With Dave Dombrowski joining their division rivals, the Blue Jays remain in need of a replacement for outgoing president Paul Beeston. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca suggests that current GM Alex Anthopoulos could make a sensible candidate for that more expansive role. For one thing, says Davidi, it may not be wise to introduce any potential for internal discord in baseball decisionmaking by adding someone on top of Anthopoulos. And elevating the current GM would help ensure continuity. You’ll want to read the piece for the full concept.
- Of course, as Davidi notes, whether or not the Blue Jays consider Anthopoulos for a promotion, the team will need to act on his contract status by the end of October, when his current deal expires. With front offices churning around the league, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, Toronto would be foolish not to act decisively to retain Anthopoulos. He proposes that the organization vest him with full baseball ops authority while adding a business-oriented president. (Obviously, that’s not the profile of Dombrowski, who Rosenthal says was brought in for a formal interview by the Jays.)
- Blue Jays lefty Randy Wolf recently requested his release to seek an opportunity at the big league level, but Toronto may give him that chance itself come September, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com writes. Toronto would have done so already had a specific team made an offer to add him to its MLB roster, Heyman notes, but was not interested in letting him go to another team’s Triple-A club. (Wolf was not able to negotiate an opt-out clause into his pact with the Jays.) Wolf has had an interesting recent transactional timeline, especially for a nearly 39-year-old veteran. He’s generated excellent results this year at Buffalo, tossing 139 2/3 innings of 2.58 ERA ball with 6.8 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9.
- The Yankees’ 2006 draft class may have featured the most productive haul of future relievers in baseball history, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. David Robertson, Dellin Betances, Mark Melancon, George Kontos, and Zach McAllister were all taken that year by New York — after the team selected Joba Chamberlain in the first round. While Chamberlain never followed through on the amazing start to his career, Sherman notes, the class does help to demonstrate that New York has been rather successful in developing high-quality pen arms.
Random fact: Randy Wolf is 9th among active pitchers in shutouts.
With something less than 10 probably. When I was a kid, Bobby Witt would walk up the mound both ways, and pitch both ends of a day night doubleheader during 120° Arlington heat and they didn’t have Gatorade back then….Bobby had to drink from the water hose if he was a bit parched. Bobby stayed so cool under pressure that he wouldn’t sweat… But water condensed on him. Baseball Reference says that Bobby Witt played for 7 other teams than the Rangers…but that sounds like a conspiracy to spread his talent around to me.