OMG

In the last few days, a whole bunch of people have asked me about my thoughts on the Bautista deal. I must admit, they are still somewhat scattered.

When I first heard reports of the deal - 5 years/$65M (2011-15), plus 2016 option at $13M - for the services of one Jose Bautista my initial reaction was: OMG what did we just do. Like most Toronto sports fans - more specifically Jays fans - long term deals give me the creeps. Vernon Wells, Eric Hinske, BJ Ryan and Alex Israel Rios Cruz just to name a few that didn't work out so hot. You could say we have been a little snake bitten over the years.

Conversely all those seem to pale in comparison to the rage I felt when King Carlos was cut lose for nothing. Not even picks. How about the memories the name Chris Carpenter brings back. Remember what it was like to be cheap?

Argue all you want about true value but with both Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols setting the market for free agents next year, you have to figure Bautista would have certainly cashed in. All he had to do was have a decent year and he would have made a great back up plan for whichever (large market) team missed out on the big boys. I don't think there is any way we get him to sign this same deal after the 2011 season has played it's course. He is still going to be hitting in the 3 hole in a power packed lineup that plays half it's games in a hitter friendly park. Christ, every park in the AL East minus Tampa Bay is a launching pad. He still has the same hitting coach that helped him "unlock" the power in his swing. His confidence is at an all time high as a player.

This deal to me is a bit of a gamble by the Boy Wonder. We all know that is what he has always said he needs to do to compete in this division. The Morrow for League trade was a gamble. The Gonzalez for Escobar trade was a gamble. The Gose for Wallace trade was a gamble. The Marcum for Lawrie trade was - you guessed it - a gamble. All of those guys, fair or not had question marks about their character or their game when we got them.

The difference with J-Bau is that he has been with us since the end of the 2008 season. He has had well over 1000 at bats in a Blue Jays uniform. The organization has gotten a chance to know him as a player and a person. He is an asset in the club house. He can communicate with every player on the team. There are no surprises with him like there was with Lawrie and Podsednik. On a somewhat more comparable scale, think about what is going on right now with Miggy and the Tigers. They gave away a decent haul and had to take on Dontrelle Willis just to get their hands on him. Then they pay all that cash to extend him only to find out he has a bit of a (reoccurring) drinking problem.

Some dick named J.P. traded Robinson Diaz for Jose Bautista. Straight up. Give credit where it's do.

Anyways, once the dollars and term of the deal was officially announced I went straight over to Cot's for some comparables. This made me feel much better.

I would take his deal - all things considered - over many on this list. It also doesn't prevent us from going out and adding another top dollar guy in the future.

Please note:

- These salary figures include the buyout amounts, which would have to be deducted if the option is exercised.

- In the interests of comparing apples to apples, I did not include pitchers.

Alex Rodriguez 3b
10 years/$275M (2008-17)

27.5M average salary over the life of the deal.
He was 32 when he signed this deal.

Joe Mauer c
8 years/$184M (2011-18)

23M
He will be 35 when this deal expires.

Mark Teixeira 1b
8 years/$180M (2009-16)

22.5M
He will be 36 when this deal expires.

Ryan Howard 1b

3 years/$54M (2009-11)
5 years/$125M (2012-16), plus 2017 option at $23M

22.375M
He will be 38 if the option is picked up.

Carl Crawford lf
7 years/$142M (2011-17)

20.286M
He will be 36 when this deal expires.

Miguel Cabrera 1b
8 years/$152.3M (2008-15)

19.038M

He was only 25 years old when he signed this deal.

Jayson Werth rf
7 years/$126M (2011-17)

18M
He will be 38 when this deal expires.

VernonWells of
7 years/$126M (2008-14)

18M
He will be 35 when this deal expires.

Torii Hunter of
5 years/$90M(2008-12)

18M
He will be 37 when this deal expires.

Ichiro Suzuki rf
5 years/$90M (2008-12)

18M
He will be 38 when this deal expires.

Carlos Beltran of
7 years/$119M (2005-11)

17M
He will be 34 when this deal expires.

