The All-Time Blue Jays Infield

So earlier this week I discussed my all-time Blue Jays Outfield!  Today I'm going to go over the All-Time Blue Jays infield picked by me Guy Baseball!

Most of my picks are pretty much the ones you would expect, the stand out players at some of these positions were so head and shoulders above the rest it's hard to debate them. Anyways...Here we go.

1st Base - Carlos Delgado

Carlos was a phenom from the day he made his debut with the Blue Jays!  He was the 1st prospect I remember hearing about before he ever got to the Majors and did he ever deliver!  Little known fact about Carlos...he came up to the Jays as a Catcher....Things that may you go hmmmm

Carlos is the All-Time Jays Leader in Home Runs, RBI, Doubles, OPS, Slugging Percentage, Walks, Intentional Walks and at bats per Home run!  If you are going on stats alone you cannot argue that Carlos Delgado is deserving of being the 1st Baseman on the All-Time Blue Jays Team.

Love the Bat Flip on the 4th Homer!  Classic

Notable Mentions:  Fred McGriff, John Olerud

2nd Base - Roberto Alomar

Pretty sure I would be shot dead in the street if I didn't put Robbie in at 2nd Base on the All-Time List. In the Blue Jays history there has never been a single player who was as exciting as Roberto Alomar.  He could hit, run and was quite possibly the best defensive 2nd baseman to ever play the game.

In his 5 years as a Blue Jays he had a .307 Average, had an OBP of .382, had 206 stolen bases, Won 5 Gold Gloves,  5 All-Star Appearances, Won a Silver Slugger Award, and had a career fielding percentage of 9.84.

Simply put there was know-one better than Robbie.



Notable Mentions:  No one even comes close!

Short Stop - Tony Fernandez

I think everyone who ever watched the Blue Jays in the Mid Late 80's and even early 90's has a soft spot for Tony Fernandez.  He was smooth with the glove and really underrated with the bat. I was really happy when the Jays were able to bring him back to the Blue Jays so he could be a part of one of the World Series winning teams.  Little known fact about Tony...He was the last regular Short Stop to play Short in New York before Derek Jeter took over.

Tony much like Carlos still holds many Jays records...Games Played at 1450, Triples at 72, Singles at 1160$& Defensive assists at 3723. In his 12 year career with the Jays he had a .297 batting average, an OBP of .353,  a slugging % of .412 & a career fielding percentage of .980.

Notable Mentions: Alex Gonzalez

3rd Base - Kelly Gruber

3rd base for the Blue Jays hasn't really been the greatest position traditionally.  Gruber had flashes of brilliance  between 1988 & 1990, but other than those years he was fairly ordinary, but the Jays have not really had anyone else that would be considered a main stay star at 3rd base. 

Kelly Gruber played 10 years with the Jays and was a career .259 hitter, is the only Jay to ever hit for the cycle,  went to two all-star games, won a Gold Glove & Silver Slugger award and even finished as high as 4th one year in MVP voting.  

Notable Mentions: Troy Glaus & Scott Rolen (Both didn't spend enough time in Toronto)

Catcher - Ernie Whitt

In a position that sometimes get's over looked for it's importance to the Game Ernie Whitt was probably the best all around Catcher the Jays ever had.  He could provide some offence when needed, but all in all he is still probably the best all around defensive catcher Blue Jay organization has even seen.

Whitt spend 12 years with the Jays, hit .253 in his time with TO,  has 134 Home Runs, went to 1 All-Star game, has a .327 OBP while a Blue Jay,  threw out 33% of stealing attempts, and had a .990 fielding percentage. 

Notable Mentions:  Darren Fletcher, Pat Borders

Well there you have it my All-Time Blue Jays Infield!  Up next the All-Time starting rotation.

The All-Time Toronto Blue Jays Outfield!

So here's the question!  You have the opportunity to take any 3 outfielders to play for the Toronto Blue Jay organization and build the best Jays outfield of all time.  Who do you take? It seems like a pretty easy question, but as you look at it the options that you can select it actually proves to be quite difficult.

So let me explain to you who I would take.

Center Field - Devon White.

Devo played 5 Years in Toronto and in those 5 years he won 5 Gold Gloves, Averaged 25 stolen bases per year, hit .270 with an OBP of .326, scored pretty much 100 runs in each full season he played (he had 2 season in which he only played about 100 games),  and averaged just above 14 HR a season.

