1:57 AM Eastern
Sorry for the late post - day game followed by softball followed by the obligatory icing of the back, you know how it goes.
Anyway, I’m pretty sure I saw 94 come up on that radar gun a couple of times from Jesse Litsch, and at the very least a whole bunch of 93s, which is something we didn’t see in the first or second comings of that newly-hard-throwing son of a Litsch.
Just like the Jays asked, Litsch went to Syracuse and worked on the four-seamer, keeping it down in the strike zone and throwing it really hard. It worked, and he was fantastic this afternoon, simply mowing down the Tigers through seven shutout innings. He looked nothing like the guy who was getting pounded all over the yard for most of June and July, which was fantastic to see.
What wasn’t fantastic to see was Jason Frasor’s eighth-inning meltdown, taking a runner on first, two-out situation with a 1-0 lead and failing to retire any of four hitters in a row (though one was an intentional walk) before leaving down 3-1. Gregg Zaun’s failure to stay down on a pitch in the dirt to Miguel Cabrera was big, because had the wild pitch been prevented, Cabrera’s game-tying RBI single would only have been a single that put runners at first and second with two out. Instead, the single scored Placido Polanco, and Cabrera got to second on Adam Lind’s airmailed throw to the plate, which necessitated the intentional walk to Gary Sheffield, after which Frasor unintentionally walked Matt Joyce to load the bases.
That was the point at which, by the way, I would have gone out and yanked Frasor.
Truth be told, I wouldn’t have had him in in the first place, given his two innings of work the night before (even though he only threw 25 pitches). I thought the situation was perfect for Shawn Camp. After Jesse Carlson retired the lefty Curtis Granderson leading off the 8th, the Tigers had four righties in a row, for none of whom would Jim Leyland have pinch-hit. Camp has been masterful against right-handed hitters this season, holding them to .169/.242/.205, almost 100 points of OPS better than Frasor.
Cito, too, may not have been familiar with the fact that while Frasor rarely blows up, when he does, he does it really well. Another reason the unintentional walk, to me, was the massive red flag.
Instead, Frasor stayed in and gave up a two-run double to Edgar Renteria, then handing the ball to Camp, who gave up a two-run single to Brandon Inge before getting Dane Sardinha to end the inning.
All of this could have been avoided in one of two ways: 1 - Scott Downs, Brandon League and B.J. Ryan could have been held out of Monday’s 7-2 laugher, a game in which all three worked an inning with a five-run lead, or B - Downs could have stayed in the bullpen in the 9th inning last night, when the Jays had a 4-0 lead. Under either one of those scenarios, League would have been available today, and under the second scenario, it’s likely all three of League, Downs and Ryan would have been available today.
Still, it’s tough to win a ballgame when you need to shut out the opposition - all the offense the Jays managed was Lyle Overbay’s solo bomb in the 5th.
The Jays now enter a five-week run of playing nothing but teams ahead of them in the standings, which means that if they can stay hot (they have won seven of 11 and 20 of 33), they can get themselves right back in the playoff race. They’re in Fenway for the weekend with Halladay, Burnett and Marcum, so it’s not as though they could be better-armed, starting-wise.
Here’s today’s The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure:
Before I go, a softball update. We played our final game of the regular season tonight, somehow the rain held back through our buck-45 on the field, and though we led 5-3 after five innings, the seven-inning final had us on the wrong side of a 16-10 score. I played centrefield, and had one fly ball hit to me all night. Yes, I caught it. At the plate, I was 1-for-2 with a two-run single, two walks and a sac fly. If someone wants to total up my regular-season stats, be my guest. You can go back through the Thursday posts starting in the middle of May or so to see how I’ve done every game, as well as Sunday July 6th. I can’t imagine anyone would want to do that, but if you do, please share the info with the rest of the class.
The playoffs begin on Sunday!
Reasonable, rational comments are always welcome. Unreasonable, irrational and insulting comments will be tolerated far less often than they have been.
Let me see here. One ball hit your way all night and you still had to ice your back.
In 1976 Toby Harrah of the Texas Rangers played an entire doubleheader at shortstop and did not get one chance in the entire doubleheader. It seems incredible a shortstop could play two games in one day and not get one ball hit his way, and yet it happened. I don’t know if it’s still there,but the Guiness book of World Records listed it as their “do-nothing award”.
A couple of weeks back you were on a roundtable discussion with Bob McCown and a couple other guys and it was a very interesting show. Do you do that every week or just from time to time? You also did a sportswriters discussion prior to a Blue Jays game on a Sunday around the beginning of July or maybe late June that was very informative as well. How often might we be able to hear something like that? The Indians used to do a show every Friday for about ten minutes during their pregame called “The beatwriters” in which they’d interview their beatwriters for their opinions on the current status of the club. It was an excellent show, but the discontinued it last year. I think the beatwriters were probably a little to honest in their evaluations.
- Jim in OhioHey Mike
Congrats on your team. Why does Cito let Jesse pitch the inning? Does he not trust him to finish the job?
MW: I assume you meant doesn’t. Carlson was in to get the lefty, with four scary righties following the right move was to get the right-hander in there.
- EddieHey Mike,
Nothing to do with the game really, just a rules issue, if you would be so kind…
As I understand it, when a pitcher has to leave a game because of injury, his replacement gets to take all the time he needs to warm up. So in a case where a manager realizes a change is needed ASAP but he has no relievers ready, what’s to stop him from making a mound visit, calling out the trainer, claiming some vague health issue, and letting the bullpen guy warm up on the mound? I’ve seen many times where a pitcher imploded in short order but they had to leave him on the mound until the reliever rushed to warm up. Seems this little bit of subterfuge, if employed sparingly, could be a useful way around that. I’m thinking there must be a rule…
MW: How can there be a rule, though? The only thing you can do is have the umpire ask the pitcher if he’s really hurt. You can’t exactly have an MLB-appointed doctor go out for every injury-related pitching change.
