Thursday, October 28, 2010

Blue Jays Hire Manager, discuss payoll, and the catching situation for 2011

For those like myself who can really give two stinkers about the Texas Rangers vs. San Fran Giants world series matchup; I have some nice news regarding our beloved Toronto Blue Jays.

After a very surprising season the Toronto Blue Jays have moved into fulll off-season mode.

Firstly, the managerial position has been filled. The Jays snagged Red Sox pitching coach John Ferrel, and made him manager. This move has recieved nothing but glaring and positive remarks from important baseball folks. ESPN said that this move makes the Jays a much better team, while former Boston Red Sox right-hander Curt Shilling mentioned that this was a great pick-up for Toronto.

In other coaching moves; it seems that 3B coach Butterfield and Pitching Coach Walton, will be in fact remaining with the team. All in all, I give Jays GM Alex A. a big fat A+ for the way he handled this situation.

Secondly, in a recent article that was published in the Toronto Star it was noted that Jays ownership is prepared to increase payroll this season. Now, before we get all hot and heavy over this, we need to understand that increase will likely come from current roster players. A few of them are arby ready, and will get a slight pay increase. However, who knows, perhaps one (Manny) or two slightly bigger contracts will be purchased by the Jays this offseason. Only time will tell.

Furthermore, the Jays picked up the option of backup catcher Jose Molina. This is interesting because it tells me that John Buck will likely not be back (although Alex. A has indicated they will continue to talk). It's to bad that Cito mishandled rockstar JPA in the fashion he did. JPA could have used the playing time down the stretch.

Finally, this is just the start of what could be a very interesting offseason. Many fans, like myself are keen to find out what direction will take place regarding Jose Bautista.

Stay tuned...

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Jays Lose Season Opener in a Heart-Breaker

Well it was nice to see the boys of summer back on the field. Unfortunately for us sober Jays fans the end didn't suit what was a rather exciting game.

In my opinion the 2010 Jays season is mainly about the stories. Marcum, Wells!!, and Lind all have began to write a ncie story, while Frasor and Gaston have not.

Frasor didn't pitch well, everyone noticed that. However, I feel that Gaston made a mistake by not pinch-hitting for Overbay when the Rangers brought in a lefty to face him with the bases loaded and less then 2 outs. IMO Ruiz made this team so he could pinch hit for Overbay (and sometimes Snider) when a lefty is brought in. Gaston decided to leave Lyle out there (keep in mind I am fan of Overbay because he is a very good on-base guy, and has more then a solid glove at first) and he promptly struck out on 3 pitches. Basically Washington out-managed Gaston in that situation.

All in all it was very exciting game. Marcum was excellent and I truly do feel that the lineup can put up some runs.

With that said Tallet goes tomorrow, so the offence should be put on notice!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

2010 Direction?


Well here we are folks, moving into what could be a very interesting 2010 season for the Jays. Clearly, the team is at a crossroads, no one will deny that. But what direction will the team take moving forward?

The Jays finished up a decent Spring session with a nice win over the Houston Astros, however the best news of the Spring came when the Jays organization announced the long-term signing of young slugger Adam Lind. Adam is now locked up (with various team options) for the next six seasons. I am not only happy for the Jays team, but also for Adam himself. Furthermore, and maybe even more exciting for me is that the team showed support for Adam. Wells, Hill, Overbay, and a couple other players all attended the announcement. This tells me that the team, might play like a team this season.

If I had to guess the opening day lineup, it would look like this;

Bautista
Hill
Lind
Wells
Overbay
EE
Snider
Buck
Gonzalez

SP -- Marcum

It's not a terrible lineup by anymeans. However an overall young pitching staff usually means a long year, but only time will tell.

One move coming out of the Spring I am not happy with is the fact that Billy Tallet was basically hand picked to be the number 2 starting pitcher for this team. A spot he did not earn in the Spring. Tallet helps this team much more as a relief guy, not as a starter. The argument to have him there include that he is a "proven starter" (he's actually not), and that he eats innings (he averaged just over 5 innings per start last season, so he actually doesn't). IMO Cecil should be there, but I guess time will tell.

The rest of the starting rotation looks like this;

Marcum
Tallet
Romero
Morrow
Eveland

All in all, I am very excited for the season to start. I still plan to attend 25-30 homegames this season. Hopefully you will too!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Are You Ready?


Hey guys - Sorry for the lack of posts. I will be back in full blogging mode starting next week!