The Significance of Yunel Escobar

The Boston Red Sox traded ex-Blue Jay Marco Scutaro to the Colorado Rockies the other day. You may be asking yourself, “Why? Who’s gonna play shortstop for them in 2012?” and you wouldn’t be alone. Unless you believe that the team is making a won’t-take-no-for-an-answer push to re-acquire Hanley Ramirez, the move doesn’t seem to make a great deal of sense for the Sox for 2012.

The players equipped to defensively handle the shortstop position are quite often poorly equipped to hit at the major-league level. Those whose bats stand out at the position often get moved elsewhere on the diamond (see Rodriguez, Alex and Cabrera, Miguel). Scutaro adequately did the job in the field and at the plate – and even though he’s clearly on the back end of his career and coming off some injuries, he’s still better than most. It’s a tough position to fill, so trading a capable shortstop and not getting one in return has the potential to be a blow to a major league roster.

Mike Aviles and Nick Punto are useful-enough big leaguers, but there’s a reason Boston is looking ahead to a platoon arrangement for the two of them: because neither of them are good enough to do the job for 140+ games on their own. Frankly, it’s a situation Jays fans know pretty well.

There was a bona fide decade of darkness in Toronto at the shortstop position until Alex Anthopoulos swung the deal sending Tim Collins, Tyler Pastornicky and, most significantly, Alex Gonzalez to the Braves for Yunel Escobar (oh, and Jo Jo Reyes too, but never mind that).

Gonzalez was really just the latest in a revolving door of marginal big league talent that had cycled through the position since the turn of the century. Setting aside our beloved John McDonald (and forgetting, as so many do, about how dismal with the bat he really is, as his career .275 OBP illustrates), the rogues’ gallery included:

Scrappygritty David Eckstein;
Prospect bust Russ Adams;
Chris “Hey, Remember Chris Gomez?” Gomez;
Chris Woodward;
A 37-year-old Mike Bordick; and
A couple partial seasons from Felipe Lopez before he was shipped out of town.

(Funny thing: Felipe Lopez was traded in part because there was a perception of middle infield depth in the system at the time. Worked out real nice in the subsequent years, dontcha think?)

Before all that, we were treated to the Other, More Handsome Alex Gonzalez, and a season of really fun craziness from Tony Batista.

In 2009 and 2010, the team basically fell ass-backwards into some above-average contributions from Scutaro and Gonzalez, but neither was a long-term fix at the position.

That never came until Gonzalez was flipped for Yunel Escobar. And since there’s Sweet Fuck All else going on in the baseball world in the depths of January, I’m going to sing his praises a little bit.

I think we take for granted just how important an addition to this team Escobar has been. In the mighty American League East, you can make a compelling case that he’s the best every-day shortstop in the division (matched up against weaker platoons in Boston and Tampa, a declining Derek Jeter, and a more one-dimensional J.J. Hardy, on whom Escobar has 40 points of career OBP at the same age).

Escobar can be penciled in at the top of the lineup card for the foreseeable future, getting on base at a respectable clip, and playing solid defensive at a premium defensive position. That, as a lot of other teams know and the Jays experienced for far too long, is worth a whole lot in the major leagues.

When the Jays do take that next step into the post-season and greater glories (as I think they will), I’m convinced we’ll look back at the Escobar acquisition as a turning point. For those of us who believe that the team is making clear, significant strides to building an organization that can reach the Holy Grail of “sustained success”, Yunel Escobar is Exhibit A.

No more free barbecues

The Globe's Bobby McLeod reports that the Jays have put the kibbosh on the annual season ticket holder's barbecue in Dunedin.

We're shocked at the idea that the Jays are looking to create further cleavages between themselves and the most dedicated members of their fanbase at a time when they've come off one of their more spirit-crushing seasons and on the cusp of jettisoning their most beloved player since Tony Fernandez.

(And as an aside...wouldn't it be kinda cool if Doc kept coming back to Toronto every few years for a one more nostalgic run?)

We should probably be pretty upset and freaked out, except for the fact that we're a bit shocked that the Jays would foot the bill to fly several hundred season ticket holders to Dunedin and presumably put them up and feed them. If these folks can dish out thousands of dollars for season tickets, can't they find themselves their own flight and hotel for the night?

It sounds as thought the Jays are going to find other ways to pimp out their players to make nice with the season ticket holders. We're sure that there will be some consternation, but hopefully these types can hold back on the white whining a tad, given the current shite state of affairs in the world.

Other shite
-The MLB.com's Bastian of Knowledge says that Alex Anthopoulos might allow a negotiation window to help increase the value of Doc. Which makes a sense.

-Beeston hints for the 3687th time that Gillick might come back in an advisory role. We'd love this move if Stand Pat's first advice was to turf the manager, just like he wanted to in 1994.

-MLB Trade Rumors has a great piece on the reaction to the Vernon Wells contract signing way back when. This will be a bigger, longer blog post for us eventually. Maybe.

