5 thoughts on the Toronto Blue Jays for June 25th

5 Quick ones today! Enjoy....

1.  So the latest rumor out in the Blue Jays ever lasting pursuit of another starting pitcher has the Blue Jays needing to send Aaron Sanchez, Daniel Norris and Dalton Pompey to the Cubs for Jeff Samardzija!  Now I can debate whether it's a fair trade or not, but I won't cause I am not a scout and I have only seen Sanchez pitch of the three Jays prospects!  What I will comment on is that I am pretty excited that the Jays would have enough in their system to get a deal like this done!  I think it really shows how great a job AA has done with the team's minor league system that even after gutting it they still have enough talent to get one of the elite pitchers available if they needed to.  I think this is one of the 1st steps that Fans should take notice of on how the organization is turning itself around.   A strong minor league development system is something that the Jays have long missed and if it's developped right could mean for a long run of success for the MLB Team.



2  Every time I go to a Jays game I'm amazed at how bad some of the fake jersey get!  Now I understand authentic jersey's are expensive, but come on people!  You don't need to buy your Jays Jersey at a Gas Station!



3.  Outside of a triple is there anything more exciting than an outfield assist?  I don't think so.  I love the anticipation of watching a laser beam of a throw come in from the outfield and kill a runner at any given base!  It's great except if it's against the Jays that is!  That being said we are really lucky as Jays fans to have one of the best arms in the game playing RF, so we get to see some of this type of magic more often that other teams do!

4. With the walk off win tonight that Jays are guaranteed the Series Win against the Yankees!  This is big...really big!  In the season long chase to stay .500 in the AL East taking 2 of 3 from the one team that is killing you so far this year is key!  I said it before and I'll say it again...If the Jays are going to be in the playoff hunt come September they are going to have to beat AL East consistently this year, and this help get them closer to this goal!

**Jays shouldn't be happy with just the Series Win!  If they go out tomorrow and sweep the series it should silence the critics and rejuvenate the team after a tough road trip! We also may need to make room again on the bandwagon.



5. It was announced yesterday that Jose Bautista will be the Captain of the American League team in this year's Home Run Derby!  Right Now I would assume he would pick...Cruz, Encarnacion and Abreu to be his team, with the chance that he brings back defending Champ Yoenis Cespedes.  Whoever he picks to make up his team I would feel pretty safe putting $$$ down on the American League to come out on top this year!

5 Thoughts on the Toronto Blue Jays for June 23rd

Big Win Tonight!  Here are 5 thoughts.....

1.  Well yesterday was quite eventful!  We loose Lawrie for at least 15 days (Probably closer to 4 - 6 weeks) and Bautista for we don't really know long but it's got to be at least 3-4 games you would think.   I'm not sure what that means to the team, but I would think that each loss means something different.  The bat you loose in Bautista is irreplaceable, but the defence that you get in Gose as a replacement is probably an upgrade.  The loss of Lawrie's defence at both 3rd and 2nd are not replaceable, but outside of his uncanny regard to hit with runners in scoring position you may not really miss his bat all that much.  Time will tell how these two injuries will plague the team.



*side note...Loved the raw passion that Lawrie showed in his interview after the game on Sunday! Dude wants to be out there everyday and win for this team!

2. What a great night for Marcus Stroman tonight!  The Dude does a complete 180 tonight from last week when the Yankee's took him to school.  His FB looked sick and you could tell he really benefited from having an ump behind the plate that was a little more consistent than last week. Chase Whitley on the other hand was eaten up by the Jays.  Not sure if the jays benefited from seeing Whitley for a second time, but they took what he was sending and weren't trying to do to much with it.



3. One thing I always wondered was why the Jays didn't go after more sinker ball pitchers since there are so many HR's hit at Roger's Centre.  You would think that naturally a guy that would throw more ground balls would benefit, but after watching Chad Jenkins tonight I really started to re-think that...Well I guess if you're going to throw a sinker ball it should sink! That being said I think Masterson would be a good under the radar pick up for the Jays if they could get him on the FA market this off-season.



4.  Today Jose Bautista made some interesting comments when asked what he thought of some fans jumping off the bandwagon (this was not the exact question) and he pretty much said If those fans who want to doubt they can cheer for the Red Sox and Yanks if they want to doubt them!  Damn right Jose!  This city if full of people who want to be able to say "I told you so" and to be honest I think people are just so fed up by being disappointed by the Leafs, Jays, FC and Raptors that we can't enjoy our team anymore without thinking they are going to fail!

