The Tao of Stieb

If you don't like the All-Star Game...

2009-07-13T16:45:00.006-04:00

One of our most vivid baseball memories is of Fred Lynn hitting a grand slam off Atlee Hammaker in the 1983 All-Star Game. When we close our eyes, we can still see that ball sailing into the seats in old Comiskey Park, all of these 26 years later.

Which brings us to this: If you don't like the All-Star Game, then I suggest you go find a dark hole into which you can crawl for the next two days and shut the fuck up about it. (This includes you, freeloading mainstream media fatheaded pigboy catering-vacuuming ingrates. Shut it.) It drives us beyond batty every year to hear people - especially those who get paid to watch these games - whine and moan about all of the game's shortcomings.

Seriously, nobody's making anybody watch the game if they don't want to, so feel free to find somewhere else to direct your misery if the notion of an exhibition game of the best players in the game somehow offends your sensibilities.

We don't particularly care if the game doesn't "mean anything", nor do we care that it means too much because of the home field advantage that's bestowed to the winning league. We're not bent out of shape that some guys didn't make the team, and we don't care that the rosters are absurdly big to include all the teams representatives. We don't care that this might not be the best 60-odd players in the Majors battling for supremacy.

The All-Star game is a fun diversion in the middle of a long season. Frankly, we think that people have tried so hard to beat the fun out of baseball that they forget the fact that the game itself is a much-needed diversion.

Go Doc. Go Aaron. Go AL.

Out of wilderness and into the mire

2009-07-13T10:22:00.005-04:00

After more than a week spent deep in the wilderness, pounding away mercilessly at our liver and feeding the varying species of flying, blood-sucking insect life, we're back and ready to examine the Blue Jays' landscape.

Or maybe we're not.

When we dropped off the pavement and out of cell range last week, we had vague hopes that a good run against the AL East and the Jays would be right back in the thick of things. But as the day-old boxscores trickled in from borrowed newspapers, the news in the agate type left us with an increasingly sinking feeling that could only be assuaged with another couple of gin and tonics and some long, searching stares into the distance across the lake.

"It's aaaallll over for the Blue Jays," our father-in-law told us with a smirk more than once over the space of the week. Although to be fair, he generally says this after every April loss. It's just that it seemed to resonate a little more this week, and we had fewer rationalizations or contextualizations with which to retort.

The season obviously isn't over, with another ten weeks to go. But with the release of B.J. Ryan and the trade rumours circling around Scott Rolen and someone else who we can't bear to mention, it seems as though an era in the Blue Jays history may be coming to a close.

Call it The Age of Vague Optimism, wherein the Blue Jays made free agent splashes and re-signed key players with a view towards some convergence of fortunes that would lead to their slipping between the behemoths and into the postseason. With the slide of the 2009 team's fortunes and the ongoing decimation of their pitching staff, it seems as though the path to that increasingly remote day of glory will be taking a detour of indeterminate length and distance, with a different crew both on and off the field.

Obviously, we're not about to jump ship on our beloved team. But the next chapters might be a test to our spirit of adventure.

The inevitable Doc post...postponed
There's a post of epic length coming on the recent rumours around Roy Halladay, but we need more time with it to shake off some of the raw reaction and come up with something vaguely coherent. Stay tuned.

Thanks and praise
Again, we offer our sincere thanks to our Man in the Prairies, the Ack, for his stellar work in what was an incredibly eventful and trying week for Blue Jays fans. His piece on the possibility of Halladay being traded ranks amongst the best things to ever appear on this site, and the 65 comments it generated are a testament to his work. Good work, Ack. Now go get reacquainted with your family.

Hey Now! A "W"!

2009-07-11T00:20:00.012-04:00

What's this? The Blue Jays outscored their opponent? Doesn't that mean....a win? Playoffs! Pennant! '92-'93-'09!

Well, not exactly, but the Jays did manage to end the slide, even if for a day. The first positive contribution from Dellucci (groundout RBI!), a great effort from Franchise Cecil (6 scoreless!), and a bullpen that just might be slotting back into effective form with the return of Downs in the closer role were all reasons to smile. Well, maybe not a smile. Call it a half-hearted grin.

It was a strange mix of emotions that I was feeling during Friday's 2-0 victory over the Orioles....content to win a game, but unable to shake the doom & gloom surrounding the club - or maybe more accurately, the fanbase.

No, these are not easy times for Blue Jay fans. A team falling out of contention. The face of the franchise on the block. Professional baseball player Scott Rolen now rumored to be joining him, and we've seen the end of his hit streak to boot.

There was this tidbit from SI's Jon Heyman, where he (half-heartedly) suggests that fan backlash just may have Jays' brass thinking twice about moving the Doc, but as much as I'd like to believe that making my personal grief public is assisting in stopping the machine, the rumour mill is sure to continue churning until July 31. For my own personal sanity, I think I'm just going to ignore it all for a few weeks.

(I'm such a fucking liar.)

