Why I Loathe JP

This is why JP needs to be pulled into the street and beaten.

From ESPN - The Blue Jays are constantly being fingered as a possible suitor for Manny Ramirez. But GM J.P. Ricciardi told Rumblings, unequivocally: "We won't be involved with Manny. That keeps coming up, but it's not true. I think one reason is that Manny has always liked it in Toronto. He's hit more home runs here than anybody. And he likes the city, because he can fly under the radar here. So he may be asking his agent to try to find a way to put him here. He's a great hitter, so it's tempting. But being tempted and being realistic are two separate things."

Yeah, JP, who needs Manny, he's a totally unrealistic get, even though he wants to play here, has had an enormous amount of success hitting in the Dome, and the laid back baseball culture is EXACTLY what he is looking for. Right, who needs a Hall of Fame slugger that would stablize this lineup, put everyone else in their natural spots in the order, and probably make the Jays one of the more potent offenses in the AL, for at least the next 2 years. Speaking of unrealistic, you are trying to sign AJ, when the Yankees have made it clear that they want him and CC this winter. What's more unrealistic? Signing Manny when he wants to be in TO, or signing AJ who the YANKEES have a huge boner for.

Here's some more food for thought:
AJ's (Jays offer) - 4 years, $54 million
Manny (Based LA's offer, and most rumours about what he is looking for) - 3 years, $60 million.

On top of that Buster Olney reports that it is going to take a 5 year deal to lock up AJ, and the Yankees already have more than $54 million on the table for him. The only catch is that the NY offer is for 4 years.

So let's reiterate, its unrealistic for the Jays to expect to sign Manny for $6 million more than what they have currently offered Burnett. However, everyone knows that to get the AJ deal done, the final deal will have to be around 5 years for $67.5 million. $6 million more for a pitcher who is 32, and will be 37 at the end of the deal, and who has over the last 3 years in TO proven that he can't be counted on unless he is pitching for a new contract. Rather than saving that $6 million and signing a hitter that makes the TO lineup one of the more dangerous ones in the AL.

Yeah JP, way to allocate our limited resources efficiently. I fucking hate you.

MLB Free Agency Looming

Free agency is nearly upon us. What should we expect from the Blue Jays? A variety of scenarios abound...

1. Uncle Roger will blame a weak Canadian Dollar on the fact that he cannot spend money.

2. AJ Burnett will stay in Toronto. (fingers crossed he doesn't!!!!!!!)

3. JP Ricciardi will continue to diss Johnny Mac and sign another crapola shortstop of the Eckstein ilk.

4. Lyle Overbay seems on the wayout, leaving the obvious money going to a new first baseman with some pop.

5. At least one starting pitcher will need to be signed. ESPN seems to think it will be Brad Penny due to his ties with pitching coach Brad Arnsberg.

6. Designated Hitter rumours of the Giambi variety are floating.

7. Trade BJ Ryan to clear salary for a bigger move. (Please, please, please, please..)

8. But let me state the thing that the vast majority of Jays fans are thinking. I apologize if this is completely and utterly obvious.... but we want the wow factor. Remember the year the Jays signed Roger Clemons and you were like "fuckin A right!"

Well this time instead of picking up a guy who shoots roids in the butt, lets offer Manny Ramirez a guaranteed 4 year contract. Not only is he awesome on the field, I defy you to read this article and tell me he is not also the balls off it.

Without a truly outstanding offseason the Jays could sink to fifth in the division. I don't want to have to curl up in the fetal position and weep.

Our lives are in your hands Mr Rogers, Beeston, Ricciardi dudes. Give Cito something to work with. Sing it with me now - "Ok, Ok, Blue Jays, Blue Jays, let's, let's, play, play, ball."

Jays Rumours and a Review of the Bullpen

Lets start things out with a quick recap of recent Jays news.

-On Friday the Jays nabbed former pitcher Adam Loewen from the Orioles. He has been through some major ordeals with his pitching elbow over the past couple seasons and is now attempting to reinvent himself as a positional player a la Rick Ankiel. Being a native Canadian, he saw no better place than Toronto to try to realize this bold project. It is costing the Jays next to nothing to make this move, so why the hell not? The best part is that the Orioles wanted to keep him, thought it would be easy to do so, then dropped the soap and took it in the ass.

