Bit of a distracting day around here, job-wise, so I’m thinking there’s a chance I’ll miss posting a Game Threat unless I do so right now. So… that’s what this is. Hopefully I hear what’s going on in time to comfortably resume working and get a real one up before first pitch. If you’re seeing this, I guess we’re still in limbo. Or maybe just still at the bar.
Enjoy the game and the return of Jose Bautista!
This will be the first game I’ve watched since the ASB. Go Joey Bats.
Ha! When it got to be this late with no Game Threat I figured you guys were probably drinking away your sorrows at the prospect of being… shudder… Rogers employees.
Can’t wait to hear what this means for DJF and GB. I hope it’s good news.
Cheers!
Hey only one player in the lineup w/ a sub-.200 AVG tonight! Things are looking up?
Funny how much less crappy this whole lineup looks with just the iunsertion of Bautista.
I’m sure you aren’t about to become Mike Wilner, but its a little troubling that Rogers will now own pretty much all of the independent media in Toronto. What’s the point of living in a ‘socialist’ country if the fucking government won’t regulate any goddamn telecommunications. This kind of market consolidation would never be allowed in the US, as well as a ton of other countries.
Its not even about baseball anymore – its just starting to feel a little 1985-ish that everyone in media works for the same organization now. Next Rogers should go out and buy up some newspapers; god knows they’re cheap as shit nowadays.
But bringing it back to baseball, since TSN spitefully refuses to cover the Blue Jays almost at all it seems like we’re about to be in a pretty unprecedented situation; almost everyone interviewing the players will technically be their coworkers.
I don’t doubt that you guys will manage to maintain your originality (though I’d be fucking surprised if we could fucking swear around here before too long), but its a troubling development to say the least.
I think the whole “independent press” thing (that in a free and open society, we cannot allow consolidation of the press by a single entity) doesn’t really apply to sports specelity channels.
I don’t think anyones fundamental civil rights are threatned if we can’t get unobjective coverage of the Blue Jays.
Well… as had been said…
Rogers hasn’t muzzled Zaun, Hayhurst, McCown or Brady … who are often ridiculously over negative. So – I doubt the coverage will change much.
As much as I value my freedom and free speech, I’d like to offer a bit back if someone would just muzzle Wilner…..would that be ok?
We don’t have it here, I get tossed more often than in a game
Stop listening Carl. My only input concerning all things Wilner is repeated posts on DJF. Stop listening, and you get your free speech and eat it too. (in so many words.)
As long \s no one urges a boycott, I doubt there’ll be any muzzling.
“ridiculously over negative”
Some good word writing, there
The takeover should be kiboshed for exactly that reason but it won’t. Rogers (and most telecommunication companies) work hard for the government protections that enable them to thrive.
Don’t like it? Call your MP today.
Repeating above comment from RobA: “I don’t think anyones fundamental civil rights are threatned if we can’t get unobjective coverage of the Blue Jays.”
I’m inclined to wait and see what happens to the Score’s various brands… will be an interesting few months, that’s for sure.
The real sad thing is that probably a lot of good people will lose their jobs so Rogers can make back their investment quicker.
Beckett, Punto and Loney scratched from their games tonight.
Looks like this ridiculous trade is happening
Boston really thinks freeing up payroll is going to build a new team. . . . Cubs have as much money as them and Theo now, Boston farm system not stacked, they arrogantly think top free agents will just want to play there because of the history – good luck with that – this is more like the Red Sox of old, FUBAR
Hopefully they get used to it–BOHICA.
Cubs don’t have the core the that Boston has either. Might take the Cubs another year or two before they start spending.
If they’re lucky, the Cubs are about 2-3 years behind the Jays.
Yikes, job uncertainty sucks. I’ve been a DJF reader for 3-4 years, I”ve learned a bunch from the blog, I look forward to new posts and really appreciate the work you, Parkes & Drew have put in at the Score and the years leading up to then. Hoping it all works out for the best for all of you.
Me too. If it happens DJF readers should email sportsnet to make sure this keeps going.
hate to bring it up again, but rasmus is not a good center fielder.
By the look of that little run he made, I dont think he’s 100%, and pulled groins are notorious for slow healing.
well in that case, farrell, aa, and/or the training staff are idiots for putting rasmus in center and leaving gose on the bench. his misplay of the hardy’s flyball may not have cost us a run directly, but it did bump villanueva’s pitch count to about 30 in an inning.
