Now we wait until the snow melts

As we enter this new era of optimism in Toronto, imagine if you will what other cities endure until April.
In Pittsburgh, Seattle, San Diego and Houston, there is little of consequence going on.
Their ticket offices are fairly quiet, perhaps the odd 10 or 20 game packet is sold during the Christmas season, perhaps as a gift, perhaps the disposable income from no NHL hockey in markets such as Pitt, LA, and Anaheim or Dallas.



Here in Hogtown, we did boffo numbers once the Marlin deal was announced, then an up tick when Melky was signed. It hit it's crescendo when the RA Dickey trade and contract was finalised. Folks responded.
They have been buying jerseys for Christmas, they have been jerseys just because the team is legitimate.

If they get news that Sergio antos is 100 % healthy , barracade the doors, these fans are ravenous.  The Jays are also pretty lucky.

They have the opportunity that other markets don't have. No hockey to rival them.

We soon enter the 4rth month on no NHL hockey and the expectations that after mid January we will have run out of a workable schedule.  The Jays need not fear the Raptors, again nothing but also rans, the Argos championship season peaked at the Grey Cup, nothing after. The Marlies play in little Ricoh Centre to sparse crowds of 4 and 5000 well wishers, and the World Juniors are live when only insomniacs are awake.

A clean run through January until mid February when pitchers and catchers report, and the y have the sports pages to themselves. Sprinkjle in some boring arbitration news, some injury updates, and we are in March.
If Rogers were smart, they would seize the opportunity to televise exhibition games from Florida. Fol
ks will watch, PVR, and live stream at work just to get their fix.

If they play this right, they have the entire Toronto sports landscape to themselves.  They will be the inevitable distractions, like NCAA Men's Basketball, and a few Grand Prix races, the NBA, but the stage is theirs to own.

I think it is their's to cultivate new fans, embrace old ones, and foster a lot of good will before the umpire says play ball.

In other cities, say New York, the Mets are second tier, the Yankees are old and wounded, the city and region still recovering from Sandy, and no glitz or glamour.

We should enjoy our advantage, our current slight advantage, and as they say make hay when the sun shines.

Next blog we analise the current state of the pitching staff.

First off, a Christmas Wish goes out to anyone who has had the misfortune to stumble across this blog, and find it interesting enough to bother reading, so thanks to Brad, Mike, Luke, Clark, my son Kevin, Aaron and Andrew.
I guess I have not excatly made any progress with trhe female demographic, have I ?

Christmas is a time of giving, so this blog is devoted to giving out pine cones to the good folks and lumps of coal to those who deserve it most.

My first pine cone goes out to the families of the victims of the recent madness in Conneticutt. My heart goes out to you.

My second pine cone award goes to Rob Ford, mayor of Toronto, because rarely do local politicians give me so much pleasure and amusement.  His antics and pratfalls are the stuff of legends.

My first lump of coal goes to anyone stupid enough to agree with "guns don't kill people, people kill people" theories. Don't waste your breathe speaking.

Another lump goes to whoever booked the musical acts at Londo Olympics, get real folks, who werer those acts. The Who and Sir Paul, but yech on the rest.

More coal lumps to Yunel Escobar and the idiots that let this kid go out and embarass the organistion.

Oh, and a reminder that Paul Beeston allowed him to continue to play and represent the team then sold off as fast as he could means he had  abest before date stamped on him.

Pine Cones to Mike and Luke for their dance of romance during game 1 of 162 in jubilation. Was not even the game winning hit, guys got the bromance going. Give em that.

A box of Turtles and a new sweater to Anthopolous for his impersonation of Pat Gillick, his Trader Pat ended his saga as Standing Pat, or Alex.  Marlin deal, Melky, then Dickey, netted us a rotation not based on Romero as the ace. Can anyone remember the crappy summer, not now.

I would like to give a bucket of coal to Bill O'Reilly at Fox, but the would burn and not care about pollution, and I would really like the Kardashians to just go away.

Since I cannot control those matters, let us leave with a hopes for a safe and wonderful Christmas, and a pennant in 2013.

The Death of Innocence

Today In Conneiticut, 27 souls were lost to an indiscrimenet shooter with no morals, and in the wink of an eye, a tragedy unfolded at what should be the happiest time of the calendar.

There is nothing that can be said that will make sense so why try.

In the coming days, we will hear about the victims, their parents, the shooter, his possible motivation, and who gives a crap.

27 souls lost, and so I ask , "how many does it take to change a moronic law "

How many must pay so dearly, how many families have to lose members, how many.

It is a loss, of innocence and perhaps today we don't have the right to call ourselves a civilised.

Life has go on, but for many, it goes on in fear and doubt.

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.