Fastball Friday

As I am want to do on occassion is collect up topics not truly worthy of a specific blog, but are a touch bigger in retrospect than say your bullet point rapid fire article ( Ask Gilbert Arenas about the bullet point stuff )

So on this festive Friday, I have a few areas to touch upon, and I am using music as metaphors for each one, so sue me, poetic license I have, and can produce if needed.

"You can't always get what you want, but if you try real hard, you get what you need", thanks Mick. Lately rookie GM Alex A made a full court attempt to sign 22 yr old Cuban fireballer Aroldis Chapman but was out bid by the Cincy Reds. I do think he really wanted him, and his 23 million US dollar offer would support that.

Having struck out there, he proceeded to add an assortment of minor league talent, to shore up his Vegas squad, but maybe to push the major leaguers into better performances. Well that at least is the theory.

Adding in guys who have not had much success but who have played in the Show is not what he really wants, but the reality is, is what he needs. Whether Zach Jackson, or Shawn Hill amongst many that he's signed.

I am sure he was still hoping to add a verteran arm, and they have sent scouts to watch Ben Sheets, and have kicked tires on other potential veteran arms. I think unless he moves Lyle Overbay, the line up is about set. Perhaps there will be a surprise signing of a Kevin Millar type one year tryout to DH or platoon, or a 3rd veteran catcher, but we see is what we got.

"Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio. Did you stop to read the writing at The Wall. Did that voice inside you say I've heard it all before. It's like deja vu all over again. It's like deja vu all over again" - John Fogerty

So when read all this stuff about McGwire finally coming clean ( or as clean as he's willing to be ) after years of lying about it, it makes me think we've heard this all before from athletes. Until you either got caught in th eact, or you thought it would affect how you will get treated ( as a coach, or whatever ) or your place in history, you deny it until you absolutely have to. Hey Mark, how long has it been since you hung up your spikes ? What, your lawyer told you not to admit it in front of the Senate ?
Stop blaming the lawyers and man up, you chose to stay silent, you knew it was morally wrong and if you plan on being honest, be honest.

January White Sale

Winter , is that season after baseball that seems to last forever.


So here we are, in the mid January craving something other than arbitration cases, and still being a month before pitchers and catchers report.

Frozen, like Ted Williams Head.

Still many free agents sitting out there, someone notable players too. Jermaine Dye, Johnny Damon, Ben Sheets among the bigger names.

If they are waiting for the big bucks, I am afraid that boat has sailed. So for many of these players it may be 1 year deals, and hope for the best. For others, it may well be the end of the line.

I do not know if the Vegas bookies have begun to lay odds on how many wins the Jays will get, but I see the Yankees in and around 100, with Javier Vazquez and Curtis Granderson. I would say the Red Sox at close to that number, with the signing of John Lackey, but the loss of Jason Bay will have an effect. A whole season of Victor Martinez will reduce the sting of losing Bay's RBI's. The Rays will bounce back, but should not be expected to win anymore than 89-92 and be on the outside again. Until David Price, and BJ Upton realise their full potential will they vault themselves any higher ( welome Tampa to the Jays of the last decade ) as perennial 3rd place.

So a month until we shall see those visages of ball players running in sun soaked parks in Dunedin , Miami, Bradenton, and Scottsdale, Arizona.

The pitchers and catchers report on or about the 18th of February, so less than a month, and 2 weeks of physicals, and strecthing while their team mates slowly make their way south, or west to their pre season winter nests.

Condos in Tampa are gearing up for the snowbirds, time shares in Mesa, and Yuma. It seems like forever, but like that ever ticking Olympic countdown , spring training beckons, and wherever we live on this frozen part of the country, the moment there's a crack of a bat, the thump of a ball in a glove, or the whisk of players running sprints, we all feel 10 degrees warmer.

And so, in readiness for the 2010 season, your humble writer has gone whole hog and ordered a flat screen television with a BOSE sound system. Oh yeah baby, it's coming the end of the month and it is sweet.

My over under of the Blue Birds of Toronto is 65-69 wins at best. The arms are weaker, the pen will be exhausted, and the offense is 3 guys. When I tell my Baltimore Orioles friends what we have in Toronto, they laugh, and tell me they might escape the cellar finally. They could be right, they added Kevin Millwood, and have Adam Jones, Matt Weiters, Nolan Reimold and many other good young players, and they might hit 72-77 wins if their young pitching matures.

The Hall Beckons

Ballots have been cast.

The BBWA have voted and the results are in.

The players and builders who will be enshrined at the next ceremony are as follows:

Doug Harvey - ex umpire

Whitey Herzog - ex manager

Andre Dawson


Hello ??????????

Are you kidding me, no Larkin, no Alomar, what is the Hall Of Fame voters thinking.


This is stunning news, but I am very disappointed at the lack of recognition to the 1st timers like Alomar and Larkin, McGriff, Edgar Martinez.


I am still reeling from the lack of more current players.

Good for Doug Harvey, and the White Rat ( Herzog ), but c'mon , Andre Dawson got in ahead of guys who should have been there.


Maybe next year the BBWAA gets it's act together.

Aroldis and Alomar

So lately there is a buzz about a former Jay perhaps entering Cooperstown, and also the tryout of 21 year old Aroldis Chapman in Houston.

First off, it would stun all the faithful if this young Cuban pitcher were to reject reasonable dollars from the Angels, Red Sox and Yankees, wouldn't it ? For say a lesser offer from a team that does not appear ready to toss big money contracts at known commodities.

