Showtime!

The decision has been made, the savior has arrived, for better or worse the future is now...

TRAVIS SNIDER HAS ARRIVED.

Matt Stairs, alas, designated for assignment. Reportedly the Jays are working on moving him to a contending team (which would presumably save us the one million he's owed next season)

An excerpt from the news release:

The Blue Jays would not reveal which team was attempting to acquire Stairs -- only that the deal will hopefully be completed within the next two days. This season, the 40-year-old Stairs hit .250 with 11 home runs and 44 RBIs in 105 games for Toronto.

Last year, Stairs hit .289 with 21 homers and 64 RBIs over 125 games for the Jays, who inked him to a two-year contract extension worth $3.25 million in November. Stairs is under contract for $2.25 million this year and is scheduled to make $1 million in 2009.

Snider, 20, had his contract purchased from Triple-A Syracuse after hitting .344 with two homers and 17 RBIs through 18 games with the Chiefs. Between stints with Class A Dunedin, Double-A New Hampshire and Syracuse this year, the left-handed-hitting outfielder hit .275 with 23 homers and 91 RBIs over 133 games.

Hopefully Stairsy gets to finish his career with dignity. As for Snider, I'm not up for debating the wisdom of this right now but clearly, the whole discussion about whether to bring in a big bat next season just got hellaciously more complex.

~WillRain

Update: Stairs to Phillies.

Per Ken Rosenthal:

The Jays will receive a prospect in return. The identity of that player has not yet been determined.

Bring Out Your Dead!

The Jays are about to embark on a crazy 10-game roadtrip that will take them through Cleveland, where they'll see 3 lefty starters over 4 games. Now that Adam Lind has been sent back to Syracuse for more needless seasoning, Shannon Stewart is the everyday LF *head-shaking* and Matt Stairs is down a platoon mate at DH. Over his career, Stairs has hit lefties relatively poorly (.749 OPS). Admittedly, he did well against southpaws last year (.818 OPS in limited ABs), but it's probably not wise to expose him unduly.

Robinzon Diaz would've got the call for the Cleveland series (he's been mashing lefties in Syracuse and Gibby likes the idea of taking a third catcher into National League parks) but alas, injury has befallen him for the second time this season. We're gonna need a lefty masher right quick and JP's gonna have to be creative digging one up.

This is more than a weekend fix, really. A lefty masher to platoon at DH and pinch hit is of more use at this point than a 12th reliever who appears once every vernal equinox. Here are a bunch of retreads who are available on the cheap:

1) Kevin Mench: a 30-year-old former and sort-of-current Ranger who has hit an eye popping .305/.361/.563 against LHP over 704 career ABs. JP coveted him back in 2005 when the club was offensively challenged, but then Mench went out and broke Doc's leg with a wicked line drive. He couldn't find a big league gig by spring training and is currently toiling at AAA Oklahoma, a Rangers affiliate. He's not the first OF in line for a promotion to the big club--Nelson Cruz is making a mockery of PCL pitching--and could probably be acquired for nothing of real value.

2) Jason Botts: you'll remember him from the 2 series the Jays played against the Rangers last month. "Go" Botts is the quintessential AAAA player (.302/.401/.541 in 2+ seasons at AAA vs. .230/.325/.344 in 326 career PAs in the bigs) and was just DFA'd. Rotoworld figures he's unlikely to clear waivers, but it's doubtful he'd cost anything you'd you'd really miss. He can play first and left, which would enable Gibby to DH Stew when you needed both of lineup at the same time.

3) Josh Phelps: a familiar name. He kind of sucked at most aspects of the game, all except mashing lefties (.864 OPS career). He had a nifty little .306/.399/.503 season in 157 ABs off the bench last year with the Yankees and Pirates seeing action mostly against southpaws. To his credit, he's really not that bad a hitter against righties, can play a better first than BA Barajas and could catch in a pinch. After seeing AJ Burnett come out of the bully deep into an extra inning game with the Rangers earlier this year, would really really be surprised if J-Mac actually was brought into a game as an emergency catcher after injuries to Zaun and BA? He's currently stashed away at AAA Memphis (Cards affiliate).

4) Mike Sweeney: the original fragile flower. He's been made redundant in Oakland since the Big Turd acquisition and is finding ABs few and far between with Daric Barton hogging most of the PT at first (because he's younger and better). He has a career .839 OPS against lefties. I've never been a fan. I don't know why, but I cheered when AJ Burnett beaned him in the head in the 2007 home opener.

