Damon Backwards

This is probably pointless, because the chances atos is actually going to sign Johnny Damon are somewhere between slim and none, but I don't like the logic I'm hearing. I can't figure out if I heard from atos himself or in opinion at djf that the plan would be to bring Damon in on a 1-year contract, but I'm all against it if it's only one year.

Damon can't help anything next season, he's only going to get in the way. All he can do is play left field or dh, and there is already a logjam at those positions. Why bring him in to jam it up even worse? If all the many options in the lf-1b-dh logjam can't play at the mlb level, than this team has more problems than what Damon can fix. I can see locking him up as a cheap option for the years after 2010, when he might actually help as a DH, and putting up with a way to make him fit next season. Don't be his springboard to a bigger contract next season, let somebody else do that.

If you really feel the need to add a veteran name player for a season to "fire up" the fans, why not look at Jermaine Dye? He can at least play a position where they need some help, RF.

More good news on the McGowan front

It's been a while, so I'll start with the good news. I just have to say that I continue to be happily proven wrong by his progress, and I hope to continue be proven wrong. When he first came up again in 2007 I was worried he would never get over his 100+ pitches to complete 5 innings problem, and he did, so I hope he proves I've got nothing to worry about again.

Good luck Dustin. And I don't care if the Jays somehow manage to screw this up and lose you because you're out of options, I'll keep cheering.

Sometimes it's not OK to just be looking

I don't want to be demeaning, because atos is pretty much doing exactly what I said he should, and at least representing that he's doing everything he can, but the "looking" at Eric Gagne thing is a little silly. I'm all over Ben Sheets, but this is giving up the game. What exactly are you going to do with him even if he's back to 2004 form? You aren't going to sign him for more than a year, and even if he somehow finds a way to prove that he's awesome again on your lousy 2010 team, your only chance to get any value for the endeavor is to trade him. While he's trying to prove his worth he's probably eating up innings for future players who will actually help you post 2010. As crowded as the potential starting picture looks, the bullpen might actually be worse (and if 3 or 4 of the starters can actually find a way to be decent early in the season, nothing is going to get accomplished). How do you see what all those guys can do if you're trying to get Gagne every opportunity he's going to want. Then against all that you have to add in the chance for some pretty big media disasters.

Hey if you want to pay Ben Sheets a lot of money to suck this season, I can see him still helping out 3 or 4 years from now. Even if Eric Gagne pays you money to pitch and is great, I can't see how it helps.

Other than that I'm fine with the long list of minor league signings/invitees. Who cares but them and their families who want them to be employed in the their doomed search for a mlb career. I mean if your 30 year old kid was determined to pursue their PhD in Medieval Theatre are you going to tell me you wouldn't want them to have that Barrista job at Starbucks so you didn't have to foot the whole bill. Minor League ball is a lot more lucrative than that. And I can try and dream big for Shawn Hill, he's from my hometown.

NFL Divisional Playoffs and the Conference Championships

So the Divisional Playoff games were all pretty lousy, even the Bolts-Jets which went to the end seemed to lack something. I couldn't watch Ravens-Colts (I still feel the pain), but following on my BB it definitely seemed like there wasn't any drama at all, though it looked like there were some great plays from the highlights. Vikes-Cowboys was only good because Dallas was embarrassed, thoroughly, but that wore off pretty quickly. I won't say anything about Cards-Saints, except it was obvious it was over when the Cards' 2nd Cornerback went out.

The best part of the weekend I think was all that awesome analysis where the Cowboys were proclaimed Super-Bowl champions by everybody before the game, and then they didn't even bother showing up for it. I think it would be history making TV if every pre-game show played those predictions back to the guys who made them and then asked them to justify it. If I knew that was going to happen I would probably tune in. But since I got to see just about every "expert" on those shows be 100% wrong, I think I actually have something beyond total disrespect for them. After a performance like that, if you were right about everything for a year, I probably still wouldn't trust you. Good show football experts, you make the banks and government institutions running the US economy look competent. That's saying something.

Anyways, Conference Championships.