-Also from MLBTR, it sounds like the Jays and Scoots are just a couple a crazy kids who want to be together. We've seen too many romantic comedies in our lifetime to figure that they won't somehow make things work out in the end.

Scoots boots the game away

For much of the season, Marco Scutaro has been a revelation. He's drawn walks, hit for some power, and fielded his position with the best of them. So maybe it isn't fair play to heap scorn on him at this point of a lost season.

But how frustrating was it to see Scutaro botch two very makeable plays, handing a victory to the Tigers that the Jays should have had locked up? On both plays, it looked as though Scoots offered up about a half-measure of effort, playing the ball off to the side of his body rather than getting in front of it.

Maybe it doesn't matter at this point, seeing as how the manager can't be arsed to think about sending out his strongest lineup every night. Still, it's a kick in the crotch for the handful of Jays fans left to see a tiny flame of hope for a win and maybe a 75 win season snuffed out.

Maybe it has something to do with the ball that Marco took off his noggin a few weeks back, but he hasn't been the same player over the past month. Plays in the field aren't being made, and he's posted a .614 OPS for the month of September so far.

As Lloyd/Drew tweeted last night, we need for Scutaro to pull it together to reach Type A Free Agent status if we're going to get some compensatory draft picks out of him.

For those of you holding out hope...don't.
With last night's loss, the Jays are officially eliminated from the playoffs. So...2010!!!1(?)

A Cito excuse that doesn't fly
Here's what some of the kids say in defense of Cito Gaston and his asstastic craptacular lineups: "Well, what's he supposed to do with a crappy team like this?"

You know what? Fuck that. In the end, Cito's going to have a lineup with two 30 homer 100 RBI guys...and he hasn't even considered using them in a constructive manner until next year. If Cito had three 30 homer 100 RBI guys, he'd still screw it up.

Big Win! Homer Derby! Everybody's happy, right?

So ten runs on eight hits, and we're all happy and contented with the Blue Jays current situation, right?

Right?

It's easy to discount last night's offensive explosion since it came off Carl Pavano, who is only marginally more effective than putting a tee over home plate. Still, a win's a win and if you're one of those who still ponders the imponderable (Playoffs!!!1?), then we're going to need to take advantage of every sucky pitcher that gets thrown out against you.

Speaking of sucking
Here's a mild suggestion to big time slugger Vernon Wells: When you are having a sucktastic season and your contract is the albatross that is yoked around this franchise's neck, then maybe you should consider scaling back on the kiss-the-fingers-point-to the-sky routine when you cross home plate after hitting a rare home run. Just sayin'.

Elsewhere in home run celebrations
Marco Scutaro can keep kissing his bat all he wants.

Not that we want to talk about The Trade That May or May Not Be, but...
Has anyone noticed how Halladay seems to be one of the first people up to congratulate the starter after he comes out of the game? Maybe this is something that he has always done, but we've just noticed it in the past week or so. What does it all mean?

And furthermore on The Trade That May or May Not Be, which we prefer not to discuss
We saw J.P. on Jim Rome is Burning, and what we can read from that interview is the following: We still don't like Jim Rome. That dude has not changed at all in the five years since we stopped listening to him. Same hair, same douchey goatee. We're assuming that "clones" have still got to "have a take" and "not suck" or they "will get run". Or, they can string together a few stolen jokes and fratboy cheap shots for an "epic!" take, and get "racked". So we probably haven't missed a thing.

Coming soon
We'll throw a game thread up before today's game for those of you who like that sort of thing, and we're plugging away on a couple of historical trade deadline posts that we hope to be able to get done before tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Early trade speculation - Scutaro, Barajas and Overbay

It might seem a touch early, but five weeks from today, the MLB trade deadline will be upon us.

(The Trade Deadline on the Friday before the August long weekend? Somebody's just marked his day off on the vacation calendar!)

We've tended not to trade in bogus trade speculation over the past couple of years, but with the Jays facing some expiring contracts and with some regulars having seasons that may make them attractive at the deadline, it at least bears mentioning.What the Jays do, of course, will depend on where they sit in the standings in a month's time and whether if they are looking to load up or get ready for the 2010 season.

Expiring Contracts - Scoots, Barajas, Millar and Johnny Mac
The Jays have received excellent value this year out of the bargain contracts that they handed out a few years back to Marco Scutaro and Rod Barajas, and both could be attractive players to other contenders at the deadline.

The catch, as always, is that the Jays may well dispense with the haggling over other teams' marginal prospects and take the compensatory picks that may be available to them if either Scutaro or Barajas walk. Scutaro seems likely to be a Type A free agent and Barajas may be close to that level, although the geometry and analysis that goes into those determinations are a bit beyond us.

Our guess would be that the Jays will look to open their wallet to hold onto Scutaro for the next few seasons while waiting to see what Justin Jackson becomes. Keeping Barajas for a possible 2010 run at the division would make some sense given the struggles that J.P. Arencibia has had at Triple A Vegas, but with Scoots likely getting a healthy bump up from his $1.1 million salary, the built in raises to Wells, Rios and Hill and the always present spectre of Roy Halladay's contract extension looming, it's tough to figure how they'll be able to tack on much if anything to Barajas' current $2.5 million stipend.

