Batter's Box Interactive Magazine

21 August 2008

The 6 game over .500 glass ceiling strikes again.

David Purcey had his best big league start last time out, last night he struggled again. As Rance was noting throughout the telecast he couldn't get his breaking stuff over and was effectively reduced to working with just his fastball. The odds on that working were always going to be pretty long and the result was a disappointing four Inning five run outing. At least that meant we got to see some of the rarer members of the bullpen. Brian Tallet had a nice couple of frames, his first action since returing to the team on Friday, and Frasor was given his first chance to atone for his sins against Detroit last week - and responded with 2 clean Innings of his own. The offense, though, could do little against Pettite and Bruney and this one was never in doubt.

WWJP highlights:
* Litsch getting away from throwing his cutter constantly was key to his good outing last time out. Want home to throw cutter less and two-seamer/changeup more.
* Doesn't think it's a foregone conclusion that AJ will leave, if he does there aren't a lot of guys out there who he can see the Jays getting involved with. Likes what they have in house.
* Instant Replay - believes its coming 'real soon', he likes it for Homers and voted for it at GM meetings.
* Waivers - Didn't go for Maddux as he wasn't going to leave the West Coast. Jays have done a 'lot of things' on the waiver wire but haven't been able to work out any deals.
* Doesn't have a middle infielder to bring up to beef up the middle infield offense.
* Accardo coming around slower than they expected, but he's healthy and working, not a spot in bullpen for him right now and he's not 100% ready yet.
* No attempt to go after Manny - no way he was going inside the devision.
* Expects to see Rolen back this year.
* Expects to pick up the Barajas option.
* Tim Collins is a legitimate prospect.
* Mench and Wilkerson are here because there's no-one better for the role in the Minors.

As if I didn't spend enough time on the couch, there are more sports TV channels on the way, to go with the up coming baseball Tv, approved by the CRTC last week, now the CBC has been given a license for a 'SportsPlus' channel. This will have a limit of 10% on "stick and ball" sports and a minimum of 80% of Canadian Content and 30% amateur content. Also coming very soon, on August 29th, is TSN2, theres a deal in place for Cogeco and Rogers are expected to announce they will carry the channel soon.

Game Day: Doc goes for his 15th win against Sir Sidney. 7:07PM RC

Posted by Gwyn on Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 12:01 AM EDT.

21 August 2008 | 19 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

King Ryan - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 12:25 AM EDT (#191021) #

Halladay and Lee will both be working Thursday night in what could be a pivotal moment in the Cy race. If Lee has another strong outing and Doc gets to double-digit losses (for the first time in his career,) I think it's over. However, if Roy can throw a shutout and Lee gets knocked around, it will become an interesting race!

The bad news: Lee faces the Royals, Halladay the Yankees...

That's all I'm really watching for at this point in the season. The Jays would now have to go 30-6 to make the 95 wins (probably) needed for the post-season. Sorry, Jamie Campbell, but we're finished.

John Northey - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 12:43 AM EDT (#191025) #

So, who from the Box called about Tiny Tim? Glad to hear JP at least knows the name :) In house options other than Mench and Wilkerson... hrm... Coates is the only name coming to mind. Snider isn't really ready just yet (although he makes a good argument) while checking B-R I don't see any other outfielders who I'd really want to see in the majors. David Smith is the only guy really hitting well (over 800 OPS) in AA or AAA other than Snider but he is 27 and spent most of the year in AA. Heck, going throughout the minors I don't see much outside of guys who are too old for their level or rookie ball guys.

I guess this winter we'll see JP chase down a few outfielders who are AAAA guys to be the backups for any injuries to the Lind/Wells/Rios plus Snider outfield.

King Ryan - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 12:47 AM EDT (#191026) #

I know it's no fun when somebody does this, but...

.313 / .371 / .458 , 114 OPS+

Guess who?

Mike Forbes - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 01:40 AM EDT (#191028) #

Buck Coats is better than Wilkerson and Mench. He's a better defender, baserunner and could very well be a better hitter. You can't even argue the point that Wilkerson or Mench have a power advantage on Coats since neither has shown any this year.

Magpie - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 02:23 AM EDT (#191029) #

There is no way on earth we'll see Snider in September - in fact, even if he hits .550 with 12 HR in Florida next spring, I wouldn't expect him to make the team directly out of spring training.

At least, not until April 15. When he'll be in the exact same position Evan Longoria was in this spring. Tampa waited until there were fewer than 172 actual days left in the season. At the end of the 2009 season, Longoria will have 1 year and about 168 days of service. At the end of 2010, 2 years and 168. He'll surely be a Super-2, but they can live with that. The real payoff comes at the end of 2013, when he'll be about five days shy of free agency.

92-93 - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 02:31 AM EDT (#191030) #

Longoria is basically under contract in Tampa through 2016. I do get your point though, and I think that it's imperative to finagle the system like that to earn an extra season of arbitration with your player - it's well worth the 2 weeks in April.

smcs - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 03:43 AM EDT (#191032) #

Don't forget, JP also pronounced "Rzepczynski" as "Zi-Zin-Ski" or something thereabouts. I always thought it was pronounced "Zep-Chin-Ski," but I would assume JP knows how to pronounce his name.

Magpie - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 04:28 AM EDT (#191033) #

Right, forgot they actually cut a deal. But anyway, that's why you wait the ten days at the start of the year.