Devon White was a dynamic player who owned the outfield at the then Skydome for the 5 years he played in Toronto.  There were a couple good options for us here, but Devon White was probably the best all round option for the All Time Blue Jays center fielder.




Notable Options:  Lloyd Mosbey & Vernon Wells


Left Field - George Bell

My original plan for left field was Joe Carter and to be honest you can't go wrong with Carter. He was a proven bat who was as clutch as you could be in a game like baseball, but after much though and consideration I have changed my mind and gone with George Bell.

George Bell  played 9 seasons for the Blue Jays and was a career .286 hitter as a Jay,  had 740 RBI's,  Averaged a.469 slugging percentage, 256 Home Runs and is still the only Blue Jay to ever win the MVP award.  Bell was a player who was all about winning and provided an intimidating presence that
striked fear in opposing starting rotations.  Still think it's crazy that the Jays picked him up in the Rule 5 draft. Stupid Phillies!

Notable Options:  Joe Carter

Right Fielder - Jose Bautista

This of the three positions was probably the hardest to choose, but in the end I went with current Blue Jay Jose Bautista!

In the relative short time Jose Bautista has been with the Jays he's totally re-invented himself into one of the all time faces of the franchise.  The 2010 season was the ultimate coming out party for him.  Going for a platoon player who was great defensively to one of the most feared power hitters in the Game.

In the three seasons since 2010 no one in the MLB has hit as many Home Runs as Jose,  he's shown an increased patience at the plate (349 Walks),  become a better hitter (.262 average, .386 OBP, .939 OPS), he's won 2 Hank Aaron Awards, attended 3 All Star Games (Also garnered the most All Star Votes all time in 2011), won 2 Silver Slugger Awards all the while being one of the best defensive players at his position.   The guy is the unquestionable leader of the New Toronto Blue Jays and is a damn good ball player

Notable Options: Shaun Green, Jesse Barfield & Alex Rios

So my outfield would be, George Bell, Devon White and Jose Bautista!  Pretty damn good if you ask me!

Up Next!  The All Time Infield!

The Blue Jays Back-Up Catcher Situation

Over the course of the Blue Jays off season we have been lucky enough to see our fair share of activity through Trade, Free Agency and across the Waiver Wire.  Almost half of the entire 25 man roster is different from last year!  That's crazy.... another crazy thing from this offseason...How many catchers have come and gone..... Today' i'm going to see who we've seen as temp Blue Jays, Who's going to be in AAA Buffalo and who is going to be the back-up catcher this year when spring training breaks.

First off....Here are all the transactions that have involved catchers this off season so far.

Toronto Blue Jays claimed C Bobby Wilson off waivers from Los Angeles Angels
Toronto Blue Jays claimed C Eli Whiteside off waivers from New York Yankees.
Miami Marlins traded C John Buck to Toronto Blue Jays for C Jeff Mathis
Toronto Blue Jays selected the contract of C A.J. Jimenez from New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
New York Mets traded C Josh Thole, C Mike Nickeas to Toronto Blue Jays for C John Buck,C Travis d'Arnaud
Cleveland Indians traded RHP Esmil Rogers to Toronto Blue Jays for  3B Yan Gomes.
Toronto Blue Jays signed free agent C Henry Blanco.
C Jack Murphy assigned to Toronto Blue Jays.

Yeah that's a lot of catchers.... 12 in total give or take some I may have missed!

So here is where I am confused...... Who's going to be the Back and and Who's going to be in AAA Buffalo.  The Jays signed Henry Blanco last week to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training, fast forward a few days they give Josh Thole a 2 year contract (+ an option) .  One would think that the back up role would go to Josh Thole.  The same guy who the Jays ensured was a part of the RA Dickey trade in December, the same guy that Dickey made sure to call out by name in his introductory press conference, but the word on the street is that the job is actually more likely to go to Henry Blanco.

Why Henry?  We'll after reading many different takes on the idea of Henry Blanco being the back up, what I gather is....The Jays are going to do everything they can to ensure they have a team first attitude coming into this year and they are going to surround themselves with guys who are great teammates where they can.  This same philosophy was seen today as the Blue signed another super teammate in Marc Derosa to a $750,000 contract...

