The wheels are in motion, and apparantly, Brad Pitt is in negotiations to play Billy Beane in the movie adaptation of Michael Lewis' best selling book, Moneyball.
While Pitt is a curious choice, the real question is who should be cast in the minor role of J.P. Ricciardi... Mr. John Turturro, or Mr. Jeff Goldblum??
With the success of the Rays this year, other teams are thinking of scaling back their nicknames in hopes team turnaround...
Finally, with mercy, the Jays have acknowledged that it is time to turn the page, with their trading of Matt Stairs, and the promotion of the over hyped phenom that is Travis Snider, the team is now trying to show fans that there is something to get giddy about.
Travis Snider. Your coming out party is tonight in Yankee Stadium. Don't fuck this up, or the Toronto beat will quickly dismiss you as another Russ Adams or Ricky Romero.
Let's see a 4/4, with 4 homer night. Anything less is unacceptable.
I'm in my hotel room and just found out it actually has Wi-Fi, so I'm busting out a post at warp speed before I head out for dinner.
Gregg Zaun is still a Blue Jay. Much to the chagrin on Zaun, but moreso for the the Toronto Blue Jays organization.
Does hitting .243 with five home runs, with a below average gun behind the plate warrant being a back up? Fuck that! It's if the Jays have turned around and started not rewarding grit and baseball acumen that overflows in guys like David Eckstein and Zaunie, and all of a sudden resorted to actual talent and production to make their decisions in putting out the best roster available.
No, not the one involving Rachel Weisz. My Fantasy baseball team in the league that I wrote about many months ago, involving the who's who of the Toronto Blue Jays Blogosphere.
So I went down to Syracuse a couple of weeks ago, as indicated in my last post, during my hiatus from this blog, and witnessed a truly horrendous Triple A team that the Jays currently have. Granted, in recent years, teams have veered away from putting any talent whatsoever in their AAA franchises and let their studs marinate in AA, but still this was a truly depressing site.
No, not Rakim. It's us!! Errr... me! What the fuck have I been doing? You probably don't care... but I moved, went on vacation, went back to work after vacation and had no life for 2 weeks, then finally got the internet back this week.
Planning a trip to Cooperstown, home of Baseball's Hall of Fame, and aren't sure what the can't miss things in town are? Never fear, Richard Griffin supplies us with his tips today in the mailbag. Listen up kids, here's what Griff recommends:
"Ask for Hall president Jeff Idelson, a good friend of mine, and ask him to show you the Robert O. Fishel Award and look for my nameplate"
Fun times! Griffin on a plaque!
Also, in this mailbag, according to Griffin: Zaunie, Fletch and Towers were Blue Jays for less than 2 years.
A+ for effort.
Remember the news last month, when the Jays took Gustavo Chacin off their 40 man roster, making him available for any team to pick him up? Well, apparantly, nobody wanted Gus, so he's still in our system.
I decided this morning to pull up his numbers in Dunedin to see how ol' Gusy is doing. Will there be a chance for all of us to see the greatest smelling Toronto athlete once again? I went to Baseball America, and did a search on Chacin. Little did I know... there are two Chacins in professional baseball! Two!
Like our good friend Josh Towers, the other Chacin is in the Rockies system. Jhoulys Chacin is his name. And he's throwing in low A ball, putting up ridiculous numbers. 10-1 record. 2.10 ERA. 1.01 WHIP. So there appears to be a Chacin on the rise, the smell of Victory could be on its way eventually to Denver.
As far as our Chacin goes. Not so pretty. 1-7 record. 7.88 ERA. 1.84 WHIP in high A ball.
In summary: Gustavo = done. Jhoulys = The New Chacin!
So the Draft was earlier this month, and the Jays took, with their first round selection, a projected sandwich/2nd round pick. A potentially poor fielding first baseman. Most probably a designated hitter.
David Cooper was so excited about being so highly coveted by a team with a mid first round pick, that he quickly became the first first rounder to ink a deal with his team.
It was a curious selection by a team that has historically had a farm system void of top shelf talent, but a team in the past two drafts altered their strategy into selecting more high ceiling guys.
In the two drafts previous to 2008's the Jays were lauded for their selections of Travis Snider, Kevin Ahrens, Brett Cecil, etc. The selection of Cooper, though, appears to be a regression in draft strategy to the team's philosophy prior to 2006.