Gwyn - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 06:51 AM EDT (#191034) #

So, who from the Box called about Tiny Tim?

Wilner asked about him if I remember correctly, and JP seemed to think WIlner was setting him up for a joke or something - 'Did someone put you up to this Mike?'

bird droppings - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 07:29 AM EDT (#191035) #

He's went off to greener pastures in Arizona, however, I just have to point out what a class act the O Dog is...

"Orlando Hudson, who had season-ending surgery Aug. 9, rejoined the team in the dugout Tuesday. He brought out the lineup card to home plate before the game."

AWeb - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 08:27 AM EDT (#191037) #

.313/.371/.458 - That's probably Reed Johnson, coming off his 4 hit game a couple of days ago. Luckily Lind has been better, providing some desperately needed slugging (and he's within 20 RBIs of Rios and 2HR of Stairs now - he could still win the Jays triple crown with a torrid 5 weeks). Strange how it should have been Reed vs. Lind the whole time, but we got caught up in the whole Reed vs. Shannon debate. Hindsight says it should have been a Johnson/Lind platoon from day 1 - who wants to claim credit for saying so in March?

brent - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 08:53 AM EDT (#191038) #

Is Raul Ibanez worth losing the Jays' first rounder? I doubt the Jays will finish in the bottom half of the league. I am surprised that they wouldn't kick the tires on Sheets, but why would he want to come here to face Tampa, Boston and New York?

MatO - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 09:44 AM EDT (#191042) #

Don't forget, JP also pronounced "Rzepczynski" as "Zi-Zin-Ski" or something thereabouts. I always thought it was pronounced "Zep-Chin-Ski," but I would assume JP knows how to pronounce his name.
No non-Polish speaker has really much hope in pronouncing his name properly though Zep-Chin-Ski is a decent approximation.

Anders - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 10:17 AM EDT (#191044) #

Halladay and Lee will both be working Thursday night in what could be a pivotal moment in the Cy race. If Lee has another strong outing and Doc gets to double-digit losses (for the first time in his career,) I think it's over. However, if Roy can throw a shutout and Lee gets knocked around, it will become an interesting race!

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this race was decided a long time ago. Any commentators I've heard on the subject matter don't even mention Doc. Lee is going to win at least 20 and lose 5 or less, whereas Halladay will be lucky to finish 18-10. With comparable era's, I don't think any voters will make much of Doc throwing 35 more innings. K-Rod has a better chance of winning than Roy, unfortunately.

Hindsight says it should have been a Johnson/Lind platoon from day 1 - who wants to claim credit for saying so in March?

Not to be a broken record, but I may have mentioned Johnson/Stairs at least once or twice.

John Northey - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 10:18 AM EDT (#191045) #

Ibanez? The Jays would be nuts to sign him this winter. He is going into his age 37 season and we have a starting 3 who are signed through 2013 at least plus Snider charging very hard. Ibanez is a solid hitter but, like Lind, Snider, Stairs and Overbay (the LF/DH/1B guys we have) he hits from the left side. Giving up a first round pick for him would be a mistake for the Jays at this stage. Heck, I'd say giving up a second round pick would be a mistake. The outfield is a spot with a fair amount of depth and adding to it via a guy in his late 30's in exchange for the full career of a prospect is not a good idea.

92-93 - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 03:57 PM EDT (#191077) #

Raul Ibanez would be a good fit for the Jays, and seeing as he only makes 5.5m this year, he's a realistic option as the Jays DH for 2009. It's doubtful the Jays will be real players in an over-priced Manny/Giambi auction, and Ibanez and his annual 25-100 will be the next best available hitter at a reasonable cost. Having Snider almost ready should not prevent you from getting Ibanez, and nor should losing a pick in the #70 range.

ComebyDeanChance - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 04:08 PM EDT (#191078) #

One historical milestone that the 2008 Blue Jays may reach, is the first team in franchise history to have no one hit 15 homeruns. This is quite an achievement. The 1977 Jays were led in the homerun department by Ron Fairly's 19, and I doubt very much that anyone on this team will reach that gaudy height. The worst ever, in fact the only other year I believe that no one hit more than 20, was 1981 when John Mayberry's 17 (in 290 ab's) led the team.

Once the expansion era was over, it's been very rare that at least one player hasn't hit 25. This isn't just a bad offensive team, it's an historically bad offensive team.

Chuck - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 04:22 PM EDT (#191079) #

This isn't just a bad offensive team, it's an historically bad offensive team.

Just a tad hyperbolic, no? The AL average is 4.76 runs per game. The Jays are scoring 4.29. An unimpressive offense, certainly, but historically bad? What does that say about the three teams scoring even less than the Blue Jays?

Chuck - Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 04:31 PM EDT (#191081) #

Ibanez is a solid hitter but, like Lind, Snider, Stairs and Overbay (the LF/DH/1B guys we have) he hits from the left side.

Operating under the assumption that you are concerned that Ibanez would cause the team to tilt too far to the left, I disagree. I don't see his lefthandedness as being an issue at all, though his age certainly gives me pause.

Stairs being a lefty is a non-issue. Ibanez would replace him at DH.

And Snider, rush him along as we fans are wont to do, may not realistically be ready until 2010. So for 2009, he's probably not an issue either.

I'm all for a LH DH to slot into the middle of this lineup.

21 August 2008 | 19 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.