A Horsing Shitload of Shit
It’s Friday night, and I’m getting drunk (hmm… better have a bowl for extra awesomeness, as well). But I happen to be here in front of my computer, waiting for a video to load and some food to cook before I actually go out and do something. So I’m figuring... why the fuck not share a few items that, in my laziness and complete disinterest, I’ve been saving up for the last few days? Why the fuck not indeed…
Griff’s Bag Doesn’t Horrify Me
No! Not his scrotum, because… well… good god, let’s just move on…
I mean his latest mail bag—which, yes, is a few days old… but that’s how long it took me to find it on the goddamn redesigned Star website.
In it Griff demonstrates that, absent an axe to grind, his viewpoint actually might not make me want to snap my keyboard in half over my knee and smash every single goddamn piece of debris until it fucking dies.
Example? He agrees with all that makes sense in the world, and actually effing advocates firing Cito—even if he does try to sugar-coat it by groping his brain for whatever good he can find about Cito, then praising the shit out of it.
He also brings up the name Buck Showalter as a replacement, and—even though I wouldn’t doubt there are reasons I haven’t thought of why this is retarded—he points out some interesting… uh… points about Showalter’s potential candidacy, and why it would work here, both with the staff and with the fans.
“Anthopoulos, before he was named GM, acknowledged that he has talked to Showalter professionally in the past and mentioned him on the conference call when he revamped the front office. On that same call, he also mentioned Dana Brown who he has subsequently hired. Other connections? Brian Butterfield was a coach under Showalter with the D’backs and also worked with him in the Yankee organization. Jays’ minor league field coordinator Doug Davis worked with Showalter in Texas, as did Perry Minasian, Jays’ new director, pro scouting. If you want a quick turnaround using a guy you could sell to disgruntled fans in the off-season, Showalter’s the one.”
Griff also answers a question about whether we should be worried about Anthopoulos, given his presence in Ricciardi’s front office during… y’know… putting together the best pitching and defence in the American League whatever bullshit just happened. And guess what? He does so with glowing praise.
Is Griffin even allowed to like the GM of this team? Somebody over at the Star check his contract for me.
He also suggests putting an International League team in Montreal, and making that the Jays’ farm team, which… um… I’m sorry, would be fucking nails. I have no clue how receptive that city would be to a Triple-A team, or where they’d have them play (Griff suggests wrestling back Jarry Park from the tennis set), but holy fucking yes. Excuses for baseball trips to Montreal all summer every summer? Sign me fucking up. (Sorry, Ottawa, but I just never liked you that much.)
Elliott…
Apologies for the ball suckings (don’t worry, I’ll get to some Canadian Business idiot in a minute), but the Toronto Sun’s Bob Elliot had a recent “nailing” of “it” as well.
On October 14th, whenever that was, he talked to some long-time Jays employees about their first impressions of Alex Anthopoulos, after the new GM addressed a bunch of development people (including our buddy Tom Singore, who himself nailed it when he told us about Mark Rzepczynski back in the early season) at the Bobby Mattick facility in Dunedin. And… holy shit. We totally need to have an over/under on when the honeymoon for this Anthopoulous guy is actually going to end… because, I shit you not, the impressions were good.
Auburn Whateverthey’recalleds manager Dennis Holmberg—veteran of the organization since nineteen seventy-fucking-eight—said precisely what Griff and Elliott, et. al., have been saying for years. So, naturally, Elliott quoted it:
"Alex said how the Angels and the Twins minor-leagues have an identity -- fundamental baseball. He asked what do people say if you mention our system, he didn't think we had an identity. There was a time when everyone wanted to be like the Blue Jays."
“Roving minor-league coach Mel Queen,” Elliot noted, “Compared Anthopoulos' speech to the words of late Peter Hardy, the former chairman of the board.”
"When you think about it,” said Tony LaCava, “Alex had a six-year interview with Paul Beeston. Paul watched him work before Alex even had an office. You can't trick a guy for six years. We all have faith in Paul.”
"It's clear this is going to be an employee-driven club. He wants to expand scouting and for this to be a great place to work,” LaCava added. "The details will follow, but he's going to make it easier for people to do their jobs, be treated fairly and consideration for employees personal lives and families."
