2 of 3 at LAA was great in and of itself, but the excellent start by rzep and then the extension of the worst draft pick in history and his own great start sunday was a fantastic topper. 62-55, I never would have thought it. I honestly didn't think they would be 55-62 before the season started. So now it's 3 against the sub-500 A's (who always seem tough on the jays especially recently in oakland). They could actually have 10 wins more than losses by the end of the week and maybe all over boston too for 3rd place.
This of course on either side of the Rogers Sportsnet 1 mess, but whatever, let's not let it drag us down.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Why no Drabek?
I'm jumping to conclusions of course, I have no idea that we aren't going to see Kyle Drabek (or Zach Stewart for that matter) making starts in MLB this season. But I have to say I would really like to. I see that Cecil is going to be held back a couple of days and Morrow is going to skip a start, so Mills will make one more and then go back down and Rzep will come back up. I have also heard rumblings that a 6-man rotation might be possible at this point. I think this all makes perfect sense. Other than Romero I don't think you can just let any of the starters keep pitching until the end of the season without having a plan to limit their innings, including Marcum. But at the same time just shutting them down isn't any better. I'd rather they mix in some of these guys and let them finish off their seasons with some big league experience.
I can see an argument I suppose for keeping down the service time, and preserving minor league options, but Stewart and Drabek are really to good for that. They can't reasonably go back to AA, and AAA makes no sense for a season next year unless they legitimately can't win a job on the MLB team next year. And if that's the case then you have to start looking a trading some of the "extra" pieces you have to get the pieces you need.
UPDATE: Stop him before he hurts himself again!
h/t djf - apparently cecil is getting held back because he cut open his knee climbing the dugout stairs and required some stitches. This after of course carving himself up cutting up some chicken in spring training. What can come next? one of those accidents where you get sucked into a treadmill...
UPDATE: Stop him before he hurts himself again!
h/t djf - apparently cecil is getting held back because he cut open his knee climbing the dugout stairs and required some stitches. This after of course carving himself up cutting up some chicken in spring training. What can come next? one of those accidents where you get sucked into a treadmill...
Monday, August 9, 2010
Greatest. Weekend. Ever.
Well not really, but it was pretty damned good, as has really the last 6 games. It looked like the good times were going to stop rolling after 6 games with the yankees and tb. 5 wins later, great starts by romero and cecil, an unbelievable debut by arencibia and 1-hit, 17 K magnificence by morrow, they just keep rolling.
So rather than go on about the bizarre fact that arencibia sat yesterday or brett wallace's 400OBP lets just celebrate the fact that they Jays are still above .500 with 51 games to play and might even run down the red sox for 3rd place.
I would never, ever have thought it.
So rather than go on about the bizarre fact that arencibia sat yesterday or brett wallace's 400OBP lets just celebrate the fact that they Jays are still above .500 with 51 games to play and might even run down the red sox for 3rd place.
I would never, ever have thought it.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Beating a Dead Horse with Very Little Enthusiasm
So I did something today that I wasn't looking forward to all weekend, I read this article on BlueJays.com about Gose. It wasn't as bad as I thought and worse than I thought all at the same time. All it says of course is Gose is somebody atos really wanted, and that he's not doing so great in High-A but they have high hopes and Wallace is really great but that's the price you have to pay. I then went and read this blog entry by Wilner on the trade and got the same feeling. Add that to all the entries at djf and tao of stieb, including this one about the lack of action and at the trade deadline and well....
Look it's all great to feel good about the future, but you know whats always true about the future, it's coming. So what are you planning to do about it? Because I see some nice talk about how all this is going to come together some day, but nobody at all is putting any how or when to it. It's all beginning to sound very Underpants Gnomelike to me. Draft Picks->?->Contention!!!
Something I keep seeing and hearing coming up in defense of the Gose trade is that all the scouts and advisors agreed that he was just super, so that makes it ok. What I don't hear or see anywhere, and maybe I'm just missing it, is that any of the scouts and advisors thought it was a great idea to trade Wallace for Gose right now, and that really is the issue isn't it?
And here's the "little enthusiasm" part of the title. I really don't have it for going on an on about these things, and I'm open to the fact that I might easily be wrong about this. Maybe atos is some kind of genius who can build a contender in the next 2 seasons while still trading away some of the parts to do it for players who may not be ready for 4 or 5. It just seems to me that if you want to make a team competitive in the near term, you should mostly ignore the long term and focus all your efforts on that near term. Part of doing that is actually putting parts of that plan to the test, making decisions on them, and adjusting accordingly. Yes the whole idea of this blog is that I don't pay attention to the media, but if It is important to this team to say that they have some kind of timetable they are working on, you'd think I would find it when i went looking for it.
Or to put it another way, atos seemed to keep saying that he had to act on Gose now because in the future he would not be able to get him, because he would be too expensive. I think this is a little bit ridiculous and proves too much. After all if Wallace is as good as you keep saying, maybe you could have just traded him 2 years from now straight up for Gose anyways once he actually starts to prove it.
