Tweet Bag! Your questions answered!

In a fit of boredom, and unable to think of anything to write about the Jays and their rainout this afternoon, we came up with this idea: You tweet your questions on the Jays, baseball, life, love, snack foods, movies, music, style, relationships or what have you to us, and we'll give it at least a cursory thought before answering flippantly.

A Tweet Bag! Get on in!

From the inimitable @dlbrows:

If only one of Marcum, McGowan, Litsch was able to return to form and you had the choice of which who would you pick?

Maybe this is a sign that we've given up a little bit on Dusty Lampchops, but we'd have to go with Shaun Marcum. Marcum isn't a big body with scary velocity, but he's got (or at least, had) great movement on his pitches and could excel with guile.

Marcum, for his career, has a 3.95 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP in 396.2 IPs, whereas McGowan has posted a 4.71 ERA and 1.37 ERA in 353.2 IPs. While the former wasn't the top prospect type, he's certainly zoomed past McGowan once the reached the big leagues. (Which probably tells you something about Top Prospects lists, doesn't it?)

And as for Jesse: He's got Litsch tits.

From @Koomdogg :

Garth Iorg: Great name or the greatest name?

Frankly, we don't even think he's got the greatest name in his family. That honour would go to Dane Iorg, which has the benefit of sounding both regal and like an endtable from Ikea.

In terms of great baseball names, we've got to go with Kiko Calero as our current favorite. In any baseball video game we play, we always go get him, because we just love to hear the name over and over again. Kiko Calero. Kiko Calero.

We probably have a bit of a fixation on latin names in general. Like Yovanni Gallardo or Jair Jurrjens. And when it comes to hockey, we can't get enough of Finnish names. Our all time favorite name ever is that of former Ottawa Senators head scout and director of player personnel Jarmo Kekäläinen. How awesome is that name? Two times awesomer than you think! (And no wonder the Sens have drafted like a bunch of drunk monkeys lately...no Kekäläinen!)

And of course, there's the unmatchable majesty of the name Marc Rzepczynski, which we only just then wrote for the first time without having to look it up.

So the answer is, unfortunately, no. Not the greatest name. And we're not just saying that because he's the one who feebly made the last out against the Tigers in 1987.

Which brings us to this, from @Spankadia:

In light of the weather in Dunedin, how about the top 5 Jays games you wish had been rained out?

Maybe we would have just been delaying the inevitable, but that last game of the 1987 season for sure, as well as the one a week or so earlier when Bill Madlock broke Tony Fernandez on a take out slide, costing the Jays a key part of their offensive and defensive strength that year.

We'd probably also rain out the game in Texas where Roy Halladay took a Kevin Mench liner off the leg in his start before the All-Star Game, which he was also likely to start.

Nothing aside from that comes to mind. Given the alternative, we'd rather see them play on, regardless of the weather. Anyone else got a thought?

One more for now. @stillJRM asks:

It's summer 2011, who is the more valuable bat? snider, wallace, ruiz.

Ooh! Prognosticating! We like it. First off, we'd like to say that in the Summer of 2011, there will be a song that you hate but that everyone else loves and plays non-stop throughout those months. Take that to the bank.

As for the hitters: We've got too much invested in Snider at this point not to go with him. We actually have a feeling that Wallace could be a 30 homer, .900 OPS guy, but maybe not for a few years. (Supposing the fake Mayans weren't right about 2012, in which case, we'd trade the entire system for Albert Pujols and Hanley Ramirez, and make one last run for it then.)

As for Ruiz: We love him, and we want to see him blow the roof off the dump. But we'll need to see it before we completely totally believe it.

Questions

Heyo friends - who wants to talk about shortstops?

Yeah, me neither. When do the Winter Meeting start again? Until then, I've got questions, maybe you have some answers....

When did prospect porn become the baseball fan's vice of choice?
Regurgitating discussion from comment sections this week....but seriously, what's up with the completely absurd fascination with unproven prospects - talented as they may be - who haven't even advanced beyond the low minors?