Friday Rock Out - Rage Against the Machine

2009-07-10T00:26:00.000-04:00

I had some Tom Petty all queued up for this week's rock out, but wasn't feeling it given my mood of late. What a week it's been for Blue Jay fans. And not in a good way.

Your weekend contributor will be by to....oh, wait. Still me. Worry not friends - only a few more days of my nonsense, then it's back to well-written baseball discourse with the Tao.

Enjoy the weekend. Give it your best shot, anyway.

Farewell to the Beej

2009-07-09T00:23:00.010-04:00

Oh, B.J.

We all saw this coming when you signed on for five years, back at the Winter Meetings in '05. But those worries are for another time, we figured. We're building a winner here!

In 2006, you won our hearts by fucking nailing it in your first season as a Jay. 38 saves? 1.37 ERA? 10.7 K/9? Slipknot and terrifying fist pumps? Sign me up for four more years of that, dude. YES.

Very early on in 2007, we knew something wasn't right. Your back hurt, we were told, and your pitching suffered. Alas, the sore back magically morphed into full blown Tommy John surgery (familiar with the term, everyone?), so under the knife you went. "Better to happen now", we all said, "We have three more years on this deal."

In 2008, you took back the closer role (thanks for holding it down, Acorn), and though it didn't appear your stuff was all the way back, you gutted out 32 saves for the team. "That's OK", we all thought, "Everyone knows it takes two seasons after TJ to get it there."

Enter Spring training 2009. Fastballs in the low 80's. A slider that didn't want to slide. "Uh, he'll come around, right? He's a veteran, he knows how to get ready for the season." But it didn't come around. Not even close. "Oh, shit."

So now whatta we do? A closer who can't close, still on the books for this season and next at $10 million per, reduced to mop-up duty. Only the mop must have been saturated, because even that wasn't working. "Oh, shit."

I wish you well, B.J. I really do. You seem like a proud guy, and your struggles today surely aren't for lack of effort. Someone will pick you up - they always do - on Rogers' dime. Good luck old friend.

It's OK to get emotional about this

2009-07-08T00:09:00.001-04:00

Didn't want to touch this subject, but it's not going to go away anytime soon. Admittedly, I am 100% emotionally invested in the situation, and my capacity for rational thought on the matter is virtually non-existent.

I don't know what I'll do if the Jays trade Doc.

Forgive me if it sounds like I'm repeating myself (because I am), but we aren't talking about just trading away the team's ace and best player. That shit happens all the time. The Twins know it. The Indians know it. Oakland fans live through it year after year.

We are talking about trading away the face of the franchise, maybe the best player the organization has ever seen, and more importantly, a man (cyborg) who wants nothing more than to make it work with the only big league team that he's ever known.

This shit is heartbreaking. Potentially.

Let's lower the alarmist flag (thanks, Stoeten) and try to be reasonable here. Ricciardi hasn't said that Doc is on the block. He has only indicated that he wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't listen to offers. But why even make that statement, then? Other than to drive a media firestorm and ratchet up interest, of course. But where does that road lead?

Then comes Buster Olney's article which reveals that Ricciardi has prepped Doc for the possibility of approaching him with potential destinations. That sounds, to me, a lot more strategic than "hey, if people want to call, we'll listen."

The question I have is: why now? How does any trade involving Halladay make any sense right now? Will the heist be that much bigger at the July deadline than it would be at the Winter Meetings when the hotstove is in full blaze? What happened to the Beeston/Ricciardi/Gaston proclamation that 2010 is The Year? What happened to "waiting until the offseason to approach Doc about an extension." Fuck the fuck, fellas?

Again, those who know me, know that I'm typically a prepare for the worst/hope for the best kind of guy. I know that's how I'm coming across here. But the timing of all this reeks of something more than Jays management taking a "just doing our job by listening" approach.

Rip away, blogosphere and commenters. Tell me that I'm reading too much into things. Believe me, I want to be wrong on this.

I don't know what I'll do if the Jays trade Doc.

The Great Southpaw Hope, pt V: Marc Rzepczynski

2009-07-07T00:03:00.001-04:00

First, they gave us David Purcey. The flame throwing ginger had his moments of dominance (notably against the Tampa Bay DEVIL Rays), but ultimately, had no clue where the ball was headed when it left his confused left hand. The verdict? Fail, for now.

Next, the much maligned Ricardo Romero joined the rotation. It doesn't take Judge Wapner (or maybe Judge Joe Brown for the kids out there) to decide that case. Win, boners, etc. You get the picture.

We've had a few (mostly sour) tastes of Franchise Cecil and the allegedly gutsy Brad Mills (who, coincidentally, has a mysterious case of bruised ribs after dominating in his last AAA start). It's far too early to render a decision on these kids - cases remanded.

Next up, Marc Rzepczyncrosbystillsnashandyoungczepczynski. Or Rzepczynski for short. Let's just go with R-Zep.

