Eveland pitches great, Hill 2 RBI, I have no 3rd thing

Wasn't paying attention to this game, so going by the recap and boxscore that's pretty much it.

I do think though that if Tallet is going to continue to have a place in the rotation and Eveland is going to pitch this well, then cecil and rzep both have to go down to AAA. I'm sure they will both be back in no time at all, as one of those 2 will surely flame out, and there will be an injury, but I think you have to see where this train is going.

Besides I like the sound of "The Dana Eveland Project" as some kind of progressive rock band name.

Morrow and McGowan

Some reports from Bastian on the 2 of them here

Morrow threw as scheduled again and apparently his arm is still attached so he's going to get back on some kind of a schedule that should allow him to make a start in the 3rd game of the regular season. Again I will wait to see.

As far as McGowan goes, it's 2 more weeks of rest. Fine with me. I'm just still hoping at some point he proves me wrong. It should be pretty obvious to anybody that he is not any part of any plan. And if and when he comes back, it's all one gigantic boat of gravy.

Well Mr Marcum, that didn't smell very acey, Cecil announces himself, Kyle Phillips makes a late move

I'm not saying Marcum sucks, I'm just saying calling him the "ace" or even making a big deal of the fact that he's the acclaimed opening day starter is pretty dumb. He couldn't even make it to the 6th inning today. I'm sure there's a good reason, he was probably throwing nothing but changeups or something. But still any talk beyond "we hope he makes it through the regular season healthy", especially in spring training is just dumb, dumb, dumb.


Overbay suffered some kind of injury that knocked him out in the top of the first. Hopefully not serious.


Very nice outing by Cecil today. I assume he was throwing curvy stuff. I think I hope he starts in AAA and pitches great and gets called up when there is an opportunity to start. I worry he'll get stuck in the bullpen doing nothing if he makes the big club.


Any news on Morrow throwing in the bullpen today, did the arm stay attached?


Kyle Phillips with 4RBI and a HR today. Don't think he's going to unseat McCoy though in the "has to make the team gone by may sweepstakes".


You know none of either Bautista, Ruiz or McCoy is likely going to have an above average MLB career. But if even one does it would boost the Jays futures immeasurably. 

Friday Afternoon Travesty: Tom Henke has never received his due

I think I have posted about this before, but I'm not sure, search tells me no, it is one of my favorite saws when talking Jays.

Tom Henke is maybe the greatest player the Jays ever had.

I know he'll never get to the Hall of Fame like some guys, and he never won an MVP, and I don't think was ever seriously considered for a Cy Young. Look at his career though and find another Jay who was so stunningly good the whole time he was with the team (8 years). He was there for both the mid 80's and the the early 90's. His being so good all those years, that anchor that didn't have to be worried about, is what helped build a team that in the early 90's that could win back to back WS, even if he wasn't there for the second one.

I don't think it's any stretch to say no Henke no World Series. They had nobody else when he came up in 85, and Duane Ward was still 4 or 5 years away. Who knows what he would have been without Henke there in his early years.

The only guy I really think can be put in the same league is Jimmy Key, but in my opinion he has always received a lot more acclaim than Henke ever did. Well for me anyways, I think a lot of recent fans may not even know Key existed.

Unlike a lot of closers he quit at 37, after yet another great season. He probably could have "hung on" racking up saves for another 5 years or so. He probably would have gone over 400 for his career, he may have even hooked on somewhere he could have been a star for the last couple of years.

Addie watch day?

Is he just going to be at spring training next year competing for a spot with the big club and we are all going to wonder where he came from, or are we just never going to hear anything about this again?

Were there games the last couple of days?

I don't know, looking things over seems like they lost both, not surprising as the regulars on the other teams are going to play more and more.

Eveland and Rzep both pitched ok from what i see the last 2 days.