By UZR/150, Rasmus is the 4th best CF in the league this year. What makes you say he’s not good?
Don’t let facts get in the way of a good trolling
His “eye test”. He doesn’t trust defensive metrics.
Oh yeah, and get off his lawn!
my eyes and my mistrust of the utility of fielding stats.
Do you understand fielding stats at all? Granted they’re not perfect by any means as they can be skewed by shifted defenses and the like. However that doesn’t tend to apply to CF’s because they don’t tend to shift the way say… Lawrie and Escobar do.
I saw you say that when defensive metrics account for plays like Austin Jackson’s you’ll trust them. Well they already do.
So shut the fuck up about Colby’s fielding already. You’re just flogging a problem that doesn’t even exist. You look like an idiot.
thanks for your civil tone…you’ve revealed much about your character. re. my comment on jackson’s catch, my point was that fielding stats do not account for the value of the catch…i.e. it is not graded for difficulty and is not accounting for the number of bases saved.
Norm, you must realize that the rest of us possess eyes as well, and that when someone supports Cletus with these new-fangled fielding stats, we are also saying that they support our ‘eye test.’ You offer nothing but your eyes.
@norm depalma
Oh I’m sorry for saying the F-word! Did I offend your delicate sensibilities? I didn’t realize a civil tone was a prerequisite for posting around here. In fact I’d suggest a thick skin is far more valuable around these parts. I’d say your idiotic adherence to a flawed opinion despite reams of evidence refuting it says a lot about your character too, but I’d rather attack your logic and intelligence (or lack thereof) than your character.
Fielding stats DO account for both of those things. That’s exactly what I just told you. You either didn’t read or don’t want to. They may not do it perfectly, but it’s all taken into account with various metrics, which all think quite highly of Rasmus.
Faining empathy…Dillon Duchbaggery at its worst
@birddawg
Yup totally feigned. I have a very low idiocy threshold. I can tolerate differences of opinion when there’s room for ambiguity. However norm likes to go around making baseless statements that fly in the face of all available evidence and behaving as if his own “eye test” and desire to find problems that don’t exist hold more weight than countless hours of hard work by people far smarter than either of us.
If that’s douchebaggery then I guess I’m just a douchebag. I’m trying to get my fill in before Rogers takes all the fun out of this place
and you’re not a good analyst
couple obvious points re. fielding stats and rasmus:
1) jays pitchers have one of the lowest strike out numbers in the league
2) rasmus centers an outfield surrounded by 2 fielders with poor range.
hence, he catches a lot of balls. i don’t have the time to do an in depth analysis, but since this interests some of the posters here, why doesn’t one of them do some research.
sorry for ‘trolling’.
Stop apologizing for trolling when you obviously revel in it.
If he’s picking up the slack for bad pitchers and fielders with poor range (which isn’t even true because Rajai has loads of it, he just can’t catch) then it just makes him a better fielder, not a worse one… Good logic…
You obviously have lots of time to shit on Colby at every opportunity, so I think you meant to say “I don’t know how to do an in depth analysis”.
Here you go:
According to FanGraphs he’s 4th in UZR and UZR/150 and 3rd in DRS. And since I know you have no idea what that means here:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/the-fangraphs-uzr-primer/
http://www.fangraphs.com/library/index.php/defense/drs/
Do your own research if you’re going to be so fucking smug about it.
@norm depalma
Apparently my initial comment is awaiting moderation because I included a couple of links to educate you on fielding metrics, but I’ll post it without them in case it doesn’t get through. If that’s the case go check out the glossary on FanGraphs to find out what all the scary acronyms mean.
Original post sans links:
If he’s picking up the slack for bad pitchers and fielders with poor range (which isn’t even true because Rajai has loads of it, he just can’t catch) then it just makes him a better fielder, not a worse one… Good logic…
You obviously have lots of time to shit on Colby at every opportunity, so I think you meant to say “I don’t know how to do an in depth analysis”.
Here you go:
According to FanGraphs he’s 4th in UZR and UZR/150 and 3rd in DRS. And since I know you have no idea what that means here:
Do your own research if you’re going to be so fucking smug about it.
