The Blue Jays: 2009 Season Thread

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Jiggy_12

Romero is no-hitting the Phillies through 6.

Thanks again Sportsnet, for not broadcasting this in the West Region. I have absolutely no desire to watch a no hit bid.

edit: as I type, Utley singles. No hitter over.

First game I've been to in person in a couple years and it was a good one. Romero's officially now a good pitcher. The defence today was through the roof. Everything clicked.

[flames_fan_down_under]

Mills getting touched up early for 4 runs in the top of the 1st.

Weird line up for the Jays today. Millar hitting 4th with Bautista, Chavez in along with Sir John A Macdonald playing 3rd base for Rolen.

Edit: Mills has a dirty curve ball, yikes, almost Zito like.

[Machiavelli]

Johnny Mac, Vernon Wells, and Brian Talentless deserve a public flogging after the most recent debacle of a game.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Machiavelli

Johnny Mac, Vernon Wells, and Brian Talentless deserve a public flogging after the most recent debacle of a game.

Honestly, I'm not so sure about Johnny Mac. It was simply a very good pickoff move. When I was watching it as it was happening, I was thinking, "WHAT AN IDIOT", then you see the replay, and I'm sure every player in the league would have been caught. Johnny Mac also went down fighting by not giving up in the rundown which was just fine with me. It happens. What I don't understand though, is with runners in scoring position, why don't the Jays cash in? It's absolutely terrible this year even though there is much that has gone really good.

[Machiavelli]

It was actually Cito's call too so I take back the JM comment.

[carom]

The return of the Doc and Barajas back behind the plate.

[Sylvanfan]

Tough loss for Halliday as he was pretty good in the 6 innings he threw, but nothing from the offence last night. Good sign though that Halladay looked good out there and hopefully will round into form from here. AL East is a tough Division as the Rays have the best record in the AL since the end of April.

[Ziggy Lidstrom]

We will be playing around 23% of our remaining games against the rays and I will say this: I don't like the matchup. I feel this series will be the preamble to another fourth place finish. Realistically, which team do you see the jays catching? IMO, with this line-up having its two highest paid position players underperforming and intimidating nary a pitcher, we will be coaching eachother on how to cope with the eventual loss of Halladay.

On a tangent, in the Globe there was a story about a beat writer complaining about the lack of game knowledge that the skydome patrons posses in general. I totally agree, A Hill didn't get a curtain call when he broke Berto's record. This oversight to me proves this guys argument. Because of things like this, I say sell all the goods and rebuild like florida then we may get lucky in 13 years like TBay and be able to contend with the mega-budgets we comepete with in the AL East.

I know this post may come across as pessimistic and cynical, but face facts, we don't have the budget to be able to provide the depth that will be invoked during a 162 game schedule that sees injuries occurr more than A-Roid allegations. We don't have a farm team like Tbay or Florida to compensate with natural talent. We don't have the finances to pay for a farm system like ATL, BOS, NYY, NYM. What we have is a collection of guys that will continue with the status quo: better than baltimore and a GM obsessed with a model that has never won a championship. I remember the counter offer JP was hit with when inquiring about Bay in Pitt: Snider and Marcum. Would you do it then, and now? Me, yes on both. Why, because prospects are never a sure thing and guys who can hit major league pitching are more valuable than guys who could potentially do it. Marcum was a funny commodity, but JP wanted him to be special. Now, JP is paying the ultimate price for not wanting to part with some of his homegrown talent. How sick would our line up be with bay? Plus, he's a friggin' canuck. Make the PR move JP, the fanbase doesn't care about your dreams any longer and you are running out of time to deliver.

Can we blame anyone? I don't think so. If so, blame the americans for loving their national sport too much. The fans are the reasons for the Red Sox, Yankees, Cubs and Angels. Am I bitter? No! Am I puzzeled why Bettman continually tries to grow the game in the US and will bend the rules to see the failing franchises get the best talent to compete and draw fans, then Buddy Selig seems to be content to have the bluejays and their fans fade away into mediocrity.

I'm just frustrated by the Jays' inability to rise above it all and make the playoffs. And my other team is mired in mediocrity as well- Indians - with no hope of improvement with the firesales these broke clowns are known for.

One last funny comment -funny in a semi-ironic way: The rays, when they were the whipping boys of the AL East, were never an easy series for the jays and often played them better while miserably competing with the other divisional rivals. Fast forward to last year when all their talent started to blossom, and they still are kicking our butts. We have no hope unless we start owning boston and NY and in their houses. I don't think we'll ever have the players to go to war with doc that are unphased by that atmosphere like he is.

Doc Departure countdown starts after this lastest loss.

PS, and cue the Debbie Downer pic!

[phiten]

I wonder who would get more hits jay bo or vernon wells

[fundmark19]

All I can say is rays are taking the al east again and will be in the world series again but this time will win it. I hope I will be able to see another game 7 alcs like last year one of the best experiences of my life.

Your blue jays do what they seem to do every year start of stronger then just fade away

[JayP]

Originally Posted by Ziggy Lidstrom

I remember the counter offer JP was hit with when inquiring about Bay in Pitt: Snider and Marcum. Would you do it then, and now? Me, yes on both. Why, because prospects are never a sure thing and guys who can hit major league pitching are more valuable than guys who could potentially do it. Marcum was a funny commodity, but JP wanted him to be special. Now, JP is paying the ultimate price for not wanting to part with some of his homegrown talent. How sick would our line up be with bay? Plus, he's a friggin' canuck. Make the PR move JP, the fanbase doesn't care about your dreams any longer and you are running out of time to deliver.

