Time for deals

Yunel Escobar

Last year, the Jays had come to the realisation that the Braves were frustrated with Yunel Escobar, ancd Alex Gonzalez had converted one half of baseball into a very marketable shortstop, 17 home runs, extra base hits, high enough average, reliable defense, and a player not prone to the hot doggery play.

Cito Gaston knew as well the kid had much more potential, given the right circumstances, a very special one.

Deals at this time of year are generally made for need and Atlanta had a need, a shortstop that could hit and make those routine play.  Run out ground balls.

Funny that a year into the deal, that woulld describe Escobar to a tee, and in fact, he's part of the young leadership group.

The Gonzalez deal was pure sell high, and deal for the guy with potential, but little results. Anthopolous saw an opening, deal Alex quickly before the batting average tumbled, and the lustre of the early home run success would run dry.
So this was more right place, right partner.


 So Jim, handicap where the potential deals are going to be made this deadline. Okay, let's give it a whirl.

Beltran, the most sought after, or the most hyped.
I think that the Mets want 2 things, salary relief, and ready to play prospects, like Chris Davis, Marty Perez.

BJ Upton, now this is a deal that Tampa wants prospects only, no one that is making any appreciable money, a controllable commodity. San Fran will lose out on Beltran, so will need to score a bat, too bad it will likely be Upton`s. But he might flourish with a change of scenery.

Aaron Hill, and I don`t think we will get much, but I think he moves , perhaps kenny Williams has soured on Gordon Beckham, Ozzie sure has, and US Cellular is a hitters paradise, so maybe the White Sox, and Jays get a single AAA prospect, but Kenny be careful, last year we got Escobar, this year, well, just be careful.

The usual collection of relivers will drift around to fill holes, a few back up catchers, but Beltran, and Upton will be names to expect.

Everyone expected Hunter Pence, or Wandy Rodriuguez, and James Shields, but none appear to be moving, but the Phils, Red Sox and Yankees all see the finishing line, and one of these teams will make a splash, bet on it.

Players from a time gone by

I started with Roberto Clemente, since he finished with 3000 hits exactly, after the 1971 season, he never saw 1972, his plane crashed delivering supplies to earthquake victims.

 I loved watching this perennial All Star play right field for the Pirates, win batting titles, knock in over 100 runs, and man could throw out runners.
The press in Pittsburgh insisted on calling him Bobby, and he would correct them constantly, and so was considered a malcontent, but he was fearless proud of his Cuban heritage.

Born to play the game, and he patrolled center field ( just ask John Fogerty ) like no one else in the majors, in either league.  I swear he played so shallow he could hear the second baseman whisper.  Has been given a bad rap because he fought the reserve clause at a time when players were not represented in a true fashion by a union with any teeth.  Marvin Miller sure changed that ( and when does he go to the Hall, thee most influential figure in the game from the late 60's for almost 2 decades.

 Dick Allen was a sullen, angry black player, never feeling like he got a fair shake from the establishment. He had tremendous talent, and on occasion was the most feared hitter in the National League.  But he frequently wore out welcomes, moving to Chicago to play for the White Sox, then onto Oakland and Texas, and played a season with the Dodgers.  Like I say, he had great ability to hit long home runs to all fields, and he could easily stretch a double into a single, he had that type of talent.
Sad he never fully realized his true potential.

 Let's Play Two, as Banks would utter, he was a player who never played a single playoff gamer, but has Hall of Fame numbers nevertheless, playing 1st base and other posts essentially for the South Siders of Chicago.
Another feared hitter from the late 50's through the 60's, and into the early 70's, he had the zeal for the game when it paid pennies.  Players complain about unscheduled double dips, Ernie wanted as many double headers as he could get.

Played in 3 World Series, Brock stole bases, but he could stroke the ball enough that he could have hit 30 homers a year, but like Ichiro, chose the path of base hits, steals, and runs created. Played a flawless outfield, making the glide to the ball look effortless, he did not get the press that Flood did in centre, but he range baby, he could take away hits that were sure doubles. Because he could run like the wind.