John McDonald's contract comes up at the end of the season as well, and given the dearth of playing time he has received this year, we'd anticipate him moving to a National League club as a bench player and defensive replacement. Meanwhile, Millar's contributions have been mostly negligable over the past month or so, and our guess is that the Jays would move him if there was any interest at all.

Value propositions - Lyle Overbay
There are a lot of reasons to keep Lyle Overbay for 2010, not the least of which is the relatively cheap $7.9 million that he'll make next season. On the other hand, that contract, along with the notable uptick in his production this year, could make him a desirable commodity on the trade market.

As with Barajas, it doesn't seem as though there is someone in the system ready to step in and take over for Overbay for next year. Brian Dopirak might be an option, but it would be beneficial to see how he plays at Triple A first. Prospect David Cooper has taken a step backwards at Double A New Hampshire this year (.666 OPS), while Brett Harper seems like more of a Quadruple A-type (.319 OBP).

Another option would be to move either Adam Lind or Travis Snider to first next season. Both are under the Jays' control until 2013 and beyond, and the team would save more than $7 million at first base if either of them were to step into the role. However, there are more than a few questions as to whether either of them could play the position, and Snider's back troubles are particularly worrisome.

Who could the Jays get in return?
We wouldn't imagine that anyone who came back to the Jays would have any sort of name recognition. If any of the aforementioned players move, we'll probably spend the day reading outdated and superficial scouting reports on some dude who's just had a middling season in high-A ball.

Not that there aren't players to be found out there. When the Jays shipped out Matt Stairs on August 30 last year, there weren't a lot of people jumping for joy at the returns. Now, we have someone each week in the comments imploring the team to call up Fabio Castro.

And isn't it that sort of thing that keeps us in love with the game?

All Hail the Blue Jays' Fab Five

Imagine if we were to have told you in the off season that after the team-wide offensive struggles in the past two seasons (R.I.P. to the careers of Mickey Brantley and Gary Denbo), five Blue Jays would get out of the gate and put up numbers that would rank them amongst the elite at their position through the month of June.

Then imagine that we told you that none of those five players were Alex Rios or Vernon Wells.

Then imagine that we were hopping on one foot when we told you this. (Actually, don't bother with that last one. We were just checking to see if you were paying attention.)

Through the team's first 71 games, the Jays have five players posting an OPS above .800, a mark that only one regular (Wells) and no qualifying batter reached for the 2008 season.

The Fab Five - Lyle Overbay (.939), Adam Lind (.915), Scott Rolen (.866), Marco Scutaro (.833), and Aaron Hill (.815) - have arguably all performed above expectations this season, but not to such an extent that you couldn't see them carrying this through to the year's end.

There are caveats, of course. Neither Overbay nor Rolen qualify for rate stats titles at this point given the amount of days they've been given off in spite of relative good health. With Cito protecting Overbay from lefties and Rolen from wear and tear, it's hard to get a real handle of what sort of offensive value they bring over the entirety of the schedule.

Mind you, Rolen's Runs Above Replacement level (RAR) is 20.7, good enough for sixth best amongst Major League third basemen, while Overbay's 17.1 places him between Ryan Howard and Joey Votto in that same category. (Not that we totally understand what any of that means...like Drew at Ghostrunners noted, we're not that good at math.)

Why are the Fab Five so Fab? Raw Power!
Speaking of that two-week old Ghostrunners post, Drew points out the great numbers now being generated from MLBAM's Hit f/x data, and demonstrates that the Jays really are hitting the ball as hard as anyone. When Fangraphs looked at the initial speeds of the ball coming off the bats for the month of April, the Jays ranked just behind Texas and Cleveland as the maddest mashers in the land.

Aaron Hill in particular hits the ball with a particularly awesome level of ultraviolence, sending the horsehide screaming off in the distance at 80.1 MPH, almost two clicks faster than the next Blue Jay, Adam Lind (78.2 MPH).

Perhaps the whistling flames shooting off the balls hit by Hill help explain one of the truly odd offensive stats this season. While Hill has hit 15 dingers to this point, he's managed just nine doubles so far, just two more than Kevin Millar. Hill leads the team with 93 hits, but is it possible that he's hitting the ball too hard, and that would be doubles are turning into singles?

The Summer of Tallet Will Scald Your Flesh
Before we forget, the Summer of Tallet continues tonight with our favorite hipster oaf taking to the mound against the Red Stockings of Johnny Feverland.

Two sweet blessings rolled into one tonight: the pitchers won't hit, meaning we won't have to watch Tallet at the bat (phew!) and he won't have to face his pitching counterpart, the slugging Micah Owings (double phew!).

Appreciating Marco Scutaro

He's a man so bad that former teammate Frank Thomas referred to him as "my ninja". That's right, Michael Dudikoff, he will take you down. American Ninja, my ass.

He'll look unassuming as he steps into the batters box, then terrify you with his icy stare and menacing bat-waggle.

