I spent my 21st birthday, or part of it anyway, in Tiger Stadium. Since that was in 1987 and this is a Blue Jays site, I best not say any more than that!

jays sign takahashi?
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/02/ken-takahashi-s.html

Just what this team needed, a 40 year old, lefty relief pitcher. 

It's a good thing that JP went out and filled this role, God only knows how short we are in left handed relief help on this team.

My 21st birthday was nothing special, but that year I had my only meaningful "called shot"- the precise pitch when George Brett homered off Goose Gossage in the playoffs.  I told my father that Gossage was going to throw him a fastball and Brett would not miss it.  That was exactly what happened. I had a sense that Brett and Schmidt were historically great third basemen; that too was true and 1980 belonged to them.

At the time of my birthday, Jimmy Carter's presidency was winding down while Canada had PET, v.2, "Funkytown" by Lipps Inc. was the #1 hit in the US according to Cashbox, and "The Empire Strikes Back" was the most popular movie.  Me, I was listening to Talking Heads' "Remain in Light", Elvis Costello's "Get Happy", Bruce Springsteen's "The River" and the Clash's "London Calling" (which was released in '79, I think), and I really enjoyed the movie "Atlantic City", with the lemon scene a particular favourite. 

I was preparing for exams (my birthday is November 30), so it wasn't the out-of-control party it might otherwise have been.  If I remember correctly, though, I spent the day in bed.  It was a Tuesday, though, so I must have had to work from 6am-9am, because I did every Tuesday.

Now that is a weird signing.  The Jays have 1,000 pitchers right now, and they sign a Japanese import who is 40?  Well, it is a minor league deal and, in general, those are never a bad thing.  The Jays control his ML rights now until he is at least 45 so if there is anything in his tank they'll get it.

As to age 21.  Hrm.  1990 - middle of the Jays glory years, year 2 of the Cito era v1.0.  A 386 was as strong as computers came (those cost around $5,000 then) and Windows were still things you put on your house not in your computer but that was about to change with the release of MS Windows 3.0 a month before my birthday (3.1 was the version most of us old folks first used).  Can't recall what jobs I was doing that summer (in the midst of university years) but it was probably an assembly line job putting together washing machines or making wires for car batteries.

May 18th, 2004

Miguel Batista outdueled Johan Santana, duh.
I actually had gone to a Batista start the week before when he beat Curt Schilling (why did we ever get rid of that guy?)

I had just got back to Toronto after doing my first two years of university in Saskatchewan and had my Western girlfriend in tow.  It was her first professional baseball game and I think she was impressed.  Didn't fall asleep or anything!
As for the actual birthday, I think I had a BBQ and then some kind of video gaming extravaganza in my mom's basement, (huzzah!) wherein I broke this bracelet my girlfriend had given me merely hours before as a present.  Good times.

No wait...necklace

I was on the Craig B plan (late Nov b-day)... my birthday was on a Sunday and I had exams the next day.  So football in the afternoon and studying at night.  Who-hoo!

Wait a minute...college kids back then actually studied!? My, the times they are a changin'.

Greg, not only did you break it, but now vou misremember what it was? For your sake, having posted this to the Wide Worldly Interwebs, I hope that same "girlfriend-in-tow" is not now your wife, or you is in TRUBBLE!

1972.... ahem, that makes me kinda old and to tell you the truth I don't remember what I did on the 24th of February...... probably had a few drinks tho  and listened to some Purple or Zep.

It was 2005 and I was home from school at the time and all my friends were away on internships so I just went down to Dolphins Stadium with my dad and we watched Pedro Martinez throw 8 shutout innings while striking out 10 in a 1-0 Mets win over the Marlins. Brian Moehler threw 8 innings of one run ball believe it or not. Delgado hit 2 doubles for the Marlins, one I was sure was going to be a home run.

So definitely not a wild or crazy story, but for me a perfect birthday. Watchin a baseball game with my dad.

Spring of '91 - my first birthday in Nova Scotia after 20 years in and around Toronto. Not too much remains in the ol' memory vault, I suspect though that since Opening Day was about a week away, I was looking forward to the new season, and doing my best to forget how, the previous season, the Jays came from 3 1/2 back on Labour Day to pass Boston, only to cough it up again (hey, kinda like the Cardinals yesterday, now that I think of it).