The more and more I looked at it, I think i'm ok with it!  Blanco knows Dickey as they played together in New York and other than last year his offensive numbers haven't been half bad for a backup.  The Guy's defense is killer, which is great as it give JPA another mentor in the clubhouse to help with him becoming a better catcher. (This may actually be more important that thought as with Wakamatsu not having a Job with the team, this leaves a big hole in catcher mentor-ship department).  So ultimately this looks like Thole will be in AAA along with Mike Nickeas.  This really isn't that bad for the Jays to have another MLB caliber catcher in the minors just in case anything happens.

So couple all these moves and all the rumors that also surrounded JP Arencibia during the course of the off season, it's been one crazy 3 months for catchers in the Blue Jays Organization.

Toronto Blue Jays Tidbit Round Up

With all the excitement around the NHL coming back this week, the Toronto Blue Jays were quite busy over the pasts few days and weeks!  Here are a couple thoughts on some of the stories that have come out of Jays land in the last little while!

1. Avoiding Arbitration.  As Friday came and went the Blue Jays announced that they were able to avoid arbitration with Josh Thole, Emilio Bonifacio and JA Happ.  Both Bonifacio and Happ signed one year deals, but Thole singed himself a nice 2 year deal that included an option for a 3rd.  These three deals along with the deal with the one with Colby Rasmus earlier take care of all arbitration cases.  I would have really liked to have Bonifacio sign a multi year contract,  I really think having him a part of this team for the next few years would be a great thing for the Jays.



2.  Winter Tour wrap up:  The Jays finished up there Winter Tour last week!  I've said it before and i'll say it again next year when they do it again, but I absolutely love that they do this for their fans across the country. What better way can you make an entire country care about your team?   Rogers has found a great way to ensure that their TV numbers cross country will be great for a long time, by bringing their stars to places that they may have never seen before.  Sure other teams do community stuff in the off-season, but what the Jays do is really a step above everyone else.  Nice Boots Colby



3.  Buffalo Bison's Unveil New Uniforms and hold their annual Lunchon:  What I  really love about the Jays partnering with the Bison's is that the Jays have taken an active role in ensuring that the relationship is going to thrive.  The Jays themselves made the way out to Buffalo for this event and even brought some stars along with them to help make the event the best it has ever seen. I think having the Jays in Vegas for the past few years really made them realize how important it is to have a AAA club so close to home and they are going to do everything they can to ensure they don't move again anytime soon. BTW the jersey's looked really cool!



4.  The Super Deal that never was -  After the Reyes press conference this past week, AA did a media scrum where he let out that there was another trade that was very close to being completed before the Marlins trade.  The deal was said to be about the same financial commitment as the Marlins trade but fell through at the last minute.  The deal was almost done, it was so close that the Jays team actually went to the board to approve the $$$ for the deal.  This deal falling through actually led to the Marlins trade going through that much quicker because the team already went through the exercise of asking for the $$$.  Who could the mystery team have been? I have no clue.  What other team would have been willing to move that amount of $$$?  I still have no clue, but the rumors on the interwebs say it could have been the White Sox or Maybe the Indians......Will we ever know?  I don't know, but I almost would rather not know only so I'm not always wondering what could have been.

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2013/01/17/blue-jays-trade-that-collapsed-paved-way-for-the-one-that-didnt/

5. Gose was supposed to be in the Marlins Trade:  Apparently Gose was being pushed hard to be included as a part of the Marlins trade.   AA let his cat out of the bag at the Buffalo Luncheon, but he mentioned that he couldn't include him as Gose carries the same type of excitement of a player as Jose Reyes does.   AA loves his speed in players.  This makes me really excited for the type of baseball that we will see in years to come.



6. Darren Oliver is Coming Back:  Good news out of Texas this week as Darren Oliver confirms that he's going to be coming back to the Jays after he clearing everything with his family.  The road to this agreement was rocky, as Oliver's Agent made some claims on Oliver's behalf that weren't factual, but in the end our Lefty specialist is back and our bullpen is better because of it.  Bigger question is if AA thinks his Bullpen is good enough to take into the year.  It would be a shame if they don't ensure their bullpen is rock solid in a year where the rest of the team is killer.



7. Reyes Press Conference: The Reyes press conference was short, but it did exactly what it meant to.  It gave the Jays the chance to show the Fans the type of personality that they just brought into the team.  He's not as interesting as Dickey, but he his playing style coupled with a winning personality will make him a fan favorite for years to come.



