2012-02-29

And They're Off!



This year's edition of the 25 Man Roster Challenge is assured to be a battle from start to finish due to a strong/deep 40 man roster and a few intriguing non roster invites. In total, 24 ballots were submitted prior to the deadline. Good luck to all the contestants!

We did our best to try and make this post as viewable as possible, which was a challenge in itself. (see what I just did right there?)

For those keeping score at home the LF battle was a 54/46 split with Thames getting the slight nod.

The following 17 names appeared on every ballot:

JP Arencibia
Adam Lind
Kelly Johnson
Brett Lawrie
Yunel Escobar
Colby Rasmus
Jose Bautista
Edwin Encarnacion
Jeff Mathis

Ricky Romero
Brandon Morrow
Brett Cecil
Sergio Santos
Jason Frasor
Darren Oliver
Casey Janssen
Carlos Villanueva

The first 6 ballots are all the same, which means the tiebreaker will be in play if they are accurate.

Eric Thames
Omar Vizquel
Rajai Davis
Ben Francisco
Dustin McGowan
Luis Perez
Francisco Cordero
Henderson Alvarez

Team Gregor
500 Level Fan
@500LevelFan
16-17

Team Clint
14-16

Team Drock
Black Eyed Jays
NO TIEBREAKER

Team Ant
15-13

The next 3 ballots are the same except they have Snider winning the LF battle instead of Thames. Of note, Team Gabriel and Team Bargain D are the only 2 ballots that are identical and have the same tiebreaker.

Travis Snider
Vizquel
Davis
Francisco
McGowan
Perez
Cordero
Alvarez

Team RMB
16-15

Team Gabriel
17-15

Team Bargain D
17-15

The next 3 ballots couldn't decide who was going to win the LF battle, so they just took both players. Of note, Team BBallgordie was the only ballot to go with a 5 man bench, National League styles.

Team My Idiot Reds Fan Friend
@ryansmith0110
14-13

Thames
Snider
Vizquel
Davis
Kyle Drabek
McGowan
Cordero
Alvarez

Team Jimmy Triggs
15-15

Thames
Snider
OMAAAAR
Francisco
McGowan
Perez
Cordero
Alvarez

Team BBallgordie
19-14

Thames
Snider
Francisco
Vizquel
Luis Valbuena
McGowan
Cordero
Alvarez

Early reports out of camp have Jesse Litsch being shut down for a week. That's not good news for the following 6 ballots who took him. Two of the ballots from this grouping are the same. You just have to like Team Bakatron's chances if it comes down to the tiebreaker.

Thames
Francisco
Vizquel
Davis
McGowan
Jesse Litsch
Cordero
Alvarez

Team Bakatron
@Bakatron
17-15

Team Ryan
NO TIEBREAKER

Of note from the other 4 ballots that contain the burly yet cat like quick right hander, Team Michael was the only one in the entire challenge that did not have the names Cordero or McGowan on it. Very bold indeed.

Also of note, Team Salim was the only ballot that selected a player instead of the Spring Training record as the tiebreaker and is the only one that didn't contain either Thames or Snider. Interesting strategies.

Team Human Rain Delay
18-15

Snider
Davis
Francisco
Valbuena
McGowan
Litsch
Cordero
Alvarez

Team Social Ramble
18-13

Snider
Davis
Francisco
Vizquel
McGowan
Litsch
Cordero
Alvarez

Team Michael
@BuffieBlitz
15-15

Snider
Vizquel
Davis
Mike McCoy
Aaron Laffey
Perez
Litsch
Alvarez

Team Salim
Tiebreaker RHP Joel Carreno

Davis
Vizquel
McCoy
McGowan
Perez
Litsch
Cordero
Alvarez

The remaining 6 ballots don't really have anything in common with each other and in a challenge like this, that's a good thing. They are the classic one off's. Call me bias but I think the eventual champion will crowned from this group. Of note, Team Matt was the only ballot not to have selected Alvarez and the only ballot to have selected Joel Carreno. Also of note, mine was the only ballot to take both Valbuena and Vizquel.

