Bluebird Banter (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009
Yesterday the Drunks gave their Guide to Tank Nation . There was a suggestion at the end that kind of interested me. Invite two or three blogs, each homestand, to cover a game or two, assign a media officer to them, and show them the ropes. Yeah, the old media guys are going to give you dirty looks for it, but invite them to giv e the bloggers advice as well. And anyway, should the team really care...
Viva El Birdos (Free subscription) | 11/16/2009
At the P-D they're taking good advantage of the Cardinals ' dual Cy Young candidates, as they've gotten both Wainwright and Carpenter on record as being Spartacus. (I would have liked one more, maybe PINEIRO: Why Joel Pineiro should win the Cy Young.) For my money Wainwright's take on Carpenter is more interesting: But we should talk about this year. This year he just out-executed everybody. If he...
Bluebird Banter (Free subscription) | 11/13/2009
There are a bunch of Blue Jay stories out there at the moment. Hardball Times have their Top 10 Blue Jay prospects up. It is almost a whole new list, since Snider, Cecil and Rzep have graduated to the big leagues. It is nice to see a couple of outfielders on the list. Tao of Stieb, yesterday, made the Case for Impatience . I agree with him. We keep being told that we'll compete in a couple of year....
Bluebird Banter (Free subscription) | 11/13/2009
Jon Heyman from SI.com writes that the Yankees will 'contact' the Jays about Doc . I can not imagine. I thought I could handle anything. I spent a whole season watching Kevin Millar 'play' first base. I assumed there was nothing that could make me stop watching baseball. But Roy Halladay in pinstripes could likely do it. I can't even imagine what that would be like. Please Mr. Anthopoulos, please don't...
Bluebird Banter (Free subscription) | 11/12/2009
As a start towards re-doing our prospect list I thought we'd take a look at the guys on our current list and see which ones improved their status with the team and which ones likely dropped back or right off the prospect list. Then we can start looking at who should be on the new list. I'll list the players in the spots they are at on our current list, which was put together about this time last year....
Bluebird Banter (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
The press release: BLUE JAYS ADJUST 40-MAN ROSTER The TORONTO BLUE JAYS have outrighted C KYLE PHILLIPS, LHP DAVIS ROMERO and LHP BILL MURPHY from the 40-man roster to Las Vegas of the Pacific Coast League (AAA). This now brings the number of players on the roster to 38. PHILLIPS , 25, appeared in five games for the Blue Jays this past season, batting .278 with three doubles and two RBI. The San Diego...
Bleed Cubbie Blue (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP Like it or not, one of the keys to the Cubs' success in 2010 is a resurgence by Alfonso Soriano. Here, he launches his game-winning grand slam vs. the Astros last July 27. View full size photo » Last year about this time, I made this post discussing what I thought should be the makeup of the 2009 Cubs. Brave, isn't it, of me to post that link when I'd just as soon...
Beyond the Boxscore (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
Click charts to enlarge. Full data after the jump. 2009 STATS & VALUE First basemen AGE TYPE CLUB OPTION WAR UZR/150 wOBA ISO Russell Branyan 34 2.8 2.4 0.368 0.269 Adam LaRoche 30 B 2.4 -0.5 0.357 0.211 Nick Johnson 31 B 2.4 -6.6 0.373 0.114 Fernando Tatis 35 B 1.5 3.0 0.338 0.156 Eric Hinske 32 0.8 26.0 0.344 0.189 Carlos Delgado 38 B 0.8 -2.0 0.394 0.223 Miguel Cairo 36 0.2 N/A 0.304 0.156 Jeff...
Bluebird Banter (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
The first step towards us being Millar free next season happened today, Kevin Millar filed for free agency today . Let the balloons fly, strike up the band, actually....save some of the balloons for when he actually signs with someone else. Until then the unthinkable might happen. Anyway, good luck Kevin. Nothing personal, I hope things go well for you.
Camden Chat (Free subscription) | 11/04/2009
With postseason baseball still going on, there isn't much to talk about Orioles -wise beyond the minor moves that have been made in the past few days. I figure with 1 to 2 days of the baseball season remaining, it might be fun to take a look at the events of the 2009 Orioles seasons. Not a recap or analysis, really, as a ton of sites have already done that, but a look back at some memorable events...
Batter's Box Interactive Magazine (Free subscription) | 11/03/2009
Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos has confirmed the team will not re-sign free agent first baseman/DH Kevin Millar for next season in an interview with Shi Davidi of the Canadian Press . The 38 year-old Millar hit just .223/.311/.363 with 14 doubles, 7 homers and 29 RBI in 2009 with Toronto. The right-handed hitter wasn't able to mash lefties as he hit just .250 with a .721 OPS and was definitely exposed against...
Bluebird Banter (Free subscription) | 11/02/2009
More photos » by Darren Calabrese - AP It was tough to watch at times this year. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Darren Calabrese) Browse more photos » When we signed Kevin Millar I was less than thrilled but I really didn't imagine he would make the team. In 2008 he hit .234/.323/.394 at age 36, he did hit 20 home runs but I've never been a big fan of 1B/DH types that slug under .400. I guess...
Bluebird Banter (Free subscription) | 11/02/2009
Manuel seems to come from the minimalist school of managing too. Leaves pitchers in too long. All the usual Cito complaints, Manuel seems to get too, though Charlie doesn't have Kevin Millar bat clean up. But what really gets me about him comes from last night. Tie game, 9th inning. Manuel brings in Brad Lidge . Lidge hasn't pitched since October 21st. Now I would have liked to get him into one of...
Bluebird Banter (Free subscription) | 10/31/2009
So what do we think about Cito staying and Arnsberg going? Our friends at Tao of Stieb and The Drunks very clearly hate it. And they are right. We all have been working under the theory that Cito and Brad couldn't work together another year. One of them had to go. Since Brad Arnsberg came to the team we have been one of the best pitching teams in baseball. This past season he had a pitching staff that's...
Bluebird Banter (Free subscription) | 10/29/2009
More photos » by Ann Heisenfelt - AP A nice catch by Jose. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt) Browse more photos » We picked up Jose Bautista last season in a trade with Pittsburgh. We sent catching prospect Robinson Diaz to the Pirates . Diaz had a poor season in Triple-A Syracuse and the Jays soured on him as a prospect. I'm always curious when a team changes it's view of a player off of one bad...
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