Full disclosure, I've had a minor-league man-crush on R-Zep for a few seasons - he's one of those guys who seems to put up good numbers as he advances through the system, but fails to garner the attention or respect he might possibly deserve for a variety of reasons:

Reason #1: "He's too old for the level he's pitching in."
As one of those notorious Ricciardi draft "polished college arms", this may have been true early in his pro career. But in 2009, we're talking about a 23 year old pitcher succeeding at the upper levels of the minor leagues. So fuck that reason.

Reason #2: "He lacks a true out pitch."
I'm not a professional baseball scout (can you tell?), but the following '09 numbers indicate to me that R-Zep is missing enough bats: 88IP, 104K. Get the hell out of town, Reason #2.

Reason #3: "His name is too difficult to spell in order to sustain a successful major league career."
OK, so I made that one up, but I said "variety of reasons", so I couldn't very well end with just two factors working against him. Besides, it's not that hard....R-Zep-czyn-ski. Dig it.

Turning serious for a minute, there are some warning signs, like 40BB in 88 minor league innings this season, so control could be an issue (please, not Purcey 2.0...). But offsetting that is the fact that R-Zep is an extreme ground ball pitcher, and playing behind the Jays' superior infield defense will be a huge benefit that he wouldn't have received in the minors. He's also not going to blow his high 80's/low 90's fastball past major league hitters, so he's going to have to spot the pitch accordingly (read: down in the zone) and throw his breaking stuff for strikes.

Baseball Prospectus (buy it - trust me on this) calls him a "lefty starter with a bowling-ball sinker, a good curve, and a decent change that also sinks, making it nearly impossible for hitters to get the ball in the air off him." Boners.

Bottom line - I'm excited about Marc Rzepczynski. And if Carlos Pena hits a Werthian blast off him in his debut....then free Fabio Castro, The Great Southpaw Hope, pt VI!

(...and Buck Coats. We must always work to free Buck Coats.)

Monday morning bright side

2009-07-06T10:43:00.006-04:00

The briefest of posts following a shittacular weekend of Blue Jays baseball. Accept this as my attempt to lift your (our) spirits.....

Roy Halladay and Aaron Hill - All Stars!
GBOAT hit streak - 22 games!
Adam Lind - straight raker!
Carlson and League - scoreless appearances yesterday! In the same game!
Handsome Raul Chavez - on fire!
Pitching staff escapes Sunday unscathed by injury!

Uh, yeah. These bullet points are degenerating rapidly. I'd better end it right here.

Go Jays?

Richmond to the DL? Sure, why not

2009-07-05T09:37:00.017-04:00

In the least surprising (but still entirely depressing) development of late, Scott Richmond has hit the DL with tendinitis in his throwing arm (read: impending Tommy John or labrum surgery - heyo!). Rookie Brad Mills, coming off a spectacular start in Vegas (8IP, 2H, 0ER, 1BB, 7K), will take his spot on the roster. Let's just forget about that 850 foot Werth-bomb from his last big league effort, shall we? Go get 'em, kid.

Since we're already here, can anyone think of a starter or two who the Jays have DL'd in the last few seasons? Oh wait - I can:

Halladay
Burnett (barf)
Marcum
McGowan
Litsch
Janssen
Romero
Richmond
.
.
.....and that's just from memory. Feel free to bitch-slap me with glaring omissions in the comments section (no - guys like Vic Zambrano don't count). At least the arm woes haven't affected the bullpen though, right? Wait, nevermind.

Do you think Summer of Tallet and Franchise Cecil feel the guillotine staring down on them? It's only a matter of time, right? WRONG - FUCK OFF!

(Cue Arnsberg haters in 3, 2, 1.....)

Up today
Cecil vs Jabba. Please? Come on Jays. I need it. I can't do an 0-for the weekend. I just can't.

A two sentence post on....the 4th of July

2009-07-04T00:21:00.004-04:00

A very happy 4th of July to all of our American friends and readers, and as our gift to you, we present Doc Halladay on your grandest of baseball stages for your afternoon viewing pleasure.

Bittersweet, isn't it?

Friday Rock Out - Neil Young & Pearl Jam

2009-07-03T06:29:00.002-04:00

Eddie Vedder & Pearl Jam must have had the same feeling sharing the stage with Neil Young here as Travis Snider did the first time he stepped onto the diamond with Scott Rolen.

That Neil - always representin'. Boss.

Big four game set in New Yankee Stadium starts today. We know one game is a virtual lock (I'm not saying which - what am I, an idiot? Wait - don't answer that), so taking two of four from the skanks seems reasonable, right? RIGHT?!?

A cold beer on a hot day

2009-07-02T06:38:00.002-04:00

After a solid month of shittacular bed shitting, that's what seeing the July 1 lineup (1 through 5) felt like. Lind hitting third and the GBOAT in the clean-up spot? Part-time first baseman Overbay sliding all the way up to the 5-hole? Whaaa? Cito? The Cito Gaston penciled this in?

Look, I'm not quite ready to throw dirt on the barely lukewarm corpses of Vernon Wells and Alex Rios yet (but probably only because I love the god damned Blue Jays too much), but I will admit to growing, um, weary (let's say, for the sake of being polite) of Cito's strategy of letting this season's two massive underachievers work their shit out in prominent lineup slots.

