PSA: Blue Jays Rant On Hiatus Until August 1st
PSA part 2: We’re back at http://www.rantsports.com/toronto-blue-jays/ ! The redirection from here hasn’t quite been set up yet, but the link is where all the new content will go. So please join me there for more Jays talk for the rest of the season! (more…)
Blue Jays Acquire Colby Rasmus In Complicated 3-Team Deal
I don’t even know what to say, really. Alex Anthopoulous displayed his ninja-GM skills yet again today, making a flurry of moves with the Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals and landing burgeoning 24-year old star Colby Rasmus for what wound up being…well, not very much at all.
Here’s how the deal breaks down: the Blue Jays first struck a deal with the White Sox, sending pitching prospect Zach Stewart and Jason Frasor for starter Edwin Jackson and Mark Teahen (mostly a salary dump). Then, AA packaged talented (but inconsistent) starter to the St. Louis Cardinals along with Marc Rzepczynsky, Octavio Dotel, and…Corey Patterson (!) for Colby Rasmus, and relievers PJ Walters, Trevor Miller (who wound up being dealt back to the White Sox) and..Brian Tallet.
So basically, the Blue Jays landed Colby Rasmus for Zach Stewart, Marc Rzepczynsky, Jason Frasor, and Octavio Dotel. I guess you can put Corey Patterson there too, but it’s not like he’s got any actual value – that Anthopoulous was able to get someone to take him is an impressive feat on it’s own – that we’re getting back a controllable 24-year old potential superstar outfielder-on-a-down-year in Colby Rasmus is just robbery to a ridiculous degree. To think he managed to do it without giving up a major prospect bat, while giving up mostly marginal pieces in the bullpen – when it seemed like there was no way the Cardinals would move Rasmus without one earlier in the year – like I said, I don’t even really have the words.
The deals have yet to be approved by the MLB, and they have 24 hours in which to do so. But I think it’s safe to say that the Blue Jays roadmap to competitiveness just got accelerated some. Rasmus is not having the best of years, and have been at odds with Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa since last season, but his .754 OPS would be 2nd on the Jays squad right now, and 25/20 talents like him don’t really come around all that often. The Jays are now looking at a Escobar / Thames / Bautista / Lind / Rasmus / Snider / Lawrie / Hill / JPA offensive lineup in the near future – and who would have thought that things would turn out like this at the beginning of the season?
On the down side, we had to take Brian Tallet (DL), and Mark Teahen (marginal bench player) back…but we can work that stuff out later. Happy Rasmus everyone! More when the dust settles.
Jose Bautista Takes A Fastball To The Head; Blue Jays Blown Out By Orioles
The big story from tonight’s Blue Jays-Orioles game should probably have been the 4-12 blowout that Brandon Morrow and the Jays suffered at the hands of the AL East basement-dwellers, but a scary incident in the 3rd inning took the focus away from the on-field results at the end of the night, as Jose Bautista was hit in the head by a pitch and subsequently removed from the game. (more…)
Blue Jays Weekend Recap: Jo-Jo Goes Bye-Bye; JPA Powers Up, Cecil Shuts ‘em Down
Apologies for the lack of recaps on the individual games this weekend – I have been away without access to internet outside of my phone. That being said, I’ve caught up on the Blue Jays games that took place this weekend against the Texas Rangers, and I think there are some things that are probably worth talking about:
1) It wasn’t exactly a surprise that Jo-Jo Reyes would perform poorly against the Texas Rangers – hell, he’s performed poorly against most opponents he’s faced in his career. The 26-year old lefty “improved” over his last outing against the AL West leaders – a 2.2 inning appearance that saw him allow 6 unearned runs – by going 4.1 inning this time around. Reyes was tagged for 8 runs however, and this time the other cleat finally dropped on the Alex Anthopoulous reclamation project, with the team presumably ran out of excuses to keep him in the rotation. (more…)
Rajai Davis Bails Out Bullpen; Blue Jays Complete Sweep Of Mariners
For the 2nd time in 3 games, Rajai Davis has managed to come off the bench to provide timely late-game heroics – this time bailing out another bullpen meltdown, and helping the Blue Jays complete a 3-game sweep of the lowly Mariners in a 7-5 victory that nearly ended in a total disaster.
Unfortunately, the late win took away another W for Jays starter Ricky Romero, who threw 7 innings of dominant ball before having the wheels come off in the 8th. To contrast – Romero had allowed just a run on 3 hits and 3 walks while striking out 9 through 7 innings, and the Jays had a comfortable 5-1 lead headed into the 8th inning. Romero would wind up loading the bases with a walk and a pair of singles (one of which was fielded poorly by Romero himself). All of those runners would wind up scoring, although you couldn’t really totally blame Romero for that one. Casey Janssen, who had just returned to the Jays on Tuesday and looked good while earning the win, gave up the 4-run lead with one pitch, a poorly placed breaking ball right in Miguel Olivo’s wheelhouse that the Mariners catcher turned into a grand slam.