So… if Anthopoulos really is Griff and Elliott’s wet dream, they must be drinking buddies with his mentor, the Beest. Right? I’m sorry, that’s the only conclusion I can come to at the moment. Of course, I think that bowl’s really hitting me here…
Bastian, Too, Has A Bag
Rye and water. Holy shit, what a drink! ((Once you’ve had like 15 of them in your life, that is. The first 15 taste like watered down dirt, but stay the course and you won't regret it!) And, naturally, they ought to be made only with Wisers… or whichever of their competitors had an ad up on our page there lately…).
Anyway… yes, like Griffin, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com did himself a little mail bag recently.
Of interest—even though I guess we knew this—he affirmed the reports that Dustin McGowan is doing well. Which… boner!
“McGowan was throwing again at the end of this past season and reports were that he was looking strong. Barring another setback, the Blue Jays believe he might be ready for Spring Training.”
Of course, I know a thing or two about couching a statement, and that “believe” and “might” and “barring another setback” stuff means… yeah, who the fuck knows?
Bastian also—perhaps more interestingly—says that the Jays have interest in bringing back Rod Barajas. I… Now… I seem to recall somebody saying, rather emphatically, back a month ago, that Rod wouldn’t be back. Hmmm. Who the fuck was that???
Gillick In Denial
“Until someone else is named president/CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays, I still suspect Pat Gillick is a candidate,” says Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. “Gillick is here with the Phillies. He gave up the GM job last year to be a special adviser to the team. Toronto CEO Paul Beeston has been trying to get him to be the new prez for some time but Gillick has resisted.”
Of course, it’s my duty to pass along any bullshit Gillick rumours I come across, so I had no choice but to mention that.
Random Thoughts During The ALCS Radio Broadcast
- Joe Morgan just said that, because Bernie Williams said that they [the Yankees] wouldn’t have won three of those four World Series without Mariano Rivera. there’s no doubt in anybody’s mind that Rivera is the greatest closer ever. Funny. I didn’t know Williams was the lone holdout on the subject.
- Johnny Damon paraphrased: “We saw what a great guy and great player [insert CC Sabathia or Mark Teixeira] was, and we went out and got him.” (Read: Well, Bob, we’re the only team with a fucking shitload of money, so we paid for whoever we wanted. Sure, other teams have a shitload of money, too. But we have a fucking shitload of money. Quite frankly, I’m just a big whore, Bob. Sometimes I kinda hate myself.)
- John Miller just said tonight’s game was only the second time all season that there were no home runs hit at new Yankee Stadium. WTF???
That New Ballpark Thing
Elliotte Friedman had a ridiculously interesting thing over at his blog for the CBC the other day, which, at this point, I will totally not have the time to devote enough attention to. It’s about a pair of… I guess businessmen—though one of them is only 22, and, how can you be anything at 22?—who’ve put together a proposal for building an outdoor stadium for the Jays out Lakeshore East.
Random TV Thoughts
Colbert from Thursday, which I’m watching right now, was pretty fucking fantastic. And reminded me of Vonnie’s Mustardayonaise…
Some Dude From Canadian Business Says… A Bunch Of Things… I Don’t Even Care
Some guy at Canadian Business, in an otherwise interesting (read: lengthy) article, sharted out a few painful “truisms” about what JP Ricciardi got up to while he was here, and… it was bullshit. I don’t know… gotta go!
Posts
100 rational and reasonable comments:
A pot smoker. That's why you're so fucking irritable / miserable. Makes sense now.
Gay.
Your five minutes is up, I'll just watch baseball in 2010 and form my own opinions.
The worst part about that Canadian Business article is the lack of credit given to all the hacks he stole those opinions from in their, err, I mean his JP Ricciardi shitfest.
Fuck off Stoeten!
I admire all the work those guys did for that proposal, but outdoor-only stadiums in the Northern climates are not good ideas. Minnesota's going to wish the never left the dome behind come April.
Stoten you forgot to add what Wilner recently said in his blog about Vernon..
"Vernon told me that he's not interested in that sort of fan interaction anymore"
what about Mustmayostarayonnaise.