- Rob_NSLitsch throwing 94! If that’s not an ARE-YOU-KIDDING-ME moment then I don’t know what is. Good for him.
I know it’s easier said than done but if Jays sweep Boston, the WC race will be alive again. I’ve a weird feeling it’ll happen.
- Beburg aka The 88mph manhi mike,
Jesse Litsch was tremendous and deserved the win last night and it was good to see Lyle Overbay break out of his slump with a nice homer, but the rest of the offence was anemic and it’s difficult to protect a one run lead but Jesse did, maybe he should have finished the game! Most dfinatley agree Shawn Camp is underutilised and deserving of more innings, keep up the great blog.
MW: Carlson only pitched to one hitter. It’s hard to take from that that he’d easily have gotten the last five outs, but he might have.
- robert sMike,
I need some guidance here. I’ve thrown 88mph in high school. Now I am 24 and much stronger and occasionally throw at my backyard. I think with some serious practice, I’d throw 91,92mph. Speed is not a problem but I’ve the Danny Cabrera syndrome, I am all over the place.
So can you tell me of a league in GTA where I can go for a try-out? I wanna get back at this thing after a 6 year hiatus.
MW: Why don’t you try the intercounty league?
- Beburg aka The 88mph manHey Mike,
- AaronThanks for the blog, really sweet to have a place to chat and share some baseball minded opinions with everyone. Do you know of any exercises or adjustments a pitcher can make to improve their velocity? It’s great to see the Litschster turn up the heat on the four seamer. The Jays are going to have the same (good) problem next spring with a few options to choose from for the 4th & 5th spots in the rotation. And lastly, something has to be done about Rios. I mean if this was your kid Mike, would you put up with this type of play without saying anything? I know the days of vocal leaders and playing for the ‘W’ are over but it’s coming down to the fact that he is embarassing himself and the team with the constant mental mistakes. And if people want to start giving him the “It’s just Alex being Alex” label maybe we should wait till he hits .300/30 hr/100 rbi’s for ten years in a row first. You said it yourself that physical errors are going to happen and are forgiveable but the mental ones really hurt. Thanks for the blog Mike appreciate it!
Hey Mike,
There’s been a bit of talk on the radio shows lately about trading Wells or Rios in the off-season. Just wondering, if you were GM, what would it take in return to get you to give up either of those players?
Thanks, and good luck in the playoffs!
MW: I wouldn’t trade Wells or Rios for anything that another team would be willing to give up after the season that they’re both having.
- BretAfter a 3 week hiatus in the UK, it’s nice to be back to my regular Jays fix. I was starting to get the shakes!
I don’t know if I’m alone in this, but Jason Frasor frustrates me. Looking at his stats, he’s had a good year, but as you mentioned, he can blow up real good. I wonder how his stats look if you look at them when the team is leading vs tied vs losing? My gut feeling is that he looks very good when the pressure is off and has a lot of trouble throwing strikes when the team needs him to hold a lead. Is there a way to check that out without going through box scores?
Thanks for all your time!
MW: According to baseball-reference.com, Frasor’s opponents’ OPS is .631 in low-leverage situations, .890 in medium-leverage situations and just .579 in high-leverage situations. I don’t know their definitions, though.
- Chris - KitchenerHi Mike,
Suppose the Jays sweep Boston, (which will be extremely hard) do you consider them right back in the thick fo things or is 6 games still too many to make a run?
MW: Not right back in the thick of it, but certainly not out of it.
- WarrenMike,
You are a little light on the details of your hits most updates - so I have to assume all hits are singles unless you mention otherwise. But it looks to me like your stats for the year are:
.615/.651/.692 on 24/39 with a double, triple, and four walks on the year.
Cheers
-Mike
MW: I think I had a couple more doubles in there, but thanks for doing the work!
- MikeMike
I have to agree that Downs should have been available for yesterday.I too was surprised to see him used in the game on monday with a 7-2 lead.However,bullpen mistakes and “could’ve or should’ve”
situations are magnified when you have no consistant offence.Back in the day when closers were closers, we would have seen BJ in the 8th gettin it done.
MW: Back in the day when closers were closers, Ryan’s career would have been over because of last year’s elbow injury.
- TerryVery interesting to see Jesse Litsch reaching 94 on the gun after a mere few weeks in the minors. Now I’ve heard of pitchers learning new pitches in the minors and during the offseason but I can’t recall any other pitchers gaining a good 4-5mph in such a short time retooling in the minors. Perhaps you could enlighten me on another case. As I think about it more though, I suppose it is more likely he already threw this 4 seam fastball at 92-94mph, but simply did not utilize it in the majors, and we the fans simply never knew he had the capability. That would explain his excursion to the minors to revisit this pitch and rehearse it in order to get major league hitters out. I may have just answered my own question but am interested to read your thoughts regardless. I haven’t listened to the show yet, and hopefully you haven’t addressed this already.
MW: I think you probably did just answer your own question.
- AlexMike,
I notice you are increasingly critical of Cito’s bullpen usage, (that was also a criticism of him the first time he was here). I don’t recall you speaking up nearly this much about Gibby’s bullpen management. Would it be fair to say that Gibby is more in line with your own philosophy?
MW: I’m not sure. I have noticed that, too, though I don’t think I’ve been super-critical of Cito’s usage. This week stood out, that’s all.