Look it's all great to feel good about the future, but you know whats always true about the future, it's coming. So what are you planning to do about it? Because I see some nice talk about how all this is going to come together some day, but nobody at all is putting any how or when to it. It's all beginning to sound very Underpants Gnomelike to me. Draft Picks->?->Contention!!!
Something I keep seeing and hearing coming up in defense of the Gose trade is that all the scouts and advisors agreed that he was just super, so that makes it ok. What I don't hear or see anywhere, and maybe I'm just missing it, is that any of the scouts and advisors thought it was a great idea to trade Wallace for Gose right now, and that really is the issue isn't it?
And here's the "little enthusiasm" part of the title. I really don't have it for going on an on about these things, and I'm open to the fact that I might easily be wrong about this. Maybe atos is some kind of genius who can build a contender in the next 2 seasons while still trading away some of the parts to do it for players who may not be ready for 4 or 5. It just seems to me that if you want to make a team competitive in the near term, you should mostly ignore the long term and focus all your efforts on that near term. Part of doing that is actually putting parts of that plan to the test, making decisions on them, and adjusting accordingly. Yes the whole idea of this blog is that I don't pay attention to the media, but if It is important to this team to say that they have some kind of timetable they are working on, you'd think I would find it when i went looking for it.
Or to put it another way, atos seemed to keep saying that he had to act on Gose now because in the future he would not be able to get him, because he would be too expensive. I think this is a little bit ridiculous and proves too much. After all if Wallace is as good as you keep saying, maybe you could have just traded him 2 years from now straight up for Gose anyways once he actually starts to prove it.
Small Comfort
I'm not sure which feels better, clubbing AJ Burnett or Josh Beckett, so hopefully Beckett will pitch against the Jays next time they meet up and I can compare.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Trade Deadline Roundup
I wanted to get to this earlier but given the long weekend and the no internet, drinking, boating, camp fires, playing with the kids and other various things that distracted my attention, I just couldn't. Also there was the fact that they JUST DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!
Well they did do one thing and that thing was freaking unbelievable. How exactly it makes sense to trade a player that is knocking down the door to play right now for a player that may not play for 4 years mystifies me. I understand that atos has wanted this guy forever and when he saw his chance he felt he just had to take it, but maybe he needs to learn some impulse control.
Hard on the heels of this mystery, we get the news that none of Overbay, Downs, Gregg, Frasor, Buck or Bautista could be moved for something acceptable. Look I am convinced on Bautista, since next year he's under control and even if he falls all the way back to pre-2010 levels, he's still an acceptable 3B and a plus utility player, just probably very expensive. Downs has a pretty good chance at being type A, though a lot of things have to fall into place, and the payoff isn't for years, so maybe it's worth the gamble, though I say no. Everybody else on the list, they should be gone for whatever they can get. The team cannot by hurt by moving any of them, and players like Arencibia, need to be here, Snider and Lind don't need Overbay in the player rotation taking away at bats and playing time at 1B, and how many pitchers from the minor leagues could see some innings over august if these relievers weren't here. I for one would like to see more Purcey.
Very disappointing. Maybe the wallet is going to open over the next 2 seasons and there will be some FA signings to make up for this loss of opportunity to improve the team for 2012 contention. But there is no reason this team can't compete then, and this was a golden opportunity to move in that direction. Right now it looks like the plan is to acquire as many prospects as draft picks as possible and look really tough and then compete - who the hell knows when???
Yankees up next to start the august beat down, but don't worry it will all be good because Draft Picks!!!
Well they did do one thing and that thing was freaking unbelievable. How exactly it makes sense to trade a player that is knocking down the door to play right now for a player that may not play for 4 years mystifies me. I understand that atos has wanted this guy forever and when he saw his chance he felt he just had to take it, but maybe he needs to learn some impulse control.
Hard on the heels of this mystery, we get the news that none of Overbay, Downs, Gregg, Frasor, Buck or Bautista could be moved for something acceptable. Look I am convinced on Bautista, since next year he's under control and even if he falls all the way back to pre-2010 levels, he's still an acceptable 3B and a plus utility player, just probably very expensive. Downs has a pretty good chance at being type A, though a lot of things have to fall into place, and the payoff isn't for years, so maybe it's worth the gamble, though I say no. Everybody else on the list, they should be gone for whatever they can get. The team cannot by hurt by moving any of them, and players like Arencibia, need to be here, Snider and Lind don't need Overbay in the player rotation taking away at bats and playing time at 1B, and how many pitchers from the minor leagues could see some innings over august if these relievers weren't here. I for one would like to see more Purcey.
Very disappointing. Maybe the wallet is going to open over the next 2 seasons and there will be some FA signings to make up for this loss of opportunity to improve the team for 2012 contention. But there is no reason this team can't compete then, and this was a golden opportunity to move in that direction. Right now it looks like the plan is to acquire as many prospects as draft picks as possible and look really tough and then compete - who the hell knows when???
Yankees up next to start the august beat down, but don't worry it will all be good because Draft Picks!!!
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