1 Blue Jays Way

Nearly Recovered, d'Arnaud Looks Forward

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Floyd) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:30:00 +0000

Back in October, we reported on a thumb injury that top Blue Jays prospect Travis d'Arnaud suffered while competing with Team USA. The reigning Eastern League Most Valuable Player felt a pop after "catching a ball wrong". The 22-year-old was soon diagnosed with a ligament tear in his thumb.

d'Arnaud, who was acquired from the Phillies in 2009 as part of the Roy Halladay trade, required surgery and has been rehabbing the repaired hand ever since, to get ready for the upcoming season.

According to the All-Star catcher he'll be ready for spring training and doesn't expect to miss a beat in 2012.

"My hand feels great," d'Arnaud said. "Rehab went well. I went to (the Sports Medicine Institute) in Anaheim, California and went for about two months of rehab. My thumb feels normal. Now, I just need to get accustomed to catching bullpens and such."

d'Arnaud was Philadelphia's supplemental first round draft choice (37th overall) in 2007.

En route to helping the Double A New Hampshire Fisher Cats lock down the EL championship, in 2011, d'Arnaud posted a .311 batting average with 33 doubles, 21 homeruns, 78 RBI and a league leading .542 slugging percentage.

The southern California native is already focused beyond recovery, as he's looking forward to having another big offensive year with hopes of more championship hardware.

"I'm feeling amazing and ready for the season to begin."

__________________________________________________

Follow us on Twitter by clicking HERE!

Name That Photo Contest!

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:39:00 +0000

It's about that time for our latest installment of the NTPC. I'm leaning towards: "I wish this fucking guy would stop calling me already!" (unless my name is John Daniels)

Alex Anthopoulos has acquired 38 players in total if you include that guy cash considerations we picked up on the 25th of May as a player. Roll by here and see for yourself.

Change the team to: Toronto Blue Jays
Change the transaction type to: Trade
Change the start date to: 10/03/2009

Have at it. The floor is yours.

Quotables: 1BJW's Top Soundbites of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Floyd) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 06:31:00 +0000

On a regular basis, we here at 1BlueJaysWay bring our readers exclusive interviews/features with various minor league players and organizational personnel. We've browsed through our Q&A's from the last season to bring you the ten best 1BJW interview quotes of the year.

Check out the teasers below and click each link to take in the full interview that we brought your way over the past year.

Blue Jays outfielder Colby Rasmus talking about his transition, after joining Toronto via a mid-season trade: "It's been good. All the guys on the team are awesome. I like the staff...all the coaches are great. Just all the way around, it's definitely a different environment than St. Louis. You know, St. Louis is a little uptight, but (Toronto is) a little more fun. I have more fun going to the field everyday."

Highly ranked catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud discussing the depth at catcher in the Blue Jays' organization: "The (catching) in the Blue Jays organization is unbelievable...the best catching organization I've been in. Shoot, you look at every level and we've got top prospects. At Triple A they've got Jeroloman, here (at Double-A) we've got me and Yan (Gomes), at High A you've Jimenez, in Low A you've got Perez. Even in the GCL you've got Nessy. I mean, it's just unreal how good of catching prospects the Blue Jays have."

Pitching prospect Deck McGuire chatting about alumni of his college, Georgia Tech, helping to prepare him for his professional career: "Mark Teixeira always came back every year for a football game and he'd come in the locker room and we could just ask him questions. And a lot of the questions, even though he's a hitter and I'm a pitcher, it was just, 'What can you learn from a guy that does it for 162 games a year at the highest level?' And then there are guys like Matt Weiters, who handles a pitching staff as well as anybody in the big leagues at a young age. And he's a guy that's always accessible and you can ask him questions. And there are just a tons of guys, big leaguers, guys that have that time that are at the highest point in our profession that you can always come to with any kind of questions to help yourself get better."

Former 1st round draft pick Chad Jenkins talking about his impressions of New Hampshire as his home for the 2011 season: "It's awesome. I've never been in a place where the fans love the team so much. We have a great fan base up there. They show up, sunshine, rain, no matter what, they're there and they're cheering us on."

Outfield prospect and two-time minor league stolen base champion Anthony Gose answering a fan question about the improvements he made to reduce his caught stealing numbers: "(I just tried to) be smarter. Last year I came in real big-headed and cocky after the year I had before in Lakewood. Last year humbled me and basically just being smarter. I had it the whole time and I should have known this last year and not went through that trial and error process, but you know, I'll take the good with the bad and here I am and I'll just keep moving forward."

Jays minor league coach Danny Solano translating for top SS prospect Adeiny Hechavarria, as he discusses the opportunity to learn from rehabbing big leaguers like Rajai Davis, when they spend time in the minors: "He said he tries to learn from as far as what those guys are doing, and how they're disciplined, how those guys swing, how those guys act outside of the lines like in the clubhouse, how those guys have a routine every day. So he tries to see all those little things."

Double-A Fisher Cats manager Sal Fasano talking about first baseman Mike McDade: "He's probably been our most consistent hitter. He just keeps improving daily. It's fun to see him get a little bit of notoriety, because he's kind of worked his way into prospecthood. He wasn't a highly touted guy, but he keeps producing every year."

Mid-Season All-Star Marcus Knecht on where he grew up: "Right in the city about 10 minutes north of downtown, north of the Rogers Centre."

On a rehab assignment Jesse Litsch explains how he got the dream job of every little kid, that being a Big League bat boy: "One thing they gave me credentials to be in the clubhouse so they were always looking for me and they found me in the clubhouse so that's why they initially gave me the bat boy job."

All world catching prospect Carlos Perez gives us his thoughts on the weather in Lansing early in the season: "Yeah, here is too cold."

Some other great interviews we had this past year include Zach Stewart, Henderson Alvarez and hitting coach Justin Mashore.

AA Doesn't Do Free Agents

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 01:21:00 +0000

We're not sure how we could be any more blunt about it.

Our faithful leader - who will no doubt one day have a street or a school or both named after him - just doesn't get down with the free agents. He's said it time and time again.

He doesn't like the term or dollars required to lock down the player.
He doesn't do performance bonuses.
He doesn't do not trade clauses.
He doesn't do player or vesting options.
He doesn't do contracts over 5 years for players.
He doesn't do contracts over 3 years for pitchers.

Period.

End of discussion.

For whatever reason most of the people that follow the team the closest seem to have forgotten this over the past couple of weeks. The cries for Prince Fielder ~~were~~ still are only slightly less annoying then how deafening the cries became for Yu Darvish. The Carlos Beltran sweepstakes was a nice little cherry on top. All of them big name, high profile guys who simply do not fit in with the teams current views. This is how it is and this is how it will remain, until further notice. You, I and all the other children in this crazy game cannot change this no matter how hard try.

It's just not how the plan was drawn up.

For the record: the most expensive free agent signed by your Toronto Blue Jays since Alex Anthopoulos took the reins of the team was

Jon Rauch for a whopping 1 year at 3.75 million dollars. If you factor in the buyout it climbs all the way up to the 4 million dollar mark.

And you know what else? He doesn't owe ANY of us a God damn thing let alone an explanation. How he chooses to do his job is none of our concern provided he gets the job done.

In AA we trust.

Final Thought On Yu Darvish

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:53:00 +0000

Every year I play in a uber competitive big money AL only fantasy baseball league. I consider two or three of my rivals friends and the rest are merely acquaintances. Just before the season is about to start all 12 managers get together and have an auction style draft. It's good fun and the beers flow. A salary cap of $260 is in place which must cover 14 hitters and 9 pitchers. As you would imagine this auction plays out like a episode of Storage Wars. The premium players will not be had for less than 40 bucks. If a manager thinks he's about to get a smoking deal - say Konerko for $29 - someone jumps in and jacks the bid to a more acceptable price even if they ultimately have no interest in the player. Where it gets truly interesting is when it's time to bid on a hot shot rookie. All of your trusted methods of evaluating talent - and your sanity - go straight out the window at times.

Example 1: Evan Longoria circa 2008 draft

I remember it well because it was my first year of playing in the league. I was the new guy and I had no idea what I was doing. All these players were going for prices that I thought were completely outrageous and then somebody nominated Longoria. Obviously he had some talent with the stick and his face was on the cover of every fantasy baseball publication known to man. As the bidding started I figured a double digit bid is where I would back off. To my and the chiseled league vet's I was sitting beside surprise he went all the way up to 26 bucks. I remember him turning to me and saying: "that's a lot of money to spend on a guy that's never faced a major league pitcher before."

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	Pos	Awards
2008	22	TBR	AL	122	508	448	67	122	31	2	27	85	7	0	46	122	.272	.343	.531	.874	127	238	8	6	0	8	4	*5/D6	AS,MVP-11,RoY-1

Example 2: Austin Jackson circa 2010 draft

Coming to the Tigers in what can only be described as a blockbuster deal in the winter of 2009 Jackson was the centerpiece and a much hyped Yankees prospect, like every other damn Yankees prospect. He was going to play CF everyday and there were rumors that Leyland was going to try him out at leadoff in a pretty dangerous lineup on paper. I figured his glove was going to keep him in CF and therefore keep him in the lineup. Again, I set my limit at double digits and again he climbed out of my price range to 12 bucks. In retrospect that's a pretty fair price to pay for an everyday player in this league.

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	Pos	Awards
2010	23	DET	AL	151	675	618	103	181	34	10	4	41	27	6	47	170	.293	.345	.400	.745	102	247	5	4	3	3	4	*8	RoY-2

Example 3: Lorenzo Cain circa 2011 draft

Involved in the Zack Greinke trade over the winter, Cain wasn't guaranteed a job on the big league roster but had had some success in the Majors the previous year. He was blocked in CF by the Melkman who had signed a one year deal with an option with KC. In a somewhat brazen alcohol induced move, yours truly made a play at Cain figuring he would be up a day or two after the Super 2 date had passed in early June. I had some extra funds to burn and it was late in the draft so I bid him up to 7 bucks and won. In doing so, I missed out on free agent to be and seven year veteran Josh Willingham who ended up being had for 6 bucks.