Joey Bats and Clemens Rats

Time to get caught up after the All Star Game, the Jeter 3000 hit, the Beltran Buzz, and here come the Yankees to town, with no Arod, no Cameron Diaz, no current controversy lingering.

Clemens vs The US Government declared a mistrial on evidence a first year law student should know was not admissible.  Maybe planned that way, so as to trip your self up, and reduce the potential long drawn on cost on taxpayers. In the 40' s, boxers took dives because they cleaned up betting on the other guy, and so did the Govt  get good odds on a mistrial ? . 

Jays roll into the 2nd half and clobber the Yanks, while losing Joey Bats19 to an ankle sprain, which most will tell you will cost him a weekend on the shelf.  No sweat, we banged out 23 hits, most of them off Barty Colon, who stunk worse than the Hudson River.  In fairness though to Colon, not many of those hits were truly monstrous. Mostly dinks and duck farts.

Into the 2nd half with tight division races, Arizona hanging with San Fran, Tigers and Tribe, Yankees-Red Sox, Cards and Brewers, Braves and Phils, and Angels- Rangers, with a few others still hope like Tampa, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and the Twinkies. Ultimately they will cut down the pretenders into August, 3 team races usually unravel like a poorly knitted sweater. Watch out for the Twins.

Here in Toronto, we headed into he break winning 3 in a row off Cleveland, then last nights combination laugher/ cliffhanger, thanks to Jo Jo Reyes, and Andruw Jones. Imagine, a 9-0 lead, and he gives back 7, and that with half the game still to play. Still nice to exhaust their bullpen in one evening.

Key hit of the night, E5 ( Encarnacion ) a 2 out base knock that gave us an 11-7 lead, a chance to breathe again, and momentum to re-accelerate our engines. 8 runs in the first not a record against the poinstrippers, 9 scored in 1934 by the Tigers, but a pasting nevertheless.

Clemens Rats

Clemens, number 1 Rat Fink, so far denied his chance to stand up and have his record washed clean, must hope a mistrial means HOF Voters think he is innocent.  Does the Pope wear a toupee ? Does a bear shit in the woods ?

This ain't over by a long shot.


I am sure that HBO are thrilled that when they begin showing the Jeter assault on 3000 hits like Hercules ascending Mount Olympus, there are no nightly trial tidbits to tarnish Yankee icons.  Maybe here's hoping Clemens elects to wear a Red Sox hat if he gets into the HOF.

Joey Bats19

I am currently following baseball's good boy @JoeyBats19 on twitter, and yes folks, I am also on Twitter, as well as blog world.

My twitter handle is @keon2214, but don't expect Shaq like ditties, and Darren Dreger trade updates, just rambling commentary, like the blog.



With E5 hitting, Snider banging, and Thames swinging, we can survive against the Yanks if we get contributions from everyone, and start taking more pitches to wear out their arms. That's what they do.

The Big Stretch

We reached the halfway mark in the season in Jay Land and the current record says we are 40 and 41, a game under the .500 mark, and with what has transpired so far, I'd say we are fortunate.

Cecil demoted early, Drabek demoted, Litsch DL'ed, Dotel, Rauch and Franky coughing games faster than Kevin Gregg, yikes.  Camp shaky, Jo JO went almost 2 months before a win, and Morrow's ERA is finally under 5. Ok, I am sure it gets better somehow. Carlos Villanueva a starter ?  Okay, enough bad news, please. Wait , Rickey has the lowest run support on the team, how about the AL East, how about the American League. Stop already.

Now onto the hitters, Adam Lind spent a month on the DL, Hill has 3 home runs, hitting .240, Arrencibia hitting .226, Rajah Davis lost his lead off assignment, and his batting stroke. Oh, did I mention we have not seen Travis Snider since, what Easter, maybe that is a stretch. Jose is still Jose, thank God, and Escobar has produced a better offense than expected, and Lind returned from back woes with a vengeance, but the offense has also been spotty.

Defense, check the errors at 3rd base, ooooooo that is almost more than I can handle, so the hell are we 40-41 ?

Wish I could tell you, but the game has twists and turns, lucky breaks, and unexpected help. Corey Patterson made an impact batting in the 2 hole, and young Eric Thames has recently injected some run tonic, but there are better time ahead.

