ALERT: Blue Jays Rant Coming!

Today's been something of an annoying day. I had to wake up at a reasonable hour as if I have a real job. Then I found out that my move to another apartment is being bumped back to a much more inconvenient date. And all day I have been working on an assignment and it ain't going well.

Long story short, I am in a ranting move. So here goes ...

A few days ago, Keith Law mentioned that when he was with the Blue Jays, JP Ricciardi turned down a trade of Jose Cruz Jr. (retired centre-fielder) for David Wright (current perennial all-star and MVP candidate). Now, in hindsight this was an abysmal decision, but it was at least kind of defensible at the time when Jose Cruz was viewed as being a strong defensive player who might develop his plethora of tools.

I'm not here to apologize or pile on JP; I'll leave that to others. But I do want to know why Keith Law had to confirm this rumour. Does he just hate Jays fans? I mean, the rational side of me (small as it may be) is trying to argue that these non-trades happen all the time, and prospects are always a bit of a gamble.

Unfortunately, the sports fan in me wants to go on table-flipping rampage (which has been shown by science to be the second best kind of rampage after the Rambo-like rampage). DAVID WRIGHT!? REALLY?! Keith Law, why must you taunt me? It's bad enough that the team this year was terrible, but you just had to poor the salt that is David Wright on those wounds? Next, you'll remind me about the Lincecum for Rios non-trade and that Roy Halladay is probably leaving. Or that the Leafs are 1-7-1, Toronto FC just got embarassed in a do-or-die game, the Argos are a disaster, and the Raptors may go games without getting a single rebound. I really don't need this right now, Keith Law, I really don't.

I also don't want to kick Steve Phillips while he is down, but this is just more evidence that he was a terrible GM. At least JP can say he wasn't familiar with Wright --- Phillips doesn't have that luxury. And yet, when he goes on television as a baseball analyst, I'm supposed to take his opinion seriously?

But let this be a lesson for new Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos. Alex, do yourself a favour. Determine who are the worst GM's in the game (I suggest starting with that fella in San Francisco), and get on their good side. Then call them weekly with ridiculous trade offers. Particularly, offer aging players whose skills are degrading for shiny young prospects. Somehow these trades happen far more often than they should, and its about time the Blue Jays benefitted from the stupidity of other teams.

More Opening Day Hype

This video has been floating around various Jays blogs for the last few weeks, but I still have to throw it up here:




Thanks to the Tao of Stieb and the DrunkJaysFans for finding it first.

Sometimes I think I am too young to be this nostalgic.

Boundless Optimism

I haven't posted in a while and so I thought I better write something to appease my rabid fanbase (by which I mean the 3 people who actually check this blog out, mostly just to humour me).

I am also a little hesitant to throw up another baseball post because I want to keep things as varied as possible. But today is Opening Day and so I must.

For the uninitiated, I am referring to the first day of the new baseball season. More specifically, I am referring to the first home game of your favourite team.

I love Opening Day. Until I moved to Edmonton, I had seen something like 5 or 6 straight Opening Day games in person. It was a tradition for a group of us. The only classes of undergrad that I missed (I was really adamant about going to every class so that I would get my moneys worth) were for Opening Day.

In Toronto, Opening Day is the only game of the year that will reliably be sold out (at least until they reliably become a playoff team), and while I can do without some of the morons who only show up for that game - really people, do you have to throw stuff on the field or run on the field - the atmosphere can be electric.

I still remember a particularly good Opening Day in 2005. The opponent was the hated (well I hate them) Red Sox. I am pretty sure this is the game when Rogers made the ill-advised decision to give out fridge-magnet schedules that would be thrown onto the field in large quantities. But regardless of the stupidity of the others in the crowd, baseball prevailed.

In the bottom of the ninth, with the Jays down 6-3, good ole Corey Koskie singled to start the rally. As the Jays battled back, the crowd became electric. Of the group that day was a friend of mine who only had a cursory understanding of baseball, and I remember her mentioning that even though she didn't quite know what was going on, she was trembling from excitement. Even though the Jays feel achingly short with two men on and one run short, I remember thinking "This is what Opening Day is about." For those in the know, I believe it was after this game that I ordered that glorious Molson Ex.

Anyways, my expectations for the Jays are pretty low for this season. But today is Opening Day, and so I can't help but think about the things that may break the right way this year. Particularly with Roy Halladay, maybe my favourite athlete (nay, human being) on the planet today, pitching today, I can't help but be optimistic. What was that Morgan Freeman said about hope?