So what do they do? Well, here's my take...
- First, the idea that Anthopolous should be fired is ridiculous. No one thought his moves last winter were bad or that it would turn out anywhere close to this. The fact that not all of those moves worked out doesn't mean he's not a good GM. I would bet that whoever you replace him with would have made the same moves last offseason if given the chance. Only thing that kind of concerns me is when John Farrell said that the Jays focus too much on scouting and not enough on development. If this is true, it's not a good thing.
- Next down the line is John Gibbons. Even though I'm not a huge Gibby fan, I still don't think he needs to be fired either (although it wouldn't bother me if he was). It does bother me to watch him waddle out to the pitcher's mound when he changes pitchers, but his use of the bullpen and his other "coaching" jobs were fine. It's not fair to blame him for the injuries, poor starting pitching and disappearance of Ricky Romero. My only complaint is that it would have been nice to see him reign in Lawrie and Bautista when they were acting like 3 year olds at the plate. John Farrell winning the AL East with Boston after doing nothing with the Jays proves that managers are over-valued. Plus, there is something to be said for stability and changing Managers and GM's every 3 years doesn't help that.
- As for the roster, the consensus is that they need a left fielder, catcher and 2nd baseman. ~ 2nd base ~ Ryan Goins had a decent audition late this season and would be a good backup, but he is not good enough offensively yet to be the starter on a team looking to contend now. ~ Catcher ~ JP Arencibia has been unbelievably bad this year, starting with his sad attempt to catch Dickey in the season opener. JP has had decent seasons (or at least acceptable seasons) that were trending upwards until this year and he is still only 27. Will he mature enough to change his offensive approach? Does one terrible season make a career? In this case it looks like it at least marks the end of his Jays career anyway. ~ Left Field ~ I have never understood why Rajai Davis doesn't get a full time shot at left field. He is good enough defensively and at the plate to warrant keeping him to take advantage of his speed on the bases - being the best base stealer in the league should carry some weight. Plus, he shouldn't be that expensive, leaving more cash available to spend on the other 2 positions. Bautista will obviously be back in right and I like Rasmus in center. I'm not sold enough on Sierra or Gose to be an everyday starter on a contender and would be fine with moving one of them to help upgrade at one of the other holes in the lineup or even letting them develop further in Buffalo.
- Pitching trumps all of that though and will again be the priority this offseason. Dickey, Buehrle and Happ will be back next year but after that I'm not sure you can rely on anyone else - if you plan to be a contender. Morrow can't be trusted to stay healthy for a full season, so he would be better suited to be slotted in as a long relief bullpen arm, but since there will likely be a lack of options (and he is owed $8 mil next season) he will probably get another crack at starting. I can't imagine Josh Johnson coming back at $14mil, so he's gone. Then there is the 2nd tier of Rogers, Redmond, Romero, Hutchison, Drabek and the top prospects in the minors (Sanchez, Stroman, etc). Any one of these guys is a complete gamble and at best a 5th starter. Nothing overly exciting on the free agent market except maybe Matt Garza or Ervin Santana - neither of which are true #1 guys. A trade may be the Jays only route to really step up the rotation.
- So, that should all be easy to fix right? I would go hard after Brian McCann as a free agent catcher. Although his offensive #'s have declined each of the last 5 years, he still seems like a perfect fit to me and my approach with free agency is - who cares how much the Jays spend? It doesn't affect the roster or the prospect depth. Which is why I would also throw stupid money at Canno as well. Again, who cares - it won't hurt my feelings if Rogers Communication has to spend some money. Besides, even with Canno the Jays would still be under the luxury cap so, as a fan, what is the deterrent? I would say that either one of Davis or Goins can start next season provided that 2 of the 3 are replaced with significant upgrades. You can get away with one below average bat in the lineup, just not 2 or 3.
- All of the big moves made last year have Jays fans thinking it will happen again, but I wouldn't be surprised if AA makes only small moves this winter.
