Saturday, January 30, 2010

Random thoughts on Everything and Nothing

I don't want to come across like a drama queen here, friends, and I certainly don't mean to leave the impression that posting here at the Tao's joint is anything but good times for me. Otherwise, why would I bother, ya know? That being said, the dead of winter - especially the 6 weeks or so leading up to spring training - aren't exactly the most inspirational of times to be posting regularly about a baseball team. I find I have a million thoughts (OK, a dozen.....OK, OK, a few) running through my mind, but none postworthy in and of themselves.

So, uh, yeah.... here they are:

When you consider the limitations surely in place, it's hard to imagine Alex Anthopoulos' term as GM getting off to a better start. He could not possibly have faced a more difficult task to begin his tenure (Halladay), and made out at least as well as anyone could have expected. His enthusiasm is contagious, and I want to buy what he's selling. It's nice to see his efforts to bring baseball back to relevance in Toronto getting some well deserved pub, and I, for one, am excited about the way he's shaping not only the team, but the organization as a whole.
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Speaking of rebranding (reshaping, whatever...) the organization, am I the only one who's mildly surprised that we haven't seen a uniform change? I know it's an easy (and frequent) bitch for us blogger types, but now seems like the perfect opportunity to bring the Blue back to the Blue Jays field gear. It's not that I even dislike the current unis (and I'm even amongst the tiny minority who prefers the "T" cap to the "official logo" cap), but they just seem to be.....temporary. So how's about it, Beest? I know we're all sick of embracing all things nostalgic with the team, but surely a compromise (coloured in blue) can be found, no?
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So, new field turf for 2010. This is a good thing. Downing pints in Windows restaurant (edit: Arriba Lounge?) last season and looking down on the turf, I was amazed that a major league (baseball) team played 80+ games on that patchwork.
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Not to stir a hornet's nest, but I can't believe this article by Griff hasn't received more play. Some pretty "Days of Our Lives" type stuff in here regarding The Manager's fave, Casey Accardo (see what I did there?). I'm not even going to try and connect the dots in there. Here's hoping Accardo puts it all behind him and reminds us how good he can be (recall: 2007).
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For no real reason, I can't shake the feeling that one of Justin Jackson or Kevin Ahrens will bounce back this season and show the form that made them worthy of their draft position. Despite awful seasons in '09, they're both still young, and I find it a little disheartening that everyone has seemingly up and quit on them.
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Along those lines, one of Henderson Alvarez, Gustavo Pierre, and Moises Sierra will put up the type of season that vaults them into top prospect-dom. One of them will also put up the type of awful season that forces me to use the "they're still young!" theme next year. I'm nothing if unoriginal.
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I'm all for free speech (obviously) and would be loathe to here anyone's being muzzled, but I think the Jays exec should consider sitting down next year in advance of the annual State of the Franchise chat and, you know, get their collective shit together. "Delgado doesn't fit."...."I'd love to see Carlos back here."....and so forth.
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I'm so excited about one pain free mound session, it's ridiculous. And I don't want any part of jinxing it, so I'm not even going to discuss it further.
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How many more days until pitchers & catchers report? BUILDING!

11 comments:

dave said...

You should be commended every year for not falling into fits of despair during the WPG winters.

Think of Dustin on those long walks from work to the car, Ack. Think of Dustin and pray for no pain.

Anonymous said...

This of the comined powers of Dusty Mc's chops and Jawny Damon's 'burns...

Nemesis Enforcer said...

Great article!

I agree with you about the Boy Wonder, he doesn't feel like a used car salesmen like our previous GM. I feel when he speaks he believes in this team. He's excited for where we're going and that makes me excited for the future.

Anonymous said...

think about great we would all feel if Cito had been parachuted out at the end of the season. he's the only blemish on this team right now ... well, Vernon, but whatever.

it's shocking to me that a rebuilding organization is willing to impede the progress of its young talent for the sake of placating a clearly petty and antagonistic manager.

oh also, if this team doesn't have a payroll of at least 90 million next off season then this is all a waste of everyone's time.

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

That was the one pain free mound session heard around the world. If you're not rooting for Dustin McGowan, you likely have no soul.

Great stuff, as always, Ack.

Anonymous said...

ok. This is very important.
Bloggers everywhere simply must stop writing "see what I did there" in cute small print.

Aaron Hill said...

"Downing pints in Windows restaurant last season and looking down on the turf, I was amazed that a major league (baseball) team played 80+ games on that patchwork."

BULLSHIT!

Windows Restaurant was CLOSED all season! BLAHAHAHAHAHA.

Aaron Hill said...

"Downing pints in Windows restaurant last season and looking down on the turf, I was amazed that a major league (baseball) team played 80+ games on that patchwork."

BULLSHIT!

Windows Restaurant was CLOSED all season! BLAHAHAHAHAHA.

The Ack said...

^^ Perhaps I got the name wrong, but we stayed in the hotel, and on the Sunday evening following the series we sat up in the restaurant/lounge and drank pints of beer.

(just looked it up. Arriba Lounge, I believe it's called. So simmer down on your BLAHAHAHAHAHA. )

Peter DeMarco said...

Just some thoughts on the Jays uniform:
a) I personally don't want the Jays to ever go back to one of their old uniforms, if they decide a change is in order, move forward rather than looking to the past again.
b) At the end of the day it all comes down to merchandise sales. Regardless of what bloggers think, if the new uniform is selling well, they will not make a change. My impression is that the new uniform is more merchandise friendly than anything they have had in the past.

Darren Priest said...

I get approving looks and comments for my old school Jays hat. At least I thought they were approving; it could have been scorn. I hope they don't bail on flashback Fridays -- even if that seems to be emerging as a minority position at this point.

Good work, Ack. That prick Tao can fuck right off in his warm clime. Yes, I am bitter and miserable and resent the pleasures of others. If I were wealthy, I could be a Dickensian villain.