Here's an interesting take  on L'Affaire Shea from someone who apparently knew Gibbons.

Great find, Mathesond, thanks for sharing that. Personally I wish Gibbons had been able to confront Hillenbrand without challenging him to punch him in the face, but I'm not a ballplayer, so what do I know? Maybe, as this Mets-ex trainer suggests, that's precisely what he needed to do. But regardless, I applaud without hesitation his anger and his swift resolution of the problem.

After the win last night, I think they can move on.

I hadn't realized it, but there is a respectable argument that Jonathan Papelbon is the AL MVP so far.  THT's Runs Created and Pitching Runs Created statistics have him as the AL leader so far.  These statistics definitely are not the last word, but Papelbon is having quite a year so far.  Mind you, in 1990, when Eckersley had an astounding year, he finished 5th in the voting behind, among others, Kelly Gruber.  The voters repaid him for their error by giving him the award in 1992 when he was merely excellent.

Doesn't it seem like Vernon made a statement last night?

4 for 5, game-winning home run against probably the best closer in baseball history?

It's like he said, if the ship is sinking, I'll float this sucker by myself if I have to.  Vernon's made a few diplomatic comments about the Shea story, but I wonder if he's actually really cheesed off, and now he's more motivated than ever to drag the Blue Jays into the playoffs.  That home run sure felt like a real big flip of the bird from Vernon to Shea.

Man!  Sitting in the bleachers last night I had chills.  42,000 fans...I dont care if half of them were Yankee fans it was electric in there last night.

Great effort by the offense and defense last night...Glaus comes up with a couple tough plays, and Johnnie Mac is like silk at SS.  I hope that BJ's troubles post All Star Break are gone now.  And is it just me or has Brian Tallet turned it up a notch since getting called back up.  That guy has been a tough kid for the Jays out of the pen.

I don't want to seem like the bandwagon jumper, but if this team is capable of grinding out a win like they did last night, against a tough pitcher, there is no reason this team cannot win alot more games and roll into a race with Boston.  Before I say too much more, lets see if AJ can be the guy we signed him to be tonight and I'd love to see it come down to BJ vs. Giambi again tonight...that BS roller to 3rd last night...Yankee fans were in shock cause he actually went off field...haha!

This whole 'challenging him to a fight' is getting blown out of proportion. I understand Gibbons challenged Hillenbrand to punch him in the face. The meaning I take of this is that if Shea is going to write messages like that about his ballclub and players, he might as well walk up to John and deck him one. It was a rhetorical challenge. Shea would talk about it like John was a bully who wanted to exchange blows, and the popular reviews are the same.

Of course the story would be that the boss is behaving like a tyrant, but in my view even a pacifist could tell you to strike him rather than slight his livelihood. Put in his position, I would have likely done the same thing. Nobody is going to mock something very dear to me where I am a leader of a large group and act like it doesn't matter. If he thinks it's just a joke, I'd tell him how serious I think it is. That he should more likely attack me personally rather than bring down the group. Is the guy likely to get up and beat the crap out of me while I don't defend myself? If the team around me were to stand idly and watch something like that happen, I'd probably deserve it -- but no, no action would be expected.

Is this a strange concept to many? I'm not surprised the media is portraying this as a battle that nearly spilled over into some clubhouse fisticuffs at the fault of the manager's instigation. Then, as news gets passed on and on, the message is progressively skewed. The word I hear from Gibbons and Ricciardi is that they just don't care if John is portrayed as the bad guy in this, and I can understand that the less media coverage on this, the better. I just hope that if I understand John correctly, questions won't linger that he's a bully tyrant best known for a mean left hook.

Why is there a report that the Jays are interested in Astros 3B Morgan Ensberg??

Makes no sense!?!

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060721&content_id=1567754&vkey=trade2006&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

No, this makes perfect sense.  Troy Glaus's patellar tendinitis is going to be exacerbated by playing the field on an everyday basis, and although Troy may not like it the best thing for the team over the rest of this season is for him to handle much more of the DH duty.  Given that Hillenbrand is not gone, and with the Jays having five pretty good outfielders (once Rios comes back) Shea's replacement should be someone who can play at third.