Team Ian
The Blue Jay Hunter
@BlueJayHunter
18-15

Snider
Valbuena
Davis
Francisco
McGowan
Perez
Cordero
Alvarez

Team Man With The Golden Arm
16-15

Thames
Davis
Vizquel
Valbuena
Alvarez
McGowan
Cordero
Perez

Team Last Row 500's
@REAL_T_REV
14-18

Thames 
Davis
McCoy
Francisco
 
McGowan
Perez
Cordero
Alvarez

Team Jordan
13-12

Thames
Vizquel
Davis
Francisco

McGowan
Laffey
Cordero
Alvarez

Team Sudds
20-13

Snider
Francisco
Vizquel
Davis
Drabek
McGowan
Cordero
Alvarez

Team Matt

Snider
Davis
Vizquel

Drabek
McGowan

Perez
Joel Carreno
Cordero

2012-02-20

Only 72 Hours To Go.....

Consider this a friendly reminder that your 25 Man Roster Challenge Ballot is almost due if you have not submitted one already.

If you need a refresher on the rules please click here for the details.

If you want to play you have a 3 options on how to get your ballot in:

1: Send us an email: 1bluejaysway@gmail.com
2: Make a post on your blog, if you have one and send us a link
3: Add your ballot to the comments section of this post

And please for the love of God, pick a tiebreaker.

A team name would be appreciated but not mandatory for all you anon types out there.

Good luck and thanks for playing!

2012-02-11

Your Time To Shine

So I had this brilliant idea hit me like a fastball in the ribs. I would ask 15 of the biggest ballers I know what their walk up song would be if they were in the Major Leagues. Based on the immediate feedback I received I think it's fair to say that some of them had considered this question themselves in the past. I'll admit, it's kind of a tough one to answer and a couple of them asked me why I was inquiring. We both knew that they were just buying a precious few more minutes to ponder a question of such magnitude. As a few of them pointed out you've really only got a good ten or fifteen seconds to play with unless you are lucky enough to get a pitching change.

Well to say the results varied would be quite possibly the understatement of the year. Some guys couldn't give just one answer, even when pressured to do so. Clearly some of them took it more seriously than others. Here were the selections and artists in no particular order. Names are withheld to protect the innocent.

Blame It On The Rain - Milli Vanilli
Janie's Got A Gun - Aerosmith
Waterfalls - TLC
Jump Around - House of Pain (for a regular at bat)
Slam - Onyx (with the bases loaded)
Goldberg's WCW theme
Number 1 - Nelly
Lemonade - Protein
Trouble - Chino XL
Colors - Ice T
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
Heart Of A Champion - Nelly
Run To The Hills - Iron Maiden
Anything from Lamb of God, Raised Fist or Bless the martyr kill the child
Big Pimpin` - Jay Z
Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
Too Legit to Quit - MC Hammer
Thunderstruck - AC/DC
Johnny, Kick A Hole In The Sky - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Kickstart My Heart - Motley Crue
Bring The Pain - Method Man
Kick In The Door - Biggie Smalls (must be wearing jersey number 44)
Kashmir - Led Zeppelin

The only songs selected twice from the list were Crazy Train, Eye Of The Tiger and Waterfalls.

Yep. Waterfalls. One guy came back immediately with "No brainer. TLC Waterfalls." To which I replied "Wow. Love that selection." What else can you really say?

A few of my test subjects were thoughtful enough to ask me what my selection was. I had in fact heard my pick on the radio earlier in the day. It took me back to my youth when I use to sit glued in front of the TV waiting for WWF to start, back when it was larger than life. That feeling it gave me back then is something I would love to take up to the dish with me now while trying to gear up for a Verlander four-seamer.



Fast forward to 1:37 and get ready to rock the fuck out.

2012-02-03

The Win Now Crowd


I have been meaning to write - if you are nice enough to consider this crap writing - about the the 2012 Toronto Blue Jays off-season for quite some time now. Every person I seem to talk baseball about this winter has had a strong opinion. Even the self described casual fan who only reads what they see in the newspapers. Some of the conversations have been downright unbearable. Some of them could only be described as angry. The same points have been perpetually brought up. And whether they are fair points or not, they have been embraced by most of the fan base as reality.

I don't feel it's my place to tell you what you should think about any topic. But I do feel like there are a few things that should probably be considered prior to flying off the handle and deciding your Toronto Blue Jays are a waste of your time, money and interest.

First and foremost a blanket statement:

Management personnel who work for any sports team are professional liars.

