Drunk Jays Fans

Either Rasmus is Dogging it Or Gregg's Zaun Something

2012-02-23T16:05:00.006-05:00

Bang. Keith.

Gregg Zaun of Sportsnet is well liked by fans, a pretty good analyst when it comes to the nuts and bolts of the game, and provides a great sound bite. He isn't afraid to say something completely different from where the rest of the mainstream is at when it comes to the Jays. But... um... sometimes you wonder if he's about to jump the shark-- if he hasn't already.

I mean, I understand that there are still traditionalists out there who buy full-on into thick-skulled dinosaur nonsense like Zaun spewed about how he'd deal with Colby Rasmus during Tuesday's edition of Prime Time Sports on the Fan 590 (audio here), but the between-the-lines calling out of Jose Bautista, John Farrell, and pretty much the entire Jays' organization (and quite probably Roy Halladay and Vernon wells, too) over the centre fielder's supposed failure to run out balls? Who needs it? Why now? When did this dogging it happen anyway? And what the fuck was that about Derek Jeter's worth?

I don't have a fucking clue. But apparently old Zauner is pretty worked up about it. He spoke to Bob McCown and John Shannon:

McCOWN: Notable by the fact that you didn't mention him is the centre fielder, who came with some baggage, but at the same time some level of optimism about how high his ceiling is. What do you expect from Colby Rasmus?

ZAUN: I don't expect a whole lot from him, to be honest with you. You know, the one thing that I saw last year that was very unimpressive was the hustle. That never goes into a slump, and I saw him dog several balls-- flyballs to the outfield, ground balls to the infield. I don't remember anybody telling me about any leg injuries that he had. So, for me when a guy doesn't run balls out, that speaks volumes about character, and I know that if I was on that team I wouldn't have stood for it. I've met the guy, he seems like a good kid, the sky's the limit, talent-wise, but hustle never goes into a slump, and to me, when you dog balls to the infield, or flyballs to the outfield, it's disrespectful to your teammates and to your team. He's a great talent, he could be one of the best players in the league, but who knows whether he's gonna come around? You've gotta hustle.

McCOWN: You have to wonder if that isn't a reflection of what St. Louis saw and what St. Louis didn't like in him.

ZAUN: Well, maybe you're right. I don't know. It's hard. I'm not in that clubhouse, I don't know him that well. All I know is that I didn't see any reports, I didn't hear anything about him having any sort of leg injuries. So, if you're a guy that's a centre fielder, you can obviously run, and I want to see guys run the ball out. I played with Prince Fielder for a season, and this is a guy who's tipping the scales at 260, 270 [Note: giant lowball], and he runs every single ball out. Every ball as hard as he can. This is a first baseman, power hitter, superstar, you never see him dog a ball to first base. He runs every ball out. There's no excuse for that kind of stuff. That speaks to character. And maybe the character that we see right there is a situation where maybe that's a reason why he hasn't been able to cope with an unbelievable amount of god-given talent.

McCOWN: Can you call out a Colby Rasmus?

ZAUN: Absolutely. Why wouldn't you? What has he got, two, three years in?

McCOWN: Who does it? In the room can you do it?

ZAUN: Absolutely. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter if you're a rookie or not, when you're talking about another young player. Obviously a guy like Jose Bautista, any of the other veteran guys on that team, shouldn't be sitting around on their thumbs worried about stepping on anybody's toes-- especially a guy as young as Colby Rasmus. Make him run the ball out. Let him know that it's not going to be tolerated-- you're going to play the game hard, you're going to play it the right way, or you're not going to play. You've got to get the backing of the manager and the front office, too.

SHANNON: Are there enough leaders in that clubhouse to do that, Gregg?

ZAUN: I don't know. That word "leader" gets thrown around quite a bit. There's a lot of people that the media dubs as "leaders" that don't say one thing in the clubhouse. Ya, you can go out there and lead by example and play the game hard, but I've always said that the big whopper deals, if I'm a General Manager [Note: lord help whatever team that might be for], I'm reserving the big deals for guys who lead on the field and off the field. I'm not in the clubhouse anymore, I don't see it, I don't know what goes on, but like I said, if I was there in that clubhouse, guys not running balls out is not something that's going to go unnoticed, and definitely not something that I'm gonna just ignore and not speak about. You're going to run the ball out or we're going to have major problems.

McCOWN: Is it more the role of the teammate or the role of the manager to address it, in your opinion.

ZAUN: Depends on the manager. Depends on the club. There's a lot of teams out there that have the kind of veteran leadership that wouldn't allow that to happen. I can't imagine anything like that ever going over in New York, with Derek Jeter sitting in that dugout. I've heard numerous stories of him pulling a young player aside, saying that's not the way we do things here. Well, you know what, those are the kind of players that deserve the kind of money that they're getting, even when their play starts to deteriorate on the field, because their presence and their career numbers and their clout as ballplayers is invaluable. It commands an enormous amount of respect in that room, and anybody that doesn't respect a guy like him is just flat out nuts, or just doesn't get it. But-- it wouldn't be my managerial style to leave it up to the players, because that's my job, I'm the one that "manages" the baseball team. That's not my style. There were other guys that I played for that used to tell us all the time, "Hey, veteran players, it's your ballclub, you guys police this room." And that's fine, he's got enough to worry about, but if you don't have the personnel in the clubhouse that can step up and do those kind of things, then as the manager you have to do it.

Farrell Responds!

Here's a little sneak preview of what you'll see in our next post, as Jays manager John Farrell was on Prime Time Sports this afternoon, and McCown asked him about Zaun's comments. Here's the gist of what he said:

There is not at all an issue about commitment and hustle with Rasmus, he insisted. A guy like Lawrie runs with a muscled-up type of explosiveness, while Rasmus is more fluid, glides, and can give the impression he's not giving 100%, but he's moving.

Colby is a committed guy and he went through a lot in St. Louis and in the transition to the Jays, and we need to keep this in mind.

There were changes that were needed with his approach and repeating his swing, which Rasmus was aware of, and put in a lot of work this winter to fix-- including getting a visit from Dwayne Murphy in Georgia three weeks ago, which ended with a glowing report from the hitting coach. There was a drastic problem with the timing mechanism in his front leg, Farrell says, which has been changed, allowing him to hit to all fields much better-- something we saw both Parkes and Drew write about at Getting Blanked earlier in the month.

More is expected of him, Farrell admits, and if he was on a three-way call here he wouldn't disagree. But if he can put up the numbers he did two years ago in St. Louis, "it takes our offence up another notch."

Here's Zaun's full segment...

Bowden: Jays Off-Season Grades a B

2012-02-23T14:11:00.003-05:00

Yes, really.

Naturally, frothing fucking reactionary crybaby impatient morons would disagree, but ESPN's Jim Bowden gave out his off-season grades for American League clubs (Insider only) today, and the Blue Jays actually came out quite well.

Now, I couldn't possibly with a straight face argue that, now that Jim effing "OPSBIs" Bowden has said it, it must be so. Still, it's another one for the "suck it, frothing fucking reactionary crybaby impatient morons" pile. Even if, y'know, four of the 14 teams in the league graded higher.

"Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos has not wavered from his game plan of building the Blue Jays through trades for young, inexpensive, major league-ready players like Santos, who is signed to a club-friendly contract through 2014. The Jays also made undervalued signings (relievers Cordero and Oliver)," Bowden writes. "The Blue Jays’ chances in 2012 hinge more on the development of pitchers Brett Cecil, Henderson Alvarez and Kyle Drabek and center fielder Colby Rasmus."

So... there's that.

Mid-Afternoon Snack: Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

2012-02-23T13:17:00.003-05:00

Now it's time for all the stuff I don't figure on making full posts out of, with the spiffy graphic by Matt English (aka @mattomic). It's your Mid-Afternoon Snack...

Want an upgrade on the Adam Lind-related food for thought I provided yesterday? Drew's gotcha covered over at Getting Blanked.

Elsewhere at Getting Blanked, Craig Robinson checks in with his fortnightly awesome infographic-- this time with some delightful Bieberishness (no, really).

John Lott contrasts the Beowulf-reading Eric Thames with his LF position battle opponent, the trimmed-down but still BBQ lovin' Travis Snider for the National Post. Robert MacLeod of the Globe and Mail turns the same trick.

Lott also provides a letter by letter guide to Spring Training for the Post, so... I guess I won't be doing that myself. Which isn't to complain seeing as, even though I used the same format for a guide to the 2011 season, it's not like I didn't totally rip it off from Vice.

Similarly, Bluebird Banter checks in with their list of key spring storylines for the Jays. And they also have a top prospects update, checking in with numbers 11 through 15.

Back to the Globe, Robert MacLeod checks in with Kyle Drabek, who is on the outside looking in, when it comes to rotation spots-- at least for now-- and who blames his fugly 2011 on poor mechanics, which he believes he's since corrected. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet talks Drabek as well.

Gregor Chisholm of BlueJays.com also talks about the rotation, which is looking to rebound in 2012.

The Toronto Sun checks in on the Jays and drug testing and Ricky Romero. While the Toronto Star catches up with Omar Vizquel, who is hoping to mentor Yunel Escobar and Adeiny Hechavarria this season.

