It was on this day in 1992 that the Blue Jays won their first World Series game, a 5-4 result over Atlanta in Game 2 of the 1992 World Series. Here are a few notes about the Jays and their quest to find a manager that can get them back to the postseason…
- Sandy Alomar Jr. is going to have his third interview with the Blue Jays and is "among [the] finalists" for Toronto's managerial job, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com, though Rosenthal isn't sure how many names are on the Jays' list of finalists. Alomar Jr. is one of the least experienced of the many names on Toronto's list, with just the past season as Cleveland's first base coach and two years as a Mets minor league catching instructor on his coaching resume. Rosenthal also notes that Boston bench coach DeMarlo Hale "is in [the] mix," which ties into yesterday's item about Hale being asked back for a second interview.
- Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com has more details on why Dodgers coach Tim Wallach didn't interview for the Toronto job. It appears as though Wallach will be the L.A. third base coach in 2011 unless he's hired as the new Milwaukee manager. The Globe And Mail's Robert Macleod also looks at the situation and thinks that the Dodgers want to keep Wallach in the fold in case Don Mattingly struggles as the club's manager.
- In a mailbag for MLB.com, Jordan Bastian thinks Toronto will discuss a contract extension with right-hander Shaun Marcum this winter. Since Marcum still has two years of arbitration left, however, Bastian notes that "keeping him under control as an arbitration-eligible player could increase his value on the trade market."
- From that same mailbag, Bastian doubts the Jays will make a play for Carl Crawford. While the Jays have said that they can afford high-priced free agents, Bastian thinks the club won't do so until it gets to "the stage where it sits a piece or two away from World Series contention."
My Jays off-season Wish List in order (but not all, just one or two) – Colby Rasmus, Chris Young, Yonder Alonso, James Loney, Ramon Ramirez, and many more…Too many to exapand upon.
I don’t think James Loney is the type of player the Jays should be trying to fill 1B with.
The Jays are the type of team who likes to get players on the buy-low. Think about Yunel Escobar and Freddy Lewis. I say Loney would be a good fit.
do you really think he provides enough upside to fill a 1B position fulltime in the AL east? What do you think hes capable of (a serious question, i don’t know enough about Loney)?
I think being out of the pressure of LA and the Dodgers management where they expected him to do nothing but hit 30+ home runs and .320+ every year will do him good. He would benefit from a non-pressure situation and then I think he can have a 5.0 UZR .315/.385/.510 25 Home Runs, 90+ RBI’s.
He’s like a super-overbay
Quite the opposite: He’s more like a lesser version of Overbay, and that’s a problem…
Maybe he could surprise people, but those numbers are a huge leap from where he’s at right now considering he’d be moving to the AL East. Last three years he’s played 160 games a year and hit 13, 13, and 10 HR. His slugging percentage has dropped from .434 to .395 over that span.
I’m not willing to trade perfectly good prospects for someone that might well hit (significantly) worse than Overbay.
LOL that is like a 4-6 WAR player right there
Loney might do some good getting out of the Pitcher parks that is the NL West. Most of Loney’s hR’s are on the road
No way does Loney hit 25 HRs, not even in Toronto. He’s a 15 HR guy. Think a slightly better version of Casey Kotchman. And a .510 SLG is being very, very, very generous. His swing simply doesn’t generate that kind of pop.
Pass on Loney, and for a second I thought you wrote Manny instead of Ramon LOL.
I’d like Rasmus and Alonso.
I would love to see Rasmus picked up, but it would cost the jays an arm and a leg… doesn’t seem like the type of move AA would be willing to make, although it has been said that he is a big fan of rasmus. Im sure they would be asking for something along the lines of Marcum, Zack Stewart, and a quality bat
Zach Stewart is overrated…If I’m AA I wouldn’t have a problem trading him if it meant getting someone like Rasmus in return.
I’m curious as to how you make the determination that he’s overrated (especially since there’s no consensus on his value). Have you watched him pitch extensively? At all?
