The Roundup

Regardless on where you stand on the 2008 Jays, concede this: there is nothing cooler than a commando raid deep into enemy territory. Not to ruin the story for you, but the Colombian army just pulled off what was probably the most brazen, ambitious special forces operation since Israeli forces freed 100 hostages held by pro-Palestinian terrorists at Entebbe airport in Uganda back in 1976. Truly breathtaking stuff.

Oh, baseball?

That giant sucking sound you hear is the aftermath of another Jays loss, this time 4-2. That's a series victory for the Mariners, who are allegedly the worst team in baseball. I stuck with this one until the 8th but chose to turn away for the inevitable.

Lemons out of lemonade: Adam Lind socks another dinger with his folks in attendance.

Is there anyone out there who thinks that everything that isn't bolted to the floor shouldn't be traded at some point this month?

Moveable parts:

AJ Burnett: (Dodgers, Phillies, Brewers, Rays, Tigers, Braves, and Cubs?)

You all know why, it's inevitable that he's opting out at the end of the year. Does it make more sense to move him now for a more known commodity or HOPE that he stays healthy the rest of the way and winds up the year as a class A free agent? No, no it doesn't. Now, that latter scenario, both elements of it, are no sure thing. Even if he does finish up strong enough to get A status, the 2009 draft class is expected to be a weak one, so the pair of late first round/supplemental round picks you'd get by letting him walk aren't as appealing as one might otherwise think.

He could go anywhere really. There are about a half dozen clubs that should have interest once the first domino (CC Sabathia?) falls. Bob Elliot says Burnett's being actively shopped and the club is looking for a shortstop in return. Stay tuned.

Rod Barajas or Gregg Zaun: (probably depends on injuries, but interest from the Red Sox, Brewers, Yankees, Marlins)

The catcher "platoon" (not really a platoon because there's no particular lefty-righty logic to it) is working out exceptionally well this year, but Zaunner is clearly unhappy with his reduced playing time under the Cito regime. Now, this happened before when Bengie Molina was in the fold and Zaun still re-signed for 2007, but Zaunner's biological clock is ticking and he might well come to the conclusion that he's better off plying his trade elsewhere (read: a team with a real chance of going to the playoffs) before retirement. With studly prospect JP Arencibia ripping shit at AA and Brian Jerolman and Robby Diaz providing added minor league depth, we're proabably not going to need both Barajas AND Zaunner to mentor one of these youngsters for next year.

With Jason Varitek in a late career nose dive and Kevin Cash being Kevin Cash, I think Theo Epstein would definitely be interested in Zaun at the deadline. Cla Merideth and Josh Bard for Doug Mirabelli, anyone? And no, I don't have any issue with trading a True Blue Jay like Zaunner to a hated rival like the Bosox.

Matt Stairs: (Dodgers)

MLBTR reports that the Dodgers have interest in Uncle Matt, though much of the fan base would be absolutely gutted to see him go. Ken Rosenthal says the Jays and Dodgers have been talking... At this point in his career Stairs is better suited for a NL pinch-hitting/emergency 1B/OF style of role than DH-ing and he is a diminishing asset under contract for next year as well. Could be packaged with AJ Burnett in a larger deal.

Don't expect them to give up young Taiwainese shortstop Chin-lung Hu, a favourite of the Batter's Box set, because extension talks with Raphael Furcal have not been going well and it's looking unlikely he'll be back in Dodger Blue '09.

Brian Tallet/Jason Frasor: (pretty much every contender)

Who doesn't want a better bullpen? Tallett is arb elligible at the end of this year and will require a raise and Frasor is everyone's favourite whipping boy. There's no great impetus to move either, but if someone came calling for a relief arm and was willing to overpay, well, yeah...

That pretty much sums it up. Generally speaking I'm all for the philosophy that no one on your roster should be untouchable, but there is an exception for Roy Halladay. Never, ever trade Doc. Your rooster, well, it's up to you whether that's untouchable or not.

Some good news? The Fisher Cats are sending a pretty sizeable contingent to the Eastern League all-star game and optimists are going to see that as evidence that there's some near ML-ready talent in the pipeline. Honoured are Brett Cecil, Zach Dials, Brian Jeroloman, Scott Campbell, and Travis Snider. Well done, lads.

Brandon League really should be stretched out and the formidable Jon Hale at The Mockingbird was similarly impressed with what he saw from the Flyin' Hawaiian last night. After nearly a fortnight riding the pines, League was chucking BBs in the high-90s at what looked half-effort. He did throw a bunch of 3-inning relief outings down in Syracuse and probably does have the stamina to go 5-6. I'd like to have him in the mix for the 5th starter spot next spring (barring some major FA signing, but seriously don't kid yourselves) with Dave Purcey, Brett Cecil and perhaps Casey Janssen. Player development doesn't need to follow a linear path and League just might prove himself to be a pleasant surprise in the rotation. You gotta believe.

Sean McAdam of ESPN.com asks whether Cito can save JP's job. The answer is probably not, but this is still a pretty good read.

So, is A-Rod plowing Madonna? Back 10 years ago you might've wanted a go at that, but now? She's almost 50, dude. And is Mrs. A-Rod plowing Lenny Kravitz? That's a little bit less gross, but still. There seems to be a whole lot of cuckolding going on in that relationship...

The tight-fisted A's just plunked down just over $4 million for 16-year-old pitching wunderkind Michael Inoa of the Dominican Republic. You know they've done their homework, so it should be interesting to see how he develops.

I humbly admit to being extremely entertained by the once-lowly Rays, who've been taking the bully Bosox apart over the past few days. Earlier in the year I said that .500 would be a more reasonable goal than contention for this young lot (and used some epithets against those who were predicting big things from them this year), but I'm pretty close to being sold on them. Now, that doesn't mean I'm saying they're a playoff lock, but I expect to see them Hangin' Tough in September at least.

Are the Angels finally waking up to the fact that Juan Rivera was the power bat they needed all along? The guy they had stashed on the bench even though he was as good of a hitter as Alex Rios in 2006? Slow clap...

-- 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

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