Here's a new one: JP is an idiot for not expecting Marcum to go down with Tommy John surgery. Yes, our line-up would be much better with Bay...but our pitching staff would be that much better with Marcum and we don't give up a potential MVP candidate in the process.

Why are you so quick to give up on a 21-year old hitter and the youngest position player in the majors this season? I guess we should've dumped Lind as soon as he struggled too, hey?

[Sylvanfan]

Yeah a move to trade Snyder and Marcum for a guy like Bay with a year left on his contract is the exact type of move the Jays need to get away from. The injuries to the young pitchers is really astounding though. Say the Jays had traded Vernon Wells in 2007 for a heap of propsects, they'd probably be further ahead today as they'd be playing Rios in Center field and probably have enough money to have a better corner outfielder than Russ Adams.

[fundmark19]

Jays win...about time you guys won a game..I was really hoping for the rays sweep though

[pria(kin)16]

Ricky looked great today, starting to string together some pretty nice outings.

[Machiavelli]

Really liking Romero - that change-up is nasty.

Plus, the dude looks like LL Cool J.

[Ziggy Lidstrom]

Originally Posted by JayP

Here's a new one: JP is an idiot for not expecting Marcum to go down with Tommy John surgery. Yes, our line-up would be much better with Bay...but our pitching staff would be that much better with Marcum and we don't give up a potential MVP candidate in the process.

Why are you so quick to give up on a 21-year old hitter and the youngest position player in the majors this season? I guess we should've dumped Lind as soon as he struggled too, hey?

That is due to two things: My chicken little attitude and my argument of proven quality over potential for current chances at a championship.

Sure Lind is looking great and Snider is the 6th best prospect in baseball, but Bay was a legitimate 30hr power bat. Snider is not an everyday major-leaguer on a tam looking to compete. On a rebuilding squad he will have the chance to struggle like most rookies normally do. He has all the potential in the world, but face facts he isn't our current saviour and was exposed this year opposition scouts.

A player like doc is a great example for my point, he is almost played out his current deal, Snider showed he can't help this current squad, so what do you want ? I personally, would deal the promise of tomorrow(to a degree) for major league talent to supplement a player like doc. That guy will get huge dollars thrown at him from competitors and to him -one reason why I respect him so much- it's not solely about the dollars, he's about success and loyalty.

Tomorro or today, who's right?

[Ziggy Lidstrom]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

Yeah a move to trade Snyder and Marcum for a guy like Bay with a year left on his contract is the exact type of move the Jays need to get away from. The injuries to the young pitchers is really astounding though. Say the Jays had traded Vernon Wells in 2007 for a heap of propsects, they'd probably be further ahead today as they'd be playing Rios in Center field and probably have enough money to have a better corner outfielder than Russ Adams.

But the year and a half of service is enough time to cultivate the idea of resigning Bay while selling him as a local product and current star. Yeah, the Wells one was different though, he was a bonafide star and the bluejays and Mlse had to keep him whatever the cost. They did and now we see the fruits of the deal. I bought in then about his two great offensive years before that contract as justification for the deal, but now I am just shocked at how unstable he has grown offensively and how mediocre he has become defensively.

[JayP]

Originally Posted by Ziggy Lidstrom

That is due to two things: My chicken little attitude and my argument of proven quality over potential for current chances at a championship.

Sure Lind is looking great and Snider is the 6th best prospect in baseball, but Bay was a legitimate 30hr power bat. Snider is not an everyday major-leaguer on a tam looking to compete. On a rebuilding squad he will have the chance to struggle like most rookies normally do. He has all the potential in the world, but face facts he isn't our current saviour and was exposed this year opposition scouts.

A player like doc is a great example for my point, he is almost played out his current deal, Snider showed he can't help this current squad, so what do you want ? I personally, would deal the promise of tomorrow(to a degree) for major league talent to supplement a player like doc. That guy will get huge dollars thrown at him from competitors and to him -one reason why I respect him so much- it's not solely about the dollars, he's about success and loyalty.

Tomorro or today, who's right?

In baseball, tomorrow.

A team like the Jays has to build through the draft. It's the only way to compete with high salary teams. Snider will be making around 500k for the next couple years and even when he's arbitration eligible he'l still be in that $6-8mil range maximum. Meanwhile, Bay will likely be making $15-20mil in free agency. That's 20-25% of the Jays' total salary (which isn't at the bottom end of the ladder too). It's not like hockey where the Flames can sign Bouwmeester to a huge deal and only take up about 11% of their total salary.

The way baseball is set up guys like Snider are much more valuable than an equivalent youngster in hockey. Teams like the Jays absolutely have to take advantage of the entry-level and arbitration years. That's why teams like the Twins and Indians have been successful in recent years

[flambers]

There is speculation that the Jays recalled David Dellucci last night.... of course this speculation is from a blog... will need to wait and see

Good new is Travis Snider was taken off the DL and he played last night for the AAA team.

[flambers]

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=283590

Okay its not a rumour anymore... Russ Adams was sent to the Farm

"Blue Jasy Desiginate Adams, Bring up Dellucci"