Stoeten Answers Griffin's Mail Bag

New segment time! It's Wednesday, which means a new set of mail bag questions for the Star's Richard Griffin. And, well, since far too many emails get sent to our drunkjaysfans@thescore.com address than we know what to do with, I'll just let Griff choose a bunch of questions to answer...

Q: I have a problem Richard. On the night of an Evan Longoria slam, I found myself cheating on the Blue Jays... I was reading an ESPN article on those Tampa Rays. But it gets worse, I thought to myself the following as I continued to read.

1. This is a team I can really get behind, because they did a good job of developing young talented players. As a fan, that's always more satisfying than signing Lyle Overbay and dumping O-Dawg for a broken leg.
2. They play hard every game, and have for years now. I've seen it every time we lose to them, which we've done too often for years now.
3. They are doing it with a very small payroll against the grandeur of Red Sox Nation and the Yanks.
4. MOST IMPORTANTLY. Wasn't this supposed to be the type of team that J.P. promised us when he got here 7 years ago?

Richard, what am I supposed to do about this? Should I stay true to the Blue or sneak out behind their back and buy a Tampa cap? I know you're the only one that can help me, and please be honest.

Graham Harvey, Toronto

Graham, honestly, get your head out of your fucking ass. For a second let's ignore the fact that the Rays picked first overall for about fourteen straight years and talk about players who have come through the system... like Marcum, McGowan, Hill, Rios, Wells, Halladay, Litsch, Lind, etc. I think the Jays have done OK as far as development goes. And don't forget that the Rays have signed and traded for their fair share of players too. And the shit about Hudson? I loved him like everyone else, but please. Hill made him expendable, which made it possible to get Glaus/Rolen, so... what's the problem?

The rest of the stuff is even more bullshit, frankly. They play hard? Are you serious? The payroll? Again, see the countless high draft picks and arb-eligible players. The type of team we were promised? Well, yeah, if you mean one that's actually competing. But no, we were never promised a decade of being a laughingstock before the big payoff. And honestly, there are a lot of cast-offs over there who, for whatever reason, are thriving. Pena was a bust, Hinske was a bust, Hoffman Percival was out of baseball and Floyd is a journeyman. The bullpen too. And Gabe Gross. And Dionner Navarro and JP Howell were basically given up on by their former teams. I guess you can tip your cap to their player evaluators-- they sure as fuck didn't wind up with Brad Wilkerson-- but there's a lot of dumb luck involved, too. At least at this point. Don't forget, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Q: Hey Richard, First of all, thank you very much for answering our questions, at the end of the day, there is nothing more fun than talk baseball. I basically have two questions, with just a little rant:

I have been a fan of both the Expos and Jays for the past 25 years (in the case of the Expos I have the psychological scars to prove it!) and I have never seen a lineup from one through nine completely underachieve. There is not one hitter on this team that is even having an average year ... not a one. What has happened to this team’s offence?

My second question is exactly how many mistakes does the good J.P. have to make before he is fired? There are some excellent GM's out there (Terry Ryan); how many more years of the five-year plan do we have to go through?

Dave Jenkins, Ottawa

Dave, it's really quite fucked isn't it? It isn't true that nobody is even having an average year (Barajas, Scutaro, Lind), but I know exactly what you mean. Odd that it's never mentioned-- probably because it's not believed (I certainly don't believe it)-- how this team's offense dried up right around the time MLB started getting more serious about testing for certain performance-enhancing things, eh? I mean, Canseco did play here, and the GM spent a long time in Oakland (wink, wink), yet there isn't the slightest rumble that maybe some Jays had been doing things they shouldn't. Sure, it's almost certainly way off, but surprising that there isn't a rumble, no?

Anyway, the problem is that Rios has lost 20 points off his OPS+, Stairs has lost 44, and nobody has replaced Frank Thomas. If not for those things they would probably be at the level of last year's pathetic crew-- who now look like the '27 Yankees by comparison-- which sadly would have likely put them in contention.

As for JP, he's definitely botched things pretty good this year. Hoping on Stairs to repeat his performance of a year ago, letting David Eckstein play shortstop, giving way too many plate appearances to Wilkerson, and leaving Lind in Syracuse for so long are the big ones for me. Yeah, people will piss and moan until they're blue in the face with piss about choosing Shannon Stewart over Reed Johnson, but that made absolute sense at the time and anyone who denies it is thinking with their racist goatee and not their head. The Frank Thomas thing, too, I'll have to give JP a pass on, but yeah, it's been pretty bad, and it would be extremely refreshing to see some new blood in the front office-- yes, Terry Ryan would be nice. However, Uncle Ted isn't exactly a fan the same way you or I are, Dave, and him and his accountant are the only ones JP really has to impress.

Q: Hypothetically: Lets say you're a struggling team in the toughest division in baseball... You haven't made the playoffs in well over a decade... This year you're an underachieving team with great pitching. Your most glaring problem is your ability to score runs (and you don't even have a player with 10 HRs at the all-star break). You walk away from your last two games in Tampa Bay where you lost one 2-1 and your pitcher pitched a gem and the other where a homer could have tied it in the ninth.

And as an aside, your leading home run hitter has been on the DL twice this year. Out there, available, is the leading home run hitter of all-time...What is going on? You have a place for him ANYWHERE in your line up because Kevin Mench and Brad Wilkerson can't hit over .220 and your clean up hitter is Rod Barajas. He'll probably even play for a million bucks. Who cares if he's a disturbance, what's the worst that could happen? We finish in last?

