgery. Seems to have found himself again of late, hasn’t given up a run in his last 7 appearances.

Camp C…Considering he had a 7.10 era last year his 3.80 this year seems like some sort of miracle. I still wouldn’t give him any high leverage sports but then Cito doesn’t seem to be either.

Wolfe C...Got sent down, not sure he deserved it but someone had to go down. He has had some troubles of late, not the way to impress a new manager.

The others get an incomplete. Cito doesn’t want to use League, even in blow outs or lost causes. Parrish looked great in his start. I wouldn’t mind seeing him start another.

Last time I grade Gibby and JP. Grading Gibby now would be like kicking a man when he’s down but I still think he did a wonder job with the pitchers. The batters….well I do think they quit on him near the end. It’s too early to grade Cito…I will note that the Jays were 0 fer a bunch with RISP again today. Let us see how the season goes on before we Knight him.

Ricardi F…Marked him F+ at 40 games but….since then he ranted about Mr. Dunne for no apparent reason and seemingly lied about talking to him after. He wouldn’t call up Lind even long after Wilk and Mench showed they were no long major league baseball players. If Cito doesn’t do anything else he deserves credit for getting Lind back up and putting him in left, hopefully, to stay. If we are going to lose, lets lose with guys that are going to be here next year instead of losing with guys that were good years ago before baseball tested for drugs.

If I was his boss I’d say ‘give me some proof you didn’t lie about talking on the phone to Dunne or you are gone’. No more lies, no more saying ‘I deleted the call’. Tell the truth or you are gone. Between that and the mistake contract to Thomas and the fortune given to Wells after a career year that hasn’t been repeated, drafts that didn’t work out…..he should be on a really short leash.

Mid Term Report Cards....

rincewind — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:49:36 -0000

At 81 games it’s time for mid term report cards. As they were at the quarter pole the Jays are under .500. To me .500 should be C average. So.....well don’t be expecting a bunch of honor students.

Zaun B...At the 40 game mark he only had 1 home run, he’s got 5 now and really seems to be turning his season around.. On base of .362 and playing regular under Cito, at 40 games he looked old, now he’s looking decent.

Barajas A-…Again....at 40 games he looked awful but turned it around while Zaun was hurt. Only 3 catchers with a higher OPS in the AL than him. On base of .354 and slugging almost .500, the only complaint has been his defense. Cito hasn’t used him, I am hoping he will sooner or later.

Overbay B-…He is hard to mark. An on base of .372, if he was a lead off man, I’d be happy. But he’s a first baseman hitting in the middle of the order and he’s shown little power....He hasn’t looked as good in the field as he has in the past. At the rate he’s going he’ll end up with 12 homers and 64 RBI’s which clearly isn’t what you’d want from 1B

Hill D…Hard to mark an guy out with a concussion, but before that...he was awful. The good new is he won’t remember the mark. (a joke, it was a joke) Great defense though.

Eckstein C…He improved his on base to the point that I wouldn’t mind him leading off again. His Defense doesn’t impress. Cito doesn’t seem to be a fan.

Scutaro C+... He’s getting on base fairly decently .354....not what you’d want from your leadoff man but that’s where Cito likes him. His defense hasn’t looked bad. I can’t imagine he’ll continue to hit even this well but Cito does seem to get the most out of his players.

Rolen B+…He’s started off looking like Mike Schmidt, but went thru a bad slump. He is starting to show some power again under Cito. Great Defense. But 6 homers after playing 56 games isn’t what you’d like from third base.

Rios D….He has been various shade of awful all season, has been hitting better under Cito. Likely the one player most to blame for getting Gibby fired. 4 home runs at 81 games is not enough for a corner outfielder. Has 29 RBIs at the moment, so might end the season under 60....this is our power hitting RFer.