Baker's article in the Star today adds an interesting twist to the Hillenbrand Affair.  Apparently it was Zaun who took offense to the chalkboard affair and stood up for the team.  If you're interested in finding out more about the soap opera:

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1153433435023&call_pageid=969907739730&col=970081600908

I hadn't realized it, but there is a respectable argument that Jonathan Papelbon is the AL MVP so far.

I'm suprised as well, although I'm not sure if the suprise is that he's a closer? He's been dominant, that's for sure, and while I wouldn't have him in my top 2, he's up there.

Speaking of players that don't play full time, there's a more than respectable argument that Travis Hafner is the AL MVP so far - he leads the AL in RC, RC/G, and GPA (it isn't close)  not to mention Slg, and OPS.  Of course he's a DH, plays for a losing team in a non major market, isn't leading any counting stats and didn't make the All Star team, so he'll be lucky if he's in the top 10...

Doesn't it seem like Vernon made a statement last night?

With all due respect, isn't that just journalistic hyperbole? If Vernon Wells could just choose to go 4 for 5 by simply summoning his mojo, then surely he'd be doing that every night.

Doesn't it seem like Vernon made a statement last night?

With all due respect, isn't that just journalistic hyperbole? If Vernon Wells could just choose to go 4 for 5 by simply summoning his mojo, then surely he'd be doing that every night.

It is hyperbole, of course - I just liked the timing of it.  And I wouldn't be so quick to dole out due respect either, at least not when it comes to me. :)

No, this makes perfect sense.  Troy Glaus's patellar tendinitis is going to be exacerbated by playing the field on an everyday basis, and although Troy may not like it the best thing for the team over the rest of this season is for him to handle much more of the DH duty.

If this is true then now that Shea is gone couldnt they just play Hinske at 3rd and Glaus at DH?  It would leave them with two catchers sitting on the bench on those nights since they called up Phillips, but is that a big deal?  Is there a matchups reason not to do it?  I dunno I mean you can always use more bats, but I wouldnt think that acquiring another third baseman would be a priority when your tradeable assets are limited. 

This might have been posted else where, but Pete Walker is having season (and possibly career) ending shoulder surgery

From Rotoworld:

According to ESPNews, the Giants have acquired Shea Hillenbrand from the Blue Jays.

I'm hearing the Jays picked up Jeremy Accardo and Vinnie Chulk has also been traded to the Giants.

KBNR has confirmed the trade.

I like Accardo. Great young arm (24 years old) who's averaging almost a K an inning. A potential set-up guy for the Jays.

TSN.ca now has the deal up as mentioned above: Hillenbrand/Chulk for Accardo. 
And give MLB.com some props for being so quick, Accardo's page now shows him as a Jay.

This is more than we could have hoped for.  If it is in fact Accardo, JP made out very, very well.

40K, 11BB and 2HR in 40.3IP this year.  Yowza!

Goodbye to you Shea, with your weirdness, your trailer living, your ability to get offended by everything, your fondness for the animals, your walkoff homeruns and various other picadillos.  Maybe you and Barry can out crab each other. 

 And goodbye to you, Vinnie, with your weird glove shake , your mouth breathing, your Spanish speaking abilities (apparently the best, according to Alex Rios) and your choice of  "Down 4 my N**gas" by Snoop Dogg as your entrance music.

I realize this isn't exactly the same case here, but it does make me smile when I remember San Francisco trading another promising reliever away for a rental player with character issues.

I like it too. 

I mean, he's better than Adam Peterson, so in the end the Jays win! :)

It will be interesting to find out if the Jays are picking up any of Shea's salary . . .

From the Baseball Prospectus book this year, on Accardo:
...mid 90s fastball, developing slider and a filthy cutter that scouts compare to Mariano Rivera's bat-sawing frisbee.... he has the potential to be the Giants top set up man in 2006.