Who knows how legit or not the proposal from two random dudes about building a new stadium is, but it is something the Jays have to think about. After the Twins move to their new ballpark next season Toronto will be the only team in baseball playing on artificial turf. And that sucks.
Stoeten, when you're shitfaced drunk after your second beer, do you still believe it was the fans fault that Vernon had such terrible offensive numbers at home this year?
The CJM...
So have the Rays got a new stadium? Or are they no longer considered a "team in baseball"?
Has anyone seen what they've done at Wimbeldon? They have a retractable roof stadium with a natural grasss court, through a translucent roof covering which allows natural light through, but not rain/cold/wind. I'm no engineer, but perhaps pulling the steel off the roof, and putting that on would be a less expensive option to building a new stadium? Just a thought.
Lame
Know that I am the one you seek! I am the one born to rule, destined to conquer! Let those who fear me follow me. Let those who oppose me die! For I am Serpentor, and THIS I COMMAND!
I like this off-season move..... click my name for linkage...
Speaking of stoners, did you hear about Lenny Kravitz in New York this week?
Drank from a bottle of vodka during his concert, gave what was left in the bottle to fans in the front row, couldn't keep his eyes open, stumbled all over the place, almost passed out at the piano, obviously played & sang like crap, then cancelled his next show at the last minute.
Too bad he's not a Jays fan, he'd fit right in here.
Anon 9:35
That's what they originally did with the first dome, the Astrodome. Well all that glass meant the players couldn't see the ball. When they darkened the glass the grass died. They had to replace it with a new thing that acquired the name "astroturf".
The only way they could put grass in the Skydome would be with some kind of artificial UV light system. Regardless, as I understand it the dome's major problem with grass is inadequate drainage which would be too costly if not impossible to fix.
They should have just put the $600 million it cost to build the dome into CNE Stadium.
Andrew WK is actually a friend of mine. You bloggers are terrible, disrespecting one of the best pitchers of all time, when he got unlucky. Get a real job.
Wow, Parkes with a live blog post that made sense, without his anti-depressants. Then Stoeten with a post without all the rhetoric.
Is this a new era at DJF? Or has somebody stolen their identities, only to be replaced later by the evil Parkes and Stoeten?Stay tuned, the plot thickens.
Trade Idea:
Roy Halladay for Jonathan Papelbon, Casey Kelly & Ryan Westmoreland
Um... don't know if anybody else caught this on Wilner's blog, but Vernon Wells was playing with broken fingers for the last few games of the season? This was in response to a question about why Vernon flipped the ball to Bautista after a catch instead of just throwing it in himself:
MW: The explanation is that he was playing the last week or so with busted fingers that prevented him from getting a good grip on the ball. It’s a testament to the Jays’ lack of foresight as far as September call-ups went that he had to be run out there.
So, what ever happened to Parkes' talk with Stenhouse?
http://blog.rogersbroadcasting.com/mikewilner/2009/10/15/the-final-four/
Scroll down to the end of Wilner's writing to see about Wells. He's upset about how the fan's treated him, hmmm. Well, Vernon, there always is that opt out clause or you could just ask to tear up your current contract and become a free agent. I'm sure AA isn't putting a gun to your head to stay. BTW if you sign a contract like that, you better know that people who help pay for the team (fans) might expect things like a little leadership or production, bitch.
I for one hope this signals the beginning of a new, fuck-the-world, I'm gonna show everyone I'm the greatest, Michael Jordan-esque Vernon Wells.
I'm delusional, I know.
I'm pretty sure this just signals the new I'm just a douchebag who will paint an entire city as asshole fans, and will treat them as much, bigoted Vernon Wells.
Vernon Wells = Vince Carter
What a retarded comparison. Vince Carter had elite skills. Vernon Wells, not so much.
Vernon Wells = Vince Carter
15.9 points per game is hardly elite skills
Vernon was one of the best players in the leauge until the 2007 season!
The issue with real grass isn't the amount of light. The roof, unlike the Astrodome is fuckign retractable. So if you put the grass in mid-March, take it out after the baseball season, all you have to be concerned about is a prolonged amount of rainy days when the roof has to be closed. And that is easily taken care of with some partable UV lights.