Just some thoughts!  Go Jays Go!

Jose Reyes - Welcome to Toronto!

Today Jose Reyes was introduced to the Toronto media in another opportunity for the Blue Jays to keep the off season love in going after a busy first half of the winter months.

What do we know about Jose Reyes?  We know he's a former NL Batting Champ. Has a .291 career batting average,  only stole less than 30 bases once, doesn't strike out a lot,  hits a lot of triples and a pretty good defender!  Yeah.....this could be really good!

The presser was short, not a whole lot of questions, but one thing was clear....Jose Reyes is going to be a fan favorite in Toronto.  He has an infectious persona that you can tell people will feed off of.  He seems like the type of person who can command a room with a smile and an infectious attitude.

I think the person who was happiest about this deal was Alex Anthopoulos.  He was down right giddy when he was talking about Reyes and how he was probably his favorite player in the MLB right now.

This presser actually reinforced Alex's methodology for the players that he wants on his team.  In the last two weeks we have been presented with two very large parts of the Blue Jays future in RA Dickey and Jose Reyes!  Alex has always said that the team spends a lot of time looking at players and ensuring they find guys who are the right fit and good people.  Well if what we've seen anything with these two players who are coming in to Toronto is AA is focused on finding quality people, with outstanding abilities to be a Toronto Blue Jay.



Welcome to Toronto Jose!  Go Jays Go!


*** As a part of this media day AA dropped a bomb that there was another block buster that almost went down.  Here is John Lott's article where AA talks to the other trade.  Who could have possibly made this type of trade with the Jays?  My thoughts after reading one other article on this subject is that it may have been Philly, who would have maybe given up one of their big 3 staff aces.

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2013/01/17/blue-jays-trade-that-collapsed-paved-way-for-the-one-that-didnt/

Anyways.....Enjoy!

Darren Oliver - An Open Apology

Dear Mr. Oliver.

Let me start off by saying that I am very excited to hear that you have decided to return to the Toronto Blue Jays for the 2013 season!  Our Bullpen will greatly benefit from having an unbelievable presence and talent like you on our team......

Now that that`s out of the way I have to formally say ``I`m sorry`` for the things that I said, wrote and discussed about you when I heard that the only way you were going to honor your contract with the Toronto Blue Jays was if you were given more money or traded to the Rangers.  My Toronto MLB Fan inferiority complex got the better of me.  

Having you back on our team definitely answers some of the questions that remained about our team for the upcoming season.  Are there still some unanswered questions? Yes.... Who will close, will Santos come back, Was Janssen's shoulder surgery really that minor. who is going to set-up from the young guys in the pen, etc.. but having you back in fold I think allows all Jays to breath a sigh of relief.

I do have one question though......You mentioned that your agent was the guy who made the demands about coming back for more money or how you would only play if you were traded to Texas and you had no knowledge that he made these demands to the Blue Jays!  How do you not fire your agent when he painted you in such a bad spot with the team/fanbase?

The crazy thing about this is that your agent was the one who leaked the info.  We know for sure that it was not AA of the Blue Jays due to their philosophies regarding comments on player negotiations.  How did he ever think trying to play this game through the media would work if you and him never discussed anything..... Or the simpler explanation is just that you did make the demands, but as the Jays didn`t take the bait you tried to save face with the fans by throwing your agent under the bus.

The one major reasons why I believe you didn't give your Agent these directions is that you don't see  conference calls planned for a team to announce that a player has decided not to retire. I was  glad to hear that you wanted to Honor the contract, and get the story straight.

Regardless of if this is true or not, i'm still pretty excited that you will be back in a Blue Jays uniform for 2013.  2012 was a  tough year for the Jays, but the games were alot easier to watch when you were on the mound!.

Go Jays Go and best of luck in 2013!

Avoiding Arbitration - A story about the Curious Colby Rasmus

Today the Toronto Blue Jays announced that they have avoided arbitration with one Colby Rasmus signing him to a one year contract worth 4.675 million for the 2013 season.  

Colby's year last year was definitely a weird one.  It saw him start the year off with a terrible string of bad luck that seemed like every time he hit the ball it was directly at someone,  he was moved to the 2 hole in the batting order and shined bright for about 6 weeks, he then got cold again and fell off the planet and hit about .170 for the rest of the year. Throw in a nagging groin injury, a .223 batting average, 23 home runs, 75 RBI, and OBP of .289, an OPS of .689 and there you have the 2012 year for Rasmus.