Notably, most analysts suggested that the 2008 draft was a relatively weak class. That being said, when the Jays were on the clock, they had every opportunity to really roll the dice with selecting a player with perceived signability issues. And with a weak draft class this year, the worst case scenario for the team would be that the Jays wouldn't be able to ink a deal with the pick, and would be compensated with another first round pick for 2009's draft.
If the Jays gambled with their pick and snatched a high risk/big money demanding high school arm like Gerrit Cole or Jake Odorizzi, the team would conceivably have an arm that could have a major impact when Ricciardi is long gone. Instead, they took a lumbering designated hitter who will rise through the system relatively quickly. And back up Travis Snider.
David Cooper. Yippee.
After another pointless hiatus, All Your Base returns with this huge newstory that has transpired this past month in Boston. Hazel Mae is leaving NESN, and her future destination is shrowded in secrecy. Perhaps a return to Sportsnet to replace Jamie Campbell as the new play by play announcer for Jays broadcasters? Indeed!
You've got some competition now. This charming young fellow wishes to show us all the weirdest batting stances in baseball. Enjoy!
Vernon Wells - Breaks wrist May 9th, put on the Disabled List
Jeremy Accardo - Injures forearm May 9th, put on Disabled List
With speculation rising already that the Jays could be using farmhands to acquire another big bat for the lineup, it seems logical to take a bit of a gander at the Jays system to see what's there that could be for the taking. We've already seen a glimpse of David Purcey, who made his best left handed Daniel Cabrera impression in his major league debut.
For all the grief the Jays have had over the state of their relatively weak minor league system, most baseball experts agreed that the Jays had a very good 2007 draft. With that in mind, let's see how some of the newer young Jays are doing this year.
In Low A ball, there are a couple of names that stand out, including the Jays highest pick in last year's draft, Kevin Ahrens. From what I've been able to gather in my relatively quick research, Ahrens is showing some promise for a guy drafted right out of high school. The switch hitting third bagger has yet to hit a homer, but is hitting a respectable .291 thus far and is 3 for 3 in stolen base attempts.
Sandwich pick Justin Jackson is one of Ahrens teammates in Lansing. Jackson was a guy whose stock fell quite a bit in last year's draft, as he was once projected as a surefire top 20 pick. Scouts were dazzled by the high schoolers defensive prowress at shortstop, but there were concerns over his bat. Thus far, it looks like Jackson has been making some great strides in the hitting department. Hitting .313, Slugging .494, and already with a long ball, the speedy infielder is also an impressive 6 for 7 in stolen base attempts. Batter's Box recently saw Lansing play and came off most impressed with Jackson. I think it's pretty safe to say that we should start polishing up his Hall of Fame bust.
A guy I've never heard of until yesterday on JaysTalk with Ricciardi, is pitcher Kyle Ginley. He's destroying low A ball thus far, and a promotion seems likely. The kid thus far is 5-0 with a 1.24 ERA, with 36 Ks in 36 innings.
Moving up to Double A, Travis Snider is shitting the bed thus far, but there is no need to panic, given the small sample size... and the fact he's just two years out of high school. Snider's knocked a couple out of the park in New Hampshire, and his average has nowhere to go but up. As a top 15 prospect in all of baseball, he won't be hitting .143 come June.
Recently promoted Brett Cecil has let up 4 runs in 7 innings thus far in New Hampshire, and his rise to the majors will probably be quite swift, as he, unlike the other kids mentioned in this post, is out of college.
I'm sorry. I think whatever readership this blog once had has now been decimated to none, because of the inactivity here without warning. Chalk it up to a number of not really great reasons, and this blog's been pretty much abandoned over the past three weeks or so. I hope to make semi frequent posts once again... and less time is spent at the ballpark, or other out in the city venues and more time at home... watching the games on TV... and saving a few bucks.
Frank Thomas has been released. Adam Lind will be called up and be the full time Left Fielder. Matt Stairs and Shannon Stewart will take over the Designated Hitter duties
I've missed the last couple of games... but the Jays have mustered a little bit of a winning streak (2 games!!) in my absense. Burnett tosses this afternoon, in a must win game for the Jays (according to some insane callers in to Jays talk). Win or pack it in.
Turn off the TV. Either go to the games, or listen to them on the Radio. Here's a sampling of today's great broadcast on the Fan.
(Wilner & Ashby talking about players forging their birth cirtificates so that team's draft them thinking they are younger than they actually are... Wilner mentions that there was a player picked up by the name of Isabel Giron, who used younger sister's birth certificate to pose as someone five years younger)
Ashby: In that case, they didn't need to forge the certificate.