Another thing I remember from the early '90s was CNN's Sports Tonight show, usually with Fred and Nick. Once I discovered that, I never watched TSN's Sportsdesk again

My 21st birthday was a long time ago and I don't think there was any baseball connection to mention.

 I see that MLB.com reports that the Jays (incidentally the only team to not sign a free agent to a MajorLeague contract this off-season) have offered a minor league deal to Kevin Millar, but the player is not ready to sign yet. I was a bit surprised to see that Millar is only 37 and not the 52 that he seemed to be the last time I saw him play.

1972.... ahem, that makes me kinda old

Ahem... I'm a bit older than that.(1971).

I celebrated sitting around in a bunkhouse in Skagway Alaska, imitating Michael Phelps. (We weren't swimming).

Or, actually maybe it was the next day in Inuvik. Age and too much of that activity makes things a bit blurry...

I turned 21 on July 19th 1967.

At the time I was a Hamilton Tiger Cat FANATIC! The Jays were not invented until 1977 and the Expos were not to take the field until 1969.

My PERSONAL sports story of 1967 was watching IN PERSON as my beloved Ti-Cats DEMOLISH Saskatchewan 24 to 1 at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa on December 2nd in the Grey Cup Game. (I lived in Ottawa at the time - actually I lived there for 18 years - IF you can call that living!). It was 4 below zero and I was sitting WAY up at the very end seat of the stadium - and the wind - was blowing on me FIRST - I personally provided protection for every other bugger in the stands. I DAMN near froze my whole entire body. At half time I walked FOREVER in a procession of doom to get a cup of coffee - THAT coffee was the 2nd best sporting highlight I had in 1967. I still get cold thinking of that game.

Speaking of the game - did I tell you I got a cup of HOT(ish) coffee at half time?

The Biz of Baseball site has a very long article about the future of the Blue Jays. It concludes with a warning that we should not take the team's continued presence in Toronto for granted. I think you should read it.

Here is the link for the Biz of Baseball article.

I must say that I consider it very unlikely that the Jays would move anywhere.  Any market that they could reasonably move to would be much, much smaller.  Incidentally, does a baseball stadium count as "infrastructure"?

/sarcasm

I spent my 21st birthday barbequing with friends and family this past may 25th...
best moment was me complaining about this fellow Brad Wilkerson and the s.o.b hits a grand slam.... runs were sparing so that helped a lot, Brad, thanks!
Litsch pitched fabulously too... something like 7 shutout innings...

the night before was just grand thanks to my gf!! :)

Summer of '91.  And for about six years from '86 until '91, I usually spent my birthdays at my home town's "Grad Parties"  (high school) or in bed recovering from same.  I have a vague recollection of the Grads' of '91 and their party.

Uh oh, the Jays are in trouble now as a free agent is about to leave the Jays and sign with Boston!

http://blogs.weei.com/alexspeier/2009/02/03/red-sox-close-on-wilkerson/

Brad Wilkerson close to signing with the Red Sox.  Guess that locks them up for 2009 AL East Champs eh?  :)

I think this has already been touched on here, but Wilner brought it up in his latest blog entry.

Why in god's name are the Blue Jays paying Jose Bautista 2.3 million dollars for next season?

My only guess is that he is going to be getting a lot more playing time than conventional wisdom is telling us. Yet, Cito doesn't seem like the type to stick to strict platoons, so I can only think that if Overbay, Rolen or Scutaro get off to dismal start at the plate, Bautista's the starter.

Something to remember - The Jays have a payroll of about $80 million for 2009.  That works out to an average of $3.2 million per player on the roster.  Bautista is a backup plan for a position (3B) where we expect to see significant injury time (if we are being realistic).  $2.3 million, or 72% of the average, is not that much to pay for a backup plan.  Right now there is no other viable alternative as Scutaro is going to be almost everyday at SS (do you really want McDonald out there full time) and Inglett isn't viewed as a strong alternative at third.  Technically Hill could go to third while Inglett moves to 2B but then we are playing dice with the teams health (position shifts tend to not be a good idea).