Matt Holliday lf
7 years/$120M (2010-16), plus 2017 option at $17M

17.143M
He will be 37 if the option is picked up.

Derek Jeter ss
3 years/$51M (2011-13), plus 2014 player option at $8M

17M
He will be a 40 year old free agent after he exercises his option.

Alfonso Soriano lf
8 years/$136M (2007-14)

17M
He will be 38 when this deal expires.

Carlos Lee of
6 years/$100M (2007-12)

16.667M
He will be 36 when this deal expires.

Jason Bay of
4 years/$66M (2010-13), plus 2014 option at $17M

16.5M
He will be 35 if the option is picked up.

Michael Young inf
5 years/$80M (2009-13)

16M

He will be 36 when this deal expires.

Adrian Beltre 3b
5 years/$80M (2011-15), plus 2016 option at $16M

16M
He will be 37 if the option is picked up.

Troy Tulowitzki ss
10 years/$157.75M (2011-20), plus 2021 club option at $15M

15.775M
He will be 36 if the option is picked up.

Prince Fielder 1b
1 year/$15.5M (2011)
15.5M
He will be a free agent at 27 years old.

Aramis Ramirez 3b
5 years/$75M (2007-11), plus 2012 club option at $16M

15M
He will be 34 if the option is picked up.

Albert Pujols 1b
7 years/$100M (2004-10), plus 2011 club option at $16M

14.286M
He is in line for one hell of a 32nd birthday present.

Travis Hafner dh
4 years/$57M (2009-12), plus 2013 club option at $13M

14.25M
He will be 36 if the option is exercised.

Chipper Jones 3b
3 years/$42M (2010-12), plus 2013 option at $7M

14M
He will be 41 if the option is exercised.

J.D. Drew of
5 years/$70M (2007-11)

14M
He will be 35 when this deal expires.

Adam Dunn 1b-of
4 years/$56M (2011-14)

14M
He will be 34 when this deal expires.

Todd Helton 1b
9 years/$141.5M (2003-11), plus 2012 club option
2 years/$9.9M (2012-13)

13.764M
He will be 39 when this deal expires.

Justin Morneau 1b
6 years/$80M (2008-13)

13.333
He will be 32 when this deal expires.

Jorge Posada c
4 years/$52.4M (2008-11)

13.1M
He will be 39 when this deal expires.

David Ortiz 1b/dh
4 years/$52M (2007-10), plus 2011 club option at $12.5M

13M
He will be 35 when this deal expires.

Jose Bautista 3b-of

5 years/$65M (2011-15), plus 2016 club option

13M
He will be 35 years old if the option is picked up.

Victor Martinez c-1b
4 years/$50M (2011-14)

12.5M
He will be 35 when this deal expires.

Paul Konerko 1b
3 years/$37.5M (2011-13)

12.5M

He will be 37 when this deal expires.

Dan Uggla 2b
5 years/$62M (2011-15)

12.4M
He will be 35 when this deal expires.

Chase Utley 2b

7 years/$85M (2007-13)

12.143M

He will be 34 when this deal expires.

Kosuke Fukudome of
4 years/$48M (2008-11)

12M
He will be 34 when this deal expires.

Aaron Rowand of
5 years/$60M (2008-12)

12M
He will be 35 when this deal expires.

Josh Hamilton of
2 years/$24M (2011-12)

12M
He will be 31 when this deal expires.

Carlos Guillen 2b
4 years/$48M (2008-11)

12M

He will be 35 when this deal expires.

I completely understand why so many people hate this deal. But I figure those are most likely the same people that hated on Bautista the entire 2010 season. Yes, it was improbable what he did. But he still did it. And that is one hell of a ceiling for a player offensively. Never mind the fact that he can play a serviceable 3rd base or right field for the team, right now. Near the end of the deal you could see him make the move to 1st base if need be.

Just one more thing everyone, please refrain from heaping all these expectations on him. I know it's what we do and it will be hard but.....try.