For example.....if I had told you on April 1 that in three months time, Adam Lind would be hitting over .300 with 39 extra base hits and 50 ribbies, you'd say "hit that goofy bastard in the 3 spot!". And if I had also mentioned that Scott Rolen would be raking to the tune of a .330 average and on pace for 40+ doubles, you'd say "well, obviously, because he is awesome.....but let's get him as many AB's as possible." Am I right? I won't recount the conversations we would have had involving Vernon, because, like I said, it hurts me to do it. For another time.

Today's lineup aside, I'm not on the best of terms with The Cito at the moment
Let's just say that the decision to push Doc back to Monday didn't go over well with the Ack and his traveling party of Jays fans, in town for the weekend set against the Phillies. To hell with what's "best for the team"!

And let's just say that showing up to the ballpark on Saturday to see the names Millar (who provided some of the worst swings in modern baseball history in the series, by the way), Bautista, Chavez, and McDonald ALL in the starting lineup (special late guest appearance - Rusty Adams!) - with shaky rookie Brad Mills on the mound - amounted to a full groin kick. Hey Cito, mail it in much?

And let's just say that we may have met a few decent traveling Phillies phans (that's what they like to be called - honest) over the weekend, but for the most part, it was a tidal wave of douchebaggery that I imagine the Skydome (that's right) hasn't seen since "the Nation" last visited.

Oh wait, that last point has nothing to do with Cito. Still, it needed to be said.

Happy Canada Day to a depressed Blue Jay Nation

2009-07-01T11:14:00.005-04:00

A couple of lifeless games against an AL East opponent has us wondering: How bad could this season get? The surprising hot start that saw the Blue Jays in contention in the first two months of the season is becoming increasingly faint in the rearview mirror, and the reality that the Jays are 10 games below .500 since May 19 has started to sink in.

Now, as we turn over the calendar page and look ahead to a brutal month of July, the prospects for the rest of the season are starting to look dire for the rest of the 2009 season. Moreover, we can't even remember the last "Pennant!!!1" or "Playoffs!!!1" in the comment section.

Nothing is ever easy in the AL East, and now that the Jays have squandered away their early season advantage, they'll have a rough time climbing back over that mountain.

Cripes. We need a vacation.

Say, that reminds us...
We're taking a vacation. We'll be off in the wilds of Northern Ontario for a few weeks without access to the interwebs or Twitter or (gasp!) television. So the most we can hope for is to catch some games on the radio, provided we can find a signal that reaches that far.

Otherwise, we'll be keeping abreast of Blue Jays news via the boxscores. Which could actually be fun.

This is actually the longest that we're going to be away from the blog since we started it, so we're not sure how long we'll be able to make it before running away from the in-laws and hitch hiking to the nearest internet café. We give ourselves at least a couple of hours.

The Ack, fresh off his recent trip to Toronto, will be stepping in to pick up the slack and keep the bloggage flowing until we're back on July 12. Treat him well, and enjoy the respite from our pedantic daily rantings, and we promise to come back refreshed and renewed and ready to face down the dog days of the season.

Cito's lineup madness continues...for the better?
The National Post's John Lott is reporting this morning that Vernon Wells will sport his spiffy Canada Day gear whilst riding the pines this afternoon. More impressively, Adam Lind in moving into the third spot in the order and Lyle Overbay will hit fifth. We wouldn't have guessed this in April, but Lind-Rolen-Overbay is the best looking heart of the order we've seen all year. Bring it on!

After hearing Jerry Crasnick note on the Drunk Jays Fans podcast that Wells got a shot in his wrist during spring training, it has us wondering if the struggling slugger is (for the second time in three years) playing like ten pound of shit in a five pound bag because he's trying to play through injuries.

If Vernon is hurt, then seriously, sit the man down. For a week. Or two. Whatever it takes.

On that subject, Fangraphs' Canadian connection Marc Hulet made the point yesterday that Cito is running his players into the ground, leading to diminished returns in recent weeks. While the numbers he presents most compellingly make the case that Marco Scutaro and Alex Rios might be wearing down, it's not totally clear that the same case can be made across the board.

But again: We defer to the guys who know the numbers, because we're much better with words. We were born to be a sophist.

Canada Day with the 1996 Blue Jays
Via Maclean's Jaime Weinman, here's a weird nugget: the Blue Jays lip-synching to a Canadianized version of "This Land is Your Land". Enjoy, and we'll see you back here soon.

The Rays are scary

2009-06-30T08:44:00.004-04:00

Last night's game scared the crap out of us.

As much as we'd like to imagine that the Jays were underestimated coming into the season and that the Rays were going to turn back into pumpkins at any moment, the truth is that the Greater Tampa-St. Petersburg area squad is really good. And not just a flash in a moment type of good, but for the foreseeable future.

