Stephen Brunt Is Good At His Job
So, that fucking showboat Stephen Brunt succinctly articulates pretty much everything I think we've been trying to say about the Toronto Blue Jays for the last few weeks in less than 20 paragraphs in today's Globe and Mail.
If you haven't already, you should probably read it. And then read it again. Because it's a privilege to have one of the top sports journalists writing, do his thing on topics that we can relate to more than the rest of North America.
Enjoy.
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68 rational and reasonable comments:
So basically in so many words the blue jays are fucked.
Apparently Cliff Lee has been traded to Philly according to Blair
great column. Has anyone read Brunt's book "Diamond Dreams" (1996)? I think it THE definitive Jays book, chronicling them from conception thru to 96. A must read for sure.
http://twitter.com/GloBlair
This means Doc stays or Boston/NY has made better offers
The media studies experts (marxist political economists) out there will agree with Stephen Brunt: "It's the economy, stupid."
The Jays are content for a mass media outlet (television), an entertainment enterprise to attract audiences to advertisers: Own the tv station, own the team that provides the content for said tv station, sell airtime to advertisers and generate profits (throw in a stadium paid for by public money and you should have a profitable enterprise).
And then we fall in love with the meat.
Cliff Lee is totally fucking us.
http://sexynumbers.wordpress.com/
And Brunt is a God. Diamond Dreams is the best book ever written about the Jays. Specifically the passage about Alomar's homerun off Eck.
I was the second last caller on JaysTalk last night. Gave you guys the obligatory shout out.
The funniest part of the Lee situation is now Phillies fans are saying they can get both Halladay AND Lee. What a fucking joke.
Also, I can't believe that the Indians are giving up Lee for that little. But I guess mark Shapiro wants to lose his job.
I was the second last caller on JaysTalk last night. Gave you guys the obligatory shout out.
I heard that and almost pissed myself. Thanks!
The king on his throne. All hail Brunt
I am coming tonight...but I am worried about spoiling my appetite for dinner later if I eat too many corn beef sandwiches. I'm a sucker for a good cornbeef sandwich.
I'm looking forward to talking with all you guys about the big trade. Yes, it's true. The Argos traded Arland Bruce III to the Ti-Cats. I know. I can't believe it either.
Hahahaha. It's really the end of an era... that Arland Bruce deal.
So Lee is on the verge of being traded to the Phils.
That increases the likelyhood of Doc staying a Jay for 2009. I'm happy, I wasn't really enamoured with the Phillies prospects, would much rather keep Doc or make a trade with the Rangers.
The scariest part is that the red sox offer is the best out there. If Doc is traded to the Sox i very well might cry myself to sleep for the rest of his career
Faaaaacccckkkk
I might be able to handle 1.5 years of Red Sox Roy. I won't be able to handle "X" Years Extension Roy.
But the Sox rumoured offer - if it's still on the table now that Lee is apparently a Phillie - is the best one out there. Come onnnnn, Rangers and Dodgers.
If Roy is traded to the Red Sox I admit that I will be cheering for the Red Sox to win it all this year.
Good, now I don't have to see Halladay as a Phillie, or accept those marginal prospect packages. Unless the Yankees and Red Sox get in a bidding war, they should just keep Halladay and the rest of this team together. Pleease.
Christopher, that scenario would produce cognitive dissonance of the highest order. I'm not sure if many of us will follow you down that road.
daryl, if he wins the World Series this year or next maybe he comes back to the Jays with his World Series jones having been fulfilled??
Wishful thinking, I know.
I hate the Red Sox. I could never cheer for their team or their fan base. But if they offer a good enough deal, a trade is acceptable. It's not like the Jays have any hope of contending the next 2 years without Doc.
Halladay as a Red Sox . . . vomit
Chris, you are so off on that..why the hell should people root for the REAL greatest Jay ever in a REd Cocks uniform for. Why have a fucking franchise for...to be a farm team for those two fucking teams??! Daryl go job on that one. MOst Jays fans don't want him gone at any cost. But while, I'm on it didn't JP just fuck up everything in his negotiation? Then again would you want him to trade Doc? Maybe the next GM, but ED Wade Jr? NO thanks.....
@ TSG, The Rangers want the Jays to pay part of his salary as Hicks the owner has borrowed 50 million from MLB to pay his front office people/payroll! The Rogers made mega money and they can't keep Doc? This organization is a joke if they trade them to Texas AND pay money for Doc.According to Jon Heyman(sometimes right), many MLB people think Doc will land on Texas. Can you imagine that. Fucking Muhammed and Viner are swimming in money, they give away the face of their franchise to a team whose financial woes are very deep, unlike the Rogers who are swimming in filthy lucre.
