Congrats, I Guess...

Yesterday's game marked a milestone of sorts for Señor Marco Scutaro, the team MVP front-runner in certain segments of the milkshake community. Scutaro, aka "Scoots", aka "Cooter", aka "Uncle Cooter", saw action in his 138th game this year to best his previous single-season high in 2004 back when he was an Oakland Athletic. Whatever you want to say about the guy, he came as advertised and did a yeoman's effort this year.

I didn't hear mention of this personal achievement during the radio broadcast and read nothing in print, so let us be the first to offer our hearty congratulations. Now that that's out of the way, here's hoping Aaron Hill, Scott Rolen and Lyle Overbay all stay healthy enough that I don't have to do this again next year.

-- Johnny Was

Keep Hope Alive!!

Ok, well, yeah. I admit, it will take a miracle...or maybe not a miracle but a highly unlikely set of circumstances. Still, I can't divorce myself from the willingness to believe in magic. I mean, when does it get better than Scott Richmond's story, right? Sure, he might get pounded a few times and become a footnote in history, but maybe - just maybe - the Hollywood screenplay is only in Act II.

How Disney would it be if Richmond steps into the rotation and takes up the mantle of the injured Golden Boy and helps shoulder this team through a resurgent stretch run that puts the hated Yankees and the upstart Rays in the rear view?

So, the question niggles at the edges of your mind..."buyers or sellers?" Why not take a page from Billy Beane and do both? I present here, for your consideration, three deals which, were they to be completed, would both shuffle off some excess and add key components. They are based on two different reports from MLBTR and I take no responsibility if the rumors are false.

#1 Trade David Eckstein. I'm not really so much worried about where, but I have to wonder if maybe the Cardinals would be that adverse to having him back, the Dodgers took a look, Baltimore is reportedly still asking about shortstops in return for Sherrill, the Mets had the idea of playing him at 2B before signing Castillo. The point is...the man ought to have a chance to start somewhere if he can. He's been a good soldier here and did what was asked of him professionally. If Cito isn't going to play him, then get something in return. I presume you get a B list prospect for him.

#2 the Marlins were reported to be willing to discuss Cody Ross for an upgrade. The Marlins desperately need a good catcher and are interested in bullpen help. so I propose this:

Gregg Zaun or Rod Barajas and Jason Frasor and Cuban prospect Kenny Rodriguez (or someone of similar value) for Colby Ross. Ross mashes lefties (and 1.008 OPS over the previous three years in 176 ABs) and is competent (better than Wilkerson et al) against righties. As a platoon mate for Stairs, he could be a great addition for a low cost. I make this suggestion with the acknowledgment that if you could make the same deal for McPherson you'd have to do that too, but I'm holding back on assuming he's available.

#3 This is the trickiest one. There have been some reports that the White Sox and Orlando Cabrera are not getting along. Now, OC isn't the hitter he was a few years ago, in fact his OPS this year is little different than Scutaro's. But he's a much better defender, and he's considerably faster on the bases. Reportedly the White Sox have kicked around the idea of acquiring a 2B and moving Alexi Ramirez to SS. Now, assuming that they do not find a deal for Brian Roberts or someone, how about trading Scutaro (or Eckstein if they are willing to try him at 2B or even SS) and a throw in someone like Thigpen for Cabrera?

This depends, of course, on how much the Sox are really interested in getting OC out of town, but if they recognize that his value is relatively low and don't get stupid and ask for Cecil or somebody, we might be able to do some good here.

Marginal upgrades, to be sure, but with the return of Wells, the emergence of Lind, the reawakening of Rios, and the coming reawakening of Rolen, it just might be enough.

IF the rotation can come through.

~WillRain

The Roundup

(Sad voice): 'Topes lose. Topes lose...

I suppose luck can run in your favour for only so long and "lustily" booing Eric Hinske has little effect on The Dude's one-man wrecking crew act against his former team. And all of this compounded by the fact that we're now down two shortstops for God knows how long.

Eckstein came out in the 5th with what we expect to be some minor hip discomfort and then J-Mac went down with a nasty ankle injury after catching his cleat on a seam in the field turf in the 6th. The Oracle was talking postgame like a 15-day DL stint is the best case scenario (it's never good when a player can't walk off the field under his own power) and 60 days is entirely possible.

Cruel mistress fate bitch slaps everyone who wanted to see more of J-Mac as a defensive replacement.

