1:40 PM Eastern
I have spent a couple of days at home, taking it easy, spending time with my kids, and just generally giving myself time to breathe after three very intense weeks in Whistler, and since I’m off to Spring Training tonight to get back into baseball mode, I figured I’d better put up a post now before getting back into the daily grind.
I hope you all haven’t missed me too much, but moreso I hope you haven’t forgotten about this space – it’s going to be full of information, opinion and analysis on a regular basis once again from hereon out.
Before a look ahead to baseball season, though, a look back at what transpired over the last three weeks, since I wasn’t really able to share any of it with you while it was going on.
I’m not sure what it was like in Vancouver, though the pictures and video that I saw certainly showed a city that was awash in Olympic fever, but Whistler was something else. A phenomenal experience, in a tiny village that really had nothing going on but for the Winter Games. Every time one walked the village stroll, there were dozens of people in distinct, colourful national team jackets (some nicely understated, like Norway, some incredibly garish, like Ukraine), it really felt like the whole world was there – well, except for the warm-weather countries and stuff – and just there to enjoy. The streets were crawling with cops and mounties at all times, but they all had smiles on their faces.
When I got to Whistler I took a couple of days to get the lay of the land, and in the two days prior to the Opening Ceremonies, wound up walking one kilometre pretty much straight up to get to the “timing flats” – the finish area of the ski course at Creekside, where most of the alpine events took place. On the walk down the mountain, I tweaked my back a bit, and that would stick with me for the entirety of the Games, unfortunately.
I also visited the Sliding Centre, where the luge, skeleton and bobsleigh events went down. I happened to be there while some luge practice was going on, and I saw five sliders go down the track – the last of whom went head over heels in a spectacular crash in turn 16 (Thunderbird, I think). I caught the crash on video, and I thought it was pretty cool – he walked away unhurt – until the next day, of course, when I was back at the Sliding Centre to cover the aftermath of the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili.
When you get an assignment like this, you’re always told to expect the unexpected, but nowhere on that list of unexpected was an athlete dying in a training accident. It was awful to stand up on the scaffolding looking down on the spot where Kumaritashvili hit that square metal pole that, the next day, was covered with “for-show” padding – as though that would have helped when a human being hit it going 140 kilometres an hour.
Very obviously, Kumaritashvili’s death cast a huge pall over the entire Games, and I was glad to see that he was acknowledged in the closing ceremonies. There was also a shrine constructed in his memory right beside the Whistler medals plaza.
I do think that the International Luge Federation really overreacted by changing the start heights of all the races. I mean, I’m no expert, but there wasn’t a single athlete or coach I spoke to who wasn’t furious about it – Canadian or otherwise. It’s amazing how reactive society in general has become, and FIL just followed suit. The first deadly accident in 35 years and such drastic steps were taken, more to show that they were doing something than anything else. I attended the news conference the next day to hear the President of FIL, Josef Fendt, say that the track was safe and he had no concerns at all, but that the start heights were moving down. He had no issue with sliders being able to reach speeds of over 150 km/h, but no track being constructed from this point on would allow sliders to reach speeds over 135 km/h. It was amazing to watch, and hard not to laugh. Of course, given the events of the previous 24 hours, that would have been unseemly.
I had never seen a luge race prior to the Olympics, and I still feel as though I have never seen a world-class level race. I mean, the women’s and doubles’ events started at the junior start – the same place you or I would start at the end of our first two-hour luge lesson if we just stopped by the track on some random day.
The first week of the Olympics was a bit of a train wreck, but first weeks of Olympics generally are. No one involved who run the thing has ever done anything like it before, and they have a hard time hitting the ground running. It seemed at the time – to me, anyway – that the whole “Own The Podium” thing was really taking a toll on the Canadian athletes. I spoke to at least three of them who said that they were going for the gold and only the gold – if they weren’t going to win, they were going to finish 20th. That attitude probably helped Canada score those best-ever 14 golds, once things got rolling, but it’s likely also reflected in the lack of silvers and bronzes.
The weather was a major issue, but there’s nothing anyone can do about that. It’s just a shame that VANOC took so much heat for having to cancel all those standing-room tickets at Cypress because the warmth had made the ground so unstable – but then, why would they make a standing room area in a place that was prone to mudslides if the weather was too warm? I didn’t have to worry about that, though, my life revolved only around Whistler Creekside and the Whistler Sliding Centre, except for those two days that I made it out to Whistler Olympic Park (hilarious because all the signage used acronyms – Creekside was WCR, the Sliding Centre was WSC and Olympic Park was, of course, WOP).