Vernon Wells C-.... Hasn’t seemed to found the power the other guys have under Cito. Doesn’t get on base well, isn’t hitting for power and has 2 steals. If he doesn’t find his stroke sometime he could go down as the worst signing of JP’s stint as GM and that’s saying something. Saddest stat...with 33 he leads the team in RBI’s!

Stewart F...He was awful before the injury. With luck he’ll be released when he comes back from it. Added to his .240 BA, .303 Slugging, and .325 On Base is awful defense in LF. What JP though he had here I’ll never know. Just a stupid signing.

Stairs C-.. Leads the team with 8 home runs. Batting a big .255 with .335 on base and .410 slugging. Not what you want from a DH. And then not only throws the old batting coach under the bus but throws it into reverse to run him over again, saying Denbo was the reason that he wasn’t hitting. Shouldn’t a 40 year old be able to ignore a batting coach if he doesn’t agree? Saying ‘he didn’t let me pull the ball’ sounds like a kid making excuses.

Inglett A…Hitting .311! On base almost .400 and only 6 back from the team lead for home runs. Ok, yeah that means 2 but still he’s been amazing and playing good D at second. When Hill gets back I’d like to see Inglett at SS. Course it’s still a small number of at bats, but let’s get enough at bats to prove that he is this good.

Wilkerson F…Batting better in June but when hitting .265 is hitting better you know a guy’s been awful. Best move Cito’s made is getting him out of the lineup. Yeah. I liked him too, years ago, when he was hitting 35 homeruns a year and getting on base at a .400 clip. It seems strange to me that he could get so bad so quick. Makes you almost wonder if he was juicing.

Everyone else gets an incomplete. I hope Cito gives Lind 300 plus at bats. If he does that one thing he’s a better manager than Gibby. Cito has said all the right things....I hope he follows thru. We aren’t winning so better to not win with someone that will be around latter than not win with guys that were good years ago. Mench was poor but didn’t play much. MacDonald hasn’t been used. I hope Cito plays him some.

That’s my marks for the hitters…pitchers later in the weekend.

Does Gibby have to go?

rincewind — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:45:00 -0000

I'm thinking so.....the team isn't performing at all. I think Gibby has done amazingly well with the pitching staff and I thought that was his weakness last year. I don't know what happened during the off season but he must have studied how to run a pitching staff because he's been almost a totally different manager, as far as pitchers go. But...the team ain't playing and it's his job to get them to play.

I think the hitting coach has to go too....it might not be fair but 'hitting' is in the man's job title and they ain't hitting. If sales manager is your job title and there are no sales, your fault or no, you'd be fired.

I also think it's time to release Wilkerson, he's slugging well under .400 and he's a corner outfielder. You can't have that. I think that if Stewart hadn't been injured he'd have to be released too. Corner outfielders have to slug over .400....unless they can get on base at a .400 clip. We don't owe these two much money, let's cut and run. It might tell the players that they have to hit like a major leaguer to keep a major league roster spot.

Rios also isn't slugging at all (.371). There are only 4 outfielder in the AL slugging worse with 200 or more at bats. But since we owe the boy a few bucks releasing him isn't posible. But maybe it is time to take him out behind the wood shed, at least . Call him out in the papers and say this is unacceptable.

It is almost the half way point of the season and our top home run hitter has 8. We might not have a 20 home run season out of any player. Wells is our leading RBI guy with 28!! We might not get 70 RBI's out of anyone this year. Josh Hamilton has 74 RBI's already.

Poll

Who should be fired?

Are we average?

rincewind — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:42:53 -0000

Mike Wilner, in his blog has often said that the Jays should have an average offence. So that they don’t means they aren’t playing up to their potential, offensively. His feeling is that, with their pitching, if they had an average offence they would be in contention.

I’m not sure he’s right….I’m not sure that we should be expecting too much more out of the offence as a whole. Some players…sure…they are well below what they ought to be doing, but personally, using Stewart in a corner outfield spot, I don’t feel he’s near average as a corner outfielder. Barajas wasn’t a favorite of mine, going into the season. Eck….isn’t great. Wells had a great season two years back, but was poor last year, which Wells should we have expected this year?