Marco Scutaro will be greedily licking his chops as he is the most likely recipent of playing time at short until Eckstein is well enough to play again. I'd figure that Joe Inglett gets called up for a bench slot as J-Mac's replacement, but won't see a minute of PT on the infield. The Oracle expects to see Jorge Velandia instead because the dude is a natural shortstop, has been chugging at AAA, and has some ML experience. Since there are no official updates as of yet, rampant speculation is pretty much all I've got for you at this point. Stay tuned.

I don't mean to be glib, but these injuries will likely have little short-term effect on the club's overall performance. Shortstop had been the NL pitcher's slot in the lineup as Eck and J-Mac combined for an anemic .231/.309/.306 line. Mac wasn't even being used for defensive purposes until the end of the White Sox series. We had only been getting average D from Eck, which is what you can reasonably expect from Scooter as a short-term injury replacement. It sucks losing J-Mac for a prolonged length of time, but his is a loss we can weather. If we start banging out 10 hits a game (as we did last night for only the third time since April 20), the Ws will come regardless of who's Scotty Rolen's left hand man.

Checking on the injury, Griff cites some disgruntlement from Eckstein on the planned loss of an inning or two of PT per night under Gibby's new shortstop rota, but one must take all things he writes with a grain of salt/disbelief.

It's Marcum-Garza tonight in game 2 as the Jays seek to win the series and leave town squared away at .500.

ELSEWHERE:

* If New Yorkers are incapable of accepting the fact that Joba Chamberlain will occasionally surrender a run or two, they're certainly not going to like what they see of him as a starter. Why, he might surrender as many as 3 runs over the course of a 7 inning start! How can this be? How can this be???

* Another reason to dislike A-Rod. Daddy, how did you meet mom? Well, darling:

“I scouted her out for a month,” he said. “I wanted to see her routine, and I wanted to see what time she came in, see how consistent she was. And sure enough, she was like a machine. She would come in right after work, and get on the treadmill and do her abs. And finally, I build enough courage after about 3 1/2 weeks. And I said, ‘I know you are going to go do some abs after. And do you mind if I join you?”

How romantic!

* Straight from the Aruban Penal League to the Texas Rangers, the ghost of Sidney Ponson throws his second straight quality start in a 10-1 laugher over the Mariners. Every time Ponson's name comes up Jay K. mentions something about picturing him drunk on a jetski punching out judges. Now THAT is a ballplayer, folks.

-- Johnny Was

Breaking News: Marco Scutaro not Caucasian!

I know that some small-minded people feel the need to rip on Italians for a long list of reasons, but Ryan Pyette (note to self: sounds French...) of the Sun counts Marco Scutaro* as one of 6 non-white Jays currently on the roster. (Ironically, a Google image search reveals that he also may in fact be an adulteror because that young lady of the evening is certainly not his wife.) I guess we can assume that Pyete concurs with the general thrust of Dennis Hopper's argument with mob boss Christopher Walken in Quentin Tarantino's True Romance.

Wait, why are we talking about the Jays and race issues? Geoff Baker blew town with a suitcase full of White Jays conspiracy theories a couple of years ago to cover the Mariners...

You know, we were all thinking that JP had taken lemons and made lemonade of the Frank Thomas situation. Those who really know the intricacies of the personalities and economics behind The Events of last weekend would be quite impressed that major dollars were saved whilst extracting public comments from the Big Hurt that he has no ill-will towards the organization at the same time.

That was some seriously good ass damage control.

And then, right after releasing one of the biggest African-American stars of the past two decades, JP decides to ad-lib about how the game needs to attract more young urban kids to the sport.

The Sun quotes a recent study that shows "The percentage of black major leaguers dropped to 8.2% (based on 2007 40-man rosters), the lowest total in 20 years." Although these numbers reflect the general demographic trends that show African-Americans make up 12.7% of the total U.S. population, this is still a record low for black participation. No result of a Gentleman's Agreement, however; the MLB is now roughly 40% non-white, which is almost a record high.

Back to Scutaro. I guess Pyette can be excused for not knowing that Italians are in fact white because JP got the conversational ball rolling in the wrong direction.

"When I was growing up, Willie Mays was still playing. Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey -- they were all still playing," Ricciardi said.

"Who are the great black players now? There's A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez). Baseball always thought it would be king here, and it's still king in places like Puerto Rico and Venezuela, but it's not king here anymore. We have to do a better job at it."

A-Rod is black? I think you meant "coloured", JP. No, "of colour." No, bi-racial. No, American Hero. That's the one.