I can't see how the Jets can beat the Colts, even thought the Karma is strong for it. The Jets already beat one team that laid down to get them into the playoffs, it would be fitting if they did it again. The Jets played the perfect game plan to kill SD's season last week, but the Colt's have seen that play, they were beating the Jets before they shut it down in week 16, and there's not any reason to believe they won't do it again. Miami tried to run out the clock on Manning early this season and still ended up losing. Revis is awesome, but he can't cover all of Manning's options, and if the Jets try that, the Colt's can run if they have to. Anyways I can cheer the fact that Jet's fans can keep rubbing Pat's fans noses in it.

Saints-Vikes, I have no idea. I believe it's going to be the Saints because of the home field, but I'm cheering the Vikes the whole way, they are my only remaining pick. Hopefully it will be a great game.

Good news is I get too watch both of these, it's already planned.

Well that makes perfect sense

The Mets are acquiring Gary Matthews Jr.

This will of course be a total disaster for the Mets. You would think they would learn. Just write down a list of things that you think are a good idea and then DON'T DO THEM. This would be top 5 on that list.

h/t mlbtraderumours.com

Hmm now if I was going to sign a possibly superfluous and cheap Free Agent...

I think I would make it Johnny Damon. Maybe for 2-3 years even. He could DH and play left field, and yeah his defense sucks but the team is going to suck so who cares. He could provide some of that "veteran leadership". He could bat 1st or 2nd. And if the team is going to be any good in 2011-12 he might just be valuable as the kind of part they may not be currently developing in the minors and may not be able to easily get in the fa market. This especially makes sense if Overbay gets traded.

And he just might be cheap even though he is a Boras client, especially if you do offer him a year deal. 2+ an easy to reach option? Just thinking out loud.

McGwire and Steroids

I didn't want to comment on the whole McGwire steroids statement thing going on. I haven't read his statement and I haven't really done anything more than skim over any articles I've seen. From the political blogs I follow it might have been something of a controversy, there have been a lot of "histories biggest monster" jokes.  Apparently one of the Big 3 network newscasters even made some kind of a statement about it.

I've never posted my thoughts on steroids before, and I should probably do a fuller explanation some day, but basically I throw it in with the opinion of "cheating" I've had ever since I was a little kid. So what, cheatings part of baseball, and as far as I can tell everybody does, and if you say you aren't that makes me just about sure that you are.

I'm sorry if that might seem cynical, but I'm pretty sure it's true. I have always believed that every hitters bat was corked, and every pitcher was doctoring the ball. Why wouldn't you? Do you know why ballplayer's pants have those ridiculously huge loops? Because when they were normal loops infielders would hook their fingers in them to slow up baserunners. And how the hell is stealing signs "cheating"? Signals intelligence is just smart. Why are there umpires at all?

I could go on, and maybe one day I will.

Anyways back to the statement. I haven't read it, and since it doesn't say as far as I can tell: "I took steroids, there were no rules against it, and you can't prove I didn't have a valid medical reason for it, so suck on it!" then I don't care, because it's a lie. That's about the most honest anybody in this situation can be. When the players association and or the MLB actually come out and make that statement then I'll be ready to believe they are ready to honestly deal with the situation. Anybody who thinks differently needs to take a long hard look at how sports, society, the law and the medical profession really views steroid use, and then justify their bubble world.

NFL Post Wildcard Weekend

So the first 4 games are over, and my predictions have taken a beating. Although both my darkhorses are still alive and if they make it I will count this as a major victory and proof of my genius. My thoughts generally? I missed both Saturday games which is good because my hatred of the cowboys does not allow me to watch a game like that without getting physically sick. Philadelphia, Cincinnati and New England should feel shame. The Jets will get killed by the bolts but it's great that they can lord it over Pat's fans for a week, I can cheer that. Go Colts, your path to the Championship and an SD re-match game is now clear. The Ravens/Pats game put me to sleep and when I woke up it was already 17-0 Cards, but that was still maybe the most awesome game I ever saw, and I don't feel cheated at all.

If it wasn't for the Arizona-GB game that might have been the worst weekend of football ever. Hopefully things pick up.