Anyway, how to would one go about proving if we should have had an average offense. After some thought I figured I’d compare the expected OPS with the league average OPS and see if we should have expected the offense to be better. I’ll use the Baseball Predictions and compare them to the average OPS by position for each the players and see which ones should average or better at their positions and then see which ones are really are. Then we can decide if we think the team should have an average offense.

Catchers:

	Projected OPS	League Average OPS	Actual OPS
Barajas	.749	.702	.831
Zahn	.745	.702	.736

So our catchers were expected to have OPS slightly above what league average is. Surprises me some…but Barajas projections were figuring he’d play in Philly, so may have been slightly lower in Toronto. Barajas is doing much better than anyone could have expected. Of course, he’s been hot lately, his numbers could fall back to what was expected of him. Zahn is doing almost exactly what BP thought he would. Is worth noting that, of catchers with more than 100 at bats, Barajas is second in OPS to Joe Mauer. Who’d have thunk that???

First base:

	Projected OPS	League Average OPS	Actual OPS
Overbay	.764	.748	.754

Lyle’s OPS was projected to be slightly above league average and basically has been about that…just about average. The interesting thing about his projections is that his OB is much higher than projected but his Slugging is much below what they expected.

Second Base:

	Projected OPS	League Average OPS	Actual OPS
Hill	.730	.667	.685
Scutaro	.717	.667	.677

Hill’s OPS being over league average for 2B surprises me…is worth noting that NL second basemen are hitting far better than the AL one. We all think he should be batting better and hopefully he’ll recover from his concussion soon and hit the way we’d like him to. Scoot’s batted like an average 2B, course he’s played all over the diamond. BP expected a bit more power than he’s shown so far.

Shortstop:

	Projected OPS	League Average OPS	Actual OPS
Eckstein	.678	.651	.710

Eck…..Well, he’s been a bit of a surprise….actually doing better than what we would expect. And……of AL SS with over 100 at bats only Mike Young has higher OPS!! Who’d have thought that Eck’s OPS would be higher than Jeter’s? Yeah, yeah I know….only by .003 but still. So BP thought he’d be a little bit over league average and he’s really been a bunch over. Yeah….his D hasn’t been what we would like, but we’ve been spoiled watching Mac.

Third Base:

	Projected	League Average	Actual
Rolen	.758	.735	.821

Rolen was projected to just above average…and he’s turned out to be much better than that. He does seem to be in a slump at the moment but up till now he’s been far better than what we could expect.

Left Field:

	Projected	League Average	Actual
Stewart	.702	.774	.628

BP didn’t expect Stewart to be anywhere close to a league average LFer, but he has been far, far worse than they though. Of AL OFers with 150 at bats, there is only one with a lower OPS, Gathright in KC. Yeah he should be better, but he never was going to be league average.

Center Field:

	Projected	League Average	Actual
Wells	.787	.742	.777

Wells had been worse that BP expected, but the little hot streak when he came back from his injury brought him back to their numbers. Seems to be slumping again the last few days but is doing about what they expected.

Right Field:

	Projected	League Average	Actual
Rios	.807	.738	.708
Wilkerson	.768	.738	.683

Well….the two corner outfield spots are killing us….Rios should be well above average in right and he’s below. Wilk’s projection is based on playing in Texas so is higher than it would have been in Toronto, but the projection is much higher than I’d have though. That being said he’s doing a lot worse than we’d expect him to before the season.

DH:

	Projected	League Average	Actual
Stair	.872	.729	.756

I really don’t agree with BP’s projection….they figured he’d have much the same season he had last year and last year came out of nowhere. How would you expect that to happen twice? But he’s been a little better than average at DH, but we could have hoped for better.