- WojtekMike,
I made it down to the game yesterday. I was disapointed not to see the Jays taking some BP. We got thre at 11:00 for that and they never came out. I just assume that was because it was a day game after a night game. Being my second time at Comerica i am still blown away by that ballpark. It is such a better experience watching a game there then at the Rogers Centre even if we were being booed all day. I surprised though as well. The Tiger fans were alot less rude to us the nI have seen many Jays fans treat visting fans in Toronto.
I was surprised that Cito left Frasor in there. I was even more surprised that he was in after pitching 2 innings the night before and seeing some action back on Monday. I would have prefered to see Carlsson stay in. I know he is becoming more of a situational lefty but Frasor was just awful. Plus the fact taht he threw almost 90% fastballs. I saw at one point where he threw like 7 in a row to Cabrera.
I was surprised to to see Litsch hitting in the mid 90’s. I was mentioning that to a Tiger fan that he was having trouble with his heat and keeping it down. It was great to see a solid outing from him.
Any comments?
MW: Sorry about the lack of BP - chances are it was the combination of day game after a night game plus travel day.
- Brandon FMike,
Fantastic to see Litsch performing well.
Aubrey Huff cleared the waivers. Would you be interested in him if you were the Jays GM? He’s like 10th in the league in OPS (0.910) and owed modest 8M for ‘09. It would come out to be 10.1M if you add up the rest of the ‘08 salary. He could fit in nicely as a DH while not costing too much. If interested, who would you be willing to give up for him?
BTW, your fantastic radio show and fantastic blog is fantastic to listen and fantastic to read. Waiting for your fantastic comments.
MW: That was a fantastic post. I would think that if the Jays were interested in Huff they’d have claimed him on waivers, but you never know.
- JaybirdHi Mike,
Using Downs in a 4-0 game to pitch to righty batters in the 9th inning led to the pen problems.
Gaston wouldn’t use Camp then or to replace Frasor with the game on the line.His overall stats against RHs are good but I don’t think he’s been as effective lately.
During the mound conversation before the Sheffield intentional walk it looked like Frasor was on another planet until Gaston appeared to directly ask him what he wanted to do.
The Zaun wild pitch/passed ball was critical as you say.It was stike one to Cabrera after Frasor had just gotten Ordonez for the 2nd out.
Next year the 5 million for Zaun/Frasor can be better spent.
- MattThree more hits for Russ Adams last night, including a double and a HR — now hitting .435/.480/.783 for August! (Also stole his 9th base of the year, in 11 tries)
Also 3 singles for Travis Snider — bringing him to .478/.500/.696 for his short stint (6 games) in Syracuse.
The bad news?? — Davis Romero lasted only two innings (47 pitches), giving up 6 hits and 4 ER.
However, the Chiefs did pull out a 7-6 win with 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th.
MW: Look at Russ go.
- NormI know it will be near impossible, but the Jays need to go 28-12 to finish with 90 wins. They have their best 3 starters on the hill this weekend. They need to start another 4 game winning streak, which would mean sweeping the Sox in Boston.
They have the arms to do it, the only question, as it has been all year, is the bats.
I haven’t really been able to see the lineup, so is Scutaro the fulltime 3B for the remainder of the year with Inglett and Eckstein sharing the 2B duties?
MW: You’re being conservative. I’m thinking 32-8 to make the playoffs. Yes, that’s the way it seems to be working with Rolen out, though I don’t know that he’s out for the season.
- Aaron KerOn another subject, Mike, at what point would you expect a “final” decision to be made concerning Aaron Hill’s 2008 season? With only two weeks left (approximately) in the Minor League schedules, it would seem that “D-day” must be getting close, isn’t it?
- NormMike, re my Aaron Hill question — probably should have said “final decision to be announced” — it may well already have been made!
MW: It was announced Friday night.
- NormHey Mike - what’s with the cut-off versions of Jays Talk on the Bloggosphere? It stops somewhere around the 15 minute mark - did that for Wednesdays w/ JP the other night…. It’s how I get through my day Mike!
MW: Weird. You’re the first to mention it.
- Andrew SJason Frasor should be sent down to AAA or released. I would feel uncomfortable putting him in with a 5 run lead. In the 8th inning, your right Camp should have came in after Carlson. Why send down Parrish and not Frasor?
MW: Because Frasor is better than Parrish.
- tom stewartI think that was the first loss I would charge Cito with since his return. I like that he gives his players a longer leash than most but it cost him in that game.
MW: You can’t only like the strategy when it works, though, that’s not fair.
- The ChadHello Mike,
I enjoy the show very much. I didn’t see or hear the game yesterday, but I also enjoyed the boxscore for the first seven innings anyway.
I must say that I disagree with your opinion of that contact play (or rather lack of contact play) with Alex Rios on third. The caller stated that if you are having trouble scoring runs, you should send that runner on contact. This is a common strategy when struggling to score runs! It is often said you should be aggressive, force the defense to make the play. If you are having trouble with hitting, why play conservative? Station-to-station, bunts and the like do not seem to be working for this team, as they have been able to get on base(not as much lately) but are failing to get them in. You yourself I have heard praising a more aggressive approach (less bunts, more hit-and-run) at times.
Now when you say something along the lines of “I would rather have a man on third with 2 outs than a man on 1st with 2 outs” one could counter that with “I would rather have a runner in and no one on with two outs than…” You are assuming the Jays have a better shot at getting a hit with a runner on third with two outs than getting a tricky grounder with one out. But hitting in this kind of situation (RISP, two outs especially) has precisely been their poor point all year!
Well, thanks Mike! Keep up the good work. We all appreciate it out here as it’s always fun to talk baseball!
MW: Well, obviously I’d rather have a runner in at all times, but the contact play is pretty risky. Any ground ball at an infielder and that runner is meatcake. It’s not a matter of preferring to wait for the next guy, it’s not wanting to sacrifice the runner.