Though he's not a machine like his cyborg teammate, the blood in his veins is said to run four degrees cooler than the average human. And I believe it.

Work him inside, and he'll pull one through the infield. Keep the ball away, and he'll tear your fucking heart out by slashing a double down the right field line.

He'll take two quick strikes, then work an eight pitch walk. If you're lucky, he will only take one base.

Dare to hit a ball between second and third base, and you are out. If Hoss Rolen doesn't get you, he will. O-U-T.

He is Marco Scutaro, and I appreciate him.

Dropping the series opener to the Nats=shitty, but not the end of the world

I'm not stepping out on the ledge over this loss. A letdown was probably to be expected after sweeping the defending champs in their home park, and if the Jays were going to drop a game, it was probably going to be in the opener.

Just do me a favour, will ya fellas? No brooms, please.

I'm not cutting Vernon Wells any slack until he goes yard

I'm not saying it's a rational way to view things, and I know it looks like he's coming around....but I want a tater. Go deep, Vernon. Please. For all of us.

Nine runs is good for what ails you

(If the above image isn't the enduring scene to date for the 2009 Toronto Blue Jays, then I don't know what is. Love it. And if you don't - learn to.)

When the Jays were winning games early this season (games they probably should have lost) on the back of Aaron "what a ballplayer!" Hill, I consoled my ever paranoid self by saying:

"Don't worry, self, when Hill eventually cools off, we'll have guys like Vernon Wells heating up to pick up the slack."

Well, it turns out that I was partially correct, if not fully crazy for carrying on such a conversation. I'm not going to pile on Vernon by pointing out his woefully inadequate numbers from the cleanup spot this year. Nope, I'm not going to go there. Not going to discuss it. What I will point out is the fantastic effort delivered by the team's forgotten man, Lyle Overbay.

Overbay delivered two crushing blows (homer, double) in big spots against Royals ace Zack "not Roy Halladay" Greinke. Mix in another big fly from Adam Lind, who is just fucking nailing the baseball these days, and a three double night from Marco (marco) Scutaro (scutaro) - who refuses to cool off, by the way - and voila - Jays win.

Oh, Ricky Romero looked pretty good, too. Dominant, if we can pretend the seventh inning never happened. Performances like those are exactly what the rotation needs. It looks like our guy Arnie must have had one of those "YOU'RE A BAD MAN RICKY. A REAL BAD MAN!!" pep talks with young Ricardo before tonight's game, because he was storming off the mound looking to punch someone in the mouth at the end of each inning (I miss Mencherson).

Yeah yeah, Arnsberg was off attending his daughter's graduation or something.....you've never heard of a cell phone?

Alex Rios mans up
Do we still need to talk about this? You know, the incident where the dickless poser calls out an athlete on the street with absolutely no fear of reprisal?

I mean, I get it.....Rios comes off as a major dick for (a) refusing the autograph request, and (b) dropping the f-bomb (how dare he!)...but seriously, the guy calling him out? What a douchebag. Unless you want to play the "well, Rios makes millions of dollars a year, it comes with the territory" card. Because then you're a jealous douchebag.

Aaaaanyway, team mandated or not, Rios confessed his sins and apologized for his improprieties to the ever attentive media before the game.

"I just want to apologize for the situation that happened yesterday at the gala," Rios said. "I just want to apologize to my fans, to the team, to my teammates, because it was something I should have never done. It was a bad reaction on my side."

"That's not the person that I am," he said. "You shouldn't act like that, even if there's sites like that or people following you, trying to make you say bad things, you shouldn't act like that."

Rios acknowledged that frustration with his poor performance Thursday led to the incident.

"It was a long day," Rios said. "I kicked myself, I couldn't help the team win. It was just bad."

So, there. Are you happy now, jealous douchebag? I don't know, maybe I don't care enough about these off-field transgressions, but yeah....Jays win. Dig it.

Aaaaand....breathe

I'm slugging a beer as I type this (and, as promised, have this playing in the background. I am a sad, sad man), and it is definitely the tastiest beer I've had in, oh, 10 days or so. A big win to snap a 9 gamer will do that for your taste buds.

It's only one game, but all is right in the world again. Blue Jays 6, D-bag Nation 3.

It's fitting that the win comes against veteran shitballer Timmy Tim Wakefield, who's fluttering balls of shit induced the 9 game shitshow of feeble swings and losing baseball. The Jays didn't go yard, but sat back on the knuckler and smashed five doubles around the park - two by Scott (I believe) Rolen - which is surely a sign that the sticks are coming around. Mix in a workmanlike effort by Casey Janssen (there's that term again - more on Dirty Janssen later) and a flashback to 2008's bullpen, and voila - win. I think I can speak for the majority here when I say.....YES.

The Positives
A quality start from Casey Janssen. A few too many hits allowed (11) and not a lot of empty swings (2 K's), maybe.....but it was 7 innings of ball that kept the Jays in it. Let's not quibble.

Brandon League - filthy mcnasty, and Scott Downs - reliable. I'd almost forgotten what a nails bullpen felt like.

