So Long, And Thanks For All The...

…not fish. Gotcha.

No, I suppose my thank you to AJ Burnett for his 3 years in a Blue Jays uniform is largely kept to his performance in 2008 (a solid year that was underrated). Leading the American League in strikeouts is no small feat, and one that he should feel proud of.

Leading the Jays fans in frustration for 2006 and 2007? Well…he did that too.

Is it coincidence that AJ had is previous best career year in 2005, when he was pitching for a contract, and his subsequent career year came in 2008 when he was pitching for a contract? I’m just saying…

Somehow I don’t think that would apply to someone like Mr. Roy Halladay, for example.

World Series Preview

This was supposed to go up earlier, but nevertheless:

Phillies in 5.

MLB League Championship Series Previews

Well, after a decidedly weak 1-3 record, I need to run the table to get over .500 for this year. Not looking good.

Dodgers/Phillies
The Dodgers team looks pretty locked in right now, but they did earlier in the late summer as well (winning 8 in a row), before crashing back and then recovering. They're a weird team to figure out.

The Phillies, on the other hand, are looking like they have some leftover business to take care of after last year's disappointing loss in the NLDS to the red-hot Rockies.

This one should be very close, but the Phillies just seem like an all-around deeper team. If the Phillies are smart and don't let Manny beat them, they should have enough hitting to get past the Dodgers.

Phillies in 6.

Red Sox/Rays
I strongly dislike both of these teams due to their residency in the AL East. A couple of years ago, the Red Sox zoomed past the Yankees for the title of "most disliked team in the AL East", and this year the Rays managed to do the same. So it's tough to pick between them.

I still don't believe in the Rays, so I'm grudgingly picking the Red Sox to make yet another World Series (and make Boston fans all the more insufferable).

Red Sox in 6.

MLB Divisional Series Previews

Without further ado.

Dodgers/Cubs
The key to this series will be who's pitching holds up. Both teams look like they have solid (or solid enough) hitting, especially now that Manny is in LA. Chicago looks a little more solid on both sides of the ball, but the questions surrounding the health of Harden and Zambrano are yet to be fully answered. If Harden and Zambrano are both fully healthy, this one should go 4 games, max. If not, the Dodgers might be able to steal it in 5. My money are that at least one of Zambrano/Harden will be okay, and that should be enough.

Cubs in 4.

Phillies/Brewers
Both of these teams can mash, and with potentially 3 games in Philadelphia's bandbox, this could be a slugfest. But pretty much all signs point to the Phillies. A deeper and healthier lineup, and a deeper rotation should ensure a series victory. CC Sabathia is the best pitcher in the game right now, but even he isn't a guaranteed victory for the Brew Crew (not when he's going against the underrated Brett Myers). Even if the Brewers win Game 2, the Phillies look like they are on a mission right now, and will find a way to prevail.

Phillies in 5.

Rays/White Sox
I honestly though the Rays would fold this year, they never did. I thought the White Sox would be 4th in the AL Central this year, and they won the division. Apparently I'm not so good at this prediction business. The short version here is that the pitching heavily favours the Rays, and the hitting heavily favours the White Sox (it would heavily favour them even more had Carlos Quentin not been an idiot and self-destructed his season). Pitching and defence wins in the playoffs, right? Generally true, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Rays bats will tighten up a bit in the playoffs, and the White Sox will finally prove all of us who have been saying the Rays are overrated right (albeit a bit late).

White Sox in 5.

Angels/Red Sox
In my mind, these are the best 2 teams in the AL by a long shot, and 2 of the best 3 teams in the league (the other being the Cubs), and yet here they are meeting in the first round. The Angels have better pitching, are healthier, and finally have not one, but two helpers for Vlad (Teixeria and Hunter). They've also lost to the Red Sox in 2 of the last 4 years in the playoffs. Hungrier? Check. This will end up being a surprising mismatch.

Angels in 3.

Yammerin' Hank

For a truly great read on the unbelievable nature of Hank Steinbrenner's whining, check out Ray Ratto's evisceration.

Hank the Yank is whining about revenue sharing, divisional realignment (a complaint which we share, but his team spends 210 million and has been the playoffs for 15 straight years), and undeserving teams in the MLB playoffs (basically the same thing as divisional realignment complaints).

Dude, when your team prints money and makes the playoffs for 15 straight years, you cannot complain about MLB being somehow unfair to your team. Just can it.