Apparently Overbay has been declared the starter for the beginning of the season, and that means Ruiz is mostly going to have to sit. I don't think I have a big problem with this to start the season. It's going to be a lot more beneficial in the long term if Bautista actually turns out to be a viable everyday MLB player somehow, and he's earned at least a month of the regular season to prove it's possible. if he sucks as bad as i think i will then move snider to right and lind to left and give ruiz a shot at dh, or mix it up any other way. ditto for olerud, give him as much chance as possible to make himself a tradeable commodity.

The problem is if Cito thinks that Bautista batting 260 with a 310OBP is ok at the end of April, Bautista will get to stay as the everyday leadoff man and banish Ruiz to the bench. Better hope Ryan Howard twists his ankle or something.

Wherein I try to avoid wrecking the whole purpose of this blog

Knowing that I have forsworn Bastian for at least a week, and I'm not supposed to be doing media criticism, I promise I did not read this article, but only the headline, and just skimmed it. I also know that Bastian doesn't write the headline. BUT. Come on people, neither of these guys has even started 30 games in a single season yet (yes I know Romero got 29 starts last season, maybe i would set some different goalposts in this ridiculous rhetorical contraption if it wasn't somebody else's). Neither of these guys is an "ace" by any reasonable standard. Now you want to imply there's some controversy over who the ace is?

I have no idea how the rest of the idiot media is handling this, i just fear it isn't any better. I can only hope that this will contribute somehow to them all going away if they are doing it as stupidly.

Tallet is Tallet, Ruiz homers, Roenicke unclogging the bullpen situation a little

You have to wonder which Tallet is going to show up for the few start he's going to get at the beginning of the season. One that might have some good outings and screw up somebody else's development but pay off in a late season trade? Or the one that's going to prove that he needs to be pulled out of the rotation quickly so he can go to the bullpen and maybe prove himself to be late season trade bait.

Marcum has been announced as the opening day starter. I can't believe all the "leadership" crap and other stuff he talks about in this article by Bastian. Does anybody really believe this stuff? Does anybody even remember who started the 1st game of the season after the 10th game of the season? I was going to write a full post about this but even this short paragraph is more than the subject deserves.

Big day tomorrow for Morrow, he's supposed to throw in a bullpen session or something so we'll find out for sure if his arm is still attached.

Rain Out! Marcum awesome in simulated game, Card games ensue, more exciting than actual game would have been

I have no idea if those next 2 are true, but it's fun to say. Bastian wrote some stuff today, apparently Kevin Gregg thinks he should be the closer. I think I need to take about a week off from Bastian.

Update:


And here's a good reason why. If He's Gone was a dick who nobody really like too much, or whatever then that's fine. I didn't think that was the message from the article, but then I wasn't really sure what it was. This follow up note doesn't really clarify anything for me. Just makes me think everybody's still scared to say what they feel.

Addie watch day 7?

Is this just going to go down the memory hole? And i spent all that time on nicknames!

Rzep goes 5, Offensive output!, Things return to form in Closer death match

Hill hits a HR, Snider goes hitless, but gets a BB. Bautista still hasn't walked yet this spring. Gregg seems to suck every 3rd time out, but maybe it's every 2nd time out.

Anyways McGowan is going to sit for a week, which sounds like a good idea. If we seem him in may or june that's ok with me.

Marcum vs. Red Sox today, wonder if they are bringing anybody good? I believe he should be going 7 today, which means spring training should start getting interesting now.

Pitchers Good, Hitters I never heard of Suck, Randy Ruiz Celebrates first MLB Season Start by drinking too much

Big news of course is that Morrow missed his start, probably because he's fighting off the flesh eating virus or is becoming a vampire or something. Following that here.

At least Ruiz worked a walk in his 4 trips to the plate. I guess he was so dizzy from his hangover that he just didn't bother swinging.

Bastian is again writing about He's Gone's lingering effects. I think I'm not even going to read this article, because I'm sure I already read it before.