*Side note...May not be a good idea to tell fans to cheer for other teams when your trying to get to the all-start game!  Just saying....



5. I've often thought of this since TD move their "Best seats in the House" seats to the 200 level, but There's no way those Seats are better than the ones that used to be on 1st base line!  Someone at TD got duped when they re-wrote that sponsorship contract!

5 thoughts on the Toronto Blue Jays for June 21st

Wasn't going to write anything tonight,  but after that win I need too.. 5 Thoughts on the Toronto Blue Jays!

1. Wow!  What a game....I think I was one of the fans who stuck it out through the whole game, and am I ever glad I did.  Down 8-0 and to win by 5 is pretty remarkable.  To be honest I can't say I always thought they were going to win.... Truth is I'm not sure I would have watched the whole game if there would have been anything else remotely watchable on, but there wasn't so i'm better than most?  Yeah that's it!  Kratz hit was obviously pretty big in the 9th, but Melky's follow up hit to put them up by 2 IMO was just as big.  If the Jays only get the one run the Reds have the heart of the order coming up, making that extra run that much more important.



2.  Hendriks got shelled and is on his way back to Buffalo in favor for Rob Rasmussen.  Ultimately with Hendriks only going 1 2/3 innings tonight it kinda killed the idea of the spot start to provide some rest!  With everyone except for Loup working tonight JA Happ is going to be expected to go deep on Saturday Afternoon in order to provide some rest to smaller than usual Bullpen!



3. Tonight was a great example of the effect of what a Manager can have on a game!  Gibby effectively used his bullpen, managed his bench ridiculously and really help put his team in a position to win!  I feel for Gibby, the Dude is probably one of the most underrated Managers in the league and all he gets is flack over any small error that some Fan would view as wrong.  The guy will forget more about baseball than I will probably ever know!



4.  Anyone else notice that Gregg Zaun isin't really using twitter as much as he did in past year?  He still kinda tweets, but not nearly to the interaction that he has been in the past.  Wonder if Rogers actually may have said something to him after the Arencibia issue?



5. I know it's not the cool thing among "educated" Jays fans to want Kawasaki on the Jays roster, but F that....I'm for him staying up with the Big Club. Nothing against Tolleson, but I really like Kawaski's approach at the plate and his average defense at both SS and 2nd base make him more valuable to me on the 25 man roster.   Hi talent is not quite what you would like it to be overall, but I love his commitment to the game and him being a good presence in the clubhouse is a definite benefit too.



Anyone think Kawa was saying below on the bench tonight?

5 Thoughts on the Toronto Blue Jays for June 20th

1.  I am ok for the hitting slump to be over now!  If someone could let the team know that i'm good with it being over and they can start hitting like it's May again it would be a big help!  Thank you.... Also Wierd how the Jays broadcasts have been keeping the camera away for Seitzer over the past few games....Not saying...just saying



2.  I was a pretty proud Dad today!  See even thought I do not agree with Pre-School graduations I had to go to my oldest kids graduation today and when they brought up my Kid they promptly said that one of their memories they had of him was the time he taught the entire class a Blue Jays Cheer song!  Gotta love his passion already!



3. Today reminds me why I hate watching Yankee games!  They are so god damn lonnnnnnggggggg! For real it's 10:45 and the 9th inning just started!  The Yankees and Red Sox do almost everything they can to draw out a game that is already too long to being with.  I would really like to see MLB institute a few rules with to help speed up the game.  Here are a few....New Stepping out between pitches, limit the number of times catchers can visit the mound, limiting the number of times Ichiro can tug at his sleeve in a game and how many time Ortiz re-adjusts his velcro.



4. Looking forward to the series in Cincy this weekend!  I love "The Great American Ballpark"!  It should be a fun series and hopefully playing in a small hitters friendly ball park is exactly what the struggling Jays bats need to help put them back win column.



5. So Cecil goes down on the DL after pitching with a wonky hammy yesterday and tomorrow RA Dickey is schdeuled to pitch with a similiar injury?.....ummmmm did we not learn anything from the Cecil thing?  What do I know i'm no DR.

