2010-02-06

Weekly Round Up : Feb. 1 - 7

 

Your Toronto Blue Jays acquired LHP Dana Eveland, 26, from the Oakland A's for a player to be named later or cash considerations.  Eveland is out of options and has 2.065 years of Major League Service Time.  He made 401K last season and had a record of 2 - 4 with a 7.16 ERA.  For his career, Eveland is 13-17 with a 5.54 ERA over 83 games, including 44 starts.  Don't get to worked up about this one, he's a long shot to make the opening day roster.

One interesting note about this trade, currently as I write this, we have 41 players on our 40 man roster.  That's one too many.  Look for Dirk to be placed on the 60 day DL due to his exploratory surgery gone bad.  On Friday in Cleveland Dr. Schickendantz ended up repairing the fraying of his labrum in his pitching shoulder.  This is the same procedure that Dustin McGowan had and it cost him a full season and a bit.  I think I'm going to go buy his book, just cuz.  

Courtesy of  CBS Sports:

Townsend signs with Blue Jays: SP Wade Townsend has signed a minor league deal with Toronto, according to the St. Petersburg Times. He made three starts in 2009 for the Rays rookie league team in Florida, going 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA.
(Updated 02/06/2010).
Injury Report
No information available at this time (Updated 2/6/10).
Fantasy Analysis
The oft-injured and formerly retired Townsend is nothing more than organizational depth at this point. Ignore him in all Fantasy leagues.
(Updated 02/06/2010).

Courtesy of Fangraphs:

Right now, the Jays have three players under contract for 2011: Vernon Wells ($26.6M), Aaron Hill ($5M), and John McDonald ($1.5M). Those guys total just over $33 million in commitments. That figure will increase significantly once they hand out arbitration raises to virtually their entire pitching staff (they have a stunning 11 pitchers who will be arbitration eligible next winter), but you’re still looking at only between $40 and $50 million in salaries for the guys who should be Blue Jays next year.

This is assuming they do not tender a contact to either E5 or Bautista.  We are going to have a hell of a lot of cash to spend next off season.  Over at mlbtraderumors they have a link for potential 2011 MLB free agents.  A couple of interesting names are: Carl Crawford, Manny, Jason Werth, Adam Dunn, Carlos Pena, Josh Beckett, Cliff Lee.  There are going to be quite a few studs on the market barring any contract extensions in season.

Courtesy of National Post:

As she oversees the transition to AstroTurf, Kelly Keyes is mindful that a quicker conversion will lead to more stadium bookings. But she also wants "a field that works for the Blue Jays" and their fans.

"Reducing the number of seams will be better for baseball, even just from a visual standpoint," Keyes said. "From what we've seen, the fibres really stand up and it should hide a lot of the seams."

As mentioned briefly before in an earlier post, we are getting a new playing surface at the Dome.  It fucking kills me when I hear shit like what this Kelly chick says.  Thanks for thinking about the fans.  The field is going to be more pretty to look at.  That's fucking great.  Well I guess the plan is to divert attention away from the fact that the team playing on that shiny new field is going to suck.  And the 15,000 or so people that show up to watch games on weekdays probably won't even notice right?  For fuck sakes, we are being predicted to win between 70 and 75 games this year (again) and the cheap bastards at Rogers are upgrading the fucking turf so they can have more stadium bookings?  Does nobody remember why we got rid of this type of shit in the first place?  One word: INJURIES.  Look for Vernon to be limping by July.  Look for the seats to be empty by August.

I have to officially go on record and say: I think Rogers is going to sell the team.  Maybe not right now, but soon.

Question:
What do people do when they decide to sell their home?
Answer:
Clear out all the junk and make it look pretty.  Just saying.

Courtesy of You Don't Know Dick Griffin @ The Star:

Consider that the struggling Nationals finished last overall, partly due to payroll concerns, then were forced to pay the largest bonus in history to keep No. 1 overall pick Stephen Strasburg, a left-handed ace, from going back to university.

I imagine that one of the cutbacks over at The Star due to the global recession was sports editors.  Wow.  Dick, listen, I know you're trying really hard.  And you do sometimes write something that is kinda insightful.  But any chance of me taking you seriously as an expert fly out the window when you say shit like this.  Google the name Stephen Strasburg and what is the first thing you see Dick? First fucking sentence.

Quickly:

A casual fan friend of mine at work today asks me: "What is there to be excited about with the Blue Jays for this upcoming season?"

I paused for a moment, reflected, and came back with: "I got nothing."  Normally the answer would be Doc on the mound every five days but now.....