-AJ Burnett rumours are all over the place and they all contradict each other. First he doesn't want to play for the Yankees, then he does, then Ricciardi is making progress to keep him in Toronto, then he is not, then the freakin Orioles are in the bidding to keep Mrs Burnett happy. Who knows where the truth lies, but ultimately, more than 16 million a year for that guy seems absolutely ludicrous.

-If he does leave, JP assures the Jays faithful that the cupboard is not bare. The Jays have a stable of lefties who may be able to contribute in the majors in the near future. Remember the names of Brett Cecil, Ricky Romero and Brad Mills when you are having Jimmy Key flashbacks.

-Also, when Burnett's cap space gets freed up then the possibility of Manny Ramirez is not a complete pipe dream. (nor is it likely, so don't plan on being invited to his barbeque just yet) Ricciardi tried to hide his boner in this interview.

Now, the Bullpen

While I heaped a great deal of praise on the starting pitchers last week, the bullpen deserves an equal amount of positive reinforcement. Those getting the call from the pen in 2008 were every bit as good as their starting counterparts. So what can we look forward to in 2009 from this group? Lets take a closer look at the individuals…

Jeremy Accardo – Lets assume the innings he pitched in 2008 don’t count since he clearly was not 100% healthy. Back in 2007 Accardo was outstanding when forced to step into the closer’s role when BJ went down. If he can pitch at a similar level next season he will definitely be a contender amongst the ranks for the role of set-up man - or even the closer again. More on that possibility further down…

Scott Downs – Also known as the Roy Halladay of the bullpen. He had a miniscule ERA of only 1.78 in 2008. To think that it was actually lower for the majority of the year before he tried to pitch through a late season injury makes it even more impressive. The guy was money in the bank and gave the Jays countless stress-free innings of set-up work before bringing in BJ Ryan to get the fans pulses racing. There is one major question surrounding Downs and that is whether he was so good that he will be promoted to start? Could he hold up as a starter? That’s a toughie. The last thing I want to read next year is about another major pitching injury. However, with the uncertainty surrounding the starting rotation right now, there is a good possibility that he may be asked to make the jump.

Brian Wolfe – While the sample size of work upon which there was to judge him was small, he did prove to be more than adequate in the innings he pitched. Hopefully he can build off of this solid campaign and earn more work with the big club next year.

Brandon League – He has always had the “stuff” to be a ball player at the highest level. Sadly, he had fallen into the category of guys who couldn’t seem to get his act together. Was he lacking confidence, or did he simply have no control of his pitches? Well I think he answered all the doubts with an outstanding second half of the season. Now the question becomes, “was it a flash in the pan?” I’m going to sit on the fence for the moment, while quietly hoping that the guy in the glasses becomes our Ricky “the Wild Thing” Vaughn.

Jesse Carlson – Yet another Jay in the bullpen to enjoy a super 2008. If it weren’t for the play of Downs, maybe Carlson would be the pitcher to rave about. At the very least, he might have had some horseshoes strategically located in his caboose because he somehow racked up seven victories on the year. That ranked him fifth on the entire pitching staff.

Shawn Camp and Jason Fraser – These two get reviewed together because they share the common trait of being god awful. I would prefer to never see either one of them pitch for Toronto again.

Brian Tallet – He has been decent for the Jays for a few years now and reminds me a bit of Dan Plesac. In other words, a giant, left handed freak. While he undeniably gets the job done more often than not, I wouldn’t want to venture to this well too often, or for very long. Luckily though, he is not one of the primary options. In fact, to say he was the Jays fourth best leftie in the bullpen shows the luxury that Cito was working with in 2008.