Chapman gets a pile of money, not from the Jays

I don't think before yesterday I would have expected that the Cincinnati Reds would be blowing everybody out of the water for Chapman, but that's what happened. If the rumours are to be believed 5years at around $30mil, with an option for a 6th year that if declined gets Chapman arbitration and not free agency. That is a big investment in a guy who appears to be really raw.

In the end meh! Atos and the Jays have put out there that they are serious players for talent, without actually spending any money. They didn't get the kid, but then neither did the Yanks or Sox, so that's a bonus. And it's pretty likely that if he does turn out to be something he'll be staying right in Cincinnati for the next 6 years. I can't see how if the Jays had given him that kind of money, it wouldn't be a serious problem if he turned into a bust.

Hopefully he turns out to be as exciting a pitcher to watch as advertised.

According to the Jay's Homepage

They are reporting a rumor from a Miami Spanish Daily that the Jays have made a $23mil offer to Aroldis Chapman, and that offer beats the Angels current offer. You have to believe if this is showing up on the Jays official webpage that there has to be truth to it. If there wasn't you assume there would be either no story or the story would be an official denial.

I still have to think that the Jays aren't going to get him, and I also have to believe they aren't going to be heartbroken if that happens. I think in my cynical way that a lot of this is the atos administration trying to look like they are more interested in international talent than the previous administration. It was always my impression there was criticism of jp that he didn't do enough on that front. I don't think atos' initial comment on the Chapman issue really showed a lot of effort being made. It wouldn't look very good to the media and fans if the Marlins got him for "cheap", if the general impression was you couldn't be bothered.

But obviously if you are going to make an offer that big then you must have serious interest, because you just might get him. So I don't think it's purely a cynical media con either.

I just can't see the Yanks, Sox and Angels all getting beat on this though. One of them is going to want it more.

NFL Before the Playoffs Start

So how did I do on my predictions, not bad I would say:

AFC

Championship Game:

Pittsburgh

New England

Darkhorse:

San Diego

...

NFC

Championship Game:

Minnesota

Philladelphia 

Darkhorse:

Arizona

So 5 of my 6 picks made it to the playoffs, and I could still get the NFC Championship game dead right, but who knows. The only team I would say has no chance to make it to the Championship games is the Jets. Everybody else you think doesn't have a chance could follow the Arizona example from last year. Meaning i guess that the Jets actually have as good a chance as anybody else.

Hell, Thy Name is Soccer

Watching the National Championship game, just saw an add for the World Cup. It's this year. Like the summer wasn't already going to be bad enough. Flags of foreign countries for all!

Today in Awesome Headlines

h/t to the djf's

Jays Claim Giant Bocock


We'll have to check with their wives.

Do they share it?


hahahahahaha

I am a child.

One of my faves in this vein (heheheh) (couldn't find the actual article)

Jays dominated by Yank's Wang


I couldn't find an internet repository for funny penis related headlines, but here's one for Colon http://www.lemmingtrail.com/t.php?id=120941.

Enjoy.

Thoughts on Hall of Fame Voting

I'm not going to argue the relative merits of one candidate over another, that's been done to death of course. All I'm going to say is:

Vote some players into the Hall of Fame for crissakes. There were plenty of eligible players this year. All of them were famous for playing baseball, not something else. Vote some number of them in greater than 1. Probably 3 at least. Every Year. From now on for a while. I fail to believe that every year 3 players don't retire who deserve to go to the Hall of fame, and it's not like there isn't a backlog to boot. That's only 30 every decade. Are you going to tell me baseball doesn't produce 30 HOF worthy candidates every 10 years from the thousands of players who play. Don't tell me about how many were produced every decade back in the 30's either. Have you heard of advanced medical techniques saving and lengthening careers? Or that back in 1930 there were only 16 teams?

I realize this sentiment isn't exactly original, and there are all sorts of great, well thought out arguments about who deserves to get in and who doesn't, and who before who and the whole "first ballot" crap etc...But vote in more than 1 guy a year! Please!

The only good thing about this is that there is now just about no way that Dawson will get swept under the rug by the attention given to whoever else got elected. That's well deserved. And the only silver lining.

