Obviously, notable things have happened since November:
- We wished Marcum well on his way to the Brew Crew,
- Everyone's favourite Garfoose became a Ray,
- We signed Bautista for the next few years, and
- We bid fareWells to the longest tenured Jay.
I'll admit I was a little surprised with the Marcum deal, but not the saddest to see him go. I did enjoy his pitching skills and I think he was a really good testament to not having to overpower hitters, but there was always something that didn't seem to quite fit for me, something that rubbed me the wrong way about his attitude towards the atmosphere after Doc left. I don't know. But still, I wish him well and am excited to have a high ranking prospect in the Jays system who's (possibly) being groomed for 3rd and, oh yeah, is CANADIAN!
Dirk Hayhurst will always be a favourite for me. The window he offers into the world of baseball is an incredible peek for those of us on the outside. Plus, I just happen to think he's a damn good writer. If you don't already, make a point to read his blog. Good luck with the Rays Mr. Hayhurst. Hope to see you in Toronto again someday.
As for the Bautista deal, it's been oddly comical to me hearing and reading comments about how he's being overpaid. I do get the argument because it's true he's only had one massive year and that most of the totals he produced last year blow any previous combined totals out of the water. It's a gamble, but pretty much any contract offered and signed nowadays in baseball (and most professional sports) is. You're basing a contract on past performance with no guarantee for that same perfomance to occur again. Sure, you can look at the historical data, the work ethic of the player in question, service time, and whatever else you want to use to create a deal. But in the end, it's a crapshoot.
Personally, I don't have a problem with the deal. When the amounts and terms were just rumors, I was fondly reminiscing about when King Carlos signed his (then) massive contract of $68M over 4 years in 2000 and how much people thought he was being overpaid. At the time it made him the highest paid player. Wow how contracts have changed in a decade...
If feels like AA is trying to build a team where they look at the player as a whole person, not just a number. I like that. I think it's important to get players that fans can invest in and get to know, and part of that is signing guys that are more that just number producers. It's part of the reason I loved the Winter Tour 2011. Watching the video footage, it was awesome to see fans (mostly young kids) across Canada coming out and getting to interact with the players they see on TV. It makes it more personal when you watch them play in a game. It makes the Jays and baseball more personal. And baseball being more personal with the youth of Canada is awesome in my book.
The actual mechanics of the Wells deal are still...surprising to me and AA deserves another round of applause for his creative style towards trades and team building. I am sad to see VDub go. Not in the same way as Doc last year, but it is hard to fathom that in the past two off-seasons we have lost 2 of the longest tenured Blue Jays. I wish Vernon all the best, I really do. I think a lot of times fans didn't always get him or appreciate his consistency away from the plate. He made covering CF at the Dome look easy. Frighteningly easy sometimes. I've written before about how I feel about Wells. I honestly think fans won't realise the place he held in this organization until the season is underway. That's not to say the Jays won't go on without him, but he was so much more than just our CFer or cleanup guy. And for that, he will always be one of top 3 favourite people who just happen to play baseball. I'll stand and cheer (or watch and cheer) when he comes back to TO and I hope Jays fans will join me.
Pitching is an interesting area this spring so far. Lots of competition goin' on in the bullpen and a little for the back end of the starting rotation. I hope RickyRo gets the season opener start. If you haven't checked ou his Nike commercial yet, get your butt to youtube. Same goes for the segment ESPN did with Ricky during an off-season workout. The link is on Ricky's twitter (@RickyRo24) or his official Facebook page.
I hope everyone is as excited for Grapefruit League games as I am and for the regular season. I'll be posting a little more often now, and I'm still going to posting about baseball books I've been reading this off-season. Former Commissioner Giamatti's collection of essay and The Mental ABC's of Pitching will be up in the next couple of days I promise. Also going to finish working on the third (and last) installment of the Portrait of a Fan (As A Young Woman) series I started posting last year. It's taken me a while to get it right.
Stay warm in these pre-baseball season days friends.
JaysGirl5
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