Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Too many Brandons!

We figured that today would be a day off, where we could spend more time online looking at NFL Cheerleaders in their holiday garb and dust off some last minute shopping on Amazon. (Which Gotan Project discs does Mrs. Tao have anyhow?)

Alas, that sneaky bugger Anthopoulos has apparently gone and worked out a deal that would send the apple in the eye of GROF's Drew to Seattle for Brandon Morrow, who has "upside".

Looking at the numbers, we might be able to argue this as an upgrade, and we don't have the same level of attachment to League as some others. But what is worrisome is the plus one to this deal, where the Jays are apparently sending a prospect to the Mariners.

One tweeted report from (Dave Cameron of USS Mariner) stated that the prospect is Zach Stewart, who came over in the Rolen trade. To which we say: Yikes!

Will the trade be consummated? Who will the prospect be? Will Drew freak out online, or will he trash his office, launching slide rules and mechanical pencils hither and yon? Keep coming back today for ongoing coverage of this situation!

11:38 am - Mystery Prospect Update!
FoxSports.com's Jon Morosi tweets that the Mariners are looking for a catcher, which we think likely puts J.P. Arencibia and Brian Jeroloman on notice (via the Drunks.) We like Arencibia more than Jeroloman, but that's based mostly on a quick scan of numbers, and nothing more.

1:16 pm - Lack of News Update!
So, to sum up: Basically pick a player in the Jays system (Arencibia, Cooper, Dopirak, Stewart, Jeroloman) and a commenter on one blog or another has "heard from their source" that such and such a guy is in the deal.

In lieu of discussing the implications of these rumours, we'd prefer to note that we are annoyed and appalled at how Vic Chesnutt's amazing At the Cut is on just one Best of 2009 albums list. (Hooray for Stereo Subversion, and boo to the rest of you hipster douchebags. I'll stomp on your frigging Dirty Projectors records! I swear I will!)

1:46 pm - We have a name, and it is Johermyn
Bastian tweets that Johermyn Chavez, who knocked the snot out of the ball in Lansing last year, may be the mystery bachelor on his way to Seattle (or more likely, to West Tennessee to play for the Double A Dimond Jaxx. Or some other team. Who knows?)

Liked the look of Chavez' numbers, and figured that a steady progression might land him in Toronto eventually, although his repeating a year in the NY-Penn League makes us wonder if there were concerns about him beyond his baseball skills.

22 comments:

Tony said...

Yikes? Why would you say yikes to turning a future Hall of Fame third baseman into a diabetic possible starter?

/s

Peter DeMarco said...

I like the deal, I will support any deal that AA makes where the Jays get the best player. I fully believe that both League and Stewart (when he develops) are replaceable players, and Morrow, has the chance to become something special, if he can avoid the big injury IF.

André said...

Peter D, you're crazy. Regarding Stewart. Luckily, I don't think he's going anywhere. That Dave Cameron tweet was a shot in the dark, I think.

"Seattle likes... ground ball pitchers... that is an organizational preference that no one else has. So--it's gotta be this highly ranked ground ball pitcher, right? I'm a genius!"

André said...

I mean, at USS Mariner he also suggests that the prospect is Wallace, because he could "step in and fill the gap at first base." Oh--he could do that, I guess. Uh, okay.

Unknown said...

I've heard Brian Dopirak may be the prospect included, which makes a lot more sense now that Wallace is onboard.

Tao of Stieb said...

I shouldn't have read the comments at USS Mariner. Ridiculous that they think that the difference between Morrow and League is "Snyder" or Wallace.

Suddenly, I hate the Mariners.

plain_g said...

how is it that the yanks can decide they need a 5th starter, then pull javy vazquez out of the braves for melky fkn cabrera, when all the hot stove chatter was the braves only wanted to move lowe or kawakami. cashman is like fkn russell on survivor.

Anonymous said...

I don't understand the previous comment

Mylegacy said...

Morrow could be Purcey. When young both threw smoke but had little command. Purcey slowed his fastball and still doesn't have much control.

The question is what will Morrow have to give up in order to get control? The REAL question is after he gives up his stuff will he have any control?

Who. Knows. Crapshoot.

JB in Brooklyn (not that JB) said...

can't both Dirty Projectors and Vic Chesnutt be good? Screw end of year lists period.

The Bill Callahan record might trump them both (and I like both)

Drew said...

My favorite record of 2009 is nearly the same as my favorite record if 2008 - Russian Circles.

Tao of Stieb said...

I'm thinking of three records from this year that I'd list at the top: Vic, Neko Case's Middle Cyclone and Phoenix' Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

Aside from that, I can't even remember what I listened to this year. Spent way more time at the movies and on this blog.

ordinaryperson said...

From Baseball America's 2006 Organizational Top 10:

PROJECTED 2010
LINEUP
Catcher - Curtis Thipgen
First Base - Lyle Overbay
Second Base - Russ Adams
Third Base - Troy Glaus
Shortstop - Aaron Hill
Left Field - Travis Snider
Center Field - Vernon Wells
Right Field - Alex Rios
Desgnted Hitter - Adam Lind
No. 1 Starter - Roy Halladay
No. 2 Starter - A.J. Burnett
No. 3 Starter - Ricky Romero
No. 4 Starter - Dustin McGowan
No. 5 Starter - Gustavo Chacin
Closer - B.J. Ryan

So close! Check out that rotation!

plain_g said...

gustavo, opaaa!

Darren Priest said...

Tao, are all your favorite female singers redheads?

Jay Hill said...

I watched a few of the game clips on Morrow courtesy of MLB.com. He strikes me as having an effortless type of delivery - AJ-esque if you like. Having said that AJ is the most injury prone starter this side of Mark Prior. I don't buy into projections too much, but I think with the right kind of mentor - and a safe distance from Arnsberg, this guy could be something.

Unfortunately, the right mentor just said goodbye to Toronto with a full page ad in the newspaper. Cheers Doc, all the best.

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

You know what I learned late last night and today? That Mariners fans are retarded.

Brad Fullmer Fan said...

Andre, I was amused by Dave Cameron making those shots in the dark as well yesterday. He seriously overrated Morrow.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Dave Cameron really put himself out there for ridicule. Twitter is a dangerous thing. Same for Blair and his Snider tweet.

Anonymous said...

I think it's pretty arguable, and I sure don't think that CG and SO are the stats to use in making an intelligent comparison. Different eras, entirely different concepts of bullpen management. What's really amazing is that Doc gets any complete games at all (I think he had something like 9 this year?) in an era where most SPs average about 6 innings.

Anonymous said...

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