Dave Cameron of FanGraphs goes through some 2012 ZiPS projections, which offer good news for Brett Lawrie and Jose Bautista, neither of whom the system expects to slow down. Ho-lee!!!

Bob Nightengale of USA Today looks at MLB's most volatile position, the closer. Complete with Sergio Santos picture! BUT WHY DIDN'T WE SIGN PAPELBON!?!?!?!?!?

Roy Oswalt's big announcement today? That he's pulling a Clemens, continuing to pitch, waiting for an opportunity to materialize (read: an injury on one of the clubs he wants to pitch for). Getting Blanked has the details.

Lastly, Barry Bloom of MLB.com provides us with our daily recommended dosage of "no shit," explaining that the Jays will have a tough time of it in the AL East this year.

Layin' Down the Callis, Manuel and Cooper: BA Top 100 Chat Highlights

2012-02-23T12:07:00.002-05:00

After posting their Top 100 Prospects earlier this week, the guys at Baseball America took to teh internets to chat with readers about their work, and these days, when there's prospect talk, the Jays and their loaded system are going to come up a lot. Here are your Jays-related tidbits from the chat...

Ben (Leland Grove):
Between Justin Nicolino, Aaron Sanchez and Noah Syndergaard, who ranked the highest on your top 150 lists?
Jim Callis:
The Jays have the deepest system in baseball, I think, but they only landed four players on the Top 100 because I don't think we had a real consensus on how to rank their high-ceiling, less-advanced pitchers (the three Ben mentions) against lower-but-solid-ceiling, more-advanced pitchers like Drew Hutchison and Deck McGuire. All received several votes, with Nicolino and Syndergaard getting the most support.

Kelly (Toronto, ON):
Only # 46 for Marisnick? Every article I've read say he's a legit 5-tooler and I believe you could make a case for him to occupy the same range of your top 100 as Starling, Myers and Arenado. Explain?
Jim Callis:
He's actually No. 67, but that's lower than I would like. I ranked him 44th on my personal list and prefer him to fellow Jays outfield prospect Anthony Gose. As for the three guys you've mentioned, Marisnick has great tools but Starling's are better, and Myers and Arenado have proven themselves at higher levels. I'll digress here, but there are no right and wrong answers on this stuff.

Matt (Toronto):
If he was still eligible for this list, where would you slot Brett Lawrie into the mix? Does he make it a clear "top 4", is he part of the next group of talent in the top 10, or is he an afterthought?
Jim Callis:
He'd be No. 4 for me. I'd put him ahead of Darvish.

Brian (NY):
Who do you feel moves up this list significantly in 2013? For example, Skaggs was #82 in 2011, #13 this year; Profar was #74 in 2011, #7 this year.
John Manuel:
We talked about this in today's podcast as well; two of my picks to click were 2011 draftees Daniel Norris and Taylor Guerrieri. JJ Cooper's included Cheslor Cuthbert and Jonathan Schoop. I'll let you listen to the podcast to hear Jim Callis'.

Perry (Las Vegas, NV):
How far out of the top 100 are the Blue Jays young starters (Nicolino, Sanchez, Syndergaard, Hutchison, McGuire) below Norris?
J.J. Cooper:
Not that far. I have said a couple of times recently that no organization has the potential to have a bigger 2012 as far as the farm system than the Blue Jays. If most of their young talent takes steps forward, they could have the No. 1 farm system in baseball heading into 2013. They remind me somewhat of where the Royals were heading into 2010. But now their prospects have to go out and succeed at higher levels, which is the tough part.

Dave (San Francisco):
Is there a pitcher in this group that will be the next Henderson Alvarez or Michael Pineda that will increase his velocity to the upper 90s and succeed above expectations?
J.J. Cooper:
Dave, I'd love to answer that question but if I could figure that out, some club would be paying me big bucks. Not trying to be flippant, but predicting which pitcher is going to gain 4-5 mph like Alvarez did is quite hard to do.

Bob (DC):
I am in a strat league that allows us to draft minor league players. I hate to give up on a player too soon but guys near the bottom of the top 100 are readily available. Is it time to give up on Chris Carter and Anthony Ranaudo and bring in a couple of guys near the bottom of the list?
J.J. Cooper:
Yes on Chris Carter. As far as Ranaudo, if you hope for him to be a back-end of the rotation starter, he still could be that with a glimmer of a chance to be more. But if you're asking me if I'd rather have Ranaudo or Daniel Norris or Taylor Guerrieri, I'd rather have the younger guys if I'm talking about long-term potential.

The Jays, Money, TV Rights, and Social Media Acolytes

2012-02-22T18:30:00.002-05:00

While I was out spending the weekend indulging in the traditional Family Day feast of champagne and hash [Note: Not really. ... Or was I?], Bruce Dowbiggin of the Globe and Mail was busy explaining how the Jays have dropped the ball when it comes to TV rights, and Parkes was busy over at Getting Blanked, countering the notion. Then today, we had a new round of exchanges, with Dowbiggin explaining that it's the only Jays "and their acolytes in social media" who disagree with his framing of the club's "TV rights dilemma," and Parkes again countering.

Far be it from me to get involved in someone else's pissing contest [Note: Not really], but there is all sorts of interesting food for thought here.

In his first piece Dowbiggin laments the fact that the Jays "have fallen behind the skyrocketing regional TV revenues being earned by some teams in the United States," citing the $36-million the club receives annually, based on a $225,000-per-game fee a source provides him. How this indicates that the Jays, who are essentially at Rogers' mercy, have dropped the ball isn't ever actually stated. Instead, Dowbiggin presents a double-canard of a tired old Catch-22: "without improved attendance the team won’t increase payroll significantly," he says, "and without increasing payroll the team evidently won’t draw bigger crowds."

Of course, we know that the club has been increasing payroll, going from $70-million in 2010 to around $85-million for this year-- which doesn't include an approximate $30-million increase over those two years on what the Jays spent in the draft and on international signings in 2008 and '09. Had that additional $15-million per year been added to the MLB payroll and not spent-- far more wisely, given the state of the Jays' farm system when Alex Anthopoulos took over as GM-- on amateur talent, the club would be running its highest payroll ever this year (unless you factor in the early-2000s years when Loonie was worth 63-cents US), approximately $100-million.

As for the direct link between payroll and crowd size, it's a nice way to pad his argument, unfortunately it's not exactly true . Only on-field success will ultimately drive interest in the club, and while nobody could deny that an immediate and sustained increase in payroll would help, the Jays appear already to be on the path toward true competitiveness, and like the Rays before them, they could certainly get there-- it's just wouldn't happen at the pace that fans and the bleating media desire.

Parkes points out more questionable logic in his first counter-piece, most astutely noting that the TV deals being signed by clubs like Texas and Anaheim aren't simply gifts to the ballclubs, as they're sometimes viewed. Not only that, but they're quite unlike the deals shaped by the exclusivity of the Jays-Rogers relationship.

On one hand, there is competition to win the rights to broadcast games for these other clubs, which drives fees up. And on the other hand, the clubs are locking themselves into long-term agreements with TV networks who are hedging on the notion that the value of these rights will continue to go up over the length of the deal. What looks now to be an extravagant price to pay for broadcast rights will, by the end of the agreement, likely be far more favourable to the network than the club.

Parkes also asserts that, ultimately, the rights fees paid to the Jays by Rogers are irrelevant, which Dowbiggin objects to in his follow-up:

If we may characterize the objections to our tome, they might be summed up as the Rich Uncle Theory - as in, “we’re a little tight for dough, but we have a rich uncle who we can tap for cash”. Rogers, the Blue Jays and like-minded folk contend that with a rich corporate uncle like Rogers, the size of the TV rights and team payroll is not relevant. With Rogers bursting with cash, the team can access it anytime with a snap of GM Alex Anthopoulos’s fingers.

Except this Rogers uncle doesn’t seem to be hearing the plaintive cries of the ball team any more than our rich uncle is sending us Maserati money. Yes, the Jays are investing in development and drafting, and that’s admirable. But on other levels their enthusiasm seems faint. Free agents aren’t the only barometer of franchise health, but the inability to attract the game’s impact player to a large market like Toronto’s is not encouraging.

Here Dowbiggin has fallen into a pair of traps that many fans insufferably do, assuming that if money wasn't spent this year it mustn't exist, and that free agent acquisitions work in much the same manner as shopping for groceries. The second notion is especially odd because clearly he knows better, explaining in his previous piece that the Jays showed interest in Jose Reyes this winter, however "playing on natural grass rather than the Rogers Centre’s artificial turf is said to have factored into his decision" to go elsewhere.

Indeed, many factors contribute to whether or not a free agent will sign a particular club. Paul Beeston has explicitly stated that last year's free agent pitching prize, Cliff Lee, "ain't coming here, and you and I know that." He has also said that Carl Crawford, like Reyes, was turned off by the Rogers Centre turf, and at the State of the Franchise it was implied that the same was true of Carlos Beltran.

The fact that the Jays play in a foreign country, far from the homes of many potential acquisitions, and-- more importantly-- in a division that is so competitive, and with a roster that is simply not yet able to be truly competitive with the Yankees, Rays, and Red Sox, also has surely had a tremendous impact on the club's ability to acquire top free agent talent. To look past this and insist on the far narrower view that Rogers has simply failed to hold up its end of the bargain is either disingenuous or hopelessly naive. Much like the completely baseless horseshit stoking of Jays fans' fears that the club will somehow get lost in the shuffle now that Rogers owns a stake in MLSE and the Leafs!