So I guess I’d conclude that Wilner is right…..we should have expected major league average offence (at least) from every position except for LF. And we have received major league average offence from every spot but left and right field. I would say that the only reason we aren’t getting major league average offence is the black hole we’ve had in LF and the extremely poor batting we’ve had with RISP. IF the second part improves and if we could find a reasonable LFer we’d be ok.

The only players to significantly out perform their projections are Barajas and Rolen. The ones that have seriously under preformed are Stewart, Rios, Wilkerson and Stairs though Stair’s projection seems off to me. The one I’d hope for improvement from is Rios.

RISP

Torgen — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:40:36 -0000

We all know about the team's poor performance with RISP, to the order of a .234 AVG (although perhaps we didn't notice our opponents' even worse performance, a mere .225). But who's really to blame?

Limiting our view to just the regulars, we get:

Player	AVG w/ RISP	WPA
Eckstein	.340	-0.92
Barajas	.282	0.03
Wells	.265	-0.42
Wilkerson	.265	-0.29
Scutaro	.259	-0.90
Hill	.255	-1.04
Zaun	.225	-0.01
Rios	.215	-0.25
Stewart	.211	-0.85
Inglett	.208	0.50
Stairs	.205	-1.03
Thomas	.200	0.02
McDonald	.200	-0.12
Mench	.188	-0.65
Rolen	.186	-0.30
Overbay	.180	-0.43

Some interesting stuff in there. For example, on Sunday Wells got booed for popping up with the bases loaded and two out, when he's actually been one of the best on the team. Also fun is that Eckstein has 17 RISP hits but only 16 RISP RBIs.

Rogers Centre...Best Seats?

ctrain7379 — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:09:51 -0000

I'm very curious to find out what other Blue Jays fans think are the best seats in the house for the best value. Basically other then the very expensive dugout seats, which ones are the best? Personally, I prefer the middle section with the cushioned seats. They are comfortable and have a great view of everything, especially with the dome open. Write comments and vote in the poll to tell me your thoughts on the best seats.

Poll

What are the best seats at the Rogers Centre?

AJ Burnett

ctrain7379 — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 18:01:40 -0000

Burnett is probably not coming back at the end of the year. He has a huge contract that does not match his mediocre play. He is only 5-5 this year, and has suffered from mediocrity for most of his career just like the Jays of late. He is slowly becoming the Bryan McCabe of the Blue Jays. Will the Blue Jays shop him at the trade deadline for a hitter? If yes who will they get in return?

Poll

Will Burnett be traded at the deadline?

Accardo

Midori1967 — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:30:26 -0000

I've been a fan of Jeremy's since he came up with Giants. Does anyone know if he is traveling with the team and/or when he might come off the DL? I'll be going to the games on Tuesday and Wednesday in Oakland, and my seats are behind the Jays bullpen. I'm just wondering if Jeremy will be there. I'm looking forward to also seeing Shannon Stewart and Marco Scutaro . . . . I miss both of them. Any information you might have on Jeremy would be appreciated. Thanks!

Wilkerson....

rincewind — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:39:49 -0000

I noticed a late comment by Rios39, from yesterday's game, saying that Wilkerson has lined out a lot and he's been getting unlucky that these pitches he's smoked have been caught. Now I'm not trying to pick on someone someone has said because I'm wrong roughly 3000 times a day, but that statement didn't mesh with my memory.

So I took a few moments this morning and went thru the 'gameday' reports of the last 9 Blue Jay games to check what Wilkerson has done. Now I could have missed one or two at bats over that time, but I don't think so. I looked at the number of at bats on the box score and made sure I found the same number in the discriptions. This is what I found Wilkerson has done over that period...

Home runs 2 (one grand slam).

Doubles 1

Singles 1

Walks 3

Sac fly 1

Fly out 1 (described as softly)

Ground outs 9 (only one into a double play)

Strike outs 5

Pop outs 4

Line outs 3

So I have 27 at bats over those nine games, he sat out one and came out of one game on a double switch. 5 hits for a .185 BA. Now two of those hits were home runs and one of those was a grand slam so he likely got as much as he could have out of a .185 average. With the 3 walks his OB would be .267.

