We're hip to a Delgado comeback

At the risk of sending our personal favourite Jays blogger into paroxysms of rage (sorry, Drew), allow us to give into sentimentality and nostalgia for a moment as we suggest a return engagement in Toronto for Carlos Delgado. (Who just returned to action in the PR Winter League...Topical!)

Before you pile on too quickly and let us know that we're becoming a dunderheaded old softy, we'll acknowledge right up front that this is a kinda bad idea. Bringing in Delgado would, as Keith Law noted last week, take at bats away from Adam Lind, Travis Snider and/or Brett Wallace. And that wouldn't be a good thing.

Having said that, we're not exactly convinced that you can pencil in the McGuire Twins in for a full season of good health and the same 30 homer, 100 RBI season that Lind put up last year. Provided Delgado comes in with a reasonable contract demand, he could be a very compelling low-risk, high-reward reclamation project for 2010. Delgado, who posted a 38 HR/118 RBI/.871 OPS in his last healthy season, could provide significant offensive punch in the middle of the Jays' 2010 lineup, while satiating the market's need for a recognizable "face of the franchise" type.

Essentially, this comes down to a question about Wallace's progression (does he need MLB at bats to improve?) and Snider's defense (does he need to play left, pushing Lind to DH and Delgado out of the picture?) Also worth considering is what would happen to the lineup of The Manager were provided a piece like Delgado, because The Manager likes his old reliable guys in the middle of the lineup, come hell or high water. But would King Carlos be any worse of an option than Kevin Millar? (Of course, Delgado wouldn't accept Millar's role, so this is probably all moot.)

Okay, fine. It's a lousy idea to bring back Delgado. But I'm a sad Peter Pan right now, and I want some comfort. I want to believe that Delgado could come back and recapture some semblance of his former glories, and that he could be a part of something more than just a year of hell in Tank Nation.

Vic was my Elvis

If there's a note of sadness or detachment that runs through the posts around here over the next little while, it might have something to do with the fact that one of our greatest inspirations died over the holidays.

This line has probably gotten tired by now, but we'll throw it out there one more time: Vic Chesnutt was my Elvis. There's no singer or writer who has enthralled me nearly as much as Vic did. He was an astoundingly self-aware writer who clearly loved words (which is less common than you'd think), and exploited the full musicality of the language. He wrote beautifully with an uncommon literacy on his own faults and fears, and often addressed his own mortality. (It's made some of his songs almost too painful to hear so soon after he took his own life.)

We've penned about 1200 posts around these parts, but we'd hang it all up if we were ever able to turn a single phrase as eloquently and profoundly as Vic Chesnutt. We miss him.

Vic's Tiny Desk Concert
For those of you who are so inclined, here's a brief acoustic taste of Vic at NPR's All Songs Considered's Tiny Desk Concert series in April of this year.

Everybody's talking about this new decade

Hey kids! Happy New Year and New Decade! Didja miss us? Really, we didn't figure that we'd take that long of a break from blogging and amusing you, but it is amazing how many menial tasks Mrs. Tao could find for us to do around our new house. Apparently, all those boxes won't unpack themselves.

(And once again, many thanks are due to The Ack for keeping the content fresh around these parts in our prolonged absence.)

We really wish there was more to write about on our first morning back, but the past couple of weeks have offered us little to discuss other than decade retrospectives and a shit-tonne of emails about Murray Chass' disdain for poorly written press releases. (We'll spare you our thoughts on both.)

Alas, for today, you'll have to settle for a bit of a link dump.

Alex the Ant gets another backrub from the Toronto press corps: Okay, so I like Cathal Kelly as well, and I enjoy his slightly different take on the Jays' new GM. Reading the couple of paragraphs, I'd anticipate Alex's first coronary episode to come some time before the All Star Break. (Pace yourself, young man!) But really, I just want to get past the honeymoon stage, because this whole love-in with Antholpoulos is getting a little off-putting. Like PDA's on public transit.

Something about the Eternal Building Process from a Baltimore perspective: Someone on MASN's site draws comparisons between the Jays and Orioles' rebuilding. Which scares the crap out of us. (We're nothing like them! We hope and pray!)

Let Edwin Encarnacion be a cautionary tale: We used to live across the street from a convenience store that sold fireworks, and generally they'd be sold to drunken idiots at 2 AM on a weekend night, who would proceed to light those fuckers up and shoot them at one another or at the side of our building. So when we heard that EE took one in the face (and there's a fielding/reaction time joke in there somewhere), we sincerely hoped that it would serve as a warning to the rest of the nimrods out there who play fast and loose with pyrotechnics. But then again, if all of you idiots would like to kill and maim one another with your stupidity and your caveman-like fascination for bright and burning things, then have at it.