Jason Camelford, Miami (through Toronto)

For fuck sakes, fans, get this out of your heads. It is not the incompetence of the Jays front office that is keeping them from signing Barry Bonds, it's the fact that ownership won't let them, just like no other ownership group will let their team take Bonds, because the people who have presided over the game while it's profits have soared to previously unimaginable heights think that Bonds is a stain on baseball and want nothing to do with him. Selig helped make these owners billions, and none of them, it seems, are interested in telling him and his precious wishes to go fuck themselves. End of story.

Q: Hi Richard, when last season ended I thought the BJ's were set at short with Johnny Mac, him being the best fielding SS in either league. Why haven't they made him a special project of the hitting coaches? If they got him up to .240 or .250 he would be invaluable.

Secondly, they have been missing their starting second baseman for weeks now and insist on using Eckstein as DH. Moving him to second which would suit his arm and range would seem to be the answer to two problems yet there's no movement there. Your thoughts?

Ken Diamond, Colborne

I'm not going to lie to you, seeing Eckstein as a DH makes me want to break things. I'm sure that somewhere there is a parallel universe in which I love the shit out of Eckstein. He can still hit and certainly seems likable-- and most of my ire has more to do with how he's used than anything to do with him-- but at this point there is just no reason for him to be here. Trade him, DFA him, or stick him on the bench and let a developing hitter who could maybe use them take those at-bats. He's on a one year contract and won't be back next year, so which position he plays in '09 is somebody else's problem (though I sure as fuck wouldn't bet on anyone being dumb enough to ask him to be an everyday shortstop-- let along a fucking DH).

As for Johnny Mac, I'm afraid he is what he is. I'd be thrilled to see him pull a Ramon Vazquez, but I just don't think there's much that can be done at 33 or 34.

Q: With 2007 1st rounder J.P. Arencibia tearing it up in Double-A right now and both Robinson Diaz and Curtis Thigpen having down years, do you see the Jays calling on Arencibia over the other two in either September or next year?

Elie Fortin, Ottawa

Yes, Arencibia has jumped them both.

Q: Hey Richard, Love the mailbag. You mentioned this week that Wells and Rios need to become 30 HR, 130 RBI guys to improve the outlook for the current nucleus. Question is: how likely do you think that really is?

Greg Jones, Burlington, Ont.

I can't believe I would have said something so stupid, seeing as RBIs have way more to do with the players hitting in front of a guy. And I certainly think the team can still succeed if these guys (plus Hill, Rolen, Overbay and Lind) are in the 20-25 range. Rios is easily talented enough to hit 30 with regularity though, yet... what does that even mean? Honestly, I have no clue. If they both play the way we all goddamn know they're capable, it's extremely likely. But when the hell was the last time they did that? (A: First half of '07 for Rios, '06 for Vernon)

Q: Richard, having so many contracts back-loaded, how do the Jays plan to field a 25-man roster never mind a playoff-calibre team in 2010 and beyond. In 2010, the Jays will have $90M committed to eight players (i.e. Roy Halladay, B.J. Ryan, Scott Downs, Scott Rolen, Wells, Overbay, Rios, and Hill) which could potentially be $97M if you count Vernon's signing bonus.

Greg Wells, Toronto

The intention is to fill out the rest of the roster with younger, cheaper players-- and with Lind, Snider, Cecil, Purcey, Jackson, Arencibia, Ginley, Cooper, etc., on their way (at least, the ones who don't flame out somewhere along the way), it's really not all that difficult to envision. Plus, it's not like things are so vastly different right now-- they've got about $75M tied up in Burnett, Rolen, Halladay, Ryan, Wells, Thomas, Overbay, Eckstein and Zaun.

Q: Hi Richard, I completely agree with you about JP Ricciardi's ouster at the end of this year. I hate how he is so insecure, and dishonest with the public. Speaking of honesty, I think Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun is the epitome of this. While he works for a rival newspaper, I'd like you to comment on your colleague and his chances of getting into the Hall of Fame.

When will you be up for the Hall of Fame as well?

Jason Sinnarajah, San Francisco, CA

I'm not going to lie to you, I don't really read much of Elliott's work-- which is possibly a shame, because apparently he used to be essential reading in these parts. He's not really my speed, and the Sun is not really my paper.

As for Griffin, the old Stoeten (you know, the one who didn't used to be a dick) would probably have taken this opportunity to take a giant frothing dump on him, but everyone I've heard who knows the scene down there-- not just Geoff Baker-- will tell you that not a lot of reporters (ahem! Simmons and Cox) will take giant dumps on front office people and be right back in there facing them the next day. Griffin does, and as someone who shits on people semi-professionally, I can tell you that's not always easy. For example, I still prefer to call out Spencer Kyte in his comments section.

Q: Hi Richard -enjoy your insights a great deal. Do you think the re-appearance of Mel Queen is another nail in J.P.'s coffin? (I hope!) and if so would he be a viable candidate to be G.M.?

Jim Roberts, Hamilton, ON

No and holy fucking fuck no. Right now I would bet that Ricciardi won't be back next year-- however, I'm an awful gambler, so that probably means he will-- but does that mean I'd be OK with going straight back into the dark ages and hiring guys who think that OPS is one of these rapper guys that the kids are listening to? Let alone with no experience. And Mel Queen? Jesus, why not just hire Gary Carter?