Cain:

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	Pos	Awards
2010	24	MIL	NL	43	158	147	17	45	11	1	1	13	7	1	9	28	.306	.348	.415	.763	105	61	1	1	0	1	0	8/79
2011	25	KCR	AL	6	23	22	4	6	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	4	.273	.304	.318	.623	73	7	0	0	0	0	0	/98

Willingham:

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	Pos	Awards
2004	25	FLA	NL	12	29	25	2	5	0	0	1	1	0	0	4	8	.200	.310	.320	.630	68	8	1	0	0	0	0	/27
2005	26	FLA	NL	16	28	23	3	7	1	0	0	4	0	0	2	5	.304	.407	.348	.755	107	8	1	2	1	0	0	/2D7
2006	27	FLA	NL	142	573	502	62	139	28	2	26	74	2	0	54	109	.277	.356	.496	.852	121	249	13	11	0	6	2	*7/D32	RoY-9
2007	28	FLA	NL	144	604	521	75	138	32	4	21	89	8	1	66	122	.265	.364	.463	.827	115	241	11	16	0	1	1	*7/D
2008	29	FLA	NL	102	416	351	54	89	21	5	15	51	3	2	48	82	.254	.364	.470	.834	117	165	7	14	1	2	2	7
2009	30	WSN	NL	133	502	427	70	111	29	0	24	61	4	3	61	104	.260	.367	.496	.863	127	212	11	12	0	2	2	*79/3
2010	31	WSN	NL	114	450	370	54	99	19	2	16	56	8	0	67	85	.268	.389	.459	.848	129	170	8	9	0	4	3	7/D
2011	32	OAK	AL	136	563	488	69	120	26	0	29	98	4	1	56	150	.246	.332	.477	.810	121	233	6	11	0	8	3	7D

Conclusion:

Bidding and subsequently winning these types of players is a clear lose lose situation. In order to win them you have to overpay for them relative to their real value. The only way it works out for you is when they preform above or well above their projected level, which in turn is based on nothing in the way of real experience.

For a quick reality check to all you stupid, ignorant, the sky is falling, hockey crazed, Rogers hating, moron, upset at your life, looking for the simple answer, management hating, stathead, dickholes that just can't seem to let this God damn topic go please click here

Something To Consider

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:11:00 +0000

PLEASE NOTE: this post was written prior to finding out that international broadcast revenues are shared amongst all MLB teams equally. The agreement can be found here and it expires at the end of the 2015 season. If your Toronto Blue Jays do win the auction AND sign Darvish you'd have to think that they would have a major say on what the next deal looks like. That's if this guy turns out to be as good as he's been advertised. It is possible that there is a clause within the current agreement that allows teams to place a premium on their games specifically for situations like this. We attempt to explore that concept below.

If you read this blog, you're well aware that Darvish mania has hit a fever pitch in this city.

One thing that has been stuck in our minds was a note from the Toronto Sun's Bob Elliot post the other night saying that Rogers told the Jays brass to get Darvish "Whatever it costs, sign him". All we've been hearing since the bomb was dropped on all Jays fans during the Winter Meetings was "payroll parameters". How do we make the jump from we'll spend money when the fans start showing up to sign him at all costs? Sounds like to us a group of business analysts over at Rogers sat down and started to run some numbers and have realized that this Darvish kid might actually make them some money. How's that possible when we're talking about a pricetag of $125 million once the posting and the contract are settled.

First lesson learned here at 1BJW was, apparently we're quite ignorant when it comes to the actual population of Japan. 128 Million potential Rogers "customers" over there just waiting to watch their Major League playing Rock Star of a pitcher on beautiful HD feeds straight from Sportsnet Central. Another thing we learned was that the Japanese community here in Toronto wasn't quite as large as we might have thought, only about 19000. How many of that number can be either Jays fans or even interested in seeing Darvish pitch at the Rogers Centre. We'll look at that later. But this 128 million is a big number, let's dig a bit more into that.

What kind of tv viewership numbers can we be looking at in Japan we wondered.

Well, here's a look at those numbers.

95 percent of Japanese watch TV daily and that nearly 60 percent of daily viewers watch for three hours or more.

127,000,000 population

120,000,000 total viewers

72,000,000 watch for three hours or more.

Well holy shit we say, there's a lot of "customers" just waiting for Rogers to push their product to. In Japan there is just one public broadcaster and that's the folks at NHK so it'll make negotiating a broadcast deal with much easier as it's just 1 deal to make.

After a bit of digging we found that the Leafs charge broadcasters $1.25 a month per tv set to get their games and the NFL Network charges $0.81 a month for their product. Ok, that's a bit high for Blue Jays product lets be honest and while we're fans of our team, would these new "customers" in Japan want to watch all our games or just the games staring their National Hero? We here are leaning to just Darvish's starts. Let's start running some numbers here.

Let's start real cheap with charging just a penny a Darvish start, typically he'll get 5 starts a month, here's hoping anyway.

$0.01 Per Start

$0.05 a Month mulitplied by 72,000,000 possible viewers to watch a ballgame.

At this point, you're thinking, that's got to be a high number and you'd be right.

$3,600,000 a MONTH or $21,600,000 a SEASON!

I don't know about you, but a penny a start seems damn cheap, I couldn't imagine if they could actually could get a whopping nickle a start. Being the math wizards we are here at 1BJW, we can tell you that equals $108,000,000 a season! Yes, that's a lot of zeros. What could you charge if he pitches against the Yankees or Red Sox? What could you charge if he lines up against Dice-K? The money is truly endless.

Say what you will about our teams owners, but Rogers is in the business of making money. They do it very well, hence they just ponied up $533 million dollars to buy a stake in the Toronto Maple Leafs. We know the rates we pay here in this country for our Rogers Services and how so very kind they are to us. So what if they can even get a penny a start for him, that'll cover 86 percent of his salary and posting before a fan even steps in the building.

Let's look at that now for a moment shall we? We here at 1BJW don't generally buy the argument that the fans will come to just see a certain player. But maybe, just maybe the curiousity is high when/if Darvish starts here and fans flock in to see his first few starts to see what the deal is. Is the hype real? Maybe, just maybe some of the 19,000 Japanese people that live in the Toronto area will come to see one of their countries own. Maybe. Might happen, we really don't know.

So let's just say, that on the night's that Darvish pitches that the Blue Jays are lucky enough to get an extra 3000 per home start. I'm guessing the first game he pitches here is a sellout and maybe the first few are up there. So an extra 3000 a home start averaged over the season doesn't seem like a strech to us. With this signing, the buzz in the city is sure to build. Will that translate into people in chairs? Maybe, maybe not. But winning sure will and we've all got hope that this will.

But let's just say the average price of a Blue Jays ticket is $40 and you can't go to the ballgame without getting a pop or two and something to eat. So on average another $40 per person. Average.

So, 3000 people at $80 bucks a night is:

$240,000 extra a home start night.

Hopefully Darvish makes 15 home starts throughout the season.

$3,600,000 million a season.

Well wait, just a second here. $21,600,000+$3,600,000 is:

$25,200,000, again we say, that's at a penny a start.

We haven't sold a jersey yet and we're already about $200,000 ahead.

The buzz this potential signing has created has been huge the last few days. Will they sell more seasons tickets because it appears that the Jays are actually taking risks and are attemping to put that competitive team we've longed for, for so many years. Maybe. The number of people that are saying that they'll buy more tickets this season just because it appears that Rogers actually cares about winning with this team. The numbers speak for themselves, what Rogers really cares about is making money.

The Blue Jay Rally Call

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:12:00 +0000

I'm not even certain that I want the braintrust to win this ridiculously stupid blind auction or not. But hey, what the fuck else are we doing?

Ball Hall’s Tip O’Neill award up for grabs

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:30:00 +0000

St. Marys – The 26 Canadians that donned major league uniforms in 2011 was the largest number in more than a century, and that means the voting for the Tip O’Neill Award is going to be as challenging as ever. The annual recognition stems from the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum and is given to the player judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to baseball’s highest ideals.

The Ball Hall is seeking input prior to the decision being announced on December 14th. Please send your top three choices in order by emailing baseball@baseballhalloffame.ca or you can vote on our website at www.baseballhalloffame.ca (there is a poll on the bottom right hand corner)

Larry Walker is the all-time leader in “Tip” awards with nine. Jason Bay sits second with three, while Justin Morneau and Eric Gagné, with two each, are the only others to win more than once. 2010 recipient Joey Votto has a chance to join the club of multiple winners after another stellar season, but he is up against some strong competition from the likes of John Axford, Erik Bedard, Jesse Crain, Russ Martin and Brett Lawrie.

The following is an alphabetic summary, from Axford to Votto, of the Canucks who played in “The Show” in 2011, along with a pair of candidates from Team Canada’s men’s and women’s teams:

John Axford (Port Dover, ON) – Led the Milwaukee Brewers to the playoffs with a National League leading 46 saves, won the NL Rolaids Relief Man award and finished ninth in Cy Young voting. The 6’5”, 195-pounder’s single season save total ranks third in Canadian history, trailing only Eric Gagné, who chalked up seasons of 55 and 52 saves. The moustachioed right-hander compiled a 1.95 ERA with 86 strikeouts, 25 walks, and 59 hits over 73 innings. Beginning April 24th, he converted 43 consecutive saves, and overall converted 46 saves in 48 save opportunities. His ERA after the All-Star Break was 0.84. In six playoff appearances, Axford had a win, three saves, struck out nine in seven innings, and landed a 1.29 ERA.

Jason Bay (Trail, BC) – After a late start due to injury, the 2009 Tip winner smacked a dozen homers, 109 hits, 19 doubles, 57 RBI and a Canadian-leading 11 stolen bases for the New York Mets. Won NL Player of the Week on September 12th. OBP - .329, SLG – .374, BA – .245.

Erik Bedard (Navan, ON) – Won five games in 24 starts with the Seattle Mariners and Boston Red Sox. Struck out 125 hitters in 129 innings pitched, ERA – 3.62.