Every day was spent running to various events, standing around in Media Mixed Zones where I had to sharpen up my elbows to get space between hordes of rampaging Germans and Austrians (I don’t know why, but they were generally the ones by whom I found myself surrounded), and waiting to speak to athletes. I wound up talking to almost every single Canadian athlete and every single medalist at the events I covered, which included all the luge, skeleton and bobsleigh, the men’s and women’s downhill and Super-G’s, the first runs of each of the men’s and women’s slaloms, men’s super combined, women’s giant slalom, women’s 4 x 5km cross-country relay and men’s 50km cross-country race. I think that’s it, there might have been another alpine race or two in there.
I got to see Canadians win four medals – Jon Montgomery’s gold in men’s skeleton, Lyndon Rush, Lascelles Brown, Dave Bissett and Chris LeBihan’s bronze (by one one-hundredth of a second!) in four-man bobsleigh and the fantastic gold-silver combo in women’s bobsleigh, with Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse atop the podium and Helen Upperton and Shelley-Anne Brown grabbing silver.
Montgomery’s victory stands out the most, seeing how it was the first (and I thought for a while, only) Canadian gold medal that I’d seen. Also, it came on the heels of Mellisa Hollingsworth’s fifth-place ride in women’s skeleton just a couple of hours before.
As Hollingsworth made her way to my position in the Mixed Zone, she wasn’t just teary-eyed, she was crying. Tears were streaming down her face, she’d made one small mistake in one corner that caused her to hit the wall two turns later and took away all of her speed, dropping her from the silver medal position to well off the podium. I felt awful for her, and was kind of the anti-Barbara Walters when I interviewed her. I was trying to get her not to cry any more than she already was.
Then Montgomery came down the track, moving from the silver medal position to the gold in his last run, and it was awesome.
Any of you who have listened to or read me know that I’m big on not getting caught up in things and stressing the importance of a reporter not being a cheerleader or a hopeless optimist or whatever, but when Montgomery (or any Canadian, for that matter) was competing, that all went out the window. Not on the air or anything – but I wasn’t broadcasting any events live – but certainly for me at the event. I celebrated the Canadian medals, though hardly to the extent that most of the foreign media celebrated their athletes’. Mine was more like a swift punch to the shoulder of Jermain Franklin or Roger Millions, whichever one was around at the time, coupled with a big smile and a “THAT is about which that I am talking!”
And I don’t have a problem with that. This isn’t a case of cheering for laundry, for people who are being paid to represent, say, a city with which they would otherwise have nothing to do. This is about people competing for THEIR country, on behalf of their fellow citizens. Competing for MY country. It doesn’t mean that only positive stories should be reported, it doesn’t mean that poor performances should be overlooked, it doesn’t mean that legitimate negative angles should be ignored. But it does mean that achievement can be celebrated.
I’m hoping I remember everything I experienced over my three weeks in Whistler, but some of it has already faded. There are plenty of things that will always stand out, though:
-Lyndon Rush, pilot of the bronze-medal winning Canada 1 four-man bobsled, is a huge JaysTalk fan. Great guy as well, obviously, but in our first conversation he really lit up when he realized who I was, and he even threw a Roy Halladay reference into an answer.
-Shelley-Anne Brown, the Pickering native and brakeman of the silver-medal winning Canada 2 two-man women’s bobsled, describing her first bobsleigh run as “doing a 50-foot sprint and then jumping into a clothes dryer.”
-Forgetting how to pronounce former gold medal cross-country skier Chandra Crawford’s first name only seconds after I confirmed the pronunciation with her, then using my fabled “I’ve had eight concussions” excuse.
-Interviewing Hollingsworth, Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Robbie Dixon, Emily Brydon, Alex Gough and Devon Kershaw, all with tears in their eyes over their disappointing results – in Kershaw’s case, despite the fact that he had just recorded the best-ever Canadian result in his discipline by a ton.
-The thrilling finishes to men’s skeleton and the 50K cross-country race.
-Spending seven bucks for a box of cereal at the IGA in Whistler.