Brandon Morrow, we hardly knew ye

As per Bastian

I'm sure they'll be pulling out his labrum or Tommy John or something in no time.

We'll see you back for 2012 or something buddy, good luck in rehab

Update:


Well not much more here except that they filled us in on some Astro scratches of guys I never heard of, very helpful.

They are calling it "precautionary" which I assume means he cut it off in a chain saw accident.

Update II:


So Morrow claims this happens every year in spring training. So either this goes away no problem or this is the year his arm falls off.

Update III:


There is another article on bluejays.com claiming that this is no big deal. They go so far as to point out that he had his arms crossed in order to prove that he still has both arms. I will not be convinced until he makes his next start.

Update IV:


Apparently everything is ok and Morrow will pitch again on the 29th and should be able to make his planned start in the regular season. We'll see.

So what's going on in the Backup Catcher Death Match?

Apparently nothing at all. I have no idea how you decide this one, just like before. If anything it looks like they are both proving that they don't belong in the MLB, but of course the backup catcher is a different breed. The worse he is the better! per se. It's kind of like grittyness I guess. Except it generally involves a lot less being white and a lot more being latin.

Snider and Buck both homer 2x, Hill Hits! (And walks), Romero Ho Hum

The Baltimores have managed to finish ahead of the Jays once since 1998, even the Rays have done better, and they have only existed since 1998. I'm still going to say that I think the Jays are headed for the basement this season, and 100 losses. But I do think that the situation isn't going to last for more than one season, and by 2011 the Orioles and maybe even the Rays will be looking back up at the Jays. Jeremy Guthrie is your #2 starter? Really? He'd be battling Tallet here for 5 spot at best, and nobody thinks Tallet is the Jays 5th best starter. Anyways.

Eveland threw 4 good innings, after Romero. I'm still going to say it'll be a shame if they have to loose him. He's a lot younger than Tallet and probably a lot more likely to be something useful. I don't understand why they traded for him, but it would make a lot less sense to just outright lose him after it. I'll knock my estimation of atos down a peg if they do,

Randy Ruiz is going to open the season on the MLB roster, with Dopirak getting sent down. Look i'm not thrilled but if this is going to happen they might as well make the guy a regular to start the season, however they do it. He's 32, if he's going to prove that everybody else in the world was wrong all these years, he needs 4 or 5 starts a week. If he's just going to sit on the bench and PH and get 1 start a week you might as well just keep Dopirak in the majors and stop pretending that you really think Ruiz has a chance to be something, and making it sound like you care about him. I don't think he's Roy Hobbes by any stretch, but we might as well find out. This gets easier of course if Encarnacion starts the season on the DL.

Non-Sports Rant: New Moon is like watching paint dry while you have your brain pulled out of your nose

My wife is forcing me to watch this gay vampire movie

50 minutes in and still absolutely nothing has happened

there was a werewolf in a commercial i could not avoid, i believe that was a lie

the hot chick in leather body suit quotient is also very low

Day 5 of the Adhechia Watch

When do we get to start wondering if this deal is falling apart. Although I have now run into references to it in the Toronto media from blogs I frequent, I don't think I have seen anything official or on ESPN.com or anything. Seems kind of bizzare.

I really like Adhechia, but I couldn't remember how to spell it when I went to write this post, so I think i'm going to have to go with Addie.

Tallet pitches well enough to make even me notice, Snider Homers, Potential Closer Death Match

Look if Tallet is going to pitch this well, I'm not going to deny that he deserves his shot. If he puts a couple more of these up then I guess he does deserve a chance over Eveland (when does he pitch again?), although if they both pitch well it would be a shame to loose him for nothing, given how young he is. But it looks like McGowan is definitely going to start the season on the DL, meaning he's also going to spend some time in the minors, and Cecil is definitely going to the minors to start, so these 2 are going to get a shot.

Similarly, with Carlson nursing an injury, the spot for another LH in the bullpen appears to be open and David Purcey could step in their. Do I get to gloat now?