So this odd  and primarily disappointing year ultimately got him almost a 2 million dollar raise based  on a stretch of 6 weeks where is was arguably one of the best outfielders in the Majors.  

I think everyone is now starting to figure out why the Cardinals were willing to trade this former # 3 prospect to the Jays in the summer of 2011.  Sure we can all see the potential that is there in Colby.  He can hit for power, he has speed, great defense,  and in stretches can hit for average, but all too many times he will almost be invisible for stretches at the plate. Where is the guy who hit .276 and had an OBP of .361 in his second year in the bigs?

I was convinced last year when Colby was hitting in front of Bautista that he had found his place in this line-up.  He was getting his hefty diet of FB and was taking care of business (reminded me or Eric Thames in his 1st go around too), but with this new look Blue Jays I really doubt we see him hitting in this same spot.  For Colby to hit lower in the line-up I would like to see him ultimately hitting 8th, with Bonafacio and Lawrie in front of him.  Putting some speed in front of him may be the only way to ensure that he gets more fastballs to hit. 

This upcoming year is very important for Colby.  The Blue Jays have a young and inexpensive CF in waiting in Anthony Gose, and if Colby doesnt find a way to make himself look like a valuable piece to this team he can could find himself on his way out of Toronto.

The Toronto Blue Jays Bullpen

Today Alex Anthopolous mentioned on a Saskatoon TV show that the Jays were still interested in upgrading their bullpen.  This really comes as no surprise especially since word on the street is that Darren Oliver will not be returning to the Jays for 2013.

Here is a link to the interview.

http://www.globalsaskatoon.com/video/blue+jays+in+saskatoon/video.html?v=2324593385#interviews/video

Currently without Oliver I think our Bullpen stands as follows.

- Casey Jansen RHP
- Sergio Santos RHP
- Steve Delabar RHP
- Brad Lincoln RHP
- JA Happ LHP
- Aaron Loup LHP
- Brett Cecil LHP
- Esmil Rogers/Jeremy Jeffres RHP

Not bad, but of all my questions about this 2013 Jays team are with the Bullpen. 

Will JA Happ be a good long man out of the pen?

Will Sergio Santos be healthy?

How good can Steve Delabar be?

Will Aaron Loup & Brett Cecil be good enough as Lefty specialists?

Can Brad Lincoln look as dominant as he did with the Pirates?

Was Casey Jansen's surgery more serious then it was let on?

Can Esmil Rogers live up to potential?

Will Evan Crawford and Sam Dyson be in the majors in 2013?

So what do I think needs to happen you may be asking yourself at this very moment?  We'll let me tell you...... They need to add in a notable FA bullpen arm to help stabilize all these questions. Let's say the Jays are willing to spend a little more dough, and to be honest I think they are.  (They were rumored to be in on Jason Grilli for in the range of 4 mil per year and were going to pay Oliver 3,5 mil too) I think the Jays should go after Rafael Soriano! Sure he is going to cost them a lot of $$$ to tie up, but due to him being tied to a draft pick, I don't think you are going to have to shell out much term for him.  

Over the past 4 seasons (Minus the injury during the 2011 season) he has been one of the best closers in the majors, and he's also had to do it in the AL East.  Not an easy thing to do at all. 

Take a look at his numbers over his career.... His ERA, WHIP, SO/9 are all very impressive!

Will the Jays go after him?  I hope so, adding him provides them with a proven closer if by chance Jansen isn't ready to go and this will even supplant the Blue Jays as a true contender in 2013.

So what If they don't get Soriano, who should they get?  I'm a big fan of Brandon Lyon!  He was rock solid last year on two sub par teams.  He was consistent during his time with the Jays and was truly an arm that you could depend on when he came to the mound.  You could probably get him at a team friendly contract too.  

I'm not sold that the Jays need to bring in another LHP.  I think both Loup and Cecil can fill that job until Luis Perez is back from the DL.  I was very impressed with Perez in the 1st part of last year.  He proved that he could defiantly be a part of this team's bullpen success for many years to come. 

Seeing how the bullpen comes together in the next few weeks before spring training will end up being one of the more interesting things for me over the rest of the off-season. 

Go Jays Go!

