A lot of stuff on my mind lately

So when I have a lot of stuff rattling around in my head, I tend to wait until,there is enough to justify a blog entry, so we have reashed the tipping point.

The annual winter meetings have kicked off in Nashville, and Dan Haren signed a 1 year $ 13 million deal with Washingto, pending a physical. If he does not past it, his options are limited. The Marlins are flogging Yunel Escobar to Oakland, who will in turn flog him around themselves. It's just what these teams do, hoping to get rich when the music stops.

No Zach or Josh signings, but give it another week, the Dodgers who have more money than God and could buy and sell the NHL are desparate for a major acquisition, and Grienke should be it, but our boy Zach is holding out, letting the bidding run it's course.

AA is in TwangTown picking up odds and sods, dropped a back up catcher, then grabbed another. Wilson out, Whiteside in. What does it mean, well he is a Ninja, but my eastern philosophies is a tad rusty, so I would appreciate some input.

Marvin Miller passed away last week, and will again be passed over for entry into the Hall, and that continues to be criminal. It is shameful the way that the game treats Miller and his legacy.

What else, of yeah, tis the season and all that, give generously this time of year, I see that Marco Scutaro is deciding on what offer of $ 8 million a year for 3 years he will play for. Shows you what happens when you get hot in Septemeber and October. People foget your April and May.

Are Jays dealing in Nashville, the local media would love another deal Alex, I mean Argos won the Grey Cup, so the CFL is done. There is no hockey, and by the looks of things the Raptors will be out by Christmas.  Jays need a few arms to join the bullpen for depth. We do not really expect Adam Lind to play first, or J.P. Arencibia to share time with John Buck, so something has to give.

The Yanks find out Arod needs another operation, so let me see, Yanks resigned a 37 year Kuroda, have 37 year Jeter rehabbing, a 42 year Mariano Rivera coming back and Arod has 2 hip operations. These are your fathers Yankees, add an aging Tiexera, ans Rafael Soriano & Nick Swisher departing, and you don't know what condition Michael Pineda is in, but I never count them out, but they clearly are the same group. but is early, and money can be spent.

Christmas is in 3 weeks, so go ahead and panic about shopping, especially to those who disdain shopping via the web.  The way society shops and does it's business has had that effect on the winter baseball meetings.
Trades are concluded over smart phones, tablets, from distant laptops in suishi bars.

One day the GM's will all sit behind large TV screens, that they can install in their offices, and can have inter actions with select GM's.   Mark my words, it's coming.

Shame, because I like the idea of 2 GM's sitting for a drink at the bar, writing out deals on a napkin.

Those days are gone, and for today, I am done. 

A large haul

Well folks, if all Anthopolus needed was my previous caustic rant on the where the Jays were then mission accomplished.

I would have turned the heat up sooner, and we aould all be enjoying this fish fry.

Now 2 weeks before the next round of winter meetings, every other GM has to answer to his owner why he wasn't in on this deal.


Once again, the worst owner in baseball does it again, this is the 3rd such sell off in Marlins history. The current body count of 12 would make Tony Montana blush, say hello Tony to your new little friends in South Florida. 

I am sure Jeff Loria is still dodging reporters, spnsors, angry fans by ducking down alley ways, or wearing fake moustaches and trench coats. His secretary must be getting danger pay and also sick and tired of saying he is out.  If Bud Selig had his way, or the state of Florida, he would be too.

From the Marlins perspective, yes they crashed and burned in their new Atllantic playground last season, that tells me that God does not like multi coloured adorned houses of worship, or maybe God is a Braves fan.

On the opposite side of this ledger comes Josh Johnson, Mark Buerhle, John Buck, Emilio Bonafacio and Jose Reyes. To say we have street cred in the baseball community is not overstating the obvious, Vegas posted odds dropped from 100 to 1  to 15 to 1.  Gamblers see what they see, and smell possibilities.