In his second response, Parkes gets back to the heart of the matter: Dowbiggin's suggestion that the proposed alternative to some kind of open-market-equivalent TV agreement amounts to nothing more than a "Rich Uncle Theory"-- something that I thought Parkes had sufficiently skewered in his first piece, noting the absurdity of scoffing at the Jays for having to go to Rogers to add to the payroll when it is absolutely no different than what GMs of the Angels, Rangers or Tigers had to do before signing mega-deals with Pujols, Darvish and Fielder.

Parkes calls the theory a mischaracterization, and points to the key flaw in Dowbiggin's logic, explaining that the in the first Globe piece it's stated "rather plainly that 'increased market competition is resulting in enormous windfalls for MLB teams when they renew their regional TV rights," yet "what Mr. Dowbiggin fails to address is that the very thing he credits with causing increased revenues from regional television rights deals doesn’t exist in Toronto."

The notion of the Jays getting lost in the shuffle is also a total red herring, he quite rightly adds, pointing out that "Rogers Communications does a fine job at looking after its wireless communications, cable television, home phone and internet services, as well as media outlets in print, radio and television. There’s absolutely no reason to believe that the addition of three other sports teams would have a negative impact on the baseball team."

"I’d love to see immediate success for the Toronto Blue Jays as much as anyone else," Parkes concludes, "but building the type of winner that fans have been promised isn’t accomplished by merely throwing a ton of cash at free agents in one go. It takes time to build an organization, and to me, it seems that what has been built so far represent steps in the right direction."

To that I can only add that, as fun as it is to argue, holy fuck, a lot of this would be avoidable if we all could just remember something that ought to be real basic: that throwing shitloads of cash at free agents only works when you have someone willing to catch it. The idea that Jays are working toward becoming a contending club while inexcusably failing to use one of the major player-acquisition tools at their disposal-- free agency-- is an utter fallacy, unless you believe it makes sense to dive headlong into blow-everyone-else-out-of-the-water Jayson Werth deals. They must also build themselves into a legitimate, desirable destination for high-end free agents, and as it is with their road to contention, they are simply not there yet. But they're getting close.

Jays Working Toward A Sensible Lineup... Kinda

2012-02-22T15:35:00.004-05:00

As I mentioned in today's Afternoon Snack, John Farrell has let it be known that it's his intention to have a new two-hole hitter this season. Gregor Chisholm of BlueJays.com reiterates that assertion, quoting Farrell as explaining that "the hope is that Kelly Johnson takes that spot and runs with it."

"He's had years where he has been very good at getting on base," Farrell added. "To me, that's the most important thing. Guys that can get on base at a higher rate in front of Bautista, Lind, in front of Lawrie, Encarnacion that's where we're looking to build it from."

In a very serious way it's a victory for damn common sense after the club handed Eric Thames and his .311 OBP 313 plate appearances in the second spot in the order last season. Yet, within the very same sentence we're given the maddening fact that Adam Lind is slotted into the cleanup spot, despite the fact that he has spent the last two years as the worst hitter-- the lowest wOBA, only sub-.300 OBP, and only negative fWAR-- among 23 qualified MLB first basemen. Worse than Ty Wigginton, Adam Dunn, Garrett Jones, and Lyle Overbay, who was released by the fucking Pirates mid-season before signing on as a bit player with Arizona.

What's behind this logic-defying decision appears to be the Jays' hard-to-stomach insistence that Lind's poor 2011 was primarily a result of his injured, overworked body-- which explains his similarly vomitous 2010 how, exactly? There is also the fact that through his stuggles-- which are especially pronounced against left-handed pitching (.218 OBP, .219 wOBA), though it's not like he brings himself up to respectability with a .316 OBP against right-handers, despite a decent .343 wOBA-- he's managed to hit 49 home runs, with all but five coming against right-handers.

The only thing close to a saving grace for Lind and the Jays is the fact that, surprisingly, in games started by left-handers, Lind put up a .301/.325/.513/.838 line-- though that includes any right-handed relievers he faced later in those games, only covers 120 plate appearances, and is definitely not consistent with what that same split showed the previous year, a positively amateurish .135/.180/.183/.363.

"We're still going to try to alternate through the lineup as best we can," Farrell said. He added, bringing a tinge of hopefulness to those of us who aren't prepared to watch another season of an OK platoon lefty being put in a position to fail as a cleanup hitter, and to fail fucking miserably against left-handers, that "if there are matchups that will dictate otherwise then we'll make that adjustment."

I should fucking hope so. And I would suspect that the club's rumoured interest in Manny Ramirez, and their acquisition of Ben Francisco-- both right-handers who could DH against left-handers, with Edwin Encarnacion manning first base-- indicates that Lind isn't being given a whole lot of rope. But the fact that, even though there really isn't a better left-handed option to hit fourth, the club won't just give up the alternating-lineup ghost already, doesn't give you a lot of faith the way the organization views such things. Meritocracy please!!!

Early-Afternoon Snack: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

2012-02-22T13:45:00.003-05:00

Now it's time for all the stuff I don't figure on making full posts out of, with the spiffy graphic by Matt English (aka @mattomic). It's your Early-Afternoon Snack...

At Getting Blanked, Parkes is so taken aback by Richard Griffin's "why didn't Bud veto the Burnett trade?" insanity at the Toronto Star over the weekend that he goes back in time two days to call him on it.

Bluebird Banter is getting down to the nitty gritty in their prospect countdown, checking in today with numbers 16 through 20-- including 2011 13th-round steal Matt Dean, who for some reason I always want to refer to as Matt "Fucking" Dean, as though he's Matt "Fucking" Bush.

It must be Spring Training, because the local rags seem intent on justifying their existence-- or, at least, the continued existence of their annual weeks-long trip to Florida to churn out the same stuff as everybody else does. The Globe and Mail, for example, tells us that the Jays were drug tested this week, that Tony Fernandez is now a special assistant to the GM for the Texas Rangers, that the Jays are hoping to learn through adversity, while they also catch up with new closer Sergio Santos.

The Toronto Sun, meanwhile, talks to Ricky Romero about teammates Kyle Drabek and Brett Cecil hitting the wall last season, and brings us a bunch of goodies, including Kyle Drabek supposedly "getting it" when it comes to keeping his emotions in check, John Farrell's hope that Kelly Johnson will be a fit in the two-hole this season, Jesse Litsch being a possibility in the bullpen in April, or as the first call-up, and more!

The Toronto Star has even more, with Mark Zwolinski telling us the five questions the Jays need answered this spring, and that the aim of the rotation is to go deep into games. Shock!

Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com also catches up with Sergio Santos, while Shi Davidi of Sportsnet catches up with rotation hopeful-- and full season of health hopeful-- Dustin McGowan.

At Getting Blanked, Drew has some bad news for those Canadians pining for the MLB Network-- there's not a huge onus on Rogers to do anything with their license, because in the States, nobody is watching.

Lastly, at Minor League Ball, John Sickels compares Anthony Gose with Pirates prospect Starling Marte-- and quite favourably, I'd say.

Dutch Clutch: Jays Sign Rick VandenHurk

2012-02-22T12:47:00.004-05:00

In a minor move this morning the Jays placed Alan Farina on the 60-day DL in order to make room on the 40-man roster for 26-year-old right-hander Heinricus VandenHurk, the Eindhoven-born ex-Marlin and Oriole who has never quite been able to harness the talent in his live arm, mostly from walking people and being unable to keep the ball in the ballpark.

The deal, according to a team release, is a "non-guaranteed split major league contract," which simply means he'll get an invite to Spring Training and will earn different rates depending on whether he actually makes the big club or is in the minors.

In 181 big league innings he's been worth 0.2 WAR, according to FanGraphs, or -1.2 WAR, per Baseball Reference. Not exactly a deal to jump for joy over, but another warm body with maybe a little upside left in him somewhere.

So... there's that.

Dirk Hayhurst is Gonna Make Things Interesting...

2012-02-21T17:03:00.006-05:00

Friend of the blog and ex-Jay Dirk Hayhurst has been in the news lately as his long, strange, deftly-chronicled baseball journey will take him to Italy this season. What's been less talked about is the fact that, though Out of My League, his excellent follow-up to his fantastic literary debut, The Bullpen Gospels, has just been released, he's already at work on a third book. On his time with the Jays. And according to the man himself, "it’s going to be different from the first two in a lot of ways. One is that I don’t think I’m going to be so nice in it. There were some really horrible things that happened to me through that experience."

Veeeeeeeeerrry interesting.

Hayhurst revealed this, and more, in an interview with the Toronto Star published Monday.

"In the end I’ll probably change things to protect people," he tells Michael Woods. "But I’ve got to tell you there’s some people — in the other books I’m like, whatever, I’ll let it go — but there are some people in this next one that I would love to just burn ’em down. And I know that’s horrible, but it’s tough. You think about words that are said to you by somebody that really make you want to take your own life because you wonder what you’ve done. You feel so terrible, like you have to have medical help to get over it, it’s hard not to just feel vengeful about it. But I think in the end it’s because I want there to be integrity to the book. I don’t want to turn it into some kind of revenge rhetoric, I’ll probably still keep it clean."