And aside from the notion of having to try to keep pace with the Rays in the AL East standings, the Jays still have a whole heap of games against them (and the Red Sox and the Yankees) between now and the end of the season. And while we wouldn't say that this is the case at present, it's entirely possible that the Jays could have assembled the fourth best team in all of baseball in the coming years and still finish fourth in their division.

Cripes.

About last night
If we had to use one word to describe the Jays performance last night, it is "lifeless". It's the sort of game that you would imagine a team playing after getting back home after a long road trip, but the Jays had the benefit of sleeping in their own beds last night.

Roy Halladay didn't exactly look like vintage Doc over his six innings of work, which isn't to say he pitched poorly. He got deep into a few counts and walked a couple of batters, but still managed seven strikeouts. We're guessing that he didn't turn it up to 11 in his first start after his DL stint, and that he'll be even better next time out.

Not that anyone should be hanging last night's loss on Halladay. Jeff Niemann has been a serviceable pitcher this season and had a good game last night, but there were a handful of at bats - and not just by Vernon Wells - where the Jays kept their bats on their shoulders and let the young Tampa hurler take it to them.

We hope they felt some shame, got a good rest last night, and that they plan to bring some frickin' noise tonight.

A point of clarification on...baserunning blunders

2009-06-29T16:00:00.003-04:00

So let's see if we've got this straight:

When Alex Rios goofs up on the basepaths, it's because he is stupid and lazy he doesn't care. ("Who gives a fuck!")

When John McDonald goofs up on the bases, it's because he is a super gritty hardworkin' manly man who just tried to make too many good things happen all at once, and the fates conspired against him.

So...The Gazelle doesn't care if the Jays win, and Johnny Mac cares too much.

Glad that we cleared that up.

Happy Mondays - A few pleasant thoughts to start your week

2009-06-29T09:33:00.003-04:00

Aaron Hill is historically knocking the snot out of the ball
Noted racist and reluctant Parkes interview subject Aaron Hill is making up for the time he lost last year after getting brained by some scrappy infielder with more heart than brains. Hill cranked out two more homers in yesterday's 5-4 loss to the Phillies, moving him past his own previous best, and past Roberto Alomar for the single season Blue Jays record for homers by a second baseman.

Speaking of the new mark, the Globe's Jeff Blair blogged that Blue Jays fans showed an embarassing lack of excitement and decorum by failing to acknowledge the moment by calling for a curtain call. He snaps that Jays fans will lose their minds cheering for free pizza, but can't be bothered to acknowledge this new milestone. Which is fair enough, we suppose, though we don't know if there was a big deal made about this in the house as it happened.

Maybe the fans could have recognized this historic moment by doing the wave. Because you know you would have had buy-in for that.

Doc is back. And not a moment too soon
We're thanking our lucky stars that Roy Halladay will return to the lineup tonight, just as the Jays are about to dig into the most arduous part of their schedule. After spening the early part of the year playing just about everyone but their divisional rivals, the Jays will face off against AL East opponents in their next five series.

While some of the rotation replacements have performed admirably this year, any extended period without Halladay would be disastrous from here on out.

Rick Romero's rolling
There wasn't a lot to cheer about after Friday night's 6-1 win, what with Jayson Werth swatting balls into the 500 level on Saturday and Johnny Mac getting picked off to snuff out a ninth inning rally on Sunday. So thankfully, we have Ricky Romero's outstanding start on Friday on which we can reflect. After getting lit up in his first two starts back from his sneeze-induced DL stint, Romero has been nails this month.

ESPN's Buster Onley notes that Romero's killer changeup has baffled hitters thus far, with some wondering whether if it is actually a Valenzuela-like screwball, or even a forkball. Whatever it is, it seems to be working. For the month of June, Romero went 3-1 in five starts with a 2.36 ERA. Opponents have managed just a .599 OPS off Romero this month, and he has 33 Ks (versus 10 walks) in 34.1 innings.

Credit where credit is due
Future lawyer and Jays cheer squad dancing inferno Katy Unger speculated via tweet as to whether if any Jays would step to the plate with Michael Jackson playing in honour of the recently deceased King of Pop. While we poo-pooed the notion, Ms Katy nailed it when she figured that Vernon Wells would be the one to do it.

Wells walked to the plate on Friday with Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" playing, which is one of our favourite MJ songs and a fitting tribute. Nice call, Katy.

Friday Rock Out - Michael Jackson "Billie Jean" at Motown 25

2009-06-26T14:16:00.001-04:00

What else could we play today?

Early trade speculation - Scutaro, Barajas and Overbay

2009-06-26T09:52:00.004-04:00

It might seem a touch early, but five weeks from today, the MLB trade deadline will be upon us.

(The Trade Deadline on the Friday before the August long weekend? Somebody's just marked his day off on the vacation calendar!)

We've tended not to trade in bogus trade speculation over the past couple of years, but with the Jays facing some expiring contracts and with some regulars having seasons that may make them attractive at the deadline, it at least bears mentioning.What the Jays do, of course, will depend on where they sit in the standings in a month's time and whether if they are looking to load up or get ready for the 2010 season.