The Last Straw

Let me first start by saying that I have only ever felt this way once before.  That was after we allowed Carlos Delagdo to walk as a free agent for absolutely nothing.  My reaction that time was complete indifference to the Toronto Blue Jays baseball club.  The term angry did not quantify my feeling strongly enough with regards to that decision.  In protest, I declined my annual birthday present from my father, which was a flexpack, and instead opted for a new golf club.  I eventually came back.

Let also mention what I had done in preparation for the guaranteed clusterfuck that will be the city of Toronto on June 25, 26, 27.  I recruited The Human Rain Delay and jaysaremy2ndfavoriteteam to join me on the complicated mission.  I bought a 20 game pack and immediately burned 9 tickets @ 50 bucks per on the weekend series against the Phillies.  I secured a place for us to sleep and park the car on King Street just east of Yonge less than 50 feet from the outer security zone.  I was in active negotiations to hook up a place to hang out/hide in at my first baseman's condo inside the security perimeter a mere 2 minute walk to the Dome even though he had plans to get the fuck out of dodge for the weekend.  It would have been perfect for the gap between games had the rumors about a possible doublehead been true.  I submitted a leave slip for almost 30 hours of vacation time to my employer as I am scheduled to work all three days.  I even had to talk one of the boyz out of bailing after he told me he was actually getting scared thinking about it.  In fairness, I was too.    

To summarize, I put my life on hold and no doubt danger to see Roy Halladay return and hopefully pitch in the SkyDome as a member of another team.  He was supposed to be recognized in some way by the Blue Jays at one of the games.  There was only a 60% chance I was actually going to see him pitch.  The last time I saw him live he one hit the Yankees.

Now I'm not going to sit and type all the shit I have heard about baseball in Canada.  I have DEFENDED this team and this game on a weekly basis.  Never wavered.  But even I am left speechless on this one.

To be fair, there is a whole lot of blame to go around for this.  

• The federal government for insisting the G20 Summit be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Center instead of the CNE which the city of Toronto proposed.  
• The Toronto Blue Jays were still selling tickets for this series on Monday night as if the games were going to be played.  I even went as far as placing a call to my ticket representative during the day Monday and he assured me nothing had changed. 
• Major League Baseball for agreeing to allow three of our home games to be played in Philadelphia, against Philadelphia.  Ask the Mets, Marlins and Braves how they feel about that.      

For me the finger should be pointed at one man and one man only, Paul Beeston.  Mr. President, you had a wonderful opportunity here and you fucked it up.  You could have done so much more.  There are so many places you could have played this game in Canada that would have done wonders for your national fanbase.  I suggested Montreal and have heard calls for the games to be played in London, Ottawa, Niagara Falls and Vancouver.  Not to mention all the parks in the northern US available that weekend within driving distance from Canada.  Detroit, Minnesota, Seattle and Cleveland all provided a chance for us, your die hard fans, to see our boys in action in a different setting.  How cool would it have been to go to that new park in Minnesota?  But no, you chose Philly.  Was it because they are selling out every game Paul?  Don't answer that.  Just stop lying to me.

Revenue neutral my ass!

I am not even going talk about the compensation.  Fuck the compensation.  You are going to only let the season ticket holders get a shot at the games in Philly?  What about everyone else that bought tickets?  Don't I at least get an option?  Nope, full refund and a free ticket to another game this season subject to availability of course.  That's it?  What about all the out of towners that bought airplane tickets and rented hotels?  What about them?

You know what I'm going to do.....when I get the e-mail and or telephone call from my guy, I'm going to tell him that I want a FULL refund for all the tickets I purchased that I have not used (14 in total) and I'm going to tell him to shove the free tickets up his ass and lose my e-mail address and phone number.  Those motherfuckers are more worried about the bottom line than the fans.  This proves it to me.  Keep the 9 freebies and try to sell them to someone else.  Consider it my gift to you Rogers, you spineless fucking wimps.  Just give me my money back and fuck off.

I recommend you all do the same.   

Now I can't say when this feeling is going to go away but what I can say is that until it does, my heart is not in it anymore.  I'm trading my Jays hat for my Expos until further notice.

Not trying to be a drama queen but this team just lost one of it's loyal soldiers.  I hope I come back this time.  