One more thing,Rube amaro is a dolt. He could have had fucking Halladay instead he goes to Lee, who is very good BUT he ain't Doc. It won't work out for them AND they will rue the day that they didn't up the ante to Doc.
If only the Dodgers would go crazy and give up Bills or Kershaw for him. Then I could cheer for Halladay and Manny on the same team.
That's probably the only scenario I'd find acceptable. The Dodgers.
I still think the Rangers have the most to offer, prospect wise. And their need for Halladay is greater than anyone. But there is little chance they take on his salary for next season unless the Jays eat half.
And if you're going to pay half his salaray, why trade him at all? Don't think it's going to happen.
And unless the Dodgers offer Kershaw or Billingsly, they don't have anything close to what the Jays would accept.
Halladay as a Red Sox would have the conspiracy theorists shitting up a storm, and the would up the ante in JP/fan antagonism
Philly wanted us to take Jason Knapp as the centerpiece of the deal instead of Drabek (per Joel Sherman). Ridiculous.
The Fan reports that they got insight from seattle sports station that Halladay has been scratched from his start tonight.
It has just been disproven by allan ashby through telephone
Paolo, the Fan didn't report anything at all. It was entirely speculation, so they decided to get on the phone with Jerry who said Halladay is still scheduled to start.
Oh, and JP Ricciardi told Danny Knobler of CBS sports that Halladay will "definitely" start tonight.
Buster Olney, btw, has reported on his twitter that the Jays are asking for Hughes and Joba from the Yankees and Lester, Buchholz and a prospect from the Sox.
You can't say he isn't aiming high with those two teams.
The Fan reports that they got insight from seattle sports station that Ronny Cedeno will NOT be in the lineup tonight.
He did say "premium" for trading within the AL East.
WHO STAYS AND WHO GOES?????
If theyve achieved nothing else, atleast the Jays have made the season interesting into late July for the first time in a long time...
Jabba and Hughes? Lester and Buchholz? Come the fuck on. Why even float the notion. Right or wrong, I'm starting to get the feeling that Ricciardi's handling of the whole situation is going to be the end of him.
Then again, foolish to fire him until a new prez steps in to handpick his own guy.
What exactly have you disliked about the way hes handled it? In my mind, the only thing he did wrong were those "Halladay said hed test free agency" comments, not because of the information he was giving up, but because it looked like he was throwing blame on Roy.
ESPN ranks the Wells contract as the 2nd worse in all of baseball. I think its easily I worst. I have way most trust in Zito performing than I do in Wells.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=schoenfield/090727&sportCat=mlb
Yeah, at least the Jays are aiming high.
Alot of writers say that JP has to trade Roy now, because his value is so much higher than it will be next year. But it looks like nobody may be able to meet that value in a trade.
In fact, I'd say most of the offers right now are probably what you'd expect teams to offer the Jays for a couple months of Roy, not a year and a half.
So if that's the case - don't trade him now. Trade him in the middle of 2010 when these offers will actually be fair value.
Zito and Wells were better when they used PEDs
Ack, Ricciardi is gone once they hire the new President anyway.
Cause right now, Roy is actually worth Lester/Buckholtz....not Knapp/Carassco/whoever the hell. I'm sure you could get an offer like that again next year.
I'm no Ricciardi fan.
But he's been true to his word about Halladay through this. He said he'd do his job by listening to any decent offer, but would have to be "wowed" to move him. They didn't get an offer high enough value, so they aren't moving him.
The coverage this whole fiasco has gotten here in the US has been a complete fucking joke (or crime, take your pick). ESPN wants its viewers to think Toronto is practically folding like Montreal and will give away all of its good players.
Jon Lester is probably worth more than 1.5 years of Halladay by himself, but I can't blame JP for aiming high. It's going to cost that organization to get Halladay.
James, I was in New Hampshire last week, and the media coverage was just terrible. For some reason, they continue to believe that the Jays have to trade Halladay, when that simply isn't the truth.
Joel Sherman has a new article up with quotes from JP. He says that he wants to keep Doc and try to win in 2010, and would be less inclined to trade him in the offseason. Good...this is what they should be doing. Despite what their unlucky record might tell you, this is a very good team, with the potential to get a lot better with a healthy Snider. Now we must decide what to do with Scutaro.
http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/st/archives/2009/07/jays_gm_thinks.html
ESPN ranks the Wells contract as the 2nd worse in all of baseball. I think its easily I worst. I have way most trust in Zito performing than I do in Wells.
No way. That's crazy.
Zito and Wells were better when they used PEDs
How do you explain Wells last year if he was supposedly a PED user?