Megean Cornellsen (Grand Prairie, AB) – Team Canada outfielder was named MVP in the USA Baseball Women's International Friendship Series, with six hits in six games, seven RBI and four stolen bases. OBP – .421, SLG – .353, BA – 353.

Jesse Crain (Toronto, ON) – Appeared in 67 games for the Chicago White Sox, collected eight wins, 2.62 ERA, struck out 70 and allowed 50 hits in 65 innings.

Ryan Dempster (Gibsons, BC) – The Chicago Cubs opening day starter amassed 10 wins, threw 202 innings, striking out 191, and had a 4.80 ERA in his Canadian-best 34 starts. Nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award.

Scott Diamond (Guelph, ON) – Had seven starts for the Minnesota Twins, winning one, striking out 19 over 39 innings, and had an ERA of 5.08.

Jeff Francis (Vancouver, BC) – After injuries limited him to just 19 starts in 2010, the tall left-hander rebounded to start 31 games for the Kansas City Royals, winning six, pitching 183 innings, striking out 91, and amassing a 4.82 ERA.

Taylor Green (Comox, BC)– Milwaukee Brewers third baseman appeared in 20 games as a September call-up, batted .270. Was Pacific Coast League All-Star and Baseball America 2nd-Team Minor League All-Star. At Triple-A, 120 games, 141 hits, 22 HR, 36 doubles, 88 RBI, BA – .336, SLG – .583, OBP – .413.

Rich Harden (Victoria, BC) – Limited service with Oakland A’s due to injury, 15 starts, four wins, 91 strikeouts in 82 innings, 5.12 ERA.

Blake Hawksworth (North Vancouver, BC) – Relieved for the LA Dodgers, hip problems limited him to 49 games, two wins, 43 strikeouts in 53 innings, 4.08 ERA.

George Kottaras (Toronto, ON) – Back-up catcher with Milwaukee played 49 games, batted .252, five HR, SLG – .459, OBP – .311. Hit for the cycle in Houston on September 3rd, the first major leaguer to do it in 2011, and the first Canadian to hit for the cycle since (who else?) Tip O’Neill did it twice in 1887. 2011 CBHFM inductee George Wood (Pownal, PEI) also hit for the cycle in 1885.

Brett Lawrie (Langley, BC) - Charlie Hustle attitude brought electric atmosphere when the third baseman was called up to the Toronto Blue Jays, playing 43 games, batting .293, with 44 hits, nine HR, 8 doubles, 25 RBI, seven stolen bases, SLG – .580, OBP – .373, and a memorable extra-inning walk-off HR against the Boston Red Sox. The right-handed slugger was just named to the Topp’s 2011 All-Rookie Team. At Triple-A, played 69 games, 103 hits, 18 HR, 61 RBI, 13 SB, BA – 353, SLG – .661, OBP – .415. Was Pacific Coast League’s Player of the Month in May, named Baseball America 1st Team Minor League All-Star, and Baseball America Triple-A All-Star.

Chris Leroux (Montreal, QC) – The 6’6”, 225 lb right-hander appeared in 23 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates, winning one, striking out 24 batters in 25 innings, and compiling a 2.88 ERA.

Adam Loewen (Vancouver, BC) – Completed the remarkable transition from major league pitcher to major league position player due to arm injury. Called up to the Blue Jays in September, played 14 games, six hits, one HR. At Triple-A, in 134 games, smacked 159 hits, 17 HR, 46 doubles, stole 11 bases, BA – .306, SLG – .508, OBP – .377. Recently signed with the New York Mets.

Trystan Magnuson (Vancouver, BC) – Pitched in nine games with the Oakland A’s, striking out 11 in 14 innings, 6.14 ERA.

Jonathan Malo (Joliette, QC) - Shortstop led Team Canada to bronze medal at World Cup and gold at Pan Am Games. Named to World Cup All-Star Team (quite a rarity for a Canadian middle infielder), batted .382, collected 13 hits and played exceptional defence while starting every game for Canada. Batted .316 at Pan Ams. Team Canada improved to 6th in world ranking. Batted 226 at Double-A and Triple-A in NY Mets system.

Russell Martin (East York, ON) – New York Yankees everyday catcher was an American League All-Star, finished first in assists, and in 125 games had 99 hits, 18 HR, 17 doubles, eight stolen bases, BA – .237, SLG – .408, OBP – .324.

Scott Mathieson (Vancouver, BC) – Limited action attempting comeback following third elbow surgery, including two Tommy John elbow ligament replacements. Pitched in four games, five innings, struck out five, 0.00 ERA.

Justin Morneau (New Westminster, BC) – Former AL MVP with Larry Walker career-like potential still feeling effects of concussion, playing only 69 games, with 60 hits, four HR, 16 doubles, 30 RBI, BA – .227, SLG – .333, OBP – .285.

Mike Nickeas (Vancouver, BC) – Back-up catcher for the New York Mets saw action in 21 games, 10 hits, .194 BA.

Pete Orr (Toronto, ON) – Utility infielder for Philadelphia Phillies played in 46 games, 21 hits, three doubles, three stolen bases, .219 BA.

Scott Richmond (Vancouver, BC) – Hampered by injury, only had one outing with the Toronto Blue Jays. Closed out the Pan Am Games gold medal game with three innings of sparkling relief against the USA to hold Canada’s 2-1 lead, and striking out the game’s final hitter to give Canada its first ever gold medal at the Senior level.

Mike Saunders (Victoria, BC) – Seattle Mariners outfielder played 58 games, 24 hits, five doubles, six stolen bases, .149 BA.

Matt Stairs (St. John, NB) – Ended incredible MLB career having played for a record 13 teams. The power hitting outfielder who hold the major league record with 23 pinch-hit homeruns. Saw limited action, mainly pinch-hit, in 56 games with Washington Nationals, totalled 10 hits and a .154 BA. Ironically, despite the left-handed slugger’s sure-fire future Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame career numbers, Stairs did not win a Tip O’Neill Award in any of his 19 seasons. Arguably could have won or shared the Tip in his best season, 1999, with 38 HR and 102 RBI, but Larry Walker knocked 37 HR and 115 RBI in 20 fewer games, and won the batting title with a .379 clip, and a superb OPS of 1.168, while Stairs batted .258 and had an .899 OPS.

Mark Teahen (Canadian Citizen, father born in St. Marys, ON) – Third baseman traded from the Chicago White Sox to the Toronto Blue Jays, played in 78 games, 32 hits, four doubles, 14 RBI, and a .200 BA.

Rene Tosoni (Toronto, ON) – Minnesota Twins outfielder played in 60 games, chalking up 32 hits, five HR, seven doubles, 22 RBI, and a .203 BA.

Joey Votto - (Etobicoke, ON) – NL All-Star and Gold Glove winner finished sixth in MVP voting. The 2010 NL MVP batted .309 including 29 HR, 72 extra base hits, and a Canadian record 110 bases on balls. The Cincinnati Reds marquee player led the NL in BA on the road (.334) and BA with runners in scoring position (.383), and led all MLB first basemen in games (160) and innings played, total chances, putouts, assists and was second in double plays. Had 185 hits including NL-leading 40 doubles, 103 RBI, scored 101 runs, and stole eight bases. SLG – .531, OBP – .416, OPS – .947 (9th in NL).

The award is named after Woodstock, Ontario native James 'Tip' O'Neill, who was one of Major League baseball's first legitimate stars. With the St. Louis Browns in 1887, the outfielder set major league records in hits, doubles, slugging percentage, and total bases that season while compiling his astounding major league record .492 batting average, and SLG-691, H-225, D-52, T-19, HR-14, TB-357, R-167, RBI-123. Bases on balls were included as hits in 1887, but if O'Neill's average was calculated by today's standard, it was .435, the second highest in major league history to Hugh Duffy (.438).

Past winners of the James "Tip" O'Neill Award:

1984 TERRY PUHL
1985 DAVE SHIPANOFF
1986 ROB DUCEY
1987 LARRY WALKER
1988 KEVIN REIMER
1989 STEVE WILSON
1990 LARRY WALKER
1991 DANIEL BRABANT
1992 LARRY WALKER
1993 ROB BUTLER
1994 LARRY WALKER
1995 LARRY WALKER
1996 JASON DICKSON
1997 LARRY WALKER
1998 LARRY WALKER
1999 JEFF ZIMMERMAN
2000 RYAN DEMPSTER
2001 LARRY WALKER (tie) 2001 COREY KOSKIE (tie)
2002 LARRY WALKER (tie) 2002 ERIC GAGNÉ (tie)
2003 ERIC GAGNÉ
2004 JASON BAY
2005 JASON BAY
2006 JUSTIN MORNEAU
2007 RUSSELL MARTIN
2008 JUSTIN MORNEAU
2009 JASON BAY
2010 JOEY VOTTO

On a personal level, my write in ballot looked like this:

1. Brett Lawrie
2. Brett Lawrie
3. Brett Lawrie

After some heated debate, it was accepted. Exercise your right and vote now!

The winner will be announced tomorrow.

Blue Jays Acquire Francisco From Phils

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Floyd) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:14:00 +0000

The following piece appeared today on PhoulBallz.com, a Phillies site run by 1BJW's own Jay Floyd.

The man known to Philadelphia faithful as “Benny Fresh” is heading north of the border, as the Phillies have dealt outfielder Ben Francisco to the Toronto Blue Jays for minor league left-handed pitcher Frank Gailey.

Francisco, was acquired by Philadelphia in a July, 2009 trade that initially brought star hurler Cliff Lee to town in exchange for four prospects.

In his time with the Phillies, Francisco batted .260 with 16 HR and 61 RBI in 225 regular season games played. The 30-year-old is likely best known for his homerun in game 3 of the 2011 division series against St. Louis that locked down a win for Philadelphia. In 17 career postseason games, the California native has tallied a .105 batting average.

Gailey, a 26-year-old lefty, was born in Philadelphia and attended West Chester University. In 2011, Gailey split time between Class A Advance Dunedin and Double A New Hampshire. In the Florida State League, Gailey was strong, going 4-2 with a 1.84 ERA and a .168 batting average against in 26 relief outings, earning himself a promotion to the Eastern League. Gailey wasn’t as sharp with the Fisher Cats, as he sported a 1-4 record, a 5.70 ERA and a .286 batting average against in 19 games.