- RoryBoy! I actually thought Frasor was starting turn the corner, again. Seems like every time he gets an opportunity to move up in the ‘pen, he has a miserable outing. Back to end of the line in bullpen, for Frasor I assume?
On the positive side, I don’t want to get too excited, but:
Looks like Litsch might be able to get back his 07 and early 08 self? A few more outings will tell.
Purcey seems to be getting used to the bigs, and could be very good the rest of the year.
Looks like Marcum is back too.
Burnett’s been very good.
No doubt Halladay will continue to be great.
With that pitching and Wells back, let’s hope for a run in the next few weeks to make September interesting.
MW: Could happen, but it’d have to be some kind of run.
- ReneHi Mike,
I was surprised Frasor was in there as well Thursday afternoon. Just my opinion but I don’t have alot of confidence in him in a tight game to do the job day in and day out. But my question is I read Arnsberg and Gibby were tight and now with Cito there and being the manager he has the final say but does he rely heavily on Arnsberg for who to put in certain situations since he has been in the dugout longer with these guys than Cito has? Or does Cito know these guys enough now he goes with his own instincts? What is the relationship with Cito and Brad? I have’nt read or heard anything negative on that situation but just curious?
Lastly - since you’ve done Jays talk its the best its been since McCowan did way back in the day - even better than him most nights.
Keep up the good work
Thanks
MW: Thanks for the compliment, it’s much appreciated. I don’t think anyone is looking to Frasor to contribute in tight games “day in and day out”. I think that when he was first hired, Cito relied on Arnsberg almost completely for bullpen decisions, but the longer he’s here, the more familiar he is with his bullpen and the more comfortable he is making the decisions. I’m sure he’s still in constant conversation with Arnsberg, though.
- Ryan SandersMike, I’m just wondering why 100 of players are sent to waviers if the teams don’t actually want trade them away?
MW: You have to keep your options open, you never know what might come up.
- andrewMight have been a mistake to take out Litsch when he’s pitching a shutout ?
MW: After he’d thrown 111 pitches? Doubtful.
- Chas CalzHey Mike!!
Is there any way that the Jays Talk could be made into a file that can be downloaded?? I am addicted and have been working some crazy shifts and have been missing some shows,I need my fix!!
Thanks Samson
MW: I have no idea how to do that.
- samsonHey mike i didn’t know you could bat 500%. I hate bob mccowans view on some of the sport stories. he thinks he is always right and knows everything about the situation. He ignores the facts that proves him wrong but like a writer, he presents the facts that supports some of his wacky opinions. By the way, his opinion on the Jays lack of success and jp is of the exact opposite to yours. Many callers call in to present opinions that are shared by Bob and you rightly blow up on them, i would really like you to do that with bob on his show. i think you have been on his show, but i haven’t heard. it is really frustrating to hear because all the callers that you resent having to hear, call in on bobs show. Yea sometimes he has good opinions but i don’t like his attitude towards some subjects. You did say that he is your favorite talkshow host, so i think you know what im talking about. Very nice to see jess hit 94, he’s a real competitor.
MW: I love listening to Bob. If he wants to debate me on those issues upon which he and I disagree, that’s fine with me, but I’m certainly not going to go on his show and pick a fight with him.
- JaysFanYou never seem to want to give Cito credit for anything.
Racism does exist. It is proof enough that racism does exist in baseball and the Toronto management(Paul Godfrey)in particular is a fine example. he is the person who blocked Dave Stewart from an admin position.Look, racism does exist with the Blue jays. We all remember the way how Cito was treated in the past. Other managers who so happen to white have not achieved what he has get more respect and still do. I am indeed suprise he came back to the Jays. He is indeed an exceptional black man.
We are watching to see how he fares this time around.
MW: Paul Godfrey blocked Stewart from an administrative position? You had better watch those accusations that you throw around. Godfrey interviewed Stewart for the G.M.’s job after firing Gord Ash even though he was eminently unqualified for the job.
- KassaRegarding Mike’s comments about Downs, League and Ryan all appearing in the 7-2 game on Monday….
This is not surprising. Gaston did this countless times in his first round as manager. I would kind of consider it his trademark.
I would suspect that there will be a lot fewer complete games thrown by this staff under his rule than we saw with Gibbons. Complete games give pitchers confidence and familiarity when placed in similar situations. Facing the Yankees or Red Sox the third and fourth time through the line-up AND getting them out has to do a lot for a pitchers faith in himself (and his pitchers). Of course Halladay will still get his share but will Marcum and Litsch? If not and if they are capable he will create a situation where they scratch their heads when Cito takes them out after 7 innings with
a 3-0 lead.
My reservation about Gaston is that in some cases his favoritism towards certain players cuts others out of the picture. In the case of younger players this could result in totally missing some player who could have been a real asset but needed a little time to get things together.
I realize that the idea is to win and win as often as possible but while Gaston did this twice in 92/93 he did not come close in the years after and is that because of the neglect on nurturing and preparing young players to step in? As the veteran line-up of the World Series years left or retired there wasn’t much ready to step in.
I guess this ended up more about being a rant about Gaston but so be it. I think that if the pitching continues to be as good as it has been this will be an easy team to manage, once some offense improvements have been made. Regardless of the statistics and projections at some point we need to recognize that the poor offense is just going to be the way it is and then do something about it. The time is now. Halladay is capable of winning 20 next year, a healthy Marcum and McGowan could win 30-40 between them and if Litsch and other starters (and the bullpen added in) could win 30-40 between them the team should be competitive to the end of September.
Ricciardi stated that the hard work is done when the pitching staff is in place. This could be like the Atlanta Braves in 1993 - but changes need to be made offensively.
MW: All I’ll say about your rant is that Marcum and Litsch pitched a grand total of one complete game under John Gibbons in their careers, so that’s hardly being fair on your part.