Marco (marco) Scutaro (scutaro) and Scott Rolen - key hits at key times. Feels like April again.

The Negatives
Are you fucking kidding me? The Jays just won for the first time in 10 games. Against the Red Sox. Don't be an asshole.

The WTF?
Rance Mulliniks in the booth doing the colour.....for the Sox on NESN? What, did Dennis Eckersley run out of things to say about "easy cheese" and the like? That sound you hear is me scratching my head. A west coast guy with a southern drawl and a Blue Jays background.... broadcasting a game for New England. OK then.

In any event, keep up the negative mojo over there this weekend, Rancie boy....we've got two more games to win.

Believe, baby.

Bump around

One night after a rather dreadful effort by both the pitching and the offense, everything looks to be back in order. A Jays win and a Red Sox loss (finally), and our boy are back on top. Where they belong.

Scott Richmond will make a believer out of you yet
With a standard caveat that it is early in the season, it is David Lynch weird to look at the Jays leaders in ERA and to see Scott Richmond placed ahead of Roy Halladay, more than a full run better (2.70 to 3.75). We're not about to lose our heads with Richmond and suppose that he'll post a sub-3.00 ERA for the full season, but he has looked efficient and capable thus far.

Richmond has gone at least six innings in his last three starts, giving up just four earned runs over that period. By all rights, he should be no better than the team's fifth starter, but if he has to pick up some of the slack while Jesse Litsch and Ricky Romero convalesce, at least he seems capable.

Aaron Hill is still awesome
We figured that last year would be Aaron Hill's big breakout season until a certain unnamed gritty gamer showed a little too much heart and determination and wacked him upside his head.

Thankfully, Hill is making up for lost time this year. He has reached base in all but one game this year, and has hits in 20 of the team's 22 games. He leads the Majors in hits with 36, and sits tied for sixth in the bigs for RsBI along with (interestingly enough) Ian Kinsler and Chase Utley.

Marco Scutaro is a leadoff hitter
Some people get too wrapped up in their notions of what a leadoff hitter is supposed to be. If you were to have asked before the season, there were plenty of people who would have preferred a scrappy slap hitter with speed...not unlike the useless starting shortstop and leadoff man with whom the Jays began their season last year.

But full marks go out to Scoots, who has fully embraced his table-setting role so far this season. He is currently in second place in the big leagues with 21 walks, one behind Jason Bay. (And one ahead of Adam Dunn, who dislikes baseball so much that he refuses to take his bat off his shoulder.) Scutaro's walk rate thus far is way out of line with anything he's done before, although we'd like to think that is an indication of his embracing the new role at the top of the lineup.

We're not about to lose our head here and call Scutaro the MVP of the team like some did last year, but he's been exactly the sort of offensive catalyst that you need at the top of your lineup and a key to the Jays' good fortunes thus far.

Silver linings
Travis Snider has been grounding out a lot over the past week or so, and his early season numbers are coming back to Earth. But if we have to find some solace in this recent spate of groundouts, it's probably the fact that we're impressed with how quickly Snider gets down the line for a big strapping lad. There have been a few plays where we actually for a quarter-second thought that Snider had a shot at beating a play out, and we're sure that he will before the season is out.

And dare we say it? Snider looks like he runs as well as the former Gold Glover to his left in the outfield.

That's a big 10-4, good buddy

Sure, we could spend our sleepy Monday off-day quibbling about Cito's carved in stone lineups, or Alex Rios' awful start, or David Purcey's inability to find the strike zone. We can pick nits with the best of 'em, but frankly, when the Jays finish up their second week of the season with ten wins and at the top of the AL East, it seems more than a bit ungrateful to start looking for the downside of up.

We've got the Scoots Fever
Though he went hitless in the last two games, Marco Scutaro's start to the season has been nothing short of awesome. His four homers and 10 RsBI are worth celebrating, but more than that, his 12 walks and .418 OBP out of the leadoff spot have been a crucial part of the Jays' offensive success to this point.

Scutaro didn't get a whole lot of respect before the season started, with people questioning his suitability as a leadoff hitter and his defense at short. So far, Scoots has been equal to the tasks, nothwithstanding a bobbled ball here or there. Certainly, Marco's first two weeks has quieted the hue and cry for John McDonald to get starts at short down to the faintest of whispers.

Podcasted Taoisms
We were fortunate enough to be invited to share our views on the Jays' hot start with the fellas over at the Drunk Jays Fans on their weekly podcast, and appropriately enough, we were wickedly hung over when we spoke to them. If you're interested in hearing us make incomprehensible jokes about Gary Carter having an orange shadow (wha?), or if you want to listen to us contradict ourselves on Cito, Gibby, and Brian Tallet (whatchyoutalkinbout?), then tune in later today when the podcast gets posted. A good time was had by all.

(Update: Hey look! It's posted! Enjoy listening to us prattle on. We've already listened to our segment four times.)

If Orlando Cabrera is the answer...

...then seriously, what the fuck was the question in the first place?