(Hey, when did we get so frickin' grumpy?)

Sunday quick-hitter: Links edition

Chasing down a few Blue Jay relevant links as we usher in the first working week of the New Year....

Personal fave Cathal Kelly brings it within this column profiling Alex Anthopoulos. Granted, Kelly could convince me that his cohort Griff would make an excellent GM with his writing, but in all seriousness, it's stories like these that have me believing the Jays are in good hands. The more I see and hear of Anthopoulos, the more I trust in what he's doing. Building, baby. Building.

Would the Jays really move Travis Snider? TSN's Daan (not a typo) De Kerpel would have you believe they might. It seems to me that this possibility has been kicked around and dismissed, but it's a scenario worth discussing, I guess.

While I'm vehemently against the idea, you'd have to think any deal would bring back an equivalent blue-chip prospect at a premium position for the team. Still, can't see it. I don't think De Kerpel is entirely off the mark, though - I do think AA longs to make one more major move, but I think it might involve dealing some of the young pitching the Jays have accumulated. It just makes too much sense.

Take a look at some of the names that could fill the rotation when Anthopoulos plans to roll out a competitive club: Marcum, Romero, Cecil, Morrow, Rzepczynski, Drabek, Jenkins, Mills, Ray....not to mention Litsch and McGowan, if they can get past injury issues.

And....there's the Chapman issue. I still think it's a longshot for the Jays....but you know that management has to have a plan in place if the scenario does come to fruition, right? The old saying goes that you can never have too much pitching, but it makes more sense for the Jays to capitalize by converting that surplus of arms into talent at positions otherwise lacking. Don't think AA is sleeping on this one....

The $25M (?) question

So, I guess there really was something to the early reports that the Jays might be in on Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, he of the 100 MPH fastball and inevitable Randy Johnson comparisons. This being a Blue Jays blog and now being the dead of winter, I'm going to beat the carcass of the horse too - should the Jays get in on the $25M (estimate - whaddya want?) gamble, or shouldn't they?

Perhaps understandably, early reactions across the blogosphere and throughout the comment sections are mixed. $25 million is a lot of cash for a franchise on the rebuild. We've seen enough albatross contracts in these parts to be wary of handing out that kind of money to a less than sure thing. Aren't there any veteran arms on the market the Jays can bring in for that kind of a guarantee?

Yes, but, uh....for what purpose? An innings-eater (somewhere, Jeff Blair is frowning in my general direction) would be of benefit to the club, reducing the workload required from the Jays young stable of starters (though really....aren't there enough "young starters" in the system on whom to divvy up those innings?).....but a $25M innings-eater would be a waste of resources for this team. For those kinds of dollars, at this point in time, for this team in particular....it's upside or nothing.

Lost in this discussion is the aspect that really intrigues me, though. The Jays - and Rogers - just might be in this thing for real. If throwing in $6M to facilitate the Halladay trade - for the prospects the front office desired - wasn't proof positive of ownership's commitment to seeing AA's vision through, then pursuing Chapman only adds to the evidence.

The Jays may not - or more likely, probably will not - win the bidding war for The Player, but the fact they're in the game tells me that the organizational workings are different now than they were a year ago. And that's something, anyway.

Or it could just be my new 2010 optimistic outlook wreaking havoc on my better judgement, and I'm merely setting up for further disappointment. But....nah.

Building!

Does it matter?

With the flurry of change surrounding our Toronto Blue Jays and the wheels set firmly in motion towards implementation of The Plan, you'd think local scribes and fairweather fans alike would be able to see past the inevitable growing pains surrounding a young, talented ballclub.

You'd also think yours truly would have enough sense to know that was never going to be the case. I thought we were good. I thought we were all going to accept the fact that an organizational step forward would undoubtedly be offset by an inevitable preliminary step back? But no, some folks just feel the incessant need to remind us that rough days are ahead.

Ladies and gentlemen: "Your last place Toronto Blue Jays."

And let's not forget the familiar refrain of non-fans everywhere who can't see past their own ass:

The Jays are the new Expos. Relocation!

You know, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year....but fuck off, really. You wanted direction, we have direction. You wanted change, we most certainly have seen change. For better or worse. If we can allow ourselves to take the words of the Anthopoulos-led front office at face value, then it's change for the better.

