Sunday Bantering: Jays Stuff

Happy Sunday. We’ve made it to the start or end of another week, depending on how you look at your calendar. Winter has hit my outpost at the edge of civilization (I mean, west of me, you get BC, and those guys aren’t civilized yet) (joking joking, BC folks are fine people, though there is a subset related to my wife). We didn’t get the snow that predicted, but the wind is blowing like crazy, making it feel far colder than it is. I’m going to build a fire and watch the second half of the Man City/Liverpool game.

I’ll admit, I’m enjoying watching video of people dancing in the street. The best part about democracy is that governments can change without the firing of a gun. It is something to be celebrated.

The Four Seasons Landscaping press conference is something that even Arrested Development couldn’t have made up. I don’t understand people who are so unwilling to admit to a mistake that they would rather look incredibly stupid.

I’m sorry to see that Alex Trebek has passed away. When we were in quarantine from our holiday, we started watching Jeopardy again and continued through the summer. I thought he looked like he was doing well.

This was one of my favorite moments:

And, of course, this:

He was at his best when his personality shined through.

There has been a couple of times when SB Nation blogs have been mentioned on the show, but not Bluebird Banter. You would think with a Canadian host we could get some love.

They seemed to be grooming Ken Jennings to take his spot. I’m curious to see how that works out.

Over at FanGraphs, they are asking the musical question, “Should Vladimir Guerrero play third base next season?”

Please no. Let’s leave Vlad at first and give him the chance to get good at the position. They are suggesting that they sign Wong, Biggio could go to first and Vlad at third. I’d rather Biggio go to third. He has the quickness to play there. Vlad, not so much. I’m sure Biggio would be an excellent defensive first baseman. Still, it seems to me that moving him to the easiest of the defensive positions would be a waste and that his bat, which is very good for a middle infield spot, would be average, at best, at first.

But then I don’t always understand what the Blue Jays are thinking.

It is Darwin Barney’s birthday. He turns 35 today.

Barney was a Blue Jay for three seasons, well 2+ seasons. We picked up Barney in a trade from the Dodgers, sending catcher Jack Murphy to sunny California, September 13th, 2015. He got into 15 games, hitting .304/.333/.609. Smart to make a good first impression.

He was a free agent after the season and signed with the Jays. In 2016 he hit .369/.322/.373 in 104 games. He played 7 playoff games and had just 1 hit in 15 at-bats.

In 2017 he hit .232/.272/.327 in 129 games. He hasn’t played in the MLB since.

He was a very likable player (utility players tend to be likable, when you hit as Darwin does. If you aren’t, you won’t be making an MLB salary). Like a few guys over the years, I liked him, but he played too much. He shouldn’t have played 233 games over two seasons, but we had several injuries, and he was pretty good defensively.

If you are wondering about Murphy, he played in Australia in 2018 and 2019. The last MLB note I see about him is that he signed with the Marlins in March of 2019. He’s one of several who, I think, could have been a serviceable backup catcher but never got the chance.

Happy Birthday, Darwin.