*Update!  Looks like the Nats signed Soriano!  There goes that bright idea......On to Lyon....maybe Henke 2.0 in Kyle Farnsworth? 

**Update # 2.  Curse you Darren Oliver!  Now I have to go a write a piece how you are a good guy after all!  Go Jays Go.  

RA Dickey Press Conference - An Introduction to Toronto

Today the Toronto Sports media was introduced to the latest addition to the Toronto Blue Jays...  RA Dickey.  I didn't get the chance to watch the press conference live, but I did watch the entire thing after the fact and also listened to him on PTS and I think the city is really going to love this guy!



All too often as sports fans are treated to athlete interviews that you can pretty much predict exactly what is going to be said.  They are filled with cliche and cliche and offer no real substance. I didn't see that today,  I saw an athlete who was extremely genuine and offered substance in each of his answers.

I'll admit (Like most Jays fans) I did a number of Google searches on RA before and after the trade to get a read on him and was impressed on what I found about him.  It was not until today that I realized that he has the chance to something special in this city!  The commitment and dedication that he seems to already have is something we haven't seem a lot recently from a sports personality and that is  going to buy him a lot of fans. If he comes out and has a decent year we could have a folk hero if he keeps on showing the love.

All too often have Jays fans have felt snubbed by players considering us a second class destination and to have a CY Young award winner to come along and show as much love for our city as he has, it could benexactly what we need to feel better about yourselves as a MLB market.

I mean for real.....Who told him to talk about Joe Carter?  Who told him to say "I look forward to being a Canadian for 6 months"? Who told him to let everyone know how much he was interested in becoming a part of the community and donating the max possible to the Jays Care foundation?  This guy is smart and i'm already a fan!

Go Jays Go!

- Side note... Do you think he's tired of showing people how he throws a Knickleball?

Toronto Blue Jays Radio Opening

This past week we learned that Alan Ashby would be leaving the Blue Jays Radio booth for a job as the color commentator for the Huston Astros.   I'll miss Ashby as always really enjoyed his point of view on the game as well as his honesty when speaking of the team.

Well he's gone and now it's on to speculating who is going to replace him and my very pointed opinions on who that may be....

1.  Gregg Zaun - A former Jay that currently works for Rogers as an analyst.   Gregg has done a few games on the Radio to fill in at times, and did ok as he definitely offered some good insight into the game.  Personally I like Zaun where he currently sits with Rogers.  He is easy to handle in small doses and I think given too much time to talk his gimmick which I find enjoyable may wear thin.  He is a perfect as a Don Cherry type baseball persona who I only hear from once or twice a game.

Anyone else find it weird he is never asked about being names in the Mitchell report?

2.  Mike Wilner. Mike currently hosts the Jays talk on the Fan 590, Writes for Sportsnet and occasionally fills in on the radio (I'm sure he does more, I just can't remember it all).  I really enjoy Wilner.  I like what he does on the Jays talk and find his POV very spot on generally, however the brash way he handles callers at times is a little hard to deal with.  The times he's filled in on the radio it's been good, however I found him to sound a little too much like he was doing a Blue Jays update rather than announcing the game. 

3. Dirk Hayhurst - Dirk is a former Major Leaguer who played with the Blue Jays, but has more recently became famous from a few different Baseball Books he has written that detailed his rise to the Major Leagues.  Dirk has also filled in for a few games on the Radio and has Co-Hosted Baseball Central on the Fan and Sportsnet this past summer.  I like Dirk alot with his work with Rogers and think he would make a great part of the Radio Team.  He offers a former player perspective and also has a good handle on advanced baseball metrics which seems to be such a talking point these days. 

4. Jack Morris, - The Former Jay was rumored today by Bob Elliott to be interested in the Job.  Morris has worked for Twins radio previously, but to be honest I have never heard him on the radio or even heard if he was any good.  What I do like is that he's a former player who had an opinion and was known for his tenaciousness.  He may end up just being a good fit, and he's got a killer duster!

To be honest i'm not sure who is going to end up taking over and i'm sure there are more people who are legitimate chance at being the next color voice of Blue Jays radio but in my personal opinion I hope to see Dick Hayhurst get the chance. I think he brings a relate-able presence to the broadcast who the fans can listen to and still learn from.  