"I was never around the team," he says of his time on the DL in 2010. "That was the worst part. I really liked the guys, I couldn’t wait to get back and play with the guys. I was part of something. It was great to feel like I belonged. The city embraced me as the quirky writer guy with the mystical animal, and I loved that. People wanted me there — at least that’s the way I felt. I had a great relationship with Tony LaCava and Alex Anthopoulos and it just felt like everything was going to go right, like finally I’d made it. And then the injury and the depression and the, finally, 'Oh, by the way, while you’ve been gone, we decided that we hate you.' It was a whole roll of events that just went wrong. But I will always love the city and the fan base, and I would love to go back there in any capacity I could. I guess it just shows you how fast your life can change with an arm injury."

I remember Dirk talking to me-- of all people!-- about how difficult it was being on the DL, away from the game, his whole career, his whole life in limbo. And apparently the pack mentality and reverence for certain unwritten rules that pervades clubhouse culture only compounded those problems for him.

He talks about "a dark time where I really wanted to kill myself," and says that the Jays were split about 50/50 between class acts-- citing Roy Halladay and Vernon Wells specifically-- "but then you had guys that were jackasses. And every team has them. These are the guys that look at baseball as a religious thing, and you never break the code. And nobody knows where the code came from, but you just can’t break it. So here comes Dirk Hayhurst, fringy guy on a search for meaning and purpose and maybe big-league fame if I could get it, and I’m just writing down stories and asking big, uncomfortable questions about the validity of our existence as ballplayers, and guys were not happy about that. And as long as you’re playing well, they’re not going to call you out about it, and I was pitching well. But then I got hurt and the gloves came off, and it was like, 'Dirk, you need to apologize to the team. You need to bring everybody together and tell them you’re out of line for what you’re doing.'

"I remember getting cornered by guys like, 'Dude, you’re making the team uncomfortable writing best-sellers.' And I was like, 'Uh, sorry? I don’t understand.' And they’re like, 'No, seriously, guys are worried about what you’re up to.' And I said it’s all public forum, you could read the book, or you could read the blogs or my tweets — I was the first Blue Jay to Twitter publicly so that was looked down upon — and 'We don’t know what you’re up to.' And I’m, 'Yeah, you do, you could read it.' And they’re like, 'We’re not going to read your stuff,' and I’m like, 'Well, then why are we having this conversation?' 'Because that’s the way this game is, man. We all play by the same rules except you.' And I remember at that point thinking that — and this could have been any team, because teams I’ve played on since then and before that were very similar — but that was a big crossroads. I remember thinking it’s always going to be this way."

He also says that players thought he was stealing paycheques, as a fringy guy on the big league DL for the entirety of the 2010 season.

"There was the severe isolation that happens when you’re injured because the whole team’s away from you, but the book had just launched. The Bullpen Gospels had just come out when all this happened. Now, I’m a legitimate writer about baseball and I’m successful about telling stories in the locker room, so that increased this level of paranoia to almost critical mass amongst the team. My arm injury not only totally wrecked my career, but it wrecked my social structure around the game, my identity, everything. It just all got flushed down the toilet in one fell swoop. It was a horrible time for me."

Oh man, this book cannot get published fast enough.

Prospecting: BA's Top 100 and Goldstein's High-Ceiling Rotations

2012-02-21T16:36:00.003-05:00

Dan Norris. I still like the look of this guy.

A couple of prospect-y nuggets for you to chew on this afternoon, as Baseball America released its Top 100 prospects, while Kevin Goldstein reviewed the top nine high-ceiling prospect rotations in the Majors in a doubly-paywall'd piece for Baseball Prospectus and ESPN.com.

BA's list featured four Jays, all of whom we're getting used to seeing on lists of the top prospects in the game. Travis d'Arnaud ranked 17th on the list that, unlike most, included Yu Darvish, who checks in at number four.

Anthony Gose check in at number 39, with the note that the "physical dead-ringer for Nyjer Morgan has bigger tools than T-Plush."

Jake Marisnick, who spent 2011 putting doubts about his bat to rest, comes in at 67.

And last, but not least, is number 91, Dan Norris. "Toronto has tremendous pitching depth,"they write, "and even though power lefty Norris hasn't debuted yet he still tops the list."

Speaking of Norris, he heads the five-man high-ceiling future rotation for the club, as highlighted by Kevin Goldstein. Following in behind are Noah Syndergaard, Justin Nicolino, Adonys Cardona and Kevin Comer.

The Jays are the ninth team listed in Goldstein's rankings, though their scouting report is perhaps the most impressive. Under a heading of their own, from the "Dream a Little Dream of Me Department," the Jays come in behind four "Star-Studded" clubs, and four more that are "Five Prospects Deep."

"To be clear, these are is not Toronto's top five pitching prospects," he writes. "Drew Hutchinson belongs on the list, and Deck McGuire certainly deserves consideration. The point is that the Blue Jays have amassed a collection of young, high-ceiling arms that is the envy of baseball. Beyond these five, Aaron Sanchez and Joe Musgrove could also belong here.

"None of them can legally drink [in the US], none of them have tasted a full season of professional baseball even, but all of them have star potential. Of course, some of them just won't make it, and some of them will transition to bullpen roles, but the Blue Jays are sitting back with seven lottery tickets when most teams are happy to have just one prospect with the upside of these guys."

Nails much?

Late-Afternoon Snack: Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

2012-02-21T14:54:00.007-05:00

Now it's time for all the stuff I don't figure on making full posts out of, with the spiffy graphic by Matt English (aka @mattomic). It's your Late-Afternoon Snack...

As part of MLB.com's Black History Month series, Gregor Chisholm looks at the legacy of Cito Gaston. Say what you will about Cito's tactical acumen-- and I have-- but he was a pioneer in his field, and deservedly revered in many ways. Just, y'know, not as some baseball genius whose magical influence extends beyond observable reality.

Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com goes searching for MLB's next megastar, and Brett Lawrie gets a mention!

Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun says the clock is ticking on Travis Snider, while his colleague Ken Fidlin says Deck McGuire is on target, Dustin McGowan is ready, and John Farrell wants to be aggressive on the base paths.

Jeff Blair of the Globe and Mail looks at the pressing questions for the Jays as they head into camp. John Lott does something similar at the National Post.

Mike Newman of FanGraphs compares two players with similar minor league batting success last year, at different ages: the much-hyped Brett Lawrie and the thoroughly-unheralded Colin "Reverse" Cowgill.

Bluebird Banter looks at Jays prospects ranked from number 26 to 30. And numbers 21 through 25. Now it's getting interesting!

According to Barry Davis of Sportsnet, Brett Cecil is down 30 pounds. Best shape of his life!

The Globe and Mail catches up, separately, with Jason Frasor, Brett Lawrie, Brett Cecil and Jose Bautista.

Meanwhile, MiLB.com catches up with Noah Syndergaard and talks about his arsenal of pitches.

Beyond the Boxscore takes a look at the Jays' window.

For all you maple peckers out there, BlueJays.com lets us know that Jays goodwill ambassador-- and former Expos GM-- Jim Fanning, is now a Canadian citizen.

John Sickels gives some 2011 draft sleepers at Minor League Ball, including Jays 25th rounder Eric Arce.

Bluebird Banter takes an interesting look at prospects and minor league K-rates.

Seedlings to Stars takes a look at the notion that there's really no such thing as a first base prospect.

Danny Knobler-- the Knobler!-- of CBS Sports figures that the Yankees basically paid AJ Burnett $69.5-million for one win-- Game Two of the 2009 World Series. And they'll probably take that.

Winter Jays fan discussion topic, Jon Niese of the Mets, had a nose job during the off-season, says Big League Stew. No, really.

Lastly, on the 20th anniversary of its airing, Deadspin takes a look at the making of the Simpsons' Homer at the Bat episode.

Uehara Doesn't Like Our Weather?

2012-02-21T14:22:00.003-05:00

I don't want to devote too much time to getting enraged about something Parkes has already sufficiently pissed and moaned and given quizzical looks about over at Getting Blanked, but according to TR Sullivan of MLB.com, Koji Uehara explained that he blocked a trade to the Blue Jays earlier this winter because "The weather is an issue. I also know how hard it is to compete in that division."

I mean... seriously???

There are lots of mostly-legitimate reasons for a player to not want to play in Toronto: frequent trips through customs, needing to use different currency, the club's hopeless position in the AL East, the tepid crowds, and, for a Baltimore-based guy like Uehara, the distance from his family. If he'd have put forth any of those, while I might be inclined to tell him to suck it the fuck up, buttercup, I'd at least get it. But the weather??? Don't piss in my mouth and tell me Baltimore's that different.

(OK, so the average April temperature is 18C in Charm City, compared to 11C here, but the difference shrinks as the summer goes on, and the Jays play in a damn dome, for fuck sakes!)

Manny Chooses Oakland

2012-02-21T13:35:00.002-05:00

As had been strongly suspected in the weeks leading up to yesterday's news, Manny Ramirez has signed with the Oakland A's. MLBTR has the details, including a report from Pedro Gomez of ESPN, who says that the deal is worth about $500,000 in the Majors.