(As an aside, I'm not convinced the Orioles are going to be drastically improved. "Power hitting" Garret Atkins couldn't even hold his shit down in Coors these last few seasons. Now he's in the AL East. New closer Mike Gonzalez has really only ever held that job down for the powerhouse Pittsburgh Pirates. And if Kevin Millwood is the answer, then I certainly don't know the question. Oh, and the Jays/Expos talk? Not even worth discussing.)

So, back to the question at hand:

4th place or 5th place in 2010....does it even matter?

Warmest wishes for the festive season

Seriously, you have to be kidding me. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and we've got a list as long as Dan Pleasac's arm of things to do. (Hosting Mrs. Tao's family in two days a house still filled with packing boxes is enough to send the blood pressure into the stratosphere.)

And since we've neglected our Christmas card duties for yet another year, it looks like everyone is going to have to settle for a heartfelt blog post. (Or as heartfelt as yours truly can get.)

The past six months have whooshed by furiously, but we're relieved to know that we have much to look forward to in the New Year. Change is in the offing for us Blue Jays fans, but then again, it always is. Change is a good thing, and as we approach the end of the decade, it's time to look ahead and relish the possibilities that await us in the years to come.

Until we meet again, we hope you all take some time to relax and reconnect with your family and friends. Enjoy your holiday season, and remember to take a moment to share with those who are less fortunate.

Wishing you all the best for the holidays,

tao

The Tao's favorite song of the season - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
There seems to be no end to the holiday songs that we've heard blasting out from every speaker in every shop and store over the past few weeks. There are songs of bombast and of trifectas of kings and of sleigh bells ring-a-ding-dinging, but for our money, there's no carol that can top the simple and essential message of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". Because in the end, this season is really about appreciating the moments with your family and friends.

This particular rendition of the song was on the John Denver and Muppets Christmas album, which was a staple around my house as a kid. Somehow, hearing Rowlf the Dog sing "let your heart be light" gives us a more profound sense of the season than anything else that we can think of. Enjoy.

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.

The dumbest thing Bob Elliot has written (this week)

We must somehow be immune to the charms of longtime Toronto Sun scribbler Bob Elliot.

We'll hear people wax rhapsodic about him and his skills, and how he's sure to eventually win the Spink Award and gain entrance into the Hall of Fame, and we were left at a loss. We heard people talk about what a fantastic read his A Northern Game was, but we struggled to make it much more than halfway through, literally falling asleep almost every time that we endeavoured to dust off a chapter.

(Really, after one or two chapters, a book emphasizing just how goshdarned friggin' Canadian these Canadian baseballers are loses it's appeal for those of us who don't particularly care about the provenance of our favourite athletes.)

We'll confess that there may be a chance that he is a better reporter than writer (not a bad thing at all), although we often wonder about his comic overuse of the "Anonymous NL Scout". (This is especially the case since this unknown baseball birddog seemed to be trotted out whenever Elliot needed a blunt object with which to bludgeon the former administration.)

Whatever the reason that we don't seem to get Elliot's work, we generally don't see him come up with anything particularly awful either, so maybe his worst crime is that he is bland. Hard to believe, we know, considering the electrically vibrant personality that he puts forth on his appearances on Prime Time Sports.

But in Sunday's Sun, Elliot offered up an absolute howler on the significance of Roy Halladay's departure. And if you'll permit us our moment with the Fire Joe Morgan meme, we'd like to share this bit of work with you.

Plenty of calls, e-mails and texts received in busy week.

Nice to know you're keeping busy. What with the biggest trade of the decade for the Jays going down this week. Hopefully, all that contact with your fellow humans didn't cost you too many naps.

One friend's message was short: "Andrea Bocelli is gone. So am I."

Andrea Bocelli is dead? And you're friend is going to commit suicide out of grief?

My friend is not a ball fan.

Nor is he a music fan. But go on...

He appreciates excellence. Over the years he has paid to hear Colin Powell speak, although he disagrees with his politics; watched Mikhail Baryshnikov while disliking ballet, heard Bocelli sing, although he does not like opera and watched Roy Halladay pitch.

Okay, I see where you're going with this. You're trying to say that your friend appreciates only the finest things in life, and Roy Halladay is one of those fine things. And this is supposed to mean something profound to me, although all I can think when I read this is "Andrea Bocelli was not so much a singer as a hoary hollering novelty act, and he really sucked, and now he's dead. So maybe I should show some respect."

