Since Mourning came in the Carter trade, it wasn’t Grunwald who paid him off, that would be Babcock. One suggestion: Stay away from making comments until you’ve actually learned something in public school, you silly little boy. And guess what? It IS 22 games in, there were 6 months between last season and this, so these 22 games are by no means a continuation, even in the NBA.

Mike, didn’t Sprague do the ‘roid thing in 1996, well after he left the Jays? And put me on the side against Bonds, not the winning at all costs side. Seems like many people dont’ see the difference between trying to get healthy (the original use of steriods, i.e. Pettitte) and deliberately cheating because someone else is grabbing the headlines away from you (BB).

Anyway Mike, keep on keeping on, I don’t agree with many of your ideas (running game for one), but I also don’t know how on earth you can stand some of the morons that phone and write in. They’ve driven me away from listening to Jays’ Talk several times – must have been les ;-)

MW: I took out your opening jab at Les – crossed the line.

You may be right, but it is still a pretty sad commentary.

MW: I don’t understand why that’s sad.

Be careful what you wish for with regards to Bonds, because you’re (are you impressed) the one that is going to have to deal with him in the locker room.

If you are not going to the line at Bonds, then is there a line at all in your opinion? Are you saying that since we have already had the likes of Sprague, Clemens, Canceco and Zaun then we have already crossed the line and we cannot go back? Why have drug testing at all then?

I apologize in advance if this commentary has not met your high standards for grammar and spelling oh wise one.

MW: Love the sarcasm, usually it’s so tough to read tone online. Sorry to have offended you, but too bad. I never said that you messed up their, they’re and there, just an example of something that gets butchered a lot, along with you’re and your. And I’m not going to pick on you for your missing apostrophe. Even though this is a baseball blog, it’s MY baseball blog, and I expect the people who comment to have some idea about spelling and grammar. If they don’t, I’m going to point it out. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to read it.
I’m not drawing the line at Bonds, because there’s no line. We don’t live in the happy world of sportsmanship, rainbows and magic unicorns. We live in the real world, one where most people in professional sports will tell you that if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying. Professional sports are not about the joy of competition, the thrill of victory (though that’s certainly nice) and treating your opponents with respect. Professional sports are about winning and making money.

Which has me wondering… is there any chance Thomas cooperating with the Mitchell report was another factor in his being dumped? (I can’t imagine Zaun and the others liked sharing a clubhouse with a “Narc”. Combine that with his contract and slow start…)

I guess we’ll see how well Thomas and Cust get along.

MW: I don’t think there’s much chance that Thomas’ talking to the Mitchell committee was a factor in his release, and the difference between Zaun and Bonds is staggering. The Jays aren’t shying away from Bonds because of any moral issues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3OtG-x0978

Sorry Mike, you can’t have a high standard for grammar and spelling for your listeners and not apply it to yourself. Typo or not.

Hey, since it is ok not to have any sense of morality or standards now, why not try to sign Clemens or trade for the likes of Tejada? Bring in the whole Roid all-star team! Win at all costs right? Why do we care as fans/observers what message this sends?

MW: You did, indeed, note that it was disappointing, but you implied that because we didn’t know what Sprague was doing back then, we can be happy about what happened, which means to me that in your mind, using steroids is fine so long as nobody finds out about it.
What’s this about sending a message, though? This is a business that is, hopefully, trying to win as many games as it can in order to both bring a warm, fuzzy feeling to its fan base and to maximize its revenue streams (more the latter than the former, but such is life), the message is WIN. It’s not little league.
And I have a very high standard for grammar and spelling for myself, but typographical errors happen. There’s a difference between hitting two keys at the same time and not knowing the difference between they’re, their and there.

Just a few comments on the Bonds issue:

I think that I can speak for many when I write that I would buy tickets to see Bonds on this team. At this point, without him, I’m less inclined to do so.

As for the issue of him being a clubhouse distraction, I have absolutely no idea how that would influence anyone’s performance on the baseball field. Not that I think it would happen if Bonds were to come here, but there have been many instances of players on winning teams who completely despised one another. It’s not like hockey or basketball – you don’t have to pass the ball to one another.

Actually, I think we could even look at the case of Bonds and Jeff Kent, who apparently weren’t too friendly off the diamond. Yet when they played together the team had a good record and made the playoffs a few times.

MW: I expect Robinzon Diaz and Joe Inglett to be optioned to Syracuse to make room for Lind and Rolen.

Exactly why did he not call Oakland, Seattle, and Tampa Sunday morning before he released Thomas? And don’t say NO ONE would pick him up. Clearly, that is not true now.

The GM’s job is to maximize the talent on the field and to minimize the cost of that talent.

Even if we had to eat all but 100,000 dollars of his contract, the GM is mandated to at least make the phone calls as part of his job.

And if he had made the phone calls Saturday night, why not say he did?

Oh yeah, and the other guy he released because he had no trade value: He is hitting .311 for the Cubs, and playing great D. His replacement, Shannon Stewart, is SLUGGING .292. Let’s not talk about his batting average, or his superb defense.

I bow before the brilliance of the Toronto GM.

MW: You honestly think that someone would have picked up Frank Thomas if he was lugging around the contract that the Blue Jays released him from? Even if they had offered to pick up all but $100,000 of it for this year, there was no way they were going to pick up a cent of it for next year. Thomas is going to get enough plate appearances in Oakland so that he would have vested the contract, why would Ricciardi offer to play any of that? And yes, Reed Johnson is off to a great start. We know. It’s April 24th.