Now three line outs (by gameday's discriptions) doesn't make it seem like he's been smoking the ball time after time. Maybe each of the three were great catches but hitting 3 line outs in 8 games doesn't seem like a lot to me. The catch on the sac fly was a good one as I remember, but it doesn't seem to me that he's hitting into a lot of bad luck. Only one of his 9 ground outs turned into a double play which, considering how many double plays we have hit into that's not many.

Now gameday discriptions could be wrong but other than the 3 line outs and the sac fly, there was only one other 'fly out' and gameday said it was hit softly, so I doubt that was a line out.

The grandslam was an excellent example of a batter understanding what was coming and turning on it. He got the count in his favor and knew a fast ball had to be coming. And he crushed it.

Anyway I don't see anything to suggest that Wilk has been hitting into a lot of bad luck, maybe one or two of the three line outs could have fallen and it was a good catch on his sac fly. But the other team is going to catch some balls. I also don't see anything to make me believe that he is coming out of this slump. Honestly I don't see anything to make me believe he's in a slump, it might be that this is his level of ability. Or if not, his level of ability isn't enough better than this to make it worth using up a roster spot on the boy.

Blue Jays in Yankee Stadium 6/5

stadium — Sun, 25 May 2008 15:19:34 -0000

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See a Day Game at HISTORIC YANKEE STADIUM for the last time before it is demolished!!

The House that Ruth built has many memories - you have a chance to be part of history!!

Rough Itinerary: Depart Detroit area Wed 6/4 by 7am and Toronto area by 11am. Arrive at Hotel to check in around 9pm. Hit Carucci's Restaurant & Pub for thin crust pizza and beer after check in. Game starts at 1:05pm Thu 6/5. Will spend Thu morning at and around the Stadium - Restaurants, Bars, Souvenir Shops!! After the game we will take the bus into the city to enjoy Times Square, Manhattan, and more for the evening!! Depart for home around 8am Fri 6/6 arriving around 6pm in Toronto and 10pm in Detroit.

*Call 586-879-6862 or e-mail quotes@thestadiumevents.com to sign up for an event.

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Todd Hutson - Owner the stadium events 586-879-6862 Direct 586-943-3069 Cell toddh@thestadiumevents.com www.thestadiumevents.com www.myspace.com/thestadiumevents

Report Card...the pitchers....

rincewind — Sun, 18 May 2008 00:18:34 -0000

The tough part about doing a reports card for this team is that they are under .500 and a .500 team should average a C mark. But, of course, when you follow a team you like some of the players and it is hard to give them marks without some of that ‘like’ pushing their mark up. Let’s pick Stairs last year…you’d really want to give him an A, but he hit 21 home runs and drove in 64…if he gets an A what mark would you give ARod last year? An A+++++? This season Stair’s clearly isn’t as good as last season. But you give him a B- people complain.

Zaun is a favorite of mine but he’s near the bottom of the list of catchers VORP but I like him and I’m sure he’ll improve as the season goes on.

Anyway….the pitchers……I’ll note that the league ERA is about 4.10……

Halladay B+…Doc has been a little unDoc like the last few starts…Seemingly having a bad inning each game. Under .500 but that a lot to do with lack of support. 4 Complete games in 9 starts has me remembering baseball from when I was young and pitchers expected to finish and the term a 7 inning pitcher was an insult.

Marcum A…He’s been amazing, one poor start out of 8. 7 quality starts. He has two no decisions…totaling 15 innings with one run allowed. My only worry is that he’s thrown a lot of pitches, 100 or more in 7 of 8 starts, I hope this doesn’t come back to haunt him in as the season continues.

McGowan B-… He’s had a rough time of late. First 5 starts were good but since then he’s been ummmm inconsistent would be a nice way of saying it. Still 5 quality starts of 9 is pretty darn good.