This, of course, relates to the Jays, because at one point, according to Ken Rosenthal, the club was interested in the services of the suspended slugger, but the talks went nowhere. There are certainly ways in which a low-risk, high-reward play for Manny would have made sense for the Jays-- it would have given them 50 games to see whether they really want to continue believing that Adam Lind will one day magically figure out how to hit lefties, for example-- but given his ugly turn in Tampa, his year out of baseball, and all the baggage he comes with, perceived or otherwise, and you understand how a club might have figured the dim potential for reward wasn't worth the PR hit.

Of course, certainly much depended on how he looked in the workouts he gave for clubs this winter, but you'd think that if the Jays were interested enough to have had discussions about it, there was probably something there. But the other stuff was maybe too much. I mean, as much as in years past I would have been quick to defend Manny, one of the games great characters and greatest players, from the mouth-breathing tools who were beyond certain, based on very little tangible evidence, that this was a bad guy who'd corrupt the young and eat babies, the domestic battery charge (which he has pleaded not guilty too) makes a defense of his character a whole lot harder to stomach. The unfortunate reality is, if he were still able to hit a baseball like it was 2004, it probably wouldn't matter, but factored in with everything else, I think we see why it's the team that doesn't give a fuck about the fans in its current city who decided to roll the dice here.

Layin' Down the Law: The Jays' Off-Season

2012-02-17T15:32:00.004-05:00

We had a few Jays-related tidbits yesterday from Keith Law, who hosted a chat at ESPN.com-- in which he mentioned an upcoming thyroid surgery, so best of luck on that, Keith, and here's to a speedy recovery!-- and answered a Jays-related question during the Baseball Today podcast.

KLaw also spoke to TSN Radio earlier in the week, mostly discussing the Jays.

Here are the highlights:

KLawchat

Jeff (Calgary)
Hey Keith,In your opinion, what is holding Syndergaard back from being an elite prospect? It seems like throwing 98 with good command would have him in the upper echelon of your pitching prospects. Any insight is appreciated, thanks.
Klaw
Good control is not good command - and you need a viable breaking ball to be in the upper echelon of pitching prospects. He's become wildly overrated based on spotty velo reports, while Nicolino and Hutchison are underrated because they don't throw as hard.

Jim (Boston)
Looking strictly at offensive upside, [Miami LF/1B prospect Christian] Yelich or Marisnick?
Klaw
Yelich.

Wayne (Toronto)
I notice when you do radio hits in TO, you've been on TSN Radio and not the Fan. Does your job with ESPN prevent you from going on the FAN?
Klaw
Yes. [Note: Which is really frustrating, because TSN Radio just dumps all their clips into the unsorted mess that is their "Podcast Centre" and you have to manually browse through every single piece of Maple Leaf-sucking thing they do to find what you're looking for.]

TSN Radio

"I actually think it makes a lot of sense, philosophically," KLaw said of the Jays' stated policy of not offering free agents contracts of more than five years during his chat with TSN Radio this week. "Most deals of six years or longer, in baseball, don't work out, because, for position players, the peak period is roughly ages 26 through 30. ... If you're signing a guy to a seven-year contract, you're buying decline years."

His one caveat was that, "if I were in Anthopoulos's chair, I'd be willing to make an exception if I thought I was one player away from being a playoff team."

As far as the club's relatively inactive off-season, he says that he thinks "they've still got the right approach," adding, "I think you want to win as many games as you can without sacrificing anything for the future."

"If you're Anthopoulos you've got to wait for more of that [minor league] talent to get there, then go out and strike in free agency. Or it could be the trade market," he said. "It's all in preparation for maybe next winter, maybe the winter after that, when I expect they're going to be much more aggressive in free agency and in the trade market."

Getting specific about just one move, the deal for Sergio Santos, KLaw called it "the trade of the off-season by any club."

Baseball Today

Asked if anyone has ever measured the correlation between a club's highly ranked farm system in one year, and their success in making the playoffs years down the road, Law said that "I don't think you could measure that in any meaningful way, because you don't build an entire playoff team off the farm system-- that's your foundation, but you've got to finish it off."

"To [the emailer's] question, he keeps going-- he goes, 'I don't see what's wrong with trying to put a playoff team on the field now and using the farm system to keep it in the playoffs for years to come. If the Jays don't start making the playoffs and start drawing fans they're not going to be able to afford to retain these rising stars.'

"That's clearly not true. In their media market, given the ownership, they have the money. That's not an issue. You can't-- they were not going to be able to put together a likely playoff team now, just by going out and over-spending in free agency, and signing risky long-term contracts, like Prince Fielder's, who would have been a nice fit for them, certainly, but was not going to put them over the hump.

"I think another year from now, they've got more products from the farm system in the big leagues, they see progress from young players already in the big leagues. You hope Kyle Drabek-- they've worked on some things with his delivery, and just trying to get him to back off when he gets into trouble, as opposed to trying to throw harder-- there's a lot that they can do with him. They're working with Travis Snider, they're hoping Adam Lind bounces back-- they've got a lot of players. They're not all going to step forward this year, but some of them will. More young products from the farm arrive. Next winter might be the situation where, I was saying earlier, they stand up from the table because they're all in. But this winter, I don't think it made sense for them. I didn't think it made sense in November, and now that they have-- I guess they agree with me-- I feel even more strongly about it."

Home Opener Tickets Sell Out in an Hour (And Other Spring Rituals)

2012-02-17T13:00:00.003-05:00

The Super Bowl is over, the Leafs are probably terrible (who the fuck could seriously pay attention at this point?), the Raptors' future will look bright once they get through yet another brick turd of a season, good soccer still comes on TV too early in this hemisphere for anyone who likes to go out and have a good time, so I guess that means it's motherfucking time for baseball!

As the Blue Jay Hunter points out (on tumblr!), while posting a gallery of pics from Dunedin, even though pitchers and catcher aren't technically required to report until Tuesday, it looks like the Jays are getting a head start.

And it seems like Jays fans got a head start (see what I just did there?) on the ticket buying process when it comes to the club's home opener April 9th against Boston, as the Toronto Star reports the game is officially sold out, and was so within an hour of individual game tickets going on sale at 10 am.

A huge part of this was due to the fact that anybody who bought any sort of ticket package this winter-- even Season Passes!-- was given the opportunity to buy tickets to the opener-- something that wasn't advertised by the club, as evidence by the number of readers who were surprised when I mentioned a couple weeks back that I already had mine. Shit, it's almost like the Jays sold as many tickets as they could before they technically went on sale, so that whatever limited supply was left would get bought up in a near-instant as soon as it was available and they could announce to the world that they're a super-shittastic hot ticket. "Sold out in an hour!!" Weird that.

Of course, before we get to Opening Day or the Home Opener, or "Opening Series," or whateverthefuck they're calling it, we have to go through the skull-fucking drudgery that is Spring Training. Fortunately (sorta), we'll have more opportunity than ever (probably, but it's not like I fucking checked) to follow along, as the club has posted its Spring Broadcast Schedule today, which features eleven games on the Fan 590, three on MLB.com (presumably available only to MLB.tv subscribers), and two telecast on Sportsnet.

That'll play.

The Jays open the season at 3:05 PM ET on Thursday, April 5th, at Cleveland.

Parkes: WTF, Jays Shop Online?

2012-02-16T16:47:00.005-05:00

I don't normally double-post stuff that they do over at Getting Blanked, but I'll make an exception in this case. Go read Parkes's excellent piece on the differences between purchasing Jays merchandise online via MLB.com and via the Jays Shop and commence raging.

Mid-Afternoon Snack: Thursday, February 16th, 2012

2012-02-16T14:46:00.000-05:00

Now it's time for all the stuff I don't figure on making full posts out of, with the spiffy graphic by Matt English (aka @mattomic). It's your Mid-Afternoon Snack...

At Getting Blanked, Parkes decides to nitpick the Casey Janssen extension, because... seriously, was it really necessary? Not if, as he concludes, there are a lot of indicators that Janssen's great 2011 results didn't match his process.

House of the Bluebird breaks down Adam Lind and the ridiculous amount of swinging he's done during his two years in the pitiful-excuse wilderness.

Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star speaks with John McDonald, who makes you really start to actually maybe hope that Omar Vizquel makes the Jays out of Spring Training.

Bluebird Banter brings us their Jays prospects ranked from 31-35, which is... somehow less exciting than even the previous two groups.

MLB.com ranks MLB clubs based on their lineups (the Jays come sixth!), bullpens (they're ninth!), and rotations (**sound of crickets**).

Mike Newman of FanGraphs talks about the 80-grade tools that have been seared into his scouting conscience over the years, including Anthony Gose's speed. "Should he continue to add polish," he adds, "Gose may become one of the most exciting players in the game."

Mop Up Duty would like to point out that Big Bird loves the Jays.

In case you missed it, our old friend AJ Burnett rejected a trade to the Angels yesterday, because he wants to stay closer to his family in Maryland. And who'd want to play with that bunch of losers in that shithole town anyway, right?

Lastly, a Jeffery Loria-owned club pulls a total dick move? A Jefferey Loria-owned club pulls a total dick move.

"Opening Series" Promos!