Pitching is scarcer than water in the desert, but this acts and walks more like the Jays putting in the prerequisite effort to appease the masses. No one really believes that the team that signed John Buck and Alex Gonzalez is headed towards a big payout, plus a hefty bonus. Not when the GM and Prez have assured the sleepy folks at Rogers that the payroll will come in under $ 65 mill, all in.

So let's give te Jays a big vote of Thanks for coming out, but the best you get is a few lines on the back pages of the newspaper, or in Bob Elliot's case, a neutral treatment and dimissed. Serious folks bring serious money. Adios Araldis, see you later.

Now back to the possibility of the 1st Blue Jay actually getting into the HOF in Cooperstown, namely Roberto Alomar.

His numbers are impressive, his Gold Gloves well deserved.

They stack up

So here is his competition,

Alomar : Alomar, a second baseman, could dominate a game defensively, and he was a wondrous offensive player, a switch-hitter with speed and power. He played with rare flair and intellect, throwing behind runners, seemingly guiding the ball at will down the third-base line from the left side. The spitting incident? Ugly as it was, it should have no bearing on Alomar’s candidacy. Character, integrity and sportsmanship are listed among the Hall’s criteria, but the incident was a one-time mistake; Alomar long ago made his peace with umpire John Hirschbeck.

Larkin: His .371 career on-base percentage was 31 points higher than Hall of Fame shortstop Cal Ripken’s. His .444 slugging percentage was only three points lower. That should be enough.

Larkin also won more Gold Gloves than Ripken, three to two, stole 379 bases — at an 83 percent success rate — and had more career walks than strikeouts. OK, so Larkin didn’t revolutionize the position the way Ripken and Ozzie Smith did, and none of his achievements was as historic as Ripken’s consecutive-games streak. His 10 career trips to the disabled list also deprived him of greater counting stats. Shouldn’t matter. Larkin was a more complete player than Smith and perhaps even Ripken.

Martinez: I have no problem with a player who primarily was a DH making the Hall. Martinez and his brethren did not invent the rules; they abided by them. The best players at every position should be honored. The reason I waver on Martinez is that his peak was too short, lasting essentially seven seasons, from 1995 to 2001. The Mariners did not play him regularly until he was 27, and he did not reach stardom until he was 32. I cannot argue with voters who might say, “Not good enough.” Still, Martinez’s percentage stats are staggering — and think about it: How many right-handed hitters of his generation were better? Martinez is one of only 20 players in major-league history to produce a career batting/on base/slugging line of .300/.400/.500 or better. Since 1945, only three non-active players with at least 7,500 plate appearances exceeded his .418 career OBP — Barry Bonds, Mickey Mantle and Frank Thomas.

McGriff: I know, I know; McGriff doesn’t strike you immediately as a Hall of Famer. But a comparison of his offensive statistics to those of Eddie Murray by the Rays’ public-relations department is rather telling. McGriff had a higher OBP than Murray, .377 to .359, and a higher SLG, .509 to .476. Take it a step further, and he also had higher OPS- plus, 134 to 129, according to baseball-reference.com. Murray was a switch-hitter who won three straight Gold Gloves at first base in his late 20s; McGriff was a left-handed hitter and less-than-stellar defender. But McGriff’s offensive numbers, while compiled in a more hitter-friendly era, are too compelling to ignore. From 1988 to 2002, he averaged 31 homers and 97 RBIs. If McGriff had hit seven more home runs to reach 500, would we even be having this discussion? His run of dominance lasted 15 seasons. His BA/ OBP/SLG line in 50 postseason games was .303/.385/.500

There are also rans like Lou Whittaker, Alan Trammell, Bert Blyleven and Tim Raines, as well there is Andre Dawson and Lee Smith.

I would add Blyleven on and Lee Smith, the offensive numbers are nice for the others, but they do not stand out head an shoulders. Because we will have fewer 300 game winners, the Hall has to re set it's standards, and for that reason Blyleven deserves recogntion.

So for me, I send Barry Larkin, Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar to the Hall.

Now, here's hoping that 2 ex Jays make it, as Tom Cheek is one of the 10 finalists for the Ford C Frick award for execllance in broadcasting.

C'mon and say it with me " Touch em all Joe, you'll never hit a bigger home run in your life" Tom Cheek made that memorable remark up on the spot. Gives me goosebumps just saying it out loud.

They said it

Rather than load up with a bunch of Yogi Berra quotes which are of course wonderful, I have collected some interesting quotations that I thought deserved mention.

No, it will not have Dick Mora's "Playoffs" rant or Allen Iverson's "Practise, we're talking about practise" stand up routine, strictly baseball.

"Man may penetrate the outer reaches of the universe. he may solve the very secret of eternity itself. But for me, the ultimate human experience is to witness the flawless execution of the hit and run" - Branch Rickey

"The great American game should be an unrelenting war of nerves" - Ty Cobb

"I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to keep playing baseball" - Pete Rose

"I ain't never had a job. I always played baseball" - Leroy "Satchel" Paige

"When you're in a slump, it's almost as if you look out at the field and it's one big glove - Vance Law

"The two most important things in life are good friends and a strong bullpen" - Bob Lemon

"oh hell, if you win 20 games, they want you to do it every year" - Billy Loes

"Baseball is like church, many attend, but few understand " - Wes Westrum

" Any time you think you have the game conquered, the game turns around and punches you in the nose" - Mike Schmidt

"Fans don't boo nobodies" - Reggie Jackson

"You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around" - Jim Bouton

Jim Bouton - circa 1962