There’s so much more that I could go through – the sheer, unadulterated beauty of Whistler, standing in the snow for hours on end waiting for athletes to come by, interviewing Lindsey Vonn in a two-on-one scrum with Access Hollywood, the air, the mountains, the views, attending concerts by Devo, The Roots and Blue Rodeo (how’s that for a musical smorgasbord?) and being in the middle of the Whistler Town Square for the overtime of the gold medal men’s hockey game. Incredible experiences, all. As well as this seemingly newfound Canadian pride and outward patriotism which I have been waiting to see my whole life. I knew it was in there!
And now I get to go to Florida to discuss the merits of Jose Molina vs. Raul Chavez and the incredulity of Travis Snider starting off another season hitting ninth. Baseball is still the best, though!
Regular spring training coverage begins tomorrow – rational and reasonable comments are always welcome!
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Welcome back Mr. Wilner!
Sounds like you had an incredible experience at the Olympics but I’m glad to have you back for your baseball analysis….There’s still snow outside but man, I’m as excited as ever for this year’s baseball season!
- loganMike. some of us have indeed missed you. While Jordan Bastian is an alright guy, he just doesn’t have your folksy sarcastic charm.
I’m glad you’re back.
- Sam McLeanShould we not think about entertaining offers for Lind, as FA is approaching. The chances of resigning as a DH in Toronto seem remote. I don’t see a spot for him in the field. I mean do we really want Snider and Lind on the outside of Wells for an outfield with this young staff?
MW: When you say FA is approaching, I think you mean arbitration. Lind isn’t free to leave until after the 2013 season.
- John VanDyke$7 bucks for cereal?
Almost as atrocious as $9.50 for a plastic bottle of beer at the ACC.
I hope that was some good Count Chocula.
Mmmmm….Count Chocula….
Now, on a serious note, I am incredibly excited for this season, the most since 2006 after all the free agent signings. I have to admit, I was always a J.P. guy, didn’t mind the bad interviews and I wasn’t one to blame him for the A.J. Burnett, B.J. Ryan, Troy Glaus debacle that didn’t pan out. But I will say, I am in mad baseball love with Alex Anthopolous (sp.???) and his constant optimism and the way he stands by his guys.
AA’s excitment has got me excited and I am hoping to see some wicked plays and awesome long balls. I don’t even care about the record this year, I am in understanding of what is going on.
Guess you can tell I’m not much of a Leafs fan, huh?
- T.J.Hey Mike, good to hear the trip out west went well.
This might be a slightly dumb question – I’m a young student who would really like to get into the scouting business. What’s the best way to do this?
MW: Call every big-league team and offer to do whatever they want you to do for nothing.
- BrendanTruely a jack of all trades Wilner, good job on the left coast.
Look forward to year of disappointment and rebuilding. Buckle up.
- Brett VOlympics are over.
- The Man With The Golden ArmBaseball is here.
Welcome back sir.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/gamecenter/recap/MLB_20100304_MIL@SF/giants-rally-to-win-game-that-features-zitofielder-confrontation?tag=headlines;mlb
I’m sorry – but Zito hits Fielder with his fastball: could anything have less of an effect on anything?
MW: Yeah, it just means that the Giants didn’t like what Fielder did last year, but it’s pretty silly.
- Kengood to have you back and I’m glad you got to recharge the batteries. I’ve been in Whistler during World Cup ski races and the atmosphere is great. I’m sure it was tenfold for your time there.
Much has been written about the wonderful increase in patriotism for Canadians so you are fortunate to have been at ground zero for that.
I’m looking forward to your Jays posts and hearing about the competitions for playing spots. My hope is that Randy Ruiz (I’ve decided to dub him the BlueJay Bomber) gets his fair shot and breaks camp with the big club.
I’ll aprreciate your insights on the Bomber as the preseason unfolds.
- RezAn “editorial correction”, Mike — the “double medal” you refer to was in Women’s Bobsleigh, not Skeleton.
MW: Fixed!
- Normmichael,
my goodness. pitchers & catchers reported. baseball had made it’s glorious spring start & you’re nowhere to be seen.
no baseball blog, no news, no nothing on the great national past time of our dear dear neighbours to the south.
then i find out weeks later you’re in british columbia reporting on the luge.
the luge of all things michael. the luge…….my god.
man…. i don’t even know who you are anymore you know that?
anyway, glad to see you back my friend.
MW: Weeks later? Where have you been?
- darrell bishopGreat time of year with baseball almost back…
Maybe im just a biased home team optimist BUT i dont think the Jays will be as bad as the critics say this year and i doint think they’ll finish last in the division..