10 comments:

  1. I don't know how you couldn't at least be excited about how some of these young guys will do. Regardless of how many games the Jays do or don't win this year, there is a fair bit of young talent to keep our eyes on. If you've really "got nothing", then perhaps you should consider a hobby other than blogging about the team...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for stopping by.
    I must say to you that I did consider mentioning our "young guys" but I ask you: Who are you speaking of? Is it Travis Snider? Because he played last season and stumbled mightly, so much so that the GM said he needs to win a job this spring. Maybe you are making reference to the starting pitchers...I considered them too. But again other than Morrow really what's new here?
    To a CASUAL fan, not you and certainly not me, trying to get them excited about a guy with a record under .500 in the big leagues and/or a guy who last season hit .241 is just about as stupid as your comment above.

    With The Cito managing, it wouldn't even surprise me if Boy Wonder keeps his "young talent" down in the minors all year. Based on his managers style (see below) I actually wouldn't blame him at all for holding Drabek, Wallace and Stewart back. If I was the boss, I would keep these guys as far away from The Cito as possible.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I suppose we can assume the worst case scenario for Snider and assume that he gets no closer to the potential which so many seem to believe he has. I also suppose that we can assume that the casual fan would have no interest in seeing whether Lind and/or Hill can repeat or build on the great performances they had last year, or whether the young pitchers can continue their development. If all the casual fan can be counted on to appreciate is the number of wins necessary to carry the Jays into the playoffs, then yes, I suppose my above comments could be viewed as stupid.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glad we are in agreement then.
    With respect to our silver sluggers, I agree with you in principle. Yes, the casual fan may cheer when the little white ball sails over the fence and the fog horn goes off. And yes, based on our projected line up these guys are probably the ONLY guys who stand to make it interesting. But let me ask you another question: If you were the manager of a team playing against the Jays, would you or would you not pitch to Hill and Lind? It's no secret they played well last year, you could say they broke out. But in my humble opinion, based on who will be hitting in front AND behind those two guys, they will see nothing straight thrown to them all year. And because of that I think we are looking at a reduction in numbers for both. In Lind's case, he is a patient enough hitter to wait for a mistake and drive it. In Hill's case, not so much.
    Point being, we are talking about the CASUAL fan. They don't understand the game as much as we do and that is fine. But I can't bring myself to lie to these people because in my heart I believe we are going to suck even worse than predicted. If that is the case (and I hope I'm wrong) we won't have to worry about what the casual fan thinks because they won't be anywhere near the Dome and I can't really blame them.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I guess I see where you're coming from. My only real hope for this season is not to finish last in the division and I wouldn't put any real money on even that. I definitely agree with you on Cito though. I can't imagine a worse manager for the team as it is and for what they hope to accomplish with their young players. He's like a computer program stuck in an endless loop, running the same strategy over and over. Kevin Millar. I think the name will haunt me until the end of my days. Unless, of course, it's supplanted by Jose Bautista...

    ReplyDelete
  6. You know what I'm a huge fan of this team, but I gotta say it's looking bleak. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I appreciate your point of view.

    ReplyDelete
  7. For the casual fans, the 2010 Jays offer the potential for one thing - long balls. Despite the fact that it was Cito who said that we have could have as many as 7 guys who could hit 25 HRs a piece, I'm actually inclined to believe that we could see 20+ HRs out of every position on the team - except for SS, of course. If there's one thing the average fan can get excited about, it's the thought of the Jays being able to slug it out with the best of them in 2010, despite having a payroll that would almost fit under the NHL salary cap.

    Now, I'm not saying that I actually believe this is going to be the case - chances are we're more likely to lead the league in strike-outs and/or ankle injuries (thanks for the new turf, Rogers!), than we are to be frontrunners in the HR race... but the potential is there, sometimes that can be enough to fool the casual, uninformed fan.

    Also, Aaron Hill already saw some of the lowest % of fastballs on the team last year (and well below the league average), so don't think for a second that other teams haven't already tried keeping the straight stuff away from him.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for sharing Hilleraj as always. Hill, to me, just swings at whatever he thinks he can handle. In 2009 he handled pretty much whatever was thrown at him. I think he will have another great season but I don't know if he can get up to 36 bombs again. Not because he doesn't have the ability, clearly he does, but because other teams now know he is capable of doing it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. It's nice to have a forum where opinions can actually be exchanged and debated, rather than burried under piles of "Fuck off, Parkes", and such.

    I totally agree on Hill - I think his .OBP is pretty indicative of his approach at the plate. He's a solid line-drive hitter, though, and if (when) his HR numbers do drop off, I'd like to think it will translate into more doubles at least.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I remember reading the scouting report on Hill when they drafted him and it was something along the lines of line drive hitter with gap power. Do I think 38 taters was a blip? Probably, but how comforting would it be to have a second basemen who hits 25 dingers and drives in 80? I'd take it. Or maybe, the light when on for him after he got his lights knocked the fuck out 2 years ago (see what I just did there).

    ReplyDelete