From the weak position the Jays were dealing from, I like it.  With Spier, SS Loogy, Ryan and now Accardo you have a nice set of guys you can use in tight games.  It also allows League to get more acclimated to the big leagues in less pressure situations and forces him to earn his way up the depth chart. 

Accardo seems to have been unlucky with his ERA this year, at 4.91. It's not a HR problem, which would very troublesome coming from SF to here, so that looks OK. He's also been murder on lefties both last year and this year in the majors, which lends credence to the Rivera cutter description. It would be great to have a righthander that not only is good against lefties (like Speier), but is also acknowledged by Gibbons as being tough against lefties.

Overall, we'd all like to get more, but this seems to be a trade that could be good for this year's bullpen and the future. And we just didn't need Hillenbrand on this team. He was a nice luxury to have, if he had been able to play better defense, but the last week aside, everyone knew he was an expendable piece on this team.

Here are Arccardo's home/road splits.

Road 71 ab: .183        .224        .268        .491
Home 83 ab: .301        .351        .386        .737


AT&T is a slightly better hitters park than the RC. It gives up more BB, H and Runs. But RC gives up more homers. However, Accardo has only given up 4 hr in 70 innings.

Wow, I'm very impressed with this trade. While there have been criticisms of JP's handling of players, he certainly can talk the talk when it comes to negotiating with other managers. We've already gotten the best of Hillenbrand for the season (more then likely at least), and now we free up a couple million to toss at Lugo or perhaps an end rotation guy, AND a quality prospect. Now they can let  one Schowenweis/Speier go and afford to pay to keep one (preferably Speier) because they've gotten cheaper and better.

And how about these Jays? Who's with me on the "how sweet it is" to see Halladay go 7 2/3 of 3 run ball followed up by Burnett going 7 1/3 of 3 run ball? Sure, we overpaid for AJ, but I really don't care about that right now, because the vibe surrounding the Jays is back to what it was at the beginning of the year - excitement and full of hope.

I know a decent 4th or 5th man for the rotation would be ideal, but if we did add Lugo, the Jays would really have that complete lineup from 1-9 they've been missing. Because lately I've been getting frustrated by watching McDonald just throw away at bats. The market for pitchers is thin and my gut says we'd overpay for a quality 4th man.

ps: I know I said 'we' a lot and some people have a pet peeve with regards to that, but.. too bad, as a fan who's emotions are dictated by the actions of his team, you certainly do feel like you're apart of it sometimes. !

A little more on Accardo.  He's 24 years old and the Jays will have control of him for a few years.  Sickel's had him rated as a C+ prospect before this year, but Giant's management saw him as a future closer.

In only two minor league seasons he had an ERA of 3.28, a WHIP of 1.20 and struck out about one batter per IP.  Other than the inflated ERA, his WHIP, BB/9 and K/9 rate have been about the same in the majors, so as suggested in a previous post his ERA should come back down.

According to the scouting report on ESPN, he has a good cut fastball and has developed a slider.  He's thrown 71% fastballs, 23% sliders and 5% changeups.  He does not have a curveball.

I LOVE this trade.  I'm glad JP traded away an upcoming free-agent for a talent the Jays will control for five more years.  Well done J.P.!

I thought SS was very effective last night with pinpoint control.  Though does 1 2/3 innings rule him out for today?  With a four run lead, the ninth looked like a good place to throw out League, keeping SS fresh for today.

BTW, I'm not trying to be critical of Gibby - I am a big supporter - I just like analyzing bullpen moves and hearing differing opinions.

With Speier (who gets out lefties), Downs and Ryan around, concerns about Schoeneweis being unavailable for a day don't seem to me to be too serious.

121 pitches for Burnett (according to  the mlb boxscore- the Star had it at 122)  is testing the limits.  I am a moderate on the pitch count question, but pitchers returning after multiple bouts with arm problems are a special case.  Personally, I would be reluctant to see a pitcher throw more than 110 pitches until a long-term recovery had been established. 