Norm, based on the defensive stats, and your eyes, I think it’s fairly evident that Rasmus is not 100% yet; and would have caught that ball if healthy.
And I’m not entirely opposed to you calling the training staff idiots for playing a less than 100% Rasmus over a healthy Gose.
Joey is back, and Morrow tormorow, a lost season and hope for 2013
The sun’ll come out to-morrow
So you got to hang on till to-morrow, came what may!
To-morrow, to-morrow, I love you, to-morrow
You’re always a day away
I think you should stop calling this section “Game Threat”. There is no threat except from the visiting team….
Edwin is pretty good.
Sweet. Fleet of feet EE.
so sick of people calling it “academic”
Baltimore looking like Baltimore — defensively, anyway.
You heard it here first. Rogers will fire Buck and Pat. Your new Jays commentators – Stoeten and Parkes!
Oh god, what could be worse than parkes?
LOL!.
They would need a seven second delay.
Seriously, I hope it does work out well for everyone at the score..
I think Rogers would tolerate a hipster baseball blog as long as there were no personal attacks on otherRogers employees.
…so in other words, you’re saying that this blog will be vapourized?
I am getting used to EE and bautista providing all of the offence.
Also, I really hope they don’t trot Rajai out to LF everyday with Gose and eventually Sierra on the bench
Man, I think I view EE as our top hitter now.
Not as much power, but unlike Bats, he doesn’t slump at all. He’s just alternated between goood, great, and elite all year.
That scrunched up-looking face that McCoy always makes is really starting to get on my nerves. He looks like a 5 year-old girl when he makes it.
Feel like we’re gonna sweep
See, its already happening…not one that’s that or F’Bomb in the whole preamble.
All bullshit aside Stoeten, I hope nothing changes as you guys do damn fine work in my opinion.
Be a good time for a first homerun here.
Hech due for a big big-league hit….
Buck definitely sounds like he has sand in his vagina this game. real pissy comments he’s making
Holy fuck how did the Dodgers go from NL West fodder to Yankees west in less than a season?
*magic* (johnson)
“magic” (money)
Just getting back to where they used to be with new ownership. Hell you young bucks don’t remember the classics between the Dodgers and Yanks but I kind of miss them.
Our pitcher has an ERA half of the other team’s pitcher.
I don’t know the last time I’ve been able to say that.
This anomely may be corrected following the game
Birddawg, your spelling is as wanting as your confidence.
lol and then some!
CV is “out-bearding” Joey Bats by a country mile in this game…JB’s beard must be coming back from the DL as well.
Seems like those two can grow a beard in a day.
Kinda like that guy in the KFC commercial!
Allan Webster is probably the best piece the Sux get back, Rubby De La Rosa has pitched 290 innings total over 5 years of professional baseball, has only pitched 100 innings twice (110 is his highest at A and AA in 2010). Loney, jerry Sands
Carl Crawford is laughing – got paid and now a Dodger with Kemp and Ethier in the outfield sometime in 2013
Beauty Denny Beautyyyy!
I’m all for tanking.
But just beat the Oriloles. Finally end their season.
Total agreement there. We have to win the Orioles games. Rest idc too much about.
gotta love Boston media – who wouldn’t want to play in a town with these spin doctors:
re Gonzalez per Alex Speier, WEEI
The performance decline has been accompanied by questions about his fit and makeup for Boston, with one major league source recently stating, upon hearing that the Dodgers had claimed him on waivers, “He’s not a winning player … [The Red Sox] should dump him.”
Not enough moisture…
that ball was hanging up the zone sumfin fierce
Serious question: How many of you are closet Orioles fans just for this series?
Not for this series, but I will be if they end up facing the Yankees in the playoffs.
I hate the Orioles, but I also hate not getting a good draft position when the season is lost.
So you’re one of those reveling in “we’re #8?”
Potentially #6!
Myself, I change like the weather. Prospect porn has lost some of it’s allure, however.
Another homerun by Davis.
How come he just didn’t fuckin tag him
Davis is the LF player of the day
Not watching so I hope I’m right
YES! YES! YES! YES! YRES! YES! YES!
Why all the hate for the Orioles? I get that we (The Jays) should be in that position but they are like Detroit…..Crime ridden dirty little cities that have nothing to live for but their sports teams and some damn fine crime ridden TV shows.