Expiring Contracts - Scoots, Barajas, Millar and Johnny Mac
The Jays have received excellent value this year out of the bargain contracts that they handed out a few years back to Marco Scutaro and Rod Barajas, and both could be attractive players to other contenders at the deadline.

The catch, as always, is that the Jays may well dispense with the haggling over other teams' marginal prospects and take the compensatory picks that may be available to them if either Scutaro or Barajas walk. Scutaro seems likely to be a Type A free agent and Barajas may be close to that level, although the geometry and analysis that goes into those determinations are a bit beyond us.

Our guess would be that the Jays will look to open their wallet to hold onto Scutaro for the next few seasons while waiting to see what Justin Jackson becomes. Keeping Barajas for a possible 2010 run at the division would make some sense given the struggles that J.P. Arencibia has had at Triple A Vegas, but with Scoots likely getting a healthy bump up from his $1.1 million salary, the built in raises to Wells, Rios and Hill and the always present spectre of Roy Halladay's contract extension looming, it's tough to figure how they'll be able to tack on much if anything to Barajas' current $2.5 million stipend.

John McDonald's contract comes up at the end of the season as well, and given the dearth of playing time he has received this year, we'd anticipate him moving to a National League club as a bench player and defensive replacement. Meanwhile, Millar's contributions have been mostly negligable over the past month or so, and our guess is that the Jays would move him if there was any interest at all.

Value propositions - Lyle Overbay
There are a lot of reasons to keep Lyle Overbay for 2010, not the least of which is the relatively cheap $7.9 million that he'll make next season. On the other hand, that contract, along with the notable uptick in his production this year, could make him a desirable commodity on the trade market.

As with Barajas, it doesn't seem as though there is someone in the system ready to step in and take over for Overbay for next year. Brian Dopirak might be an option, but it would be beneficial to see how he plays at Triple A first. Prospect David Cooper has taken a step backwards at Double A New Hampshire this year (.666 OPS), while Brett Harper seems like more of a Quadruple A-type (.319 OBP).

Another option would be to move either Adam Lind or Travis Snider to first next season. Both are under the Jays' control until 2013 and beyond, and the team would save more than $7 million at first base if either of them were to step into the role. However, there are more than a few questions as to whether either of them could play the position, and Snider's back troubles are particularly worrisome.

Who could the Jays get in return?
We wouldn't imagine that anyone who came back to the Jays would have any sort of name recognition. If any of the aforementioned players move, we'll probably spend the day reading outdated and superficial scouting reports on some dude who's just had a middling season in high-A ball.

Not that there aren't players to be found out there. When the Jays shipped out Matt Stairs on August 30 last year, there weren't a lot of people jumping for joy at the returns. Now, we have someone each week in the comments imploring the team to call up Fabio Castro.

And isn't it that sort of thing that keeps us in love with the game?

Vernon "Boo" Wells comes around

2009-06-25T11:56:00.005-04:00

At least Vernon Wells still has his sense of humour.

The Jays' struggling centerfielder extended his hit streak to eight with a double and a homer in last night's 8-2 win over warbling troubadour Bronson Arroyo and the Cincinnati Reds. Following the game, he recognized the recent displeasure of the Toronto faithful by noting: "The fans started cheering my new nickname - Boo."

Hey, if the man was looking for a new nickname, he's certainly found something with a nice ring to it. "Boo" Wells sounds great, reminds us of To Kill a Mockingbird, and has the added advantage of being impossible for naysayers to drown out. It's not unlike the cheers that greeted Sweet Lou Thornton back in the day, or that now greet Red Sox slugger Kevin Douche-kilis. You can't even boo those guys if you tried.

And given Wells' performance over this recent streak, there will be plenty of reasons to offer up a hearty cheer of "Boo!" over the rest of the homestand. Wells has 13 hits over those eight games, including four doubles and two homers, and has posted a .996 OPS. More importantly, the Jays re 6-2 over that span.

(He's also sent the Vernon Wells Hatred Advisory System plummeting all the way down to "Elevated".)

We wouldn't want to indulge in a hoary sportswriter's cliché like "As Boo Wells goes, so go the Jays"...but the Jays will unquestionably need him to return to something resembling respectability if the team is to succeed this year or over the course of his long-term deal.

Our favourite rookie starting pitcher? How do you choose just one?
Here's a question that really only applies to the 2009 Blue Jays: Which of the teeming multitudes of rookie starting pitchers is your favorite. Might you enjoy a bit of the Ricky Romero? Were you more of a Robert Ray sort of guy before he got hurt? Perhaps you lean more towards Brad Mills?

Well, for us, it's tonight's starter, Brett Cecil.

Putting aside any hype or history, we've just really enjoyed watching him pitch and observing his approach. He throws a lot of strikes, and doesn't pick and nibble in the way that too many young lefties seem to. His numbers so far this season have been skewed by the one disastrous shit-kicking that he took at the hands of the Red Sox back in May, but he's pitched very well in each of his other starts at the big league level this season. We always worry about rushing pitchers before their time, but Cecil has looked every bit the impact starter that we hoped he could be.

