Thanks Blue Jays! Now the hard work begins

 The World Series is about to begin and I do not have a horse left in  this race.  The Royals beat out the Blue Jays so it is a little hard to start rooting for them now, even if they may well have the most balanced team and are probably the favorites going in. The Mets have some great young arms but that KC lineup is very dangerous and can strike at any time. The Mets order is probably not as intimidating and  after a lengthy layoff may well have cooled down.

The dream match up I was hoping for was a Cubs vs Blue Jays World  Series. The Jays are my favorite AL team and the Cubs, well they are the Cubs, the lovable losers.

So now more focus goes to the off field game of baseball and there is  always. Much speculation on how teams will look to improve during the off-season.  Free agents, claims and trades come to the forefront during this time become topic of conversation and discussion. Who should stay, who should go and what upgrades can be made at a  reasonable cost (both in money and talent).

Normally this would be the time where I would start looking at The Atlanta Braves and begin feeling out what I think they need, where to get it and how they should go about it. This year is different.This year there are some extenuating circumstances that  very few could  have foreseen given the landscape of baseball in Toronto for the past 20 some odd years.

The Toronto Blue Jays had a great season, a winning season., a season  that saw them go 93-69. They won a divisional round series and just  came up a little short in a comeback that could have sent them to the World Series. How could focus go anywhere else?

The one good thing with this club is that there is a good chunk of the team that remains under club control.  The majority of those players will likely be back to for what proved to be a formidable offense and  provide stellar defense.  Turns out depth and a shaky bullpen proved  to be the team’s ultimate undoing.

With a relatively potent offense still intact the focus this off- season will be arms, both in the rotation as well as the bullpen. Well that and likely some bunting practice from some of the top of the  order guys.

The big question right now is what will the rotation look like going into next season. There will almost surely be an overhaul and what parts are left standing is anyone’s guess. The Jay’s have some good  young arms that could vie for a job as a starter but as for those who ended the season there will not likely be returning.

The club has an option on RA Dickey at a relatively team friendly salary. Not a top of the line guy anymore but an innings eater with a history of decent health so he is probably in the back end of the rotation. Mark Buehrle, Marco Estrada and David Price are all free agents. 2 of those guys will be looking to cash in this off-season and  1 may just retire. That leaves a lot of options and flexibility for the Jays to go in any number of directions.

Right now the only 2 Aces that the Jays
have is Marcus Stroman and this guy 

Here is the big thing on the pitching front, and this is where things  get murky. David Price will likely want somewhere in the ballpark of  7 years and near $200 some Million he is over 30 and as history will
show you are paying for about 4 maybe 5 good years before that  contract looks terrible and he is unable to throw to near that value. Marco Estrada has had 7/8 of a full year as a top end starter and entering the season was not even in the rotation. Giving him a big free agent contract based on 1 good season and one VERY good post season is a very risky proposition. The question now is Do You Feel  Lucky? Well do you, punk? The third member of this triad is Mark Buehrle. The decision may well be made by him and not by the club. He may want to return (but would have to do so at a very reduced rate) he may opt to retire or maybe he is just interested in moving on from the Jays altogether.

Oh, there is one other issue when looking at who or how this rotation  will be built. The GM, Alex Anthopoulos himself is going to become a  free agent on or near the completion of the World Series. So the current head decision maker and architect of this club may not be part of this club. Or, maybe he will be. Or, maybe there will be a sharing  of power in baseball operations with incoming Mark Shapiro as  President and CEO.  These are the most crucial decisions the Jays face  at the beginning of the off-season. After that it is all the easy  stuff like: Who is your second baseman Ryan Goings or Devin Travis who  will be returning from injury. What are you going to do at 1st base Smoke, Colabello or another? Do you need to trade a bat for an arm and  who can or are they willing to move? What young arm is ready to make the jump into the rotation? How and who are you going to set your bullpen and where are you going to find the ‘power arms’ that seem to  be a necessity?

And not unlike the Conservative Party of Canada attack ads.."and the budget will balance itself”. So too for the Blue Jays "the roster will fill out itself ’ right?

Blue Jays Trade - Part Deux

The Blue Jays are taking Miami's talent (and contracts) from South Beach

The Blue Jays are still waiting for the MLB to approve the blockbuster trade that has been agreed upon with the Miami Marlins. There does not appear that they can put a stop to this like David Stern did last year with the proposed trade last year with the Chris Paul to the Lakers.

It is interesting to look at this deal not from a Blue Jays point of view but some other vantage point. As for the 3 fans of the Marlins, it is tough. For the few that there were actual fans there is only 1 player left in Miami, OF Giencarlo Stanton. He was on Twitter lat night and said basically ``Ok, i`m pissed``. Clearly he was not a fan of the deal. One can only presume that fish fans feel the same. Miami just moved into a new stadium last year and spent like drunken sailors to make a splash. They hired Ozzie Guillen. All of that turned out to be a colossal failure. Now the Marlins are operating under the marketing slogan ``The Marlins are ALL IN...Toronto``.

Not a minor point either is the money, and not just the salaries that are being picked up by the Jays. Florida is a no tax state and the contract that each player signed is going to be a little less then it was. The numbers work out to roughly 14% of 45% of the players salaries are going to be taxed. Players are taxed on the 81 games they play in Canada.