Fuck the red sox, at least they will sign coke addicted Josh hamilton
Its only alcohol and hookers, the damn hookers brink the blow. Grow up.
Sorry Brink meant bring
Cooper hasn’t played since the “why didn’t he just tag him” incident.
Farrell is wrathful, I see.
Work-related insecurity is the worst, and having to deal with it on a Friday in August is just cruel.
It’s not just that you guys consistently find the sweet spot between insightful and entertaining commentary on the Jays and baseball generally, it’s that you’ve done a bunch of interesting and novel things to foster a fan community: book clubs, movie nights, things like that. The Score seems to have been pretty forward-thinking to let you do that, and I hope that whatever the future holds, they still give you that opportunity. But if you end up human collateral damage in a cash-for-stock transaction, I hope that the effort you’ve put into developing a distinctive voice and a a committed audience lets you keep up this work up in some form, in another place.
If Rogers buys the Score, they’d be nuts not to incorporate these guys into their currently garbage web content.
Ugh… have you ever read the comments over there? Even worse than the content. Imagine if these guys hosted Jays Talk… Oh the scorn they would heap!
They have all been given notice and this site is now called Drunken Bass Fishin’ or DBF…….Lucky for us that still incorporates a few familiar names from the Jays family…..Including of course your hosts Gregg Zaun and Stoeten, plus a little puppet we call Nextime.
Ow! My back!
He’s not playing because he jammed his chin.
@norm depalma
I’ll throw you a bone. Colby’s arm sucks haha
Oops wrong spot. Supposed to be a new comment.
I am SO sick of off-line throws from the outfield.
Wow, great throw by the 4th best outfielder in baseball.
The debate was over his ability to field batted balls. Even I won’t dispute that he has a limp noodle for an arm.
Chris Davis eh…allll fucking year. Fuck the Orioles.
Can the Jays salvage something/re-kindle the passion and just bean him in the ass in his next at bat?
As long as his head is up his ass, then, maybe?
…and the moment of truth…passes the Jays by (yes, at this point of the game/season, I would have rather hit him on 0-2 than strike him out).
is there a Chris Davis-type in the 2013 draft??
I’m still watching this. High five!
Who the hell is Chris Davis?
I fondly remember when I didn’t give a fuck.
Shit it’s like everyone in the league gets a turn to have an amazing year. Except us.
Oh yeah. And the Royals.
I can’t see Rogers taking an axe to the blogs. There’s no percentage in it. So I have faith that you’ll still have a job, Stoeten.
As quaint as this might sound…Stoeten should actually keep his job on merit. Not that Rogers actually gives a shit about the quality of the product that they own.
@pudge72 you would think that DJF captures a demographic that Sportsnet would like. Hopefully anyway.
You would like to think that they think they would like that (hopefully)!
Oh come on Farrell, give us something interesting to watch.
Double steal! Double steal!
You know, Hech actually has a decent looking swing.
I said the same last night.
Results dont match so far.
Im not very good at baseball
ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!!!!
It’s the Night of the Living Davises!!
Good work Davis!
I guess that pathetic AB by Cletus was the result of Larusa’s fault
Everything bad in baseball is Larussa’s fault.
Id be a big fan of awesome Colby making a return.
Hes lokked baaaaad since hes come back from his groin issue.
Just a thought, but AA may want to be a little proactive with the Dbags if he wants Justin Upton – could see the Red Sox try for him – maybe Iglesias and Ellsbury (Boras client who has some roots in Arizona and trained there last year when he was on the DL)
Thought i read he was claimed today.
Im sure he’ll get pulled back, tho.
Would have been nice if the Jays could have got Gonzalez on his own. His contract while a big one is certainly more manageable than Fielders and even though he’s 2 years younger he’s probably got a chance to age better. His left handed bat would have looked sweet between Jose and EE next year. Anyway I still like the deal for the Dodgers in the near and short-term.
Agreed. He’s a better investment than Ortiz over the next 5 years plus the Jays would have a backup bat if Edwin or Bautista got hurt
Who thinks Big Papi is looking for 5 years? Everything I’ve read suggests 2. And while I seem to remember Gonzalez patrolling RF against NL teams to keep his bat in the lineup, backing up Bautista is a bit of a stretch.
I think he was speaking in terms of his bat adding depth to the lineup.