Boo-Hoo Rocket Roger

So, apparently, Juiced Rocket Roger Clemens was more than a little sad that he wasn't included in the big Yankee Stadium tribute party event.

The words used in the article are quite hilarious: "heartbroken", "final crushing blow", "sad what they did to him", "clutching his wife's hand".

Think it might have been different Roger if you hadn't shot yourself up with illegal drugs? I think so, yeah.

Proposed MLB Realignment

I prepared this post a while back and forgot to post it. It essentially came out of frustration with the current MLB divisional format, and the disparity between the divisions.

What would I love to see?

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Northwest (Pacific North):
Seattle
San Francisco
Colorado
Oakland

North (Lake Michigan):
Minnesota
Milwaukee
Chicago
Chicago

Northeast (Lake Erie):
Detroit
Cleveland
Toronto
Pittsburgh

East (Atlantic North):
Philadelphia
New York
New York
Boston

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Southwest (Pacific South):
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
San Diego
Las Vegas Rebels**

South (Gulf):
Texas
Houston
Arizona
San Antonio Mustangs**

Southeast (Atlantic South):
Atlanta
Florida
Tampa Bay
Washington

Midwest (Prairies):
Baltimore
Cincinnati
St. Louis
Kansas City


Balanced schedule, with divisional games early and late in the year.

Division winners make playoffs, plus top 2 records of non-division winners. Top 2 division winner records in each league get 1st round “bye”. 1st round series are 3 games series. Divisional, Championship and World Series are 7 game series.

Why is this better? 2 team expansion gets 32 teams, which means 16 teams in each league (balance). 6 teams make playoffs, and 2 best records are rewarded. This will mean there will be more intrigue in the last few weeks of the year (benefit in finishing 1st and 2nd, chance for 3 teams in one division to make playoffs).

It’s basically copying the NFL style of playoffs, which in my opinion works extremely well. It only adds 5 games (at the absolute most) to the schedule (3 extra 1st round games, and 2 extra 2nd round games).

Obvious problems are in placing both Chicagos and both New Yorks (as well as Boston and Philadelphia) all in the same league. Of course, since 3 teams from a sole division CAN make the playoffs, this only means that a couple of teams are missing out. Smaller divisions mean more championship races (good), more playoff teams (exciting), and more crossover play.

This would also mean the National League accepting the DH role or the American League deleting it.

The American League does look significantly stronger than the National League (not that that is a big surprise). I personally like the intra-city rivalries in the same division. I also like the way teams are in the same geographic regions better than they currently are. I realize it’s not perfect (Baltimore in the Midwest, and Washington in the Southeast seems like the strangest mix), but the rest seems to work well. Toronto gets to play their natural rivals (geographically) in their same division (Cleveland and Detroit).

Will it ever happen? No, (partially because of TV ratings, and partially because of baseball’s extreme aversion to change), but MLB might think about how it works in the NFL and the benefits that stem from that approach.

Twice in a Week? No Way!

Well, when I said I was going to try to get back into this, I was serious.

And anyone who reads (or maybe I should say "read") this blog knows that I like sports and I can't go an awful long time without blogging about something sports related.

What's the beef? The Blue Jays treatment of Travis Snider.

They call him up before the 40-man roster are activated, meaning that his service clock has started already. Fine. I'm okay with that, if they're going to play him.

But apparently he's going to sit against LHP's, which doesn't really make an awful lot of sense to me. The team is out of it, it's time to see if Snider is a MLB player NOW, or an MLB player LATER. The only way they'll find out is by playing him against LHP.

Am I bitter because I started him in my fantasy playoffs last night because I thought Beltran was hurt and then Beltran hit a HR and Snider sat? Yes, but that doesn't change the point.

Snider should be playing full-time now, either with the Jays or with the AFL. Doesn't make much sense to use him this way.

Blue Jays Spring Training Thoughts

Several thoughts (and as a warning, this post will likely show once and for all why my dream job is the General Manager of the Blue Jays):

1) Casey Janssen done for the year. Janssen was in the running for the 5th starter job with the Jays, and had long been the preferred choice for that job (from this corner, anyways). An ERA+ of 190 last year? Very nice. Moving him into the rotation and getting 180+ innings of that type of production would have been fantastic (as a frame of reference, Roy Halladay's Cy Young year ERA+ was 145).