"You can't look at whether a player's white or black," Ricciardi said. "If we looked at players based on racial lines, that would be going back to the pre-Jackie Robinson era and that's not somewhere we want to go.

"I don't care if I have nine green guys out there. I just want them to be able to play."

It would be nice if the Jays did ramp up their Venusian scouting arm so we could grab a few of those uber-talented little green buggers.

Anyone in a position of influence or responsbility should never, ever talk about issues of race. You can only end up looking silly, especially, say, after just releasing a very angry, hulking (former) African American superstar. This, of course, doesn't apply to me. I've got a nice little "accusations of racism get out of jail free card" in the form of a non-white wife.

And for the record, I'm down with your people, whoever they may be.

-- Johnny Was

* For the record, Scutaro's Wikipedia page lists him as half-Spanish, half-Italian, and all heart.

Random Observations

That was a pretty sweet win the Jays just pulled off - a 10-2 bitchslap of the defending champion Red Sox. I know we're only five games into the season, but I thought I'd do a little recap of what the Jays have done well and what they need to improve on:

• Eckstein - First the good - he's growing on me. That scrappy little slide in the first was nice, and it's really night and day the difference between a league average guy like Eck, and the wanna be shortstops we've had the last couple of years. The defense is solid, better than I expected. But the biggest impact is on offense. He keeps the line moving, and that's so important to this team. He'll sacrifice himself, and he does a good job of getting on base. Part of the reason our offense has improved this year is simply because the SS isn't an auto-out anymore. It just makes the lineup deeper, and as you've seen so far we've had a couple of rallies that went through most of the lineup. It's early, but that signing is looking terrific at this point. He's exactly as advertised. I'm really liking that approach with two strikes, where he's just trying to get the bat on the ball.

• Eckstein - the bad. Not really his fault, but I'm surprised in a game like todays, or close games in the past couple of days Gibby hasn't gone with J-Mac at SS. I think this could be a problem down the line in close games. Gibbons finally has a real SS, and he's a bit reluctant to take him out of a close game - maybe he's afraid of hurting his ego, but if Eck's the team player everybody says he is he shouldn't be pissed about Mac coming in to play as a defensive specialist. Definetly something to keep tabs on.

• Manufacturing runs - I'm no fan of smallball, but I love what the offense has been doing so far. They're moving over runners, they're stealing, they're putting a ton of pressure on the defense. I don't expect the Jays to keep up this pace of stealing, but it's nice to see in the absence of Rolen that the Jays are doing everything to score runs. I'm positive this has to do with new hitting coach Denbo, and if I'm right then he's already worth whatever they paid him.
• Base running - The Jays are being extremely aggressive on the base paths. And while it doesn't show up in the boxscore, the Jays have been doing a great job at going from first to third. They're pushing the envelope, and when you do that you force the other team to make a play they normally wouldn't make if you didn't try for the extra base. And when you do that, the other team is more likely to make a bad throw, allowing you to take an extra base.
  
• Scutaro - I'd heard good things about him, but so far he's been extremely impressive. A very under appreciated trade at the time, Scutaro has been terrific both with the bat & the glove. It gives me a lot of confidence knowing he can give the infielders a day off, and there won't be a huge drop in production. When Rolen comes back, he's going to be a huge help coming off the bench. But as of now, he's done a terrific job at third.
  
• Rolen - This team is doing so well, and the amazing thing is it's without one of the best players on the team. This team is rolling along (last time I do that, I promise) without him, and the Jays should be deeper and even better when he returns.
• I'm surprised League hasn't pitched yet, but that's moreso cause the starting 5 has been incredible. This team is kicking in on all cylinders, and it seems like for the first time in years we have both hitting and pitching at the same time.
  

I think it's a pretty incredible feat that at worst the Jays will end up 3-3 after starting the season against the Yanks & Boston, and 4-2 at best. To me though, the biggest test comes after the series against the Sox. The Jays have done a great job against the Yanks & Sox the past couple of years, but they always seemed to play to the level of their competition when they played other games. What'll prove to me that this team is a true contender is if they bring this intensity to other games, and if they play to their potential rather than their competition. The Oakland and Texas series' should be a good test on whether or not the Jays are able to continue to play at an elite level.

Twitchy.