5 Toronto Blue Jays thoughts for June 19th

5 THOUGHTS...HERE YOU GO!!!!!

1. If you've traveled around to any number of Major League Ball Parks you've probably noticed that a number of them have player statues at them.  While the Toronto Blue Jays do have a statue of the Late Ted Rogers outside Rogers Centre, I was trying to think of if the Blue Jays were to put up a Player Statue who would it be or even if there's anyone who would be put in that kind of honor. Couldn't decide if there was anyone worthy, but if they ever decided to put one up I would think it would end up of being either one of these two poses
 or 

2. So it's been quite the interesting few days.....Delabar and Gose are sent to Buffalo, Looks like Cecil is going to the DL,  Lind and Lawrie are day to day and Colby & Sergio are back from DL Stints.  I hope Delabar is able to work on his mechanics in Buffalo, he's looked off all year and given that he has options you might as well have him fix is issues is a place where it doesn't hurt the big club.  I'm OK with Gose going to Buffalo except that the Jays have no real 4th Outfielder right now and I really hope he goes down with the mindset of working hard and putting his best effort forth.  I get the feeling that over the past two years since he originally got called up that when he's been sent down AAA its been beneath him and he doesn't see the need to give 100%.  I can`t believe they let Cecil pitch tonight if he was hurt....now instead of a couple extra days rest and he`s maybe back next week he`s going to have to sit for at least 15 days.  Hopefully both Sergio and Colby can look like the players they were last year when they returned from their DL stints.

*** UPDATE! Well Look there!  Cecil goes down and Delbar is right back up.  I guess there's just no better option right now.  I am a little confused only because two days ago he was going down to clean some things up and now without throwing a pitch there we see him back.  Oh well!  I'll take solace in he looked better in Baltimore over the weekend!




3. So with the return of Colby Rasmus it`s safe to say that he`s going to strike out fairly often...That`s  just who he is, but the better question will be who will strike out more....Colby Ramsus or Juan Francisco? Now we have two LH power hitters who strike out more than me in High School!  You gotta think that both these see nothing but off speed stuff for almost their entire at bats.



4.  How do the Jays loose 15 straight games at Yankee Stadium?  I mean that's crazy!  Forgot the issues at Tropicana Field, walking into Yankee Stadium right now is like walking the green mile!  Here's hoping that Hutch can be the Yankee Killer!



5. Alex Anthopoulos held court recently and said that they were looking to upgrade at any position and there was some talk on the twitter box that they may look at Chase Headley as an option at 3rd.  Given that he's a FA at the end of the year I would still be all over that.  Yeah it would mean Lawrie at 2nd for the rest of the year, but given that Lawrie would be a + 2nd baseman on any team, putting Headley  in a hitters Friendly park sounds great to me and it may not cost you that much except for what i'm assuming would have to be at least 1st round talent +.

5 Thoughts on the Toronto Blue Jays for June 16th

5 Thoughts on an off day!

1.  Looks like Kawasaki is coming back.  A little indifferent here. If Adam Lind is the guy going to the DL i'm a little confused as to why Dan Johnson isn't the guy coming up.  LH bat, good OBP in Buffalo, some pop, and can play 1st base...... Ummmm and why is Kawaski coming up?  Another middle infielder?  I guess you could say another SS to give Reyes a day off maybe?  He typically has good at bats, and maybe it's a way to get Kratz some at bats...



2. Jays had some help tonight from the Rays with them beating the Orioles! With the Jays having played 3 more games already than the Orioles, a loss with a Jays off day is a bonus for sure!



3.  Big start for Stroman tomorrow!  First start close to Home and an important series to boot.  It's really important for the Jays to start the series off well and coupled with going against Tanaka, Storman is going to need to be on his best.  It's a good thing for him however as it will be the Yankees first look at him and I think I may the Jays will be the 1st team to face Tanaka for a 2nd time.  Hopefully they learned something the 1st time.



4. Trade rumors are really starting to heat up and you would have to think that the Jays are going to do something to really sure up their rotation.  Too many questions on who will finish the year off as a part of the 5 man, but the question will ultimately be do they jays have enough in the cupboard to make a trade for an impact arm and are they willing to give it away?  God hates a coward so I think AA makes a move.

 

5. Will Rob Rasmussen be the guy who comes up Cecil is put on the DL?  I mean it's got to be right?  You can't leave Loup as the only LH pitcher in the bullpen right? Am I right? Tell me i'm right!!!!



Other stuff!

RIP to Tony Gwynn!  I can't comment on him as a man (but listening to anyone who had a connection to him it's clear that he was a great man), but he was a Hell of a ball player!  Growing up I always found myself amazed by his ability to be an impact player!  It sucks how it sometimes take something like someone passing away to realize just how good he really was!  Check out his stats over the course of his career...They were ridiculous!

