September Call-up

Pictured: 2002 Blue Jays September Call-Up

Although apparently nobody knows for sure why they ever started doing it, it has always seemed inherently logical for major league rosters to expand in September. Over the first 130-plus games, injuries pile up and starters wear down. By the stretch run, veterans need breaks and prospects need major-league at bats.

And let’s face it: for most teams (and I’m not telling Blue Jays fans anything they don’t already know), September games aren’t “meaningful”. That doesn’t mean they aren’t still important – as important as any games in April through August – but they are also as good an opportunity as any to try something new with the roster.

Applying the concept metaphorically to this blog, you may have noticed a certain, let’s say, intermittency from your esteemed host Tao. I can’t say I blame him.

So I approached him, to see if he’d be interested in some organizational depth – a replacement-level blogger who can take some platoon blogging at-bats and spell the seasoned but fatigued veteran from time to time.

The above-linked post points out that Lou Gehrig was a September call-up in 1923 and 1924. I ain’t Lou Gehrig, not from September of 1923 or any other time. Maybe Willie Bloomquist of 2002? I come in with a bang in my first crack at the blogging bigs, and then level off into a competent journeyman? That would be pretty cool.

In any case, I’m hoping to make an occasional contribution, ideally with a fresh perspective on the Blue Jays and maybe on baseball in general. I’ve been following the team for many, many years. For the last four or five, I’ve gradually grown into a pretty devoted Blue Jays enthusiast, learning more with each passing day about the team from top to bottom. I’m not a guy who can walk you through advanced statistics or how they’re developed, but I appreciate others who do, because they’ve helped inform my own thinking about the game.

I may not have paid my blogging dues, but I try to write as much as I can, professionally and just for shits and giggles too. I’ve taken my share of criticism, tried to learn from it, and tried to produce better writing as a result. If you like it, don’t like it, think it’s way off base, or pisses you off, let me have all of it in the comments. Consider it the September hazing. So zany!

On a personal note, I’d like to thank Tao for letting me in on this space. It’s among the best of a very strong group of Blue Jays-focused blogs, and I’m going to do my best to drive it into the ground in return for a massive cash payoff from Dustin Parkes at thescore.ca keep it that way.

Signed,

The Org Guy

PS. If you want to follow me on Twitter, you can do that too, but it's a nascent account. I'll have more to say there soon.

Remember when September call ups were exciting?

There was a time, back when Toronto had something akin to a Major League Baseball franchise, that September call ups were fun.

You'd hear about the next generation of Jays who were chomping at the bit to get some playing time down the stretch, and then in the waning days of another frustrating season, you'd catch a glimps of Shawn Green, Shannon Stewart, Kevin Witt, Josh Phelps, Vernon Wells, Mauro Gozzo or whoever. These were the guys who may have been something somewhere down the road, and there was a sense of anticipation in seeing them get a few PA's or IP's in the last few weeks of the season.

This year, the Jays decided to add to our profound sense of disappointment in this shit-show of a season by calling up three dudes of marginal value and no interest to us as a fan.

Joe Inglett. Brian Wolfe. Dirk Hayhurst.

That's it. That's all.

No Arencibia, or Dopirak, Fabio Castro or Kyle Philllips. And certainly no Jeremy Accardo, apparently because this team would prefer to not make use of the assets at its disposal.

Maybe the Jays will add one of the aforementioned players after the Triple-A season concludes, or maybe they'll give us the chance to see some of the other driftwood that has been amassed on their 40-man roster (Bill Murphy, anyone?)

But Jumpin' Jesus on a pogo stick...Doesn't anybody within this organization give a shit about this team? Doesn't anybody have half a notion about doing something to help stoke the rapidly cooling embers of the fanbase's enthusiasm for this team? Are we supposed to be thrilled by the fact that J.P. "likes our team" and the assemblage of rag-tag minor leaguers parading as an active roster?

Appreciating Raul Chavez

If you think, for one god-damned minute, that I'm going to discuss the weekend sweep in Fenway, then boy, do you have another thing coming. Re-live the misery? No thanks.

Instead, I'm here to appreciate Raul Chavez. That's right - Raul Chavez.

In many ways, Chavy is the ideal backup catcher. Terrific defensively (though feel free to prove me wrong with defensive metrics), he seems to develop a good rapport with pitchers and knows how to handle a staff. Never one to flash a menacing bat, he won't exactly provide a boost to the offense (.620-something OPS), but he won't embarrass himself either. I mean, we're talking about a reserve catcher here - whaddya want, Mike Piazza?

But let's cut to the chase. I like the guy. He's fun to watch behind the plate, with his demonstrative style and penchant for snap throws (fuck you, Dustin Pedroia). He's like Tony Pena Sr. used to be without the "LOOK AT ME BACK HERE, EVERYBODY!" swagger. And let's face it, the 2009 Blue Jays are short a few ticks in the "fun to watch" column this year.

With both incumbent starter Rod Barajas and Chavez coming up on free agency, it's doubtful that both (or either?) will be back. Barajas has said he'd like to sign a multi-year deal somewhere, which would seem to preclude him from attracting a deal from the Jays. In a perfect world, once uber-prospect (to us, anyway) JP Arencibia would be ready to step behind the plate for 130 games next season (he's not), with Chavez as his caddy.