BJ Ryan – On the positive side, 32 saves is nothing to sneeze at. It was also good to see him bounce back from a year off and pitch as the Germans say, “quite ok.” However, it was abundantly clear that he has not regained the velocity he had before Tommy John surgery. He sorta gave me flashbacks of Randy Myers during his tenure in Toronto. In other words, a chunky left handed closer with mediocre stuff. He used every shred of veteran savvy and junk balling techniques to rack up those saves and was far from the lock you would like to have trotting out in the ninth. Will he regain the zip he needs to dominate again next season? I hope so, because that may be the only thing that can erase my painful memory of watching Giambi golf a walk-off shot into the upper deck in right field at Yankee Stadium. That one might still be in the air as we speak.

Rumours have been swirling in recent weeks that Ryan may be a trade chip that Ricciardi tries to cash in this offseason. The Blue Jays are currently blessed with an uncanny amount of depth in the bullpen and it is not difficult to imagine the trio of Downs, League and maybe Accardo taking the reins from Ryan. Now the interesting question becomes - what is BJ worth? He does still have 2 years and 20 million left on his contract. Would he be a hot commodity?

Will continue to follow these developments and review the rest of the Jays team in the upcoming weeks. Oh and on a final note, Mike Timlin is going to retire. Which begs the question - how did he ever last 17 years? But alas, it was Timlin who earned the save to clinch 1992 World Series - not Henkenstein or Duane Ward - thus he is above any crticism. (even if he did spend too many years as a member of the Red Sox)

Happy Anniversary, Joe

Happy Anniversary, Joe. On this day 15 years ago - October 23, 1993 - you hit a home run that will stand the test of time not only in our city's sporting history, but in all of Major League Baseball. Head on over to Sportsnet.ca for a great photo gallery from that night.

I was lucky enough to be present for that moment. I was 13 years old and sitting with my parents [full disclosure: in a corporate box] at the SkyDome. The box was about half way down the third base line, and to this day I can close my eyes and literally watch as Joe's homerun ball sailed over the wall - seemingly in slow motion - and landed in the bullpen as Joe started leaping around the bases.

Its my greatest sports memory, and along with the '92 Jays, was the only time a major professional team in Toronto has won a championship in my lifetime. I was too young at that time to get involved in the parties that erupted around the city, but I sure got a taste of the honking horns, cheering fans and general revellry as we made the trek from the SkyDome to our hotel. The only thing that can come close for me in my adult life was sitting in a Toronto sports bar watching the Canadian men's hockey team win gold at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. Following the win, me and 5 friends (some of whom are contributors to this site) went to Shopper's Drug Mart, bought red lipstick, took our shirts off in the dead of winter, wrote the letters C-A-N-A-D-A on our respective chests and proceeded to run up and down Yonge St. high-fiving total strangers and leading an impromptu rendition of "Oh Canada" from a construction site on the corner of Yonge and Dundas.

"Planning the parade" might be an overly used quip in our city's sports lexicon - but as we look back on this anniversary I sincerely hope we all get to experience that kind of collective joy again soon. I'm sick of the Santa Clause Parade.

FINALLY!!!!!

Red Sox Nation still angry that the Rays took down their pale faced heroes...

Like the cockroach, I didn't think the Red Sox could be killed. Seriously, after the Game 5 comeback I thought that Jason Veritek and Dustin Pedroia could survive a nuclear attack, no problem. I was mentally preparing myself for the endless national media wack off about how much "heart" the Sox had, the endless testamounts of how great Pedroia was because he made it to the MLB dispite being a drawf, and I would have had to read Sports Bitch talk about the power and resilience of "Red Sox Nation" (btw, check out his column post game 5 if you don't believe me). But.......

There is a God and the TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS are AL CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I am not going to pretend to be a Rays fan, I'm not, in fact, I delighted in the fact that I used to be able to count on them to finish behind the Jays every year in the AL East (congrats to Baltimore for becoming the AL East's doormat). The Rays have consistently been one of the worst teams in baseball for the past 10 seasons, but they have finally emerged from the wilderness on the backs of their number 1 picks, and a few VERY shrewd trades. Drafting Crawford, Upton, Beldelli, Longoria high, dealing some marginal talent away for Scott Kazmir, and making the deal of the year by sending a very good player (Delmon Young) away for Matt Garza, have put the Rays on the precipice of winning the World Series (which I think is going to be awesome).