I DO think the rotation will be decent if everybody can stay healthy (Marcum) and i DO think our roster if healthy will be decent…Of course im banking that Vernon Wells has a much better season i mean he has too right…Lind,Hill continue to pay well..im optimistic Snider can turn in a good sophmore season and im hopeful some of our prospects can show something IE (Drabek,Wallace,Cooper,Arencibia) Im just glad baseball is back regardless !!!
- MikeHey Mike, I’ve been to Whistler a few times and the total resort area (not the hills) are much smaller than you might originally think so I appreciate how crowded the square was.
I enjoy the Bobsleigh runs and they are insanely fast, which you can only appreciate when you are there live (in the quarter second it takes for them to fly by).
But the luge (feet first) and skeleton (head first) on tiny runners is purely insane and I’m not entirely sure of the need for both…
The only thing crazier is the guys that do it on those long skateboards on the mountain roads in California – truly nuts!
Anyway, I hope you’re back feels better and we’ll look forward to seeing all the young guns compete for the Jays this year.
Last thought: who do you think has the best chance at 15 wins this year? Thx
MW: You know I don’t think pitchers can control their wins!
- GaryMike, the following conversation highlights why you must join twitter:
@MLBastian He got here today. Still cant convince him to join Twitter though. RT @samamclean: @MLBastian Has Mike Wilner showed up yet? 37 minutes ago via TweetDeck
@MLBastian New feature at Dunedin Stadium this spring: showing the pitch velocity on the scoreboard. Welcome to the future! 36 minutes ago via TweetDeck
@drunkjaysfans @MLBastian Is he reluctant to embrace indoor plumbing, too? Because that’s about the equivalent of a reporter in 2010 ignoring Twitter. 33 minutes ago via TweetDeck in reply to MLBastian
@MLBastian @drunkjaysfans Thankfully, I can neither confirm nor deny. 31 minutes ago via TweetDeck in reply to drunkjaysfans
@dlbrows @MLBastian @drunkjaysfans best way to make someone join twitter is to create a fake-account. @mikewilner is available. 27 minutes ago via web in reply to MLBastian
MW: What could I possibly contribute to Twitter that Bastian doesn’t already do?
- andy mcHey Mike,
Welcome back to baseball.
I’m actually looking forward to this season. Should be interesting.
Glad you’re back on the beat.
- andrewHey Mike are you going to set up a twitter account?
- HunterHey Mike, good to see your blogging again. I am visiting clearwater next week and was hoping to catch Halladay with the Phillies. I have read everywhere that he reports for his workouts at 545am. I was hoping to catch up to him for an autograph, do you know if he reports to the Carpenter Complex workout facility or the ballpark at that time in the morning?
I will also be watching our beloved Blue Jays and will hopefully see you there!
MW: The complex and the ballpark are attached, so he probably uses both.
- jamieWell we did miss ya Mike! Good to have you back and yes, based on some pretty early results it sure doesnt look like Snider is going to bat anywhere but 9th for Cito. But hey, I wouldnt be leading-off with Bautista either, and look what he did against the Phillies today. Also, what’s with Overbay – is it a healed hand (finally – he says it now feels back to normal) or the last year of his contract hitting home. Lyle is a genuinely nice guy though and I hope he can come through.
MW: Small sample size alert!
- CharlesHey Mike, sounds like you had quite the trip! Hope your back feels better now. Very interesting take on the olympics indeed! Now, to baseball, I would like to know why in the world is Randy Ruiz getting barely any recognition for his acheivements from last year and this offseason. I know he’s 31 years old, but c’mon, 10 homeruns in 100 ABs is at least making space in a defensive alignment for. Anyway, glad your back and and I hope to see some good baseball coverage now.
Oh yea, the Montgomery win amazing! Your so lucky to have seen that! Would been even cooler to see team Canada win gold though.
- Adammichael,
- darrell bishopvery nice blue jay spring training debut for young morrow yesterday afternoon i must say. welcome aboard indeed.
i have to tell you, i think at the end of the day it’s going to be alot of fun watching this group of possibly 7-8 young pitchers throw this yr.
gaining experience, learning their craft & moving along in the development stage of their careers.
similar perhaps to the jays era of the early 80′s or maybe that atlanta brave era when that organization made their eventual move & turned the corner.
exciting times await us i think michael, exciting times…
proper perspective here & it’ll be a fun season for fans of this team to observe.