Burnett C-…When your ERA is almost a run higher than league average…..well you aren’t having a great season. That said he has looked better lately and I’m hopeful he’ll end up with a good season. A loss in a relief appearance was hardly fair considering he was between starts.

Litsch C+…He’s been quite good for a 5 starter. 4.85 ERA in April, but 3.52 in May so far. I think his final mark will turn be higher.

Tallet A…Truly has been terrific. Like our other lefties he’s not just a LOOGY but can pitch a couple of innings when needed. Sometimes it seems like he isn’t being given the ‘high leverage’ innings. Yesterday he was used in a mop up role Can’t see why he would be used like that when Camp and Benitez are on the team.

Carlson A+…Cy’s been amazing, Watching him come in to a game, bases loaded no one out and get out without a run scoring was the best thing I’ve watched this season. He has pitched 3 innings in a game this season but lately Gibby’s been using him more like a LOOGY which is too bad. He’s better than that. All ready has pitched in 11 game. My worry is that some of the reason that he is doing so well is that he hides the ball well with his motion, I think it’s possible that the league will figure him out. He came out of nowhere this season, didn’t even get a mention in Baseball Prospectus. Has given up two home runs.

Downs A+…Another amazing lefty in the pen. The nice thing about our lefties is they all can in get right handers out. Had one bad outing when he gave up 3 runs without getting an out. No runs in 8 appearances in May.

Frasor B…hasn’t been bad at all. Five of the six earned runs he has allowed this year came in two appearances Gibby has no confidence in him, likes Camp better for reasons I can’t understand.

Accardo D-…Did get 3 saves in his first 3 appearances, but has been awful since. Disabled with crappy arm disease. One would imagine it might be hard to come back from.an

Ryan A+…Gotta like a pitcher that comes back early from Tommy John surgery and doesn’t give up an earned run his first 12 appearances. Has made life interesting in some of his saves. And a couple of times he seemed to get by on guts and luck instead of stuff.

Camp B-…Gave up all 5 of his earned runs in one appearance. Other than that he’s given up 2 hits in 8 innings. Gibby seems to be using him more like a ROOGY lately and that might be a good plan. It does amaze me that someone that had a 7.10 ERA last season gets to pitch in the majors this season. I wouldn’t be giving him a lot of high leverage innings but….can’t says he’s been doing poorly.

The other pitchers; Purcey. Wolfe, League, and Benitez each get an incomplete…haven’t pitched enough to grade. Will admit I can’t understand why Benitez is up with the team. I’d rather have League but Gibby doesn’t like League so…..I’d only use Benitez in mop up moments.

Two other people deserve to be graded…..

Gibbons B-….Gibby is has not been a favorite of mine…..I thought he was terrible last season. Seemed to have a very poor idea of what to do with the pitchers, would leave starters out to throw way too many pitches in a game, even Burnett whose career has been a mess of injuries. I thought he should have been more careful with him and with Doc….leaving Doc into pitch over 120 pitches in games long after the Jays were out of the race.

But this season everything he does with the pitchers seems to turn to gold. Is still tough for any pitcher he loses confidence in to gain it back. And he does ride the relievers he trusts hard (Cy has been in 11 games already in May). But you can’t argue with results.

Offensively….his lineup choices have been, at times, interesting. I hate the Barajas as DH, or for that matter Stewart batting in the top half of the line up. BUT…it’s not like he’s been given the 1927 Yankees to work with. He was slow to figure how to use MacDonald as defensive replacement. Cost us a game or two. But figured that Eckstein wasn’t cutting it as leadoff man and moved him, when other managers might have hoped he would magically improve.