(Wait! Hold the phone! A quick Google search tells me that Bocelli is alive. So Elliot's friend is clearly full of shit. If only he'd realized it before he went and hung himself in the shower.)

He would only go to the Rogers Centre to see Halladay face the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox.

Okay, let's stop the charade right here. Elliot is trying to use this expression of disinterest in the Blue Jays as bad omen, and an example of how people are going to abandon this team because of the loss of one key player.

Except that the truth is that Elliot's friend is not some sort of connoisseur, but rather, he is a dilettante, a tourist and an interloper who is only interested in his own self-aggrandizement through his broad demonstrations of his aestheticism. And if that fey bastard doesn't want to come watch the Jays next year, then that's just fine by me.

Movin' on (A.D.)

We're an original bunch, aren't we? We all wrote the same melodramatic posts bemoaning our fates, cursing the baseball gods that took Roy Halladay from us. Here now in the aftermath of the deal, we're all writing the post-mortems. I wouldn't blame you if you tuned out right about now, but I do have a point to make.

I'm a bigger fan of the Toronto Blue Jays today than I was a week ago.

Whaaaa? I'm a bigger fan of the Doc-less Jays than of the team fronted by the biggest fucking ace in major league baseball? Well, in a manner of speaking, yeah. I guess I am.

Seems impossible, but it's true. Hell, I probably led the brigade dreading the inevitable transaction - where do you think the "I don't know what I'm gonna do if the Jays trade Doc" tag came from? And that tag is like, a season and a half old. I've been sweating this forever, man. But here we are, on the other side of Armageddon, and I'm OK. We're all OK. And if you're not - kindly feel free to jump the fuck off the train.

This is my team. This is our team. This is the team we all want to see return to glory. It was never going to be easy - with or without Doc. I'm starting to believe in The Plan. When it comes right down to it, we really have no choice but to believe, or risk turning into an even more cynical group of miserable pricks. But no, really, I'm starting to come around. I think I just might be buying what Anthopoulos is selling. Building. Adding to the core. Young players growing - and staying - together.

70 wins in 2010 or not, sign me up for a plate of that. It beats the shit out of 80 wins with Mencherson (God bless 'em) and Millar.

101 Reasons for Offseason Optimism: Vernon Wells. That's right.
Vernon Wells. You heard me.

Look (sorry HTV), forget about the goddamned contract. Wrap all of your thoughts on that matter into a tidy little ball and toss it in the G. It's not going anywhere, he's never going to exercise the opt-out (so save your booing), and it is what it is.

I think Vernon is going to bounce back. Our boy eyebleaf bankrolls that cheerleading brigade, and friends, I'm down. I had originally planned an entire post around this, but, uh, on further investigation, I don't really have a tonne of substance to back my belief. It's just a feeling I have.

Do I think we'll see a monster season, like the one the Jays based his contract on (you would have signed it too, so just stop)? No. Do I think we'll see a reasonable facsimile - a definite improvement over last season's debacle (too strong?)? Yeah, I do. Think .280/.340/.470. An OPS just north of .800. Is that worth $20M per? No, probably not, but Vern seems like a proud guy. He'll bounce back.

Building!

101 Reasons for Offseason Optimism: This week's other transaction

With all of the attention heaped on a certain trade this week, the Jays' acquisition of catcher John Buck was lost in the all of the excitement.

As much as we loved Rod Barajas in spite of ourselves, this move looks like it has the potential to be an upgrade at catcher at a very reasonable $2 million for 2010. Buck's a guy who swings hard and ends up striking out a lot (55 times in 186 ABs versus 13 walks in '09), but he also hits the ball a ton when he makes contact (.484 slugging with 12 doubles and 8 homers in his 59 games last season.) While the swings-from-his-butt description might resemble Barajas on the surface, a look at their slash lines over the last couple of years shows at least some distinction:

Barajas '08-'09 - .275 OBP / .406 SLG / .681 OPS (in 229 games)
Buck '08-'09 - .302 OBP / .405 SLG / .707 OPS (in 168 games)

Parsing through the distinction between the two, it seems as though Barajas will manage a few additional dribblers through the infield while Buck will keep the bat on his shoulder once a week or so. So, you know, no big whoop. The big distinction that we can draw between the two is that Buck is almost five years younger and we much prefer the look of Buck's swing (as you can observe in this video of him at some baseball academy).

And this probably isn't worth much, but Buck raked like a mofo in one of our old MLB 2K games. Which shouldn't put him over the top in our mind, otherwise, I'd be advocating for a J.D. Closser multiyear signing. Still, we're calling this an upgrade.