Are we catching some breaks in the second half, maybe, in another month, we should see Brett Lawrie, maybe Adam Loewen, and if Travis regains his stroke, the top 6 hitters give the Jays a reason to be optimistic.

Entering July, it forecasts as a brutal month, as we start with the Phillies, the Red Sox, the Yanks and Texas, with the Trible, and re-surgent Mariners, so we are in pretty tough, so the next 25 games decide much of the season. In August , we get the lesser lights, so July must be a hold on tight month, win 13 , lose 12, and we are back at .500.  The trouble with that theory is that Boston , NY and perhaps Tampa will run away and hide as they are collectively 137 - 101 now, and the Sox & Yanks will be buyers at the deadline, so only getting deeper, better, more lethal.

What will the good folks at Rogers do ?

Refill the bird feeders !

15,632 attended another mid week affair, but big crowds will watch Halladay's ( interrupted ) return to Toronto, but attendance is not great, so dealing off a Rivera, a Camp, a Jason Frasor, a Jose Molina, maybe an Encarnacion is all we can expect.

It is a big stretch to say we are still in the hunt, but if we manage to gain 5 games on New York and Boston in July, and enter August with a head of steam then it could be interesting.

It's a pretty big stretch, but I had predicted 83 wins, so c'mon guys, gotta make me look good here.

In Court with Frank and Jamie

Trust LA to provide a gaudy and well publicized divorce proceeding, and Major League Baseball are the winners in this front row seat. Major League Baseball put the kibosh on the $3 billion Fox deal with Frankie, because Buddy Selig deemed it not in the best interest of baseball.

Oh my God, best interest of baseball, he killed it because he wanted Frank & Jamie to declare bankruptcy and guess what, he succeeded, they did. Thankfully, Frank has no more personal cash he's willing to spend to keep the thing afloat, and whatever that deal was, he had to deal with the ex-missus, who must be thrilled, all she wants is her pound of flesh, and then she will be of to the spa to share LA stories with all the other recently divorced women.

You are excused from reading any further if you do not give a damn about the Dodgers organization, but pray read on if this matters to you.

Dueling is not legal, but methinks it would have solved this a lot faster.

Jamie McC was very public with her opinions as to how hubby, sorry, ex hubby cavorted around in the past year, while Rome was burning, Frank was playing the role of big time man about town, living high on the hog, all the while he was dipping continually into Dodger coffers. Jamie constantly called him out, and gee, what did the media do, what the media always does, they ran everything, the strippers, the parties, the jets, the ..well the everything, whether true or not, and today it all comes crashing down in time for the 6 o'clock news on KTLA, the local Dodger station.

Someone drive over to Vin Scully's house and make sure he has not done anything rash.

Geez, when they played in Ebbets Field, all they were worried about was fans winning a few case of beer if a Dodger hot the Schaefer sign.

As the days go by, MLB will hand pick the next owner, and here is a list of who ain't on it.



1. Mark Cuban
2. Jack Nicholson ( an Angels fan )
3. George W. Bush
4. Enron
5. Ex Governor, Arnold...
6. Jay Leno, don't laugh..no seriously don't laugh.
7. George Lucas ( remember he gave us Jar Jar Binks )

It will likely get bought by someone the other owners want and trust to join the club, and we'll keep an eye open to see what happens.

Father's Day

Ever since I can remember, the game of catch intoned my father tossing a ball to me in our East York backyard, such that it was. Then onto the school yard as I could heave 20 feet by age 5 or 6. Straight was another story, but distance I had mastered.

In my early remembrances, my dad would get home from work, clean off the dirty and grime, and sit telling work stories at the dinner table, then unless he had to do inventory on his work truck, I could get a minutes from May to September to play catch. My 2 sisters were totally lost as to why this game of catch was important. Girls ? What do they know about such things. Likely an unfair reaction, but we had not reached that liberated state in the mid 60's, so pardon my chauvinism.

So to my dad, thanks again for being my partner.

