The Jays 2010 schedule has been up for a while now, but it only occurred to me yesterday, that they open at home versus the Chicago White Sox. That's right folks, the Chicago White Sox. The Jays first ever home opener in 1977 was against those same White Sox. Dougie Ault clubbed two homers that day, who will ever forget that? A sore armed Bill Singer threw that first pitch, and later it was revealed that the home plate umpire was calling that son of a "b" a strike even if it had hopped 29 times before crossing the plate.
Flash forward to 2010. New season, new G.M., new lineup, hell, even a new play-by-play man. Our Jays open up, at home, hosting the Chicago White Sox, with a lineup featuring Jake Peavy & Mark Buehrle on the front end of a formidable rotation, Bubba Jenks on the back end, newly signed Mark Teahen and Juan Pierre and, yes folks, anchoring it all in Centre Field, Alex "Who Gives A Fuck?" Rios.
Am I the only one here who's chomping at the bit here to buy my tickets as close as I can to the toy helicopter flying douchebag and launch tirades at him for a full 9 innings? Hell, even his own manager isn't his biggest fan, when one White Sox beat write asked him what he saw so far from Rios, Ozzie Guillen retorted; "I'm seeing a lot of outs so far".
Here's what the statistician saw from Rios last year.
TEAM G AB R H TB 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG. OBP. SLG. OPS.
TOR 108 436 52 115 186 25 2 14 62 31 78 19 3 .264 .317 .427 .744
CWS 41 146 11 29 44 6 0 3 9 6 29 5 2 .199 .229 .301 .530
Yes sir, Ozzie was right. He did see a lot of outs. A whole shit bunch of them. 5 lbs in a 3 lb bag my farmer friends would say. His .264 AVG. looks down right silver sluggerish when compared to the move to U.S. Cellular field. Nice to see he kept his 1 K per 5 AB's consistent after the move.
Another 0-5 with 5 k's at the home opener is one of the small victories that Jays fans and media pundits alike will be talking about this season.
I'd break a lot of bats too, if they were my numbers. Or would I? I'm getting paid roughly the same money as Jesus, whether or not I'm hitting...so yes, "who gives a fuck" indeed.
When this is all said and done, I think, when any fan looks back, letting Rios go for nothing could possibly have been the best move of the J.P. era.
Watch Rios hit 2 HR's and steal 3 bases in that game.
ReplyDeleteI still love the guy, what can I say? I'll probably still draft him in my fantasy team this year, too.
Hunter,
ReplyDeleteI think he has value in fantasy due to his speed. Whether or not he is going to hurt you in things like average, HR and RBI will dictate how much value. Mid to late round mixed league pick. Mixed auction value is probably like $20. Problem with fantasy is everybody in your league from around here will be looking to draft Blue Jays because that is all they watch.
Rios will go to high in the draft to be a good pick.