The problem with grass in the Dome is the irrigation. The entire concrete floor of the Dome is full of wires, cables, and pipelines. You can't dig into it. So your grass would have to be laid on top of the concrete, and the water from the irrigation couldn't touch the concrete. That's the issue. Of course some sort of giant unpermeable bed for the grass to sit on would work, but you would still need to figure out drainage and have the whole field raised substantially to accomodate the temporary drains. It needs a lot of money, time, and you'd have to wait until the Argos lease expired. Godfrey signed a 7 year lease to the Argos (for free but it is a contract nonetheless) which I believe started in 2005. And the last Bills game of the 5 year, 8 game stunt will also be in 2012.
So we're talking 2012, a lot of money, and assuming there will be no other September NFL games, which I wouldn't put much money on. Of course it's worth it because it's still a fraction of the cost of the value of your most prized assets (the players) and would remove Toronto's name off many of the no-trade clause lists.
But by 2012 the Dome will be 24 years old, and it usually takes a year or two to get a new stadium project off the ground and then another 2-3 years to build the thing. And by then you would've stayed at the Dome for about 30 years, which isn't much different from the Twins in Minneapolis, the Bucs in Pittsburgh or the Phillies at the Vet. And with Rogers dreams of adding 15,000 seats to the Dome, the Jays and their tasty national cellphone buying audiences would still be valuable to Rogers that they wouldn't let it rot away in a ridiculously stupid stadium.
My personal theory is that MLSE likes the Jays revenue streams and national broadcasts but won't touch them at the Dome. Their history of alchemy suggests that they would be all over a new stadium project alongside Rogers and other conglomerates. This is good news for us since the project would certainly ask, but isn't dependant on public tax dollars to make it happen. There's more than enough corporate cash to not have stadium plans fall out like in Tampa, Florida, Oakland, etc.
Vernon Wells was never a top ten player in the league who is instantly recognizable around the world.
Vernon Wells
-Three Gold Glove Awards
-Two All-Star teams
-Finished 8th in American League MVP voting in 2003
-On the list of top 500 Major League Baseball home run hitters
Yeah and right now not worth fuck all
That's why he is vince carter retard!
Anonymous @ 10:02 is right & I would also like to add that wells was selected by team USA for the last two WBC's! How do you figure he isn't recognized around the world?
Travis Snider = Eric Hinske
Agreed except he's more of a whiner than hinske was
Travis Snider = Eric Hinske----FOR SURE!----
Snider aint bad...Yet
Nice Angels assrape by the umps there.
How bout that Angels defense.
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/94/fullj.52e79769f0b5142d8b62cf11338df58a/52e79769f0b5142d8b62cf11338df58a-getty-91807064jw002_new_york_yank.jpg
Beauty work Stoenen. You just inspired me to bust out one of my old Mr. Show DVD's.
When are you going to realize that you might as well be a Masshole, Stoeten?
brag about how much you drink? check
have an undeserved sense of entitlement? check
swear to get points across because of lack of actual writing prowess? check
thinking its edgy or even somewhat funny telling everyone you smoke weed? check
go fuck yourself? check.
Mark, you are correct.
Stoeten criticizes the best teams, like NYY, who has a 19 game winner in CC, and a 120 RBI guy like Tex. Papelbon is one of the best pitchers ever.
Sorry, Stoeten, you are not smarter than anyone!
"Papelbon is one of the best pitchers ever"
That is the dumbest thing I have ever read on this site!
Stoten and Rosenthal can go fuck themselves! Please don't procreate!
Stoeten and rosenthal going to battle!!!
http://www.globalinsult.com/images/missionwarzone1.JPG
Smoke weed every day!
Smoke weed every day!
Wow, I really hate the Internet.
WhoooooooooooooooooooooooWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!
Fuck off Stoten
What happened to all the Cliff Lee hating bitches? Where did they all go?
3 starts
2-0 record
24.3 IP
2 BB
20 K
0.74 ERA
He was nothing short of brilliant last night, while Doc was home sitting on his sofa with his hand down his pants.
Yeah and the Blue Jays will hang on to Halladay until they're "blown away" by an offer.
It will be the carbon copy of Burnett. AA will keep him until he walks at the end of next season for nothing, just to make all the "Halladay is the best pitcher in baseball" morons happy.
