- The big GM firing in Seattle might hasten the end of Erik Bedard's turn with the Mariners.
By the way, I'd expect to see the team at least begin to shop Erik Bedard around starting right now. You don't have to deal him right away, but I don't see how he possibly fits into any long term plan. A contract extension would appear out of the question. He isn't exactly rushing to get one done. And the team, figuring out it's got a six-inning, 100-pitch "ace'' on its hands probably isn't in a rush to hand him the keys to the vault.
Travis Snider's numbers down in Double-A bring a little sunshine into the darkness of a Jays June swoon.
Since May 1, the 20-year-old bright hope is hitting .314/.392/.545 for the Double-A team in New Hampshire (by guesstimate, this in about 180 times at a bat). His .937 OPS over six weeks is almost something you can draw hope from. Snider is just 20 years old, he had elbow surgery in the winter and he's playing in the pitcher-friendly Eastern League. No one's had an OPS above .937 in the Eastern League over a full season in each of the past two years.- It's not just the battersbox.ca crowd who's noticed -- useful people have picked up on the fact another Fisher Cat, lefty-hitting second baseman Scott Campbell, has a .453 on-base percentage.
- This ESPN.com article from late last week about the top prospects in Latin America reaffirms how Rogers Communications is small-town cheap about the Jays' player development. Teams are starting to shell out the huge bonuses that used to only go to can't-miss Americans on teens from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. It's cheap at twice the price to give $2.5 million to a 17-year-old if the club might end up having Miguel Cabrera or Johan Santana for the first six years of his career. Rogers, though, would never go for that, although the article says they might have a deal in six-figure range with a shortstop.
- Professional hitter non grata Jay Gibbons has surfaced in the 'outlaw' Atlantic League.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Zen Dayley: Bedard might not be long for Seattle
Worst. Headline. Ever.
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2 comments:
RE: the amazing Sniderman:
April: .125/.282/.125 in 32 AB
May: .282/.369/.545 in 110 AB
June: .391/.451/.543 in 46 AB
All told, not even a third of a season. But yeah. I'd answer the phone if he called.
And be nice to the battersbox.ca crowd...
Wow, take the first few paragraphs of that Geoff Baker piece you linked to and change a few bits (bolded)...
So much for all my hypothesizing this morning. The Blue Jays just fired GM J.P. Ricciardi. Alex Anthopolous takes over as interim GM. A news conference scheduled for 2 p.m. at Rogers Centre. Guess it really was just a matter of getting the draft done with and moving on from there.
"Change is in order,'' CEO Paul Godfrey said in a written statement. "We have determined new leadership is needed in the GM position. With a new leader will come a new plan and a new approach. A search will begin immediately for a permanent GM, and Alex will be a candidate for the position.''
Now, what does this mean for the future? I'd say we're more likely to see an overall house-cleaning of this team over the next few months than simply a "two or three bats" addition. Ricciardi was the one who brought in pitcher A.J. Burnett with an eye towards contending in 2007 or 2008. Had the team's ownership and management ranks believed that contending in 2008 was possible, it might have held on to Ricciardi one more year. The only other way there is no housecleaning is if someone who specializes in putting a team over the top, like a Pat Gillick, were to come on instead. Remember, Gillick is now in what could be his final season with the Philadelphia Phillies.
But the more likely scenario is, you bring in a new GM who gets his own 3-to-5-year plan to make things work. After all, Godfrey describes "a new plan and a new approach" that would seem to negate the current plan. Those of you who wanted to blow the whole thing up will likely get their wish.
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