State of Franchise Notes

First off thanks to Jordan Bastian and other season ticket holders for tweeting through out the event.

I've collected some tweets and I'll post my comments on them.

Cito, on new front office: "I see the same work habits as the people who were here when we won."
- Umm, great...thanks for the quote Cito...the front office feels the same as in the 90's. This has got to mean we'll win the division. This makes me feel muuuuch better about the 2010 Jays!

AA: If Jays hadn't made commitment to John Buck, they would've looked more seriously at bringing back Rod Barajas, who is still a FA.
- I bet that makes John feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Damon News: The 2nd biggest story of the nite:

Anthopoulos: "I dont want to get your hopes up." But Jays have talked internally about Damon, esp with need at leadoff.
Jays have talked to Johnny Damon's agent. Will there be a second call to Boras on Damon? Anthopoulos: "It's very hard to say right now."
AA on saying Jays have talked about Damon: "I saw Jordan using his phone. I knew he was tweeting it. Let's see how many calls I missed." AA got phone out, had seven messages. "Hey, not my fault."
AA, on telling fans about Damon talks: "You guys will go on mlbtraderumors.com tonight and it'll be everywhere. I'll get hammered on it."
AA: "We've got Lyle Overbay at 1B and our priority would be to have Adam Lind as more of a DH. That's why a guy like Damon has come up."
That quote from AA was in relation to the Jays discussing Delgado. He'd have to be a DH -- the spot AA would prefer Lind to remain in.
- This tells me that the Boy Wonder checks 1 Blue Jays Way.  Boy Wonder make this happen! I'm all over this, I'd love to see this happen as I've posted in the past.

Anthopoulos: Marcum has no restrictions; McGowan moves to mound tomorrow. Trainers say McGowan "looks outstanding."
- This makes me excited. But now I read this again, how can he look "outstanding" if he isn't even throwing from the mound yet? Either way, like to see Chops back in the rotation.

Cito: "Closer is kind of up in the air. We have two or three guys down there that can do it."
- Annnnnd one or two guys might not be here by the start of the season.

Buck: "You werent supposed to notice that," when fan asked about new turf being installed in stadium.
- That's cool, we had Astroturf for 15 years and after 5 years of Fieldturf we're upgrading again. We looking to find something to slow the ball down a bit to help our defenders?


Cito was pretty much lobbying for a Delgado return to Toronto all night. AA has said in the past Delgado wasn't a fit. Kept neutral tonight.
Cito, on Delgado: "If there's some way to bring Carlos back here, I'd love to see him back here."
- Can't say I'm shocked by this one, Cito trying to get an old school Cito player. Plus it says, hey, I want Carlos and if you're upset we didn't get him, it's not MY fault.

But the truly biggest news to come out of the night is...

Fan asks Beeston why he's wearing socks - straying from his reputation. Lots of laughs.
- Beeston was wearing socks? Well what the hell does this mean for the season?

I kid of course about the Beeston thing, glad to see the event seemed light hearted and fun.

Rumor Mill

I feel as thought I owe all of you an explanation.  We here at 1bluejaysway try our best to stay on top of everything Blue Jays and live up to our slogan: All Jays. All the time.  However, it is very difficult to "break" a story in these times we live in.  As such, you may have noticed that we are reluctant to post something about a rumor.  It is not that we avoid staying current, the truth is quite the opposite, it is just there are many other sites dedicated to this and their teams do a fantastic job.  When I was designing the site, my goal was to provide as many feeds and links dedicated to this as possible so that you, the reader, could get this vital real time information.  I think it is just as fun as the next guy to speculate about rumors involving the Blue Jays and their potential impact on the organization.  The problem with it is this: It takes a while to post something worth reading and it seems like a waste when it turns out to be about something that never happens.  It is our intent here to provide detailed analysis of the transactions after they become official.

When your Toronto Blue Jays traded the Doctor, you might remember there was whispers of a failed physical involving one of the players.  It turned out not to be true and the deal went through as reported.  Also, there was much speculation in the media that we were the front runners in the Cuban lottery, which turned out to be false.  We waited until all the players involved in the Brandon for Brandon trade had been announced.  This was particularly difficult because the term prospect was used to describe what turned out to be Johermyn Chavez.

