Some tips on how to score

1) It's easiest to score if you are travelling at full speed when you cross over the plate

2) If the catcher is still standing when you are close enough to start sliding you probably don't need to. If the catcher adjusts you can too!

3) If you have decided to slide it's better to try and go around the catcher as fast as possible rather than right at him slowly.

4) If you are going to go right at the catcher hit him with enough force to actually knock him off the plate. Lower a shoulder, get some elbows in there.

5) If you aren't going to follow the above tips, don't strike out to end the game with bases loaded.

Random Non-Sports Thought

Reading Matt Yglesisas today I am led to this awesome development in science. When I die, I hope I go out at the hands of an army of these, as they rampage across human civilization avenging our oppression against them. Of course they'll have to solve the cord problem first.

Random Sports Thought

So flipping through channels yesterday i passed by Connected or SportsCentre and there were 3, 3! flatulent gasbags doing a report on the 2-day Team Canada practice, FROM THE RINK. I mean holy crap who cares but those 3 guys and their producer! Really! I'm sure this is a point made by many bloggers in many places but i do feel the need to add my voice to the chorus. Stop already! Did they go to a panel of 7 or something after that to get into the "real analysis" of pro hockey players practicing skating for 2 days? I did not stick around to find out though as I value my eyes and if they had done that i would have to gouge out at least one.

True story. A couple years ago I was in the states during the baseball All Star break and had access to both ESPN and ESPN 2 and after the Home Run Derby there was a panel with John Kruk. The moderatorbot asked him how the derby was going to affect the pennant races, Kruk answered with something other than "it won't you dolt". My jaw literally fell out of my skull. You wouldn't believe how expensive that surgery is in the states.

I can now no longer watch sports panels shows. I have heard though that the typical NFL panel show is 20 people and includes a lion tamer, 2 psychics (for balance), a person with a French accent, at least one lower primate (with or without props) and an infant. Apparently particle physicists may be added this season on Fox. CBS is trying to sign Steven Hawking.

Bottom of the 9th Home Run! Sweep Avoiding Walk Off Win! Crazy Wild Pitch!

Well that was a thriller wasn't it. I managed to get tuned in just in time for the crazy wild pitch that ended it. I don't think I've ever seen a ball do that before. I thought it hit the front edge of the plate but it hit the ground in front of the plate and then off Zaun I guess, and shot straight up. It went up high enough that by the time Zaun caught it Scutaro was scoring and had slowed up because there was no chance to get him out. Howell clearly was in trouble the whole inning, I'm surprised he wasn't pulled.

This of course did not help the Jays in their (my) quest for a top 5 draft pick at all:

WAS 46-82
KAS 48-78
BAL 52-75
PIT 52-72
SD 54-74
ARI 55-72
CIN 55-71
OAK 55-71
CLE 55-69
NYM 58-70
TOR 58-67


Come on Jays, that back up catcher with great pitch calling ability is only an extended losing streak away. Good news! It's off to Boston and Texas. let's not go screwing with anybody's wild card hopes here!

Randy Ruiz Seems like a Nice Guy and all...

Listening to the game last night on the Radio, I heard some stuff about Randy Ruiz that made me wince. They just could not help but talk about him in glowing terms. What a great story! What a great guy! Is he ever "Intriguing"! (I don't know if they said that exactly, but it's the kind of thing that gets said).

For me Ruiz is the canary in the coal mine. If the team starts sending out signals that they are just fine with trying him out as the DH next season, and we get this nice shiny distraction stuff then my alarm bells are going to be going off and we'll know that it's cross your fingers time for next season. What's that, how do we plan on filling in the rotation after Halladay? Look over here at this big 31 year old underdog guy, why not just look at him and feel good. Bask in his feelgoodiness, who needs those questions.

DH is just about the easiest position to fill for an AL team. If you are serious about building a contender then you get a serious DH.

I can't wait for the Cecil Fielder references to start.