Honestly, if I read "No way I would give up (Casey Kelly, Jesus Montero, Ryan Westmoreland, Kyle Drabek, etc) for one year of a 32 year old pitcher" one more fucking time, I think I might just go on ahead and gouge my eyes out.

There are so many things wrong with the reasoning behind this line of thought that I'm not even going to bother taking it down. Actually, yes I am:

(1) That "32 year old pitcher" is one of the best (if I was biased, I'd say the best) in the game, he's at his peak, he's not declining, and nobody works harder. I understand, prospect fans, that you love to show just how clever and informed you are by touting your team's "next big thing"....but in actuality, all you're really proving is your ignorance by dismissing the greatness of Doc. Jesus, this makes me angry.

(2) In all likelihood, you're not getting one year of Doc, you're getting a contract-extended Doc. Oh, and don't worry about the goddamned payroll - you are all big market, free spending clubs. You'll manage.

(3) Your teams are involved in the discussions because they are built to win now. Prospect X, should he pan out, will be a guy who can help you win in 2 or 3 seasons. What, you have an aversion to winning today? You'd rather roll the dice on potentially being in the same position a few seasons down the road?

(4) Please, Yankee/Red Sox/Phillies/Dodgers (to a lesser extent) fans, don't insult our intelligence by clinging to the value of "cost controlled players". Are you just trying to be cruel?

(5) That player you're touting as the next big thing? The guy you've never seen play, but can't possibly bear to lose? He'll be replaced in short order by the next guy on your team's top-10 prospect list, or perhaps by the next high schooler who slips to the 6th round on signability concerns that your team drafts and "convinces" to bypass college.

So there.

Why can't Dustin McGowan become Toronto's Jonathan Papelbon?
....minus the part about being a douchebag, of course.

I'll remind you this is all hypothetical on my part. I'll let you know that I know there's probably a prettttty, pretty slim chance that ol' Dusty can even recover from his shoulder woes to be an effective MLB arm. But hear me out - didn't Boston go through the same thing with their (begrudgingly) nails closer? I can't pretend to know the severity of Papelbon's history of arm troubles, but I do recall (with a google assist) that Papelbon was a rising power arm who was moved to the bullpen in an effort to placate that tender shoulder.

Can this scenario unfold for McGowan? And really - doesn't he seem perfect for the role? Power fastball? Check. Hammer breaking ball? Check. Superficial "unique" look required for a memorable closer? His lambchops say "check".

Bears watching, is all I'm saying.

Shouldn't we be talking a little more about Jesse Litsch?
Hey, he is what he is. Jesse Litsch is probably no more than a back end starter who can provide the club with some serviceable major league innings. That's not a knock, that's just who he is. In fact, I mean it as a compliment, because I really do believe that he doesn't receive near the credit he should for being just that.

He doesn't throw 95 and he won't get you more than about 5K/9. But if he can bounce back from his TJ (does that stand for "Tommy John" or "Toronto Jay"?) surgery and provide the club with some rotation stability, the club will be much better for it. And that, my friends, would be admirable. I'm pulling for the guy.

Do writers make absurd claims because they think the Jays are wholly incompetent? Or are they just smug?
Actually, I've got the answers here:

YES, the Jays will offer Marco Scutaro arbitration.

NO, the Jays will not accept a package of Ian Kennedy, Melky Cabrera, and Francisco Cervelli in exchange for Doc.

...and NO, Alex Anthopoulos will not "throw in" Adam Lind to "even out the deal" in exchange for your precious little prospects.

Can we convince ourselves that the disdain we feel for the Jays offseason moves to date will dissipate as the plan becomes clear?
Yeah, I probably can, personally. I've been getting on (for now) by telling myself that if these were the final moves of the offseason (throwing 2 years at Johnny Mac, signing Alex Gonzalez v2.0) rather than the first moves of the offseason, things would make more sense.

I'll carry on believing that these moves are not a precursor to more of the same in addressing the many other holes on the roster, and by April 1 we'll have reason for hope.

I keep telling myself that it's all part of the process, and AA knows what he's doing - because I want him to succeed. I'll keep believing that better days of baseball are ahead.

We have to, man.