Do you really think any of the proposed offers were good enough, though? Also keep in mind that most people who know anything at all keep saying that Boston package was never actually offerred.
I think it's almost inevitable that they'll get some much better offers for Halladay this offseason anyways. All the teams who were out of the race this past July will now be in on the Halladay sweepstakes as well, and they'll be much more likely to include major-league talent now than they would have been at the deadline. There are just a lot more trade options available, and I doubt they'd pass up any actual good offers.
Cliff Lee is pitching in the NL, with lesser offenses and an essential auto-out every time through the order. Halladay pitches in the AL, and in the East. Tampa Bay moving over to the NL would make the playoffs, easy and I don't care what division. They would have pushed for a spot 2 years ago before their breakout last year.
The only team in the NL that has a good offense would be the Philli's which probably rivals the Yanks.
When CC went over there, see how much he absolutely destroyed the NL compared to his play in the AL Central. Now there are confounding factors, but they can't explain for that marked an increase in his numbers over there. If Doc leaves I would love to see him just eat up NL 'batters'.
Hinske and Snider not from the same class. Snider's a first round pick, Snider's got patience at the plate at the age of 21. That's the difference.
Travis Snider at worst will be Adam Dunn with a lot less home runs...260/.360/.440 20 homers and at best...well who knows.
We haven't really seen enough to know what type of player Snider is yet anyways. His time with the Jays this year was such a mismanaged clusterfuck that any projections based on his major league stats should be taken with a grain of salt.
What Travis Snider did in the minor leagues at 21 is just amazing. I am a big Adam Lind fan (except for the fact that he is 26 and took a long time to become a regular), but Snider projects better than Lind in all aspects of the game. We haven't seen a prospect like him since Delgado.
Anyone who seriously compares him to Shitske is a fucking retard. Then again, there are a lot of retards who read this.
To test if you are retard just take this simple test:
"Cito Gaston is a good manager who handled Snider properly."
If you agree with the above statement, you are a retard and there is no point in arguing with you.
Every day since the Red Sox were eliminated, two of my pigs have gone missing.
@JB
I thought you were gone till next season.
Anyways, you are right with the first part.We need to see Snider longer before a clear evaluation can be done.
The second part shows your lack of knowledge concerning baseball.We all know you hate Cito,and perhaps he should be replaced,but Snider was handled properly, for a player at this stage of his career.
Calling everyone a retard because they agree with the handling of Snider is just trolling for an argument.
Go back in your hole until spring. ( And take BFF with you, you can debate VORP and BABIP)
Holy shit radar, could you please try to fit more blatant ignorance into your post next time, I don't think there was enough squeezed into that last one.
Just out of curiosity, what exactly are you imagining that "debating BABIP" entails? Unless the BABIP you're talking about just happens to be an acronym for something other than the baseball stat, which would probably make a lot more sense than whatever it is you think you're saying.
Snider wasn't handled well and I suspect as long as Gaston is managing, he won't be. But Cito has a history of screwing up Blue Jay prospects. Personally I like the way the Rays handled Evan Longoria or the way the Orioles handled Matt Wieters. Again, if you don't agree with this there is no point in arguing because you are...well..ret...slow.
When it comes to VROP and BABIP, I have explained many times my problems with those metrics. They are a useful tools, but with major shortcomings. I think it is important that people understand sabermetrics before they start shouting off for or against them. Of course you can be like Cito Gaston who only counts average, home runs and RBIs. Guys like Cito think that OBP and SLG are obscure stats that only the whiz kids understand.
I really wish the Jays hired myself, BFF, SP, and some other notable commentators in the front office to bring some common sense back to baseball in Toronto.
How can any man do this to a harmless pig?
Haha, the guy defending Cliff Lee's honor is great. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt for trolling, but there's so many stupid fucks who comment anonymously here, he's done nothing to deserve the benefit of the doubt.
AL East > AL Central > The entire NL
It's nothing against Lee. Hell, if Cliff Lee gets another crack at the Dodgers and Manny were hurt or something, he would probably throw a no-hitter. Manny showed up, though - I wish I could remember which division in baseball he came from.
