Sunday quick hitter

Just a quick post today to keep the page fresh, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint). This is just one of those "busy with life" weekends coinciding with, uh, nothing going on with the Jays. So here's a few thoughts.....

I had originally planned to write up a post exploring the benefits of having a look at a sans-Boras Felipe Lopez. Then it occurred to me that it would be exactly the kind of signing that I couldn't really care less about. Really, I do see the benefits of improving the team, even in a "building" year....but how much would Lopez really improve the team? He's a switch hitter and versatile enough, so he couldn't hurt. But I'm not going to go scouring MLBTR about it.
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And speaking of Lopez dumping Boras....is it possible the tides are turning against the super-agent and the front offices around MLB have had their fill? Mix in a little Johnny Damon stagnation, throw in a James Paxton dilemma.....nah. He's still the most powerful agent in sports. Bears watching, though.
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I'm all for players choosing their own destiny and leaving the game on their terms.....but it's tough to watch a Hall of Famer announce his retirement when he hasn't been able to land a job in a few years.
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Hey, any chance JP Arencibia can come up mid-season and be that right handed thumper the team needs in the lineup? Have we given up on him entirely? (I haven't). Can his selectivity improve enough so that he can be more than Barajas-lite? (I hope so.)
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Count me on team GROF when it comes to Rocco Baldelli. Without the massive man-crush, of course. (Never again after Doc). I think he'd be a perfect fit for that extra OF that AA seems to be trolling around for. And if not Baldelli, how come we never talk about Jonny Gomes?

Random thoughts on Everything and Nothing

I don't want to come across like a drama queen here, friends, and I certainly don't mean to leave the impression that posting here at the Tao's joint is anything but good times for me. Otherwise, why would I bother, ya know? That being said, the dead of winter - especially the 6 weeks or so leading up to spring training - aren't exactly the most inspirational of times to be posting regularly about a baseball team. I find I have a million thoughts (OK, a dozen.....OK, OK, a few) running through my mind, but none postworthy in and of themselves.

So, uh, yeah.... here they are:

When you consider the limitations surely in place, it's hard to imagine Alex Anthopoulos' term as GM getting off to a better start. He could not possibly have faced a more difficult task to begin his tenure (Halladay), and made out at least as well as anyone could have expected. His enthusiasm is contagious, and I want to buy what he's selling. It's nice to see his efforts to bring baseball back to relevance in Toronto getting some well deserved pub, and I, for one, am excited about the way he's shaping not only the team, but the organization as a whole.
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Speaking of rebranding (reshaping, whatever...) the organization, am I the only one who's mildly surprised that we haven't seen a uniform change? I know it's an easy (and frequent) bitch for us blogger types, but now seems like the perfect opportunity to bring the Blue back to the Blue Jays field gear. It's not that I even dislike the current unis (and I'm even amongst the tiny minority who prefers the "T" cap to the "official logo" cap), but they just seem to be.....temporary. So how's about it, Beest? I know we're all sick of embracing all things nostalgic with the team, but surely a compromise (coloured in blue) can be found, no?
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So, new field turf for 2010. This is a good thing. Downing pints in Windows restaurant (edit: Arriba Lounge?) last season and looking down on the turf, I was amazed that a major league (baseball) team played 80+ games on that patchwork.
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Not to stir a hornet's nest, but I can't believe this article by Griff hasn't received more play. Some pretty "Days of Our Lives" type stuff in here regarding The Manager's fave, Casey Accardo (see what I did there?). I'm not even going to try and connect the dots in there. Here's hoping Accardo puts it all behind him and reminds us how good he can be (recall: 2007).
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For no real reason, I can't shake the feeling that one of Justin Jackson or Kevin Ahrens will bounce back this season and show the form that made them worthy of their draft position. Despite awful seasons in '09, they're both still young, and I find it a little disheartening that everyone has seemingly up and quit on them.
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Along those lines, one of Henderson Alvarez, Gustavo Pierre, and Moises Sierra will put up the type of season that vaults them into top prospect-dom. One of them will also put up the type of awful season that forces me to use the "they're still young!" theme next year. I'm nothing if unoriginal.
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I'm all for free speech (obviously) and would be loathe to here anyone's being muzzled, but I think the Jays exec should consider sitting down next year in advance of the annual State of the Franchise chat and, you know, get their collective shit together. "Delgado doesn't fit."...."I'd love to see Carlos back here."....and so forth.
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I'm so excited about one pain free mound session, it's ridiculous. And I don't want any part of jinxing it, so I'm not even going to discuss it further.
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How many more days until pitchers & catchers report? BUILDING!

Sometimes when there's no news....

I had a dream last night.

(OK, so I didn't really. Slept like a rock thanks to a wacked travel schedule and a few pints of cheap beer. But for the purposes of this post, let's pretend that I did.)

This being the "building" Toronto Blue Jays, Doc wasn't spared in my dream. Even my subconscious has come to accept it. No, Doc was traded away for the best haul of young talent AA could find, and that's that.

But in my dream, the rotation was just fine. Shaun Marcum came back dropping his beautiful change-up on the league. Dustin McGowan made it two straight Comeback Player of the Year awards for the Jays, dominating the opposition with his mid-90's heat and hammer breaking ball. Hey, the time off did him some good. He was much more poised in 2010 than we'd seen from him in seasons prior. Forgotten man Jesse Litsch was an adequate back-end starter coming off his TJ - a rite of passage for the club. Ricky Romero duplicated his '09 success and Brett Cecil showed the baseball world why he is held in such high esteem by fans of the Jays.

The bullpen held their own, made possible by one of the untold concessions Cito made to return as manager - complete autonomy over the staff by new pitching coach Bruce Walton.

Offensively, some said Aaron Hill regressed, dropping to 25 HR from his career high of 36 in '09. But me? I'm just fine with the power drop, considering his OBP climbed by 40 points. It was more of the same from fellow Silver Slugger Adam Lind, he of the .900+ OPS.

Randy Ruiz and Brian Dopirak held down the old 1B/DH fort, thanks to a salary dump of incumbent (and under appreciated) Lyle Overbay. The results? Not great, but not disastrous. Except for the defense - that was baaaad. A not unfamiliar story unfolded across the diamond, as Easy Ed Encarnacion left us all confused as to whether he was brilliant or awful, depending on the day of the week. Strange player, that one. Catching was a bit of a hot mess - that is, until September recall JP Arencibia proved he was ready to be The Man in the future. Let's not talk about what happened at shortstop. God, I miss Scutaro. Though not for that price, I suppose.

Surprises? Vernon Wells was pretty good. Not $20M good, and not good enough to drown out the season long chorus of boos, but a return to his career-average OPS of .800 was much easier to swallow than his shitshow '09 season we all lived through. And hey - Travis Snider got better - despite butting heads with his manager all season - and learned to lay off the occasional down & away breaking ball. He's going to be a good one.

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Then I woke up. And cringed in fear at what this December's Winter Meetings hold in store.

I think I need a few more pints.