And really who cares about the "closers", I wouldn't be shocked if they were all gone by the end of August. At the same time I believe both Downs and Frasor are potential Type A free agents after this season, so that's something.

He's Gone!

While going back through posts tonight and labeling them (a tedious process) I have decided that Roy Halladay will for now on be referred to as "He's Gone". Mostly because "Get Used to It" is 4 words long instead of 2.

Day 3 of the Waiting for the Cuban Show

No game today so it's all about Adeinis Hechavarria. I thought I would finally come to a decision on what to use as his nickname, because I ain't copy and pasting that monstrosity forever. So here's what I got.

Hech - Simple, I like it pretty good

Denny Hech - this is whiting him up to the extreme, I suppose it would be "ironic" but I don't like it

Addie - For a little bit of that baseball history reference. Addie Joss anybody?

Adhechia - This one I think is cool, because if you pronounce it right (A-duh-k, Adek-e-ah, Adek-e-eh?) it sounds kind of Japanese. So you get a 2 for one International free agent feeling.

I'll have to see how it goes.

Marcum pitched in a minor league game, threw 58 pitches and tries to get it too 75 in his next start. Good news.

Let's all welcome Adeiny Hechevarria

For a deal that was supposed to have 100% happened, surprisingly little news on this. One thing about the rumor at bluejays.com and not really anything on a "major" site. But for fun we'll assume it's going to happen.

There is some video and a scouting report here (h/t djf). He looks like a tall skinny shortstop to me. I'm not going to be overly impressed by 2 nice plays and an opposite field hit. He played for the Cuban National Junior team, so you got figure he's not going to be tripping over his own feet out there. I'm going to assume the Jays know what they are doing and the kid can play some.

Obviously the big news here is the organization has actually done what they talked about doing, and spent some significant coin on a foreign prospect. I wasn't worried that it wouldn't happen per se, because really there are too many variables. What I did worry was there would just be a lot of talk and no action then maybe 2 years from now somebody would say "hey what about the signing Cubans plans" and then they would spend $950K on some nobody and expect us all to cheer. Maybe they actually will sign those last few pieces when the team actually needs them in a couple of years. $10mil is not a small investment for a kid who may never play.

As for when we actually see Hech, I would have to guess he doesn't get a real shot until sometime in the second half next season at the earliest. If this season really goes to crap and he's doing anything, and nobody else is in the minors maybe September call up this year.

Jay nobodies loose slugfest, Rzep starts poorly finishes strong, Cecil shows he likes Vegas

Not much more to say except Ruiz is stating his case to get his chance to strike out a bunch of times in the MLB.

Brett Wallace got sent down, not a big surprise with that picket fence BA. Off day tomorrow, Tallet to pitch again on wednesday.

Blahhhh.

It's the game from Bizzaro World: Morrow throws BP, Frasor gets Shelled, Gregg is good!

Well we'll see how everybody does next time before we to hyped up by any of this.

Not from Bizzaro world: Snider hitless, Bautista gets hits, Hill BB, no hits, Lind gets a 3B!

Is Hill trying to prove a point or something? He now has 8BB for the spring, Thats tied for second in spring training, and about 1/2 the time he's been to plate he's walked.

There are also rumors that the jays have signed Adeinis Hechavarria. Not bad enough we already had Rzep, now we have to add another guy with an 11 letter last name and a confusing first name to boot. He's supposedly only 19 so it's a couple more years until it's going to become a regular problem. Maybe he can change his name to Danny Hech?


This will probably get it's own post.

Romero: Hey I'm here too, Eveland also making his case, McCoy too

Tidy win by the Jays on the road. I was never sure why the Jays traded for Eveland, and it seems pretty doubtful they are going to keep him now. Where does he fit and how would he clear waivers unless things go south fast? Then why do you want him anyways.

McGowan makes another sim start today I believe and then it should be game action if things keep going well.