Sigh, it's gonna be a long off-season
Cliff Lee is a good pitcher, no doubt. But is some guy really arguing that he is better than Halladay? That's a joke right?
Kevin Millar's numbers -- .223/.311/.363
Travis Snider's numbers -- .241/.328/.419
Cito gave more playing time for Millar and slotted him in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th spot on a regular basis. Travis Snider, on the other hand, was penciled no higher than 8th.
Does that make any sense to you?
Here's an article in the Globe about how the rise in value on the Canadian dollar could really help Canadian sports teams:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/sports-teams-set-to-cash-inbr-on-strong-canadian-dollar/article1329453/
So spend some more money, cheap Rogers dickheads.
GO WHINE SOMEWHERE ELSE JB NOONE CARES
@JB
I think that Cito was trying to give Millar a chance to show what he has left ( which was nothing). Millar is gone, Snider will be around for many years.The season was over Mid July , why would you put Snider into the meat of the order and put pressure on him to produce and drive in runs when they were nothing games?Nowhere that I have seen, including interviews with Snider, complain about his spot in the batting order.It is standard for a callup or rookie to bat 9th. It also happened to Ruiz.And in a previous post it has been explained that by batting 8th or 9th , Snider missed relatively few at bats compared to hitting 3rd or 4th.
Cito may be wrong about other things but I don't think the handling of Snider is one of them.
@ Ty
Try to make some sense when you post.
Haha typical radar... instead of responding to any of my points, you just leave a vague one-line attempt at an insult that really has nothing to do with what I said.
The point is: when you say things like "go debate BABIP," you sound like a senior citizen talking about "surfing on the interweb". Your anti-stat trolling would be much more effective if you actually had some basic understanding of the things you apparently dislike so strongly. Without it, you just come across as ignorant.
BABIP AND VORP are important stats. Big announcement coming very soon.
Mike, if indeed you are Mike Wilner, tell me it's a) raise in payroll b) Cito is getting fired or c) both.
The jays are fucked james, stop lying to yourself!
I can't comment yet, but keep posted... Spoke with AA today.
Fuck off Wilner, jew bastard. See what I did there?
One who sleeps in a glass house should avoid throwing stones.
Can you say if it's clearly good or bad news?
FUCK YOU JOBA!!!!
Ugh. Sometimes this comment section is the used toilet paper of the internet.
Beauty!
Kinda like james face is the toilet paper at denny's?
Eat shit jOba
Posada - piece of shit scum, or cumsucking fucktard?
@7:12: He's a terrible human being but I don't think that makes him gay.
Why did Abreu stop? He would have been into third base easily.
Things I hate : Joe Buck, Derek Jeter, the Red Sox
Joe Buck sure loves sucking Yankee cock.
Fuck off Robertson
Fuck off Aceves
Fuck off Joey MacDonald
Fuck off Sundin
Angels win! THANK FUCK!
Nice going, AS-SAVE-US!!
JAMES BORBATH OF THE SCORE SUCKS AT LIVE BLOGS. DON'T BOTHER.
INFLATE MY COCK LIKE A BASEBALL BAT, WE'VE GOT A SERIES!
Cliff Lee did pitch in the American League and he did dominate the best teams. Last year he pitched 37 innings against the Yankees, Rays and Jays. Wanna know what his ERA was? Try 0.49
If you had followed the Jays at all you'd have known Lee tossed 17 shutout innings against them.
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life.
WELL he must have dominated the Red Sox as well, even though you weirdly failed to include them in your retarded sta-- oh.
Lee played the Royals five times. The Indians even delay a start a game so he could get them the last time. Nobody's saying he sucks, but Jesus Christ.
That's why Grienke deserves his Cy, by the way. He was the one poor bastard in the league who didn't get a chance to go up against KC.
You claim Lee is not worthy because he pitched in the AL Central, and then in the same message you say Greinke (note the spelling) is worthy despite pitching in the AL Central.
You must be a woman, because no man would have that hard a time making up their mind.
By the way, Greinke - whose birthday is today - has an identical 5.25 ERA against the Jays and Rays this year. He never faced the Yankees and he threw only 6 innings against Boston, so you certainly can't say he was more successful than Lee against the stronger AL East division.
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