With the Jays' preseason projections for the make up of their rotation blasted to bits and blown away with the dust, we could see Cecil settling in nicely for the next several months without having to worry about the label of "number 3" or "number 5" starter or what have you. He can set any such expectations aside, and just be one of the dudes who pitches well enough in between Roy Halladay starts.

Which is fine by us.

Baseball Time Travel

2009-06-24T21:41:00.001-04:00

Check out this great collection of vintage pics of the 1969 Expos.

Rogers Sportsnet East Caters to Massholes --- Hates Old Ladies.

2009-06-24T20:56:00.006-04:00

If you are anything like me, a trip to your significant other's grandparents can be a bit like a trip to church --- lots of polite conversation and feigned interest. Trips to one of my wife's grandmothers have always been a lot more tolerable because we have one major thing in common --- the Jays. For years this lady has never missed a game. She doesn't schedule events during a game and won't answer the phone unless the call is during a commercial break. She even keeps score for every game. I get a call from her every Spring where she asks me to print a TV schedule for the Jays and bring it with me to Easter dinner.

But thus far in the season, she's missed more than half of the games. Someone at Rogers Sportsnet made the decision to go "regional" in their baseball coverage. In a board room somewhere in Toronto someone decided that everyone east of Ontario should be watching Boston and New York games night after night unless they pony up the extra dough to get Digital Cable. So all of those senior citizen Jays fans out there on fixed incomes who pinch pennies to pay $58 a month for basic cable can fuck off as far as Rogers is concerned.

Tomorrow I'm going over to my wife's grandmothers place to install a digital box that I rented for her to give her a big part of her summer nights back. Then I'm switching to Bell.

Everybody loves a Tallet Show

2009-06-24T09:14:00.004-04:00

If you're a regular reader around here, you know our love for Brian Tallet knows no bounds.

(Actually, that's not entirely true. There are the bounds dictated by reason, respect and decorum that prevent us from following him home after starts. We prefer to enjoy him from afar. Just sayin'.)

But last night's start took the Summer of Tallet to a whole other level. With the pitching staff in shambles after a week in National League parks, Tallet took to the hill on short rest and delivered an absolute gem over his six innings (no runs, three hits, seven strikouts and one walk).

We didn't realize at the time that Tallet was going on short rest - these are the perils of watching the game with no sound - so we nearly flipped when we saw him take a seat after just 90 pitches, ceding the mound to the absolute shitshow that is Shawn Camp and Jesse Carlson. Wins might be a bit of a meaningless counting stat for pitchers, but we were relieved to see Tallet walk away with a "W" after those mediocre jokers served up batting practice through the seventh.

In addition to Tallet's fantastic pitching this season - and it is hard to imagine what the team would have done without him through these injury-ravaged months - we fully enjoy the fact that he brings a whole new set of facial hair to the mound for each game. It's almost as though he's a Mr. Potato Head who can snap off the sideburns and fu manchu and replace them with a stylin' Joey Silvera porn stache.

If the Jays are looking for a promo item for next season, the Brian Tallet bobblehead with interchangeable facial hair would be the best tchotchke ever.

Various linkages

This franchise is not run by the Sisters of the Mercy: We're a little late on catching up with this one, but Mary Ormsby (who we generally enjoy as the voice of reason in her appearances on Prime Time Sports) wrote an absurd article about how the Blue Jays aren't giving away the empty seats in their luxury boxes. In other news, McDonalds won't be giving out stale Big Macs, the twirlers at the Zanzibar won't be offering free lap dances to the downtrodden, and cab drivers without fares won't be giving people free rides to the airport.

Wells' struggles, infinite redux: More recently, ESPN's Jerry Crasnick wrote a very good article on Vernon Wells' prolonged struggles. Those of us on the Jays blogs have probably lost all perspective on Wells and his struggles, so it's nice to read an even-handed account of how poorly Wells is playing and the possible reasons for the slide.

Worth noting: Wells currently has a seven game hitting streak going, including four doubles, a homer (finally!) and four RsBI, posting an .861 OPS over those game. Let's hope this is the man coming around. (And yet, the Hatred Advisory Level has returned to severe. What?)

Summer reading: Just finished reading David Denby's Snark, which is an interesting take on the history and current usage of this often dubious rhetorical device. For those of you who are certain that the world is being led to hell in a handbasket by anonymous bloggers, it's an interesting read. (Then again, if that's your fear, why are you reading this blog?)

All Hail the Blue Jays' Fab Five

2009-06-23T14:01:00.005-04:00

Imagine if we were to have told you in the off season that after the team-wide offensive struggles in the past two seasons (R.I.P. to the careers of Mickey Brantley and Gary Denbo), five Blue Jays would get out of the gate and put up numbers that would rank them amongst the elite at their position through the month of June.

Then imagine that we told you that none of those five players were Alex Rios or Vernon Wells.

