I'm with you. I don't see the benefit of calling up Rios yet. If he's starting to swing a hot bat, let's give him a couple more weeks to keep it up. Maybe their hands were tied, in terms of the 40 man roster, but there must be better options than this.

However, it's done, so now I'm going to sit back and enjoy watching Rios in TO.

However, it's done, so now I'm going to sit back and enjoy watching Rios in TO.

Yeah, me too. I really hope he does really well and makes me look like an idiot, instead of hitting around .220 with no patience, which is what I expect.

I'm sure there's a lot you should know Mike :)

I'm sure there's a lot you should know Mike :)

Hahahah.. nice one. The song was in fact "Is There Something I Should Know" by Duran Duran. My girlfriend had a crush on one of them growing up, so we listen to them quite a bit.

BTW, They published a book of all the stuff I should know but don't. I think it's called the Encyclopędia Britannica. :)

I don't think that Griffin is telling us anything new. If the Jays are out of contention then Delgado will be traded by the deadline. Since he has a 'no-trade' clause, it will have to be to his liking. To get a big contract next year, he'll either go to a rich team or a contending team that will showcase his skills, or a combination of both. Thanks Richard.

I know that I'm investing too much here, but who's getting really excited? I think the boys have turned the corner. They look a lot better when Delgado and Wells hit.

When Menechino got his 9th inning hit, it didnt' go to Vlad. I was playing hockey and just arrived for the 9th, so is Vlad injured? If it's not serious then good. I'm sure Doc will be happier not having to face him.

I think the Rios and Delgado situations are related.

In a perfect world, Rios would stay on the farm for a bit longer. But, right now, the Jays desperately lack actual outfielders. Pond, Clark, and Berg aren't really good with the glove, and it's not like any of them hit well enough to make up for their defense (though I think Pond might be useful as a bat off the bench, taking Berg's spot on the roster). Rios is actually the best option in the system right now.

And, while starting the arb clock isn't great, the Jays need to know soon whether Rios has actual star quality. If he does, the Jays might be able to contend very soon with a core of Wells, Rios, and Delgado, which makes it worth the effort to try to re-sign Delgado at his current market value (which everybody agrees is significantly lower than $17 million a year). If he looks as though he will fizzle out, the Jays might as well let Delgado go, and re-tool to contend three or four years down the road.

Griffin is being too pessimistic when he says that the Jays can't afford to take the risk of offering Delgado arbitration after the season. I'm reasonably certain that somebody will offer Delgado a multi-year contract at market rates, and that this offer will be more total money than even the most generous of arbitrators would award Delgado for a one-year contract in Toronto. (And, indeed, somebody might well overpay Delgado to land a marquee name; Anaheim, Baltimore and Detroit, among others, are throwing money around these days.) Even if Delgado accepted arbitration, he could still be traded for something next year.

Of course, Rogers may well be cutting bait at this point; they presumably are genuinely losing a fair bit of money, and may be tempted to take Delgado's salary and put it back in their pockets. At that point, they will have to endure two or three years of low attendances until the farm system starts to produce a new, cheaper team. I don't know which way they will go.

Cheer Club is meeting in 518 as usual, but the O-Drum is doubtful for tonight. However, the O-Drum will certainly be appearing Friday against the Texas Rangers, so circle that on your calendars.

alsiem, Vlad was DHing.

Vlad was DHing.

I can see that, he's not much with the glove and has a noodle for an arm. :)

Vlad was probably being rested on the hard turf at SkyDome. His back condition is going to be with him probably forever and I think the Angels want to be relatively careful with it.

Further to Craig's comments, I believe that Scioscia is cycling guys through the DH spot. I've seen Guillen there and Anderson, as well, IIRC.

With the injuries to Glaus and Anderson, and thus further elevated importance of Guerrero, I would expect even more DHing from Guerrero (especially on turf) to mitigate aggravation to his back. Especially if they acquire Mondesi!

I'm excited to see Rios come up. While admittedly he hasn't torn it up at AAA, he did have great winter ball stats and looked solid in spring training. Wells didn't do great at Syracuse either but has rounded into a truly great player. I'm not reading or hearing a lot about Wells' spike in his walk rate, which is the highest of his career so far. While Delgado has the no-trade clause, a friend of mine, a player agent for a different sport, has told me a team can apply a ton of pressure on a player to waive that clause.

I still any and all talk of Delgado being traded is nonsense. Contract too big, return too small, backlash too great, no-trade clause too real. And besides all that, I don't think you can say for sure at this point that re-signing him will definitely not be viable.