(You hear that, you cynical smarmy sarcastic heathens? The Jays got better at a key position! Building!)

Cliff Lee's not bitter
Went to that thanksroy.com page, which has already been infiltrated by the merchants of mirth. In particular, I enjoyed this comment from someone on their way to the rainy coast:

Don't stop thinking about tomorrow...

...it'll be here, better than before. Yesterday's gone. Yesterday's gone.

(And right about now, there's a handful of you who have a Fleetwood Mac aversion and raw open wounds from the Roy Halladay presser in Philly yesterday who have just flipped out and thrown their computer out the window. Sorry about that.)

It was unquestionably sad to see Halladay in another team's uniform, smiling and shaking hands and speaking warmly of the coming opportunity and floating out empty platitudes about his time in Toronto. It was sad to hear someone float out a new nickname for him overnight: Dr. Phil. (Yikes!) But frankly, we're thrilled that this whole thing is over, and we can move on. Keep on movin'. Let's push things forward.

We're not saying that we're glad to see Halladay gone, but from where we're sitting, this is the most exciting moment that we've had as a Jays fan in a few years. Maybe it is the excitement that you feel when you're about to go through a set of Level 5 rapids in a white water expedition with a bunch of weak-armed bureaucrats, and maybe you know that there's a good chance that this ship hits the chute at the wrong angle and you're going over and you're going under for an undetermined amount of time. But fuck it...Let's do this. Let's go.

Let's not look back, and figure out the multitude of ways that this is the fault of J.P., or Paul Godfrey or Paul Beeston or The Manager or whateverthefuck. Let's look at these three guys we got, who instantly move into the Jays' Top Ten prospects list, and let's get ready for what their emergence as significant contributors could mean.

And we don't want to indulge in propect pornography, but the one thing that we'll say about the three guys that the Jays received in return is that they've all had the opportunity to play for a year or two or three in affiliated ball, and there is at least a better understanding of how their skills will transfer to the pro game, as opposed to some pie in the sky supplemental round pick that the Jays were going to get after Halladay left. Whatever the case, we're pretty geeked to have these three new guys.

Over the years, we've seen Jimmy Key go to the Yankees, and Dave Stieb go to the White Sox, and George Bell go to the Cubs, and Roberto Alomar go to the Orioles. We saw Carlos Delgado walk away to Florida, then go to the Mets. We've seen Tom Henke move on to the Cardinals (err, oops...I meant Rangers), and we've seen Tony Fernandez leave and return and leave and return more often than we can count.

The point is that the team persists. Our fandom and our dedication to the Jays persist. Our desire to see the team succeed persists.

This is not the end. This is a new beginning. This is the start of a new journey. This is a moment to savour.

The Long Goodbye

So they've traded Roy Halladay.

Now, we wait for the official announcement, and we wait to watch Halladay pull on another team's uniform and smile for the cameras and talk about how excited he is to be in Philly. As much as we've been prepared for this for months, and as much as we've eagerly anticipated the conclusion to this endless saga, it's still going to hurt like hell to see Roy Halladay in another team's uniform.

As our colleague quite aptly noted yesterday, the affection that Jays fans had developed for Doc went far beyond his statistical value. There was a level of reassurance in knowing that Halladay would be there, and even if the rest of the pitching staff blew up, you knew that you'd get a great pitching performance once every five days. You knew that you had a Strong Foundation, a bona fide Ace, a Number One Pitcher, and a Cornerstone. You had what almost every other team wanted, and he was inherently yours.

Now, that's gone. Now, we have to learn to live with the chaos and uncertainty of a starting rotation in constant flux. And we'll have to appreciate and savour the occasional great pitching performances from Jays starters that we'd come to take for granted from Doc.

Now, we move on.

Living in Oblivion
There was something vaguely Rip Van Winkle-ish about the past two days, as we found ourselves generally cut off from the up-to-the-second rumouring and reporting of the conclusion to the Roy Halladay trade saga. From Friday morning through until this morning, we had no TV, no internet connection, a BlackBerry with a nearly dead battery and a crappy sports radio station to which we couldn't subject ourselves, much less Mrs. Tao.

When we checked our Twitter account sometime on Sunday and instantly saw cryptic references to the Halladay trade going down, we flipped out for a few minutes and scoured around in a panic to find any information we could. Finding solid information on Twitter was quite a challenge, as every wisenheimer that we follow was more interested in making funnies about which local delicacy was being shipped to which city, or whether if the mascots were to be involved in the trade somehow. (Which is totally and patently ridiculous. Because the Phanatic is an elite level mascot, while Mariner Moose has never been the same after crashing into the outfield wall and snapping his hind leg.)