Short Pause
Wilner: Well, except in one category.
A great weekend of baseball. With stellar preformances from some unlikely sources (The Big Hurt providing two huge hits in April already!?), and some great production from the new kids on the left side of the infield. The most encouraging signs thus far are the fact that Vernon appears to be back in 2006 form, Alex Rios looks ridiculously comfortable in the three hole, and Jesse Litsch & Shaun Marcum looked absolutely great.. particularly Marcum.
But let's keep things into a little perspective here... a lot of credit towards the wins can go directly to the players from Boston. The Red Sox looked absolutely beat this entire weekend. They were ridiculously sloppy on the field, and didn't muster any type of energy throughout the games. This is not the Boston team we will see later in the year.
All in all though, a great start to what should be the best season of baseball in over a decade.
Oakland's in town Tuesday to Thursday, and there should be around 20,000 there each game. It will be quiet, but it will allow me to actually focus more on the games now, rather than being distracted by 'fans' wanting everyone to watch their antics.
Jays home for a while and that means live reports from the SkyDome.
After finishing my weekly Tuesday pick up basketball game, I ran to the closest bar nearby. I won't tell you what that bar was, but it was the shittiest bar I've ever been to in my entire life. They had the Jay game on for my first twenty minutes I was there, but after a group of stereotypical puckheads came in and asked for them to turn on the Leaf game, the bartender obliged to their request, and I was treated to a pointless hockey affair.
I quickly asked the bartender to please put one of the televisions to the opening day game of our beloved baseball team, and he obliged. I became the only patron situated infront of that TV. The rest of the patrons hooted and hollared for every meaningless Leaf goal.
Anyways, quick thoughts on the game.
Observation One: This game had an unbelievable atmosphere. Intense, and it really felt that the game meant a lot more than it actually did. Great television.
Observation Two: Despite the horrible settings to watch the game in, away games are still better to be watched in bars, because you don't have to listen to the commentators.
Observation Three: The Jays new uniforms are much better than their last incarnation. The numbers and lettering font is still not great, but a vast improvement over last season's.
Observation Four: Is it me, or does Overbay always seem really tense in late and close games? I don't have any numbers... for the statistically inclined, does anyone have Overbay's career numbers in late and tight situations?
Observation Five: Marco Scutaro is on pace for 300 stolen bases.
Observation Six: I don't get the Joba hype.
Los Grandes Rios is ready to take over the city, folks. Freshly inked to a big money deal (65 million guaranteed), it's a win win for everyone. Rios has mo' money, and the Jays are doing cartwheels that they've locked up their best outfielder for half the money they forked out for their centre fielder just a year ago.
Some are speculating that there may be an out clause in this deal, which doesn't make a tonne of sense, since Rios was pretty much cost controlled anyway for the next couple of years... so giving him an opt out similar to Wells and Burnett wouldn't make a tonne of sense.
So Rios will be staying here a while, no more documentaries.
Quick Hits:
Get your spikes shined up Marco, you're going in. Toronto's big offseason acquisition, Scotty Rolen, must have been jealous of AJ Burnett, and decided if AJ is sans fingernail, then he should be as well.
Been a while, but I’ve got a bit of work that needs doing, so I thought I’d weigh in with a quick thought on spring training (funny how that works).
Yes, Jesse Litsch is still in the running for the 5th spot in the rotation.
Jesus, I wish everyone would get off of this guy. Yes, his stuff is middling. Yes, he’s young. Yes, he’s a right-handed Gus who seems likely as anyone to be a flash-in-the-pan.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Much as it might echo the cliché, pitchers will be pitchers – which is to say, they tend to be batshit crazy and like to get themselves into tight spots…car doors, phone books and the like. Statistically, they’re incredibly volatile. For all the loving given Doc and the hate for poor A.J., it’s surprising how often we forget that it’s what’s behind the freckles that really matters, and that Litsch has already had one initiation-by-fire and survived it (albeit after a couple of weeks in AAA).
I know there’s a tendency to look at McGowan and see a hybrid of the best features of Doc and A.J. And I know those six-inning no-nos really teased us into thinking that Marcum is the real deal. And that Janssen added a couple of miles after rehabbing the back so that if he’s to be believed, ’07 was much more indicative of his talent than the previous season. I know all that.