Do I like this deal, what's not to like ? What did they give up I will miss. Nothing, I advocated a propspect package for ready talent 2 years ago.  Alex is now getting heaps of praise for this Miami heist, cue the Miami Vice music ( flamingos, jai alai, etc ) but if you folks out there think this is part of a well calculated plan, you are mistaken.

We are in year 4 of the re tool, after Halladay and Marcum were dispensed with. We are well behind the battle plans AA hatched out.  The time to strike was last off season, but we settled for a Sergio Santos deal, and recycled veteran relievers and thought we were set.  We were wrong and I said so.

A year of injuries, suspensions, bad press, but great ratings, butts in the seats, and a mangled clubhouse spelled to Rogers a full bore panic attack.  Time to spend, or at best take on payroll, so we sent out the boats, and made a huge haul.

Now let's see what else we can achieve, we have too many catchers that want to catch 100 games, and a left field and second base vacancy signs, and a bullpen not quite whole.

7 days before US Thanksgiving, and Black Friday, but the shopping wars have already started.

Will have another blog around the winter meetings, so perhaps I actually will need to buy a program to see who is still on this team.

I am back and I am pissed

Let's start off with how the Jays finished their season, shall we.

Horrible, limped home with no pride, no passion, going through the motions, if Farrell had not been sought by the Red Sox, I'd have fired his ass.

The Escobar thing was bungled by all the coaches and senior staff, and on his watch. Then Omar Vizquel takes a swipe at Farrell, and questioned his leadership skills and maybe his man hood, so John see how you make out in Beantown when the scribes watch you dot every I and cross every T.

Making matters worse, was this merry go round after the season, dealing Farrell plus a pitcher no less for Mike Aviles, who could have played second, but was instantly peddled with Yan Gomes ( and what did he do to piss off the team ) to Cleveland for Esmail Rogers, who is no as good as the kid we sent to Boston.

AA states this Rogers guy ( gee one wonders why Rogers gets a bad rap ) with no apparent track record is added either to the bullpen or the rotation ( he's failed miserably at either end ) because Carlos Villaneuva was dismissed as a starter candidate in early September by who...John Freaking Farrell, same guy who's high tailed to Boston.

So we pissed off Carlos, and what is our rotation looking like.

Okay ...Brandon Morrow is fine, so long as he stays healthy and does not blow his arm out
After that, we have an injured Rickey Romeo, ( I will save some print space for that later )
and who else ??

Happ is gone, and was he worth the trouble of 20 man super deal with Houston, I think not. There was a reason Philly gave him up, and we have learned it.
McGowan, don't make me laugh.
Hutch & Drabek are wounded for 2013....so nope.

I hear the crickets out there, c'mon people who is part of our rotation ???

Esmail Rogers ?   Brad Lincoln ? Henderson Al;avarez ?

Now we hear that Brandon Lyon and Jason Fraser are too expensive so we'll part company with them.

Sounds like another rebuild of the bullpen, but let's keep 40 something Darren Oliver.

Okay, then Farrell takes Lovello and Butterield with him, and we are starting an America's Got Talent roadshow looking for the next manager, and the name that crops up is Mike Hargrove.

On July 1, 2007, Hargrove resigned his position as manager of the Mariners, saying in a prepared statement that his "passion has begun to fade" and it would not be "fair to myself or the team" to continue. The departure was unusual, since the Mariners had been playing quite well at the time.

This is the guy ?

This team just spent money, and the balloons were sent tot he ceiling as Micey Izturis is now th enew Mike McCoy / Vizquel. $ 9 million over 3 years for adefensive replacement.
Then, in a move only found in a Harold Robbins novel, we sent cash, bags of to KC for Jeremy Jeffires, a twice suspended ( for drug use ) fireballer.  He has huge upside Alex is quoted, which likely is not in reference to his drug use.

If I was KC I would have sold him to the Rockies, cause at least in 81 home games he smoke up in the pen legally.