And to my son, and daughter, whom I treasure, thanks for letting me be your catching partner, as we continued the traditions handed down. With both kids, they played softball and baseball, and catch was a regular activity either near their school, or at the family cottage in Georgian Bay.

We would take those 2 weeks to vacation there, but the kids never missed any of their games, or weekend practises, as we would take them back down to Mississauga anytime they asked us.

Like the early Sunday hockey, or cool evenings outdoors in May, our butts were within shouting distance at every opportunity.

Thanks kids for allowing me to enjoy your special moments.

As for what is going on this weekend, the big boys enter inter league play again, and I hope all the fans enjoy their moments at the ballpark, with fathers, sons, uncles, and big brothers, and moms who do double duty.

 
Two years ago the Blue Jays committed to building a strong farm system. The reasoning was simple; to battle with New York and Boston they’d need quality players, and the only way to get ample talent on a tight budget is to get ‘em while they’re young.
If that seems like an obvious route to success, that’s probably because it is.

Every ball club in North America wants a stable of young talent, but few seem quite as hell-bent on building one as the Toronto Blue Jays.

If they Jays had gotten any more aggressive in the 2011 Draft they’d be punching somebody with every pick.  Anthopoulos worked his ass off this winter to ensure his team would have a wealth of high picks, and it paid off – the Jays ended up with 7 of the first 78 selections.

But that was only phase one of the plan. Once they scouted and complied a list of guys they wanted, they’d actually have to draft and sign these guys. Of the three remaining steps, drafting is probably the easiest; you’ve already ranked players in order of desirability, now you just need to sweat and bicker as they’re picked off by other teams, cross your fingers, and hope for the best as you call the name of the best player remaining.
The biggest potential hurdle is signing these guys, that’s why they’re listed in order of “desirability” and not “talent.” Basically, you could draft the best 18-year old on the planet, but if he spurns you for an NCAA pit-stop on the way the majors, you can kiss that prospect goodbye.

It’s pretty common for guys to slip down the draft board if they’re seen as a “signability threat.” This is why the Jays drafted so many college players under the Ricciardi regime, there was very little chance draftees would turn down contracts because they had no real Plan B on the table. It’s a lower-risk, lower-reward strategy.
But Anthopoulos turned that strategy on its’ ear Monday evening, as he selected teenagers with all seven of those aforementioned picks. All of these players are highly-talented, and all of them are committed to quality NCAA schools with solid baseball programs. In summary, each of these guys is going to be very difficult to sign.

On a radio interview Tuesday evening, Alex hinted he’d rather sign 5 out of 8 potential All-Stars than 8 out of 8 players with mediocre talent. When you word it like that it’s a tough stance to argue against, assuming he can actually sign the majority of these guys. However, the plot thickens, because MLB teams have an ace up their sleeves this year and it seems Anthopoulos is one of the few GMs ballsy enough to play it.

As the collective bargaining agreement gets renegotiated next winter, it’s almost a given the draft’s bonus system will be completely re-built. This means players won’t be able to negotiate their bonuses as they do now, instead it will be predetermined based on their draft position. This also means Alex can dangle big bonuses in front of high school players (bonuses that will probably be unavailable after this draft) and persuade them to join the pros. If you had the choice of waking up tomorrow as a multi-millionaire, or going to school for three years, risking injury/poor performance/the likelihood you’ll never get anywhere near that kind of money in your next draft year… which option would you choose?

Rocking Roll High School !!!

Here is the Jays first pick from the 2011 amateur draft

Round 1, the 21 st pick– Tyler Beede, RHP Lawrence Academy (MA)
Beede is the top prospect that New England has produced since the Marlins drafted Jeff Allison 16th overall nearly a decade ago. Like every other pitcher on the Jays’ draft board, Beede’s huge for a teenager at over 6’3 and 200+ lbs. He signed a commitment to Vanderbilt University, but was forthright in a media conference call and said his decision to sign with Toronto will likely come down to dollars.

Tyler has already gone on record as, well, maybe the $$ will have an influence on signing or college

As I have stated in the past, witht he average MLB career topping out at 3 years, guess what, go to college after yopu make some coin.

Lawrence Mass High School