- Rob MMike,
I beg to differ, the plays begin today and if the Jays lose a seires they are out. Taking 2 of 3 the rest of the way will give the Jays 88 wins. Seems unlikely that will get them in but….you never know.
I’ve heard you mention the Jays going after an upgrade at DH this winter but I didn’t hear any targets. Who were you thinking?
Hopefully Doc can work a quick game tonight because I need to watch Phelps 100 fly!
MW: I’ve mentioned the targets several times. If the Jays lose a series, they’re not out, they’ll just have to sweep a couple of other ones.
- JWDo you think there is some sort of unsaid collusion against Barry Bonds or is it that everyone is afraid of signing him because of his potential legal trouble?
He’s a jerk (no, not a pro athlete) and he probably used HGH and/or steroids but as a fan I still would like to see him out there.
MW: I’ll be interested to see MLB prove that it’s not collusion.
- JasonMike I wanted to take a drive to Toronto to see some ball games. What time does the park open for night games? Do you get to see the Jays take BP or is it the visiting team? Any opportunity for autographs? Thanks
MW: The gates open at 5:30 for a night game, which is right when the Jays are coming off the field after BP and the visitors are starting theirs. There’s definitely an opportunity for autographs if you get lucky.
- JamieThe more I see Adam Lind’s arm in the outfield, the more I would like to see a power hitting outfielder with Lind moving to first base next season assuming Overbay is gone. Watching the game on mlb yesterday it was interesting to hear the commentary on the Rios triple. They said he looked effortless running the bases. Funny, they meant it as a compliment while most of us Jays fans say he is almost always effortless. Keep up the good work Mike.
MW: Why would you assume Overbay will be gone?
- dan from elmvaleMike
Sorry about the spelling, but I suffer from dyslexia (I know you can tell) and its something I am working on.
Great time at the ballpark yesterday. Really enjoyed watching the pitchers duel, and soaking up a true baseball atmosphere. Say what you will about the Tigers and Detroit, they do have a heck of a nice stadium.
Litsch looked like a different pitcher then I had seen previously at The Rogers Center. He was dominant, and really seemed to have a really solid hitting team confused all day. Zaun called a heck of a game too.
Was by Tiger Stadium and was able to get a couple of bricks from the site, so all in all a great day.
MW: Glad to hear it!
- SeanHey mike I just have a quick question. I was watching Prime Time Sports last night where they had the ESPN guy talking about placing Wells and McDonald on waivers. I could understand the Wells part after he explained it, but this commentator couldn’t think of why McDonald would be put on waivers. Can you?
I would hate to see McDonald go.
Also in your opinion, is OBP more imporant that AVG?
Love the show btw, keep up the good work.
MW: Yes, OBP is more important than AVG. The other question has been answered many times.
- ChrisMike,
Relatively speaking, who do you think are a more pathetic bunch: the 2008 Blue Jays or the 2008 Canadian Olympians?
Personally I think it’s a coin toss.
Hertz
- HertzCito is driving me nuts and makes me miss John Gibbons more and more. Even Gibby’s critics have to admit that he knew how to handle a bullpen just as well as any in MLB.
I wish Cito read this — but his third string middle infielder (Eckstein) is now SECOND in OBP on the team and has a better slugging percentage than Mench, Scutaro or Wilkerson. Say that very slowly to believe it…Eckstein is slugging more than Mench, Scutaro or Wilkerson and making fewer outs to do it.
MW: Weird, huh?
- Jim BIn response to your comment during yesterday’s (Thursday) JaysTalk: if JP were to quit, would he be eligible for the remainder of his salary? Because if he were not eligible for his salary should he leave through resignation, perhaps that could be a reason why he might stick around in a situation where he was less than entirely content.
But you know JP a lot better than most, so if you were to say that he’s the type of person that would quit if he had complete control, that would be an alternative answer.
Thanks.
MW: I would think he would quit if his hands were so badly tied but you’re right, he’d be walking away from a lot of money.
- mikeSort of unrelated to anything to do with this game, but do you think the Jays panicked when resigning Vernon Wells? They clearly overpaid for Wells. I had hoped they would go out and sign Alphonso Soriano instead of Wells, so they would have had both of them for 1 year. Or better yet, they could have traded Wells afterwards for a good group of decent prospects. I don’t understand why Ricciardi felt that Wells is this team’s “franchise player” and therefore unreasonable to let go. I see Halladay as this team’s franchise player.
MW: I don’t think it came from Ricciardi.
- BrendanSorry, I also have one other quick question. Hypothetically, if a player is riding a 20-game hit streak, then goes 0-0 with 4 walks the next day, is the hit streak broken? Thanks.
MW: Nope.
- BrendanAsh’s Corner for August 15th. Today’s game (from 1980) was one of those looonnnggg games. If you’d been watching it on MLBXI or MLB.tv (if you could have), you would’ve been watching until about 4:30 AM Eastern (6:00 AM NFLD). Way back at 7:09 PM Pacific, New Westminster, BC’s own (RH) Gordie Pladson toed the rubber for Ashby’s Astros against RH Rick Wise for the hometown Padres. Don’t worry if you don’t recognize that first name. This was one of six starts in Pladson’s big league career and unfortunately, he never managed to get his name in the winner’s circle. Wise had an 18 year career and won 188 games, but never 20 in one season.
Current coach of the Canadian Men’s Baseball team in Beijing, Terry Puhl (of Melville, SASK) joined Pladson in the starting lineup (in RF) for Houston, as he usually did. Later in the game Bruce Bochy (born in Landes De Bussac, France) would also make an appearance at 1B for the Astros, which along with all the Latin Americans in the game gave it quite the international feel.