Mike,
Great to have another season of baseball on the horizon, and I am excited to see what some of the young guys can accomplish this year in Toronto. Obviously this team is not expected to contend, but do you think the rotation could use a veteran to help shoulder the load? Or do you think that there’s enough experience there with Marcum and potentially McGowan.
MW: I don’t know what a mediocre veteran would add to this staff.
- WDMOf course the track was safe. That’s why they put up a new wall, added padding to the very well-placed steel poles and lowered the starting gate. It had nothing to do with the track, it was driver error.
Yes, baseball is still the best, but those Olympics were pretty darn good. Hard to believe a tiny village like Lake Placid was able to play host just a generation ago.
Will the Jays finish ahead of Baltimor this year?
MW: Probably.
- Ken PaganMike….thanks for the Olympic review. Overall, it must be considered a great success for Vancouver and Canada,
Moving to baseball, I have seen in the early boxscores that Travis Snider is batting ninth – can you shed any light on the rationale for this ridiculous approach? I know it’s very, very early in spring, but when I read those who are batting in front, I shake my head about the final year to come with Cito.
Secondly, after reading a few AA articles, I was reminiscing about the JP days, and the complete lack of high ceiling prospects developed by the Jays during his tenure. Can you help explain the Jays draft approach from 2001-2009 – mostly low-ceiling colleage players vs. the high risk/high reward high school type. As every new baseball season was approaching, I eagerly anticipated the prospect ratings. Every year under Ricciardi, our lack of impact talent and depth was embarrassing and discouraging. JP’s approach has set this organization back. AA has me feeling very encouraged about a quicker turnaround, but would welcome your insights into whether JP chose the approach, or whether Godfrey had something to do with it.
MW: First, about Snider – it’s not about the people hitting in front of him (yet). I think it’s that Cito wants to hit him 8th or 9th if he makes the team, so that’s where he’s hitting him in the spring. In these games, batting lower in the order doesn’t cost anyone at-bats, as it does in the season, because everyone comes out after they get their two or three anyway. I think Snider should be hitting higher in the order during the season, absolutely, but Cito doesn’t see it the same way, evidently. As for the draft thing, in the beginning, when the Jays had no money, Ricciardi’s crew drafted lower-ceiling, higher-projectability players who they thought could get to the majors quickly, but to say that he didn’t bring in any impact talent is just not true. What would you call Aaron Hill, Adam Lind, Ricky Romero, Shaun Marcum, Travis Snider and Marc Rzepczynski, just to name a few?
- kenMike,
I’m listening to your broadcast this afternoon and JP Arencibia just hit his second homerun of the spring. If he continues to be hot, what are his chances he makes the team as the starter and John Buck becomes the backup?
MW: A shade under one percent.
- DennyI found your Olympic reports and the sessions you did with the hosts on-air back in Toronto generally enjoyable and refreshing.
Your descriptions of things likely differed a bit from the staler media types that seemed to be all over the TV. I laughed when you described the lugers (spelling?) coming down that fast track like they were in a pinball machine and then on that bad day on the ski hill you described the skiers as “wiping out all over the place”….
MW: Well, they were! I don’t remember saying pinball machines, though – I remember saying the lugers looked like fish in a dry bathtub, though.
- Rob MWelcome back MW!
Will you be doing any live bloggage for any games this spring?
Any big surprises so far in camp?
Have fun in the sun!
MW: I don’t think there will be any live bloggage – the twitterers take care of that, and there’s audio of nearly every game somewhere. Big surprises? Considering I have seen four games, I’m loving the way Ricky Romero is looking, obviously very impressed with J.P. Arencibia and Jose Bautista, but by far the biggest surprise is that Aaron Hill has walked six times.
- SS in KWMike….
a) Is Jim Thome “Plan A” for the Twins as DH or how do you think he’ll be used since Morneau is a fixture at 1B and Thome’s glove has been in mothballs for years?
b) How do you think Jake Peavy will fare in his first AL season? (win total??)
MW: 1 – Of course he’s the DH – did you really think he’d move Justin Morneau off first base? 2 – No clue. Pitchers don’t control their wins much.
- chris m.Mike, for what it’s worth, my opinion is that the Jays should try and put more emphasis on the development of Canadian talent.
If the Olympics have shown us anything, it’s that Canadians can be patriotic. The Jays are Canada’s team – why not market it as such?