Why am I writing about the Rays on the blog? Because their success makes me realize that now is the time to FIRE JP Riccardi!!!!!!!!

Here is a short list of sins that Riccardi has committed that in my opinion make him unfit to be the GM of a little league team, let alone the Jays:

1. Russ Adams was drafted ahead of Cole Hamels (NLCS MVP). Why did this happen? Cause Riccardi likes to masterbate to stats, and he doesn't trust high school pitchers.

2. Trading Gabe Gross (starting LF for the '08 AL Champs) for a bag of peanuts. Seriously, who did we get back? If Gross is good enough to start for the Rays, Riccardi should have gotten something back, but he didn't.

3. Not drafting anyone useful (with the exception of Aaron Hill). Do you realize that Alexis Rios, Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells, Adam Lind, and Dustin McGowen were all drafted by Gord Ash? Gord freaking Ash!!!!! Riccardi has a SHOCKING inability to find talent, Moneyball be damned.

Anyway, now is the time to rid the organization for the Riccardi cancer. The Jays are getting some cash to spend with the impending AJ Burnett opt out, let's hope that Rogers doesn't let Riccardi piss that away!!!!!!!!

Bloody Groundhog Day

What exactly is going on with the hirings in Toronto sports these days?

It all began less than a year ago with Grandpa Cliffy coming back to the Leafs. Is he older than John McCain? I'm serious, is he?

Then came the rescue of Cito Gaston from a mental institution for the severely clinically depressed.

Then the Argos dug up Don Matthews just in time for a playoff run. Or not.

Now since Cito, version 2008, proved to be the best manager the Jays have had since...Cito in the 1990s, the Jays have stuck with the formula and brought back Paul Beeston to replace the sleezy looking pedofile Godfrey character.

I suppose there is noone else in the world who knows anything about sports and is applying for these jobs. Oh wait, that's unfuckinlikely.

Are we doomed to contnue re-living the past and diggin up these fossilized characters to continue leading our home teams? If the answer is yes - which I believe it is - then here is my wishlist for resurrections:

TFC: Craig Forrest - As coach of Team Canada he got them nowhere. Still though, that was Team Canada. They've only qualified for the World Cup once in their history and during this brief cameo they scored 0 goals. I mean, who could succeed as coach of that team? They've already been eliminated from World Cup qualifying for 2010 after only 5 games of Concacaf fun. Bring Forrest to the TFC sidelines.


Raptors: Butch Carter - If it weren't for his feud/lawsuit with Marcus Camby and that whole issue with long distance telephone calls then he would be worshipped as the best Raps coach ever. He first took them to the playoffs, he developed Vince and TMac and he's a good tactician/motivater combo. I heart Butch.

Argos: Does anyone actually support the Argos? Anyone? Anyone? How about Paul Masotti? Has anyone seeen him around Hamilton lately? He might be up for redirecting the Boatmen.

Leafs: Pat Burns - Bring back the cop from Hull, Quebec to laydown the law. Most of the Leafs greatest accomplishments of the last 30 years (read: not many) came with him as coach. I know he was sick a few years ago but rumour has it that he is feeling better now and wants to get back into coaching. When Ron Wilson's wacky humour begins to wear thin, what the hell have the Leafs got to lose?


Blue Jays: Kelly Gruber - last time I saw the Golden Mullet he was returning to Toronto as a member of the Angels and said something like "Opinions are like asses - some stink, some don't." I'm not sure if he borrowed that poetic quote from Edgar Allen Poe or Maya Angelou, but either way it was sheer brilliance. He is apparently working as a motivational speaker now. If a quote like that won't get Vernon Wells to play through a tweaked hammy then I don't know what will. C'mon Cito, give the guy a job as third base coach. After all, his autobiography was titled Home on Third. Send him home Cito. Is he too good for his home?