2012-02-16T14:13:00.002-05:00

The Jays open the 2012 on the road, in Cleveland, which means that they can't technically tell fans to come down to the Rogers Centre for "Opening Day" on April 9th, when Boston comes to visit, opening up the home portion of the schedule. Yet this year, rather than putting too much focus on the "home opener" it seems like they're actually trying to get people excited about the season's second and third game as well, christening the set of games against the Sox as the "Opening Series."

And now they've got a couple nifty videos up to promote it.

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Ottawa Takes Another Step Toward Double-A Baseball

2012-02-16T14:03:00.003-05:00

The Ottawa City Council unanimously passed a plan today that "that would see the city spend $5.7 million to fix up the Ottawa Stadium" for the purpose of bringing in a Double-A Eastern League franchise, according to the Ottawa Citizen, and as first tweeted by @Baseball_Ottawa.

More from the Citizen:

After a bidding process for the leasing rights to the stadium on Coventry Road, city staff recommended they be awarded to Beacon Sports Capital Partners, representing a team in the Eastern League that could begin playing in Ottawa in 2013.

Officially, there are confidentiality clauses around identifying the team that could be coming to Ottawa and any potential affiliation with a major-league team, but minor-league sources have indicated that the Binghamton Mets are expected to be the franchise moved to Ottawa.

It’s expected the new owners in Ottawa would pursue an affiliation agreement with the Toronto Blue Jays that would take effect after the Jays’ current agreement with a club in Manchester, New Hampshire, expires at the end of the 2012 baseball season.

So... there's that.

Jays Sixth in ESPN's Future Power Rankings

2012-02-16T12:38:00.003-05:00

ESPN's devious plan to allay the fears of Jays fans ready to jump off the ledge came to its inevitable conclusion today, with the release of the top third of their Future Power Rankings (Insider Only), which ranked MLB teams' well-positionedness for the future based on current talent, their minor league system, ownership and management quality and stability, finances, and contract mobility-- i.e. how locked in they are to long-term, potentially ugly deals.

It was a tailor made concept for showing off the Jays as being on the right path, and it fully achieved that goal... kinda.

You see, the Jays turn up as the sixth-best positioned franchise in the Majors. Aaaaaand... the fourth-best positioned franchise in their division. Yes, New York (2), Tampa (3) and Boston (5) all rank ahead of them-- based largely on current MLB talent and, in the case of two (guess which!), finances.

Yet, let's not act like this is bad news (or... well... news at all, really, but you know what I mean).

"In any other division, Toronto probably would have made the playoffs a couple of times over the past decade, and no team will benefit from the extra wild card as much as the Jays. Of course, they could be in position to win the AL East outright very soon," writes Buster Olney. "Not only do they have arguably baseball's best hitter (Jose Bautista), phenom (Brett Lawrie) and farm system, they have virtually no long-term commitments. They are probably one or two pitchers from winning this division and have the payroll flexibility and trade chips to make it happen. This sleeping giant is almost ready to wake up."

Jim Bowden adds that "Lawrie will be a fixture in Toronto's lineup for years, but the Jays still will need a big bat to accompany him and Bautista. Toronto should pursue Canadian Joey Votto if he becomes available in a trade or as a free agent."

Hard to argue. And while it's discouraging to still be thought of as behind the division's big three-- even in terms of future potential-- you sure as shit have a better shot of catching them from where the Jays are than if you're the dead-last-ranked Baltimore Orioles.

Jorge Soler Works Out For Anthopoulos

2012-02-15T15:24:00.004-05:00

(Not Jorge Soler)

Here's a name we haven't talked about this off-season, apart from the two times it's already appeared in this post, if you include the title: Jorge Soler.

The little-photographed Cuban [Note: seriously, internet, WTF?] has been overshadowed by his older, more expensive compatriot, Yoenis Cespedes, now a member of the Oakland A's, but Soler is no slouch himself-- albeit much farther from the Majors. Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus explained in the preamble to his Top 101 Prospects list that he would rank 38th or 39th, which would make him the third best prospect in the Jays organization-- in Goldstein's view-- behind Travis d'Arnaud and Jake Marisnick.

That is, if they were to sign him.

And apparently they're interested, as Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com reports that "on Wednesday morning, Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos and members of his front office watched the 19-year-old Soler -- along with Cuban pitcher Armando Rivero, outfielder Henry Urrutia and left-handed pitcher Omar Luis -- work out at the club's complex in Boca Chica in the Dominican Republic, according to an industry source."

Of course, they're not the only ones, as the Orioles are also due to watch Soler, and the "Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, Phillies and Cubs have also expressed interest," Sanchez writes. The Cubs were reported to have come to a $28-million agreement with Soler-- who isn't even a free agent yet, as he's just established residency in the Dominican Republic, and still has some hurdles to clear before it will be legal for an MLB club to sign him.

In an Ask BA column back in December, Jim Callis of Baseball America said that Soler may actually be a better prospect than Cespedes-- younger and with five-tool potential. He compares him to Royals prospect Bubba Starling, the fifth pick in 2011, and says he'd expect both to be in the 11-20 range on his next top prospects list. Coupled with the fact that he may be the last major international free agent to hit the market before the severe spending restrictions of the new CBA come into place June 2nd, and it should make for a hefty payday for Soler-- as the reported $28-million deal suggests.

Would the Jays pay such a premium for that kind of a talent? I'm not too sure. If money was no object, probably yes. But as it sometimes feels like things stand now, it's hard to believe that they'll be players, and aren't simply doing their due diligence

Yet, it's important to remember that the club did spend $10-million on Adeiny Hechavarria, and that Anthopoulos has said that he regrets not going quite to the $30.25-million level it took the Reds to get Aroldis Chapman. Plus, we know how they feel about toolsy young athletes, and they certainly couldn't see it as a problem to have too many of those, given the way they've spoken about using prospect capital to facilitate trades. I wouldn't rule them out-- even if a quick trip around the internet shows that Cubs fans seem to think that Soler becoming theirs is, at this point, essentially a formality.

Mid-Afternoon Snack: Wednesday, February 15th, 2012

2012-02-15T13:28:00.004-05:00

Now it's time for all the stuff I don't figure on making full posts out of, with the spiffy graphic by Matt English (aka @mattomic). It's your Mid-Afternoon Snack...

At Getting Blanked, Parkes notices that idiots who answered a Toronto Star poll about Toronto's best sports moment ranked Jeremy Lin's game-winning three-pointer for the Knicks last night ahead of Joe Carter's home run. Did I mention these idiots are idiots? Because holy fuck, what a bunch of fucking idiots.

ESPN released part two of its Future Power Rankings today, featuring the teams ranked from 20th to 11th, and there's still no sign of the Jays-- meaning they're believed to be one of the ten best-positioned franchises in the Majors when it comes to their future. But why isn't it now??!!??! WAHHHHHHH.

espnW, which is apparently a thing, has a feature on Brett Lawrie and his softballin' sister Danielle. Includes a picture of young Lawrie on Toronto Island... in a Yankees cap!

Jeff Sullivan breaks down the ten worst swings of 2011 for Baseball Nation, and though Jose Bautista makes the list on a pitch where Josh Beckett makes him look absolutely foolish, "do you know what I think is the most impressive part of this clip?" he asks. "That's Jose Bautista. That's Jose Bautista swinging the way Jose Bautista swings. Then he holds up. He ultimately doesn't hold up enough, but look at his body. Look at how abruptly that swing attempt stops. That takes so much strength and body control. Jose Bautista even impresses me when he strikes out on a really wild pitch."

I got an email from the Chief of Staff of Ottawa City Councillor Rick Chiarelli, who has been the one pushing hardest to get baseball back in that city, which says that "tomorrow morning at 10 am they are meeting to vote on the bid presented by an eastern league team hoping to move to Ottawa. If you are able to help, we need people to come to City Hall for this meeting and to speak to the Committee in support of this great opportunity." If you're in the nation's capital and are into it, contact Chiarelli's office.

I was looking through some old posts yesterday, and I don't know what amuses me more about this 2008 gem about Todd Stottlemyre joining Twitter: my awesome photo selection or the first and only comment on the post. Gold!

Bluebird Banter bring their top 40-36 Jays prospects, and... yeah, it's about what you'd expect.

Getting Blanked also has a new installment of their Legendary Players in the Wrong Uniforms series, from Chris Creamer of Sportslogos.net. Worth it for Joe DiMaggio as an A's coach in the late 60s alone, but the rest is gold, too.

Jays Journal asks where in the fuck Adam Lind's ability to hit has gone. Well... maybe not in quite those words. And where has his opposite field power gone???

Lastly, Ricky Romero gets an honourable mention from FanGraphs in their best changeups of 2011 piece. Meanwhile, they're looking for a bit of crowdsourcing on the quality of the Jays TV broadcasters. Have at it!

Beeston Throws Cold Water on SkyDome Grass

2012-02-14T18:24:00.003-05:00

Speaking with Bob McCown and Stephen Brunt on the Fan 590's Prime Time Sports this evening, Blue Jays President and CEO Paul Beeston backed away from comments he made at the club's State of the Franchise event two weeks ago that got the city's baseball fans buzzing about the possibility of the Rogers Centre being converted to a baseball-only facility with a real grass field. Just like real teams have!

