Tuesday Grab Bag
Podcast Update
Just an FYI, though the podcast isn't up yet through theScore.com, it is now available on iTunes. We'll keep you posted on when it's... er... posted.
Would the Jays Offer Zaun Arbitration?
No, seriously... my mind's a little foggy at the moment, and I need a couple more coffees before I can start thinking about wrapping my head-- again-- around baseball's arbitration and free agency compensation systems. So, in the meantime, I'll just toss out there this little nugget from Tiger Thoughts, a Detroit blog that has been keeping track of the projected Elias rankings: Gregg Zaun is "within striking distance" of Type-B status. (Hat tip to the always excellent MLB Trade Rumors for the link.)
Now, that's almost certainly meaningless for at least a couple of reasons: one, to put him in position to net a compensatory draft pick, the Jays would have to pad his numbers with a wave of mostly-unwarranted playing time to finish out the season. Two, they'd have to offer him arbitration (oh yeah, and some team would actually have to sign him).
Would they? I'm serious, would they? I can't quite think straight at the moment. I mean, he doesn't seem to be in the plans for next year, so it kind of seems pointless to risk having to pay him, but he seems destined to be overtaken on the catching depth chart very soon by young JP Arencibia, so considering the situation here, I'd say it's a decent bet he'd decline. It's a moot point, of course, if he doesn't reach Type-B status (or if I'm somewhat confused on the particulars here), but I don't know, why not run him out there the rest of the season and take a crack at landing a sandwich pick?
UPDATE: Barajas is now day-to-day (see above), so evidently this will happen anyway. Or perchaps, the Barajas hamstring tweak is just a convenient excuse...
Bucking Fuffalo
Our friends over at Batter's Box were quick to notice this story in the Buffalo News that says the Bisons are about to change their major league affiliation... to the New York Mets. The story is reiterated by the Adam Rubin at the New York Daily News.
Well, fucking good job, Jays. Way to neglect the living fuck out of your team in Syracuse and waste a perfect chance to bring your top minor league team into the region. I recently called the Bisons-Jays connection "baseball's worst kept secret", so I guess maybe I'm guilty of making the arrogant Toronto shitcock assumption that Buffalo ought to be thrilled to have any affiliation to MLB at all, and that they should be thankful that the Jays would bestow their shitty Triple-A team on the Queen City. But, y'know, even though it sucks to lose the chance to make a short trip down the QEW to see the Jays' top affiliate, good for the Bisons for looking at the Chiefs' failure to make the playoffs in 23 of 31 seasons-- or maybe it was their failure to even win an International League playoff game since 1994, (or their shittacular scoreboard)-- and saying fuck you to the Jays.
Mench and Fake Joba
I don't know what to believe about this story anymore, but, just to be straight, here's some insight according to "meech.one", who wrote the post on The Fightins that I linked to, which appeared in the comments section of our post about Kevin Mench and his bloated-skulled (alleged) ex-teammate-slash-scumbag, Fake Joba:
"My mention of the Iggles tattoo was more "in passing" than "glowingly" (I hope).
And check the comments of that post, people came out of the fucking woodwork to dismiss Fake Joba's claims. One guy said he didn't even go to the same high school as Mench nor was he good enough to play on a team with him.
And word on the street is, Mench has the lyrics to "Desperado" tatted on his back."
Just an FYI, though the podcast isn't up yet through theScore.com, it is now available on iTunes. We'll keep you posted on when it's... er... posted.
Would the Jays Offer Zaun Arbitration?
No, seriously... my mind's a little foggy at the moment, and I need a couple more coffees before I can start thinking about wrapping my head-- again-- around baseball's arbitration and free agency compensation systems. So, in the meantime, I'll just toss out there this little nugget from Tiger Thoughts, a Detroit blog that has been keeping track of the projected Elias rankings: Gregg Zaun is "within striking distance" of Type-B status. (Hat tip to the always excellent MLB Trade Rumors for the link.)
Now, that's almost certainly meaningless for at least a couple of reasons: one, to put him in position to net a compensatory draft pick, the Jays would have to pad his numbers with a wave of mostly-unwarranted playing time to finish out the season. Two, they'd have to offer him arbitration (oh yeah, and some team would actually have to sign him).
Would they? I'm serious, would they? I can't quite think straight at the moment. I mean, he doesn't seem to be in the plans for next year, so it kind of seems pointless to risk having to pay him, but he seems destined to be overtaken on the catching depth chart very soon by young JP Arencibia, so considering the situation here, I'd say it's a decent bet he'd decline. It's a moot point, of course, if he doesn't reach Type-B status (or if I'm somewhat confused on the particulars here), but I don't know, why not run him out there the rest of the season and take a crack at landing a sandwich pick?
UPDATE: Barajas is now day-to-day (see above), so evidently this will happen anyway. Or perchaps, the Barajas hamstring tweak is just a convenient excuse...
