Tuesday Bantering: Blue Jays stuff

There isn’t much for Blue Jays news today. Heading towards the American Thanksgiving weekend everything slows.

MLB is having voting for a post season All-Star team. I guess they are calling it an All-MLB team. There is only one Jay in the running, Ken Giles. Apparently the fan vote will count for 50% of the selection process, with a panel of ‘experts’ getting the other 50% of the vote. There is going to be a first and second All-MLB team.

Ian Browne at MLB At Bat calls Giles the Jays most attractive trade chip. I’m thinking it depends on how you define trade chip. Our most attractive trade chip would be Vlad, but if you define trade chip as ‘someone who is likely to be traded’ he doesn’t count. I would also say that Danny Jansen is a more attractive trade chip and it is possible that he could be traded, or at least his name could come up in trade talks.

Maybe calling it most attractive trade chip who is likely to be traded would be better.

At Baseball Prospectus, Matthew Trueblood writes about Larry Walker’s “unfortunate timing”

In 1994, he was on the very precipice of national hero status. Despite playing nearly every day with a torn rotator cuff that had forced him to move from right field to first base in late June, he was batting .322/.394/.587 in mid-August, for an Expos team in first place and with its eye fixed firmly on the World Series. Walker is the greatest Canadian baseball player ever, and that was already evident by that season, his fifth full one in the majors. He had a real chance to become the NL MVP, playing for Canada’s senior-circuit team, and to try to lead that team to the Fall Classic for the first time. Along with Chuck Knoblauch and Craig Biggio, he was on pace to challenge the single-season record for doubles, but whereas Knoblauch and Biggio had 11 home runs between them, Walker had 19.

And then the strike/lockout happened.

Matthew talks about other moments of unfortunate timing. I really would like Walker in the Hall of Fame, but I don’t see it happening. Baseball writers are too much into telling us Jeter is the be all and end all of baseball players.

As he says:

Now, it seems dangerously possible that he’ll fall off the ballot with a thud in the same winter that sees Jeter ushered near-unanimously into Cooperstown. At best, that’s a baffling bit of juxtaposition. At worst, it’s dead-ass backward.

Today’s Christmas present suggest, a shirt from Breaking T. Use the link and the code below:

This isn’t good:

Along with Mitch Williams, Dyson is at the top of my list for favorite closers on other teams.

The big news in my city is that the Flames coach is likely to be fired. Baseball seems to have learned that bullies aren’t the best people to have as managers. I’m hoping hockey learns the same lesson soon.