Wayne Gretzky was at a grand opening for an arena named after him in Brantford. In front of the arena is a statue of him. Someone asked him how this statue compares to his other statues. You know you've done ok when you have more than one statue. My daughter drew a picture of me once.
Drake is the "Global Ambassador" for the Toronto Raptors eh? Isn't Alicia Keys the same thing for BlackBerry? That definitely helped them bounce back.
This is fantastic! I've gotta get my girls on the drums and piano more...
After watching that I found a Tool documentary on YouTube called Tool: The Ultimate Review. If you ever have an hour to kill, you should check it out.
I'm curious to see how Tyler Seguin does in Dallas this year. Boston gave up on him because he was to small, not committed and not mature enough. Those were the exact same reason they gave up on Phil Kessel, who turned out to be one of the best scorers in the league.
Watching the Mayweather/Canelo fight was very unsatisfying. Mayweather is just so damn quick and impossible to hit. It reminded me of the boxers at the end of Mike Tyson's Punchout who would turn sideways and were so hard to hit.
Cool top 10 on TSN about fans going on the field or ice, but they forgot this beauty...
Today is the first day of the rest of your life. But so was yesterday and you didn't do anything then did ya?
Leafs fans must be a little nervous watching David Clarkson so far. Absolute bone-head play to jump the boards against Buffalo and has done more fighting than scoring. I'm pretty sure that if Toronto wanted a tough guy to stick up for his teammates and get in the odd scrap they could have used any of the other 8 guys in the line up that only do that. Clarkson may want to think about throwing up a few points or that 7 year $37 mil deal is gonna start to smell pretty bad (or worse than it already does). He kinda reminds me of Darcy Tucker... who I think is still on the Leafs salary cap!
The Leafs brawl brought to light an interesting stat... In the past 16 seasons the Wings have won 4 Cups, 8 division titles, the President's Trophy 5 times and made the playoffs every year. In that same span they have finished last or 2nd last in fights. Their tough guy is their power play. Here is a good article about it - No Goons.
Stick it in your ear: Spoon by Cut Chemist
Mariano Rivera is the greatest closer ever - no question. But his farewell tour and receiving gifts from every other team was selfish and unnecessary. I will never understand why players need to announce that it will be their last season. Let the Yankees do something and that's it - Having Jeter and Petite go out to get him was pretty cool. Rivera doesn't seem like the type to need that kind of praise and attention. Maybe I am mostly upset because the Jays gave him some stupid Native sculpture. I wonder where in his garage he will put that thing?
Now Todd Helton knows how to go out in style. In his last game for the Colorado Rockies they had a pregame ceremony where they gave him a horse! Then he went out and hit a homerun.
I wrote a while ago that iTunes needed to be available in your car and it's getting closer to happening. Apple has made a deal with Nissan to have iTunes Radio in their new vehicles and Pandora has made the same deal with Mazda. It won't be long before your car stereo looks like your smartphone with your apps and music all built in.
These new "bridge" contracts in the NHL are nice to see. Finally some sensible spending. Prove that you're an all star and then get paid like one. What a concept?! The Oilers don't agree apparently and signed Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to a big 6 year deal. Why risk all that money and term for a player who hasn't proven anything yet (other than he gets hurt easily)? The "bridge" contract was out there and being used so why not take advantage of it and keep RNH under a reasonable contract. I'll tell you why - because Craig MacTavish is a jackass.
Does anyone know how The PGA's attempt at playoffs, The FedEx Cup, actually works or why anyone is supposed to care about it?
It blows my mind how adults can act in children's tv shows. How high do you have to be to dress up and dance around singing those kinds of songs? I can't watch more than 5 minutes of it before I have to take back the remote or leave the room.
Not enough bands making good old rock and roll like this anymore....
So, Rivera and Pettitte are retiring, Jeter maybe has 1 more year, Teixera, and Sabathia don't seem to be the same as they once were and A-Rod will be suspended next year and possibly for good. I just feel so bad for them.
Ben Affleck is starring in the next Batman movie. Can't wait to hear Batman say "This Bat Cah is wicked awesome!"
Cheers!
Bonesminded
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