5) Mike Piazza: you might be familiar with the work of the greatest hitting catcher of all time. He's currently drawing social security and is rumoured to be waiting for a gig that allows him to catch the odd game. Okie, we might be able to accomodate that request. It would be inappropriate to cite the career numbers of a semi-retired 39-year-old, so let's go with this: in any injury-marred '07 he put up a .748 OPS against lefties, but a gaudy 1.072 when healthy in '06.

Any other names we should add to the list? Thoughts?

If I had my pick, I'd go with Mench. No special requests, can play the OF, and cheap like the budgie.

-- Johnny Was

Purcey, New York. 72°F, partly cloudy.

Resident favourite Big Dave Purcey was good but not great in his first outing back with the bus-riders in Syracuse. It looked like this:

Syracuse
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Purcey (L, 2-1)	6.0	5	3	2	4	9	1	2.16

The D behind Big D was less than stellar, leading to an unearned run. Ironically neither of Syracuse's 2 errors was made by Russ Adams. In going 6 complete, Purcey threw 63 of 104 pitches for strikes, induced 3 groundouts and 6 flyouts, striking out 9 and walking 4 (against a patient Bosox affiliate). He surrendered a solo homer to George Kottaras.

This is pretty much typical Purcey: lots of Ks, a few more walks than you'd like to see and not to many hits.

If Gibby railed against Litsch last night because he doesn't have "stuff", the club might as well send him down to Syracuse to work on his sinker, just as our friend Jon Hale suggests. If Gibby was railing against Litsch because he wasn't throwing strikes, he's not going to be happy with Purcey, either. Pick your poison. They'll probably continue to go with Litsch until he pitches his way into a demotion, and the Vegas odds on that aren't long.

Adam Lind went 0 for 4, dropping his average to .355. He clearly needs to bring it back up to Ted Williams 1941 territory before earning a call to the big club. Rios is sick, too, but whatever.

The Syracuses lost the game 3-1, ending a nifty little 8-game winning streak.

As I write this the Jays are trying not to lose to the Rays again, but are finding that to be a mean task as they are fielding a team that is 5/9ths declining veterans, raw rookies and career minor league utility men.

Rando notes from the 8th inning:

* Robinzon Diaz made his ML debut, making outs of the first pitch of his first two ABs. Since he was DHing, he must've had time for a talk with Denbo between innings because in his third trip he took 3 straight pitches, 2 balls and a strike, fouled three more off, then hit an easy grounder to short. His PPA skyrocketed from 1 to 3! That's ML patience. Rance "likes his approach", even though it doesn't necessarily fit with the Denbo system. I don't really know what to think about him yet.

* Barajas played first for Overbay tonight, which fits with the strategy of "resting" one of the team's few productive to semi-productive bats in favour of roster filler. I thought it would've been Hill, but I guess he can take tomorrow night off for J-Mac as the Rays look to complete the 3-game sweep.

* Stairs socked a pair of dingers, and hit two deep fly ball for good measure, earning big cheers from a "home" crowd that doesn't appear to be paying much attention to anything on the field. He's probably the most feared hitter in the lineup now.

* That 5th inning ralley was something: Inglett single, SB, SB, runner on 3rd with none out. Eckstein K, Stew hits an easy infield fly, and Hill grounds out. I told Jay K. earlier I figured Doc would take another CG loss tonight, and it's sure looking like that'll be the case.

* Looking forward to listening to JaysTalk as I watch the D-backs with the mute button on. There have been several managerial moves over the past three games that were clearly indefensible, so it'll be interesting to see how Wilner does crowd control.

-- Johnny Was

Fantasy Baseball Week 3

The Toucans Of Whoopass were defeated in a landslide last week. The epic beatdown was issued by The Huck Fleners, and the score for the week was a horrific 8-2-2 in favour of Huck. The Toucans didn't hit, and they didn't pitch, which sounds a hell of a lot like the Jays.

The knockout punch was delievered by Todd Wellemeyer. We have a moves limit (which I hate, by the way), restricting assholes like me from streaming position players and starters every day. Anyways, I picked him up, but then dropped him upon learning Jon Rauch would be closing. We lost Rafael Soriano to injury, so I panicked and grabbed Rauch, while dropping Todd. Huck, in his infinite wisdom, picked him up. As fate would have it, Matt Cain would face off against Wellemeyer. And then this happened...