Mike: I too am a bit concerned over his pitch count. What also bothers me, is that he was pitching a lot of the game from the stretch. There were almost always runners on base through the first 5 innings. But then again, he did look absolutely great minus one pitch he left out over the plate to A-Rod so it's hard to say. He was throwing some serious gas in the first couple of innings, almost always above 95 and regularly up around 97/98. He struck out Giambi in the first on a 99mph heater.  I hope he's feeling ok today. While it's great to watch him pitch, I am never comfortable watching him pitch. I still have nightmares of him rubbing his elbow after a pitch. Let's hope we never see that again.

I have to think the Jays have run into the Yankees at the right time with A-Rod being in a defensive slump. It looks like the battle he's going through defensively is affecting his hitting as well.

I was also impressed with Troy Glaus last night, he's made some adjustments and he's doing a great job of delivering the right hit as opposed to always trying to launch one. Combine that with the great defensive play he made, albeit he didn't get the out, it was still a great play, and Glaus is looking good again.

 

Did anyone else cringe when Gibby took League out of the seventh? I thought he was pitching well (the hit he gave up was a grounder and not particularly hard hit), he had a slow runner at first, and 8th and 9th spots in the line-up due up. I personally found it puzzling.

I agree that removing League seemed unnecessary to me ex ante, and it turned out to hurt them.  The quick hook with the relievers is becoming a big problem, in my opinion.

Letting John McDonald face Mariano Rivera down 1 run in the 9th inning is indefensible, and I really don't understand the thought process there.

Frustrating game to lose, and it was certainly one that the Jays could've/should've won.

Along with the aforementioned questionable management decisions, I also wasn't a big fan of walking Damon intentionally with a LHP on the mound. Why fritter away a favourable matchup (if any matchup involving Downs can be considered favourable) and force the arrival of the heart of the order that much sooner?

On the plus side, it was nice to see Zaun pinch-hitting for Molina. But it begs the question: if Zaun is good enough to PH for Molina against a RHP, why wasn't he good enough to start against a RHP?

I'm pretty much at the point where I don't want to see Scott Downs in any kind of close ballgame anymore. Gibbons keeps using him like he's a situational lefty; he's not and he never has been.

The Jays bullpen now looks like this, in reverse order of effectiveness: Ryan, Speier, Accardo, Schoewenweis (vs LH), League, Tallet, Downs. I'd be prepared to see the first four guys enter a tight ballgame -- the other three should be scarce from the 7th inning on. Tallet and Downs are the same pitcher: cut one, keep the other strictly for long relief, bring Jason Frasor back from Syracuse, and you've taken another step towards a reliable relief corps.

How bad has it gotten for Alex Rodriguez when I'm relieved to see him come to bat with the bases loaded?

You are comfortable seeing Schoeweneweis enter a tight ballgame? What's your secret?

Schoenweis mowed down lefties like his usual self the first two and a half months of the season and has seen a slight drop off in his ability to get lefties out these past few weeks. However alot of fans' grudge against Schoeneweis is due to him facing an unusual amount of righties this year. That's like being upset because Johnny Mac only has one homer this year.

On a completely different note, Orlando Hudson is a free agent at the end of this year and is currently hitting a mid 700 OPS in Arizona. Just an idea.

On a completely different note, Orlando Hudson is a free agent at the end of this year and is currently hitting a mid 700 OPS in Arizona. Just an idea.

All things considered, Hill is probably just as good a second baseman as Hudson, only with more upside, and he comes an awfully lot cheaper.

Jays need a shortstop for 2007.  How about, free agent to be, Nomar, who fits in quite well  with JP's infield defensive philosophy.

If JP's defensive philosophy is "play the worst defensive shortstop possible", then yes, Nomar would fit right in.

I was more thinking along the lines of moving Hill to shortstop again, and putting O-Dog at second.

Then we could call double plays the "Hudson Overbay's Company" :)