For the amount of machinations that the Jays are going to have to make use of in order to add this dude (or is that dud?) to the roster, you'd think they might want to go after someone who gives you more than Marco Scutaro can provide.

SUPERAWESOME UPDATE! The A's sign Cabrera! The A's sign Cabrera!

Shortstops à gogo

Stop us if you've heard this one before: The Blue Jays are on the look out for a shortstop this off season.

And how sad is this: The last Blue Jays shortstop to have two consecutive seasons of playing more than 1000 innings (roughly 115 games) at the position was Alex Gonzalez in 2000 and 2001. Since then, a veritable rogues gallery of marginal players have suited up at the position. You've got your Chris Woodwards, and you've got Chris Gomezes, along with a little Mike Bordick here and your occasional Russ Adams there.

There are a handful of names that are being tossed around as possible replacements for the departed and not-so-lamented Scrappy Doo, and we'd be derelict in our duties if we didn't share our thoughts on them. (Right?)

Below are our views on six possible options for the Jays up the middle next year.

1) J.J. Hardy - Our personal pick of the litter, Hardy seems like he's been around forever, even though he's still just 26. He's hit 26 and 24 homers in the past two seasons, with an OPS .821 last season. In spite of numbers like those (which look positively Ruthian when compared against the output of Jays shortstops) , Hardy never seems to get much respect in Milwaukee. Now that the Brewers are set to go with top prospect Alcides Escobar as early as next April, rumours (or is that wishful thinking?) are popping up around the interwebs that he is headed to any number of teams. (Seattle, Twins, Cardinals, Red Sox...everybody's got their eye on Hardy it seems.)

Brewers GM Doug Melvin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal that the best offer he's received so far for Hardy is "a No. 5 starter." Might the Jays be able to shake him loose with a set up man or a closer?

2) Rafael Furcal - He was great offensively when he played this year (1.012 OPS in 36 games) after a subpar 2007 season (.687 OPS). He was also brutal in the field in this year's playoffs, and while he gets to a lot of balls, and has a cannon of an arm, his 27 errors in 2006 are a little scary. But Furcal is (and we hate ourselves for saying this) the prototypical lead off man that the Jays could use at the top of their lineup.

He'll command more than $10 million per year on a short contract, and might be worth it if he's willing to take a one or two year deal to burnish his credentials.

3) Orlando Cabrera - Allegedly loves Canada, and is loved by Richard Griffin. Still a good fielder, but his offense last year was awful, and he actually wouldn't really represent any sort of upgrade over Marco Scutaro. (Cabrera: 8 HRs, 57 RsBI and a .705 OPS; Scoots: 7 HRs, 60 RsBI, .697 OPS.)

Cabrera is getting by on reputation at this point, and hasn't had an OPS over .800 since 2003 with the Expos.

4) Khalil Greene - A favorite target of Blair, Greene actually posted a sub-.600 OPS in 105 games last season. Granted, he played in San Diego in the most cavernous of all ballparks, but his home-road splits were actually worse on the road. In 50 games away from PetCo, Greene put up an awful .542 OPS, including a putrid .225 OBP.

Greene is an excellent fielder, but he'd have to revert back to his 2007 production (27 HRs, 97 RsBI) before we'd consider him any sort of an upgrade over what we've got. Which brings us to...

5) What We've Got - The question is: how much do you start to give up from your roster or from your payroll flexibility in order to grab one of these marginal improvements? If Scutaro were to perform up to last year's levels, would the Jays suffer that much? Could Scutaro get the job, with McDonald subbing in as a defensive replacement? Can't we just call these guys our number nine hitters and move on? Isn't there a way that we could make the most of the players on the roster? All questions which bring us to...

6) Aaron Hill - The little birdies with Eckstein faces have apparently stopped circling his head long enough for the Jays to pull him off the 60 day DL this week. And while the conventional wisdom is that the Jays won't want to rush him into a new role while he slowly makes his way back, it's hard to overlook the emergence of Joe Inglett last year.

There weren't many good stories to find with the Jays' offense last year, but Inglett acquited himself well in 344 ABS (.762 OPS, nine steals, 45 runs scored and 39 RsBI). Inglett is a decent second baseman, but lacks the arm to short and has only done so for only 11 innings in the Majors.

Hill played 63 games at short in 2006, making an unseemly 12 errors in that limited time. But his defense has improved significantly at second over the past two seasons, which at least hints at the fact that he could master the other side of the diamond.

And the moral of the story is...
None of this is particularly a ringing endorsement for any of these guys. Then again, maybe we have to adjust our offensive expectations for shortstops. After a decade or so of hard hitting middle infielders, there was only one shortstop in the majors to hit more than 30 homers (Hanley Ramirez, 33), and none who drove in more than 90 RsBI (Jhonny Peralta drove in 89).

(UPDATE: A belated glove tap to the Ghostrunners for inspiring this post.)

This is why we should take the term "MVP" behind the barn and shoot it dead

In just about every North American team sport, the top individual award is annually given to the player judged most valuable to his team.

