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The Rosin Bag: Emerging From The Madness

Wednesday, August 05th, 2009 | Author:
Gut tells me Roy starts next season as a Jay

Gut tells me Roy starts next season as a Jay

Wondering why I’ve been quiet?

To be honest, I lost a whole lot of respect for the sports media, both mainstream and blogger-based, over the past month. The whole Halladay Fiasco turned some of the reporters and commentators I respected most into TMZ-style Twitter-twits, one long stream of consciousness with little intelligent opinion or fact-based reporting.  As usual, though, Stephen Brunt was above this rabble, injecting sanity at key moments.

And so I decided to take a break. It’s not like I have a huge readership, or that my “voice” actually matters, but refraining from adding to the madness allowed me to be at peace with my opinions, which I had shared right when Ken Rosenthal “broke” his “story”. To wit: Roy Halladay was going nowhere, JP was bound by his job description to listen to offers, which is all he said (at first). How that little comment turned into a full-blown media shit-hurricane can be attributed to bored columnists and our society’s transient needs.

The whole episode can be recapped thusly: GM says he’ll listen to offers because that’s what GM’s do; GM would need to be blown away by an offer; such an offer was not forthcoming; Halladay is still a Blue Jay. If you were out of the country for the past month, that’s all you need to know. You’re welcome.

Almost lost in all of this is the fact that Scott Rolen is no longer with the team. According to some reports he wanted out to be close to the Mid-West. Despite the loss of one of my favourite Jays players (Fossil Fries please!), the Jays apparently did very well in the trade, getting a 3rd baseman in Edwin Encarnacion who with a little bit of defensive tweaking might grow into an everyday player, plus two pitching prospects with live arms.

But here’s what I’m looking at as objectively as I can: Supposing Halladay sticks around through the winter, the Jays (who are definitely out of it this year) are looking at an opening day rotation of Doc, Shaun Marcum, Ricky Romero, Brett Cecil and a fifth pitcher who could be any one of Scott Richmond, Jesse Litsch, Brad Mills, Mark Rzepcynski, Brian Tallet, Rob Ray, David Purcey or maybe (MAYBE) Dustin McGowan. Talk about depth in starting pitching.

Cecil and Romero, both rookies, are rounding into fantastic starters. Cecil is 5-1 with a 4.36 ERA and Romero is 10-4 with a 3.53 ERA. If you need any kind of incentive to tune into Jays games for the rest of the season, these two kids are good candidates.

Then take a look at Travis Snider, who just won the PCL’s Player of the Week award, and you can take a deep breath. Ok, Snider is finding his swing again. Maybe he can take over for Lind in left and in turn Lind can assume his natural DH spot (talk about a backhanded compliment!).

Maybe in a perfect world the Jays trade Alex Rios in the offseason and turn the page on this disaster. Vernon Wells is staying, kids, so might as well accept it and move on. One question I do have though: with lots of columnists musing that teams who were interested in Alex Rios would have moved him to his natural position of centre field, and considering how terrible Wells has been (one SABR-estimate a few weeks ago had him costing the Jays 28 runs with his defence up to that point in the season), why not switch them up? Put Rios in centre, and Wells in right! All you’re hurting is Wells’ ego and maybe in doing so Rios gets a psychological boost?

Anyway, the point is, it’s easy to get real down about how this season has turned out, especially considering the circus the media just concocted for us. Take a step back, breathe, and you’ll see that things ARE lining up for a run in 2010.

Sure there are question marks (3rd base, Scutaro leaving after the season), but name me a team that doesn’t have any of those?

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The Twit: TFC Moves On and Other Musings

Monday, June 22nd, 2009 | Author:
Improbable Champs

Improbable Champs

Just a lot going on right now (yay for summer!), so let’s recap with an edition of The Twit:

- Toronto FC are your 2009 Voyageurs Cup Champions! TFC rolled into Montreal on Thursday and destroyed the Impact reserves 6-1 (remember, they needed a four-goal win to better the Vancouver Whitecaps). It was a disgraceful act on the part of the Impact to field a bunch of reserves in a match that was uber-meaningful to both TFC and Vancouver. That’s a bush league move. Fans in Vancouver have every right to be livid, and Impact supporters took a page from the TFC Supporters Handbook by only showing up to the Impact’s next game at halftime, stating: “If the Impact are only going to show up for a 50% effort, we will do the same”. Fan power, baby.

- Mike Weir gave golf a little shot in the arm in Canada by being amongst the leaders following the second round. Then, he faded from view.

Sign this man before someone else does!

Sign this man before someone else does!

- So the Jays sweep the defending Champs, then are one loss away from being swept by the worst team in maybe ever (the Nationals are hovering near the 1967 Mets record at this point in the season), despite stellar pitching performances by Brian Tallet and Brett Cecil. Way to pick up your starters, Jays bats. One game out of the playoffs near the halfway point of the season, boys – let’s get some help (SIGN PEDRO!!)

- F1 has turned into one big clusterfuck. Eight teams (that’s 80% of the current F1 roster) are now saying they’re breaking away to form a new series with lower ticket prices, greater accessibility, transparency and more teams. Something tells me there’s a lot of posturing going on and in the end peace will be achieved (and it will be a victory for the teams). Surely cooler heads will prevail before they wreck the sport in the exact same manner as IRL and CART did in fighting their civil war for a decade before re-uniting.