Ashby started at catcher and hit 7th and was replaced as a catcher by Luis Pujols on a double switch in the 11th. I’m sure Pujols didn’t figure he would end up playing almost as many innings as Ashby had, but you just never know, do ya?
After 3 and a half, it was tied at 1, on a Craig Stimac (SD) 2-out RBI single in the 2nd and a Denny Walling RBI fielder’s choice in the 4th. The 7th inning stretch came and went, the 14th inning stretch came and went and mercifully for the die-hards that hung around, the Padres’ defense decided it had had enough before the 21st inning stretch arrived, but barely.
RH Eric Rasmussen took an extremely undeserving loss in this one to fall to 2-9. He had retired 9 straight heading into the 20th inning, when Luis Pujols reached on an error by Ozzie “The Wizard of Oz” Smith. Art Howe then reached on a fielder’s choice when he bunted, the only problem for the Padres being that they couldn’t get Pujols at 2nd, despite his sun-dial speed. Two on, nobody out for “Little” Joe Morgan. Morgan would foul out and Rafael Landestoy flied out to CF, which moved Pujols to third. Puhl followed with a fly ball to CF, which was somehow misplayed by CF Jerry Mumphrey into a 3-base error, scoring Pujols and Howe and making it 3-1 ‘Stros. Jeffrey “Hackman” Leonard grounded out to third, ensuring that Rasmussen could have had his fourth straight 3 up 3 down inning, but for his fatigued fielders. Astros’ closer Dave Smith got ‘em 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 20th to go to 3-5, but not before he had faced 21 (!) batters over 5 (!) shutout innings.
Obviously, offensive futility abounded. Alan Ashby was 0 for 4, with a K, a GIDP, and a sac bunt. Nobody took a huge collar, like you sometimes see in these games, but Joe Morgan and Terry Puhl both went 1 for 9 for the Astros.
The team RISP numbers look like something from the 2008 Blue Jays’ season. The ‘Stros, despite winning the game, were 0/16 with men in scoring position and left a total of 13 on base, while the Padres were 2/23 and left 21 on base. *shudder* Apologies for the grim reminder,
- Tom the Internon why it’s hard for me to call in:
I live in Mississippi, so I can only listen on-line, and for some reason I can’t get the 590 live feed to work (some technical thing that someone less tech illiterate could probably solve in 8 seconds) so I’m never sure when the program is on and when it’s over or what subjects have already been addressed.
MW: Ah-ha! That makes sense. Too bad.
- WillRainHey Mike, LOOOOOOONG time listener and reader and first time blogger (haven’t called yet). I have my take of what the 2009 Jays lineup/roster might look like I would like your comments on it.
CF
I expect Vernon to hit .280 - .290 and blast 25 to 30 homers. This is based on that the last healthy season for Vernon was 2006 which he hit .313 and 33 homers. Vernon in 2007 played hurt and this year has missed 1/3 of the season and is really close in leading the team in Homers and RBIs.
RF
Rios will probably hit .280 - .290 with 20 - 25 homers. I think he will be the third hitter and will not be switching from the lead-off spot to the third hitter during the season, which could mess up his game plan. And don’t forget 30 – 40 SB
LF
Lind will hit .280.
1B
Overbay has not been impressive with the bat coming off the hand injury. I still believe he will get back to the ’06 form. If his hand is still being affected is an excuse, it will be interesting to see how Carl Crawford bounces back next year after suffering an injury close to Overbay.
2B/SS
Up the middle, I think the Blue jays can be cheap re-signing Inglett. Hill could be the everyday 2B with McDonald at short. McDonald looks to be pulling the ball hard now and working the count. His outs are loud and he is drawing walks. Last but not least, His defence is … well… GOLD. If McDonald does not impress, then move Hill to short and Inglett to second. Inglett in two years has hit .284 and currently .293. However, he had never had 250 + ABs.
3B
At third, If Rolen gets rest this off-season, he can potentially have a solid season such as .280 and 20 HR. Of course: GOLD GLOVE… with McDonald and Rolen… Expect no ground balls going through the left side.
C
Picking up the option on Barajas is a wise option. He compliments the pitching with his throwing arm and has some pop with his bat.
DH
The money saved from Burnett, Thomas, Zaun, Eckstein and not signing a shortstop should be thrown at MANNY RAMIREZ. 2 yrs 36 milion. He owns hitting at the Rogers Centre and was a Jays fan growing up.
RP
The strongest asset: Choose 7 from: (I prefer 1st seven)
Ryan (closer), Downs (set-up), Janssen, Accardo, League, Carlson, Tallet, Frasor, Camp, Wolfe
SP
Halladay
?
Marcum
McGowan
Litsch /Purcey
Marcum has been pitching like a number two, McGowan could be a three and Litsch/Purcey are five. What the jays need is a 2 – 4 starting pitcher. I love Sabathia and Sheets but too expensive.
I was thinking maybe Jon Garland as the Jays 2nd to 4th starter.
Thanks Mike, just tell me what you don’t agree with… and keep up the Good Work!
MW: It sounds fine. I don’t know if Overbay will get back to his 2006 form, and I don’t know what “Adam Lind will hit .280″ means, that doesn’t really tell me anything. Garland isn’t a bad option to be the 4th guy. Good work.
- Shakeel SalamathIt seems to me like the Jays have an embarrassment of riches in the 7,8,9th inning relievers roles for next year: Ryan, Downs, League, Accardo, and potentially Jansen. Also, most of the above could probably be closers for a lot of teams. As offense seems to be such a problem for the Jays, what do you think some package including one of the above, and a current under-performing, but potentially strong corner infielder (Rolen, Overbay) could bring. It may take throwing in one of what seem to be the three outfielders of the future (Snider,Lind,Rios?) to offset some of the risk, but it would seem to me that should be enough to get a very strong replacement at the corresponding corner infield position and potentially something else significant depending on who the outfielder (if any) is.