Debunking Jeff Blair's Rumor of an MLSE-Rogers Merger

As noted by Eyebleaf in the comments to my post yesterday, and by Torontosportsmedia, Jeff Blair wrote a blog piece about the hiring of Paul Beeston as the Jays "interim" President. More specifically, he threw out a pretty wild theory that Beeston's hiring could, eventually, lead to a merger (or acquisition) between MLSE and Rogers. Interesting theory, so let's slice into it a little further...

Problem 1: As recently reported by Forbes, the value of the Jays is $350M (all figures US $), with revenues of $160M and EBITDA of -$1.2M. I don't have to tell you that the Jays ain't exactly the New York Yankees. We here in Leafland often bemoan the fact that the owners of the Leafs are the dreaded suits over at MLSE (including significant ownership by the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan - "OTPP"), and part of the problem of having a corporate owned franchise (as opposed to a solo ego-driven owner like Mark Cuban), is that the corporation looks at possible deals from a strictly financial standpoint. Remember, OTPP are the caretakers of our province's teachers in this particularly crappy financial market. The Jays would likely be a drag on MLSE's balance sheet each year - and I seriously question whether OTPP would let Peddie go through with such an acquisition.

Problem 1a: The Jays hold certain intangible benefits to Rogers - namely the ability to cross promote the team on Rogers' cable/cell phone networks and TV stations - which gives Rogers a certain leeway to operate the Jays at a loss. Take it from a friend at Sportsnet who is "in the know," it goes a long way towards opening the wallets of current and prospective Rogers advertisers to be able to invite them onto the corporate jet and shuttle them off to a warm weather destination to hob knob with Jays players and Sportsnet personalities. MLSE wouldn't have that built-in advantage, and I just don't see how OTPP would let them do it. Hang on though, there's more...

Here's where it gets crazy... because Blair doesn't just suggest a merger of MLSE and the Jays. He suggests a merger of MLSE and Rogers Communications, Inc. (TSE:RCI)! He calls it a "seismic shift in the Toronto sports landscape." Folks, I have no particular beef with Blair, but this deal wouldn't just be felt in the Toronto sports world - it would instead be felt across the Canadian business community! Stay with me here...

Problem 2: Blair suggests that since Ted Rogers is getting old, they will need a new leader and that a Rogers-MLSE merger will help them find that leader. Well, I hate to burst the bubble here but Rogers, as alluded to above, is a publicly-traded communications company with a market cap of approx. $17.2 BILLION. How in the world is MLSE going to afford the purchase of Rogers? This would be a massive transaction, would costs BILLIONS, would require an army of lawyers, accountants and i-bankers, not to mention the fact that it would require MLSE to become a reporting company to the Ontario Securities Commission (and maybe the SEC). Furthermore, even if Peddie & The Leaf Fan Heartbreakers had the gall and savy to pull off a deal like this... how the heck would they finance it in these capital markets? Among the litany of problems with this concept, I just can't see how they could raise the cash to do a deal like that.

Problem 3: Once again, Rogers is a publicly traded communications business. On the other hand, MLSE is a sports empire, with holdings that include the Leafs, Raptors and TFC. Even if Rogers wanted to buy MLSE, I cannot imagine how Rogers could justify the purchase of these teams to its shareholders. I know I mentioned the benefits of Rogers' ownership of the Jays above, but this is a communications company - not a sports company. Owning a single team with certain synergies is one thing - but owning ALL of Toronto's sports teams??? Business have a strong predilection to failure when they diversify outside of their core competencies, and this would be a major leap for Rogers to take (example: The Chicago Trib's need to sell the Cubs). Furthermore, I seriously question whether Peddie and the OTPP would be willing to sell. MLSE is a cash cow with no expiration date in site. This is a group that can raise ticket prices at the same time they reduce the quality of their product. The premium that Rogers would have to pay would likely make any such deal too prohibitive.

Its an interesting theory that Blair floated out there - but I simply cannot see it happening for the reasons above, in additon to the many that I'm sure you readers can come up with. Oh, and if you've got a stronger financial background than me (not hard to do!) and can see holes in my theories, please fire away in the comments and let me know where I'm wrong in my assessment.