Are there any Canadian players out there now in the minors who can be brought up – at least for some home games?
MW: I think it would be a terrible move to favour Canadian players over others who might be more talented. If you can get a great Canadian who deserves to be in the big leagues, that’s awesome.
- RandyHi Mike,
Good to see the baseball season begin its quite exciting. It looks like the jays will have a very good problem on their hand this coming season. Randy Ruiz and Brett Wallace are the guys that belong on this team while its pretty clear that Lyle’s time as a jay is winding down. My question is as follows.I am not sold on encarnacion at third and for whatever reason he has yet to appear in a spring game, I assume he is nursing some sort of injury. With that being the case perhaps we start Ruiz at First wallace at third, Lind as DH. That leaves the Jays with two positions that we have subpar hitting. Catcher and shortstop. If Arencibia is able to make the jump this season we can parlay some of our young pitching and overbay for a good young shortstop. What do you think?
MW: I’m sorry that you’re not sold on Encarnacion at third, it’s a shame what a couple of bad months can do to the way people see a guy. He’s still recovering from off-season wrist surgery, but should be playing by the end of the week. If the Jays could have moved Overbay and some young pitching for a good young shortstop, they’d have done it by now. Wallace’s future is not at third base.
- Moti BMike,
I didn’t hear the whole conversation, but I did hear a caller commenting about the relative durability of current major league pitchers vs. those of a previous generation. The part of your answer I did catch concerned the evolution of the availability of information…
Well,it would seem absolutely indisputable that starting pichers throw significantly less innings than they did in the 1960′s and 1970′s; if memory can’t be trusted, a quick glance through “The Sports Ecyclopdia: Baseball” confirms this. It also confirms that more pichers are on the disabled list in the current era: as a sample, I checked 1975 (42 disabled pitchers) against 2005 (eliminating the six teams that did not exist in 1975 – 87 disabled); it is simply not a question of perception.
Instead of 9-10 pitchers per staff we are now treated to 12-13; meaning about a third of the members of a 2005 staff would have been in the minors in 1975. All this results in interminable game times due to many more runs being scored (many off inferior bullpen pitchers) and the excrutiating number of pitching changes: and THAT would seem the enduring legacy of the pitch count…
MW: I don’t know that that’s the legacy of the pitch count, but there’s never been a debate that pitchers pitchers more innings 30, 40 and 50 years ago. I submit that a lot of them pitched hurt – or at least hurt enough that they’d be put on the DL now but weren’t then. The more money that is invested in these guys, the more they’re babied.
- Kenwow……..winter olympics AND spring training …………. you must be loving life right now
im totally jealous
- ProkopecLuge is a very dangerous sport., but the athletes were saying it was unsafe, prior to the fatal crash. A Romainian had to be airlifted out the day before Noda crashed.
On the other hand I’m sure the athletes were frustrated.
I’m not sure they much choice to slow the thing down.
MW: I didn’t hear the athletes saying it was unsafe prior to the crash. Fast? absolutely. Scary? Some of them said that, too.
- BarbThe Olympic athletes said the pressure on them, from the press was very wearing. LIkely the athletes should be left alone , and allowed to fly ‘under the radar’ up to and during their event,
and they can be interviewed afterwards.
The Olympics themselves afford lots of pressure to represent one’s country without over expectations and silly statements about the Canadians chances of winning over World class athletes.
MW: Aren’t the Canadians world class athletes, too? And didn’t they win more events than any of the other countries’ world class athletes did?
- BarbMike, I was just wondering if Tim Collins is on the Spring Training roster this year? A very intriguing pitcher!
MW: Intriguing indeed! Tiny Tim isn’t in big-league camp, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be called up to pitch in a Grapefruit game or two – he was last spring.
- AJMike,
Please tell me what there is to be optimistic about the
2010 Blue Jays?
I only see 60-70 wins and last place in the AL East.
Tony
P.S. Alex may be a nice guy but he is the third GM the Jay’s have hired with no previous experience. I don’t think the odds are in his favour.
MW: I see a ton of young talent.
- TonyM-Dub,
You think Zobrist is the real deal?
MW: No. He used to be just a bunch of relatively empty on-base, the power is something completely new.
- slobberfaceHey Mike, a quick question for you:
What exactly does it mean when someone says that a rehabbing pitcher (i.e. Dustin McGowan) will pitch a “simulated game”? How do these simulations work?