Regardless, this does help to explain the rather curious Armando Benitez signing of yesterday. Anytime you have a reliever with a significantly better than 1 K per 1 IP average, you've got a potential gold mine on your hands. And he's cheap, with no risk. Even without Janssen, the bullpen should be okay.

The biggest problem as far as I can tell is that now Jesse Litsch is essentially guaranteed to win the 5th starter's job out of Spring Training (especially after Gustavo Chacin stunk up the joint yesterday). I have nothing against Litsch, but he doesn't strike anyone out, and after him we now have very little depth (except for Chacin, who doesn't scare anyone). Riccardi says he might be after another starter, and I don't blame him. Litsch would likely be better to start the season at AAA and use a veteran stop-gap for the time being. This may be partially dealt with by the following point:

2) Reed Johnson vs. Shannon Stewart for the RH part of the LF platoon (the other part being Matt Stairs). I thought as soon as the Jays made this signing that the writing was probably on the wall for Johnson, and now rumour has it that he might be on his way to the Mets (likely in exchange for either prospects or a possible pitching option). Johnson, 2006 numbers aside, has always been a 4th OF, and I really think that 2006 was an outlier for Johnson and Stewart will outproduce him this year.

If the Jays can move Johnson for some SP help or even organization depth to save a bit of cash, that seems to me like the best option. Johnson would likely have been gone at the end of this year anyways (as Adam Lind is knocking on the door), so why not move him now while he has some value and you can get something for him? Stewart will likely provide comparable numbers at a cheaper cost, and very well could outproduce Johnson.

3) BJ Ryan back already. I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's only been 10 months or so since the surgery, and it is generally a 12-16 month recovery period. I really hope he's actually ready to go, because if he's not, that's going to mean major further setbacks, which doesn't bode well for the bullpen. That Benitez signing is looking better by the day.

Baseball Trades

If the proposed Rios-for-Lincecum trade happens, JP should follow up with Burnett-Kemp. I would like that very much.

Bye, Bye, Barry

Finally.

The worst kept secret is going to come out. Barry Bonds has* used steroids.

* = allegedly.

Spinny Spin Spin

In a series that is tied 1-1, (such as the Boston-Cleveland one was a couple of days back), what are the options for reporting on a preview for Game 3?

I read each of the following:

Boston tries to take control of series
Cleveland looks to gain advantage at home

Interesting, the first one was national media, the second, local.

Then, after Cleveland won Game 3, the following headlines for Game 4:

Boston looks to get back into series
Cleveland looks to put stranglehold on Red Sox

Same news sources.

Incredible how simple wording and spin can paint a drastically different picture.

LCS Predictions

Having decided that the Rockies are my new NL team (and this isn't bandwagon jumping, I've been cheering for them all year, and historically in the past as well), it's not surprising that I'm both:

a) excited they are in the LCS, and
b) picking them to advance to the WS.

Ergo - Rockies in 6.

The AL pick is much more of a heart over head pick, although I do think that there aren't that many differences between the teams. Fine, who am I kidding - the Red Sox should be better on paper, but if they have to face Sabathia/Carmona for a total of 4 games, I see the Indians winning 3 of those, and then they only need one of the other 3. Good enough for me.

Indians in 6.

A-Rod: Choker or Champ?

Much has already been written in the last 24 hours of the Yankees tragic loss and elimination from the postseason. As a Jays fan, it is difficult to feel sorry for the Yankees or A-Rod, but I'll try.

Incredibly, blame for the Yankees collapse has been riding with one of the least responsible people of all: Alex Rodriguez.

Leaving aside the fact that aside from A-Rod's fantastic season the Yankees probably finish 3rd in the AL East, and definitely miss the playoffs, the question then becomes: is A-Rod really as bad in the playoffs as is widely (almost universally) reported?

It's almost impossible to disagree that after Robby Cano and Johnny Damon, A-Rod was the best offensive Yankee in the series. But somehow, it's all his fault.

Despite the fact that he went 4-9 with a HR over the last 2 games, all anyone is talking about is his 2 strikeouts to lead off game 4. Unreal.

If the NY media/national media drives A-Rod out of NY (a possibility - and if he leaves, he's probably headed to Anaheim), the Yankees will be worse team next year. Unfortunately, that seems to be the way things are headed.