If Delgado is only partly able to salvage his numbers for the season (say, 260/360/480), would he be willing to sign a one-year $6-8M contract to allow him the opportunity to go after a big contract based on (a) presumably better numbers in 2005 and (b) a potentially improved market place?

My girlfriend had a crush on one of them growing up

I can top that, Moffatt. My lovely bride actually received a phone call at home from Simon LeBon after a concert in Dallas during which she and her friends threw a banner with their phone numbers on stage. He wanted to take them all out clubbing.

Alas, she was but 14 years old at the time.

LOL. Yeah, you win. That's too funny.

Not 100% sure but I think the maximum salary arb. paycut is 20% and since that would put Delgado way over his market value I'd say there is no chance the Jays offer him arbitration. Their best hope is that someone signs Delgado before they have to make that decision (like Seattle did with Ibanez last winter) and the Jays get the draft picks anyway. It was perceptive of Griffin to point out the Ortiz comparison in his article. Does he read this site?

Delgado is an interesting case this winter. Maximum arbitration cut from $18.5 million (I think that is his current years salary not counting signing bonus) is to $14.8 million. (note: USA Today has him at $19.7 but I found an article at http://www.latinosportslegends.com/Delgado_Carlos_highest-paid-in-baseball-102000.htm which has it as $18.5 in raw salary for this season).

Is he worth $15 million? Not in todays marketplace (Vlad is at $14 per year over 5 years). Could the Jays get Delgado to agree to not take arbitration after it is offered as a 'thank you Jays' gift? Maybe but doubtful.

I see $10-12 million per year, 3 year deal for Delgado unless he wants to take a one year deal and hope the market improves. The Jays can do that thus making Delgado a lifetime Jay a possibility, although I'd still say no better than 50-50 odds.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2913
Baseball Prospectus has some comments on the Jays prospects in today's Triple Play (COMN). There is not much positive in there, but it's another perspective on this season to date.

With the injuries to Glaus and Anderson, and thus further elevated importance of Guerrero, I would expect even more DHing from Guerrero (especially on turf) to mitigate aggravation to his back. Especially if they acquire Mondesi!


In athletes, herniated discs appear to be no big deal. Bring down the swelling with cortisone, and then strengthen the core to take pressure of the back. Irod had the same problem as Vlad, and now he's in the shape of his life. As long as Vlad is doing his strength work, his back should be fine.

More worrisome are Vlad's knees. Both Tom (Jerry?) and Wilner said he looked really awkward pulling into 2nd base after his double, which is consistent with what I've been hearing about him. He has some kind of knee problem that is preventing him from making quick stops. This might eventually send him to the DL for a while.

Sure Rios didn't deserve to called up but this stabilises the OF and makes the pitching staff immediately better. If Rios is destined to be an impact player then this won't deter that. I think they've done their research and he won't be a super 2.

Anyways, some thoughts on yesterday's game which I attended (seats above the Angel dugout).
- Colon looked like he was 5'8" and 250lbs.
- is Molina the slowest player in the majors?
- on the carom off Hentgen to Hinske I'm thinking "damn" but Molina's still out by a mile
- Wells is all the way back
- Phelps had great at-bats but still beats the ball into the ground too much
- Hinske had a couple of great at-bats but didn't do much with them
- is Zaun the fastest catcher in the majors?
- man is Colon's stuff inconsistent from batter to batter
- when Percival's numbers were shown I figured this was our big chance - why is this guy the closer? In 16IP he had given up 16H and 10W with only 9K but he still had 12 saves with crap like that
- even if they had lost I was really happy with approach to hitting that I was seeing

Anyone know what number Rios will be wearing tonight?

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/tor/team/tor_team_roster.jsp
COMN - bluejays.com has him listed as #15.

He wore that number in ST last year. If you're looking for him, you'll notice him. Quite tall and pretty skinny. Looks like what yo'd expect.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/events/
Toronto BP Pizza Feed June 13. COMN for details.

If I was the jays management I'd gladly offer Carlos a 3 year deal at 27 million. 10 the first, 9 the second & 8 the third. Whether he'd take it would be another story.

And if possible, throw in a Mike Sweeney clause nullifying the deal if the jays aren't .500 the next two years or so.

http://me.woot.net

If I was the jays management I'd gladly offer Carlos a 3 year deal at 27 million.

Of course you would, because that's a lowball offer that'd make you look like a genius if he took it. I'm willing to bet that his agent cuts off all further negotiations when you insult him like that, though.

The link for Baseball Prospectus that Brian W linked to his post says the Dustin McGowan is not going to pitch again intill 2006! Give me a friggin break!!!

Scott Podsednik got caught stealing by the Dodgers today, his first CS of the season. He's now 22-for-23 on the basepaths...yikes!

He made up for it by homering later in the game.