Also of note: Bautista is the type of player who tends to do well under Cito.  A slugger with a low walk total.  $2.3 million isn't that much to risk (vs the $400k minimum, so it is really a $1.9 million risk) on the offchance he hits his peak with solid coaching (his past was in Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Baltimore, and Tampa during its really bad days so odds are his coaching exposure was not of the best quality).

Now, would I have signed him?  Probably not, or I'd have let him go and tried to sign for less while looking at other options.  Still, if his contract is the make or break aspect for 2009 then there are bigger problems.

John, I agree 100% with what you're saying but when I see that Ty Wiggington signed with the O's for 1.5 mil for 2 years I wonder if that's better value.
Sure its grasping at little amounts of cash, but if the Jays are truly in penny pinching mode, you'd think they'd look to save dollars everywhere. Plus, I like Wiggington's splits and defense better.

Whoops, I should have read the article with more attention to detail.  Wiggington's signed for 2 years a 3 mil each.

I do thing Wigginton at $3 mil per for 2 years is better value than one year of Bautista at $2.3, but...
A) Did anyone thing Wigginton would only get what he got even a month ago?
B) Would he have signed here for what he got in Baltimore?
C) Which of the two is better/worse on defense?

Fangraphs has...

• Wigginton at -3.2 for UZR/150 for 2008 at 3B, -14.8 lifetime (ie: last year was a 'great' year for him defensively) and puts his value for 2008 at $13.5 million vs 2006/2007 at $5.6 each.
• Bautista at -5.1 for 2008, -11.5 lifetime at 3B for UZR/150 games and puts his value for 2008 at $2.5 million, $4.0 for 2007, -$3.1 for 2006 (yes, negative).

So, based on that Wigginton is a heck of a deal for Baltimore, but his glove is a bit of a nightmare.  Bautista is also a nightmare defensively, although a bit less of one career wise.  No question that the stats say Wigginton is the one you would want if the salaries are even remotely close, and they are very close.

Thus if JP could have signed Wigginton for close to what Baltimore paid then, even if he had to eat part of Bautista's salary it would've been worth it.  And that is the big key to the whole thing, did Wigginton have any interest in Toronto without getting so big a premium (I'm thinking $3 mil per year) that it defeats the purpose?  No idea, but if I was a reporter I'd sure ask JP that one and follow up with a question to Wigginton.

Hmm, how about trying Bautista out at SS... push Scutaro and J-Mac...

Hmm, how about trying Bautista out at SS

This is a joke, right?

I hope so... SS is a much more challenging position then 3B/1B. And if you suck at playing 3B or 1B...

I'd rather have Glaus at SS. At least then you know you'll get good offensive value out of the position to offset the horrible D.

 

Glaus was actually good in his 8 games at SS for the Jays - +12.4 according to UZR per 150 games.  Of course, it was very limited time and I seriously doubt that would've held up.  FYI: McDonald's best is 15.4 in 2007.

I do thing Wigginton at $3 mil per for 2 years is better value than one year of Bautista at $2.3

Without question.

I don't think there's any reason to believe that Bautista would get anything close to $2.3 million if he were non-tendered.  The Pirates traded him, in part (if not because), they planned on non-tendering him this offseason...... and that was before the market collapsed.  For a GM who whines about payroll you'd hope that he wouldn't blow an extra $1.5 million on a player.

BaseballAmerica's website has an item about ten later-round draft picks who could develop into solid contributors, and Brad Emaus is one of them. Let us hope.

Ahh Glaus at SS .... the good ol days when the Jays decided to move an already hobbling Glaus to SS so they could get Hillenbrand's bat in the lineup for interleague games.

I'm actually intrigued with the idea of moving a power hitter to SS. What kind of value would Miguel Cabrera have at SS? He would probably be the best  or 2nd best hitting SS in baseball but would be horrible in the field. Assuming the Tigers had a hot shot prospect ready to take over at 1B, would this be a positive move? If the Jays had signed Giambi, how would Rios look at SS with Lind and Snider in the corners?