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gwynnto01.shtml



Worse Baseball Joke Ever?

I asked my kid to tell me a joke today and here it is!

Knock Knock!

Who's there?

Come!

Come Who?

Melky Comebrera

Thank God he's 3!

5 Thoughts on the Toronto Blue Jays for June 13th

1.  I really like the sense of urgency it looks like the Jays scouting department has had with locking up it's picks.  Sure Hoffman and Pentecost are will missing, but I really think the Jays will be able to get both of them.  If you want t quick list of who's been locked up check out the following link.

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/team/draft.jsp?c_id=tor



2. You know I thought I would be able to figure out and understand all the advanced stats out there, but  you know what I figured out?  I don't really care about them!  I'm pretty much at the point where if I come about someone who is nothing but all the advanced stats out there, I've already judged that person of being a jerk because he/she thinks they are smarter than me!

I get it.... The good old stats are just the tip of the ice berg and there are so much more out there....well that's fine, but the truth is, if you have someone who excels at the good old stat lines they're a good player, I don't need something to tell me how one guy is much better than an average replacement.....Yeah I also get that Wins for a pitcher aren't that important, but you show me a guy who wins 20 games in a season and I can tell you that he had a pretty great year!



3. Took my oldest kid to his 1st Game just the two of us and as stressful it is to bring a hyper active 3 year old to a Jays Game.....I had a great time and so did he! Couple tips for any other parents bringing a young kid to the game....bring snacks...Park a little farther away and walk to the stadium tiring them out will keep them in their seat.....If your going to buy a snack get Popcorn, lasts long and is one of the cheaper items there.

4. So the Jays lost again tonight to the Orioles!  Bats have gone cold and starting of each of the past 4 games by giving the other team 2 runs in each of the 1st innings is not good.  To say that it wasn't expected to happen would be ridiculous, but if the team starts to hit again and then end up .500 on the road trip we should be happy as a fan base!



5.  Sanchez got called up to Buffalo on Thursday and even Gibby said we may end up seeing him with the Jays this year.  I'm a little hesitant to think we would see much of him in anything more than a relief role, but the time if he gets up to the big club.  He's never really pitched than many innings in a year and I doubt they put him in a situation that would mean putting a number of extra innings on his young arm.

5 Thoughts on the Toronto Blue Jays for June 8th

5 thoughts....go...now....

1. I like that the Jays started to sign some of their drafted players already!  The guy in the 4th round looks to have been taken relatively where he was expected to, so I imagine that he probably got somewhere close to slot money, but the 8th rounder who just signed was taken higher than was expected, which makes me believe the scouts had an idea of what it would take to get him signed and it could be seen as a contract that will be used to help sign some of the higher profile talent that may need a little more money than the dedicated slot money would require.



2.  The off day this week could be a big help for Drew Hutchison.  I`m not entirely convinced that Liam Hendrix wouldn`t have been brought up to to give him a couple extra days rest!  I would also consider them bumping up Dickey a day to keep him on normal rest, except that i`m not sure having Buehrle and Dickey follow each other is what Gibby would want as a look for his line-up.



3. Today I watched a special on Sportsnet about how the San Francisco Giants almost became the Toronto Giants.  It was awesome!  If you get a chance to watch it (Which I assume you will since Sportsnet tends to re-run their Jays specials very often) I suggest you do.  I love Baseball history and with their actually being a long history of baseball in Toronto, it was great to learn more about a little known piece of that history!  



4.  The latest All-Star game fan voting has come out and it looks like Jose Bautista is once again at the top of the Voting among all American League players.   Goes to show you that Toronto Blue Jays fans are really engaged with this team on the interwebs!  Maybe this is just a ridiculous thought here, but this shows me how much more valuable the team actually is to Rogers Communication.  Clearly a fan base that is so heavily connect on-line is a good thing company that not only owns the team, but also is selling those fans their cell phones and internet connections.



5.  Pretty excited for Wednesday of this week!  I`m taking my oldest Son to his 1st Father/Son Jays game!  We've gone to many of games together since he's been born, but this will be the 1st  just the two of us.  He's still pretty young and i'm sure we'll have to leave by about the 6th inning or so, but I'm pretty pumped to share the game with him.  See father recently passed away and like many Father and Sons we shared the game of baseball together, and i'm really looking forward to start something that I hope turns into something that resembled the relationship that I had with my Dad through baseball!

