Unlike years past, this upcoming offseason appears to be one that will have little activity. Most teams have their superstars locked up, not looking to move them, and the free agent pool is very, very weak, with only A-Rod, Torii Hunter and I guess Andruw Jones being the premier guys available.
For the Jays, nobody is expecting a plethora of moves, and the biggest name Wilner has provided as a possible signing has been Brad Wilkerson.
However.
To tide us over will be George Mitchell's steroids report that is probably going to bury guys like Clemens and other future Hall of Famers. What should be most interesting is seeing whether the tide will turn with sportswriters, and their opinions of whether McGwire, Raffy, etc, etc, should be admitted with this new information available.
Offseason Fun
Post Season Post
Despite the games being sans Rios, there are enough superstars, and there's enough good baseball to help lose the sting of it being without the beloved Blue Jays.
There's a lot of groud to make up here, but let's just try to highlite the main two stories thus far that have unfolded.
1. Yankees lose. Exodus of players? Fire Joe Morgan, as always, has been all over this development, particularly assaulting the scribes who have somehow faulted A-Rod for his production. No further commentary is needed, except this factoid: Scott Boras has said couple of things which lead me to believe that A-Rod's contract could be the most mind boggling holy shit contract of all time. A quick overlook at his two main arguments helping to drive up A-Rod's price:
a) the revenue in baseball has doubled since A-Rod's last contract. From 3 billion to 6 billion. More money in the bank, more money to the best player in the game.
b) Boras figures that A-Rod can play at the level he is right now for the next decade, and play at a high level until the age of 45, citing other well conditioned ball players smokin' through their mid 40s today.
Couple these two facts, along with "The Sexiest Baseball Babe's" uncanny history of avoiding any time due to injury, and his ridiculous consistency over his career, and you've got a recipe for insanity dollars. The only negative against A-Rod's value compared to his 252 million dollar contract in 2000 is that he is is considerably older now. Still, though, at at 32, and a ridiculously weak free agent class this year, with suitors out the wazoo, do not be shocked if A-Rod's deal is over 100 million dollars more in guaranteed money than his last one. Do not be shocked.
2. The Colorado Rockies' deal with the devil. There's no other reason to explain it. The team is halfway decent. Tulow, Holliday, and Helton can hit, but only supernatural reasons can legitimitely explain how they've been able to be unconscious in their last 20 games. The team simply isn't that great. They're basically a younger, slightly shittier version of the Blue Jays. The only other reason I can think of how they are winning so much is that they are playing not very good teams. But they've played the Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies lately, two teams in the National League postseason, with players the calibre of Rod Barajas and Doug Davis!! Gotta be Satan.
At Least We're not Baltimore
And he's representative of the team as a whole. Nobody seems to enjoy being an Oriole. And with very good reason. These are the days, When all that they can do is dream. And with Angelos still running things,fans have expressed the same running prognosis on the squad: There's no hope with [this] dope [in charge].
Things looking bleak here in Toronto? Just take a look at this squad coming in for the series. Outside of Eric Bedard and Nick Markakis, there's nothing.
But...
At least we know this fan will be on hand in Toronto, cheering on Eric Bedard, and inexplicably, Todd Williams. Todd Williams??
Barry the Blue Jay
This just reaks of hypocrisy, because I am sure, 100% sure, guaranteed, that if Barry Bonds were to have played his last 10 seasons here in Toronto, he'd be the most popular and beloved athlete in this country. One reason is because Torontonians would all of a sudden embrace the fact that Bonds would absolutely crush a lot of the moronic beat writers of the city. Everyone would go hog wild as Bonds would chastise Marty York and Richard Griffin, but more importantly, everyone would be excited because Bonds would be helping the Jays win, and be putting on a spectacle every night, justifying the price for admission.
Let's also take a look at how Canadians have reacted to people who have actually FAILED drug tests:
Silken tested positive for PREFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS. Sure it was something like Sudafed or something, but nevertheless it was a banned substance. Canadians still loved Silken... a CHEATER.
Ross Rebagliati tested postive for weed. Which wasn't a banned substance, so he got to keep his medal. But weed is illegal, like steroids are illegal, which some say is reason enough why Bonds shouldn't have taken the juice even though it wasn't banned in baseball. But weed wasn't banned in the Winter Olympics, but is an illegal substance. And Canadians love Ross.
Let's not also forget that Jay fans had no problems cheering for teams a decade ago which had players such as Jose Canseco, Brad Fullmer, David Segui, Roger Clemens, Benito Santiago and Billy Koch on them. Just sayin'.
So everyone calm down. Bonds got the record. Enjoy him while you can. Watch him play. Envision him in a Jay uniform. Think what could have been.