I would see the potential downsides of such a thing as:
- too much was given up if the traded Jay corner infielder returns to or exceeds historical form
- the reliever depth covers a lot of injury scenarios (07-Ryan,League;08-Accardo,Jansen), and removing some of that depth makes them more susceptible to problems related to injuries in the remaining guys
- if one of those outfielders were thrown in the Jays could be giving up a future star and the compensation may not be adequate. For example, Rios market value after this year, and this contract, are probably a lot less than a year ago. But if he were the one in the trade, and he returned to the form of the previous two years that could be a major deficit in the trade balance sheet.
I would see the potential upsides as:
- none of the remaining relief guys get significantly hurt in 09 and the Jays have multi-game lockdown 8th and 9th inning relief exceeding that of even the Ward/Henke combo because there are 4 rather than 2.
- the guy they bring in provides both his numbers, and the remaining offense does better, partially due to a corresponding reduced pressure to produce
Net to me is that:
- the Jays are close to being very good given the current pitching staff and some of the everyday players
- it takes something to get something. I think the best trade in Jay’s history was the McGriff/Fernandez for Carter/Alomar one even though I thought McGriff and Fernandez were great at the time and throughout their subsequent careers and both Alomar and McGriff could potentially make it to the hall of fame. The notion above would not be on that scale, but IMO the Jays need to use some of their excess strengths in some areas to address their weaknesses in others, and that could do it.
- some of the issues discussed above are general examples of the problem with a buy high / sell low scenario. Any trade involves a risk/benefit analysis whether for baseball players or stocks or … Further, different people or organizations are at different points on the risk versus benefit scale. To me the Jays overall under-performance on offense and overabundance in pitching and defense should provide an opportunity to deal with a team with complementary issues that could be a big win-win for both. Surely such exist or some 3 team combination exists. To me the above is a reasonable option for this from the Jays side.
MW: I would be leery about making a deal that involved one of those relievers along with one of Rios, Lind or Snider unless it brought back an extremely significant return. I am all for dealing from the strength of the bullpen and augmenting that with another player or players to fill a hole, though.
- Gary PromhouseIf the Jays are still 7+ games back of a playoff spot on September 1st … are we going to hear about the games in September being “meaningful”? Just because there will be games against teams in front of them, doesn’t necessarily mean they’re more meaningful if they have to go an almost impossible 18-7 or 20-5 in the month.
The schedule shouldn’t make the games meaningful … how close they are to a playoff spot should determine that. I think that being more than 7 games back with 2 or 3 teams to overtake eliminates the meaningful games assertion.
I may be wrong but I don’t think the Jays have made up 7 games on anyone ahead of them in their division this entire season.
MW: I love that you’re criticizing the Jays about something that hasn’t happened yet.
- Peter B.Let’s give some credit to John Gibbons for his awesome bullpen management. He rarely made any head-scratcher decisions, plus he didn’t even have League to work with, mainly lefties. I thought he fell in love with Carlson a bit too much, even though he was awesome, but he never did dumb stuff like using Downs with a 4-0 lead in the 9th with 4 righties coming up.
MW: It wasn’t dumb, just unneccessary.
- ShawnMike:
I know that you hate the whole discussion about players being on waivers at this time of year and how it means absolutely nothing because 90% of the players in the majors are as you say. However, I’m sure JP or whoever places the players on waivers doesn’t do it for the benefit of their health or just for kicks. Therefore, is the only reason that Wells would be there is to see if someone was willing to offer their staff ace, 2 major league ready prospects, and 3 minor league players for him? Is Wells not good enough to make the 10% of the team that probably didn’t make it to waivers (based on your 90% number).\
MW: I don’t think it’s a matter of being good enough. I actually think that 100% of players are on waivers, but wanted to be conservative. There’s not a chance that the Jays could get that package back for Wells.
- Peter B.Hi Mike,
I enjoy listening to the show online. It would be great if you could provide a Download link to JaysTalk as well. That would allow for volume control, listening to the show on a portable player, and prevent ADD peeps from accidentally closing the browser with the file playing. Unless you’re intention is to drive comments and traffic to the blog which the current setup accomplishes.
Cheers.
MW: I’m not that bright.
- greenMichael:
No need to rush him, but it’s good to see Snider’s off to a good start with Syracuse….those poor fans deserve to have something to cheer about.
Anyway, I heard on the Hogan show the other day that you have a minor-league broadcasting background, including a stint with the Welland Pirates. Even with the exodus of teams from Canada in the last few years, given our strong $, do you think there’s a chance that the minors could return to Canada (and I’m not talking about outfits like the Can Am league, with a brutal team in Ottawa) ?
MW: I’d love to see it, but I doubt it will happen. It’s really too bad, but it’s our own fault.
- FoxyMike, what about making a pitch for JJ Hardy from Milwaukee to play SS for the Jays in 2009? I recently read a post on Yahoo! that foxsports.com is reporting that he may be available if Alcides Escobar is ready. Looking at his career stats, he’s been pretty decent with the bat (.450 slugging, fair number of 2Bs and HRs, strikeouts fairly low [excluding this year]), but have no knowledge of his defensive ability. Furthermore, he’ll be 27 in 2009, and in his 5th season, which is traditionally when players hit their peak years. Of course, as you know well, past performance doesn’t necessarily predict future results, but the trends seem to be pointing in the right direction for this player. At a fair price (one or two mid-level prospects), it could be a real find. I would not trade a Travis Snider, David Purcey, or any of our current SPs, as I feel their upside is too high to send out for an upper-mid-level SS, rather than an elite player.