I'm sure we'll find out soon who the next person will be next to Jerry Howarth in the broadcast booth, but until then...Go Jays Go


***Looks like the Jays have reached out to Morris!  It will be interesting to see if he takes the job!

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/2013/01/10/jack_morris_in_running_to_replace_ashby/

Blue Jays Commercials

So over the past few weeks we have started to see a new Jays commercial with the intentions of getting the fan base excited for the new season.

Here is the newest commercial!

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?topic_id=25978330&c_id=tor

I love it!  It does a great job of capturing the essence of a fun game at the same time building the excitement for the new year!

Seeing Jays commercials always make me remember some of my favorites....and here are a few for your enjoyment!

1. 2011 Opening Day - I immediately got jacked up with I saw this.  I loved how much it made me want the season to start.

2. Selling Hot Dogs - Just before the Jays went in an inspirational direction with their commericals they went funny with some Blue Jays trying to figure out how to get people to the stadium.  This one was my fav.

3. Overbay Bouquet - One season the team went the route of having their players act in the ads.The players they had were Halladay, Thomas, Wells and Overbay. Here is Overbay's add.  It's funny!  No LOL Funny, but it's funny!

4. 93 Coca Cola Commercial - Here is a classic from the 93 world series that Coca Cola made that had a lovely musical number re-worked to fit the world series winners.  Very Nostalgic indeed now!

5. Pink -  This is actually just terrible.

6. 90 Labatt Blue  - This one is my fav!  You know for sure that the guys at the end arm in arm enjoy'd a few labatt products that day at the ball park.

7.  Fan 1430 & Ricky Henderson -  Even thought Ricky Henderson was only with us for a short period of time, he was able to leave us with this gem from the Fan 1430.

8. 2012 Season Opener -  I really like the new direction of the commercials!  here is the 2012 version to finish off on.

That was fun!  I find myself watching each one of those more than 1 time each.

Hope you enjoy'd them!  Go Jays Go!

** The Jays have just recently released their new campaign for the start of the season!  They look great, but they are not very far off in concept from their past 2 season commercials.  ie Catchy Song, Players walking in slow motion, yadda yadda yadda....Here`s a link to the Jays site for your reference if you want to check them out.

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?tcid=mm_tor_vid&c_id=tor

Toronto Blue Jays Tid Bits....

Here are a few random observations from the past few days regarding the Blue Jays!

- I love how the Jays are continuing to do their Annual Winter Tour across Canada. It's great to see that Roger's have identified that the team was more than just the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays are Canada's team and bringing them to the rest of Canada can only be a good thing for the people who own the National TV rights. 

- Along with the Winter Tour the Jays started a Coach's clinic in conjunction with Baseball Canada that went on over the course of this weekend. What a great idea to help grow and teach the game of Baseball in Canada! This reminds me alot of how Canada takes to teaching Hockey and Curling in other countries, bring in some experts to teach the teachers and send them away with the knowledge to teach the future. 

- Jose Bautista was in town for the Clinic and Winter Tour and to be honest it made me remember that he was hurt last year! With all the trades and signings from the past two months I totally forgot that he had season ending wrist surgery. To be honest the Jays are really going to need Jose to be back to top form if they want to contend this coming year. He is a large part of this team and if he can't produce it leaves a massive hole to be filled. 

- The Jays picked up Chad Beck back up off the Waiver wire form Pittsburgh on Friday. No more than a depth move. Wouldn't be surprised to have the Jays try and sneak him back through waivers so they can outright him to Buffalo as a depth move. I don't see him as a real piece of the Jays bullpen for next year. 

- Speaking of the Bullpen.....Darren Oliver, just retire already! I need the Jays to make a move for the Pen to help fill my Blue Jays Fix! I honestly see Loup and Cecil to be valuable LHP options coming out of the Pen. I think Cecil particularly can step up much like Marc Rzepczynski did when he was converted to a reliever. 

- I read on twitter that AA let it slip out at the Coach's Clinic that the budget was supposed to be around 105 Million, and he didn't expect it to get up to around 120 where it is right now. Nice to see Roger's opening the wallet more than expected!

- Well it's official Alan Ashby will be leaving the Radio booth to return home to the Huston Astros TV booth. Once again the Jays have lost another great voice to another opportunity. Nothing against Ashby for leaving at all, i'm just sad I won't have the pleasure of listening to his insights on Jays games (I'm still a little bit bitter that Shulman doesn't call Jays games anymore too). For the longest time I was hoping that Ashby was going to get the call to replace Buck as the play by play guy for the Jays, now i'm worried that they Jays are going to replace him with Mike Wilner! Wilner I can stand in his Jays talk persona,not sure I can anywhere else. Maybe they give Hayhurst a chance to be a color guy on the radio? Who knows.....