The Ignorant Jays Fan Draft Pick Race

I was thinking more about my post on what kind of draft pick the Jays could get this season so I thought, hey why not do a standings! That could be exciting! Or fill space!

Anyways, here we go:

WAS 44-81
KAS 47-77
BAL 51-74
PIT 51-71
SD 52-74
CIN 52-71
ARI 55-70
OAK 55-69
CLE 55-69
NYM 57-69
TOR 57-66

I think with some real effort 4th or 5th in the draft could be a real possibility, especially if they can get swept in their remaining 3 games against Baltimore. Aim High!

Correction:  The Jays actually have 6 games left against the Orioles, things are looking better than I thought!

Halladay pitches like crap, Jays lose.

So Halladay had another epically bad start last night, worse than the last one even. I was under the impression that he had been pretty lousy since coming back from the DL, but i looked it up and that's not true, just that he hadn't been as fantastic as he was earlier in the year. He has however blown a couple of leads, and if there is anything that an ace is supposed to do, it is not blow leads. That's my understanding of what an "ace" is anyways. That characteristic is the one that comes before, "ends losing streaks, doesn't start them" in the ace list.

Look I'm not starting a Roy Halladay sucks rant here, he clearly does not, he clearly is the opposite of suck. At the same time he is mortal, as proved recently, and he is at the point of his career where he is going to be more mortal more often. I don't want to be writing the above headline every 5 games in 2012.

Random NFL pre-season thought

I'll be blogging my ignorant other sports thoughts as the Jay's season winds down, so I'll start with some NFL.

I have no idea why anybody thought Trent Edwards was going to be a great quarterback. There may have been a point where I thought I might be proved wrong, but that time is gone.

I cannot figure out what they are going to do with TO, maybe they figure he will make Dick Jauron quit, since they can't get it together to fire him.

Then again maybe the plan is that he will create space for Edwards to throw to the backs even more often.

Change of Direction?

I know one of my stated goals for the second 1/2 was stay around .500, but then I was looking at draft history and realized that the Jays haven't had a top 5 Draft pick since 1997 (Vernon Wells at 4, 1996 Billy Koch at 4 actually, Romero was #6). They would have to drop like a stone at this point to get into the top 5 and jump over 5 or 6 teams, but I mean who really cares? This was a lost season to begin with, and tanking over the last 5-6 weeks isn't going to change the fact that Romero, Cecil and Rzep appear to have bright futures, or that Lind and Hill look like they can be counted on as middle of the order producers. Let this thing come apart, go for broke! You may end up with somebody's future utility middle infielder or mop-up man.

Accardo

I meant to post on this when it happened but forgt, so here we go. Clearly it is an absolute mystery why the Jays would want to send down one of their best relievers, who knows why you would want to have a quality effective arm in your bullpen when there are so many guys with ERA's around or (well) above 5.00. I mean who can't see the logic in that?

I'm going to guess that this has something to do with Cito, as i remember Derek Bell and David Wells being run out of town in the early 90's. But then these Jays aren't those Jays, and I don't see anybody in management ready to back up a truck of money to entice any replacements for Accardo. Maybe he's still in servitude thru next season, or they really hate him and don't care so it's all moot, but you got figure he could have been of some use recently. I'm sure he can give up HR's just as well as Brandon League. If he had pitched more than 18 innings this season maybe they could have even traded him for something.

Series Win!

Holy crap, the Jays won 2 of 3! From the Angels! A team above .500! And Halladay didn't pitch! Even the blind squirrel etc. etc.

Rubber Match!

How thrilling, a chance to actually win a series (no matter how small), rather than try desperately to keep from getting swept.

Buyers and Sellers

This has been bugging me since the trade deadline with Cleveland giving away Lee and Martinez for not a whole lot. Why the hell didn't JP trade for one or both of those guys? Seriously, they could use them. If they are serious about putting together a competitive team next year they are the type of player they need to be able to afford. And they should be able to afford to extend them.