It was almost shocking when it happened, mostly because of how quickly everything unraveled on the mound for Romero and Janssen. Romero would have to settle for a no decision final line of 7.1 IP with 4 ER on 5 hits and 4 walks, and Janssen exited without getting an out after allowing two more hits and looked on the verge of flat-out giving the game away. Fortunately, he was bailed out by Jon Rauch, who came in and got the two outs needed to keep the game tied.
Instead of letting the disappointment of the bullpen blowing yet another late lead undo the team’s hard work however, the Blue Jays offense got right back at it. With 2 outs, Mike Mccoy – the team’s human yo-yo – laced a double down the 3rd base line to keep the inning going. After Yunel Escobar walked to put runners at 1st and 2nd, Rajai Davis – who had come off the bench to pinch run for the ailing ankle of Eric Thames (more on that later) – came through with a line-drive double to centre-right, scoring both baserunners and restoring the Jays lead at 7-5.
Rauch, who threw just 8 pitches to get the team out of the 8th, stayed in to pitch a mostly clean 9th inning to earn the win, and the Blue Jays got to exit the homestand on a high, having earned their 3rd series sweep of the season. There is another 6-game homestand on the schedule next week, but the bluebirds will head south first to Arlington, Texas for a 3-game series against the Rangers this weekend. Jo-Jo Reyes, whose last outing against the Rangers resulted in 6 runs (all unearned!) over lasted just 2.2 innings, will start the series off tomorrow. So…yeah. Looks like we’ll have to try for a 2-out-of-3 series win?
Travis Snider Breaks Out At The Plate, Leads Blue Jays To Rout Over Mariners
The resurgence of Travis Snider continued tonight, as the Blue Jays outfielder-of-the-future showed the type of impact bat that he possesses, jump-starting the bluebirds offense with a bang early against the Mariners en route to a 11-6 rout.
Whether you’re on the side that agreed with demotion to AAA earlier in the season, or think that the 23-year old would have worked out of it on his own (as he did in the past), I think one thing everyone can agree on is that regardless of the way that Snider got to this point of the season, we’d like him to keep at it. (more…)
John MacDonald The Walk-Off Hero As Blue Jays Beat Mariners In Marathon
Considering that this was a game that ended with a final score of 6-5, it’s a little ironic that tonight’s Blue Jays win won’t be remembered so much for the 10 ru0ns of of offence that the two teams put up in the first 7 innings of regulation, but moreso the offensive futility that followed for both sides, before the Jays finally managed to win the war of attrition with a pair of players that didn’t even start the game. (more…)
Robert Alomar’s #12 Set To Be Retired By Blue Jays
Roberto Alomar is one of those special players who is honoured in one way or another every year by the Toronto Blue Jays; this year, however, the team will bestow upon him perhaps the greatest honour that it is capable of by retiring Alomar’s uniform number – making it the first uniform number ever to be retired in the Jays’ 35-year franchise history.
Alomar’s #12 will be retired in a on-field ceremony that will take place before the Jays’ home game against the Texas Rangers on July 31st, and will serve as a dual celebration for his official induction to the baseball hall-of-fame that will take place a week prior. The timing is right for the franchise to break the tradition of using the Level Of Excellence at the Rogers Centre to honor past players – Alomar is the first Blue Jay to be inducted to the hall based primarily on his time here, and his role in helping the team to its 92 & 93 championships cannot be understated.
To further describe Alomar’s place as one of the greatest Blue Jays player of all time, with quotes about the impending retirement of his number…the full press release from the Blue Jays is right after the jump: (more…)
Jose Bautista, Casey Janssen Likely To Return To Blue Jays On Tuesday
After a weekend against the Yankees that was spent mostly without their best player, the Blue Jays are about to get a double dose of reinforcements, with Jose Bautista and Casey Janssen both slated to return to the club for the start of Tuesday’s game against the Seattle Mariners. (more…)
Brett Lawrie Hit By Pitch Three Times In Two Days; Headed To AAA
The story of Blue Jays top prospect Brett Lawrie’s recovery from a broken wrist took a certain turn into the realm of absurdity over the weekend, when the 3rd baseman was hit by pitches three times over a span of two games with the A+ Dunedin Blue Jays this weekend. Despite it all, he is still scheduled to join AAA Las Vegas this week to continue his rehab assignment. (more…)