- I read an interesting article today about Adam Lind and David Cooper. I feel bad for David Cooper, here is a guy who was a 1st round pick and with the way the organization has had him blocked I don't think he'll ever get a fair chance to be the player he truly could be. Something tells me he would just kill on a NL Team

That's all for now! Go Jays Go!

Darren Oliver - Get me my Money!

This is just going to be a quick hit here, but the rumor out in the baseball world is that Darren Oliver who signed a 1 year contract with the Blue Jays last year with a team option for a second year has made it known to the Blue Jays that the only way he would be interested in returning to the Blue Jays and honoring the team option that was picked up would be if the Blue Jays re-negotiated his final year of the contract to offer him more money!

Right now I think the Jays should let him sit out! What's happened to honoring your contract?  Why even put your name on the contract with the option for a second year if you have no intention on fulfilling it?  Wouldn't it be great if AA could go to Ricky Romero and say " Ricky,  you really didn't have that great a year last year, so this upcoming year were only going to pay you half of your contract"

Given Oliver's number this past year were amazing and he's still one of the premier LH bullpen arms in the game, the Jays cannot be held hostage anymore by players or managers.

*The other rumor is that Oliver would welcome a trade to the Texas Rangers, a team closer to home. Well wouldn't it be hilarious if given that the Rangers just signed Jason Frasor the Jays and the Rangers worked out a trade that would send Frasor back to the Jays for Oliver?

Toronto Blue Jays 2013 Pitching Rotation

With the addition of RA Dickey and the pieces from Marlins trade,  it is pretty much a given that the 2013 Jays rotation will feature the following 5 pitchers (not in any particular order), Morrow, Romero, Dickey, Buherle & Johnson.  The question that I'll try to figure out here is what order we will see these pitchers from opening day forward.

Let's start with the opening day starter.  This game will be at home and to be honest if you have a current CY Young award winner on your staff you pretty much have to give RA Dickey the first start.  This may actually end up being the perfect scenario as the Dome will be closed and with 50,000 + people on hand it's sure to be plenty humid and the knuckle ball should be dancing!

The 2nd spot should be open to Brandon Morrow!  He was hands down the Jays best pitcher last year and probably throws the hardest out of the starting rotation.  Brandon has come a long way as a pitcher since coming to the Jays and without the Jays adding Dickey he probably would have been the Opening day starter.  A added bonus for Morrow this year if he does follow Dickey is that Hitters all year will have a tough time adjusting between a knuckleball and a flame thrower during any series where they follow one another. 

3rd spot would go to Rickey Romero.  It would be great to have a LHP in the mix in this first series and in the quest to rebuild RR as a pitcher, it may make sense to have him avoid the Red Sox in his 1st appearance as the Jays will face them in their 2nd series.  Rickey has always had a tough time with the Red Sox over the course of his career and avoiding them may end up helping him. 

4th would be Josh Johnson.  I think Johnson is going to be in for a HUGE year!  Why wouldn't he? He's going into his final year before his FA year and we all know how guys seem to get up for their FA year.  This spot may end up doing well for him as he will be in between two soft throwing LHP and with his arsenal of pitches he may be able to keep hitters off balance. 

The 5th spot would then belong to Mark Buehrle.  To  be honest at any time you can have a Mark Buehrle as your 5ht starter you are in a good place.  Although he has had his trouble with the AL East in the past, Buehrle is a competitor who always looks to give his team a chance to win and that is all you can really ask for out of your 5th starter.

Anyway you put these 5 starters together you could end up with success, but personally I think this is what we may end up seeing Opening day.  (Buehrle and Romero may end up swapping spots, I don`t think teams worry about opposing team records when determining opening rotations)

*Side note....The best part of the Dickey Trade (Ok probably not the best, but it`s pretty good) is that we get to put JA Happ in the bullpen.  Happ is a great option as  having a reliable LHP who can thrown mid 90`s and give you 6 innings if needed is amazing!

Let me know if you think i`m out to Lunch on this one,  I`d love to hear some different options.

Go Jays Go!