I’ll work on getting my posts shorter next time. Thanks for reading, and keep up the good work on the show.
MW: Hardy is definitely a reasonable off-season target.
- Dom from WoodbridgeWe were in Boston last night with about 15 other Jays fans in total. Before the game,we were all hanging around the Jays corner. David Eckstein and John MCDonald were first rate with the fans. On the other hand ,AJ gave a big bark “what” at a little kid who called his name. Amazing some of these guys get it and some dont. Eckstein was very nice considering his role right now
- Dennis ZingerI may have missed a post where you’ve addressed this but I’ve noticed more and more Cito prefers to visit his pitchers to deliver messages personally rather than send out Arnsberg. I can’t remember if this was something he did in his first stint with the team, or if it’s something new. Have you noticed this as well? What are your thoughts?
MW: I have noticed it, and I like it. If you have a specific message to deliver, why not do it yourself? If it’s a mechanical thing, Arnsberg goes out.
- RyanGreat insight on Litsch, hopefully he keeps it up.
I have included this blog to my list of top blue jays blogs which you can find here: http://snaptopic.com/sports/mlb/toronto-blue-jays
- TimYo Mike
I think Mickey Brantley getting fired is why Rios doesn’t seem to have his head in the game cuz last year when rios way playing well, most people/commentaters gave Brantley a lot of credit for working closely with rios and helping him get to the next level, now without him rios doesn’t have any guidence
and also if we sign Orlando Hudson 2B and move a healthy Aaron Hill to SS we would have the best defensive SS 2B pair in the bigs plus 10 Hr 50 RBI from Hudson and 15 HR 70 RBI from Hill.
Then add a Thome/Giambi/Delgado or Ramirez to the lineup and we have probably one of the best offence in the bigs if Wells and Rolen stay healthy and rios keeps his head in the game then add that to the best bullpen,pitching staff, and bench(Inglett, Scutaro, Stairs) in baseball and we have a team capable of 100 wins
MW: I dont think Hill is as good a defensive shortstop as you think he is, and I don’t think that even with one of those DH types and Hudson that the Jays would be one of the best-hitting teams in the league, but they’d certainly be a legitimate playoff contender.
- Jazzand the jays could also try upgrading at first offering a packege of Ryan, Overbay and/or prospects
- JazzHey Mike,
I was watching the Canada U.S.A. baseball game last night and noticed former Jay Rob Ducey wearing number 2 for the Canucks. Can you think of any other baseball players that wore a number that somehow coincided with their name? I remember Benny Agbayani wearing number 50 for the Mets (Hawaii 5-0), and Andrei Kirilenko’s number 47 (AK-47) in basketball circles. Any others that you have noticed?
MW: I can’t. Good observation, though. Sid Fernandez also wore 50 for the same reason, but the thing with Agbayani and Kirilenko and even Chris Bosh (CB4) is that the nicknames came from the numbers, and not vice-versa.
- DMonA lot of people on here are wondering who might get called up in September.
I was wondering if a September call up had to be on the 40 man MLB roster when called up.
If so, that would require roster moves to bring up some of the Jays’ minor league prospects.
Steve
- SteveWMike, would you consider this deal: Prince Fielder for Brett Cecil and Scott Campbell.
MW: I would, but the Brewers wouldn’t.
- andrewHey, great game! And we stuck it to Byrd which made me extremely happy!
I’m assuming Inglett will be in the Jays plans next year. Is it possible that he could start at s/s if we don’t manage to snag an appropriate player? I’d rather see him play that position and wait for a really legit s/s to come onto the market than rush to find someone who might not work out.
MW: Inglett won’t be playing shortstop.
- reyesMike, you always stated that you think Paul Godfrey had a lot to do with the VW contract. Why do you feel this way?
MW: I think the impetus for the contract came from ownership/Paul Godfrey in order to show that the Jays can keep a great player that everyone expects to leave, much like the Carlos Delgado contract before it.
- andrewMike, re your response to Post #19 — you are apparently now saying that the Jays will need 94 wins to make the playoffs.
What has happened recently to make you waver from the 89-90 figure that you’ve been quoting consistently all year?
MW: I’m throwing the 32-8 thing out there for a guaranteed playoff appearance (and way more of a miracle), though I still believe that 89-90 probably gets them there. For 89 wins, they’d have needed to go 27-13 over their last 40 games, now 26-13, which is a nifty two out of every three.
- NormHi Mike,
I wrote a long rant about Alex Rios in the last blog. I don’t ususally let the Jays get to me, but being the passionate sports fan that I am of all s[ports I tend to get frustrated being a fan of Toronto Sports. The Jays are a slightly better than .500 team, the Leafs, well, are the Leafs, the Bills are pretty good and the Raptors are pretty good. I get frustrated like that because I want to witness a championship team and unfortunately I’ve never witnessed that. I’m not usually frustrated with the Jays seeing as normally I just sit back, relax and watch the game, but sometimes they really tick me off when they don’t play with 100% effort.
Great win tonight. Doctor Cy was his amazing self yet again in Boston. Go Jays
MW: The Bills aren’t a Toronto team. If you like the CFL and the NLL, you’ve gotten the chance to see a few champions, by the way.
- Warren#6. That sounds good. I wanna be in my best shape possible and go for the try out next summer. Maybe by 2010, I am the set-up man for Toronto Maple Leafs.:)
- Beburg aka The 88mph manRE: Post #60 - the best example of this is probably Jordin Tootoo of the Nashville Predators in the NHL, who wears number 22. Brilliant!
- Mike Mre; 56
Agreeed, I like it too. Actually love it. Do you remember if this was how he handled things in his first stint with the Jays, or is this something new?
MW: I don’t remember, honestly.
- Ryan