One week wrap-up - What can you say

Well things are slowly grinding to a crushing end, I did not watch one game this weekend and feel as if I missed nothing. And I can't remember which games I watched last week or anything memorable from any of them, except I believe there was a fight I did not see (About time! I guess. Hard to hold a strong opinion when you can't even really remember it).


Anyways here's what the draft pick race looks like after the weekend sweep.


WAS 51-98
PIT 56-91
BAL 60-89
KAS 61-88
CLE 61-88
ARI 65-85
NYM 65-85
TOR 66-83


Cleveland is really making a move here, they could get themselves into 3rd place by the end of the season. The Jays are going to have to settle for 6th I think at best. I think I was a little worried last week that they could find themselves out of the top 10, but they have cemented that top 10 finish now.


I may actually watch the game tonight before MNF starts. Hmmm, this could make an interesting pool, will Purcey last until Kickoff?


I have to go to the Saturday game this week, free 500 level tickets from the progeny's baseball team.

The Return of David Purcey's Reign of Terror

Maybe it's just me but every time I see Purcey I pitch I think "this guy's stuff is really good, he can't be beat unless he just can't do anything with it". And then he pictches and he can't do anything with it and he gets beat. But here he is again, after a pretty un-impressive stint in AAA after blowing up real good at the beginning of the season.

Makes me wonder what they could get in a trade of Purcey, Richmond, Overbay and Encarnacion.

Stupid Trade Rumors

So I was looking up 2010 free agents at MLBtraderumors.com when I happened on this story in the side bar. I had to laugh like a mad man because come on, if an 8 year old Red Sox fan came up with it you would laugh and set them straight. I'm supposed to believe that Epstein floated a trade like this? And then I see that it's attributed to Bob Elliot in the Sun (who I haven't paid any kind of attention to in years).

If there was a story in the Sun where "Secret Government Sources" claimed there were regular alien landings in the Yukon, I would believe that before I believed this. I mean the purpose of this blog is to be specifically NOT paying attention to or commenting on the opinion class Sports Media, but this is ridiculous. I cannot believe anybody involved with any team officially or unofficially told Bob Elliot this in any seriousness. If I did not see it myself I would not believe that any newspaper would print it, but maybe that's how low things have gotten in the newspaper game. I don't think I can believe the Sun is going to print the scores correctly anymore.

Ignorant Jays Fan Free Agent Mad Science

What if the Jays were to get their hands on a good defense/decent offense 2B in the off season through free agency or other means (Orlando Hudson maybe, although I'm partial to Iwamura because he's been putting up good numbers in the AL East) and moved them to 3B, or even more diabolically kept them at 2B and moved Hill to 3B! Muwahahaha! Then keep Scutaro, add Abreu to play RF and get a good DH (still on my Damon/Matsui kick), move Lind to 1B, play snider in LF, trade Overbay, Encarnacion and some pitching for something else that's required (closer). And if Wells can find his way back to .800+ OPS. Eggsellent!!! (taps fingertips together in knowledge he loves it when a plan comes together)

The AL Central is Terrible

Yeah I know what a newsflash, but come on! The Jays are not a good team this year, but they have just been manhandling the central this year. It would have been a very different world if Beetston and Gillick hadn't chosen the East over the Central as the Jays home in the 3 division world.

Oh and the Jays have jumped back up to 11th in the draft pick race because of last night "heroics". You are one greedy bastard Aaron Hill! Good news though after the Rock Cities it's all AL East or above .500 teams until  the season mercifully ends. I'm sure there won't be any comeback wins against quality opponents like the Orioles.

Can you Take a Rotation with Brett Cecil in it Seriously?

If the Jays had a rotation of Halladay, X-Legitimately Good Veteran Pitcher, Shaun Marcum, Ricky Romero and Brett Cecil would I consider that good enough to contend? I would have to say no. I think he's good enough to be a 6th starter, that guy in the bullpen or AAA who is the best option to fill in for maybe even a month if necessary. Maybe even be your 4th best starter for a couple weeks. But I think if you're team is expecting him to make 25+ starts and not be a real drain on your bullpen, then you are expecting to much. I could be wrong about this of course, and they could get lucky with Cecil. But I would prefer they don't rely on getting lucky with the starters.

Not to say that I think that will always be the case, he seems like he's got a chance to be a pretty good starter for years in the future. I just don't think there is a real good chance it's going to be next year.

Nice Win

Well that was a nice win I guess, although 4-3 Twins would have been a pretty good loss. Cecil could have easily had the same outing and the bullpen could have given up a couple and there wouldn't have been that much of a difference. Well I guess if they are going to pointlessly win games they might as well do it at home. Good day for Lind though, top 20 and even top 10 in a lot of categories is pretty much assured now. Just got to hope this isn't by far the best season of his career.

The Way Forward Update!

I think I would also consider in order: Bobby Abreu, Hideki Matsui and Vladimir Guerrero (way way behind) as DH next season if Damon can't be signed. Apparently the turf is being replaced next season, so maybe you could even entertain Abreu as an RF/LF possibility. The other 2 guys I worry about the injuries (Guerrero a lot). The Angels and Yankees have to give up some of these guys after this season don't they?