Thanks Mike!
MW: It’s just like playing a game with a bunch of your buddies in the park. The same guy can hit over and over, they can end an inning with two out, or play four outs, throw a couple of runners on base if they want – regular rules don’t apply, it’s all about getting the pitcher the right amount of work.
- Richmichael,
to look away from the pitching of this team & soley focus on the hitting/fielding lineup for a moment…….
new guys buck, molina, gonzalez, gathright and/or reed trying to make a good first impression.
relatively new guys still looking to make their mark such as snider, encarnacion, bautista, ruiz, possibly wallace.
guys really needing solid bounce back yrs. for different reasons (& certainly capable of it no doubt) such as wells & overbay.
just hill & lind kind of in their own category just hoping to continue with more of the same as being the plan.
lots & lots of ab’s above that are going to determine what kind of yr. this team is going to have all in all.
i realy don’t foresee for the most part many of the above having poor seasons by their own standards.
of course the law of averages tell you that some probably will based on such a large no. of players in question.
and of course you can never predict injuries that almost inevitably occur over 162.
yes personally i’m quite content with what the 2 catchers & the ss will do in the field but just not entirely sure what they might give the team up at the plate.
other than that, i gotta tell you michael i’m quite bullish on the rest in terms of delivering relative to objective expectations.
in particular, the motivation & apparent improved health that both wells & overbay will have bodes well.
but what do you think. anyone jump out at you as potentially having very disappointing yrs. even by their own standards?
anyway, lots of stories to follow this yr. with this team. gonna be fun i tell you…….
MW: I hope it’ll be fun. I don’t understand why you would want me to try to figure out who might have a disappointing season – seems like an odd way to think.
- darrell bishopHey Mike…nice to hear you on the radio again…as well as Alan and Jerry…anyway…
With the “youth movement” underway, I find myself paying attention a lot more than usual. I’m reading Bastian’s stuff, I’m on the Jays website and I’m paying attention to their meaningless spring training games.This is the opposite of what I thought I would do.
I like what Alex has done so far. There seems to be a plethora of good pitching in camp this year, young as it may be, and this rebuild may not take as long as I thought. Then again the real season starts in 20 odd days, so we’ll see then.
Thanks and welcome back.
MW: Thanks! Glad you’re along for the ride.
- Gordon AndersonJason Frasor for Hak-Ju Lee. Do you pull the trigger?
MW: Maybe – but Lee is only 19 and has just 300 plate appearances in low-A ball as a pro. He’s a LONG way away, and might not wind up being any good.
- RenegadeMike, I might call you on a post-game show about this later in the season, but I will give you what I think so far.
Ok I like the direction AA is going at the moment with Blue Jays because there is no other choice (ie: making a big blockbuster trade, or signing a big expensive free agent) and that is fine because I like how any sports franchise starts off building that way.
However my problem is looking long term in MLB is knowing down the road if guys like Lind and Hill, or any other young hitter or pitcher other franchises have continue to have very good seasons after seasons, they will be too expensive to keep whether leading to free agency or arbitration. Watching the Jays and MLB again in 2002 after a long absence from it, I’ve come to see the sad outlook of the smaller market teams (not counting Jays in this case) lose their players because of the 5th to 6th year of MLB service the player becomes too expensive, or can’t afford to pay them another big FA contract.
Since of course living in the GTA, I have to follow for the Jays and root for them. But after 8 years of being stuck in this dreadful AL East, watching either at least Yankees or Red Sox make the post season for those 8 years it kind of discourage me to watch Jays or MLB for that matter. I have nothing against the Jays (although losing Halladay sucks) but until MLB does somethin more drastic (like balancing schedule, expanding playoffs, salary cap, etc) there’s no point in watching a lost season already. If you were a fan and not working for the Jays, could you watch this season knowing Yankees or Red Sox are just gonna have a playoff spot “bought” because they can?? (I said playoff spot, and not championship since there are always potential chance of either one of them losing in ALDS, ALCS, or World Series)
MW: Of course I can, because I’m a fan of baseball. I enjoy the game.
- Chris CMike…I guess I worded my question in a confusing way. What I was trying to ask is Jim Thome the everyday DH or a part time player?…I realize he’s strictly a hitter at this stage.
MW: I would expect him to play most of the time, maybe sit against tough lefties. He’s still a very, very productive hitter against right-handed pitching.
- chris m.