Originally a 23rd round draft choice by the Blue Jays in 2007, Gailey has posted a 2.45 ERA overall in his 5 professional seasons.

The 5-foot-9-inch 190-pounder has never pitched above the Double-A level. He projects to be developmental depth, much the way veteran minor league relievers Justin Friend and Les Walrond were at multiple levels of the organization last season.
_________________________________________

Image- Philly.com

You can follow 1BlueJaysWay.com on Twitter by clicking HERE.

The Week That Was

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:28:00 +0000

Image courtesy of Minor Leaguer via Bluebird Banter

Exactly one week ago today we stated that agent Dan Lozano and his associates were headed to Toronto. The name Albert Pujols was liberally thrown around as being in attendance but never once confirmed by us.

Didn't really get the chance.

The biggest dog on the porch, the mighty Drunk Jays Fans and their crazed monkey army jumped all over it and away it went into retard land. In fairness, the post itself was written in a somewhat complementary tone while the comments section was predictably a gong show.

The overall reaction was naturally mixed and since we weren't prepared to disclose the source of this information - still aren't/never will/stop asking - it was quickly scrutinized and for the most part discarded. The main stream media did their best to disproved it while team officials totally denied it.

Case closed.

Courtesy of Jon Heyman

told no truth to internet reports pujols/lozano visiting toronto today. #stlcards look like his best (only?) $200M chance

Courtesy of ESPN

Pujols not meeting with Jays #bluejays #cardinals #mlb http://es.pn/sjM1tA

Courtesy of Bob Nightengale

No truth to talk that Pujols and Lozano are or were in Toronto. Lozano in LA office Tuesday

Courtesy of You Don't Know Dick

In an interview with the Star just last month, Jays president Paul Beeston expressed lingering bitterness over the way similarly high-priced free agents used his Jays as a negotiating tool back in the ’80s — before they had won anything. Beeston singled out free-agent reliever Rich Gossage and his agent Jerry Kapstein allowing the Jays to think they were in the running, then using that offer to bump up the price elsewhere. The long-memoried prez insists the Jays won’t get fooled again.
He proved it last year when the anticipated Blue Jays bid for the much-coveted and seemingly undecided Cliff Lee, the cream of that free-agent crop, failed to materialize. The same professional disinterest espoused by Beeston, on behalf of the Jays in dealing with top free agents in non-contending winters, is expected with Pujols and Prince Fielder. It’s a philosophy he passed on to GM Alex Anthopoulos.

Courtesy of John Lott

“We’re not doing anything for a short-term fix … We’re not going to buy a team,” Beeston said.

Courtesy of Shi Davidi

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

Every single one of them refuted our claim and there are some heavy hitters on that list. All except Jeff Blair. We love Jeff Blair. He hasn't yet lost his ability to think outside the box.

Courtesy of Jeff Blair

The GM managed to get Beeston to overcome a significant aversion in getting him to sign off on a five-year contract extension for pitcher Ricky Romero in 2010, but it would be an even neater trick getting Beeston to think big, bigger, biggest in the free-agent market. That leaves the Blue Jays not even on the periphery for the likes of sluggers Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols – unless Beeston and Anthopoulos are working some kind of ruse.
All’s fair at this time of the season, folks. They might have us all exactly where they want us.

Here's what the message boards and comment threads had to say about it. Spoiler alert: not very positive

Courtesy of BlueJays.com (skip to page 6)

Courtesy of Pro Sports Daily

Courtesy of Sportsnet

Courtesy of Drunk Jays Fans

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd finally our personal favorite Mike Cormack

Hopping on Fan 590 with @JeffSammut590 after 9 to talk #jays, #mlb & ridiculous Pujols rumours.

The Pujols bit was the lead story and was quickly whisked under the rug. To paraphrase the conversation - as it happened on the fucking radio - it went down a little something like this:

Sammut: What's the deal with this Pujols rumour?

Cormack: It's just some silly blogger. They like to throw a bunch of stuff against a wall and see what sticks. Next question please.

It was at this point in the game we decided it was best to fold our hand. A memo went out to all staff: maintain full radio silence until further notice. The hate mail piled up while we just sat back and took names. Nobody believed us. And frankly, why would they? With this much evidence pointing to the contrary it was fairly easy to move right along to the next rumour.

What we took away from this entire exercise can be summed up like this: unless your name is known and respected in the baseball community there is absolutely zero point in trying to share a little snippet of juicy news you heard about your favorite team.

Even if we revealed our sources and told the other 90% of the story that we are privy to, it would have remained an extreme uphill battle for the good guys (us) to reclaim our honour that in the end just isn't worth the headache. We consider this an extremely valuable lesson learned. From this day forward there will be no more of this type of goodness from us.

Most of you reading this still probably think to this day we are a total joke and that's honestly completely cool with us. For those people we counter with just one simple question:

How did we possibly get our hands on this bad boy?

There's that and a FULL WEEK LATER there's this.

Follow @1BJW

Food For Thought

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 05:24:00 +0000

As we all know now our wonderful game of baseball has just implemented a new collective bargining agreement. With all the new rules and caps this has given us stay at home GM types a bit of time to ponder on what to do.....what to do.....Jesus what do we do now? I am not sure on any of the exact numbers but let's just agree that some of the now imposed caps are drastically different and will effect a lot of teams. MLB has basically capped the draft and all international signings.

In regards to the draft, teams are only allowed to spend a certain number - which is to be determined - on their entire draft. Gone are the days of the 17 million dollar drafts. Teams now will have to spend wisely and put a premium on scouting to find those diamonds in the rough that will be worth the signing bonuses. Also gone are the days of offering major league contracts to draft picks.

On international signings it gets even more weird. Long gone are the days of giving players like Hech 10 million. A team now has around 2 million to spend for the entire season. They do get to trade some of the unused cap away but I'm not even going to get into that craziness!

With all these new strict rules and hard caps now out there, organizations are going to have to be a lot more selective on who they sign and what to pay them.

But wait.....do they really have to? I may be wrong in all this, again it's just some food for thought.

Let's say for argument sake you have another Bryce Harper in the draft. The Jays only have 5 million allotted for draft picks, FOR THE ENTIRE DRAFT. This would mean that signing that player to a big bonus just got a whole lot harder and maybe he won't sign at all instead opting to go to college. What if the Jays drafted said player and gave a signing bonus to him for the minimum amount. He gets his minor league contract and reports to whatever level the Jays would like to start him at. What is to stop the Jays at this point from purchasing his contract, adding him to the 40 man roster and renegotiate his contract to pay him the big bucks that the "stud" deserves? Then burn an option year and send him out to the minors.

Simple.

The Jays wouldn't use up much of their precious draft cap and the phenom would get the money he feels he deserves. Everyone wins.

I could be completely out to lunch and this wouldn't work at all....or maybe I found a sneaky loophole just waiting to be exploited. Especially in the case of top notch draft talent and those gems in the international free agent market.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was a guest post by my idiot Reds fan friend

Did Ya Hear?

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 01:28:00 +0000

We got new uniforms! Turns out a friend of the site crashed the party and sent over some pics that I thought I would share with you. Personally, I think they look great and I`m somewhat shocked the brain trust got this one right.

Like my dad always use to say: Late is OK but pregnant that's no good.

Holy Fuck Dick

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 06:20:00 +0000

The best thing is that at long last there can be no excuses about the AL East being the reason for no playoffs and the best Ontario whine can return to the Niagara region where it belongs.

Wow.

I mean the whole article is a shitshow but wow.

Just wow.

Let's Start It Up

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:54:00 +0000

On occasion I enjoy firing out a late night gem on the Twitter feed right before I fall asleep. Normally these are well thought out snippets regarding your Toronto Blue Jays. The reason for this is the enjoyment I get waking up and seeing the responses, if there happen to be any. A few nights ago I came up with this:

I am not against acquiring another SP but I wonder if we really need one. Ricky, Morrow, Cecil, Alvarez, McGowan looks fine. Drabek 1^st up.

Now that right there friends is a statement. I had been thinking along those lines all day and I did my best to jam it into the 140 character maximum. Let’s see what my people had to say about it.

@Tammy_Beth that's been my thought all along - but i am a sucker for the Yu idea (with Cecil to the pen)
@twit_terrific Didn't we all think exact same thing last offseason?? Assumed RR,BM,BC would take next step & BM+BC did opp. DM unsure, HA who knows..
@daveellis66 agreed. Most excited for Alvarez in the whole bunch.
@Raiderfan_NOC I wouldn't trust dustin
@HouseOfTheBB I think the issue isn't that the Jays don't have enough pitchers its that they don't have enough high end pitchers

All fantastic points and some interesting variances in opinion. I very much wanted to address them all individually but the space limitations were prohibitive. Here are my thoughts on the matter, the long version…..

6'0 215lbs

Entering 2011, Ricky Romero had not yet earned the ace title. On the other hand he was our best pitcher, so he got the ball for opening day. He made all his starts and threw another pain free 200 plus innings mostly matching up against the best our opponents had to offer. That's no easy feat. He was an All Star, albeit a last minute addition after a bunch of wimps back out.

Let’s take a look at a few of his key stats as well as his AL rank.

The Good

6^th in ERA with a sexy 2.92
8^th in IP with 225
4^th in CG with 4
12^th in K with 178
10^th in WHIP at 1.14

The Bad
4^th in HR allowed with 26
4^th in BB with 80
3^rd in Hit Batters with 14

If you said he had some control issues then I would be forced to somewhat agree with you. He misses a lot of bats AND gloves. Falling behind in the count to big league hitters tends to lead a walk or a hard hit ball. Ricky is finding this out the hard way. His reliance on the above average change up could help explain all the long balls.

All that being said, I think you could slap a semi legit ace label on him now. Could we use an upgrade here? Sure, of course we could. But so could about 25 other teams in baseball. On the bright side, our top guy is going to cost (a put your ski mask on kind of cheap) 5 million dollars in 2012. More importantly he grew into the leader of the staff and was the guy everyone looked to give the bullpen the night off.

