Thursday, December 11, 2008

Zen Dayley: Another Ricciardi reclamation proect

Forbearance is the watchword when it comes to posting anything on baseball these days -- if you're not MLB Trade Rumours, you should shut up and just pout on the sidelines.

There is some action. WEEI in Boston (via the omnipresent MLBTR) reported that the Blue Jays have added right-handed pitcher Matt Clement, who actually did pitch in the all-star game in 2005 before his shoulder blew up the following season.

OK, so it's not the Mets getting Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz for their bullpen. It's not the Yankees signing CC Sabathia, possibly A.J. Burnett and maybe trading for Mike Cameron if they can get the Milwaukee Brewers to pay part of the veteran centrefielder's salary. Seriously, the Yankees could end up committing $250 million US to a pair of pitchers, and they want a small-market team to pick up part of the tab for Mike Cameron. This is why the U.S. needs a federal Department of Sport.

It's also not the Tigers getting fleeced out of a good young outfielder, Matt Joyce, by the Rays, who gave up an innings-eater, Edwin Jackson. FanGraphs absolutely destroyed that trade.

Anyway, the Jays did make a move and it's low-risk; the worst that happens is he can't pitch. Matt Clement is 34 years old, and two of his comparables are Erik Hanson and Juan Guzman, two ex-Jays who each threw their final pitch at age 33. Just saying.

Damn, the Jays
  • This has just a rough week for awards in Canada. Sun Media's baseball scribe and fellow Kingstonian Bob Elliott was runner-up for the writers' wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. It's subjective with writing and the inductee, Nick Peters, covered baseball for 47 years, so it's a little hard to argue with his selection.

    No one, but no one knows baseball at all levels in Canada like Bob Elliott, who's expanded his range to the web with his canadianbaseballnetwork.com. He will get this sooner rather than later.
  • OK, it's not about the Jays or baseball, but Hockey Night in Canada commentator Marc Crawford played at the Forum for the first time on the night of Blue Monday. As if playing for the Vancouver Canucks -- who lost 10-4 that night -- wasn't painful enough.
Related:
Leaving Las Vegas, But Not Empty-Handed (Miked Up)

1 comment:

Rob Pettapiece said...

Terrible trade for the Tigers. Edwin isn't even an innings-eater (unless eating less than six innings per start makes him full). If not for last year, he'd barely average five.

Whatever improvement he made from '07 to '08 was actually an improvement by T-Bay's D. And now he's going to a team not exactly known for its defensive ability.