Notes from an Offseason (So far)

Life sped up on me through the end of the regular season and this space is neglected. The first real snow fall is outside, meaning now is as good a time as any to write about baseball.

The last game of the regular season was bittersweet- Casey Janssen, who has been a Jay longer than I've had this blog, tipped his hat to the Toronto crowd for likely the last time. It's like he's growing up.

I thought it was totally cheap that they didn't put Colby Rasmus in the field or to pinch hit in the final game, also likely his last as a Jay. Rasmus is a special little snowflake, had a down year after a career year in 2013 and might've been on the shit list for one infraction or another.  But every time I went to the Rogers Centre over the past few seasons, I've always seen a tonne of Rasmus jerseys. I just think people liked him- for being a basset hound of a human being with flashes of brilliance.

Look at him take a selfie:


And also this....



He's one of a kind. And I hope he finds happiness. 



I watched the post season intently, though it was completely ignored here. The two Wild Card games were the best advertisement for the second Wild Card imaginable. The Oakland/Kansas City game was a nail biter that began to feel a little like a hostage situation (but with more bunting.) And the Pittsburgh/San Francisco game was so one sided, it was sort of boring, despite (or maybe because) of the extreme dominance of Madison Bumgarner. That performance was just a hint of what was to come, a show of dominance on the competition that was the stuff of legends. I was cheering for Kansas City in the World Series, but no one had an answer for Mad Bum. And the even year magic for the San Francisco Giants continues. I also really enjoyed the fact that the truck awarded to the WS MVP was subject to a recall. It's the little things. 



Adam Lind, the other Blue Jay from the first age of Gibbons, was traded to Milwaukee. I like that dude- I liked that he was so chill, I liked that he married a girl from Scarborough, I liked his beard and I liked how he ran like an energetic 10 year old.  We'll always have 2009, Adam.

Anthony Gose was traded to Detroit. I believe I tweeted "Damn it" often when he was at the plate. He seems like a nice kid though, and should have a good time in Detroit's massive outfield. Jays got 2nd base prospect type Devon Travis. I've read a bit on the kid, and I don't really know what to think about him. As Stoeten puts it,

 "The Jays, apparently, just dealt for a below-average/average/above-average defensive second baseman who will win batting titles/hit like Altuve/be a .280 hitter with 10-12 HR power/be unable to adjust to big league pitching with his unorthodox swing mechanics."



I'd also like to pour one out for Drunk Jays Fans at the Score. I don't know what's going on over there, other than they seem to be dumping some content creators. I first found Drunk Jays Fans through Google. Parkes had written a piece linking to my piece about not booing Josh Towers and saying that I should date Bergkamp, who also had non-hostile feelings towards Josh Towers. And I had the odd sensation that strangers read my writing and I thought "Who are these assholes?" 

They were the other big dog besides the Tao of Stieb in the nascent Blue Jays blogging scene that was developing. If this scene was the Rat Pack, as the Tao of Stieb put it, I'd be the Angie Dickinson. We were blogspots. It was before Twitter. It was crazy. 

Stoeten is now writing at andrewstoeten.com. It isn't, as I first thought, stoeten.com.  I was a little confused and thought for a moment he was writing in Dutch about boats, that he was really branching out. But, no. Still baseball. Still English. 

Now maybe Stoeten will follow me on Twitter again. 

What else is happening? Let me think. Oh, wait. 



I had this feeling earlier in October that I wanted some sort of Canadian/Dominican co-production making up the Blue Jays (American pitchers are fine.) I have this dream that Missisauga native Dalton Pompey is actually ready for the big leagues and blossoms here. And thought, off hand, "Martin would be nice, rounded out with a healthy Lawrie." 

I understand the naysayers about this deal (there are always naysayers about any big deal.) Martin will be 36 when the deal is done. Catchers don't always age well. But he handles pitchers like a dream and frames the hell out of a pitch.  His middle name is Coltrane. I've got stars in my eyes.

I'm excited. So is Brett Lawrie. Listen to him talk a mile a minute about it. 


He's very pro Canada, very pro Pompey and very pro Martin. "Let's rock!" Seriously, Lawrie packs a million words in a sentence. I imagine him speeding down the highway, screaming into an ear piece.

Here's AJ Burnett stealing a throw down to second from Martin. 



Also, 

Miller did say he wanted to stay in the AL East.

And then!

2014 offseason > 2013 offseason.