And I don't mean this as a specific criticism of the Jays. I would think there would be a whole whack of teams that could see the value in acquiring one or both of them for what would be reasonable money and prospects for a run next season. The Mariners, Giants, Mets, Braves, Reds hell even KC or the Pirates could have pulled this off, and made themselves better right away.

Basically I have never understood the concept of "Buyers" and "Sellers" in trades. First of all in the whole concept of a trade is that both sides are both buying and selling something, but beyond that unless you really are just dumping salary, what keeps GM's from looking for value like Lee and Martinez would represent? Why do only current contenders trade for these guys at the deadline? Why couldn't you even be both?

Worst. Month. Evah. Contd

Well almost to the end and at 6-10 it's not as bad as I expected, but again there is no real reason to believe that they will actually win more than 1 or 2 games more this month.

Cecil and Rzep to Sit

According to the Blue Jays site Brett Cecil and the Rzep have reached their inning limit for the year and will sit after their next starts. I have to applaud this, as i believe it's not a good idea for pitchers to make big jumps in their innings from one season to the next. I believe the first time I saw this talked about was in a Tom Verducci article that I can't find, so I'll just link to his archive. I also like his Schilling Theory (which I will write more about at some point), and I think he's one of the only useful Sportswriters out there, though of course I haven't really read him in months.

Apparently David Purcey is going to get another shot. As terrible a year as Wells has had this season, I think Purcey was actually the biggest let down of the season. If he could have been any where near as good as his talent says he should be, the pitching staff would have been a lot more stable and who knows what could have happened. Hopefully he can start to work it out and become the player he should.

Draft Fiasco 2009

So the Jays failed to sign 3 of their top 4 picks in the 2009 draft. I don't know exactly what to make of this, I don't really think it's much of a disaster as they get 3 compensation picks in next years draft. While clearly this is screwed up, I hesitate to add colossal to that in any way. I'm not saying "you just don't understand JP's genius long term plan", or concluding that this is final proof positive that the Rogers higher-ups have decided to strip the team of all money. I think they screwed up in their first attempt at aggressively going after players that were a stretch, and in the big picture nobody really knows how this ends up playing out given they can pick these 3 same guys or better again next year.

This should and will probably be the subject of a longer post, but we are talking about the MLB Amateur Draft here. If you have any rational idea at all about the history of picking players, you know in your heart that there's a very good chance none of these 3 guys they didn't sign will even make it to the majors, ever, let alone make any kind of impact. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of them didn't even get picked next year.

I could line up the evidence for the pointlessness of draft analysis all day, but let's save that. Let it just be noted that Mike Piazza got picked as the very last pick of the Dodgers in the 1988 draft. 1390 overall. As a favor. And he played college ball. If this is not proof that the draft is a colossal crap shoot that we should all just ignore, I do not know what is.

The way forward

One week after the dissapointment of lettin Rios go for nothing (and
no I am not changing my opinion) the head has cleared and I think
there actually are some things that can be done to assemble a
competitive team around Halladay next season. These things will of
course require that Rogers be willing to spend some/all/more than the
money saved by gettin rid of Rolen and Rios.

Pitching

Of primary importance they need some veteran, proven and healthy
starters, at least 1 and preferably 2. Trying to build some kind of
monster offence is going to be pointless for a number of reasons (the
players just aren't out there to acquire, pitching is more important
anyways), so better to build up the starters. There are going to be a
number of good #2 and 3 types available this offseason (Washburn,
Lackey, Marquis, Harden even might be a good risk if cheap) so get 2
with the money. Halladay + 2FA, Romero and Marcum would make a pretty
awesome starting rotation, and would make pitchers like Cecil, Rzep
Litsch etc.. pretty good depth/bullpen/trade bait for other parts that
are required. And after Halladay goes they they can be the needed
veterans behind the new ace Romero for a couple of more seasons.

The relievers just need to be sorted out. A closer is the #1 priority
whether coming from what is already with the team or added from
outside, they need to leave spring training next season with the
unquestionable man in that positiion. Hopefully when that is done the
rest of the mess sorts itself out and with a solid starting starting 5
things don't fall apart like this year.

