The same goes for this next item, from the Toronto Star, which got my blood boiling just a little bit this morning:
The disciplinary fallout from Tuesday's bench-clearing fight makes it seem Jays reliever Jesse Carlson has been played for a fool. After Carlson realized that his four-game suspension for "aggressive and inappropriate actions" and $3,000 (all figures U.S.) fine were the same penalty as Yankees catcher Jorge Posada [sic] received, Carlson asked player rep Vernon Wells to file an appeal on the basis that he felt he should not get the same sanction as Posada [sic], who threw an elbow at Carlson after he crossed the plate.
The appeal was granted, Carlson's penalty reduced to three games with pay and the fine reduced if the left-hander would begin serving the suspension last night. He agreed. Then it was revealed that Posada's [sic] suspension had also been reduced to three games.
Via DJF
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I can't imagine caring for the Blue Jays with the way baseball is now. Just an absurd amount of spending in your own division, how on Earth can you hope to be competitive?
In the case of Romero this is a guy who hadn't shown much before this season. So when you factor in that he hasn't thrown this many innings before, and that teams have had a few looks at him plus late in the season he's had to play more AL East teams and I can see why he's tailed off. Nothing that hasn't happened to any other rookie pitcher before.
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I can't imagine caring for the Blue Jays with the way baseball is now. Just an absurd amount of spending in your own division, how on Earth can you hope to be competitive?
Every time someone says this, you can always say, "well what about the Rays last year?"
I just think the Jays have incompetent management. Which is almost as crucial as the boys on the field.
I feel bad for the Jays to be in the wrong division.....i mean several years ago....they had like a 90 win season but missed out on the playoffs finishing third in the AL East when they could have been first in the AL central.
I do get on Hill a bit for not being a very good on base guy. But he deserves props for getting to the 100 RBI mark. The last month has been pretty tough, but with guys like Hill and Lind and even Snyder as he gets a bit more experience there are some guys in place to build a lineup around. If they ever find a long term solution to be the team president who can get a stronger organization in place maybe just maybe they'll be able to play meaningful games in September.
Although, flip the Jays with the Tigers in terms of Divisions and they could very well still be playing meaningful games this year.
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Seeing Jose Cruz Jr on the broadcast last night was weird. So much potential to be a star in that guy that was just never reached. He still looked young enough to jump out on the field though.
Location: Chiefs Kingdom, Yankees Universe, C of Red.
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheU
I can't imagine caring for the Blue Jays with the way baseball is now. Just an absurd amount of spending in your own division, how on Earth can you hope to be competitive?
The Red Sox have a rinky dink park and they manage to compete with the Evil Empire. The Jays could pack the Sky Dome at one time. What needs to change? I read an article years ago stating that the worst thing that ever happened to the Blue Jays from a business stand point in Toronto was winning the World Series. The writer pointed out that the Maple Leafs pack the house every night despite not winning since 1967. His opinion was that the Toronto sports fan was hungry for a championship. Once that hunger was gone they didn't care so much.
A good friend of mine attended a few Blue Jays games this summer. He is a big fan and he told me the whole Rogers Center experience just sucked. If most fans feel that way, how can the Blue Jays ever expect to compete with the Yankees who see crowds pushing 50,000 every game? $10 for a beer? Maybe they should lower prices to try and get more fans out to the ball park.
I think the cost to attend a Jays game is pretty cheap. Thing is that in the early 90's SkyDome was considered a state of the art stadium and the Jays were a really good team making good money. Today, the SkyDome is the last of those god awful cookie cutter stadiums that started in the 70's and have all been decommisioned. It's a beef I have with Canadians and our inability to build an innovative sports stadium and do it anywhere close to budget. The SkyDome and the Big O in Montreal are the two biggest white elephant sports stadiums in the world.
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Syl, I agree, yet it does seem to be a nationwide problem that doesn't affect the leafs though.
Tyler, Management is not incompetent. 3 winning seasons out of the last five years isn't bad (winning seasons are finishes are above 500). The farm system, while not baseball america certified, is stronger than previous years with players like Hill, Lind, Snider, Romero, Zep who are all on JP's resume. And JP's FA isn't so bad with guys like barajas and scutaro turning themselves into type a free agent roles. Ryan wasn't bad at the time and looked dominant in his first season, injuries can't be held against JP. AJ was a bad contract because of the opt out year.
Thus, the management isn't incompetent. It's facing a near insurmountable difference in terms of payroll and talent gaps. The yanks spent 300 mill last summer on three dudes. Boston, LA and NYY all are at the top of the list when it comes to farm system investing and this to me is another factor that doesn't get talked about enough when defending the jays plight.
The only incompetence, to me, is on the point concerning this last draft's official stance to go overslot for players. Two canadaians wanted above slot money and we didn't cough up. A few measley thousand is a slap in the face to fans who were finally excited about our new alleged spending habits. But to me there is light on the horizon. This is some of the best bluejays related news I have heard in nearly 4 months and it's only speculative: http://baseball.realgm.com/src_wiret...eturn_to_jays/
I expect it out of Stoeten (See his crazy anti-Pujols speech last week), but for Parkes to be this angry is new. Rogers Baseball Operations really fatad up this time.
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