The Blue Jays: 2009 Season Thread - Page 57 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Gozer · 07-10-2009, 12:59 PM

In a NYT article about a supposedly new method of quantifying defensive value:

“It’ll be neat to find out what the numbers are,” said Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Vernon Wells, who is known for smoothly tracking down deep fly balls.”

Umm, Vernon? You had a -24.0 UZR/150 last year and are at -33.3 this year. Chances are, you ain’t gonna like what you see.
-Ump Bump

nik- · 07-10-2009, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fundmark19

The atmosphere at tropicana field is actually really good. The only reason though is because it is a dome that keeps the sound in and makes few sound like many. Game 7 of the alcs on the other hand was just crazy. It was so loud and so intense. It was louder then the dome was during the stanley cup final. The big thing at trop is that half the fans are rays fans the other half are either yankees or red sox fans, so every game there is pretty much half cheering everytime the rays do something then half when the other team does something. Much like roughrider and maple leaf games here in calgary.

Tampa's fanbase is horrible. They went to the World Series and they're averaging less than the Blue Jays in attendance the very next season.

Horrible fanbase. Obviously people cheer when they're deep in the playoffs, too bad they all turned into ghosts when it came to buying tickets this year.

fundmark19 · 07-10-2009, 03:01 PM

May be bad but when the big names like yankees and red sox come to town it gets sold out. Can't complain about that. Plus trop seats less then skydome so its skews the averages when both get sold out.

burn_baby_burn · 07-10-2009, 03:34 PM

Is there any talk of building a real ball park in the Tampa area?

HPLovecraft · 07-10-2009, 06:21 PM

*Smacks head on desk repeatedly*

bluejays · 07-11-2009, 03:51 PM

I don't know if anyone else caught Scott Carson's article on Sportsnet.ca, but he did post a blurb which caught me by surprise about BJ Ryan. Just one guy's opinion, but it was interesting nonetheless (I thought he was a good guy):

Quote:

Ryan, on the other hand, will not be missed by anyone on the media side. In my 17 years on the scene, I can't remember a less-friendly Blue Jay. Plus, the fact that he was done as an effective major league pitcher means that the Jays bullpen is better today than it was yesterday.

CrusaderPi · 07-11-2009, 06:57 PM

"Brandon League grabs his glove and gas can and starts to get loose in the Blue Jays' bullpen".

habernac · 07-12-2009, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fleury

I don't know if anyone else caught Scott Carson's article on Sportsnet.ca, but he did post a blurb which caught me by surprise about BJ Ryan. Just one guy's opinion, but it was interesting nonetheless (I thought he was a good guy):

Jamie Campbell wasn't as direct as that. He said the media wouldn't miss him as he never even acknowledged their existence.

Ziggy Lidstrom · 07-12-2009, 02:52 PM

Who cares, good riddance to bad news. Too bad MLSe can't rid themselves of the rest of the newscast.

Baltimore beats us 2 of 3. We are flailing without a puncher's chance. *I wan't to stop watching but I'm hooked. Damn back to back world serieses!!!!

Erick Estrada · 07-12-2009, 03:14 PM

Pretty obvious that Ricciardi has to go. Being a sports fan in Toronto has to be tough (not that I feel sorry for them at all). Failure everywhere you look on the sports-front year after year.

fundmark19 · 07-13-2009, 09:02 AM

There has been lots of talks about getting a new ball park in ST PETERSBURG. There was a big push to have a park on the water in downtown. Unfortunately out door stadiums in Florida are not so much fun when you are in 203+ sunny days a year. So as of now they are back to the drawing board for finding a new location and design for a stadium. Hopefully they can keep it in the same area 10 mins away from where I stay in St Pete beach and 10 min walk to down town St Pete for post game festivities

burn_baby_burn · 07-13-2009, 09:22 AM

There has been some talk in New York about the chances of the Yankees getting Roy Halladay. It seems that most of the media figure the asking price is simply too high and that the price for the Yankees is double what other teams could get Halladay for.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07112009...for_178744.htm

Quote:

From the moment Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi said he would entertain offers for Roy Halladay, the Yankees believed the price would be too steep for them and that being in the same division would drive the Blue Jays to ask for more than they would from others.