Offence/Defence

I am a firm believer that pitching is a lot more important than
offence to build a winning team, but that said a team needs at least a
competent offence, which right now the Jays are not. The best way the
Jays can fix this problem is get a good bat into the DH spot and get
Lind into LF. Johnny Damon is the way to go here in my opinion. He can
hit in any of the top 3 lineup positions, he's very productive and
he's an excellent veteran presence who's worth adding to the team for
a number of seasons. He won't be cheap 10-12+mil per year, probably 3
years, but he would be a hell of a signal to send that the Jays are
serious.

Next up is re-sign Scutaro if the money is reasonable. He's excellent
at SS, and even if he falls off offensivley next season its hard to
see it being so far that he can't make be a legit threat as a #7, 8 or
hitter earning a reasonable salary. He had a ridiculous start to the
season but has kept up a good OBP and shown some real patience and
ability to get and hit deep in the count, I can't see how that all
just goes away completely in one season.

That done the Jays have a pretty reasonable 1-6 lineup in some
combination with Wells in the 6 if he doesn't regress even further.
There are other possible free agents of course. Chone Figgins or Dye
if his option isn't picked up, but not a whole lot that is going to
have the guaranteed impact of Damon.

Oh and Lind should stay batting 3rd and Hill move to cleanup until one
of them proves this season is a fluke, or a hitter who obviously
changes the equation is acquired.

Next up is right field. I don't know here. Can Snyder or Lind play RF?
Get a better 3B (Figgins?) and try Encarnacion in RF? Maybe trade for
one with the young/extra starters? Anyways keeping this problem in the
7-9 hitters makes it somewhat easier to solve..

What about Snyder? If he can play RF capably great! If he can earn his
way to the top 5 in the lineup awsome! But if they are going to rely
on him as a key part of their plans next year and as a solution to any
of their problems, then I don't think they are being serious. He is
still to unproven and young. He could suck next season and still have
a great career (see Lind).

A catcher will still need to be found, but capable #9 hitting catchers
are cheap and plentiful.

So would the Jays make moves like these? Who knows? Its going to take
these kinds of moves, which mean spending more next season than they
did at the start of this season. But they keep claiming they can spend
the money. These are the kinds of moves I think it will take.

Update:

Let's add Figgins to this list of dream players while we are at it, and he can be added into the mix at 3b, rf, and even 1b and bat leadoff. How about a lineup of this:

1. Figgins 3b
2. Scutaro ss
3. Damon dh
4. Hill ss
5. Lind lf
6. Overbay 1b
7. Wells cf
8. Snyder/Encarnacion rf
9. Catcher

A dream I know but what the hell.

Randy Ruiz is the Bright Shining Future of the Toronto Blue Jays

Randy Ruiz, 31, owner of 68 major league plate appearances and 4651 minor league plate appearances (ok i'll give you the 909 career OPS) is your newest Toronto Blue Jay.

Maybe this guy is going to turn into the next Pena/Ortiz, although they actually played in the Majors significantly before turning 30. Maybe the 9 previous organizations that had him really have missed something (again I'll grant that a 713 OPS is the lowest he ever had in any year, and that was in 22 games). Maybe there will be a Roy Hobbes in our lifetime.

But still, we couldn't have waited until September for this miracle to be revealed? It doesn't make more sense to let Travis Snyder get 3 more weeks of Major League AB's, against the best teams in the American League this season? We wouldn't want him to rack up any more service time of course!

Randy Ruiz vs. Travis Snyder...Decisions Decisions

So on the broadcast tonight they are talking about whether or not Randy Ruiz or Travis Snyder is going to be promoted to replace Rios. I'm very happy for Randy to be having such a great year in his 7000 minor league season, but I'm pretty sure that Snyder is the future of this team, maybe he should start working on MLB pitching. I think with the OPS of 10,000 he has going in AAA right now there isn't a lot left to prove.