Ricardi F+…JP made all the right noises before the season started, saying this was the year they had to put it together that the Yankees and to a lesser extent the Red Sox were vulnerable. Then he puts grabs up as many players that were good years ago as he could find. Eck, Rolen, Stewart,Barajas haven’t been good since the early part of the decade. Rolen has worked out….the others, not so much. Expecting one player to buck a trend and

He gave up on Thomas quick and got rid of him without a plan of how to replace him. Baseball must be the only industry where you can admit to a $10 million mistake and keep your job. He gave up on Lind in a hurry too. I’m worried that Lind’s confidence will be shot. I thought he had a shot at a career before he was sent down….now I have doubts.

Then Wells get hurt and he picks up two more players that were good years ago. If the calendar turns back to 2004 we have a heck of an offense. Wells’ contract, at least at this moment, looks like a huge error. I always worry when a player is signed after a career year.

It does look like the Glaus/Rolen trade worked out well, but it is early yet. Hate to call a winner in a trade after 40 games.

It is early and perhaps Wilkerson or Mench will turn it on and make him look good. Maybe Stewart and Barajas will start hitting. Maybe Eck will come back from injury and start getting on base like a lead off man should. Wells could come back and hit 30 homeruns and earn the money he’s being paid. If some of those things happen then his mark can improve as the season goes on.

First Quarter Report Cards...

rincewind — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:22:15 -0000

I thought since we've past the 40 game mark that it's time to give out the report cards for the team. I'll start with the batters and do the pitchers tomorrow. With the little win streak we've had likely the marks will be a little higher than they would have been right at 40 games.

Zaun C-...How much you should expect from a 37 year old journey man catcher? Well, more than one home run I think. But, the pitching staff has been amazing and he gets some of the credit. Telling stat…he has no Jay of the Days so far. None.

Barajas D…To be honest, I didn’t like them signing him and he is hitting about what you would have figured he would. And it’s not his fault he’s been used too much, and that he’s been put in the middle of the line up most times. And he hasn’t written DH beside his name. But you have to grade what he has done.

Overbay C-…His bat does seem to be coming around and even when he wasn’t swinging it well, he took his walks. But a contender needs more than 1 home run out of it’s first basemen at 40 games.

Hill C-…His bat might be turning around too, but when not hitting he doesn’t take walks. Great defense though.

Eckstein D…He hit a grand slam early. But he hasn’t been getting on base like a lead off man should. And his defense has been even worse than advertised. He better improve after he returns from injury. He is gritty which to me seems to mean he’s white, short and has no power.

Scutaro C-….Seems unfair to mark his since he’s been playing far more than anyone would like. His defense hasn’t been good and his bat has been missing in action till the last couple of days.

Rolen A…He’s been amazing since recovering from his broken finger. I don’t believe he can continue hitting like he has been all for the full year, but maybe he’s turned the clock back. His defense has been great.

Rios C-….In a terrible slump. He does look good in CF, great range and a good arm. 3 home runs is not what we hoped after 43 days.

Vernon Wells C+…Started the season well but he wasn’t doing much better than last season before the injury. Looks, to me, like he may have lost a step in the field.

Stewart D-…Another signing I didn’t like, I think a fourth outfielder has to be able to play more than left. Again it isn’t his fault that he is playing more than he really should….but he doesn’t have any power at all anymore, no speed, and is so poor in the outfield that they replaced him with Mench as the defensive replacement…Kevin Mench. The sad part is he isn’t hitting that much worse than I would have expected. One JoD so far and no homers is not what you want out of a corner outfielder. Would have to think that he’s likely to be released when Vernon comes back, unless they have more injuries.

Stairs B-…brought his mark up a lot with his power surge of late. Before that he looked old and over matched at the plate. I truly don’t expect him to have the same sort of season as last year, last year’s season came out of nowhere. Really not what a contender would like for an everyday DH, but if he can ride this hot streak for a few weeks I’d be very happy.

Inglett B-…Came out of nowhere and is hitting almost .300, but no power at all. Watching him play outfield could cause a man to drink. Game winning hit yesterday likely pushed up where I marked him a bit.

