A modest proposal: Acquire Gil Meche

Okay, fine. Maybe it's a stupid idea. But just hear us out on this one.

You can never have too much pitching, or so goes the axiom. Certainly, the 2008 edition of the Jays bears that out, what with the dodgy labrums on Casey Janssen and Dustin McGowan, Shaun Marcum's slow recovery from an elbow something-or-other, A.J. Burnett's potential opt-out, and Jesse Litsch's recent crash back to reality.

Meanwhile, the Royals are apparently prepared to start their annual house-cleaning, with Meche's name being amongst those being mentioned as possible trade bait. After a rocky start to the season, Meche has been fairly effective since June 10, going 3-1 with a 3.27 ERA in 44 innings. His strikeout rate isn't great (29 Ks over that period), but he's not walking a ton of guys either (13 BBs).

Mind you, Meche might not be overly anxious to get to Toronto given that J.P. Ricciardi essentially questioned his manhood after he spurned the Jays' contract offer before the 2007 season. But give Doc Halladay an opportunity to nestle him under his wing, and we're sure Meche will come around...right?

Meche has three years left on his five-year $55 million deal, and as has been noted in the case of A.J.'s deal, that seemingly insane figure has quickly become a bargain when it comes to mid rotation starters. At that number, Meche could fit in nicely as a number three starter, and could provide some insurance should A.J. bolt in the off-season and should Casey and Dusty Peaches recover slowly from their shoulder troubles.

Hey, what can we tell ya. It's trade deadline week, and we've just decided to throw some junk against the wall. There are four more days of this nonsense, so get ready for a whole barrelload of silly speculation.

Cheers to the Weekend Editor
Our thanks to The Ack for his steady relief performance over the weekend. While we were away attempting to explain to the missus why a $50 Expos t-shirt with Al Oliver's name and number on the back was a wise investment, the Ack brought his own take on the weekend's events, replete with Meatloaf (and meatloaf) references. Well done, sir.

Now you should start praying for Aaron Rowand's demise, seeing as how you have been designated as our Raw Bacon Consumer of Choice should the Giants centrefielder hit 20 bombs in any of the next few seasons.

We do not fear Aaron Rowand and his hot streak

So the news came across the wire that our arch nemesis Aaron Rowand hit a couple of bombs last week.

Oooh. We're soo scared.

Sure, this puts the San Francisco centerfielder a few homers closer to forcing us to make good on our promise to eat a pound of raw bacon if he hits 20 for the season. But even with last week's offensive onslaught, the man with the second dumbest contract on the Giants is still on a pace to hit just 15 homers for the season. Plus, his two dingers last week came in Colorado (thin air!) and Philadelphia (Little League dimensions!), and you had to figure that he'd get a couple in those surroundings anyways.

Rowand still has just one homer at Telephone Company Park, and is posting a .684 OPS in the ballpark by the Bay.

We're not sweating this. Yet.

Big Mouth Strikes Again

Oops.

Last December, whilst dumping on the Giants' ridiculous signing of Aaron "Bacon Pants" Rowand, we started talking so brave and so sweet about how we'd eat a pound of raw bacon if Rowand hits 20 homers in any of his five contracted seasons in San Fran.

We just didn't think anyone was really paying attention.

Unfortunately for our heart and arteries, Jon Hale (who apparently reads and retains everything we write) has decided to introduce The Official Tao of Stieb Raw Bacon Tracker to help keep us at our word. Gulp.

It's not that we don't have the courage of our convictions. It's just that we've started to actually visualize the scene: The plate. The pound of salty pork product. The endless chewing. The defibrillator. It's not pretty.

These are gonna be five long years. Frankly, we're rooting for a blown ACL in the first inning of the first game.