But if Litsch earns the spot, let him have it. Stash Casey in the pen for a while if you have to and extend him on the side when the need arises. I know it’s inconvenient, and the Zambrano experiment cowed everyone to that line of thinking, but another few months in the bullpen won’t kill the guy if he’s got the stones to start in this league. Sure, Litsch might not outpitch Janssen this year, but that doesn't mean he won't outpitch Marcum, or McGowan, or even A.J (I wouldn't put my money on Doc, though). If the kid deserves it, then give the sod a chance.
What will happen in 2008? Everyone has theories, and at the end of the year, everyone brings up the ones that actually came true, and summarily ignore all the ones that didn't come through.
With the season a mere weeks away, it's this blog's time to come up with some predictions. The hope is to be over 50% right, and no predictions will be made that are considered "obvious". So bookmark this, and in November there will be a re-examination of its contents.
Prediction 1: Nick Swisher will have a monster year. Remember Eric Byrnes' massive campaign last year, crushing dingers and stealing bases at will, lifting the Diamondbacks into the postseason? This year, Swisher will have a similar huge campaign... he'll be more aggressive, with a career year in homers, and he'll be swiping bases at a rate never seen before in his career. Surprising many, the White Sox will prove to be a pesky conteder to the likes of Detroit and Cleveland, thanks in large part to Swisher's production.
Prediction 2: By the allstar break, Jay fans will be calling in Mike Wilner daily about the team needing to get a first baseman to replace Lyle Overbay. Some will suggest the team bring up number one prospect Travis Snider already. This will drive Wilner close to the edge.
Prediction 3: Ben Sheets will be traded to the New York Yankees. The Yanks will find out soon enough that their pitching is not up to snuff. They'll quickly turn their attention to the Brewers' Sheets, and find the Brew Crew as a team open to making a move. Sheets will be in pinstripes to help the team continue their post season streak.
Prediction 4: Dusty Baker will have at least three quotes that borderline on insanity. (Note: the number is already at 1 with his recent criticisms of Joey Votto)
Prediction 5: When the Rays come to town, and Evan Longoria comes to the plate, you will hear a chorus of lame jokes in the Rogers Centre from fans who will compare him to a Desparate Housewife.
A crazy week of work has limited time to devote to updating the blog here, but now looking back at the week that was, there doesn't seem to be a lot to comment on or review here. The Jays are on TV today, which is fantastic, but I'll reserve my praise until after seeing how CityTV handles the job.
So All Your Base Are Belong to Rios participated in a fantasy baseball draft today with 13 other Jays fans/bloggers from all over the place and I think it went alright. There wasn't really anything noteworthy about the draft (no crazy picks off the charts...) but it was a different experience for me in that the format was unlike any fantasy draft I've participated in before.
The following twists were in this fantasy league: Batting average was thrown out, and we're using OBP and SLG as two categories, to make it 6X6 we are also using quality starts as a stat.
I'm used to the conventional categories. Also, it's a head to head, which I'm not familiar with either. I decided that I wanted to get good established closers. And I accomplished that. I suppose we'll see if that was smart or not. In any event, here's our squad:
Hitting
C - Ramon Hernandez
1B - Carlos Delgado
2B - Brian Roberts
SS - JJ Hardy
3B - David Wright
LF - Hideki Matsui
CF - Rick Ankiel
RF - Matt Kemp
Utility - Jeremy Hermida
Bench - Adam Jones
Pitching
SP Brandon Webb
SP Felix Hernandez
SP Daisuke Matsuzaka
RP JJ Putz
RP Jonathan Papelbon
P Mariano Rivera
P Mark Buerhle
P Andrew Miller
Bench - Scott Olsen
My favourite picks are Dice-K (taken 88th), King Felix (81st) and Kemp (144th). I'll update anything noteworthy that happens throughout the year.
It looks like Mark Zwolinski got some new magnetic poetry writing for his fridge and decided to use it for an article. Using the same retreaded statements as a million past Eckstein and Matt Stairs articles past, what seemed most nauseating was the same rehashed points and quotes throughout the article.
Remember Hard Hittin' Mark Whiten? I sure do. I remember when he beat the shit out of Black Jack McDowell after he was hit by a pitch. I also remember when he hit 12 RBIs in one game for the Cards. He was pretty ridiculous. I was pretty pissed when they traded him for the knuckleballer and Turner Ward. Candiotti was shit.
I actually kind of enjoyed this little preview, despite the lack of actual insight on anything whatsoever. McLovin apparantly thinks Glaus has "a bigger bat" than Rolen. I would agree. Much bigger.