I see Gonzalez at 1B, Edwin as DH & Jose in RF.
I like Ortiz but I would rather have Adrian Gonzalez.
The AL East is really mixed up now.
If Colby wants to stay in Toronto he better ramp it up a bit.
I don’t give a shit how great the D is but a championship club cannot afford a CF who hits .225, who does not steal bases and has a OPS of <300. He's not dumb but how can u just stand there and take 3 fuckin pitches-I can see that in sandlot ball nor here for fuksakes
Relax, he’s probably still injured. He’s looked great since May, until the injury. I’m sure he’ll be back to his awesome HR-hitting self once he’s recovered.
He looked great until the injury to Bautista. I would look great batting in front of him.
Say man, did you lose a little weight? Too bad you still can’t hit for shit though.
Cough, Kelly Johnson, cough.
Wake up KJ!
some insight into what the Jays may be facing in the 2013 Red Sox
http://www.overthemonster.com/2012/8/23/3261955/prospect-q-a-with-baseball-prospectuss-kevin-goldstein
Who are the fucknuts chanting “USA, USA” at the game?… #DOF’s
People who don’t realize that the player at bat is Dominican and that their own country’s general history of supreme assholeness to almost all Caribbean countries could render such a chant mildly threatening.
/but seriously, who invades Grenada? Grenada??
Only a president of a country who was an actor earlier in life…ol’ “Jellybeans” Reagan.
Alberta does bitch!
Is it the losing streak getting to me, or are Buck and Tabbie getting worse with each broadcast.
Blanket Statements, Inside Jokes, ‘Rewind and Play’ Cliches, Hard-ons for dated stats (RBI/AVG)…
It feels the broadcasting equivalent of Colby at the dish over the last 2 weeks.
UGHHHHHH!!!!
those veterans sure know how to win! the veteran intangible outweighs all else, they just KNOW what to do!
You know what’s ridiculous about that Stride gum commercial, besides everything…the “cash” raining down has been designed by 1st graders.
I see we got our usual 2 runs-Even with JB back ( he looks rusty) this is a pathetic little AA team. I used to pitch A ball ( YEARS AGO) and if I had a team with paththetic hitters like this to face I might have made it to AA. Imagine getting to face 4 guys in A row hitting .217 or less and then the lead off guy who swings at anything.
OOO scary bench-maybe they send up Gose and his .187 avg to scare me
Mathis mashes yet again.
Wow, great insight there on Mathis’ homerun, Pat! Sometimes ‘silence is golden’.
Oh, neat. I forgot McCoy was on base.
Fucking Mathis. Now Zaun will be insufferable. “Best catcher in the system!”
Just got home, on reading box score, I say fuck Chris Davis.
ok, will Farrell now PLEASE bench Rasmus before he needs surgery on his groin?
Apparently John and Colby claim it’s not affecting his performance.
Right.
Not affecting his perforomance?? R those fuckers watchinhg ths same Rasmus I am or some guy in a fucking parallel universe-he’s fuckin awful and his groin MUST have SOMETHING to do with it
LF options 2013 (blue skying here):
Is David Murphy gettable from the Rangers – last yr arb eligible so big raise coming, FA after nxt yr (if Rangers sign Josh Hamilton and Napoli and with Leonys Martin waiting plus trying to find spots for Olt, Moreland) or do they want to flip Nelson Cruz for something
Will Venable from SD is much better away from Petco and good numbers vs. RHP (so maybe as platoon) – arb eligible for a team that is not contending next year – so why bother spending money on him – they already have Quentin and Maybin)
or Shin Soo Choo – go balls out for this guy and try and sign a Scott Boras guy to a big deal
I endorse all three of these suggestions. David Murphy is definitely getable, though he’s the worst of the three players.
tried to look for LH bats there too since Jays seem right-heavy with JB, EE, JPA or TDA, Bretzky, Esco or Hech and Davis
Where’s holden McGroin? he should have something to say?
Have you ever noticed that Fairservice, also known as wannabe….. has came to grips with the latest Rogers firings?
The fuck does this even mean?
As your new boss, it means quite a bit.
Congratulations to ‘Tom W’…newest member of the DRUNK Jays Fans HOF!
I am waiting in anticipation for Morrows start. Move over staff ace Aaron Laffey.