ESPN has their own motivations in all of this, especially since they feature the Red Sox or Yankees at least twice on week in its nationally broadcasted games. They seem genuinely depressed that the Jays aren't going to make a deal.
But now SI, MLBtv, and others are following the leader. It's disgusting.
JP has nothing to lose by aiming super high. Worst case scenario, he keeps Roy for another few months or another year. Or somehow, in a huge wet dream, everything we've heard changes and we resign Roy.
I mean, nobody knows how prospects will turn out, but are any of us looking at any of the packages offered so far and feeling pissed off that the Jays didn't take it? No. So why take any of these deals right now?
Haha...nice Sherman article. So now JP says the Jays should go for it in 2010..Jesus. They really don't have a plan I guess.
Someone should get a bunch of JP quotes from the last 3 weeks together to show how mind blowingly contradictory they are.
Canada reaks at softball!
Cool to see those comments by Ricciardi, I think thats what a lot of fans need to hear.
What I think a lot of people are missing about this whole fiasco is that the direction the franchise takes doesnt need to be decided RIGHT NOW. Halladay is such a big piece that the direction you go, whats best for the team, very well could be entirely decided by the offers you get.
Whats wrong with Ricciardi saying he needs to be wowed and then planning according to what offers come in?
And yet people have been crucifying him and Rogers for not taking a steady stance about when theyll try to be competitive.
James (3:00 post), that was all I was implying. He had to do his job in listening to what was out there, but it just got way too public, and while that's media driven, JP's flip-flopping and daily changing of his stance was hard to stomach.
"We're just listening."
"We'd have to be wowed."
"I'd say it's 50/50"
"My gut says we won't"
"Nothing is imminent."
"We're gonna keep him and go for it in 2010."
I know this shit changes with the wind....but just shut the fuck up about it then. To b efair, it did get quieter once Beeston laid the smack down.
I'll tell you what, though.
If we think the speculation and rumour mill has been brutal this year, just wait till the deadline next season.
Yeah, I know what you mean. With all the things JP, Beeston and now the Rogers CEO has said - it's been a very confusing and frustrating last few weeks.
Regarding the Wells/Zito issue, if the Giants make the playoffs, Zito, Lincecum and Cain is a hell of a rotation. Zito's had alot of bad games, but he's also had alot of losses which weren't his fault, the offense didn't come through.
I don't think any pitcher fears Wells right now.
""We're just listening."
"We'd have to be wowed."
"I'd say it's 50/50"
"My gut says we won't"
"Nothing is imminent."
"We're gonna keep him and go for it in 2010.""
Umm, wtf? I really dont see how any of those are inconsistent with what youd expect all along. To me, those are generally similar statements all the way through.
Seriously, what the fuck do you want the guy to say? Youd really be happier if the only updates were every 2 weeks?
Are there any DH free agents on the market this winter that could help us back into contention?
Which of course will not happen cause Rogers is full of cheap fucks. But ideally.
I think Abreu is a free agent..
Adrian Beltre, Chipper Jones, Adam Laroche, Matt Holliday, Jason Bay, Jermain Dye, and Magglio Ordonez "headline" the 2010 free agents.
Lester AND Buchholz from the Red Sox in a package for Halladay... I think I would almost make that deal.
As sad as it would be to see Halladay in a Red Sox uniform for at least the next one and a half years, Lester and Buchholz would really ease the pain a little bit.
I like that deal. I really do.
How can Zito's contract be considered worse than wells?
Zito can only suck ass once every FIVE games.
Wells sucks as every game pretty much, save blowouts, then he's money
Jeff, Boston will never make that deal. They'll never give up Lester.
@ Stoeten, wells sucked on and off last year too! The Wells contract is the worse BECAUSE it hamstrings the Jays with a 6 mill dollar player(that's being kind btw) with a 20 million salary. That 20 million could be used in other areas to compete in this mindfuck of a division called the AL East. THe Giants are saddled with Zito BUT even with their fluctuating onwership proble, Sabean actually is able to add payroll, the Rogers won't let JP do the same. The GIants can compete in a worse division even with that mega contract saddling them.
Stoeten:is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, As well it increases the risk of many physical and mental conditions. These comorbidities are reflected predominantly in metabolic syndrome.[Metabolic syndrome being a combination of medical disorders, which includes diabetes mellitus type 2, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and high triglyceride levels.
>>>>>And yet people have been crucifying him and Rogers for not taking a steady stance about when theyll try to be competitive.<<<<<<
I DON'T TRUST THIS FUCKSTUMP ANY TIME HE FLAPS HIS GUMS...
REEMEMBER WHEN HE LIED ABOUT BJ A FEW YEARS AGO?
JP Ricciardi teams aren't worth a plug fuck. I don't have to read it.
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