Rios was a third baseman when he was drafted.  The decision to move him to the OF was likely a wise one, as it allowed him to focus on developing his offensive skills. 

If a team moved Miguel Cabrera or Alex Rios to shortstop, it is unlikely, in my view, that the team would get the same offensive production from them.  For one thing, being totally unfamiliar with play around the bag, each would be more likely to get hurt.

According to Rotoworld, the Jays signed Brian Burres and Curtis Thigpen has been designated for assignment.

One label you don't want is Catcher of the future for the Blue Jays. Thigpen has now joined Cash, GQ, and Diaz as former catching prospects that have flamed out. There was talk earlier this off-season of Thigpen coming to camp to battle for the backup Catcher position. I mentioned the battle should have been for the AA team and not the Jays. Thigpen has no value at the major league level so I'm glad he's gone.

Thiggy isn't necessarily gone, if he clears waivers he'll just be outrighted off the 40 man roster.

it is a clear sign he's no sort of candidate to play in Toronto though.

But then, neither is Burres. i assume the scouts saw something but damn, how many of these guys do we really need in ST?

According to what I read, they didn't sign Burres, they claimed him off waivers. That generally implies they are planning on keeping him on the big club, no?

A good example of moving someone to SS from another position is Hubie Brooks.  The Expos back in 1984/1985 offseason traded for Brooks (along with a few others) in exchange for Gary Carter.  He played 3B primarily and got a handful of games in at SS while in NY.  Then the Expos moved him to SS for 3 years before moving him out to RF.  In 86 and 87 he made the All Star team at SS, winning the silver slugger for SS in '86 despite playing in just 80 games (a 161 OPS+ will do that).  He hit about what one would expect over those 3 years overall (his 87 was pretty bad, his 85 was about his average but with 100 RBI's).   His experience suggests moving a slugger to SS will produce offense but that injury risk does jump.  Don't feel like checking into def. eff. records right now, but it would be interesting to see if solid defenders (3B/CF/LF/RF/CA/1B were all fairly solid defensively back then) compensated for a poor defensive SS.

According to what I read, they didn't sign Burres, they claimed him off waivers. That generally implies they are planning on keeping him on the big club, no?

No, just that he's on the 40 man roster.  The implication is that they like Burres more than Thigpen.  (It feels like there should be another S in his name.)

Russ Adams lasted through another dropped player on the 40 man roster; that's pretty impressive.

Two more news items snagged off of MLBTradeRumors.

 

According to Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post, the Blue Jays avoided arbitration with reliever Brian Tallet by signing him at $1.015MM for '09.  Tallet, 31, held lefties to a .257/.327/.327 line in 2008.

According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, first baseman Kevin Millar is "almost certain" to sign a minor league deal with the Blue Jays today or tomorrow.  The Mets, Yankees, Nationals, and Rangers had also been in on Millar. 

So Tallet had a range of $950k to $1.3 mil in arbitration but signs for $1.015 suggesting the Jays had the much stronger case ($51k over the Jays offer, $285k below Tallet's).  Has Camp signed yet?  His range is $700k  vs $950k.   While it isn't much in baseball terms, it seems odd to pay him more than the minimum given Camp threw just shy of 40 innings last year with a 104 ERA+ and has an 89 ERA+ over his 270 ML innings (all in relief).

Tallet's a bargain. And if Millar can go another all-or-nothing year--20 homers, 25 doubles for the O's in '09 while his onbase sank 40 points--it sure would be an upgrade on Wilkerson & Mench.

 

While 234/323/394 would be an upgrade over Wilkerson and Mench, it is not exactly setting the bar high enough to warrant inclusion on a major league roster, particularly with a glove that is wretched at all positions.

Looks like another case of trying to catch lightning in a bottle. Millar has respectable career numbers but looks very much like a player in decline. If that's the case, he fell off the cliff last year. On the other hand, JP and the scouting dept. may feel that his numbers could rebound with more limited playing time (last year he logged 531 AB).

I don't mind having Millar around, but he's probably closer to being Mencherson than to being, say, Burrell or Bradley.

I don't see the point in signing Camp when he's just going to get released y spring training. Moreover, he's had just one flukey good year last year and he's not young enough to consider it an upward trend.