Troy Glaus is stinking up the joint, so I grabbed Votto who's on fire to be the utility guy. He's probably going to start now that he's shown Dusty that he refuses to clog the bases (1 BB, 50 AB). So I figure if he's got a spot in the lineup, and he's convinced Baker he won't clog the bases, he'll probably get a spot in the middle of the lineup. Atta boy Votto - fool him into thinking you're not going to clog the bases to get your job back, and then get back to your patient ways.

For Week 4, the Toucans face off against ShaveThoseSideburns. The Toucans fell to 8th after that bitchslap by Huck, so winning this week will put us back in the top 6.

Last night's Jays game...

I don't hate Gibbons - I'll joke about firing him every now and then, but he's not as bad as most fans think. But yesterday he had some pretty weird decisions, as noted earlier by Johnny.

Look, I get it - Wells needs an occasional day off. But having just released a guy who was your fulltime DH, would it not have made a ton of sense to just DH Wells? Doing that makes the lineup a hell of a lot deeper, and prevents one of the super-scrubs from hitting in his place. An OF of Stewart - Rios - Stairs is significantly better in every possible way then a Stew-Rios-Inglett OF.

But then in the 6th, as Johnny mentions, he brings Marcum out after throwing damn near 100 pitches. And he goes to Tallet for an inning and a third. Tallet, the guy who's pitched a shitload of innings to this point, and can be relied upon in key situations...you brought in him against RH hitters, when you're down by 4? Isn't that what Frasor was for?

I thought it'd make just a tiny little bit more sense to use Frasor for two, and then bring in Camp or something. Save Tallet for when we can actually win a game.

DH Ideas

Johnny brought up some other names of potentially useful players who could be used to boost the offense now that Thomas is gone. A name I'd like to throw out there is Kevin Mench. Texas signed him to a MLC - assuming he can still hit LHP like he always could, I think it'd be a terrific idea to send them a pen arm or something for Mench. As recently as last year, he posted a 901 OPS against LHP, and for his career he's got a 924 OPS vs LHP. A Stairs/Mench platoon, a Lind/Mench platoon, or even an Overbay/Mench platoon would be a huge upgrade for this team against LHP. And considering he's on a MLC, it's not like we'd have to throw a good pen arm their way.

Twitchy.

Thomas Mad, Thomas Released

I've been pretty busy lately, and I'll admit I haven't been following much Jays news. Ok, I knew Thomas was pretty pissed, but imagine my surprise today at work when I find Thomas has been released.

There's really nothing I can add to the situation that hasn't already been said. But I wouldn't be doing my duty (haha) if I didn't at least weigh in on the situation. So with that in mind....

Thomas' bat speed may have declined. I don't know that for sure - maybe it did, maybe it didn't. That isn't the issue to me. I think he could have eventually hit his way out of it, as he has the past few years. Yesterday, I thought benching him was a brilliant tactic to light a fire under the slugger's bulky ass. Piss him off enough that he'll get aggressive, and crush the first pitch he sees into the CF windows.

What I do know, is that Thomas' tendencies, and overall game plan prevented him from coming out of a slump. I love how he's still got terrific discipline, an elite batting eye, capable of taking a ton of pitches and getting into hitters counts. The problem, is that pitchers were exploiting his patience by getting ahead in the count knowing he would not attack the first pitch. The Texas game, for example, where Padilla threw 2 fastballs down the middle, as Frank took, being patient. Then he strikes out on one out of the zone, in a pitchers count.

You see, when you're in a slump, taking pitches is the worst possible outcome. Teams aren't afraid of you, and get ahead in the count. Once this happens, you're down 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, and you feel like the at bat is over. By not being aggressive, and getting behind in the count, Thomas was always hitting in a brutal situation, where he'd never get a pitch to hit.

Let me say that I agree 100% with benching a player who isn't performing. The message it sent was play or rot on the bench, and it's a wake up call to a team that needed one. So kudos on JP & Gibbons for having the cohones to do it.

But releasing Thomas? I don't know. I just don't know yet. It helps the defense if Lind is called up to play LF. Bad as he may be, he's better than Stairs. It helps the bench - when Thomas is off we're essentially down a position player, as he can't play in the field. It probably gives the team more balance against RHP, as Thomas only hit to the tune of a 796 OPS vs RHP, so odds are even Stairs would be a bit of an improvement going forward on offense. Frank was a lefty killer, and the Jays should still be ok against lefties. And if they're not, well, I'd rather be strong against RHP, which is 75% of the leagues pitching.

I think earlier in the blog, Thomas was mentioned as a clubhouse cancer. Here's Wells' take on the situation:

Center fielder Vernon Wells praised management for finding a quick resolution to the situation.

