2011 Blue Jays/MLB Thread

[maplesyrup]

A stroll down memory lane...

2008/05/13 Claimed by the Minnesota Twins off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays.

2005/12/27 Blue Jays traded Miguel Batista and Orlando Hudson to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Troy Glaus and Sergio Santos.

For both of these transactions Santos was a SS. He's only been pitching since mid/late 2008.

AA said today we tried to get him to pitch back when he was a SS with us.

 

[maplesyrup]

Of note (since there was a discussion in this earlier.)

Jays prez Paul Beeston says revenue-sharing changes in new CBA will not affect team spending. "The CBA has not changed anything."shidavidivia twitter on Dec 6, 2011 at 5:28 PM

 

[bustaheims]

Both Rauch and Francisco sign with the Mets today.

 

[Chev-boyar-sky]

Both Rauch and Francisco sign with the Mets today.

So we get picks for both, or only Frank?

 

[bustaheims]

Both Rauch and Francisco sign with the Mets today.

So we get picks for both, or only Frank?

Both.

 

[L K]

Both Rauch and Francisco sign with the Mets today.

So we get picks for both, or only Frank?

Both.

The pen needed retooling, but I really would have liked to see Francisco back...he was as good as Santos last year.

 

[Darryl]

JP Ricciardi helping the Mets already.

 

[Kin]

The only issue I have with that is that fans will come out to games if teams are winning, regardless of being a big-market or small-market team.  Raw population doesn't tell the whole story on the market demographic.  To me, Toronto is not a good baseball market because in general it just isn't a big baseball community.  There are more than enough fans in the city to have an MLB team, but not enough to call it a major market. 

Well, I think the issue there though, to not look at it from the Jays' perspective for a second, is that it's probably more egregious for a team in a big market to pocket revenue sharing dollars simply because they have a low payroll. This provides a pretty good incentive for a team like the Jays to win.

 

[L K]

The only issue I have with that is that fans will come out to games if teams are winning, regardless of being a big-market or small-market team.  Raw population doesn't tell the whole story on the market demographic.  To me, Toronto is not a good baseball market because in general it just isn't a big baseball community.  There are more than enough fans in the city to have an MLB team, but not enough to call it a major market. 

Well, I think the issue there though, to not look at it from the Jays' perspective for a second, is that it's probably more egregious for a team in a big market to pocket revenue sharing dollars simply because they have a low payroll. This provides a pretty good incentive for a team like the Jays to win.

And yet we have a GM crying "moderate spending" and the President making an about face on his post-season boasting of this mythological 120 million dollar payroll.

 

[Kin]

And yet we have a GM crying "moderate spending" and the President making an about face on his post-season boasting of this mythological 120 million dollar payroll.

Well, I'd hold off on that specific criticism until the Jays are a very good team and they're losing players to free agency. I think this may encourage them to spend less right away in free agency but if they realize the only way to grow their revenues is by their own sweat that we'll see improvement.

 

[Fanatic]

The media that covers baseball will now have a dress code. I guess among other things they want to be sure that no "Inez Sainz" situations happen in baseball.

TSN Link

 

[maplesyrup]

#marlins already in pursuit of prince. Signs indicate cards likely to get pujols
by Jon_Heyman via twitter 2:00 PM

Either way, Miami could be scary.

 

[maplesyrup]

Buerhle to #Marlins: 4 yrs, $58M. #MLB
by Ken_Rosenthal via twitter 4:49 PM

So... Bell, Reyes, now Buerhle. Hey, Kudos to Miami for keeping these guys out of the AL.

 

[bustaheims]

Buerhle to #Marlins: 4 yrs, $58M. #MLB
by Ken_Rosenthal via twitter 4:49 PM

So... Bell, Reyes, now Buerhle. Hey, Kudos to Miami for keeping these guys out of the AL.

Sort of feels like the offseason when the Jays added Ryan, Burnett, etc. And, I get the feeling, this will probably work out just as well in Miami.

 

[maplesyrup]

Sort of feels like the offseason when the Jays added Ryan, Burnett, etc. And, I get the feeling, this will probably work out just as well in Miami.

It does and you never know... It could blow up in their faces or, it might not. Either way, like I said, I'm glad that experiment is going on in another league.

 

[Fanatic]

TSN_SportsTSN
Report: Marlins sign Buehrle to four-year, $58M contract

The Marlins are tossing around a LOT of money.

 

[Chev-boyar-sky]

So apparently the Jays are in on Gio Gonzalez trade talks.

From Susan Slusser at the San Francisco Chronicle:

"Oakland wants at least two of a team?s top four prospects for Gonzalez, plus some middle-level minor-leaguers ? and I was told that Toronto has even better players in the lower minors that might be Oakland targets"

Not sure I'd give up top notch prospects (and a bunch of prospect depth) for a guy who's very good, but only really had 2 seasons of success so far.

AA seems to be interested in using all our depth to acquire players, so we don't have to pay anybody FA dollars. I'd be happy to have the guy but the price is likely to be to high for me to be thrilled about the deal.

 

[Peter D.]

Darvish has been posted. Has AA found his new primary focus?

 

[bustaheims]

Darvish has been posted. Has AA found his new primary focus?

Not really, no. The bidding process is pretty simple - establish how much you're willing to pay for the right to negotiate with him, submit that to the league and then wait. It's a closed envelope type situation - other teams aren't made aware of who has bid or what those other bids are (at least, not in any official capacity). My guess is AA already knows what his bid is going to be.

 

[Deebo]

Kelly Johnson accepted arbitration.