Am I bitter, you damn right I am, this organisation has become a joke, and they are making the Leafs and Raptors quite happy to take the heat off them.  By the by folks, Leafs still undeated this year.

Who is one 1st ?
The first baseman
No I mean who is on first ?
Yes he is.





You know I understand that old comedy routine better than I understand what the Jays are all about.

More to come.

Escobar escapades

So after all the expnantions of why Yunel Escobar applied his face paint to infuriate the Red Sox,  and the press conference to allow the spin doctors to explain why this idiot thought it was just a joke, what are we left with ?

Questions anyone, cause I sure have some.


Question # 1 - Dear Alex Anthopolous, can you tell me why spanish speaking coaches Luis Rivera and Torey Lovello never noticed a spanish phrase on the kids face and said WTF Yunel, take that stupid remark off.

Question # 2 - Edwin Encarnacion, Omar Vizquel, Rickey Romero, none of you guys recognized the phrase and through a lasso around # 5 ?

So it was detected only by a camerman from a distance ? C'mon, you have to do better than that folks, So are we left to blame the kid alone, yes. Is he blameless, hell no, he is an idiot, but has the team simply lost all sense of reality.

Guys and girls, if this happened in Boston, oh wait it did happen in Boston, and it cost Francona his job when it assumed Tito had lost the room to the lunatics.

Is it fair to blame John Farrell, yes, he is the manager. Was it his fault the kid's head is not screwed on right, no, but there's that whole captain goes down with the ship logic. It happened on his watch, he takes some blame. Francona did, and he had to walk the plank. Will Farrell receive the same fate ?

And what do the Boston Red Sox think ?  Is this the manager they desparately want to run their team ?

This lost season cannot end soon enough for me, and my last question is, and we might have all winter to find out the answer. That is, what direction is the team headed, if they jettison Farrell, then they have to re start a search for another manager. That took a long time, can we speed up the search using old resumes ?

What pieces are missing on the roster, what happens to Rickey Romero ? Is Villaneuva going to get a shot at a starters position ? Is Alvarez back, or can they send him to Buffalo to learn. Yes Buffalo, our new farm team is now the Bisons. Is Santos going to be a factor, or do will still need a closer ?
Shortstop ? The Kid or the Idiot ?

The outfield, is Gose ready ? and can he hit ? Does he need another few months at Triple AAA ?

Yesterday was the tipping point for me with the organisation, because I thought they were still all there ( in their heads ) and now I think it will rats jumping off a floundering ship.

Anthopolous has many holes to plug, and the free agent market looks quite lean. Too bad we were not more active last year.

If Farrell returns, expect a raft of changes, he cannot stand Lind, or Kelly Johnson, or Escobar, or most his bullpen, so if he is still the manager, and that is a big if, you will need a program to tell these players apart.

September

Here we are mid way into September, and where have I been ?
First blog in 3 weeks, so what has being going on. Well, in three weeks there has been such a downpour of events.







 > The Yankees insurmountable lead has disintegrated and they are life and death to hold  their division spot.
 > The Washington Nationals followed through on their promise and shut down Strasburg.
 > Melky Cabrera got a 50 game suspension for a banned substance
 > The Dodgers acquired Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, and Carl Crawford and have fallen backwards in the standings.
 > The Oakland A's have vaulted past the Angels, and are threatening even the Texas Rangers
 > So far despite all his efforts, Bobby Valentine is still employed by the Red Sox.
 > Here come the Baltimore Orioles....no really.. the Baltimore Orioles.
 > The Phillies, given up for dead at the All Star Break are 5 games out of a playoff spot. Hell, they dumped Hunter Pence, they dealt Victorino to LA, they added nobody.
 > Roger Clemens is pitching for a Skeeters team in the minors looking to pitch for the Astros, and he wants a shot at facing a real contender.  Why, to push back his Hall of Fame inducement 5 years.
 > The Pirates finally imploded, and their good news story has ended.
 > There are more teams in the playoff than ever before.