Which begs the question: what the fuck do you mean by "valuable"?

Of course, everybody has their own particular view on what valuable means to them, so the voting for these top awards ends up being imbued with all sorts of nonsense and bunk that ha come to be a regular part of the process: You need to play for a contender, but you can't have too many other good players on your team (otherwise, how valuabe are you really?); you can't be a DH; you shouldn't be a pitcher; you'd be a better bet if you play a "premium" position...

It's all bollocks. The only thing that maintaining this whole "MVP" meme does is keep corpulent intellectually lazy hacks in sports columnists jobs. And really, how much value do they add to your everyday life?

Nothing, though, quite takes the cake as much Robert McLeod's blog post espousing Marco Scutaro as the Jays' MVP. This is taking the whole concept of "valuable" to its most absurd extreme.

Was Scoots "valuable", in as much as he was able to step in and provide above-replacement-level offense and good-sometimes-great defense at multiple positions? No doubt. And way back in November of last year, when the Jays went out and snagged him from Oakland, we figured that his position flexibility would be his greatest asset.

But seriously. Come on. Be real. If you want to say that Scutaro was the team's Unsung Hero, who might not get the headlines but who was important to keeping the season afloat, then fine. But don't go telling me that he and his .695 OPS were the key to keeping the Jays in the race.

Don't even try to compare his offensive totals to Alex Rios. Or if you insist, allow us:

Rios: 46 2Bs, 15 HRs, 78 RsBI, 31 SBs and an .801 OPS in 150 games played.
Scutaro: 22 2Bs, 7 HRs, 58 RsBI, 7 SBs and the aforementioned .695 OPS in 140 games.

Moreover, if you want to look at defensive flexibility, don't overlook the "value" of Rios' moving to centrefield for 59 games this year, which was as important to the Jays' fortunes as Scutaro's forays at short, second and third.

It's not that we don't appreciate Scutaro. We just wish that people would stop trying to be so cute about this and float out these stupid theories.

Fuck the MVP. Let's just call it "Player of the Year", and be done with it.

(Mind you, if you want to discuss Rios vs. Halladay vs. Scott Downs for Player of the Year, we're listening.)

Marco Scutaro is a gritty gamer

You see how Marco slid headfirst across first base? That makes him last night's Gritty Gamer with Heart and Grit and Probably Chemistry Too.

Also, it makes him a bit of an idiot, seeing as how you can run through the bag quicker. But what do we know? We haven't got any heart or grit.

Maybe if we had better chemistry with the Jays, they could have shown some determination and urgency and won last night's game in extra innings. Instead, we sat back and ate chips in bed and the Jays lost 6-5 to the Reds. We just have to want it more. We've got to give it our all and focus on the task at hand, rather than listening to Jerry and Alan while trolling around egotastic.com for pictures of naked celebrities.

Sorry.

You know who is a gritty gamer?
Roy Halladay. Dude went out five days after taking a line drive off the melon, and threw 121 pitches. It wasn't his best outing, but the fact that he's out there at all is a tribute to the Stormin' Mormon.

Brian Wolfe would do well to learn how to take the out that they are trying to give up
Oh Wolfie. You are so pleasantly plump, and your tiny goatee accentuates your auxiliary chins. It's just too bad that you had to walk the first batter you saw (bad), then walk a guy who was squaring around to give himself up to advance the runner (superbad!). And this, after Scott Downs and B.J. Ryan had held down the fort.

Say, what ever happened to Jeremy Accardo?
Apparently, he "remains in a holding pattern on his rehab assignment and there is no timetable for his return." So we'll have to go a while before seeing his splendid mullet.

Don't hurry back Scrappy Doo

Take your time. Your grittiness is not needed at the moment. Not when Marco Scutaro is driving in four two-out RsBI in a 7-1 win over the Royals.

We'll confess that we were only able to smuggle highlight footage into the battlefield, but as long as that footage features lots of Blue Jays runs, we feel confident in stating one thing about the team's performance:

PLAYOFFS!!!!

Also, Aaron Hill is so defensively awesome that it makes us completely forget that other second baseman that the Jays used to have that was good with the glove.

3-0! Undefeated in May

The powerhouse Jays are unstoppable! Sure, the Chicago Southsiders booted the ball around the park in today's 5-2 win, but at least the Jays were able to take advantage. It certainly wasn't the case last month...but April seems like so long ago, doesn't it?

More media thoughts
We're not going to beat any dead horses, but we would like to concur with the Drunk Jays Fans' Stoeten with regard to the fact that the Prime Time Sports crew should stop talking baseball. In Friday's show, the assembled crew got themselves worked into a lather about two year old minor league contract signings, and actually got simultaneously angry about the fact that J.P. Ricciardi had a "FIVE YEAR PLAN!!!", and that he had "NO PLAN"!!! Seriously guys...would you all like for J.P. to send you the Jays' player personnel strategy in a duotang so that you can review it and sign off on it?

We get that BobCat McCown hates J.P. since he refused to come on the show, but his petty vendetta against the Jays GM is tiresome.