The Roundup

Nice win yesterday, if accomplished by means of good ball-playing rather than scrappiness. J-Mac sat on the bench despite torrid numbers off of Yankees starter Mike Mussina and a pretty solid track record in Yankee Stadium, but perhaps tonight's your night, little guy (too bad we could've used you more yesterday). But that's cool, too; David Eckstein is helping out in his own way by selflessly helping fill the team quota for grounded into doubleplays.

Oh, and can we jettison the LAA Angels approach to base stealing now, please? It was funny on Tuesday, but we can't send Scutaro every time he reaches first. Can we?

Speaking of whom, Marco "Polo" Scutaro is going in for X-rays today after being being hit in the left hand in the 8th by Ross Ohlendorf. He stayed in the game after the beaning and played defense in the ninth, so no one is dropping the I-bomb quite yet. Matt Stairs, however, is possibly on his way to the DL; Sandler at the Post says he's ready to play tonight or he's injured, no more mucking about.

Dustin "Mr. Burns" McGowan is apparently good to go for tonight after battling flu-like symptoms (code for a really horrorshow dump) that confined him to the team hotel last night. I wouldn't have minded seeing him flipped with Shaun Marcum so folks like me could see him live at tomorrow's home opener, but still, good news is good news.

(Why do I do the nickname thing? Even I find it annoying. Must stop. Now.)

You might think that we look like a bunch of silly dicks for suggesting that V-Dub gets dropped from the cleanup hole to 5th or 6th after what was a pretty impressive night at the dish (3 for 4 with a homer). Not so fast. Wilner notes that V-Dub was pull happy to the extreme, more disappointing since he had made progress in using the entire field in spring training. It's hard to argue with a homer and a couple more hits for good measure , but we stand by our earlier position that he is not the best option hitting fourth against righties over a full season.

This is another point Wilner made on JaysTalk last night that bears repeating (plagarizing) in full:

... [Re:] the fact that David Eckstein made the last outs of the 9th and came back out for defense in the bottom of the inning. Had John McDonald been sent into the game there, to help protect a three-run lead, he wouldn’t have had to bat until the 11th or 12th had the Yankees come back to tie. The only reason not to use McDonald there (unless he’s sick or hurt and we haven’t been told) is to not insult Eckstein, or to not make Eckstein think the Jays lack confidence in his glove. That’s a losing game to play. Eckstein is a big boy, and he knows full well that McDonald is one of the best defensive shortstops in the game. I don’t think he’d be hurt by being replaced for defense late in close games - though even if he would be, I don’t care - everyone understands that the win is the most important thing. And if the win is the most important thing, John McDonald must play shortstop late in close games in which the Blue Jays lead.

Indeed.

For his part, Blair doesn't think you win too many more games over the Yankees making as many mistakes as the Jays did last night. Fair enough.

Before leaving last night's game behind, I note that we here have long been fans of tall, weird-looking lefty Brian Tallet, who was absolutely brilliant. I almost want to dig deep and spend the $10 to sponsor his page over at baseball-reference.com, but then my conscious tells me that I could better use that money on one extra overpriced Rogers Centre beer this weekend. Sorry, Tallet, it was a popularity contest you could never hope to win.

Interesting but not shocking tidbit: speaking to Bastian in regards to McG potentially being bumped, JP says the club will likely look first look internally (Tallet, Randy David Wells) for spot starters when injuries arise, and then to Purcey, Romero and Cecil (in that order). That's pretty much what we figured; Purcey's really got nothing but himself standing in the way of a big league gig at some point this summer.

McGowan-Hughes tonight at 7:05 on TSN in a battle of future aces. Rack up some Antibalas, Tribe Called Quest and the Roots, pour a vodka tonic, then sit back and enjoy.

-- Johnny Was

Morning Roundup

Colour me baffled by Sportsnet's decision not to air this morning's Bosox-A's season opener from Tokyo in Ontario while it was on the network's West and Pacific channels. If I was willing to get up at 6 a.m. for it there must've been others who'd have preferred the game to a half dozen-odd consecutive repeats of last night's Sportsnet Connected, right?

No, a tape-delayed version of the game is not on later today at a more reasonable hour. The Hockey Team That Shall Not Be Named is playing the Bruins tonight and there are as always hundreds of thousands of morons out there who constantly set themselves up to have their hopes dashed across rocks. Sportsnet does have a nice little 1-4 p.m. block this afternoon that it's filled with the following: FIS SBX World Cup Lake Placid, USA (skiing? figure skating? darts?), Drive-Thru Europe (some sort of car driving event?), and best of all, Best Damn Sports Show 2008. At least I know what the latter is: a clip show that just couldn't wait for a dead spot in the sched.