Rios gone for nothing

Well they just let him go...I got nothing. This just looks like a salary dump pure and simple to me. Is there a path to building some kind of contender next year? I suppose. But there is going to have to be a lot of work done to prove to me that they are serious about it.

Default setting on my opinion now is Halladay will be traded in the offseason along with anybody else expensive they can get rid of, Riccardi is gone and there will be yet another "re-building".

That's something positive to hope for, if they dump everybody but Halladay and try and sell the team as some kind of contender then that would just be pointless beyond belief.

Walk Off!

So I am told today's win was the Jay's first "walk off win" since May 2nd. I generally believe that pitching is way more important for a winning team than offense, but these things happen when a team is regularly playing with only 2/3 or 5/9 of a MLB quality lineup.

Rios Claimed off Waivers

So Rios was claimed off of waivers by somebody, and apparently the Jays have until Tuesday to sort something out.

My take on this: Why bother.

Unless somebody wants to offer up something pretty good for Rios, or you think he's really never going to have a good season again, what's the point? The team was never going to be that good this year, and this years money is already almost all spent. Who cares that he had a crappy april, june and july.

Getting rid of Rios now for nothing is going to look pretty stupid if this is the last sub-par season of his career. And what, you can't dump him for nothing if he sucks again next year? It will be one more year off his contract.

Dumping Lind and Hill after the years they had last season would have looked pretty dumb this season, wouldn't it?

A new President for the Jays?

Part of what I heard in my nausea inducing 590 listening session this week was that rumors (probably extruded right from Bob Elliot's fat ass, directly connected to his brain) are the Jays have chosen a new President, and he will be announced at the end of the season.

All i can say to this is please god, don't let it be "boss of JP". Please not another "up and coming" front office guy we have never heard of, who is only coming here because he can't believe his own dumb luck. Make this a real baseball person that can really get something out of the executives, and is only coming here because they have already agreed he will.

Worst. Month. Evah.

If you have looked at the schedule, you'll know what I mean. Good thing it's august and there will be plenty of other things to do.

The Deal that did get Done

I thought trading Rolen for 3 younger, much cheaper players was a pretty good move. But then I didn't have a great feeling about him anyways. I'll give him the edge over Encarnacion on defense any day, but unless he's suddenly going to produce one of his historically great offensive years the 2 seem to be about equal. I will now see if I miss him.

I think Encarnacion should hit 2nd in the lineup and move Hill down to 3rd and Lind to 4th etc.., I think that could be an interesting experiment. But then the way Rolen was hitting I thought he should have been #2 in the lineup as well.

The 2 young pitchers seem to have some pretty good potential. Roenicke can really bring it, although the Yankee outing was horrible. Stewart might be the best of all 3, but then that's something you usually say about a trade like this.

As for Rolen wanting "out", doesn't he eventually want "out" of everyplace he goes? Who cares.

1 week after Deadline Day

So I haven't posted in a week due to just a crazy personal/career life. The Jays did not trade Halladay, but apparently not for lack of trying. They just could not get the gigantic deal they wanted, or Roy to agree to a trade anywhere that was willing. My thoughts on this have been pretty clearly laid out before: If they aren't going to trade him they better just put a decent team around him next year.

I actually broke down earlier this week and listened to some fan590 for as long as I could stand it, which wasn't very long. The gist of the media opinion seems to be: "damn jp for telling a simple truth and sticking to it and causing us to build a bonfire of speculation we so wanted to light and throw gasoline on". Also something along the line of "Roy Halladay's utterings hold the magic power coming from his mouth of becoming pure, undistilled truth, capable of making anything anybody else says counter instantly a lie, forever".

I would feel sorry for JP, except I assume he went into this eyes wide open, has made a lot of money and climbed up the career ladder higher and faster than he ever should have, and doesn't really care about the Jays or Toronto. I also get the feeling he has a lot of fun making the media look like idiots.