And by the way: Is it just us, or is James Deacon getting a little dimmer with each passing year? Maybe we just gave him too much credit to begin with, since he is well-coiffed and well-dressed and wears glasses. Lately, Deacon sounds like Captain Obvious on the air, piping in with incredibly dull "insight". We get the impression that he's just hanging around the studio, agreeing with McCown, because he's got nothing better to do.

Eckstein and Scutaro show value early and often

John McDonald represents most of us --- low key, underrated, flawed but ready to show that we are good at something if only given half a chance. After last season, the empathetic amongst us felt good (ie. validated) about JP Riccardi rewarding Johnny Mac with some real money. Not me. I don't want someone like me playing shortstop for the Jays. I want a guy who excels at all facets of the game and wants to win on every play and every at bat. McDonald is an excellent defender but, apart from a brief stretch of horseshoe up the anus offensive surge last year, is a liability at the plate (career .240 avg and --- ugh --- .279 obp).

After a week of play, it's clear that the Jays have a couple of new guys who, although they lack the superior genes of Derek Jeter, have the ability to play both ends of an inning:

David Eckstein - He doesn't flash the leather like McDonald, but he's no slouch at short. Offensively Eckstein is a creative and effective player. Other than yesterday, I can't remember ever seeing a player dash to first base on ball four. Eckstein has only one mode --- intense --- which puts pressure on opponents on every play. A career .286 hitter (.351 obp), Eckstein turned it up a notch last year and hit .306. Anything close to that will help keep the Jays competitive.

Marco Scutaro - From what I've seen so far, Scutaro will give McDonald a serious run for highlight reel grabs this year. Combine that with the fact that his career obp percentage is 40 points higher than McDonald's and that he's stolen 3 bases already, the glove has been slapped and the competition for premier Jays utility guy is on. Tao's mancrush Jeff Blair even suggests that he may be a better offensive option than either David Eckstein or John McDonald. We'll see about that.

McDonald gets his first start of the season today a bigger underdog than he's been as a Jay.

UPDATE: McDonald turned in several dazzling plays, almost put Vernon Wells out of commission, walked once and struck out three times. Eckstein watched the game from the bench...with intensity.

Sloppy grit doesn't equal wins

A few random thoughts on Game 1:

There's your running game for ya: Given all of the criticism the Jays received last year for not being the 1985 Cardinals, it's worth noting that the three bags that they swiped and the one runner that Zaunie cut down (Derek Jeter, no less) didn't automatically add up to a W. It's only one game, but the Jays' inability to cash in the runners that they put in scoring position with timely and effective hitting remains a problem. You have to feel for Marco Scutaro, who hit a laser the other way at a drawn in Jason Giambi, who miraculously came up with the grab.

Aaron Hill is frickin' wicked: Hill made Melky Cabrera work in centre field last night, and might have had three doubles instead of one if Johnny Damon were patrolling that position. Dude is dialed in, and we're guessing that he's hitting regularly in the two, five or six spot in the lineup by the end of the month. (And by the way, one of those Melky catches was a Jim Edmonds fake-hustle special, where he dove after the ball was in his glove. Poncey bastrich.)

Doc is an intense, angry man: Roy Halladay pitched last night as though it were Game 1 of the World Series. When things go wrong for Doc, we usually get the sense that he's swearing at himself on the mound. Last night, though, he glared in at home plate umpire Gary Darling (who was ridiculously awful), swore at the bogus dimensions of Yankee Stadium (314 feet my ass), and generally looked as though he was about to scale the outside of the Empire State Building and swat away at fighter planes.

David Eckstein can make poor decisions with scrappy heart: Little X didn't win us over with his dopey decision to try for the most arduous route to a double play rather than just tagging out Giambi and keeping the double play in order. He did make a nice play up the middle earlier, for whatever that's worth.

Up next: A.J. versus Mike Mussina, who we still hate from the 1993 All Star Game when he got up in the bullpen to embarass Cito Gaston. Yeah, we can carry a grudge for 15 years.

The Dog Days of February

It's barely a few weeks into spring training, and already, we're scrounging a bit for topics on which we can wax poetic. That's what happens when you've done more than 510 blogposts about the Blue Jays in less than ten months...eventually, you're trying to get something out of the resin in the pipe.

So thank the Baby Jeebus, real fake games start today!

Jesse Litsch gets the nod to pinkly, roundly and efficiently take on the refurbished Tigers at 1:05 pm. Wilner reports that while most of the big dudes in Dunedin will stay behind, the team will send some intriguing players to Lakeland: new Jays Marco Scutaro, and Rod Barajas will make the trip, while top prospect David Purcey should get the ball in the fourth and Travis Snider will DH.

And as a sign of our profound illness, we'll be keeping an eye on Gameday all afternoon.

The Jays haven't posted anything yet, but the Tigers' press notes are available here.

L'chaim, Shawn
Via Blair, the NY Post reports that Shawn Green is hanging them up, and is happy to stay home with the wife and kids. What a mensch.