Bucking Fuffalo
Our friends over at Batter's Box were quick to notice this story in the Buffalo News that says the Bisons are about to change their major league affiliation... to the New York Mets. The story is reiterated by the Adam Rubin at the New York Daily News.
Well, fucking good job, Jays. Way to neglect the living fuck out of your team in Syracuse and waste a perfect chance to bring your top minor league team into the region. I recently called the Bisons-Jays connection "baseball's worst kept secret", so I guess maybe I'm guilty of making the arrogant Toronto shitcock assumption that Buffalo ought to be thrilled to have any affiliation to MLB at all, and that they should be thankful that the Jays would bestow their shitty Triple-A team on the Queen City. But, y'know, even though it sucks to lose the chance to make a short trip down the QEW to see the Jays' top affiliate, good for the Bisons for looking at the Chiefs' failure to make the playoffs in 23 of 31 seasons-- or maybe it was their failure to even win an International League playoff game since 1994, (or their shittacular scoreboard)-- and saying fuck you to the Jays.
Mench and Fake Joba
I don't know what to believe about this story anymore, but, just to be straight, here's some insight according to "meech.one", who wrote the post on The Fightins that I linked to, which appeared in the comments section of our post about Kevin Mench and his bloated-skulled (alleged) ex-teammate-slash-scumbag, Fake Joba:
"My mention of the Iggles tattoo was more "in passing" than "glowingly" (I hope).
And check the comments of that post, people came out of the fucking woodwork to dismiss Fake Joba's claims. One guy said he didn't even go to the same high school as Mench nor was he good enough to play on a team with him.
And word on the street is, Mench has the lyrics to "Desperado" tatted on his back."
Late Addition Stolen Directly From Jordan Bastian's Mail Bag:
Do you know what Jason Frasor's statistics are on the second day when he pitches on consecutive days? It seems like he pitches well with lots of rest, but tends to struggle when he pitches often.
--Joe K., Calgary, Alberta
You might be on to something. In his career, Frasor has a 5.02 ERA when pitching with no days of rest between relief appearances. His ERA drops to 3.82 with two days of rest, 3.08 with three, 2.20 with four and 1.72 with five days between outings. When making a second consecutive appearance this season, Frasor has allowed eight runs on six hits with six strikeouts and six walks in six innings (12.00 ERA).
Posts
16 rational and reasonable comments:
Crap. I was so excited to drive to Buffalo on Friday nights for baseball and Chippewa Street (and maybe shopping the following morning, maybe).
Where does this put the AAA team, then? New Orleans or Norfolk?
New Orleans or New Mexico I heard.
There's so much politicking and behind the scenes stuff that goes on, there's no way you can say it's the Jays fault the Bisons thing didn't happen. Also, the Buffalo Bisons are considered one of the best run AAA clubs around, so it's no surprise there's competition.
Would it be possible to bring AAA baseball back to Ottawa?
You know what's sad about that shittacular scoreboard? It puts the one in Ottawa TO SHAME.
Also: New Orleans, LV and Albuquerque all attract 2.5 times as many fans as the Ottawa Lynx did in their final seasons...it seems unlikely that any of them would be movable.
Not to mention that such a move would also require shifting an IL team into the PCL.
when the chiefs played in ottawa last year, they sold lots of tickets... it was packed when AJ started that one game.
I love how they can't negotiate until Thursday and they plan to be ready to announce a deal on Friday.
For type B FAs, you don't have to offer arbitration anymore.
And given the scarcity of catching around, someone will sign him.
"For type B FAs, you don't have to offer arbitration anymore.
And given the scarcity of catching around, someone will sign him."
I had heard that too, but I couldn't verify it anywhere. Do you have a source?
MLBTradeRumors has a bunch of stories today about type B's that strongly suggest you still need to offer them arbitration.
Wow, I thought it was a done deal too.
Any idea what the Jays other options are?
nevermind, went to Tao.
Re: Type B's: That's actually what the basis of most of my vague covering-my-ass confusion talk was all about. I had definitely heard the same thing about not having to offer arbitration to a Type B to get the pick (I remember writing this somewhere about Eckstein), but for the life of me, I couldn't find a source to back it up. I was ready to full on call for Zaun to be played as the number one guy from here out when I first heard he might have a shot at Type B, but I didn't want to do that not knowing if the rules had changed or not. I couldn't find anything that said they don't have to offer arbitration to get the compensation, but maybe I wasn't looking in the right place.
It's true, though, someone will sign him.
About Frasor's numbers, they might be good on five days rest but you're not taking into consideration that anytime he pitches then it's usually a blowout and there's no pressure for him to succeed. Frasore seriously looks like a little boy about to piss his pants when he's in a pressure-packed situation. Good riddance.
Oh, I definitely didn't intend for that to look like a defense of Frasor.
Fuck off Parkes
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