So, we are 3 weeks from mthe finish line, and the potential for tie breaking games is huge. The Rays, O's, A's, Angels, Tigers , and Yanks are all candidates in the AL. In the NL, Brewers, Braves, Cards, Dodgers, are all potential 1 game participants. 

It seems like it raining baseball news. Maybe I had better keep up with current events a tad better.

The Spaceman Cometh and the Goeth

How do the Irish handle defeat ?

Easy, they drink away their sorrows.

How does a baseball pitcher deal with rejection ?

Easy, snort coke, smoke weed, buy lap dances, and generally dive deep into the abyss of self deprocating activities.

Such was the way Bill Spaceman Lee dealt with his demons, the Establishment, or MLB.  Whether it was Jim Fanning or Claude Brochu, they put him ouit on the street, and passed the word around baseball that this guy was bad news, and please avoid all contact.

Was the Expos actions intentional, in their minds, probably not, but their treatment spelled "this player is toxic" and not even Erin Brockovich could have helped.

These events happened 27 years ago, but they still happen. Players still have their demons, and they choose to exorcise them to rationalise the end of their careers, because they are not ready to accept that the end has come.

Bill Lee refused to accept it, and joined several semi pro leagues, inn Quebec, Maine., Vermont, and New Brunswick, where he now lives. 

Manny Ramirez is toxic, Jose Canseco is pure nuclear waste, and what is Roger Clemens ?  Once he was the toast of the game. Now at age 50 he wants more, like Oliver Twist. But Dickens was forgiving, and Oliver was the better for it, eventually. The jury is still out on Roger.

Are the Houston Astros truly so bloody desparate that they need sully themselves with what will be a carnival show atmosphere ? 


Lee hit rock bottom, lost almost all he had, he kept only the clothes on his back, his records, and his first baseball glove. The Expos tried to claim it was Montreal property.

Propriety does not permit me from what Bill told them to do with that.

So the Spaceman and the Rocket Man have something in common, neither want to give up the game, and both suffered from their reputation. MLB does not suffer fools or problem childs lightly. We will see if The Rocket walks back on a major league mound again, but then again, these are the Houston Astros, and they look nothing like a major league ballclub.

Anger Management

Well it had to happen, sooner ot later, the Jays resort to gimmicks to fill the seats, and Olympians were going to cut the mustard, so we asked Joe Carter, a big name in his own right, to ask Mr. Nutbar ( see above ) to toss out the first oitchj.

Well it must be August, and we are well out of the race here in Toronto, that's a mouth full, we've been out quite a long time, but like Charlie, we refused as Blue Jays Nation to face reality. Perhaps the wave of injuries to positional players, Jose, JP, Lawrie, Rasmus, and Lind was enough to seek medical help, or admit we are done.

In August, if you ain't in contention, it is time for gimmicks. Dog Day, Thunder Stixx Day, more bobbleheads, free ice cream, sausage races ( careful there, it has proven dangerous ) just to name a few attempts. Now singers and movie stars, hell the Cubs have been trotting out Will Ferrel and Bill Murray for years. Obama couldn't resurrect the Cubbies.

Charlie has seen better days... his attempt was a bit off, like the actor. But no blow ups, but Sheen took shots at Canada Customs, ( can't say I blame him there ).

Time for the Jays to start selling hope rather than ice cream and actors, so the Ninja proclaims we have an All Star bullpen and starting 9, which I ask you , is that a stretch ( sit down Micheal ) . I think I agree more with Greg Zaun ( part lunatic himself ) when he disagrees with AA, by saying it is a good line up, but it wilts when they face a Verlander, Sabathia or Hernandez.  I am forced to agree the point.











    Will Ferrell in action

Real pitchers in action against the Tampa Bay Rays tosses Mariners first team perfect game.

  Congrats to the king, his first perfect game