Yea that’s a weird statement. If anything, he’s underrated because I’ve heard scouts and AA himself say there’s little difference between him and Drabek.
actually, being someone who regularlly attends Fisher Cats games, I can tell you why I think he’s overrated. First of all, I think due to delievery problems, he’s a reliever in the long term…Thats first and foremost. Second of all, his numbers are a bit decieving…Merchants auto.com park is big and he had a 5.04 home ERA which means he still managed to give up a fair share of runs…Against the 3 worst offenses in the EL, he managed a 4.57 ERA. He had a FIP of 4.18. Also, stats aside, he has delivery problems which is why some think he is a reliever…only 1/3 of his games were against good EL teams which is also one of the weakest offensive leagues in MILB. His stuff isn’t good at all, and he is also pretty old to be a top prospect…It’s just me, but from going to a lot of Fisher Cats games, I just don’t think he’s going to be a good starting pitcher…Maybe a good reliever.
Did you watch during the 1st half of the season or after he came back from his injury?
He was crap before the injury and was dominant after he came back from the injury.
Yes I have watched him pitch extensively at all.
Thank you. That wasn’t me attempting to be hostile, I was really curious.
Gotcha. Well read what I said below.
AA thinks highly of the guy, equal with drabek apparently. he just doesnt hav his arm built up yet cause hes been a reliever. i heard he touched 97-98 on the gun earlier in the year and matched drabek down the stretch. not that i’m sold on drabek either, he makes me think a bit of clay bucholz who has only really announced himself in the league this year.
Which is why I think he’s a reliever. First of all, drabek is better. No question. Second of all, he doesn’t have good off speed pitches except for a not bad curve
Span although I respect your opinion… They are not as far apart as you make them seem, he started slow to the year because he was adjusting to becoming a starter… he was better down the stretch and dropped his ERA significantly… I am Pretty sure you are basing your opinion on early season and last off season reports that he does not have enough pitches to be a MLB starter… The fact is he showed major improvements this year, and went down finished his first season as a starter in AA extremely well, the problem is Drabek got all of the fame but they were more of a 1A-1B rather than a 1-2
Stewart isn’t considered as good of a prospect because scouts aren’t sure if he will be a reliever or starter. Reminds me of Cecil a little bit who has #2 starter potential but you don’t know if stamina is there. Cecil was a closer when he was drafted who was immediately converted to starter role and it worked for him. I think it can too for Stewart but he will need another year in the minors. You have to let him slowly build up his stamina and he’s been doing that IMO. He’s got great stuff and was deadly after the injury and if he can gain enough stamina and endurance, then I’d say he’s right up there with Drabek.
Right now, not so much.
Replace Fred Lewis’s 1 WAR with Crawford’s 6-ish, and Overbay’s 1.5WAR with one of the free agent 1Bs in the 4-5 WAR range, and that’s 92-94 wins. Sounds like a piece or two away to me.
If the Jays were in a different division they would have won 100+ games this season. The most underrated team in Baseball and on paper, one of the best teams in Baseball.
I disagree STRONGLY here. Blue Jays didn’t have the talent to win 100 games even if they were in the NL Central.
I agree, one of the more underrated teams in baseball, but on paper they don’t have the talent to win 100 games, period. They were barely over .500 against both the central and west divisions (only 3 wins more than losses).
They would have made a play for the divisions there…but the Rangers and Twins have way more talent across the board.
48 games against Yanks, Red Sox, and Rays. The twins played 18-24 against them and had 9 more wins than the Jays who were 15 games out of 100.
yeah but replace Granderson’s 3.6 WAR with Crawford’s 6 WAR and Vazquez’s -.02 with Cliff Lee’s 7 WAR and the Yankees win a nice 105 games in the hardest division in baseball. Unfortunately it is a lot more complicated then that.
There are issues of where certain players’ performances were relative to their mean, but Crawford and Lee have been fairly consistent, and while Bautista probably won’t produce 7 WAR next year, the group of Bautista, Hill, and Lind will probably combine for more than 8.
If Hill and Lind get back to their old self, they are much better than that.
Bautista could still be a guy that hits 30 hr and drives in 80 or so runs and he gets on base well.
I’m also expecting Snider to breakout next season.
Will Robbie be Sandy’s bench coach?
Only if he does McCain commercials and says ‘catch de taste.’ I’d make that a clause too.
If it’s sandy, he’ll have an experienced bench coach as alomar jr hasn’t managed before…that’s my guess anyway…i could see robbie maybe as 1st base coach in a year or two…with or without sandy
Wonder why Kevin Kennedy wasn’t a candidate? He said numerous times on XM that he’s love to be the Jays manager with the talent they have.