“I think it’s better for (Thomas), too,” Wells said. “He gets a chance to have more time to possibly pick up with another team, with us it may give some of our younger guys a chance to come up.

“We haven’t been the best team so far this season. We definitely have some improvements to make.”

Sounds like the team may be better off without Thomas, though I may be reading too much into it.

Still, I hope this becomes a defining moment for the team, which will bring them together and also act as a wake up call that poor performance will be be tolerated by no one. For a team that underpeforms like no other, and plays down to their competition, this is a huge opportunity for the Jays. I really hope this brings everyone together, and ends up becoming a positive through an extended winning streak, one for which the Jays haven't put together in years.

I hope Thomas signs with a team and shows that he can still perform, but more importantly, I hope that the Jays are a better team at the end of the day.

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

The Roundup

One slightly positive outcome to recognizing that everything around you is being dumbed down for the dimmer bulbs of this world is the self-satisfaction that comes in knowing that you are in fact smarter than pretty much everyone else. That's how I felt about TSN's Jays coverage last night. Rod Black, who was broadcasting the game in a leotard, didn't miss an opportunity to fawn over the Yankees or their crappy old stadium that's soon to be torn down. We even had to suffer through the ubiquitous 9/11 reference when Rudy Guiliani was located in the stands by a cameraman. Tabler, as always, was as bland as a bowl of flavour-free vanilla ice cream.

I know people who do the tv-on-mute-with-the-radio-on semi-protest, but I just can't bring myself down to the level of relying on pre-WWII technology to get my play by play. Part of me is tempted to just mute it and listen to the missus' insights (e.g. "why doesn't he hit a home run?"), because they do tend to be more thoughtful (and cuter, ahhhhh....) than much of what the real broadcasters have to say, but I think I'd rather just rack up about three hours of tuneage and go the musical route. Tonight, leading off with Tortoise, followed by Explosions in the Sky, and finishing with Mogwai.

(If you want to be an almost-30-year-old clinging to whatever shreds of coolness you might have had in the late 90s/early 2000s, I invite you to do likewise.)

Boss game review from Twitchy; now that real real games have started we can really do some brainwork that the kids'll enjoy. Tell your friends!

Since I am, reluctantly, also a fan of the Hockey Team That Must Not Be Named, I must resist the genetic defect that causes me to blame any loss on some combination of blown marginal calls that didn't go our way. Like Derek Jeter not being called out on strikes in the first inning before A-Rod doubled in the Yankees first run. Or Vernon Wells being punched out looking in the eighth on an elbow-high Joba Chamberlain breaking ball with one out and Rios on first/second. Fuck, didn't I just say I wasn't going to do that?

The Good (Doc, Downs) was easy to identify, and since it's easier (for me) to whinge and moan than find praise, let the airing of grievances begin:

* Aaron Hill should not be buried in the 7 hole and Shannon Stewart should not be hitting second. One is a rising young star who absolutely raked during the spring, the second is a once solid vet who's flying his last sortie. Oh, and Hill had gone 10 for 17 with 4 doubles career against Wang going into last night; surprised he was the only Jay to make solid contact against him (a double and a near-double robbed by Melky Cabrera)? Stewart, who feebly put bat on ball a couple of times, was 2 for 9 with no extra base hits. It just sat ill and didn't work out as a single game move, nor will it as a long-term lineup strategy.

* Vernon Wells cannot and should not be hitting third against righties, period. Twitchy mentioned this earlier and it has been a bugaboo of sorts around here. I would hope that this time next month we look something like Hill/Rios/Rolen/Thomas/Overbay/Wells/Zaun/Stewart/Eckstein against righties (equation changes if Stairs is healthy or Lind up, of course), and we do have to make it fit with what we have now. At the very, very least, Gibby should be swapping Wells and Overbay, as Twitchy suggested.

* Zaun hitting ninth behind Scutaro? That was a head-scratcher, even if Scooter did have a nifty little game.

If you're thinking, "You're pretty uppitty for someone who eats bugs all day" I will remind all that I've exposited earlier that it's going to take near perfection for things to break right this year and I'm hoping these little matters get resolved soon so I don't have to start hitting the sauce again. That's just the way that I feel.

