Steve Buffery wrote another useless article about the Blue Jays in the Toronto Sun today. I really don't understand why the Sun would have someone that doesn't know anything about baseball writing about it. I mean, do they have the movie reviewer write business stories?
Anyway let's look:
My buddy Roger Lajoie, the Fan 590's utility infielder, said it best the other day when he wondered why Jays fans seemed to be so obsessed with Rogers saving money.
I don't know anyone 'obsessed' with Rogers saving money. I mean, I have not urge to see them make another do another idiot contract, like the one Vernon Wells was given, but obsessed? I didn't want to see a 10 year $200 million plus contract to a guy like Prince Fielder. I don't want to see stupid contracts. I am all for the team deciding how much they feel someone is wort and then not paying more than that.
But the 2012 season was supposed to be the final stepping stone toward playoff contention for this team. And it hasn't been. It's been a step backward. Yes, the Jays have suffered an inordinate number of injuries, but so too have the Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, and they're both in post-season contention.
The Rays have had an 'inordinate number of injuries? Well, Longoria was hurt and that was big. Beyond that I see the names Chirinos Robinson, Brandon Guyer and Sean Rodriguez on their DL list. David Price will miss a couple of starts. Maybe you count is different than mine but I don't see that adding up to 'inordinate'.
Yeah, the Yankees have had a lot of injuries, especially lately. It does seem to be catching them up. I think the Jays injuries have been worse, but I'm biased. I do wonder what would have happened if Cano and Granderson had gone down, I think they would have been in trouble then. Brett Gardner was the toughest one to replace.
Ricky Romero, for starters, is supposed to be the team's ace for years go come. But Romero has been one of the worst starting pitchers in the majors in the second half of the schedule. If he was hurt, wouldn't the Jays, who have been out of playoff contention for at least a month, shut him down? This is a guy Anthopoulos is supposed to build his starting rotation around, a guy who has gone 0-11 since June.
It is some how Anthopoulos' fault that he didn't see this coming? I'm pretty sure no one saw this coming.
I really don't understand what the why we'd be talking about shutting him down. Of course, if he was injured, he'd be shut down, but he's not. Since he isn't, why wouldn't you want him to work on his problems. He wasn't awful in August. 3 of his 5 starts were 'quality starts'. In each of those 3 starts he went 7 innings and gave up a total of 6 runs. It really wasn't his fault that they didn't win. If we were scoring he could have easily gone 3-2 in August.
His last start was really bad, but I don't see the point in shutting him down after that one. Why have him obsessing over that start all winter? We aren't going to the playoffs. We have a dozen guys in the bullpen. We can afford to see if he works things out.
Imagine a rotation looking something like Romero (repaired version), Brandon Morrow, a free agent or two, and Carlos Villanueva and/or J.A. Happ? Not bad. But, again, is Rogers going to untie Anthopoulos' hands and let him wheel and deal like his contemporaries in Boston and New York?
Anthopoulos isn't allowed to wheel and deal? How many deals has he made since he took over as GM? What players are left from when he started? Well, among the batters he inherited we still have Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, Adam Lind and Yunel Escobar. Of the pitchers he had when he started as GM only Romero, Brett Cecil, Brandon Morrow and Jason Frasor are still active with the Jays and Frasor was traded away and came back. I think Alex can 'wheel and deal'. I think they will pick up another starter.
The Jays' legion of trained seals say they will. I'm not so sure.
I hate this sort of thing.
Are we sure Colby Rasmus is the real deal in centre field? Yes, he has 22 homers, but he's hitting a paltry .227. He's a career .244 hitter. Is that good enough for a contending team?
No I'm not sure about Rasmus, but the Rays (a contending team) have 4 regulars hitting less than .227 (Jose Molina .205, Carlos Pena .192, Luke Scott .220 and Sean Rodriguez .215). But then judging by batting average is foolish.
And I know this may be sacrilege, but is Brett Lawrie everything he's been made out to be? We're still hearing about how great of a trade that was (Shaun Marcum for Lawrie). But, again, I'm not so sure.
You aren't sure that was a good trade? Do you watch baseball? Brett is 22, and doing a pretty good job in the major leagues. How many 22 year olds can do that? Marcum is 30, he's been good but he's been injured too. He has a 5-4 record in 17 starts. And he is a free agent after this year. You really have troubles trying to decide if you like that trade?
And then we have the poll at the bottom of the story:
Do the Blue Jays have what it takes to contend in 2013?
Yes if they find pitching help.
No, they don't have a chance.
Maybe, not contend but they can make the playoffs.
I love the 3rd option. They can make the playoffs without contending? That would be some trick. There wasn't an editor that could have looked at that and said 'hey, this doesn't make sense'.