Couldn't find any contact info for you Alex. So decided to write to you here. With my friend, babelfish, I had it translated into Spanish! I am not sure if it now makes sense though, as I do not know Spanish. Oh well, enjoy reading this.
Hey Alex,
Escuche. Sé que usted está negociando un nuevo contrato ahora, y usted está intentando conseguir tanto dinero como sea posible. Entiendo eso. Pero si usted tiene cualquier se preocupa de jugar en Toronto, déjeme intentar poner ésos en la facilidad.
Yeah, yeah, so Alex comes to Dunedin sporting a 'hawk. Well, actually, it looks more like a traffic stripe than anything else, but that's neither here nor there. I've met and seen a lot of mohawks in my life, both faux and real, and I must say I don't know if I've ever met someone who manages to pull it off with such class. It's a little more Mr. Smith than Tyler Durden, to say the least; apparently the major concern is how it will affect his tan.
I must say, the 'do flies in the face of just about everything I thought I knew about our boy Rios. At the risk of being crucified for levying criticism at this site's namesake in just my second post, a lot of words have come to mind about Rios over the past four seasons and "punk" was never high on the list. "Talented" certainly was, as well as a few less choice words, "soft" being one of the more moderate. I've seen Rios as the guy who occasionally dogs it in the outfield, occasionally doesn't bother to run out a pop-up and on the odd occasion forgets how many outs there are when he's stargazing out there on second.
A Spring Training video straight out of 1984, starring your Toronto Blue Jays. Fantastic.
Back in around 1990 or so, my buddy called me to let me know that he convinced his parents to get a new game for him for his Nintendo Entertainment System. He said he was watching the home shopping network, and found a steal of a deal, it was a game called Ice Hockey.
Now, with me being a fan of Blades of Steele, I was skeptical whether this game would hold water. But after the game was delivered, I was pumped to check it out. As noted, expectations were low, as this was before EA Sports came along, before 16 bit systems came along, and revolutionized hockey video games.
My buddy put the cartridge in, and we started playing. I was impressed. The developers didn't have any licensing permissions, so there were only national teams you could be. No players had names. But the intruiging thing about the 4 on 4 Ice Hockey game was how you could set up your roster. You had the ability to chose from three body types that your players would have. You could have a fat player, and with him came toughness and a great slapshot. His weakness was speed. He was a slow fuck. Conversely, you could select a skinny guy. He was a sterotypical European-type of player -- blazing fast speed, but a complete wuss. The other guy was this weird middle of the road/average body type, who was moderately fast, had moderate toughness, but not really great at anything.
So you basically decided whether you wanted a team that would be great defensively, and prod along with your guys (by picking the fat fucks), or whiz all around the ice with your pussies, or play a mid level game.
The major problem was once you set your lineup, you couldn't sub players in during the game. So if you built up a lead with your skinny guys, you couldn't protect that lead by bringing in the fatties.
Where am I going with this? And what does this have to do with the Jays?
I find that Toronto is in a similar position with their situation this year at shortstop. Fortunately, though, the game of baseball doesn't leave John Gibbons with the same limitations I had when playing NES' Ice Hockey.
In this analogy, I am equating David Eckstein with the skinny European, Marco Scutaro is the average guy, and John McDonald is the fatty player. And I think Gibby really will give the Jays a nice little advantage by playing these guys the way I would have played the body type players if I was allowed to on Ice Hockey.
Let's forget Halladay starts, because it appears that J-Mac will start in all those games. Let's break this down with the other 4 starter games. It stands to reason that Eckstein will be starting all of these games. Like the skinny Ice Hockey guys, Eckstein provides much more offensive upside than The Fatty/McDonald or Average/Scutaro. His offense is really needed to get this team the needed runs to win.
But where the Jays have a great advantage, comes late in the innings. With the Jays up by a run or two, it's then, in the 8th, that Gibby really shouldn't hesitate, and start using the bench. Throw the defense out there to get the outs. Get McDonald in the field. If he ever comes up to hit, sub his no bat with the moderately better Scutaro.
There is great opportunity right here with three legitimite guys available to play short. Each has their own individual strengths and weaknesses. A true test for Gibby this year is to maximize the strengths, and manoevre around the deficiencies. With Eck and McDonald, as well, we'll know that Egos shouldn't be bruised here -- they're gamers who understand what is at play here.
I have to admit, when I first read the report last week about a video surfacing showing Pedro Martinez at a cockfight, I didn't think much of it. But today, with some time to kill, I decided to see if I could get some more information about this, and came across this absolutely incredible article.