Lind in the Lineup

For the most part, I just don't care about the batting order. As long as you don't do something stupid like bat John McDonald 3rd-5th then really, who cares? It's probably all coming out in the wash. If you have enough good hitters that it matters, you probably have enough good hitters that it doesn't matter. Capiche?

Still this is something to be interested in at bluejays.com. Personally I think that Hill Lind makes the most sense as a #3 hitter. He has the best OPS on the team, he can take a walk, he doesn't strike out a ton, he isn't a statue. I understand that Hill plays 2B, and is shorter and blonder, and is probably perceived as being faster. He also struck out less last year and may continue that and turn it into more walks and a higher OBP. Also if you are going to move Hill it would seem to be natural to move him one spot and Lind one spot, but if Lind doesn't seem to be comfortable with that, why bother? Basically i'm saying people think Hill should bat 3rd because he looks like he should bat 3rd. Not because necessarily it's the best idea.

It would seem to be a lot more logical to keep Lind batting 3rd, and move Hill to cleanup. That way if Hill can't get that OBP up he's not "damaging" the production potential by making outs in front of Lind. Of course that means you have to put somebody else who can get on in front of Lind. Who would that be next year? I have no idea. Snider maybe? I'm still kind of partial to Encarnacion. Encarnacion, Lind, Hill and Snider is a 2-5 I could see working. Hopefully by 2011 they'll have #2 sorted out. Leadoff as well. Man 2010 is going to suck.

A Tale of 2 Pitchers

I would never be more happy to be proven wrong - Dustin McGowan says he's going to be ready to compete for a spot in the rotation this spring training. He says he's 85% and ready to go. This is excellent news, as I have said several times, I never thought he would pitch again so first off I'm happy that he is as healthy as he is. The question now is can he get from 85% to mlb capable and stay there for an extended period. Make no mistake there is a long way to go between "Dustin McGowan thinks he's 85%" and back to as good as he was from the second 1/2 of 2007 to the first 1/2 of 2008. Maybe he never finds that form again, who knows? I'm just happy that it looks like he's going to have the chance.

In an update to the Aroldis Chapman saga (is saga the right word? seems like more of an inevitable slow conga to success for the guy. Shouldn't there be some kind of tension for him in the whole thing for it to be a saga? Hey Aroldis, how tough is it on you knowing that you might only earn $15 instead of $20m over the next 5 years in a career where you will probably earn over $100, does it get you down?  -I digress), also at djf, apparently the Jays and Angels are the final contenders for his services for around $21. I am not sure how I feel about it.

Clicking around on a recent sleepless night I found this at dugoutcentral.com, and while it all might be wrong, if any one of it is actually right is the guy worth that kind of investment? The most telling thing to me is the Cashman quote. If the Yankees think he's the real thing, why do they care how much he costs and how old he really is? Do they really feel that burnt by Igawa? Ultimately it's not my money, and if the Jays pay him that and he never gets out of the minors, as long as it doesn't impact what they do otherwise in building the team, who cares? If that's not how it's going to be, then I think they should stay away.

Well Well Well Jays linked to Chapman

According to the djf and the Jays own website (referencing ESPN.com), they have now entered into the Aroldis Chapman sweepstakes with a private workout and some negotiations. Wayback I opined that I didn't think it would be so hard for atos and his boys to at least give the impression they were serious about Chapman, rather than making it seem like they had better things to do. News that they have actually held a private workout is pretty impressive, it's shows more seriousness of course than just making an offer that you know won't be accepted. And if they go to that extent over New Years you have to figure they are going to at least make an offer that will get considered.

If the Jays do manage to land Chapman, he's obviously not very likely to make an immediate impact. He's 21, and 6'-10". Randy Johnson was 24 before he made it to the big leagues. 26 before it looked like he was really going to figure it out, and 29 before he got really good. Hopefully pitching coaches have learned something valuable from that experience that can aide the development of Chapman.

What I think is really exciting here is that this guy is going to allow for all kinds of nickname opportunities. Gumby by the djf's is ok but I'm a partial to Kif from Futurama.

Also I think this little blog opinion from Busted Coverage is interesting.