Which brings me to the infamous Ramon Castro signing.  He never was a Blue Jay and just recently re-signed with the White Sox.  His ordeal brought back memories of the Rod Barajas handshake agreement with J.P. in the winter of 2006 that never materialized.

So you may be asking yourself by now: What the fuck is the point?  Well here goes.  When this little piece of news hit the hot stove, that Carlos Delgado was being scouted by the Jays, Nemesis Enforcer and I spent the better part of the day discussing every possible topic regarding this issue.  Where was he going to hit in the line up?  What would the length of the deal be?  Would he accept a bench role?  What would we be forced to do with the impending Overbay deal?  What would we do with Lind.....etc.  We were in agreement that if Delgado re-signed with us then there would be a domino effect on the rest of the team.  He sat down and typed out a beauty post, only to wake up to this report a day later.  Talk about a piss me off.  I feel like it needs to be added to the site, even though it now seems out of date.  Here goes.....

UNTITLED:

When I was first approached by Golden Arm about this blog he mentioned to me about rumors and how he really didn’t want to discuss them because it was mostly a lot of hot air.  He wondered what more we could bring to the table?  What more than the other established sites wouldn't have already talked about already?

Then Monday night I read the rumor that most of you probably read on mlbtraderumors.com, “Blue Jays, Mets Interested In Delgado”  My first thought was, oh fuck, here we go…does no one remember the great Frank Thomas experiment of 2007? The Frank Thomas who just won the comeback player of the year at the time I might add.  So then I got curious and looked up their stats in the year before they joined the Jays, so Frank 2006 and Carlos 2008 (his last full season), Carlos has missed most of 2009 with a hip injury.  I should also point out that AOL Reporter Ed Price has said that Delgado "is not moving well" and would be a good fit to play for Toronto and DH.  So right, the stats, fuck I get distracted easily sometimes.

Frank
Top of Form Year Bottom of Form	Team			League		G	AB		R				H				2B	3B		HR			RBI			BB		SO		SB		SLG		AVG Bottom of Form
Top of Form 2006 Bottom of Form	Oakland			AL		137	466		77			126					11	0			39		114			81		81		0		0.545		0.270 Bottom of Form
						159	541		89			146					13	0		45			132			94		94		0
Carlos
Top of Form Year Bottom of Form	Team			League		G	AB		R			H					2B	3B		HR			RBI			BB		SO		SB		SLG		AVG Bottom of Form
Top of Form 2008 Bottom of Form	NY Mets			NL		159	598		96			162					32	1		38			115			72		124		1		0.518		0.271 Bottom of Form

The second line of the Frank's stats are projected to 159 games to match Carlos’ 2008 season just to compare apples to apples.  Frank had a good year in 2006 there is no doubt, but so did Carlos in 2008.  Frank was 39 when he signed his deal with us, Carlos is currently is 37.  So what the fuck?  What’s the diff here?