I was actually planning on being a bit angry about this until I realized that I have as yet to inform mlb.tv that I was not renewing my subscription this year. They sent me an email last week to let me know that they'd taken the liberty of assuming that I would and have billed my credit card appropriately. At the very least, I can go back to watching three games at once while only being moderately distracted from the work I'm supposed to be doing. Haha, fellas, well played; I guess I have to let it slide now.

Incidentally, tomorrow's Bosox-A's finale in Japan is on Sportsnet Ontario at 7 p.m. There you have it, a bone has been thrown to the baseball-starved masses of central Canada.

Things are looking neither grim nor rosy for recently injured third bagger, Scott Rolen. Cathal Kelly reports that he's had surgery to have a screw inserted in the banged up middle finger on this throwing hand and a second visit to the doc to have it removed is scheduled for two week's time. The bad news is that he will not be playing in any capacity until this thing comes out, but the good news is that his return thereafter will be determined by his pain tolerance level. We all know it's high, so expect him to come back raring to go.

So confident am I that this will be a short-term injury that I told my buddy Jay that I'd eat the January 2008 copy of Diplomatic History currently sitting on my desk if Rolen wasn't back playing by April 15.

With Rolen set to miss at least the first six games of the season (3 game sets against the Yankees and Bosox), Marco Scutaro will fill in as the regular 3B in his absence. It seemed to quite a few of us that he'd become redudant with the acquisition of David Eckstein, forcing J-Mac back into a backup infield role. Kelly reports that JP now seems more than a little pleased with himself with the move:

Asked if the loss of the team's biggest off-season acquisition is a major blow to the new campaign, Ricciardi answered quickly.

"No, we've got (utilityman Marco) Scutaro. Our bench is as deep as it's ever been. A major blow would be if we lost someone of that calibre for the year."

I will concede that one. A week's worth of ABs to Scutaro is definitely not the same as a week's worth of ABs to the three-headed suck monster of Howie Clark, Hector Luna, and Russ Adams.

Blair is in mid-season grumpy form today. Why?

* if Rolen could at least DH we could deny ABs to Frank Thomas and help keep him from reaching the 376 plate appearances he needs for his $10 million 2009 option to kick in
* he's skeptical that Rolen's return could come as soon as fortnight from now; the loss of Rolen means a huge hit both offensively and defensively
* he's skeptical that AJ Burnett is capable of change/showing maturity
* Casey Janssen
* BJ Ryan's forearm soreness means he will be held back until mid-April at the earliest
* The Big Hurt has looked awful at the dish this spring and is probably going to fall of a cliff this year
* there are a bunch of no-name retreads vying for the final bullpen spot or two

I certainly don't disagree that there have been a considerable number of unfortunate developments in recent weeks, but I think making the assessment, which Blair seems on the verge of doing, that our "ship has sunk" is highly premature.

Some counterpoints:

* Overbay, Wells and Zaun are all healthy and seem poised to rebound from awful years
* Shaun Marcum is mixing in a sinker, which might well prove to be a weapon that helps him cut back on the long ball, his achilles heel
* Burnett is throwing his curveball again after the fingernail incident
* we still have the solid Jeremy Accardo to close until BJ comes back
* Brandon League is back in 2006 form
* Jesse Litsch is showing growth as a starter
* for good or ill, the LF log jam has now been solved and Adam Lind's place will be adequately held warm for the next few months
* we still do have depth at pretty much every position and guys like Scutaro or Barajas won't embarass you if they're needed for any length of time

As much as I do like Blair's work (and the sense of humour that shines through in the Globe's baseball blog) I think it's fair to point out that he has a tendency to make the most pessimistic of assumptions on most occasions. I know he's not employed to be a cheerleader for the club, but still...

I can't speak for my co-writers, but I'm fully prepared for another third place finish this year. That said, I do accept that things just might break well enough for this group to sneak into the playoffs. It's a longshot, a real longshot. I know.

In a more positive development, the Star is reporting that Alex Rios is "on the verge" of signing a 6-year, $65 million extension. Yes, I will be dancing naked in the streets when that happens.

ELSEWHERE:

* JD "Nancy" Drew is injured already, Josh Beckett goes on the DL and Andy Pettitte is looking extremely unlikely to make his first start. Teehee.

* Is Jason Bay more excited about the 2009 World Baseball Classic that his upcoming season with the Pirates? I'm going say yes.

-- Johnny Was