"We're not contemplating it at the current time," Beeston said, citing the fact that the Argos and Bills are still tenants, and that the building would no longer be viable for football if a grass field was installed.

Asked by Stephen Brunt if he envisioned a grass field being installed in the next three to five years, Beeston bluntly said "I don't see that."

"Do I think it's going to happen?" he later mused. "No. But do I think it could happen? Yes." Well, fuck you very much, then.

Beeston brought up the possibility of bringing in temporary grass for long homestands, the way that has been done for soccer games that have been played there, but he tempered that by noting that it would be limiting to home field advantage, as the Jays would be just as unfamiliar with the surface conditions as their opponents.

"You can do so much with this stadium. It's going to take some vision, it's going to take some dollars, and we're going to look at it as the years come up," he says. And they're in the process of looking at that stuff, the message again being, not any time soon, people.

Beeston said that at some point in time there will have to be money put into the facility, but they also want to build a team to warrant those dollars. Do all Rogers Centre revenues go back into the Jays? I have no idea, but if they do, then it's hard to see grass being in the Jays' interest in the near future, given the "payroll parameters" they're already confined within.

That said, Beeston said that grass would be the first thing he'd change about the building, noting that it would change the dynamic inside and the way the game is played there.

It's not going to happen soon, but knowing that you can do it "is one of the things that lets you know you have options going forward." Yupppppppp.

And the rest...

Some notes from after the conversation moved elsewhere:

- Beeston added that he thinks the club as constituted is the one we'll see on Opening Day. That said, Alex is always working to improve the team.

- "We talked about Manny," he says. He reminded us that Alex looks at everybody, and after internal discussions, "at the end of the day we didn't go forward."

- Given his past history in the Commissioner's office, he was asked about the addition of a Wild Card team for 2012. The big issue with it, he says, is working it into the schedules of their TV partners-- especially if tiebreaker games are necessary to determine any of the playoff teams. "I don't think it's going to go too much longer" before a call is made, he says.

- "At the end of the day we'll go as far as the starting pitching takes us," he says about 2012.

- McCown asks him about the viability of an affiliate in Montreal-- a city that needs a stadium-- ignoring reports about Ottawa angling for a club. Odd.

- "We'd like to have farm teams in Canada-- Montreal, Ottawa, wherever. But a) they need a stadium, and b) they need an owner," Beeston says. "We think it's good for the promotion of the ballclub."

- Lastly, Beeston laughs off a question about his replacement, as he enters the last year of his contract with the club. He won't answer. I'd wager he stays.

Stoeten Answers Griffin's Mail Bag - 2/14/12

2012-02-14T14:26:00.004-05:00

Little is happening in the way of news, as clubs have mostly set their sights on the beginning of Spring Training, leaving the winter of wheeling and dealing-- or in some cases, not doing a whole goddamn lot-- behind them. So, it's probably a good time to dust off one of the last two Richard Griffin mail bags from the Toronto Star, neither of which of got around to hijacking just yet, and provide a bunch of caustic harangues for our enjoyment. Yes?

As always, I have not read any of his answers.

If there's a question you'd like me to answer, submit it to Griffin here, and maybe he'll select it for a future mail bag. Fingers crossed!

Q-Hi ~~Richard~~ Stoeten,

I am fascinated by the idea that the Rogers Centre's relatively new turf being replaced with natural grass. In your opinion, how serious was BJ Management and ownership about this? If it did, is the theory that it improves the prospect of getting more seasoned free-agents who are worried about injuries beign aggravated by turf? Does it change the types of players being selected and developed in the minors? Does it change the atmosphere of home games at the Dome?

Dean Germano, Reddin, CA

AND

Q-Hey ~~Griff~~ Stoet,

A quick one: Beeston makes noises about a grass surface at Rogers Centre in the future. As badly as I want this, my gut says there is about 1% chance of it actually happening. This is hardly the first time grass has been mentioned, and probably won't be the last...and yet the turf 'lives' on and on. Am I being too pessimistic?

Tim Anderson, Copenhagen

I think your pessimism is understandable, Tim. But apparently it's really a thing that that Jays have looked into in a somewhat serious way. There are a couple ways to look at it though: on one hand you could argue that the ugly turf is always going to make the facility look second rate, that it brings down the appeal of the TV product and the brand itself, that it's a potential injury risk for the Jays' own players, a deterrent to free agent targets hoping to preserve their health long enough for more paydays, and potentially to homegrown players the club wants to re-sign as well. On the other hand, having a winning ballclub would mitigate everybody's problems with the turf significantly.

I think it would be a tremendous signal of their seriousness about rebuilding the club if Rogers invested in grass, and it would help the Jays because it precisely addresses a concern of the types of free agents they're realistically going to be in the market for-- the older, complementary players who won't require deals of more than five years, i.e. the Carlos Beltrans (or the Paul Molitors and Dave Winfields) of the world. There are lots of tremendous reasons to do it, but by no means is it a necessary expenditure, so I'm pretty skeptical too. That said, given the way that the Jays subsidize Sportsnet, and how little, in the grand scheme, non-Jays events contribute to Rogers' bottom line, it sure as fuck wouldn't kill them to just give the team the building they bought for a song and let them convert it to a baseball-only facility.

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Q-Hi ~~Richard~~ Stoeten,

So based on that Monday night event at the Rogers Centre, it's very clear that the Jays will NEVER ever want or be able to sign star free agents or even type A since Beeston doesn't want to give out a contract of more than 5 years. Are you kidding me? 10 year contracts are ridiculous but the Angels and the Tigers will have a steady fan base for the next 10 years. Since this fact is known to rest MLB and MLBPA (5 year max) none of them would even consider Toronto. Grass or no grass. That's a shame since I now know that the Jays will be a mediocre team for MANY years to come with the occasional excitement of being only in the race. Your thoughts please?

Kam H., Richmond Hill

You know dick all, is what you know.

That said, the rule is absurd, announcing it publicy as some kind of face-saving PR gimmick is almost as absurd, and if it was Brian Burke so cockily shooting himself in the tit I'd be laughing my balls off at him. Incredibly long contracts are almost always a fools errand and there aren't a whole lot of them I'd be comfortable with, but intentionally, unnecessarily removing yourself from the conversation when it comes to acquiring game-changing talent? That's even dumber. Paul Beeston should probably be fired, I'm not even joking.

Y'know, if he's serious.

Of course, I fully expect that, if the right situation arises in the future, they'll allow themselves to bend the rule. It's going to be a lot easier to explain that away than it would have been to explain this year's inactivity away without some odd philosophical device. Jesus, they might have had to tell the truth!

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Q-With baseball salaries so completely outrageous aren't teams with scant resources like the Jays now nothing more than farm teams for the more affluent franchises. So is this not the real reason that the Jays did not bother to upgrade this offseason?

William Phillips, Belleville

No.

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Q-~~Richard~~ Stoeten:

I have trouble finding stats. on minor leaguers, so I may be wrong here but I don't think Daniel Norris has thrown a pitch in professional baseball yet. It seems to me that it's a stretch to rank him as a top-20 prospect in the Jays' system. A bit too much hype? Your thoughts?  Still hoping to say "Hi" to you in Dunedin.

Bruce Spurrier, Courtenay

You're right that a player with less pro experience has had that much less opportunity to fail, but different evaluators use different ways to measure prospects, and while some place a premium on closeness to the Majors, a lot don't. The idea, I suppose, is that talent is the primary interest of such rankings, and that loading lists with a bunch of guys who are close to MLB, but will top out somewhere between replacement level and league average, doesn't really serve the purpose of identifying the most talented guys with the highest potential. There's a lot of room for interpretation, and talent relative to a player's peers says a whole lot, so I don't have a problem with a guy like Norris being ranked highly.

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Q-Hi ~~Richard~~ Stoeten,

Long-distance need for your insight.  After all the hoopla about Adeiny Hechavarria, he's fallen from a top 100 overall to being ranked #16 amongst our own prospect base by mlb.com... even though his Las Vegas numbers offered hope his hitting was coming around...  I know these lists are arbitrary and all, but wow. Is the kid a keeper?

Richard Elton, Melbourne, Australia

The knock on Hechavarria was always his bat, and it was a gamble for the Jays to have signed him knowing that, but he is so good with the glove the even getting a little bit of production from his bat could make him a Major League regular, they say, and as is he could at least be a defensive-replacement type backup. That's not a great return on $10-million, but it's not quite nothing, either. Especially when we're talking about a 22-year-old with just over 1000 plate appearances as a pro. There is still time for him to get to where he needs to be to become a productive Major Leaguer, and only time-- and especially not stats from Las Vegas-- will tell. Would be hard to bet on him at this point, but it's not difficult to understand taking the risk when having just an average bat would have made him practically a star at short.

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Q-Hi ~~Richard~~ Stoeten,

I'm a long time Blue Jays fan in the UK and I was wondering about AA's 'disappointing' offseason so far. As fans, we want to know the details of the organization's game plan, but it's not in the organization's interest to broadcast every last detail for everyone to read about, so we have to accept some things will remain hidden until the time is right. The Jays made an unsuccessful bid for Darvish which would have kick-started the Jays' bid for the 2012 post-season, but this wasn't to be. Do you think that the relative silence from AA this offseason could be due to a bid for Votto next offseason, with the aim of success in 2013?