Today I had a chat with Golden Arm about this situation and we couldn’t come up with a good answer with what to do here.  What’s the advantage of bringing in Carlos this season in which we are “supposed” to be rebuilding?  Different topics were thrown around, butt in seats, an actual leader in the clubhouse since Vernon doesn’t want to hold that job and then there is Vernon.  Would Carlos take some of the offensive burden off Vernon?  A legitimate left handed power bat possibly to hit behind him in the lineup.  It really could only be a 1 year deal, plus maybe an option and I’m guessing lots of incentives.  Butts in the seats? I don’t buy that argument at all, the Jays only got an average of 18000 fans out to see Roy’s final 3 starts as a Jay.  If people aren’t going to see the best pitcher to pull on a Jays jersey, they won’t come for Carlos.  If people aren’t going to cram the Skydome to see Rocket Roger Clemens and watch some of the greatest pitching seasons ever in the Jays history, they won’t come for Carlos.  I know The Cito, Beeston and the old logo are back and we’ve got this Flashback Friday thing.  But Carlos by himself won’t be enough to bring in the crowds.  A Clubhouse leader, sure, I’d buy that…look around that clubhouse and tell me who’s going to take the reigns and be the leader?  When I think team leader, I think of a guy that’s a bit older, been around for a bit, seen some things and commands respect.  Does that sound like anyone we’ve got?  Wells doesn’t appear to be that guy, I guess maybe Hill?  But Hills only 27 and missed most of 2008.  What is the average age of this team now? 27? I don’t know, that’s something I’ll have to look up at some point.  We gotta be one of the youngest teams in the bigs right now.  So ya, back to the point, clubhouse leader.  Sure, I’ll go with that and Frank didn’t want that role either, so another point in favour of Carlos.  Pressure off Vernon, this is a biggie and will lead to a totally different post.  What’s our lineup going to look like IF the Jays did re-sign Carlos? You have to think he’ll hit after Wells and that has to give Wells some confidence again and probably some better pitches to hit early in the count.  Hopefully Carlos’ attitude will rub off on Vernon, just his attitude people ;)  Carlos could sit down have quite the chat with Vernon which we figure would go something like this “Vern, I carried this once great team on my back and still put up great numbers and earned my money, what the fuck are you doing?”  Another positive point to re-signing him is by meshing Carlos in the middle of all these right handers, it’ll make it a lot more difficult for the opposing manager making his late game bullpen decisions.  He won’t be able to look at the 7th, 8th and 9th and see 3 righties in a row nor would he be able to burn his left handed specialist on Lind.  Then there is the contract, what would Carlos re-sign for?  Vladdy just signed with the Rangers for a year at 5 million plus an option for 2011.  Vladdy is 35 versus Carlos’ 37, but how low could the Jays go?  6 million plus incentives? Looks good right? Let's do this...Not so fast sucka.

The other side of the coin:

We’re not supposed to be good this season, right?  The big thing we’re playing for is seeing what we’ve got on this team.  If we re-sign Carlos he’s going to take someone’s spot, someone’s spot who we’re trying to develop.  Someone who would need the year in the bigs to season.  Someone who would be totally cockblocked by The Cito and Carlos combination.   Plus if they re-sign Carlos, Boy Wonder has to trade Overbay and he can’t get fussy at this point.  The Jays don’t want Lind in the outfield, so if King Carlos is around where else do you play him?  Lind’s got to play first just to fit Carlos in and that’s just this season.  Then you’ve got Brett Wallace coming along and the Jays say they want him to play 1^st, but as I’ve said, I just don’t see how we’ve got the room to make that happen.  Will Wallace be ready to go this season?   Some say he’s pushing hard to get into the bigs and others say he needs another season.  Although just saw a picture of this kid and for fuck sake, he looks 12.  The Jays have said they don’t want to see Lind and Snider in the outfield together.  So if Carlos comes in and you don’t trade Overbay, do we send Snider down to the minors for another year of learning and prep for the pros?  That will buy you valuable time as Golden Arm points out in his Major League Service Time post.  The big question really is: would Carlos even want to come here for the kind of money that Boy Wonder would be offering and would he come here knowing that he’ll be the full time DH?  Him being the full time DH is really what’s best for Carlos at this point in his career.  Rest that hip up old man ;)  Speaking of that hip, that has to be in the back of anyone’s mind when reading about Carlos.  How long can he go before something starts to get sore and sore to the point where he has to start missing games especially playing 81 games on our shitty turf?  We don’t want to just start throwing more money away.  We’re already paying too many guys not to play here.  Anyway we spin it, we’ve got too many guys with too few positions to put them in.  Wait, sorry.  We’ve got to many guys that should have great years, but they all play the same fucking position.  My brain says, just let the kids play, let’s see what we’ve got.  But my heart says, fuck I’d love to see Carlos back in a Jays uniform.  Plus while reading around for this post I did see that Carlos currently has 473 career home runs.  Damn it’d be very cool to see Carlos hit his 500^th in a Jays uniform, unlike that other old guy we signed in November 2006 to be our DH who hit his 500^th in a Jays uniform.