Arencibia's delayed development might have thrown a wrench into those plans, but I still think the Jays would be wise to bring Chavez back for another go-around with the club. I, for one, would appreciate it. I'm sure that Chavez the baseball lifer would too.

On potential September callups
Word is there will be "no surprises" from the Jays camp when rosters expand on September 1:

"I think most of the guys we'll bring up, you've seen before -- not a lot of secrets," Ricciardi said. "I don't think we're going to be bringing up anybody that's new to the big leagues. I think just guys to help us get through the month with some extra players."

Hey, terrific! Let's just recall the same old same old who've helped propel the team to such great heights this season, shall we? David Purcey! Bill Murphy! Mighty Joe Inglett! Forget bringing up guys we haven't seen like Brian Dopirak and Fabio Castro, who might actually have a future with the club. That wouldn't be any fun, would it?

Look, I understand the limitations with the 40-man roster, etc...but a quick scan of the 40 is all it takes to see where there's room (cough Bill Murphy Brian Wolfe Michael Barrett Kevin Millar cough) to clear.

One would think that expanded rosters would be the perfect opportunity to clear out the minors and see what the team might have for next year....even in - no, especially in - a season when "playing out the cycle" has become the battle cry. But I suppose not for our 2009 Blue Jays.

Really, nothing about this season surprises me anymore.

Of awe-inspiring comebacks and yawn-inducing callups

Comeback kids
For most of this season, a 5-1 deficit in the early innings of a Jays game meant either walking away and getting on with your day/evening, or sticking it out and watching the Jays roll over and play dead.

But in recent weeks, this team has shown the ability to continue to chip away at the lead and swipe it away in the late innings, as exemplified by last night's 7-5 win over the Twins. Maybe it's the warm dry air that's helping some warning track shots turn into home runs, or maybe Cito really does have some sort of mystical effect on this team.

Whatever the case, and no matter how strange this might seem, the team that we the faithful are watching now looks to us like the sort of team that can actually play in a pennant race. They're nine games over .500 since Cito's arrival, so just extrapolate that over a full season. (We know it doesn't really work that way...get off of our cloud.)

There are plenty of people who have been campaigning to blow this whole team to smithereens, from the front office to the field. Watching them hang tough over the past month against the teams ahead of them in the AL standings , we wonder if a tweak or two to the roster wouldn't be enough to put them over the top.

Callups? You call those callups?
Maybe we're paying a little penance for the Jays' having called up The Great Big Giant Pasty White Hope^TM Travis Snider last week, but the callups added to the expanded September rosters yesterday were a little underwhelming and a lot familiar. We were hoping for the future of the franchise to get the call, and instead, we get a bunch of familiar faces. Shaun Marcum, Brian Wolfe, Scott Richmond? Welcome back, fellas. Curtis Thigpen? It's been a while. Brevin Mencherson? Did you guys even leave?

A minor note
Goodbye Syracuse (and good riddance for that matter). Hello Buffalo?

Please consult your batting order before hitting for extra bases

It might have gone down as one of the weirdest plays of the year. When Lyle Overbay and Aaron Hill hit out of order in today's 2-1 nailbiter over the Mariners, Hill had a double wiped off the boxscore and was called out. This precipitated a discussion at home plate that lasted about as long as one of Roy Halladay's starts.

It was obviously embarrassing for the Jays to have screwed this up, but their shame should be compounded by the fact that this is the second time this season that they have messed up the lineup cards.

(Side note: Note the Canadian Press game story in the G&M...apparently, two beat reporters are not enough for Canada's National Birdcage Liner, since they've been drawing content from CP for more than a week, and still have not updated their now-ten-days-stale baseball blog.)

Generally, the lineup card is the responsibility of the bench coach, so let's at least keep an eye out to see if any of this blows back on Ernie Whitt.

The Triumphant Return of the Sideburn
Dustin McGowan finally gets off the shnide with eight innings of solid and aggressive pitching. It's his first win since August 5, and one that the Jays anemic offense made him work for.

September Callups
Adam Lind joined the Jays today, while pitchers Joe Kennedy and Josh Banks, infielder Hector Luna and catcher Sal Fasano should join the team after this weekend's series in Ottawa. Banks looked outstanding against a weak Ottawa lineup today, giving up six hits in 7.2 innings in a 5-1 win over the Lynx, while Luna may be limping his way back to T.O. after fouling a ball off his foot this afternoon.

Late nights, sleepy mornings

Man, how long have the Jays been on the Left Coast? We don't think we can take many more late nights mashed up with early morning meetings.

Last night's 5-4 win over the A's was keyed by Lyle Overbay's two-run double in the eighth, and it's a damn good thing that Toronto's resident bouquet snatcher pulled this one out.

Overbay's two GIDPs earlier in the game, including one with the bases loaded where he allowed a 2-0 fastball down the middle to go by untouched, had us in conniption fits last night. Until his big hit, we were pretty certain that this morning's post was going to be a Lyle takedown, where we wrote of our profound disappointment in him, and made cheap comments about his teeth.

On the wire
With the Mark Redman experiment now over, the Jays have signed yet another marginal left-hander in Joe Kennedy. Kennedy's been assigned to Syracuse for now, but will likely get the call this weekend, when the Jays make their September callups.

Holy Shit!!!
September callups! Fuck!