Thursday, February 4, 2010

Quick thoughts on the 'pen

Eerily quiet day around Blue Jays camp after word broke on the Gregg signing, I suppose pending completion of a physical and such. I've been thinking more about the ramifications of the signing (and yes, I realize the absurdity of spending even more time pondering the merits and fallout of a $2.75M contract handed out to a reliever, but that's how I roll), and I'm no longer convinced another trade is necessarily imminent.

Perhaps Wilner's take has influenced my thoughts here, but it really is quite conceivable that the Jays head to spring with all the arms currently on the roster in tow, and let camp dictate the next course of action. I'll disagree slightly with Wilner in that it feels to me like Shawn Camp is far more entrenched than "being up against it", but what do I know? He gave the Jays 80 innings of serviceable relief in '09 - admittedly mostly low-leverage innings - but he pitched fairly well, posting a 3.50 ERA and 1.28 WHIP.

That's my way of saying I don't get the Shawn Camp Hate.

Think good thoughts for the 'Foose
The relief situation became a little less cloudy (unfortunately), as the Jays (and Hayhurst himself) announced the reliever will go under the knife for exploratory surgery on a troublesome shoulder.

Say what you will about Hayhurst's pitching ability, but Dirk seems to be good people, and you have to feel for a guy who has spent a career bouncing around baseball's minor leagues finding himself on the precipice of a major league job....only to face the uncertainty of shoulder surgery two weeks before camp.

The Garfoose's tweets admitting worry about his career (and mortgage payments, etc...) pull the covers back just enough to make you realize that the players we incessantly (obsessively?) discuss and analyze aren't all that different from you and I. Except for maybe a tad more athletic ability, of course.

Here's hoping all Hayhurst needs is a little nip & tuck.

16 comments:

The Man With The Golden Arm said...

Camp is a decent long reliever and more importantly one of the Cito's favorites because he keeps the ball on the ground. He will have to lose his job in the spring if he is to be displaced. Plus he is out of options. So is Merkin Valdez. Throw in the Rule 5 guy ZZ and you have too many guys that need to stay on the 25 man roster. There must be another move coming.

andy mc said...

purcey and mcgowan are out of options too, and may need to go to the BP.


but....


i like a BP of

Frasor/downs/gregg/carlson/accardo/tallet/camp (or roenicke)


but i agree, there is a MAJOR trade coming soon. why else sign Zinicola and Valdez, who must make the team or be DFA/returned?

maybe AA is gonna trade downs frasor AND accardo....? add a young SP and tallet/richmond and we might be getting something GOOD back. who knows, maybe AA needed to be sure he could fill our needs after trading a ton of pitching for one TOP prospect or player. maybe Aybar? Angels do need pitching.

i would love to see a big, gutsy move. i just hope it isnt a salary dump in regards to frasor/downs. but that wouldnt make sense, because AA dished out 2.75 to gregg....hmmmmmm... something happening. i feel it.


btw, ack..... keep posting.... you are on fire. keeping the blog more than alive friend.


now all we need is handsome tony's take on this....

Anonymous said...

Predilection casinos? grill this environmental [url=http://www.realcazinoz.com]casino[/url] advisor and about up online casino games like slots, blackjack, roulette, baccarat and more at www.realcazinoz.com .
you can also suggest a obtain out settled our late [url=http://freecasinogames2010.webs.com]casino[/url] bid at http://freecasinogames2010.webs.com and overwhelm chief encyclopaedic currency !
another unsurpassed [url=http://www.ttittancasino.com]casino spiele[/url] lot is www.ttittancasino.com , in compensation german gamblers, get manumitted online casino bonus.

dave57 said...

Any chance we can get rid of the spam guys? I surely want to invest with some dipshit commenter on a blog that can't spell Pyramid.
Otherwise good job, good post.
I am either excited for very scared for what the fall out of this signing will be.

The Ack said...

What, you don't trust their investment advice?

Yeah, I know. Brutal. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait for the Tao's return. I don't think I even have those admin rights to deal with it/delete comments.

To the topic at hand - yeah, I keep forgetting that Purcey needs to be dealt with somehow. I sense another organization in his future.

McGowan isn't going anywhere - smart money is he starts on the DL if the 'crowd' hasn't thinned by season's start, no?

Darren Priest said...

Glad to see you're not on the Camp Hate Train. The guy just does his job. It's like hating, um, something else that should not be hated. Sorry, don't have my "A" game.

Yeah, Hayhurst seems to be a real nice guy. I hope it works out for him. If nothing else, his book proves he won't end up stacking shelves like Kurt Warner did before the power of Brenda's prayers made him a hall of famer. Still, if I could choose baseball over my desk job, I surely would.

MJK said...

if you can get anything for Frasor now then you do it because he is just as likely to be a complete failure as he is a type B.

Downs has a chance of becoming a type A if he stays healthy, so you have to get something decent in order to part with him.

the rest of the BP is interchangeable with every other lousy one in baseball.

dave57 said...

I would imagine that this could pave the way for the 5 or 6 player deal that AA mentioned during the state of franchise.
I am thinking some combination of Purcey, Mills, Accardo, Downs, Fraser, Overbay, Roenicke and Arencibia/other prospect
As a stand alone deal its a little ridiculous but in AA I trust.

Mattt said...

So far I'm trusting AA. This Gregg thing has me scratching my head a little but there just has to be more to it.

MelancholyInker said...

By the way, in case you guys haven't seen it, Big League Stew (Yahoo's MLB Blog), gave props and a story about Hayhurst. Check it out.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Blue-Jays-Hayhurst-tweets-with-Gadget-humor-a?urn=mlb,217491

Gil Fisher said...

Purcey has an option left.

andy mc said...

no he doesn't

Dan said...

You get three option years. Purcey was in the majors in 2008 and 2009. That's only two.

Jawn said...

I like the Gregg signing for any of the possible reasons. When he joined the Cubs, just 1 year ago, it was big news down there.
He has got to be AA's most realistic reclamation project. Good signing, especially if he can be traded.

Gil Fisher said...

Andy, if you read Cot's glossary page on options and apply it to the details under Purcey's contract on the Jays page, you should come to the conclusion that he has an option left.

What is your source? It better not be me, because I was set straight (probably by Torgen) months ago, but previously was spouting the Purcey out of options line.

Anonymous said...

[url=http://tonoviergates.net/][img]http://tonoviergates.net/img-add/euro2.jpg[/img][/url]
[b]buy c++ software, [url=http://sopriventontes.net/]8 oem software[/url]
[url=http://tonoviergates.net/]windows vista theme download[/url] xp oem software buy dreamweaver 2004
you sell used software [url=http://tonoviergates.net/]car sale software[/url] sale my software
[url=http://sopriventontes.net/]free autocad[/url] buy photoshop cs2
[url=http://tonoviergates.net/]educational software purchase[/url] buy cheap computer software
game software store [url=http://sopriventontes.net/]office software price[/url][/b]