Fire Sale? - Stairs Dealt to Philly

Well, it looks like it is finally going to happen. A month late, but this is a good sign.

Matty Stairs has been dealt to Philly for a prospect whose identity has not yet been determined. Travis Snider has been called up to replace him on the current roster. There is tons of hype surrounding this kid, so I am very excited to see him play.

Before I get into more, I just wanted to send a shout out to Stairs. We love you up here in the good old country of Canada, and we wish you well. However the time was right for both of us to move on. Good luck sir.

Here is a great quote from Stairs published in The Post http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=753989:

"Nothing would have been better than to go down friggin' Yonge Street and celebrating with the guys I became really close with in the last year and a half," he said. "To me the greatest city in the world is Toronto. I'm not saying that because I played there or I'm a Canadian. It's a city I've always loved."

Ok, now that that is out of the way, JP needs to get on the horn and see what he can get for Eckstein, Zaun, McDonald, and Bautista. Yup, the same Bautista that he traded for last week. None of these players are in the future plans, so there is no reason for them to be here now.

JP you have approx. two days to do this, so get what you can, and let the team move on.

Hopefully the fire sale of the dead weight continues.

I Hate the Tampa Bay Rays

Here I am, watching the Jays game, and it has dawned on me; I hate a professional team more then the Boston Red Sox.

I can't stand Tampa Bay, for so many reasons.

You may ask - Why, Mr. Joshua Henry, do you hate them so much. Well folks, it's their fans. Finally after years of totally sucking, the Rays have somehow put together a solid season. So solid, that it is August 26th, and they are in 1st place in the AL East. However, Tropicana Field remains empty as can be.

As I am watching right now, I can here those horns that you hear at CFL games going off, and some dude with somesort of noise-maker in the background, and of course their terrible stadium announcer.

Add is the fact that their pitching is worse then the Jays, and their offence is only slightly better, but the team is still somehow in first place - it just makes me more irate.

On a side note (Jays related) - Scotty Rolen was activated from the DL. He should be getting the start on Thursday. Hopefully this means we will see less of John McDonald the rest of the way.

Mac Watch - August OPS is now under .599

Jays Send Marcum to AAA

Well this is strange move.

At least JP isn't bs'ing about what his intentions are the rest of the season. With Marcum down and Mac starting everyday, we are not fielding our best team.

We will being using 5th starters more then just on every 5th day for at least two weeks. Litsch/Purcey and Parrish are all currently 5th starters. Behind Halladay and Burnett, Marcum is the only non-5th starter we have right now.

With our offence, this could get ugly.

FYI - Mac Watch - He currently ranks 57th in OPS at the shortstop position. Your a stud Jonathon!!

CY Consideration for Burnett?

I got three words for you. Let's get serious.

Burnett's win total is very deceiving. He is actually having a very poor season for his standards in every other statistical catagory.

Burnett's Stats:

2008 ERA: 4.51 - Career ERA: 3.86
2008 WHIP: 1.41 - Career WHIP: 1.29
2008 OBA: .259 - Career OBA: .236

Sure there is an outside chance he could get 20 wins, however by factoring in all other stats, he won't even finish in the top 7 for CY consideration.

Hopefully other teams consider all his 2008 stats after he opts out of his contract looking for more money.

The Doctor is in - Again

Sometimes I ask myself - Why the hell did I stay in on Saturday night to watch the Jays play? Considering the season was basically lost two months ago, it's a very valid question.

Well, after watching the Jays beat Boston 4-1 tonight, I have had two simple words that explain why I watch. 1)Roy 2) Halladay.

This guy is absolutely amazing. He just finished dominating the BoSox for his 8th complete game of the season. Yeah, that's right eight.

Halladay now has more complete games by himself then 27 of the 30 team pitching staffs do throughout the majors. If that doesn't strike you as great… well then, you’re bizarre.

It is a shame that this team can't reward his greatness by getting into the postseason.

Wells and McDonald on Waivers

Many people are worried that the Jays could lose Wells for basically nothing, however after doing a little research it seems unlikely that Wells will be moved. Although it is a possibility that McDonald could go. Man that would be sweeeeeet.

Take a look at this from Paul DePodesta blog:

No player can get traded after July 31 without being placed on trade waivers.

Unlike outright waivers, August trade waivers are NOT irrevocable. In other words, if we place a player on trade waivers, and another organization places a claim on that player, we can take him off waivers if we don't want to lose him or trade him.

Once a player is placed on trade waivers, the other 29 organizations have 48 hours during which to place a claim.

If a player is claimed by another organization, one of two things can happen: a) the player can be traded to (or simply given to) the claiming organization only or b) the player can be pulled off of waivers by the originating Club.

Any trade with the claiming Club has to be consummated within 48 hours.

If a player is claimed on trade waivers, and the originating Club pulls that player off of waivers, he CANNOT be traded for the remainder of the season unless... the originating Club puts the player on trade waivers a second time. If they do this, however, the waivers become irrevocable so any claim would result in the automatic assignment of the player to the claiming team. If a player goes unclaimed, he can be traded to any other team at any time.

Reed "The Steed" Johnson

Since the release of Shannon Stewart, there has been a lot of talk of the "big mistake" J.P. Riccardi made by allowing Reed Johnson to walk in the offseason.

Don't get me wrong here - I don't like Riccardi, and I seriously believe it is time for him to go, but at the time I feel that the decision wasn't the wrong one.

However the major issue here is the fact that Adam Lind should have broken camp with the Jays.

The opening day lineup should have been:

Eckstein
Hill
Rios
Thomas
Wells
Rolen
Overbay
Zaun
Lind

If Lind had broken camp with this team the Johnson vs. Stewart debate may never have happened. Also, Stairs was never supposed to be our full-time DH as Thomas being released wasn't factored into Johnson vs. Stewart.

Hey, I am not saying the Stewart signing was a good choice, but I will never say that letting Johnson walk (at the time) was bad idea. If I am wrong, I am wrong.

The Johnson release looks worse now because of a combination of bad choices made by Riccardi throughout the year. Adam Lind spent too much time in the minors, and by releasing Thomas, Stairs has received to many at-bats.

I don't miss Johnson, and I not going to miss Stewart.