Then imagine that we were hopping on one foot when we told you this. (Actually, don't bother with that last one. We were just checking to see if you were paying attention.)

Through the team's first 71 games, the Jays have five players posting an OPS above .800, a mark that only one regular (Wells) and no qualifying batter reached for the 2008 season.

The Fab Five - Lyle Overbay (.939), Adam Lind (.915), Scott Rolen (.866), Marco Scutaro (.833), and Aaron Hill (.815) - have arguably all performed above expectations this season, but not to such an extent that you couldn't see them carrying this through to the year's end.

There are caveats, of course. Neither Overbay nor Rolen qualify for rate stats titles at this point given the amount of days they've been given off in spite of relative good health. With Cito protecting Overbay from lefties and Rolen from wear and tear, it's hard to get a real handle of what sort of offensive value they bring over the entirety of the schedule.

Mind you, Rolen's Runs Above Replacement level (RAR) is 20.7, good enough for sixth best amongst Major League third basemen, while Overbay's 17.1 places him between Ryan Howard and Joey Votto in that same category. (Not that we totally understand what any of that means...like Drew at Ghostrunners noted, we're not that good at math.)

Why are the Fab Five so Fab? Raw Power!
Speaking of that two-week old Ghostrunners post, Drew points out the great numbers now being generated from MLBAM's Hit f/x data, and demonstrates that the Jays really are hitting the ball as hard as anyone. When Fangraphs looked at the initial speeds of the ball coming off the bats for the month of April, the Jays ranked just behind Texas and Cleveland as the maddest mashers in the land.

Aaron Hill in particular hits the ball with a particularly awesome level of ultraviolence, sending the horsehide screaming off in the distance at 80.1 MPH, almost two clicks faster than the next Blue Jay, Adam Lind (78.2 MPH).

Perhaps the whistling flames shooting off the balls hit by Hill help explain one of the truly odd offensive stats this season. While Hill has hit 15 dingers to this point, he's managed just nine doubles so far, just two more than Kevin Millar. Hill leads the team with 93 hits, but is it possible that he's hitting the ball too hard, and that would be doubles are turning into singles?

The Summer of Tallet Will Scald Your Flesh
Before we forget, the Summer of Tallet continues tonight with our favorite hipster oaf taking to the mound against the Red Stockings of Johnny Feverland.

Two sweet blessings rolled into one tonight: the pitchers won't hit, meaning we won't have to watch Tallet at the bat (phew!) and he won't have to face his pitching counterpart, the slugging Micah Owings (double phew!).

Mindless idle speculatory non-speculation

2009-06-22T15:43:00.006-04:00

As Jeremy Accardo was yanking himself out of yesterday's 9-4 win over the Nationals, a funny thought occurred to us.

Imagine that you're a pitcher, and that you got left off the roster at the beginning of the season. And imagine that your manager doesn't particularly care for you, and that the outlook for your future with the franchise was less than stellar.

And imagine that you wanted nothing more than to stick it in the ear of said manager and organization and basically rack up some Big League service time on the DL and receive your full big league salary. So you go out and toss a few pitches, then grab your side and presto! Payback and relaxation on the teams's dime!

Actually, we don't imagine that this is what Accardo is doing, and we're not just saying that because we don't want to get sued. It was just an odd thought that crossed our mind as we saw this unfolding yesterday.

But did you see Cito shaking his head in disbelief on the mound after Accardo said he couldn't go? Classic.

We'll take a win where we can get it
While giving up walkoff wins to the lowly DCers was somewhat less than optimal, yesterday's win provided a least a bit of an antidote to what could have been an awful weekend. The entire lineup (or at least the first six guys in it) looked great at the dish all day. Rios, Rolen and Overbay continued to swing hot bats, while Adam Lind worked a couple of walks that led to runs and Vernon Wells hit his second extra base hit in as many days. (Could he possibly be coming around?)

Meanwhile, RR Cool Jay got in and out of jams over seven innings, leaving a line (8 hits, 6Ks, 3 BBs, 2 ERs) that looks a lot better than the performance felt. It took him 118 pitches to get through 31 batters, and were it not for a couple of stellar defensive plays behind him, it might have looked ugly out there.

(What the fuck...why are we quibbling about quality starts and wins? Are we going to call Wilner tomorrow and talk about how awesome Reed Johnson is?)

Off days are for watching the smoldering remains of your computer
Fuck me. Everything I touch turns to dust.

It could be the power supply unit. It could be the motherboard. Or it could be both. Whatever the case, we'll be passing the hat for anyone who wishes to contribute to the Tao's Emergency Computer Repair or Replacement Fund. (There will be no tax receipts. Sorry.)

Please stand by...

2009-06-22T10:41:00.002-04:00

It had to happen at some point, but I somehow figured that my 27 month-old Dell still had a few good years left to it. Apparently, that's not the case. I'm in the midst of trying to revive my bloggy typing machine from what appears to be a complete meltdown, and so you may notice some declines from the typical output around here.

Apologies for the diminished output, and I'll try to find other ways to get the good word out.