- Italy got unceremoniously dumped from the Confederations Cup, losing to Brazil yesterday. The USA made it through to the semi-finals by the skin of their teeth, tied with the Azzurri on points but having scored one more goal in their three matches. Nothing’s guaranteed in soccer, but it’s looking more and more like a Spain v. Brazil final. The Confederations Cup is a second rate tourney that is a glorified dress rehearsal for the host country of next year’s World Cup, but the teams have fielded their best players which gives the results some credibility.

- Who’s the Blue Jays ace right now? Scott Richmond or Ricky Romero? Those are two rookies, by the way. Oh, and will Dustin McGowan ever pitch again? Sign Pedro.

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The Rosin Bag: Still On Top

Monday, May 11th, 2009 | Author:
12 wins in 20 straight gamedays

12 wins in 20 straight gamedays

I asked for 14 wins. They gave me 12. It is May 11th and the Jays sit atop the American League East – nay- the American League. Twenty games in 20 days and they went 12-8, and the pitchers who were credited with the wins were; Jason Frasor (2), Scott Richmond (3), Brian Tallet (2), Roy Halladay (3), Brian Wolfe (1), Brett Cecil (1). I bet you Baseball Prospectus didn’t predict that!

With Casey Janssen and Ricky Romero having initiated their conditioning starts in the minors, and with Jesse Litsch apparently close to coming back (although information is scarce), the Jays will soon have an embarrassment of riches at starting pitcher, but no one’s blushing. This is great news since many of these studs are very young and will be on season-long innings counts. I don’t see Cecil, Ray, Romero, Purcey or even Richmond going more than 175 innings each, which won’t suffice. If the Jays are still in contention in August, some very creative management will have to come into effect.

Which is why I still hold true to my call to sign Pedro. He is certainly no longer a threat to the Cy Young award, but he could come in and eat up some innings while we keep our young arms fresh with spot starts in the Majors and uber-controlled outings in Las Vegas or New Hampshire. He would also add a bit of experience to a rotation that is greener than The Shire.

Viewing note:

- A Sportsnet commercial this weekend claimed that tomorrow’s matchup of A.J. Burnett v. Roy Halladay was the most anticipated match of the season. No offense, Sportsnet, but I hope the most anticipated match of the Blue Jays season will come much later – like, in September. All’s fair in the marketing department, I suppose.

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The Rosin Bag: Ugh

Tuesday, May 05th, 2009 | Author:
Boom goes the dymamite

Boom goes the dymamite

To have highs, it is necessary to have lows. It’s important to remind oneself of that when watching a game play out like it did yesterday.

Brian Tallet was spectacular on the mound for six innings. He was so awesome that the Indians had a big fat “0″ in their hit column going into the seventh. At this point Tallet, a converted reliever making what amounts to a series of emergency starts, had thrown 75 pitches. “In Cito I trust”, I really do, but at the back of my mind I know that the main criticism against him is that he tends to leave his starters in the game too long.

Obviously you’re not going to pull a guy off the mound when he’s throwing a no-hitter. I get that. Nonetheless, shouldn’t you get  a guy up in the bullpen to step in at the first sign of trouble? The shot of the lifeless bullpen after Tallet gave up that first hit in the top of the seventh sent a chill down my spine. With a guy like Tallet, the pitch count should be a more significant barometer than how the guy is performing. Cito should have had someone warming up before Tallet pitched himself out of a win. That’s my take.

These resilient Jays wouldn’t go down without a fight, however, and came back to tie the game on a few occasions before finally bowing out in the 12th. The low point was giving up the tying run in the bottom of the ninth when they were one strike from victory. Brandon League caught too much of the plate and boom goes the dynamite.

Quick turnaround today as Brett Cecil makes his MLB debut (wow, another one). Five good innings is all we ask, Brett.

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The Rosin Bag: Taking Out the Trash

Saturday, May 02nd, 2009 | Author:
Beautiful, isnt it?

Beautiful, isn't it?

It is bye bye to Messieurs Burres, Bullington and Purcey, and hello to you Messieurs Wolfe, Ray and Cecil. Here’s hoping you can do the job a little more effectively than your predecessors (although Bullington was somewhat effective – why he was sent down is not immediately clear).  

The Jays are 11 games into their 20 straight games without a day off, and if you recall I had asked for 14 wins in this strectch. With nine games to go the Jays have secured six wins, meaning they would have to win eight of their next nine to achieve this feat. A tall order indeed. You could see them sweep the Orioles and maybe the Athletics, but a looming series with the powerful Angels might be too much to ask. I wasn’t counting on Romero landing on the DL and David Purcey being unable to find the strike zone. Such is basbeball, though, and you’ve got to factor the unexpected into your predictions. 

It’s May 2nd and the Jays are still leading the American League East. They’ve now won a game against a division rival, but I’m sure the naysayers will now point out that it was against the lowly Orioles. Fuck them, they’re just eager to get some egg off their faces after predicting a season of doom and gloom for the Jays. As it stands, the Jays have given us one month of pure bliss, which is more than most expected out of them. 

Today we get to watch a kid make his major league debut on the mound. Robert Ray is 25 and was drafted by the Jays in the seventh round of the 2007 draft. He played his college ball with Texas A&M.  He has very little experience in pro ball, but the stats he’s amassed so far are pretty decent. Here’s hoping the Orioles hitters have hard time figuring him out.

Oh, and JP? Sign Pedro.

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