6'3 195lbs

Entering 2011, Brandon Morrow was expected to have a break out season. Spoiler alert: it didn’t really happen. He has the gift of being able to throw absolutely effortless gas but was handcuffed with an innings cap and missed a few games early in the year after being shutdown in spring training. He did end up making thirty sometimes frustrating starts and set a career high for innings pitched.

Here's some of his highlights as well as his AL rank.

The Good

7^th in K with 203

1^st in Strikeouts per 9 innings with a rocking 10.188

The Bad

4^th in Wild Pitches with 12

5^th in Hit Batters with 12

I for one am not quite ready to call his 2011 season a disappointment just yet. Only one guy in all of baseball had a higher strikeout rate than him. He’s your classic power pitcher and they always have bouts of wildness. Brandon is no different. In the second half of the year I did see a guy who seemed at least interested in trying to figure out this whole pitching as opposed to throwing thing. Word on the street was Papi got him to trust in the cutter sometime after the All Star break and he toyed around with it for his last 5 or so starts. Before that he had basically become a two pitch pitcher. Check out the repertoire below. For comparison purposes I’ll include his 2010 percentages.

Fastball:
2011 61.8%
2010 58.4%

Slider:
2011 26.4%
2010 15.3%

Change Up:
2011 6.4%
2010 14.1%

Curveball:
2011 5.4%
2010 12.2%

To sum up, one pitch out of ten was not a fastball or slider. He has got to mix in some muffins more often. That needs to be and will be addressed. Realistically he only needs one of the two offspeed pitches to be working on any given night to be successful. Another thing I've noticed is when he pitches out of the stretch he tends to get hit more. I'm sure this is true to a degree with most guys but with him it's rather dramatic. If he can find a way to stay in the full windup just a little bit more each time out it could pay off for him as the season goes on. Hopefully he can avoid those high stress innings that have become all too common. Look for him to have the innings cap shackles removed for the first time in his career next year.

6'1 235lbs

Entering 2011, Brett Cecil was coming off a very successful campaign, the first full one of his career. I think people were expecting him to pick up right where he left off and that certainly did not happen. After just 4 starts he was optioned out to Vegas. A dip in velocity was observed by all and whispers of a possible injury began making the rounds. Statistically speaking, he lost about two full MPH off his fastball. Many felt this caused him to reach back which in turn altered his mechanics. Basically he was lost on the mound. The hope was he would find it in the Minors and that didn’t really happen either.

Let’s take a look at some of his MLB numbers from 2010 and compare them to 2011.

Walk rate:

2010 2.81

2011 3.06

Strikeout rate:

2010 6.10

2011 6.33

Groundball rate:

2010 44.2

2011 38.2

Flyball rate:

2010 38.2

2011 43.5

Homeruns per 9 innings:

2010 0.94

2011 1.60

The one that really jumps out at you is the gopher balls. Like Ricky, he relies heavily (22.6%) on his change up. And like Ricky, when hitters sit off speed and get off speed it tends to go into the seats. I’m no pitching coach but I think it’s fair to say he may have lost some confidence in his fastball this season. And I think that’s probably the easiest pitch to regain your confidence in. He needs to throw it more not less, especially early in the count and then work off it as the game goes on. Perhaps his well documented lack of fitness played a role in his tough year. On the positive side of the ledger, he’s under team control until 2016 and threw over 200 innings in 2011 between his time in AAA and the show.

6'1 195lbs

Entering 2011, Henderson Alvarez had never pitched above High A ball. He was a good prospect but nobody really expected much from him yet and rightfully so. Not known as a strikeout guy despite his above average fastball, he skipped right over AAA a la Kyle Drabek and established himself as a viable starting option in the big leagues. Still only 21 years old he doesn’t have much of a breaking ball to speak of just yet. What he does have is a turbo sinker, a swing and miss changeup and a huge set of balls. This kid is not afraid to challenge hitters early on in the count which often leads to some very quick innings. That approach works more often than not if you have the movement on your stuff to pull it off. Simply put, watching him pitch is a refreshing change from the other starters in the rotation. His biggest asset is his near pinpoint control and he has shown that he can pitch to both sides of the plate. If only he could develop a pitch that goes right to left, even just the show me type. Another thing I’ve observed is what I like to call the Jesse Litsch conundrum. He can’t throw the ball straight and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Occasionally mixing in a hard four seem fastball in the top of the zone won't allow hitters to sit on his off speed stuff so much.

6'3 235lbs

Entering 2011, Dustin McGowan hadn’t thrown a pitch in a professional game since 2008. He wasn’t on the radar at all. Everyone was cheering for him to get healthy and monitored his now legendary rehab quite closely. Realistically though, none of us could expect much in the way of contributions. We all had been down that road too many times riding shotgun with Dusty and I fully understand the apprehension in trusting him with innings. Well wouldn't you know it, he did come back and pitch again. The results in this specific case don't really matter that much. Everyone who watched him pitch will say the same thing, that being he looked pretty darn good. He featured the classic four pitches. His fastball came in around 93MPH pretty consistently and when he reached back for more it was there. I saw him throw a few sliders that were almost that hard. The changeup looked respectable and the curve had some good finish. His delivery was smooth, effortless and repeatable. It's hard not to dream about what a near full season of him in the fifth starter role would look like. He's the perfect guy to skip in the rotation on off days. I literally pray every night that he has a great off season and reports to camp feeling strong and loose.

6'1 220lbs

Entering 2011, Kyle Drabek was the new guy. He had made 3 starts at the end of the 2010 season and things looked promising. He was given a legit shot at making the club right out of spring training and took full advantage. Featuring a solid four pitch mix, he was looked upon to stabilize the back end of the rotation. We had all heard the concerns with his “make up” when the deal for Doc was done. Truthfully, I didn’t really know what that means. After watching him for a few months I think I’ve got a better handle on what people were talking about. Kyle is a hothead on the mound. He loses his mind whenever any little thing doesn’t go his way. I once saw him take a swipe at the dirt on the mound after a ball squeaked through the infield for a hit WITH HIS PITCHING HAND. I guess it’s better to start off too pumped up and have to be reined in a little then the opposite but man, it was embarrassing at times to see him act out on the hill. Let’s be honest, white guys aren’t supposed to turn that red in the face unless Halle Berry is present.

If you guessed that reference was only an excuse to put up a Halle Berry pic then you would be 100% correct.

No but in all seriousness, if you have given up on him being a big part of the team moving forward then please click the little box with the X in it located at the top right hand corner of this web page. Cut the guy some slack. In fact you should cut the guy a lot of slack. He’s been an absolute beast of a pitcher at every level of baseball he’s ever played at. Failure is not an easy thing to accept for people used to being so successful at their craft. The kid still has mid 90’s heat, a cutter that moves about six inches and a stupidly filthy hook. Once he learns to trust his stuff in the strikezone watch the fuck out.

Conclusion:

My initial statement stands. With respect to an upgrade, he would have to be a top end guy and let's be clear: I’m not against this. Nobody should really be against this. However, unproven Japanese pitchers with big price tags are not exactly what I had in mind. I sincerely doubt Yu Darvish steps right into this rotation behind Ricky.

If it ends up we can't find another starter this winter, I’d be completely comfortable rolling the dice with these six players going into next year. Is it good enough to take home the big prize? Probably not.

If I may put a positive spin on things for just a moment it's really quite this simple:

Leave Ricky alone
Get Brandon to throw more benders
Send a personal trainer over to Brett's house
Show Henderson how to throw a slider/cutter/curveball
Treat Dustin like found money
Give Kyle some more time

All photos courtesy of daylife

It's List Time

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:02:00 +0000

Right around this time last year I did up a list titled Your Toronto Blue Jays List Of Awesomeness: 2010 Edition. Unfortunately due to budget cutbacks and general laziness, I am unable to produce a similar one this year. But fear not, I was able to pull together enough resources to produce a little something for your viewing pleasure.

I now present to you our Top 15 Hottest Followers On Twitter: Avatar Edition

15: Lizzie Bowers @Lizzie18_ Behind you

Sports what more do i gotta say , #Bluejays, #crosby 3 https://www.facebook.com/lizzie.bowers?sk=info

Sample tweet: Trampoline time !

Observations: I am ~~assuming~~ praying that the number 18 quoted in her account name is her age. If not, it's cold shower time!

14: Ashley Hill @ashhill20 San Diego, CA/Viera, Fl

Sample tweet: protected account

Observation: If a girl doesn't look super hot on her wedding day well then.....

13: Elena Meray @Josiehwhls

Sample tweet: @ priavte hi Jon here's my nude pcitures I told you about last night. you must join for the pass word http://tinyurl.com/ybsufrr

Observations: Pretty safe bet this is a porn bot account. I don't advise you open that link unless you want your CPU to catch an STD.

12: Karen L Daniels @KarenLDaniels Toronto

Owner of Cosmopolitan Planner-Moving and Home Improvement Planner. I make custom cakes! Loyal Cancerian, always real, honest & caring.

Sample tweet: protected account

Observations: Clearly taken as the massive rock on her finger plays a prominent part of her pic. Scores extra points for mentioning the customs cakes so enthusiastically in her bio.

11: Andrea @aperezzle Vancouverish, Canada

Baseball, Blue Jays, and random whining.

Sample tweet: K I've decided to make my new years resolution for 2011. Batting cages once a week. Baseball offseason blues slightly & temporarily calmed.

Observations: Probably would have ranked a bit higher if her pic wasn't so blurry. Love the occasional Spanish tweets.

10: Julie @Jules0685

I ♥ the Toronto Blue Jays

Sample tweet: I love being touched during Savasana, take that as you will #hotyoga #yoga

Observation: 100% baller. Like big time. I don't even have one of those.

9: catherine s @catherine0626 toronto

Blue Jays. Dogs. High Heels. High Fashion. Law. Red Wine. Pearls. Sunsets. Good Grammar. Good Friends. Good Music. Good Times. Toronto.

Sample tweet: I love baseball more than 99% of the people I know. And the same amount as the remaining 1%.