Snider hit a 2b yesterday as well. A couple of hits today and a bb and he's pretty much right back on track.


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Mark McCoy in theory

I'm thinking the new leader in the "must make the team / released by may" race is now Mark McCoy. As well as being speedy and being able to play all over the infield and outfield, he probably ranks high in the all-important "grittiness" (in that he's white, short, and has no power). I don't know, not paying attention to most of the media or any message boards I don't know if he's been tagged as such yet, but it's a pretty safe bet.

Look as a guy who can actually play a bunch of positions, I think it's great that it might be him and not some masher who stands in lf. At least we probably won't have to watch him boot balls all over the place while we figure out he really can't hit curve balls. And He certainly has put in his time. But I'm pretty sure if he does make it the reason he has only made one short MLB appearance in all his years is going to show up.


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Managager Has Feet, Expects to Walk - "Toes are usefull", says Gaston

I don't know who to blame more here, Bastian, Cito or the headline writer. Seems like maybe there is enough to go around.

Drabek sent down, but expected to return

Righty prospect 'has good stuff,' says manager Gaston

Hold on their captains of obviousness, you don't want to go to far out on a limb there with these prognostications, there's a .05% chance you might be wrong.

Do you get the feeling these people are all kind of sick of this, and each other right now?  And there's like only 23 more days of this to go.

Things that were kind of a travesty - and a photo!

Here's something new, let's do things from the past, near or far that I think were kind of a travesty, although that is probably the wrong word.

Devon White should have grown a fro and a beard.

There was nothing better than watching baseball in the 70's than awesome hair. And there was no more awesome hair than an outfielder with a giant fro racing to track down a ball, hat flying off, hair exploding in the wind. Add some kind of beard or chops and awesome! Devo would have been great for this but he always kept it short, it was the wrong time.

Here's a picture of Oscar Gamble to explain what I mean.

If Devon had done this he might be top 5 in legendary Blue Jay status.

The Jays have an Ace!

Well  nobody's saying it yet, but after Marcum's 3IP yesterday everybody seems to be sure he's the opening day starter. 2 weeks ago this was a team in the dire straits of having not even a opening day starter, so it shouldn't take any time at all for people to start proclaiming him the ace.

I don't know what's going on in the broader media with this, but it is one of many things that I wish people would get their head straight about. I think Shaun Marcum would just like to prove to himself that he can stay healthy for a whole season while pitching 200+ innings, and really I don't think he should try to get there until next season. I think a nice 25 start year would be great! Maybe he'll have only 1 trip to the DL for something small! Awesome!

I think this is the kind of thing where poorly managed public expectations can really become a problem. If this "Marcum for ace" stuff starts to get out of hand, and he has a good April and May say, X-1 with a ERA in the 2's, things could get silly. By September he could be trying to gasp and wheeze himself to the end of the year in some vain attempt to win 16 games because that's what an ace would do. If things go generally crappy with the rest of  the team there really could be pressure for this. Will that damage him in the future? I don't now, he has pitched close to 200 innings in a season before, but is it worth the risk?

I think it would be a lot better if the team was saying he's just another guy and it doesn't matter who starts the 1st game (because really it doesn't), maybe even that he's going to only get 25 starts and that's it.

Makes a good argument for my 6 starter approach I think.

Marcum is AWESOME!!1!!, Arencibia now a bum, uhh not much else

The Jays took nor regular starters so what can you say, not sure why Arencibia only got 1 AB but I guess who cares?

Today Brian Tallet gets to pitch again. I'm thinking that the whole Tallet as a starter thing is just to kind of make him feel good after tryong so hard last year. But I think the way this plays out is that at best he makes a couple of 5th starter starts until either Cecil or McGowan are ready to take over the spot once it's needed on a regular basis. Unless he consistently proves to be worse than Eveland, who then gets the spot. Unless of course either proves to be awesome once the season starts.

I'm still pining for my 6 starters option once May begins.