Paul B., Bristol, England

I think that the Jays, like any team, have to be salivating over the possibility of Joey Votto hitting the market-- he doesn't hit free agency until after 2013, it should be pointed out-- but that doesn't mean that they're actually naive enough to make his acquisition one of the main planks of their grand plan. There are just too many variables between now and whenever he becomes available-- if he even does!-- for a club to be too serious about such a thing. Maybe it's in the back of their minds-- it should be-- but I wouldn't read into it any more than that. The Jays are too smart.

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Q-I beg to differ from all the doom and gloom out there that 2012 is going to be a lost season. With Ricky Romero and Brandon Morrow continuing to mature as starting pitchers, I am also expecting Brett Cecil to rebound from his poor record last year. With Dustin McGowan and whoever else who make up the 4th and 5th starter, I do not think it will be too far-fetched to think that the starters alone can win 4 or 5 more games than last year. When you consider the much improved bullpen and continued even marginal improvement of Brett Lawrie, Colby Rasmus and Kelly Johnson, they should be able to win another 4 or 5 games, which will push them close to 90 wins and contender territory. The above, of course, is premised on not too many serious injuries to the key players.  Mark my words, the Blue Jays will contend this year, particularly if they are still in the mix at the trade deadline so AA can pull off a trade for another bat or a blue chip starter.

Harry Ng, Qatar

I don't think you're wrong that the Jays can be a lot better this year than people are giving them credit for, but I don't see how "close to 90 wins" makes them better than a Yankees team that won 97 and improved its rotation, a Rays team that won 91 and will get full years of Matt Moore, Desmond Jennings, and probably won't lose Evan Longoria for 30 games again, or a 90-win Boston team that played at a 99-win pace for five months and had 83 wins by September first. A lot would have to go right, and while it's not impossible, this just isn't the kind of division where "not impossible" flies.

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Q-Trade Proposal: Roy Halladay for Anthony Gose, Travis D'Arnaud, and Kyle Drabek...which GM says no? This trade actually make sense again for both teams. The Jays need a veteran #1 starter to anchor their staff, and the aging Phillies badly need an injection of youth to a team that may be out of it in two more years. What do you think?

Darren Low, Toronto

How. The fuck. Does this make any goddamn sense for a Phillies-team in win-now mode?

Ask again in two years.

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Q-Travis Snider is an enigma, but exactly the guy AA would be trying to trade for. I say you play him every day during spring training and give him at least three at-bats. If his swing mechanics are not correct, you'll be able to evaluate him and get rid of him before the end of spring training without burning his one remaining option. I think the Jays should give him the opportunity to play the entire season regardless. You'd be trading him at his lowest point right now and quite frankly the only way he maximizes overall value to the Jays is if he is on the Jays. If he can't make it this year then we all know it, and he'll be worthless anyways. I don't like how the Jays use him as a human yo-yo and continually send him down as soon he starts to struggle.

Jason Sinnarajah, San Francisco

He has an option left, so it's next year when he has to either make the MLB club or be exposed to waivers. I think his potential is/was so great that there's not a whole lot of sense trading him for nothing. Realistically, the Jays aren't likely to let him take Thames' job based on his performance against the kids and shitballers and veterans working on one pitch who populate the Grapefruit League, so they'll send him to Vegas, let him get himself straight, wait for an opportunity, and when the time comes, hopefully finally fucking grab the bull by the horns. It's probably for the best.

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Q-When will the Jays retire Carlos Delgado's number?

Sean Martin, Toronto

It's getting to be about that time, isn't it? I'd love to see Carlos come back and be treated like the franchise icon he really was.

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Q-Hi ~~Richard~~ Stoeten,

Love the blog. But I disagree with your recent criticism of AA.  When he took over from Riccardi, AA said something like: we're going to rebuild, take the time to do it right and resist pressure to make a big move before the organization is ready. It's the same way Pat Gillick built the team, the same way Montreal competed all those years. The Jays' farm system is full of potential stars still one, two or three years away. Is it really worth it to trade them now, only to still be mired in mediocrity three years from now? I want the Jays to compete every year, not mortgage the future again to make a run that falls short.  You don't do that by trading your prospects for players. And what's the sense of paying a free agent $22M a year to help you finish third?

As a longtime Maple Leafs fan, I can tell you I've been waiting for a GM to come in and actually build the organization from the bottom up, rather than trade 1st rounders for stars past their prime. Waiting two or three more years is nothing compared to the lows Leafs fans have endured since 1977. I would hate to see AA bow to media and fan pressure, make moves under these unfavourable circumstances, only to be criticized later by those who pressured him into dealing. Sometimes not making deals is the better move. Remember how happy we were when JP re-signed Vernon Wells?  I say let AA keep playing the long game. Once the farm system begins to produce stars on a regular basis, that's when you blow $200M on a superstar free agent. And if it looks like trading Bautista makes more sense, then do it. Maybe for a top-of-the-rotation starter. Some fans will melt away, but strong TV ratings mean the Jays will go on. And once they start competing, even if it takes another three years, fans will come back to the park. Especially if they bring in real grass. About time!

Darren MacDonald, Sudbury

Hear, hear.

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Q-Mr. ~~Griffin~~ Stoeten,

The fan base seems to be souring on the Jays' offseason moves, but with the doors of spring training swinging open soon I think there is room for some optimism. The biggest hole from last season was filled (8th and 9th inning relief) and the team returns a pretty good offensive lineup. I know everyone would love another top-end arm to go with Romero and Morrow but I am glad AA didn't overpay for a marginal guy like Gio Gonzalez or Matt Latos. Am I being too sunny or should the Jays be significantly better overall this season?

Ryan Hanchett, Goldsboro, NC

I wouldn't call Mat Latos "marginal," but otherwise I can't disagree. The Jays will be a much better club in 2012 than they were in 2011-- even if that's not necessarily ultimately reflected in their record (yes, cock cheese, that's possible). Full years of Lawrie, Rasmus and Johnson will help the offense, as will the possibility that Encarnacion turned the corner once they took his glove away, and the fact that Snider and Thames can be interchanged as their productivity ebbs and flows. A similar thing should happen on the pitching side as well-- no 30 starts to Jo-Jo Reyes and a struggling Drabek. There will be lots of guys at the back end of the rotation who can step up and give it a try until they pitch their way out of the job, and I really felt good about how Morrow ended they year too. The bullpen improvements go without saying.

I'm not suggesting it's going to be enough to make the Jays contenders this year, but they have enough talent to get by when some of their players struggle, and to be able to tinker with things until they find the right mix. It could wind up working really well, and if they make it to the All-Star break in good shape, they certainly have the resources to improve the club from there on the trade market. Either way, it's going to be an interesting, instructive year, with only better things to come.

Early-Afternoon Snack: Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

2012-02-14T11:36:00.003-05:00

Now it's time for all the stuff I don't figure on making full posts out of, with the spiffy graphic by Matt English (aka @mattomic). It's your Early-Afternoon Snack...

The Jays extended reliever Casey Janssen for two years at $5.9-million yesterday, with a $4-million club option for 2014. John Lott of the National Post fills us in on the rest, including some comments from Janssen, who says he's "pumped" to have the new deal in place-- and to have avoided a nasty arbitration hearing.

ESPN.com rolled out bottom third of their "future power rankings" (Insider Olney), which looks essentially like an exercise in praising the Toronto Blue Jays, as they rank clubs' future potential based on categories like MLB and minor league talent, money available to spend, stability of management and ownership and roster flexibility. I could be wrong, but I'm not expecting to see the Jays' name appear until part three.

Jays Journal brings us all the... um... "Jays-related tidbits" *COUGH* from Kevin Goldstein's post-Top 101 Prospects List chat at Baseball Prospectus.

Shi Davidi of Sportsnet writes that, whether fans like it or not, the 2012 season for the Jays is all about the club's young players. And it might not be so bad. No, really.

Daniel Barbarisi of the ~~Sweathogs~~ Wall Street Journal muses on where AJ Burnett belongs among the pantheon of Yankee busts.

Matt Garrioch of Minor League Ball looks at the international players who were signed in 2011, ranking Jays signings Roberto Osuna and Dawel Lugo ninth and twelfth among them-- non-Darvish-and-Cespedes division.

Speaking of Lugo, he shows up on 45-41 portion Bluebird Banter's top 50 Jays prospects list, and while I normally wouldn't have time for such things until they got a whole serious shitting fuckload closer to the top, the Jays system is so loaded that some interesting names (Lopes, Sweeney, DeSclafani, Becerra and the aforementioned Lugo) are already appearing this deep.

From my old stomping grounds at theScore Buzz, it's Ron Paul hitting a double off the wall in the 1983 Congressional Classic while wearing an Astro's jersey of the era. Almost makes you forget what vile pieces of... oh, whatever, just enjoy it.

Remember my "Lunch With Mary" from a few weeks back? Well, if you ever wondered what it might look like on the Huffington Post **blows on fingertips, rubs them on lapel** you can go check that out.

And lastly, at Getting Blanked, Parkes wishes us all a Javy Valentin's day by rolling out a bunch of Valentine's cards he used last year, none of which are as good as my original.