Quote:

Even if the Yankees included outfielder Austin Jackson and catcher Austin Romine -- prospects clubs were told were off-limits before Halladay entered the picture -- there might not be enough because the major league-ready arms the Blue Jays would ask for are Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain, last night's starter against the Angels.

Gozer · 07-13-2009, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Pretty obvious that Ricciardi has to go.

How?

I think he's put together a pretty good team considering the cards he's been dealt.

Pagal4321 · 07-13-2009, 10:47 AM

I don't see how this is Ricciardi's fault this year. He's put together a pretty good team, decemated by injuries. And I think the word decemated is even an understatement.

zukes · 07-13-2009, 10:48 AM

Which is why I am against trading Doc, even though these rumoured packages that are being thrown about are starting to sway my thinking.

moon · 07-13-2009, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gozer

How?

I think he's put together a pretty good team considering the cards he's been dealt.

He has had 8 years without a sniff at the play-offs.

Had two big contract buy-outs on guys that he overpaid despite them having huge question marks at the time of the signings.

He has failed to get a big bat at any time, but especially this season when it was obvious that was a huge hole in the Blue Jays line-up.

Seems like a few reasons right there. Considering that the Blue Jays are headed for another season out of the play-offs with not a lot to indicate that that is going to change in the upcoming seasons I am not sure how he has put together a good team or that he deserves to keep his job.

Clever_Iggy · 07-13-2009, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pagal4321

I don't see how this is Ricciardi's fault this year. He's put together a pretty good team, decemated by injuries. And I think the word decemated is even an understatement.

IIRC, ESPN and/or CNNSI had him on the short list for executive of the year - recognizing a very good team that has been absolutely blown up by injuries (namely the rotation).

A rumor out here in the Bay Area is a package involving Sanchez heading to Toronto for Rios. SF needs another OF bat and the Jays could use another healthy arm. I think SF has the money to take on a contract like Rios'. Too bad for the Blue Jays, Rios can't be exchanged for Wells.

CrusaderPi · 07-13-2009, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moon

He has failed to get a big bat at any time, but especially this season when it was obvious that was a huge hole in the Blue Jays line-up.

Hey! He did pay the exhumed corpse of Frank Thomas 20 million over two years.

CaramonLS · 07-13-2009, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moon

He has had 8 years without a sniff at the play-offs.

Had two big contract buy-outs on guys that he overpaid despite them having huge question marks at the time of the signings.

He has failed to get a big bat at any time, but especially this season when it was obvious that was a huge hole in the Blue Jays line-up.

Seems like a few reasons right there. Considering that the Blue Jays are headed for another season out of the play-offs with not a lot to indicate that that is going to change in the upcoming seasons I am not sure how he has put together a good team or that he deserves to keep his job.

Riccardi has made some decent moves. I'll give him credit where credit is due, he is able to manufacture a half decent bullpen from virtually nothing (downs). He has done a solid job in that respect. He also manages to pull some decent retreads/utility players away from other teams and make them pretty useful (Scutaro).

But it ends there.

Most of his "big money" signings have been disasters. Thomas, Wells, Koskie, Ryan. In 3 of those cases (well soon to be 4 if we ever decide to get rid of Wells, he has had to eat a good deal of the contract). 2 of those players were DFA'd and one was paid 7.5 million over 2 years to play for another team.

Fiscal mismanagement like that has crippled the Jays hopes to compete. Investing the the WRONG players.

Of course that is only a tiny portion of why I dislike the guy, but I don't really feel like writing my usual 10 pager on it tonight.

bluejays · 07-14-2009, 05:44 AM

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Halladay's interview last night at the all-star home run derby. He completely opened up saying he's now open to a trade as long as it's right for both parties and gave it a 50-50 chance of happening. The way he was talking though, a few times the Jays were mentioned in the past tense, so if I were to bet, I'd say there's more than a 50% chance he's dealt now. Just hope Riccardi can assemble an all-star package.

As for Sanchez, while the guy is wildly inconsistent IMO, he's a strikeout machine (didn't he also almost have a no-no the other day?), and for that I'd think it'd be a pretty fair deal straight up. I'm convinced Rios is a very good player, but probably just needs a change for whatever reason.