Jays Roundup - Ridin' on Wheels of Hell

Tuesday, August 31 2004 @ 08:28 AM EDT

Smokin' our axle grease
Oh, the backstage is rockin'
And we're coppin' from the local police

No game yesterday so not much to report. Still, talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic: The chick pea is neither a chick nor a pea. Discuss.

1. In "Triple-A callups to join Jays" Spencer Fordin discusses one of the worst kept secrets in Toronto baseball: who the Jays will call up in September:
   
   
   Ten of Toronto's 25 active players have spent some time with Syracuse this season, including early callups like Alex Rios and Gabe Gross. If things had gone according to plan, Rios and Gross would just be making their debuts. Instead, they're beginning to be established parts of the team's young nucleus, which has five starters age 27 or under.
   
   The Jays view September warily, as a difficult time to get a read on specific prospects. Still, the time is right to see three players that could conceivably play a major role next season. Namely, it's time for Russ Adams, Guillermo Quiroz and Eric Crozier to get their first big league exposure. All of those names should sound familiar to Toronto fans.
   
   
   I'm really looking forward to seeing all of these players, particularly Crozier who I know little about.
   
   
2. In Mike Rutsey's "The future is now" we learn that J.P. isn't afraid of giving a great deal of playing time to the call-ups even if it means benching some of the veterans:
   
   
   When your players move up and play it also means other players have to sit more than their used to. But Ricciardi isn't worried about stepping on anybody's toes.
   
   "At this point we have to worry about going forward as opposed to worrying about people's feelings," he said. "We need to find out about our future because we've seen the other guys play for five months, we know what we have in those guys.
   
   
   I still wonder how much time at first base Crozier will see, though.
   
   
3. The Jays have a really good shot of adding one to the one column in tonight's 7:05PM EST start at the Dome as the Jays 9-5 righty Josh Towers faces the Mariners 6-9 lefty Jamie Moyer. Did anybody think that at this point in the season that Josh Towers would have three more wins than Jamie Moyer? More details available in Spencer Fordin's game preview.
   
   
4. Geoff Baker discusses a recent event for season ticket holders in "Blue Jays paint rosy picture". It seems the fishwrap can't agree on what the payroll will be for next year:
   
   
   Team owner Rogers Communication has also been criticized by media and fans, including some at Sunday's gala, who believe it should be giving Ricciardi more than a $50 million (all figures U.S.) payroll to compete with. The payroll is to be reduced to $48 million next season, but the Jays are lobbying Rogers to at least hold it even, or at best increase it to $52 million.
   
   
   How many stories have we seen lately with the $53 million figure? Now the Star is reporting $48 million. Strange. Anyhow, it sounds like the event would have been fun to be at:
   
   
   A much bigger contest took place that night at The Liberty Grand ballrooms at Exhibition Place, where the team staged a free Jaysfest charity gala for season ticket holders. Offering such a freebie, billed as a $200-per-person evening, marked a departure from the team's usual Jaysfest events and its first attempt to win over season ticket renewals for 2005... Toronto pitcher Miguel Batista and shortstop Chris Woodward were on hand for the gala, as were rookies Dave Bush and Jason Frasor and the coaching staff.
   
   
   Were any Batter's Box readers at the event? Care to fill us in on what happened?
   

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