This of course depends on the Jays being willing to bring the payroll up over $100mil of in order to create a legitimate contender. Otherwise just forget it and give the job to Ruiz or this Dopirak guy - where is that guy anyways?

NFL Season Preview

Are you ready for some football? I sure as hell am. And I don't mean the unwatchable amateur College or CFL type. I mean good old over hyped NFL football! Since of course I don't pay much attention to the media I can't do much of a preview, but here's my thoughts on who I expect to be playing in the second last weekend, a darkhorse from each conference and who I'll be watching this season, and why.

AFC

Championship Game:
Pittsburgh
New England

Darkhorse:
San Diego

I don't know how you bet against Pittsburgh and New England, and I guess San Diego is still the best of the rest.

NFC

Championship Game:
Minnesota
Philladelphia

Darkhorse:
Arizona

I think the Vikings can grind their way that far as long as Favre doesn't get it in his head that it's all about him. I guess it's Philadelphia's turn in the east this year. After that everybody seems pretty much just above average or bad. Arizona still has all the ingredients so it's possible. I think that I read somewhere that Chicago and New Orleans are supposed to be threats, but I'll believe that when I see it.

Teams I'm Watching:

Colts - Because they are my favorites. I'm pretty sure this is going to be an off year but they are going to be entertaining nonetheless and probably make the playoffs anyways
Arizona - How can you not!
Pittsburgh - Because they always seem to be playing another good team in a good game.
Vikings - Whenever I can
Bills - Because I'm pretty much forced too

Somebody Needs to Decide where this Team is Going

So since my last post the Jays have almost been .500. This just will not stand! Are they going to make a great race to as close to the bottom as they can get? Or are they going to make some valiant attempt to look good in the last 20 some games? Decisions need to be made, goals need to be set.


Don't get me wrong. Halladay pitched great on Friday, and well last night until he just ran out of gas. Romero was pretty good on Tuesday and it was a nice come from behind victory. And who doesn't like a nice blowout like Sunday? But they could have lost a couple of those wins and still not looked too bad doing it. Just saying.


WAS 47-92
KAS 54-85
PIT 54-84
BAL 56-83
ARI 62-79
CLE 60-79
NYM 62-77
TOR 62-77
OAK 62-77


I think Baltimore is uncatchable at this point, but the Jays can certainly get themselves to 5th, especially if these replacements for Rzep and Cecil can do their part. And shouldn't Romero be running up against some innings limit soon too as well? Just saying.

When Losing is Winning...or Something... Who Knows??

As much as I feel dirty for saying this, there really isn't much of an argument to make for the Jays to win many of the remaining 29 games this season. Other than the fact that you would like to avoid the embarrassment of a 95+ loss season at this point, who really cares? I don't want to see Halladay and Riccardo get tonged on for the last month, but other than that, Hill and Lind have every reason to be happy about what they have done, and can't go anywhere for years. Scutaro is too much of a complicated situation to figure out how a lousy end of the season is going to affect his decision to re-sign, let alone what the Jays plans would be. Other than those 3 guys is there anybody that is a question mark that anybody really cares passionately about retaining? I cannot think of anybody.

Clearly nobody outside of Rogers, and maybe even inside of Rogers, knows what is going to happen in the off season, or what the real plan for next season is.

So lose! If they really are going to tear it down in the off season you might as well let the feeling set in now. If you are going to really try to build a contender then the money and your plans was going to have to do the talking anyways. It will just make a sweeter rags to riches story if that's going to happen. Although I can't see the Jays catching the Orioles for last in the division.

The only positive I can see is losing more and moving up in the draft. As much as I crap all over the draft for being pointless (Rzep was picked in the 5th round in 2007, and really has been more successful so far than 99% of the players picked, what does that tell you about the cosmic crapshoot of the whole thing?), the higher you pick the better your options. And the Jays will have a lot of picks next year.

Random Non-Sports Thought

Americans are completely insane. I don't know what you say to that. I know real life is crazier than fiction but come on, this makes Adam Sandler/Will Farrell movies seem plausible.

The Past 5 Days In Handy Blog Form

I guess the best thing you can say is the Jays scored enough runs in 6 games to win all of them, however they scored most of those runs in one game and 1-5!

They called up 3 guys, none of them Accardo, and then League had another awesome outing in celebration.

I keep hearing that Cecil and Rzep are "auditioning for spots in next years rotation". I know that this is just pap for the media but I really don't think that's going to get it done next year unless Toronto is visited by magical fairies.

I didn't have to watch Saturday or Sunday's game! Yay me!

In good news the quest for a new backup 1B/LF in the draft the Jays have made some progress:

WAS 46-87
KAS 51-81
PIT 53-79
BAL 54-79
SD 58-76
OAK 58-74
CLE 58-73
NYM 59-73
TOR 59-72
ARI 60-73
CIN 60-73


9th place baby!


Also in other "good" news, I heard JP on the radio this weekend in a canned interview and I think he said the team is committed to a payroll of $64 million for next year in it's current contracts. So if you subscribe to my plan and figure the talk about the team having the money to build a contender next year is true, and you figure the payroll for a contender is around $120mil, I think you could get my list done for $56mil, including Figgins! WS 2010!