Observations: She's a lawyer and therefore is way, way smarter than me. Not sure if I could keep up with her champagne tastes on my beer budget.

8: Sophia A @SofiaColombia Colombia

Just a Girl From Colombia http://bit.ly/YQTfV

Sample tweet: Jeez i should come on here like once a month of something right ?

Observations: Normally I would have selected a better sample tweet for y'all but since she's only tweeted once, that's all you get. If you click through the link in her bio you'll find a extra special little treat.

7: Virginia Alvarez @AlvarezMVC Venezuela/Valencia

Sample tweet: Everything is in Spanish.

Observation: A super glamorous chica that can't possibly communicate with me = dreamy

6: Adeline Shellhaas @Adelineixesh

Sample tweet: I love crazy sexual activity

Observation: WOW

5: Brennan Reurink @brennanr CANADA Kinesiology & Psych grad. Social butterfly & Jays fan. I'm a very lucky lady & I've got the greatest friends and family in the world.

Sample tweet: Watching some great #Jays baseball, in PJs, snacking on Cap'n Crunch cereal. #littlethings #lifeisgood

Observation: That's Brennan on the left in the picture above. I sometimes dream about her previous avatar, the one with the glass of wine and the taupe walls. Probably a little too much.

4: Jenn Siegner @Jenser12 Stratford Ontario Jays fan since the beginning!! I♥Robbie Alomar

Sample tweet: Best day ever,Jays in the afternoon and UFC at night! What more could a girl ask for??

Observation: Some guys have an issue with their significant other being tougher than they are. I certainly do not.

3: Maddy @SportyMads Sports are my life:) http://sportymads.blogspot.com/

Sample tweet: Time to head to the bar. Tonight is going to be sloppy..:)

Observation: I can envision epic fights for the remote control while chilling on the couch with this babe. In the end she always wins and that's just swell.

2: Melissa Couto @SmokeshowMel Jays fan, Vikings fan, history Master, lover of red meat and beer, future star of The Smoke Show Sports Show. Mostly, I talk about baseball because it rocks.

Sample tweets:

The RedSox have made my Halloween costume choice easy. A chicken-greased jersey, a bottle of beer and an xbox controller and I'm Jon Lester.

Molina is taking charge with his fingers. #dirty

Observation: Her bio pretty much covers off my entire list of prerequisites with respect to a woman.

1: Jessica Nichols @realjessnichols Toronto Actor,Script Supervisor,Stunt,Stand In. Baseball/Football/Golf Fan. Muskoka/DT Toronto. Travelling South & Visiting Ball Parks. Figure Skater&Dancer

http://www.facebook.com/therealjessicanichols

Sample tweet: for those few people I know that dont like baseball, really???

Observation: I am pretty sure there is something in this world I would rather do than go on a road trip to a baseball stadium with this goddess, it's just escaping my mind right now.

Quickly:

While I am on the topic of avatars, recently I made a change to mine and have received a little heat from the masses. Just to get you up to speed, I went from this:

to this:

The rational behind it was simple. I know that one day Brett Lawrie will rule all mankind and simply wanted to get ahead of the curve. Perhaps you can let me know if I am way off base on this one.

Follow @1BJW

Blue Jays Fair to Middlin’ Ways Continue

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Floyd) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 17:00:00 +0000

It is hard to believe now but there was a time for a glorious decade from the mid-1980’s through the 1994 strike and season cancellation when the Toronto Blue Jays were a dynasty that consistently beat the MLB odds and would play before packed sellout crowds at what was then known as the Sky Dome. Things have simply not been the same since that work stoppage, as fans turned away from the Blue Jays and baseball in droves and the team has been unable to keep up with the Jonses, or make that the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

The Blue Jays broke even with the MLB odds this year as they were 81-81 but 16 games out of first place. This has been the pattern of the Blue Jays in recent years, as they will often give fans a hint or tease at success only to then fall back as a small market type of team that actually plays in Canada’s largest market and a market with plenty of funds.

Pitching was the biggest reason for Toronto’s problems this year, as they ranked 24th in the major leagues for staff earned run average and 21st in quality starts. The poor performance by the pitching staff wasted a solid offensive season that saw the Blue Jays ranked a surprising 6th for runs scored and 5th in home runs. It is interesting to note the lack of a home field advantage for the Blue Jays as they won 39 games on the road compared to just 42 at home. Much of this has to do with the antiseptic sterile environment of Rogers Centre and a town that is obsessed with hockey’s Maple Leafs.

The bullpen blew a staggering 25 saves and lacks a quality starter at the 4th and 5th slots. Filling those slots will be the priority of the management staff in the off season. There is considerable depth in the Jays' developmental system and they expect to develop their own rising talent to fill other needs on their own.

The anchor of the team is, of course, Jose Bautista, who hit .302 with a whopping 43 home runs and 103 RBI, in 2011. Another Toronto mainstay is Yunel Escobar, who hit .290 and scored 77 runs with an ailing elbow down the stretch, but is expected to be healed when spring training begins.

With division rival Tampa Bay winning on a shoe string budget, there are simply no more excuses for teams like Toronto and 2012 will be a pivotal season.

______________________________________________

Be sure to follow 1BlueJaysWay on Twitter for stats, updates and insight.

The Black Hole

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 10:24:00 +0000

Image courtesy of After Death

So what happens if your Toronto Blue Jays don’t re-sign Type A free agent Mr. Kelly Johnson to play 2B next season?

Since the free agent class this year is.....well.....pretty weak and the farm system can only be described as "noticeably thin" at the position - even that might be too complimentary - we somehow found the initiative to examine all the other rosters in baseball and cherry pick a few potential candidates for his replacement if when the brain trust decides to explore the trade route.

Like Northwood Mortgage, we’re working hard just for you!

A few things to consider:

Most MLB second basemen were either drafted or developed as shortstops. That being said there was absolutely zero chance we were going to look over all the Minor League players in every system, especially the ones below A Ball and try to guess who won’t stick at SS. As such, only players listed as 2B were included.

Whomever is picked up will probably end up hitting 8th or 9th in the order. Therefore it isn't downright essential that an impact player is acquired. That's quite a luxury.

All players in tiers 1, 2, 3 and 4 are currently listed on their team’s 40 man roster while the players in tier 5 are not.

Tier 1: The studs

These players are the young, controllable, high upside type guys that any GM craves. They project as starters right now.

Dustin Ackley 1988/02/26 1st round 2nd pick 2009 Only on this list because you’d call me stupid if he wasn’t. Pretty much untouchable right now. Bat control is fantastic. He will hit in the Majors.

Danny Espinosa 1987/04/25 3rd round 2008 This guy can hit bombs and steal bases at the big league level. Contact? Not so much. Yet.

Neil Walker 1985/09/10 1st round 11th pick 2004 In his first full season he played 159 games. A big body and a big bat to match.

Jose Altuve 1990/05/06 amateur free agent 2007 Clearly rushed up to the big league level but can you really blame them?

Tier 2: The buy low candidates

These guys are still starting on their clubs. For now.

Gordon Beckham 1986/09/16 1st round 8th pick 2008 Pretty much all of his offensive numbers have been in a steady decline since his rookie campaign. Plus defender.

Darwin Barney 1985/11/08 4th round 2007 Never really hit for a lot of power. Pretty much an all around unspectacular player yet still serviceable.

Tier 3: The best of the rest

AKA the Marco Scutaro category

Current back up, platoon or utility men.

Trevor Plouffe 1986/06/15 1st round 20th pick 2004 He hit 15 bombs in less than 200 at bats in the International League (AAA)

Eric Sogard 1986/05/22 2nd round 2007 Walks more than he strikes out. Looks like a doubles machine in waiting.

Jason Donald 1984/09/04 3rd round 2006 Doesn’t look like he will stick at SS too much longer. Good/great contact skill.

Robert Andino 1984/04/25 2nd round 2002 Does everything well and nothing superb. Can still play a legit big league SS. Arb eligible for the first time.

Jed Lowrie 1984/04/17 1st round 45th pick 2005 Lack of production in the Minors leads me to believe he’s a little overrated. Switch hitter who kills lefties. Also arb eligible for the first time.

Sean Rodriguez 1985/04/26 3rd round 2003 Might benefit from playing only one position as opposed to all over the field. Can he hit RHP? It wouldn't hurt to give him the opportunity to find out.

Ryan Raburn 1981/04/17 5th round 2001 Has never really been given a fair chance as an everyday player. Decent pop. Oldest guy in any tier.

Eric Young Jr 1985/05/25 30th round 2003 Only played 43 innings at 2B last year. Can flat out fly on the bases when he somehow manages to get on them.

Jonathan Herrera 1984/11/03 amateur free agent 2002 Is a tad undersized and the power numbers reflect it. Might have some rage issues.

Chris Getz 1983/08/30 4th round 2005 Non tender candidate. No power what so ever.

Tier 4: The 2013/14 type guys

How many option years - if any – these players have left would need to be known prior to completing a trade. Some of these guys might be ready to start in 2012. That was a purposefully vague sentence. A full or even partial year in AAA would probably be beneficial for the player and Super 2 is a bitch.

Alexi Amarista 1989/04/06 amateur free agent 2007 He’s hit at every level in the Minors despite his size. Blocked behind a whole bunch of Scioscia-esqe veterans in LAA.

Steve Lombardozzi 1988/09/20 19th round 2008 Played over 125 games the last three years in a row. Above average speed. Switch hitter.

Logan Forsythe 1987/01/14 1st round 46th pick 2008 Rocked a .445 OBP in the PCL as a 24 year old. Can play a little 3B if need be.

Adrian Cardenas 1987/10/10 1st round 37th pick 2006 Walks almost as much as he strikes out.

DJ LeMahieu 1988/07/13 2nd round 2009 Great contact hitter. Plenty of time for the power to develop from doubles to round trippers.

Ryan Adams 1987/04/21 2nd round 2006 Solid looking power numbers in the Minors Leagues.

Cord Phelps 1987/01/23 3rd round 2008 Made 5 errors in only 75 chances with the glove. The stick looks nice.

Taylor Green 1986/11/02 25th round 2005 This Canadian boy from out West can swing it and take a walk.