Well I’ve been invited by Robbie to contribute and I figure the first official day of Spring Training is as good a day as any to contribute my first blog post. The recent news about Doc’s mentor is terrible; hopefully it’s not the kind of thing that will affect him on the field, but I think we all know Doc a little better than that.
Now, I can honestly say I find all this “news” about who’s arrived in camp and who hasn’t (not that I don’t find Frank Thomas’s bright orange shirt incredibly compelling) only moderately more interesting than all that PED bull, which is to say not a lick. It is worth noting that Chacin and Barajas are the only two players late for camp, given Sal’s recent complaints about losing his job and the fact that Gustavo’s expected to compete for that 5th spot – you’d think they’d be trying to make a good impression right about now, wouldn’t you? Well, being late for camp is better than getting arrested…
Anyways, I’m not here to discuss the latest Jays news in any kind of depth. What I was really looking to contribute today was to take another look at lineup construction from an incredibly unscientific perspective. (I don’t have the credibility to back this up, but I actually have a sniggling feeling that the notion of Overbay batting second grew out of a post I made at Batter’s Box about this time last year. Just saying…) As a devoted OOTP player and just general Jays obsessive, it seems the optimum time to throw ideas out there while Gibbons is still straddling the fence and the only other lineup out there (that I know of) is this terrific contribution from Southpaw, although there was a comment from Wilner about where to bat Rolen which Gibby had some fun with a while back.
Any reasonably detailed look at potential lineups from a fan’s perspective must of course take two key elements into consideration – how it should be constructed as opposed to how it might conceivably be constructed. So, for example, while I’m not a Eckstein-hater in general and don’t really have a problem with him batting leadoff, in theory I would consider other alternatives if it weren’t for the fact that it has been uncategorically stated that this will be the case.
So, at least versus righties, I’ve got Eck leading off. The number-two hole is an interesting one. My inclination, of course, is Overbay at 2, given that it was the role that I propagated last year and that he really didn’t get much of a chance to prove himself. I know the general consensus is that he bombed there before the injury, but really, it was two months, folks. Stairs or Rios slot in fairly well here too, but I’m expecting a decline from Stairsy (he doesn’t hit enough doubles anyway) and Rios…well, wouldn’t it be great if Rios could just take up the first three slots in the batting order? I mean, really, put Rios wherever you want. I’ll leave Overbay up there for now.
Number three comes with one big stinking caveat: not Wells. I’m not entirely sure where I stand on the issue of the real VW (is it the 2006 monster or the mediocrity from the year before that?), but I do know that watching him flail at high fastballs is possibly the most frustrating thing to endure as a Jays fan since Tony Batista left town. An argument could certainly be made for Rolen in this slot, but I’d like to get Rios as many at-bats as possible. I actually don’t mind Overbay as #3 and Rios as two, but I figure this is the more likely alignment.
That leaves Thomas, Rolen and Wells for
2) Overbay
3) Rios
5) Wells
6) Thomas7) Stairs
8) Hill9) Zaun
Versus lefties, slot in Barajas for Zaun, Reed for Stairs, swap Overbay and Hill and then Overbay and Johnson and you get:
1) Eckstein
2) Hill
3) Rios
4) Rolen
5) Wells6) Thomas
7) Overbay8) Johnson
9) Barajas
As you may have noticed, All Your Base Are Belong to Rios simply does not provide you with a lot of content. Posts are sporadic, and that's just not acceptable.
The only solution? Add more writers. With more writers, that'll mean more content. So that's what we've done here. A fresh new voice on board to provide more Jays opinion.
New names might be on board soon as well, and hopefully, when the season comes around, we'll be having posts on a very regular basis, and a dialogue may ensue as well with readers and posters. Things are being put in place, so it might take a bit of time to get everything all ironed out.
Quality will not be compromised. The writing will still be inferior to Drunk Jays Fans.
WHY DID THE JAYS TRY SO HARD TO GET RID OF ALEX RIOS, THEIR ONLY ALL-STAR?
MY ANSWER: Because having a loaded rotation will give this team a chance to win. Hey, I like Rios as much as anyone else, but if you've got an opportunity to upgrade your team, you do it. Repeating Lincecum's numbers from last year, at age 23, in the big leagues: 150 Ks in 146 innings, Opponents BA: .226. You add him to a rotation that already has Halladay, Burnett and McGowan, and you've got a shot in the AL East. Simply, Lincecum figures to be more of a difference maker in the Jays' eyes than Rios is.