In related news, Blair reports that Aaron Hill's contract talks have been shut down until the offseason, no doubt a consequence of JP's protracted slow dance with Alex Rios and Paul Kinzer. Apparently Mighty Mouse is lookin' to get paid and the club doesn't know what he's really worth yet:

Hill expects to be paid like a 20-to-30-homer second baseman. The Blue Jays, well, they may not see him that way, yet. In other words, Hill's 2008 will dictate the dollar figures he will make in a multiyear contract that both sides seem to think will be a gimme next winter.

"I got together with my agents and looked at the market, decided what the low end and the high end would be and what a fair market would be," said Hill, who to his credit seems to have been completely engaged in the process.

"You know, it was fun. It was the first bite at the apple for me, and you want to do it right, but at the end of the day, it's like I didn't pick up a bat when I was two years old to become the richest baseball player ever. I did it because I wanted to become a major-leaguer.

"What we had was a little difference of opinion, but we were really not that far off. They still said, 'You're still our guy.' I know that."

Mmm, that's some good plagarism.

Some good news: Stairs might be able to play tonight. I want J-Mac playing as well, not only because of some defensive miscues from Eckstein last night, but also because he's 6 for 16 with a double career vs. Mussina.

ELSEWHERE:

* It's stuff like this that makes the Cubs the laughingstock they are.

* Jose Canseco has changed his tune: not only did A-Rod allegedly hit on his wife, but now apparently he plowed her, too. After all the scandal and inneudo, this probably takes the cake: you've really got to question the thought process of someone who'd put his junk up in the same dark crevice that used to be inhabited by Canseco...

- Johnny Was

Morning Roundup

Cue up the Dawson's Creek theme song (I don't wanna wait, for my liiiiife to be over....) because there's a slate of "how sad to say goodbye" stories about Reed Johnson this morning.

Mr. Cathal Kelly has V-Dub near tears (again), Stewart kind of expressing remorse at taking Sparky's job (buy American!), and JP professing to have a heart (? you've got me).

This is how Blair reports JP's justification for his decision to dump a former favourite "who played like his hair was on fire":

"We're going to miss Reed's defence and grittiness, but at this point, we decided to go with offence over anything else," Ricciardi said.

"The best way to describe it and from our end is that every time we play the [New York] Yankees and [Boston] Red Sox, you see those lineups and they're just prolific. And if something happens and we're not in a platoon, Shannon's a guy who can run out and hit right-handers."

Ok, fair enough. I'm getting weary of this whole thing already so I'll let that slide. To his credit Sparky took the whole thing maturely and was actually the one who informed Stewart that he'd won his job. Buck up, son. You'll land on your feet.

Not only does Scott Rolen's tragic finger injury leave the Jays with a potentially gaping hole at third, but it also grossified the club's spring training facility. Blair(sy) notes:

There were droplets of dried blood on the sidewalk leading to the Toronto Blue Jays' clubhouse at Knology Park, the route taken by Rolen after he suffered a non-displaced fracture of his finger (he broke the bone above the top knuckle) — ripping the nail off in the process — during a fielding drill on one of the back fields.

Hrm, that's kind of gross. Oh yes: when will he be back playing again? Rolen was dispatched to Baltimore yesterday to see the same hand specialist who dealt with Gregg Zaun last year; JP says he doesn't want to speculate on an injury timetable, but it's not going to be six weeks. A bit of a contradiction, no? It's going to take a few weeks.

Frankly, things could be worse. I googled the injury yesterday and discovered at the Fox fantasy site that Alfonso Soriano suffered a similar problem this spring (though he didn't lose a nail), missing only a week's worth of fake games. The fracture didn't have any effect on swinging the bat, though throwing was more difficult as is to be expected. So, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Rolen will indeed be in playing shape by the home opener, perhaps only in a pinch hitting capacity, but nevertheless. Think optimistically here, people.

John Lott at the National Post notes that it would appear as though Randy David "R-Dub" Wells has played his way onto the 25-man roster. Well finagalled (sp?) his way on at least. Is that even a real word? As a Rule 5-er R-Dub would surely be lost to back to the Cubs if he didn't go north and JP would be out a cool $50 grand. And, yes, more importantly, it's starting to click for R-Dub after working with Brad "Arnie" Arnsberg this spring:

“The ball’s been sinking for me, and that’s been a big part of the puzzle for me to be successful,” said Wells, who started pitching near the end of 2003, his first pro season. “I’ve always been a four-seam, straight fastball kind of guy, and when I’m not throwing strikes, I’ve [had to] come in with that and I gave up a lot of hits. Now that I’ve got that sinker going, it gives me added confidence. When I fall behind in the count, I throw that sinker in there and hope for a ground ball.”