Update: Today's game was cancelled, and Tallet pitched a simulated game instead. I think he should just keep getting simulated starts, then he can really pitch out of the bullpen.

Drabek may redeem Halladay trade yet, Hill: Where are the hits?, Gregg does nothing to explain signing

Jose Bautista is almost certainly going to leave this in florida, you can just see it coming. Not one walk.


In the B game, Morrow and Rzep pitched great, Cecil not so great with only fastballs and changeups. I think this is probably a pretty good thing as Cito seems to be hot to have Rzep's kids, and wouldn't touch Cecil with a 10' pole, so it's probably better if he goes to AAA and pitches rather than having an awesome spring and earning himself a spot in the bullpen.


I am beginning to wonder if Snider is going to earn himself a trip to AAA to start the season with his awesome .188 avg. Of course if he gets 3 or 4 hits in his next couple of games the numbers look completely different. But this is spring, no time to be rational.


I believe Arencibia is making the trip to play TB today so another chance to prove he is the future that connot be denied (until he's hitting .160 at the end of april).

Romero keeps it going, Arencibia generating buzz, McGowan takes a big step

The positive continues to outweigh the negative and is starting to pull away. This is all good news for the Jays and their PR, as long as nobody starts talking about even a .500 season. Keep in mind that the only starter this team has that should even come close to 200 innings this season is Romero.

I believe Morrow gets his 2nd start tommorow. And I really hope things keep going well for McGowan and he gets that next simulated start on schedule. The interview I read with atos where he doesn't say he's going to start on the DL was interesting, my assumption being that he could get in some trouble if he even hints it's the plan this early. My mind cannot grasp the idea of him being on the opening day roster.


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Jose: don't leave it all in FLA, Wells back to form, Tallet experiment must end

Encarnacion better hury back. Does Hill ever want to hit the ball again? Is Ruiz making his claim for an everyday position.

Maybe I should have put that Ruiz one in the subject. Did Arencibia do anything today.


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Big sigh of relief for Marcum, will Bautista awesomeness ever end? Lind hits first hr

I believe Arencibia hit another hr, how will they resist the pressure? When is it time to get nervous about all this walking by Hill and so little hitting?


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Bautista: MVP MVP, Morrow unhittable, Overbay to have greatest season ever, bullpen to suck

I think that pretty much somes it up.

Marcum to pitch today, hopefully he can continue the run of 2 innining greatness.

Bastian is sneaking in more references to the fact Halladay was traded. Is this something all writers do or is it just him?

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JP Arencibia is the future, the Halladay trade was a disaster, Rzep can pitch 2 innings

I don't know, what else can you take from today's game? I think I'll just do ridiculous subjects summarizing games, that way when I go back I can easily get an idea of the flow of spring training.

Does anybody know if there is a pool for the player who must break camp with the big team but is released by the end of may?

Jays win yay!


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Things to be interested in this early in the spring

Let us see, since I previously crapped all over the idea of reading too much into early spring training.

Romero seems to be interested in making adjustments, and understands they are necessary according to this article. He pitched ok in his 2 innings yesterday, the really positive thing being he was pretty efficient with his pitches.

Positive thinking on the Bautista leading off experiment here, and they tangentally mention Scutaro so maybe Cito does think he can re-work that magic.

Bastian does make some more pointless Halladay references, but at least they don't come at the very start of the article.

Drabek pitches today, get your outsized expectations started.


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Some things just require no analysis at all

So the fake games start tommorow and yay! Really though If you are going to look any deeper than the fact that there is a game you probably need to examine some things. It doesn't matter who starts, or what the batting order is. Just enjoy the fact that somebody is throwing a ball, somebody is trying to hit it, and if they do somebody else will try to catch it. I might care who's played and how much and where after about 20 games.

If you actually think it's important who the starting pitcher is in the first game of the season, for a team that's going to lose 100+ games, well then you really need some help.


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