Wilkerson incomplete…not enough playing time to mark…looked awful in his first few games but may be turning it around. Been released twice in the last few months so you have to be leary but maybe he’ll be ok. Can’t be worse than Stewart. I think Lind would be better in the long run, but I also think the Jays have killed any confidence Lind might have had. Maybe killed any chance of a career he may have had.

Everyone else gets an incomplete. 19 at bats for Lind seems very unfair to have given up on him. I can’t imagine he’ll be back soon. And if he does come back I doubt he could get his head where it would need to be. He’d have to think that if he goes 0 fer ever he’d be sent back down. Mench hasn’t hit at all yet….but amazingly enough he went in as a defensive replacement for Stewart...he’s rep for defense is awful….but unlike Stewart he can play some right field.

That’s my marks for the hitters…pitchers later in the weekend.

Brad Wilkerson.....

rincewind — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:35:56 -0000

Everyone seems to think that the Jays are going to sign Brad Wilkerson....does this complete our set of players that were good several years ago? If this was 2001 we'd have one heck of a offensive team.

Wilkerson last hit above .250 in 2004, with 32 home runs and 106 walks....that was the last year that he was a good major league player. Now at 31 we sign him. Last year he hit .234 with a .319 OBA. Now I'll admit Lind had 19 poor at bats...but it was only 19 at bats...is there any reasonable reason to think that Wilkerson is a better player now than Lind.

Wilkerson will be a good match with Stewart who's last good season was also 2004, add in Rolen who's had one good season since 2004. Stairs had a good season last year but last time he had two good ones in a row was 2004/2005. Barajas' one good season was 2005 and good is a relative term .306 on base...best he's ever had, except last year, but he only had 122 at bats last year.

I don't know what's in JP's mind but the Jays are becoming a hard team to cheer for...I like what they have done with the pitching staff....developed good young pitchers and allowed them to thrive. But on the offensive side....they seem to be grabbing up any one that was good years ago and hoping they can turn back the clock and become 27 again.

Having one or two players that you hope can turn back time is ok if you have someone that can replace them if things done work out. But asking several to is a recipe for not contending.

Man on 3rd, less than 2 outs...

BeboThoughts — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:10:00 -0000

First off, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Bebo and I am a longtime Cub fan (everyone can have a bad century!) and Chicago native. I have always had a passing love for the Jays, but it wasn't until last summer when I moved to Montreal (I hate French people now, btw) that I got to start to see the Jays reguarly and it's great. I've recently stumbled on this site and I hope to join in the fun.

Anyways, John Brattain wrote a nice little wrap up of the Jay's woes with man on 3rd and 0 or 1 outs here . He also talks about weather or not Gibbons should be fired (he says not yet which I think is fair) but the stats are pretty telling. In a nutshell:

Player Name: Runners batted in/ Opportunities

Alex Rios: 6/8
David Eckstein: 4/8
Marcos Scutaro: 5/7
Aaron Hill: 3/6
Lyle Overbay: 3/5
Shannon Stewart: 1/4
Vernon Wells: 1/4
Gregg Zaun: 1/4
Matt Stairs: 2/4
Joe Inglett: 2/3
Frank Thomas: 1/1
Rod Barajas: 0/1
Scott Rolen: 1/2 (Note : for some reason, he listed Rolen twice so I just combined them)

Total: 30/56 or about 54%

On the whole, they aren't great. Harping on this may be like going for a swim in a rainstorm because hitting with RISP has been the Jay's downfall so far this year, but man on 3rd less than 2 outs should be an almost guaranteed run.

I feel that if these numbers start to get up towards at least a 75% cash in rate, then that will mean more runs, obviously, but most importantly, it should start to take at least a little pressure off of the hitters. When they come up with RISP, EVERYONE knows they aren't gonna do jack (including the guys in the clubhouse and the opposing pitchers). Maybe this could be something Gibbons could really reinforce to slowly get the team off the crapper.