It also doesn't hurt that the boss likes his moxie, too. Note to JP: "Wellsie" is a lame nickname.

Richard Griffin's latest mailbag was posted online almost a week late. It's like someone stole the funny pages out of my morning paper (the Globe and Mail, by the way).

ELSEWHERE:

* Matt(y) Stairs(y) will be suiting up for Team Canada at the World Baseball Classic next year when he's a ripe old 41. “Whenever you get 25 Canadians in one locker room, it tends to be quite fun,” Stairs said. Presumably this is a reference to getting drunk and eating chicken fingers? If the WBC is your bag, here's Blair's piece on the political machinations with the Olympics, bringing games to Canada, and so on.

* The Yankees are still pretending that they're not concerned about Andy Pettitte's wonky back, which may force him to miss his first real real game of the season. Ok, whatever... Yesterday I implied that time lost to injury for Pettitte is key for the Jays leapfrogging the hated Gothamites in the standings this year.

* You can probably take Brewers lefty Chris Capuano out of the rumour mill. It looks like he's headed for a second Tommy John, which would probably be a career killer. But you're saying, "hey wait, didn't Victor Zambrano successfully come back from two TJs?" No, you're not saying that, are you? And John Patterson signs with the Rangers.

-- Johnny Was

Morning Roundup

I think my home is now buried under the Artic ice cap and the interweb is my only means of communication with the outside world. Seriously, the snow needs to STOP. We've got baseball to play in three weeks!

John Parrish gets the flashlight in the face this morning from the Sun and the Star. Parrish is a veteran lefty reliever who came to camp as a non-roster invitee. You might remember him from his tenure with the O's, or then again, you might not. I have made dismissive comments about him in the past chiefly because I'm skeptical that any major league pitching coach can "fix" a pitcher with control as awful as his (career BB/9 of 6.63, WHIP of 1.74).

To his credit, Parrish has done a fairly decent job of keeping the ball on the ground and in the park, and his K rates are very nice, if not his K:BB. His "stuff" has always been good, especially his slider. Yet I'm doubtful of the notion that he can transform himself into a useful 7th reliever (ok, that's an oxymoron) after only six weeks in Dunedin, but there's nothing wrong with stashing him at Syracuse and hoping he works it out.

As Ken Fidlin notes, this will turn some heads:

The 30-year-old journeyman left-handed pitcher, who is being groomed as a starter at the triple-A level, pitched three innings yesterday, striking out seven of the 10 batters he faced during a 4-3 Toronto win over the Detroit Tigers.

Here's what Gibby thinks of his new rhinestone cowboy:

"John's always been a tough pitcher to hit," manager John Gibbons said, "but he was sometimes a little scattered. When he came in here this year, our guys suggested some adjustments so he'd have a straighter line to the plate and it seems to have made some difference. "We're not looking at him for our rotation, but you never know how he might help us."

Alan Ryan contradicts Fidlin, saying that Parrish is being stretched out because youneverknow, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he'll be starting in AAA.

There you have it folks, one more name above Gus Chacin's under the heading "Minor League Lefties, break glass in case of emergency."

More Fidlin. I'm an unabashed fan of Matt Stairs and have been since he was an Expo, so I was rather delighted to see this long, readable un-Sun-like profile of the man I consider the club's 2007 MVP. It's not just what he does with the bat that impresses me, it's that I'm certain Uncle Matty is just the kind of guy who'd hold a stranger's legs while he (or she) was doing a keg stand. His swan song begins next season suiting up for Team Canada for another World Baseball Classic. Sweet!

The Beej continues to make progress.

ELSEWHERE:

* Ok, Ok, contain your excitement. Red Sox ace Josh Beckett, who grew morbidly obese over the off season gorging on ribs and Lone Star Ale, is now suffering from "back trouble" that may keep him out of action for awhile. Apparently he'd been bothered by back spasms for about a week. Normally, I'd agree with the sentiment that it's bad karma to wish injury on opposing players, but I also think we all know it's going to take some outside intervention for us to squeak into the playoffs this year. So, ya, I'm going to treat this as good news even if it means I might end up going to hell for it.

* In the same vein... I'm relatively superstitious, and seeing A-Rod say his goal for 2008 is playing in all 162 games rather than any specific offensive benchmarks, I have to wonder if the New York Post just put the injury jinx on him. A-Rod hasn't really been hurt in over ten plus seasons in the bigs, so you'd have to figure he's due for a big'un sometime on the horizon. That is the second karmic strike against me the morning.

-- Johnny Was