It is interesting to note that the Marlins have had fire sales in the past, but never to this extent. This time it was the Blue Jays that were the benefactors of this method. Jays fans are not used to the kind of buzz that this deal has created not just in Toronto but all over Major League Baseball but the US and A. When Miami went on the spending spree last season, baseball people were already apparently worried that if their experiment did not work the possibility that a deal like that could happen. What was even more of a sign was that one of the big ticket contracts that were given out included a no-trade clause ..guess that should have been a warning sign. That is a possible good thing for the Jays too as they are not restricted buy such a restriction as well, especially with the deals being very back loaded.

What was always aggravating was that people were always blaming the Jays for not going out and spending. It appears that this was part of the plan all along. If they had spent just for the sake of spending and not doing it wisely.  Building a team and then filling it with high price players when he could. People seemed to always place blame on the Jays GM for not spending on past Free Agents. Just remember that it takes 2 to Tango. Just because you have money and a spot doesn't mean that that the player will be willing to play for your team. Canada has never been a destination spot for big time free agents so to get the big names is not as easy as just spending money. What Alex Anthopoulos was able to do was get last years free agents...this year instead. This time via the trade rout. In the big picture it does not matter what method was used the players are coming now... whether they wanted to or not.

The great thing right now is you know that the Jays are ready to put the big plan into motion and it is only November and there are still winter meetings to be held where a lot of talks take place among GM`s plus free agents are yet to be signed. There is plenty of time to continue tweaking the roster. You never know, just because these players are on the way to Toronto right now does not mean that they will be on the opening day roster. Just remember Mike Avilas was brought over from Boston for Manager John Farrell...he was traded for a power arm to help out the bullpen and is now in Cleveland. There seem to be a lot of catchers on the roster and Adam Lind and Colby Rasmus are far from safe with holes that can be upgraded at second base and left field. Stay Tuned this could just be the tip of the iceberg!

Oh yeah, there is still no manager in place.

Huge Deal For Blue Jays

The Blue Jays are set to acquire starters Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle, shortstop Jose Reyes, infielder/outfielder Emilio Bonifacio and catcher John Buck from the Marlins. This is one of those epic deals that is very rare in general for any sport. A deal of this magnitude is rare but even more so because it is involving a Canadian team. Having a deal that will rock the baseball world and being done by the Toronto Blue Jays is almost unbelievable.

A deal like this is something out of a video game or a fantasy league and that can't help but bring hype to a team that needs to be brought to the for front in the city. With no hockey the Jays have a huge opportunity to become the team of the City an this is a great start. Maybe it works, maybe it will be a failure of epic proportions but it has brought back a buzz and optimism to a team that was...3 hours ago a near afterthought and not a lot of love after a dismal end to the season.

The Blue Jays were criticized for the handling of the John Farrell situation, that they had no direction and had no manager. Now the last thing on peoples mind is the loss of Farrell. It will be interesting to see what GM Alex Anthopoulos does in regards to a new manager but you can bet that there will be some interest from players and fans alike.

It appears that the Marlins will receive a package that includes shortstops Yunel Escobar and Adeiny Hechavarria, major-league starter Henderson Alvarez, minor-league starter Justin Nicolino Jacob Marisnick, and a catcher maybe JP Arencibia.

Not missing hockey anymore...they can stay locked out now for the full season as far as I am concerned, my interest has now shifted back to baseball. I remember now what a fan I used to be, nice to have that back. I look forward to see what else happens with this team to fill out the roster. I think there is a spot at 2nd base and Left Field.

More to come I am sure!

A Wise Decision - Burhle Throws a Perfect game

Manager Ozzie Guillen looked like a genius when he decided to put in Dewayne Wise as a defensive replacement for the 9th inning of yesterdays game. Bringing in a good defensive player into the game is not uncommon in baseball, but this was perhaps the most important move in quite some time considering the situation.


The White Sox starter Mark Buehrle was in the midst of going for history when he took a Perfect game into the 9th. The first batter, Gabe Kapler hit a shot to deep center, Wise went back to the track...to the wall...lept...grabbed the ball and brought it back from over the wall..jarring the ball loose from his glove, and grabbed it with his throwing hand as he fell to the ground. To come in cold and under that pressure and knowing what was on the line to make that play makes it just that much more impressive - one of the all time great grabs. I guess that is what a defensive replacement is supposed to do.

TO SEE THIS CATCH CLICK HERE - Dewayne Wise Catch

Mark Buehrle threw the second no-hitter of his career, this time perfection.
More people have walked on the moon in the last 40 years then thrown a perfect game. Only 18 perfect games have been thrown and 2 of them were in that late 1800’s. It is true that when a pitcher throws a perfect game, it is the team that plays a perfect game. The catcher has to call a perfect game and I guess Ramón Castro did just that. It takes no walks, no errors, and usually involves one or more great defensive plays. Sometimes that happens late when you know it is a big deal, sometimes it is in the first inning and you don’t know how important it is until after. A great example of this is the grab that Paul O’Neil made in the first to preserve David Cone’s perfect game.

Since Buehrle had been there before he seemed to be more at ease with the situation as he was seen talking to teammate Jim Thome in the dugout. Often in no-hit situations teammates won’t go near a guy with a no-no on the line... baseball players are some of the most superstitious in all sports.

To top it all off President Barack Obama, a very open White Sox Fan, called and gave some advice for Chicago White Sox White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle - Buy your center fielder a "big steak dinner." Obama called Buehrle from Air Force One.