Eric Farris 1986/03/03 4th round 2007 Managed a measly .689 OPS in the PCL? Is that even possible?

Harold Garcia 1986/10/25 non drafted free agent 2004 Missed most of 2011 with a knee injury. Never played above AA. Decent bat.

Tommy Field 1987/02/22 24th round 2008 Made the jump from AA to the Majors probably because of his glove. His power looks legit. So do the strike outs.

Ivan De Jesus 1987/01/05 2nd round 2005 Consistent success at every stop in the Minors.

Jeudy Valdez 1989/05/05 non drafted free agent in 2005ish. Played SS all this year and 2B all last year. Shown some decent pop and better wheels. Dominican birth certificate could be a concern. Needs some time in AA but could move fast.

Tier 5: The prospects

We only took our search as far down as High A ball. Had to draw the line somewhere. Feel free to tell us all about the guys we missed.

Henry Rodriguez 1990/02/09 non drafted free agent 2007 Hasn’t posted an average under .300 since 2007. Say what you want about batting average as a stat but that just has to count for something. Never played above the AA level. Great power/speed combo. Switch hitter. Consider him the priority player on this list.

Greg Miclat

Ryan Cavan

Who would you realistically like to see play 2B in a Blue Jays uniform next year?

Do you have your eye on a specific player that we either mentioned or didn't?

We Need Your Help!

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 23:36:00 +0000

Every year at work we have a silent auction for charity. Most of the prizes are gift certificates from local companies looking to get some cheap advertising. This year it seems someone has opened a line to the Toronto Blue Jays. Lots of cool Jays gear is available and even a couple of signed balls. For those unaware, I have what can only be described as an addiction at this point:

Now the fun part.

Three of the balls are signed by unidentified team personnel. The organizer of the auction didn't even bother to ask who signed. Based on my existing stash, I was quickly able to narrow that list down to just one. That's right, one mystery ball remains. I'm hoping someone out there knows who signed this ball:

I apologize in advance for the shitty focus on that pic. It's all I got. Only adds to the mystique n'est-ce pas? Throw in what looks to be a question mark as the second number and you got yourself a genuine autograph stumper. I can honestly say I'm not even sure if that picture needs to be flipped. I think it's right side up but can't be 100% certain.

Here's what we know:

1) The number 1 is part of the two digit number.

The only Blue Jays that wore a number in the teens this year were:

Edwin Encarnacion 10
Rajai Davis 11
Brett Lawrie 13
Corey Patterson 16
Mike McCoy 18
Jose Bautista 19

The only other Blue Jays that wore a number with the number 1 in it were:

Darin Mastroianni 1
Dwayne Murphy 21
Jesse Litsch 51
Alex Andreopoulos 61

Did I miss anyone? Maybe someone changed numbers in season or was traded away perhaps?

2) It's not Brett Lawrie unless he totally changed his signature, which is completely possible I guess. This is his signature from a few years back.

I'd really like to figure this out before I drop a couple of bucks down on a bid. Does anyone know who signed the mystery ball?

Exclusive BP Footage: d'Arnaud and McDade

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Floyd) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 17:00:00 +0000

Happy day after the baseball season, gang. We feel your pain. Surely, it has been a while since we've seen Toronto baseball action or any of our favorite prospects on the field. However, just to brighten your first day of the official 2011-2012 off-season, 1BlueJaysWay is bringing you some exclusive batting practice footage of two top Blue Jays prospects.

Travis d'Arnaud, the Double-A Eastern League MVP batting .311 with 21 homeruns and 71 RBI in 114 games during the 2011 season. Acquired from the Phillies in the Roy Halladay trade, d'Arnaud projects to be an impact player at the big league level. The 22-year-old California native led his New Hampshire Fisher Cats club to the EL championship.

McDade, a 22-year-old first baseman, was a force this year for the Fisher Cats as well. The 6-foot-1-inch 260-pound slugger posted a .281 average with 16 HR and 74 RBI. Time will tell what the ceiling is for McDade, but the future looks bright for this 2011 EL All-Star.

Check out some video of Travis and Mike slugging away at some pregame offerings in the media player below.

______________________________________________________

Follow 1BlueJaysWay on Twitter for updates, stats and insight by clicking HERE.

Wilbur Donald AKA The Don AKA Wak Wakamatsu

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:50:00 +0000

This story is based on true events

We decided to look into the past of our bench coach and what we found was nothing short of shocking.

The Don was born in small town USA to a Japanese father and Italian mother. Learning early on in his life that nothing is given to you for free and that if you really wanted something, you have to take it and have the mess dealt with later. He spent his childhood running from his dynamic heritage, just trying to fit in with the crowd. It wasn't till high school in the Bay area, where he was a 3 sport star that he began to realize that life is based on pain.

His first love, like any red blooded American, was football. But he was told he was too small to continue on with his childhood dream of being in the NFL. This angered The Don. And he in turn responded by having his critics "taken care of" by his crew. Looking back, we can say without question that this is the point in time where his reign of terror began.

Having his dreams taken away from him so early on in his life changed him as a man and he decided the focus on baseball. He walked into the recruitment office of Arizona State University curiously wearing a long trench coat even though it was a typically hot summer day and calmly declared himself a worthy recipient of a full scholarship. He was told again that he was too small and that he was welcome to try his luck as a walk on. This angered The Don. He stood up, pulled out a vintage Tommy Gun and asked the recruiter if he would reconsider. Thankfully, no blood was shed that day.

He played well enough to be drafted by the Yankees of New York with the last pick in the entire 1984 Amateur Draft. Excited by the very thought of being able to bring his crew to the birthplace of gangsterism but knowing in his heart that they were not ready for the big time just yet, he returned to ASU to complete his degree. It proved to be a wise decision and he was selected in the 11th round of the 1985 draft by the Cincinnati Reds. The signing bonus he received was spent on establishing a marine import export business and a trash removal service.

The next 4 years of his life were spent going from city to city on the East coast under the guise of being a baseball player. In fact, the sole purpose of his time spent there was to establish connections. You see, his power base was the West Coast and he knew he needed to diversify his portfolio.

Then the unthinkable happened. The Reds released him without what he felt was just cause. This angered The Don. A few cryptic phone calls to his now hardened crew was all it took and they quickly descended on the city of Cincinnati. His instructions were simple. Destroy everything. A week of violence ensued not comparable to anything ever seen before. It was quickly deemed in the press as: The Week of the Wak. (pronounced WOK)

Mercifully the Chicago White Sox came calling in need of a catcher. This pleased The Don. Feeling somewhat better, he called off the bloodshed and told his crew to head up to the Windy City. He felt they were now ready to make their mark on the place that was made famous by his great grandfather, second removed, none other than Al Capone himself.

In 1990 he was promoted to the AAA level Vancouver Canadians. He was instructed to head up to BC and that he would need to bring a bigger glove with him. Confused by the request, he interpreted it as a threat. Hearing about these "crazy canucks" and the way they operated, he felt panic set in for the first and only time of his life. Another series of cryptic phone calls went out to the crew and they were told to no less than triple their numbers in response nationwide. Knowing that setting up shop in a new country would be difficult, he decided it was best to lay low at first. He turned over the command of his empire to his most trusted right hand man Antonio "The Fist" Russo.

While in Canada he quickly realized that things worked very different. The tactics that he knew all to well were largely ineffective on these fun loving, friendly people. He decided it was best to hire a body guard just to be safe. His criteria for the job was simple: you must be a ninja and you must have extensive knowledge of the lucrative drug trade. After a couple of weeks of interviews he finally found his man, Takashi Takahashi, and gave him the nickname Taki out of necessity.

For the next year and a bit, he and Taki became very close. They shared valuable insight to each other on how their respective businesses operated as well as various techniques they used on how to get their way. Word got back to the crew in Chicago and they were somewhat perplexed. Who was this new guy and why was he not introduced to them? A large bounty was placed on Taki's head but due to his schooling in the arts of ninja, it was never able to be collected.

In early May 1991 he got the phone call he had been waiting his whole life for. It was Publishers Clearing House letting him know he was a finalist for the grand prize. Disgusted that someone was able to find him while he was laying low in Canada, he decided to force the issue. He walked into his manager's office wearing the same trench coat that he used to get his way previously in Arizona and demanded a promotion to the big leagues. His manager disagreed, telling him he wasn't ready. This angered The Don. He stood up, pulled out a samurai sword which he had now mastered thanks to Taki's teachings and asked his skipper to reconsider. Thankfully, no blood was shed that day.

He made his MLB debut on May 22, 1991. What should have been a joyous occasion was marred with the distrust that had built between his bodyguard and his crew. They were unable to accept the new guy due to his inability to speak Italian. This angered The Don. He decided to send his crew and Taki to Sea World with the instructions not to return until their differences were resolved. The plan worked well and with his henchmen now all finally on the same page, he was able to turn his full attention to trying to hit and catch big league pitching.

18 games, 7 hits and a .226 average later he was granted free agency. That's right, he was gonna get paid and he was gonna sign close to home. The Dodgers seemed like a great fit and he signed with them. Only problem was he didn't get the back up job and he was sent to New Mexico. This angered The Don. Not because the money in the big leagues was so much better, he had the import export thing on the side, but more because he was looking forward to playing in front of his family. He called them and told them to get out of Cali. Mercifully they refused. The Don decided instead to use his well oiled drug trade machine to harm the people of California. Shortly thereafter medical marijuana became the norm and we all know how that turned out.

He spent the next five years toiling in the Minor Leagues for the Dodgers, Rangers, Indians, Mariners and Brewers. He had already tasted the glory that was the big leagues and was desperate to return. At each stop he attempted to strong arm the organization into promoting him to the big club with terrible results. As you can imagine threats are not an effective way to get what you want. Unfortunately The Don knew no other way. He was forced to hang up his playing cleats at age 33 but steadfastly refused to give up the Tommy Gun.