5 Toronto Blue Jays thoughts for June 6th

1. Well we are two days into the MLB first year player draft and  to be honest I didn't really get a chance to pay as much attention to it as I would have normally as I'm traveling for work this weekend.  I was sitting in my hotel room constantly hitting refresh on a bad wifi signal trying to follow what was happening and if I were one to believe everything that I hear on the Internet I should be very happy!  Two high profile College players and a steal in the 2nd round look like a solid days work to me.  Didn't see a whole lot about day 2, but I hear some high school arms were taken.  I imagine that we'll see some throw away picks between round 7-10 looking to clear some slot room.   If you're looking for a breakdown of day one mlb.com has a decent overview along with a few cool videos
http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140605&content_id=78406310&notebook_id=78414914&vkey=notebook_tor&c_id=tor



2. Marcus Stroman pitched 6 innings tonight and looked to settle down pretty well after the first few innings.  This was a nice test for Storman, given he had the Royals for his 1st start, going against a proven winner in the Cardinals and preforming well should only help his confidence!   Guy defiantly has some swagger!



3. Tonight marked the 25th anniversary of the 1st Jays game at the SkyDome and in order to help celebrate this the Jays had Jimmy Key throw out the 1st pitch.  Sportsnet then had Jimmy in the TV booth with Buck and Tabler during the 3rd inning and the Dude was funny!  Told some great stories (especially one about George Bell eating 2 Big Macs before most games and getting mad a Key if a ball was hit to him) and showed a much different persona that I didnt associat with him.  It was great!

4. I'm just going to say it again, but as nice it is to have Pitch Trax is to see where every pitch comes in, but man does it ever make me angry about what's called for balls and strikes.  I guess it's that I have to sit there and stare at all those called strikes that were clearly out of the zone!  It's like they are mocking me!



5. Yeah I am a little embarrassed to say this, as it is June 6th, but I am already scoreboard watching!  I spent last night watching the Orioles/Rangers game cheering for the Rangers!  I don't want to see what i'm acting like if we in the playoff hunt come September.

5 Toronto Blue Jays thoughts for June 3rd

Big win tonight for the boys in Big D!  5 thoughts....here....we.....go....

1. Today is the 25th Anniversary of the opening of the then named Sky Dome the home of our beloved  Blue Jays.  As much as (myself included) Blue Jays fans rip up the Dome for it's lack of atmosphere and cavern like hollowness, it really isn't that bad.  Remember back in April when the Jays were playing in Minnesota and the Jays players looked like Ninja's cause it was so damn cold out?  Yeah we never had to worry about that.....and when it does get nice the lid is open and its a totally different atmosphere.  You never hear anyone complain about the park when the dome is open.  Sure there are things that need to change, but until they (if ever) decide to build something new I really don't think we fans have it that bad!



P.S. If you haven't seen this, you have to watch the opening gala for the Dome.  It's beyond words....

 
2. Not sure if anyone else listened to Pat Gillick on PTS this afternoon, but I just wanted to bring up one thing that made me laugh during the interview.  He was asked what he thinks the most memorable moment was ever at the Dome.......I mean really?  I'm pretty sure he was surprised by the question cause he stumbled a little and mentioned Robbie Alomar's home run in Oakland as another moment.



3.  Delbar looked pretty shaky tonight.  I really haven't been paying that close attention to his numbers so far this year and I was kinda confused when the boys on TV were going on and on about how off he's been lately, but after watching that 2/3 of an inning it was a little concerning.  His control looked really off and to that point he looked pretty luck to even get the two outs.   Hoping he's not hurt!



4. I've mentioned this before in a post, but I really miss having the Tigers in our division and our biggest rival.  Yeah I hate the Red Sox, Yankees and Rays, but it's nothing like the repulsion that I had for the Tigers back in the day.  6 or 7 games a year against a team that is no more than 4 hours away from your team is a horrible and MLB should be ashamed they don't play in the same division.



5. Hey what about Brandon Morrow?  Does he come back this year?  Will he be a guy who can come in if Hutchison has to be shut down on an innings restriction?  Does he end up in the bullpen?  Will he simply hurt himself  again and we never see him again? Is there any scenario that you see the Jays picking up his option for 2015?



Whatever happens happens, but I will guarantee that I will always remember Brandon Morrow as a Jay.  The day after my 1st Son was born and I sat my son in the Hospital waiting room watching Brandon Morrow dominate the Tampa Bay Rays only to have a no hitter escape him with 2 outs in the 9th inning.  Sure my kid will never know that it was the 1st game we watched together, but I will.