If there was a positive aspect to being mostly isolated from the news of the trade, it was that it gave us some time to reflect on the news, rather than reacting to each bogus report or scouring the Baseball Cube to tally up the relative value of this prospect and that one and whether if this is a good or bad move, or what have you.

(It also allowed our good pal The Ack to shine like the crazy diamond that he is. Great work this week, dude. Now take a breather and have a Fort Garry Ale. You've earned it.)

There will be plenty of time to assess the relative merits of this move. Years, even. There's probably no good sense in trying to declare winners and losers at this point, so we'll probably hold off on the instant analysis of the deal for at least another couple of hours.

...Let go lightly

I figured I'd wait this post out. Let the trade settle in. Gain some perspective, understand it was a deal that had to be made, and go from there. Write up a handful of paragraphs praising the virtues of Harry Leroy Halladay and drool excitedly over our own fresh new batch o' prospect porn.

But you know, that's not really what I do. I could never write anything as eloquent as things already said (epic), and I won't pretend to try. And maybe I should wait it out - hell, we don't even know for sure who exactly is coming back in the deal (as of this writing, it looks like Drabek, Taylor, d'Arnaud)...but for this post, that matters little. This post is all about who the Toronto Blue Jays - the organization and their fans - are losing. So pay attention, Philadelphia. Bear with my melodrama as I type away with the story still unfolding....because our loss is quite clearly going to be your gain.

You know what else this post is not about? The stats. Oh, any Jays fan could probably recite verbatim all the relevant numbers on the back of Doc's baseball card. We'll tell you about the Cy. We'll talk wins, we'll talk complete games, strikeouts, whatever. We'll also tell you about his stuff. His filthy, "did you see that?", stuff. Rivera is & always will be the master of the cutter, but Doc will follow his up with an equally nasty two-seamer. Or maybe he'll sink the fastball on you. Or just flat-out embarrass you when he drops the hook. But no, this isn't about the stuff, either.

This post is about the feeling that just having Doc on the team gave to Jays fans. It's hard to explain, really. He was ours. He was our guy. He grew up in the system, a Blue Jay through and through. He came within one out (damn you, Bobby Higginson) of tossing a no hitter in just his second major league start. A season later, the wheels came off, he struggled mightily, but back he came - through the system - more dominant than ever.

That feeling of pride we felt for our guy came in many forms. Just watching Doc deal. All business. No distractions. No tolerance for error. It came in reading game recaps, with opposing managers & hitters alike inevitably exclaiming that Doc was the best they'd faced all year. And through all of those early struggles and subsequent dominance - he was a Blue Jay. He was the guy who signed not one, but two extensions at a hometown discount because he wanted to be a Blue Jay. Don't think we didn't notice that, Roy, because we did.

This post is also about what the Jays are losing off the field. The Halladays are good people, man. Doc's box for sick kids. His under-reported work in the community. The responsibility he felt as a role model. Read this piece from a few seasons back, and if it doesn't get a little dusty for you, well, you're as robotic as Doc's right arm. Honestly, I'm sure there are many players who do as much in their towns as Doc, but rare is the athlete who can match that integrity, that dedication, that humility....and that talent. And we had him. For twelve seasons, we had him.

Players come and go. We're cheering for laundry, right? I'll get excited about the players coming back in the trade. They'll bring hope for better days ahead and a new era of a competitive Toronto ballclub. In time, we'll be breathless about the next great pitching prospect in the system. Some day, we might even find a kid of whom we will say "he reminds me a little of a young Roy Halladay."

But there will never be another Roy Halladay. There can't be.

Hold on tightly....

It's only a matter of time now.

I'm going to hold off on my Halladay post-mortem until such time as I can truly collect myself & my thoughts to do the thing justice. Suffice to say, until the deal is finalized, I'll be a ball of nerves, hoping the excitement can overcome the waves of nausea. I'm only slightly exaggerating.

So until then, we can only speculate whom among Drabek, Happ, Aumont, Taylor, Brown, D'Arnaud, Saunders, Triunifel, etc will join the fold.

(But I'm guessing it'll likely be one of Drabek/Aumont, one of Taylor/Brown, and one of D'Arnaud/Triunifel. With maybe Saunders thrown into the mix.)

In the meantime, as far as up to the minute coverage goes, the DJF and MLBTR have got your refresh button covered.

Oh, boy.