From 1997 to 2000 he decided to try his hand at coaching. He had learned little about the game in his time as a player but he was well versed in intimidation and used this to mold the young impressionable minds that he was trusted to lead. Quickly he was labelled as the furthest thing from players coach. It was The Don's way or.....you didn't want to find out. This method seemed to work better in the low Minors and in 1998 he was named Manager of the Year for the California league. It was nice being so close to home and the results reflected that.

In 2003, the Texas Rangers came calling and offered the bench coach gig. The Don was excited to get the opportunity to wear a big league uniform again. He was more excited with the opportunity to bring his empire to the border state. His trusted aids, The Fist and Taki, had been effectively working together for quite some time. It brought him great joy to have his entire heritage covered in just two men.

In 2007 he was demoted to third base coach. Confused by this injustice, The Don decided to confront his new boss Ron Washington. He quickly figured out Wash had a little habit that he could easily exploit. Over the course of the season he also learned that Wash had absolutely no fucking clue how to manage a bullpen and if the Rangers won a game, it was in spite of their manager. The Don refused to work for such a man and parlayed his insider info into a letter of recommendation. Like so many times before, he headed home to Cali, this time to coach for the Oakland A`s.

On November 19, 2008 he was given the job he felt he had earned long ago. The Seattle Mariners needed a new field manager and The Don nailed the interview. This time he refrained from wearing his trench coat and instead decided to draw on his wealth of coaching and playing experience. The calculated move worked out and he was named the skipper. A party was in order. And what a party is was.

Once the 2009 season began it became clear that the 61 - 101 record from the 2008 season was not going to be repeated. A dubious record in which for the first time in MLB history a team with a 100 million dollar payroll lost a hundred games. The Don was able to quickly change the culture in Seattle. Under his leadership the Mariners were able to finish the year, his first as manager, with an 85 - 77 record. He was named to the All Star team in St. Louis as a coach. Basically he kicked some AL West ass.

Something changed that off season. The Don began drinking his own Kool Aid, a big no no. He seemed to take his foot off the gas pedal and during spring training he let his players decided whether or not they wanted to participate in stretching exercises. Naturally this resulted in many injuries as the season wore on. By the time early August came around his team resembled a C level mixed slo pitch team and he was fired. This angered the Don. As you can probably guess by now, this is never a good thing. He gathered up the crew and headed off to the Middle East of all places. Authorities have no idea what transpired next. This and only this part of his story remains a mystery.

He resurfaced sometime in November. The Toronto Blue Jays were a team in flux. They needed a solid bench coach to compliment their newly minted rookie manager and The Don's name was at the top of everyone's list. He drew on his first hand knowledge of the Canadian people to woo the GM and President of the ball club. It was an easy decision to hire The Don. His primary duties were to make the team's many catching prospects into viable big league players. J.P. Arencibia was the first to benefit from The Don's teachings. His message to J.P. was simple. Hit bombs, fuck OBP and get some part of your body in front of the God damn ball while blocking it. In time, the message began to set in.

Constant rumors surround The Don's current employment. Many teams think he has what it takes to manage in the big leagues. And they might be right. But few in the game remain that are aware of the rein of terror that follows this man where ever he goes. We here at 1BJW debated on whether to bring this story to light and are deathly scared of the consequences associated with doing so.

Gomes Reflects on Success, Wants More

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Floyd) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 06:15:00 +0000

Yan Gomes knows the Blue Jays are fully stocked with strong young catching talent, but that won't stop him from striving to achieve his dream of reaching the big leagues. Currently assigned to the Phoenix Desert Dogs, Gomes welcomes the chance to play against the tough Arizona Fall League competition, to improve his game.

Gomes discribed the AFL assignment as an honor. He is pleased to be among the small group of players representing the Toronto organization in the off-season league and feels that facing some solid talent from other leagues might help to improve his game.

"It's a chance to up your game. Everybody's out here looking to do good and show off a bit, so I am looking forward to getting my playing time against great pitchers and great players," Gomes stated.

Off to somewhat of a slow start, through 6 games played for the Desert Dogs, Gomes has gone 3-for-17 (.176 avg) with 1 RBI.

Ranked behind such stud backstops as J.P. Arencibia and Travis d'Arnaud, with Carlos Perez and A.J. Jimenez on the rise, Gomes doesn't wish to get lost in the shuffle. The 24-year-old Brazilian born prospect wants to seize every opportunity he can.

In 79 games for the Double-A Eastern League champion New Hampshire Fisher Cats in 2011, Gomes posted a .250/.317/.464 line with 13 homeruns and 51 RBI. Gomes, a 10th round draft choice by Toronto in 2009, also spent some time with the Triple-A Las Vegas 51's, appearing in 4 games with them.

The 6-foot-2-inch 215-pounder feels the brief time playing up one level was beneficial to his game as he moves forward.

"I got to experience the next level and go from Double-A to Triple-A," Gomes said. "It was kind of like a sneak peak at what's up there. There are a lot of veterans with experience (in the Pacific Coast League). I feel like I did pretty good, even though my stats (3-for-14) may not show it, but I felt pretty comfortable up there, so that's definitely a good thing."

While he's excited to be playing in the AFL this autumn and grateful for the opportunity to play at Triple-A for a short spell, the highlight of the year for Gomes was certainly helping the Fisher Cats lock down their third ever EL title. As far as Gomes is concerned, there's nothing greater than sharing that level of success with all of your teammates.

"It was such a great year (with the Fisher Cats). With that team camaraderie, everybody did good and that just helped everyone out. We all fed off of each other and it was definitely a great experience all around for everybody and we all value the success we had."
_______________________________________________________________

For updates, stats, insight and more, be sure to follow 1BlueJaysWay on Twitter by clicking HERE.

d'Arnaud Recovering From Surgery

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Floyd) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 04:50:00 +0000

Top Blue Jays prospect Travis d'Arnaud underwent surgery on his left thumb on Monday. While competing for Team USA, the 22-year-old felt a pop after "catching a ball wrong". Diagnosed with a ligament tear in his thumb, d'Arnaud required surgery to repair the problem.

According to d'Arnaud, who was acquired by Toronto in the December 2009 trade that sent All-Star Roy Halladay to Philadelphia, he will be in a cast for one month. Following the removal of the cast and further evaluation, doctors have told d'Arnaud that one month of rehab work will be necessary before he can resume baseball activities.

As the Eastern League's most valuable player, the California native, d'Arnaud, led the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats to the EL championship this past season, as he posted a .311 batting average with 33 doubles, 21 homeruns and 78 RBI.

d'Arnaud does not feel this setback will effect his 2012 season in the least. The team expects him back at full strength in plenty of time for the start of spring traning in February.

_________________________________________________

Be sure to follow 1BlueJaysWay on Twitter by clicking HERE.

"Vision(s)"

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 17:31:00 +0000

This is a text I sent our boy Jay - a ridiculously huge Phillies supporter - the eve before the winner take all Game 5 NLDS showdown involving former Blue Jay hero Roy Halladay and oft under appreciated Blue Jay Chris Carpenter.

It's not often I get these "visions" that pop into my head. They seem to be exclusive to sport and normally involve a huge underdog. The last one I can recall was way back in 2007.

My friends and I made the trip down to Columbus, Ohio for UFC 68. The main event featured heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia against Randy Couture. The Natural had been out of the fight game for a while and this was his comeback fight. Nobody in the world gave Randy a chance. Tim was at least a half foot taller and out weighted him by 50 pounds. Plus he was the reigning and defending champion.

As we made our way on foot to the stadium to watch the fight, I asked everyone in our party who they thought was going to win the main event. To a man, they all took the champ.

I told them about my "vision", which was a decisive Couture victory. Not only that but I mentioned that it was going to last all five and end in unanimous decision. I was laughed at. Repeatedly.

Since then, I have been waiting patiently for another one of these "visions" to come. I guess anyone can pick a huge underdog and be right, especially when it's a legit 50/50 bet. But the clarity and detail to which I was able to predict the result of that fight left my friends speechless.

Back to the Cards/Phillies match up.

Not exactly sure when this "vision" came. I believe it was that awkward time when lying in bed just before you fall asleep. I'll admit, this one was a little less detailed than the previous one. But I did see a gem and I did see the number 3.

Click here for the boxscore

Conclusion:

The next time I get one of these "visions", I'm pulling out the wallet.

1BJW Interview: Drew Hutchison

noreply@blogger.com (Jay Floyd) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:45:00 +0000

One of the fastest rising prospects across the minor leagues this season was Toronto's Drew Hutchison. The right-handed hurler began the 2011 season with the Class A Lansing Lugnuts and swiftly moved up two levels, landing with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats in August.

Combined at three levels this season, Hutchison posted a 14-5 record with a 2.53 ERA and a .220 batting average against.

Despite helping the Fisher Cats reach the Eastern League finals, which they eventually won, Hutchison, who threw 149 1/3 innings during the regular season, was shut down before the championship round. He was re-assigned to Dunedin, at that point, but stayed with New Hampshire as the team defeated Richmond 3 games to 1 to win its second ever EL title.

The Florida native was a 15th round draft pick in 2009. Hutchison, who stands 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 165 pounds, is expected to begin next season back with the Fisher Cats.

Prior to the postseason, I spoke with Drew about his pitch repertoire, his successful season and plenty more. Check out the media player below to hear the full interview.

______________________________________________

Be sure to follow 1BlueJaysWay on Twitter for updates, stats and insight.

Complete transcript of reaction to Matt Nuzzo walk off 09/09/11

noreply@blogger.com (The Man With The Golden Arm) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Me: clears throat

Crack of the bat

Me: owwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (breath) owwwww

Ball scrapes over the wall

Friend: Game over. Bottom of the 9th. Walk off.

Me: (interrupts) owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Friend: Home run. Game over right there. Are you kidding me?

Points camera at Matt Nuzzo's uncle

Me: Uncle

Friend: Are you kidding me?

Me: we we we we we we we we we we we

Friend: Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me?

Me: ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhew

Friend: Are you fucking kidding me?

Lansing Lugnuts team song

Friend: Are you kidding me?

Me: That was fucking awesome.

Friend: Are you kidding me?

Me: (turns back toward camera) THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME

Friend: Are you fucking kidding me? Did that really just happen?