This is true across the entire spectrum of sport, which obviously includes your Toronto Blue Jays. President Paul Beeston's job entails telling you whatever he thinks you want to hear in order to get your ass in a seat at the SkyDome. I remember the infamous statement he made regarding the payroll at the State of the Franchise event circa 2011 well.

"What we've got to do here is we've got to build this team up and we raise our revenues and we raise our expenses at the same time and our salaries. We should be able to do with this stadium with this city with this country with our market we should be a city that can have a 140, 150 million dollars in the way of salaries. We would support that. And you know that's the direction that were headed to."

Hat tip to Ian from the Blue Jay Hunter for still having the audio and being kind enough to share it free of charge.

  


The only emphasis he made in that entire statement was on the first should. It was convenient that he neglected to give us a timeline on this grand vision.

I can understand why the win now crowd would expect this to happen now since it clearly did not last year. That's kinda their thing.

More proof of this is a topic that's near and dear to my heart:

The Albert Pujols fiasco.

You see, I had the balls to disclose some info that I heard about King Albert and his crew being in town. Now I already said pretty much all I have to say about it right here but the quote below only furthers my blanket statement about management personnel being professional liars.

One question to draw a reaction from Anthopoulos was a sarcastic query about where he and Dan Lozano, the agent for free agent slugger Albert Pujols, had lunch this week. Some blogosphere fiction suggested Lozano was in town to visit the Jays, which drew a smirk from Anthopoulos, who struggled to maintain his policy of not replying to rumours and speculation.
"I've read all kinds of reports and again, I'm not ceased to be amazed about some of the false things that come out," he said.

Hat tip to Shi Davidi for the original article.

Based on the conversations I had at the State of the Franchise circa 2012 most people chose to believe me. For those that still don't, naturally I saved the smoking gun till now.


Notice the 2011 World Series Champion crest. Logic would dictate that this jersey was signed after the 2011 postseason and prior to my passing along the news that he was in town.

Point being, AA is full of shit as well and he's learning the game from a master. In fairness the general manager's job also entails being able to answer a direct question without actually saying anything. But in the quote from Davidi above, AA lets his guard down and flatly denies it. Gotcha.

I guess what I'm ultimately trying to say here is that one should not take what the brain trust of this ballclub has to say at face value, at anytime. Trying to make someone in the win now crowd understand this is a crucial first step in the process.

So when Beeston says he expects to make the playoffs 2-3 times in the next 5 years, you have to literally laugh it off. Does he actually believe this to be true? Maybe he does. But he immediately gives himself an opt out clause when he follows up with:

"Could start this year, could start next year."

The only thing he forgot to include was now go buy some fucking tickets.

Where am I going with all this? I'm not what you would call a half glass full type fellow. In life in general but specifically when it comes to baseball. It's a ridiculously long season and there are many ups and downs. After 162 baseball games are completed the best teams will rise to the top. Your Toronto Blue Jays are not one of these teams right now. A whole bunch of shit would have to break our way for this to happen. Does that mean they suck? No it certainly does not. Does that mean we are a couple of big players away from closing the gap? Not in my opinion. I believe this team hasn't even learned what it's going to take to win. They want it very badly but they haven't developed the attitude or swagger if you will just yet. Currently the way we are set up, we don't even have the horses - in their current state of development - to play in October.  Name me one pitcher that will have anything left in the tank when playoff time rolls around. Can't do it.

But they are on the right side of the curve and that my friends is very, very good news. The alternative looks a little something like this.

As I like to put it, this version of the Blue Jays closely resembles the 1983 squad. A team that was young and had talent coming out the ears. A team that was ignorant to the harsh realities that faced them. A team that went out and played hard no matter what. A team that won 89 ball games and finished in fourth place. A team that would look very different than the one that would eventually - almost a full decade later - win the big prize and fill the city with joy.

Listen, I love the win now crowd. I really do. I think it's imperative that a certain segment of the fan base will not accept losing at any cost. I'm just not sure that now is the time to release the hounds because you will only end up disappointed and have no one to blame but yourself.

If you need something to focus your rage at I do have a suggestion. Balance the schedule so that every team plays every other team the same amount of the time. If that were to happen, then I think we got a shot at the promise land right now.