The Changeup: Baseball Junk for September 10th, 2018
A Messy Weekend vs. CLE, Gibby Remains the Best
That series with Cleveland was a messy affair. 10, 000 pitching changes. The Jays hit 18 hits on Saturday and lost the game, prompting this bit of gold from Gibby:
Grichuk left actual blood on the field when he had a freak accident when his face hits a stool near the stands. Which led to this:
Shapiro Speaks
Mark Shapiro, feeling the heat of not calling up Vlad Jr. and with rumours of being wooed by the Mets, sat down with Toronto writers to share some thoughts. One little nugget included this, as reported by The Toronto Sun :
That is utter nonsense. As has been pointed out by many others, this idea that the development of this star prospect is best left to those not on the MLB staff is silly. In theory, those on the MLB staff are the best in the organization. Or, at least, they should be. Furthermore, the only way to get MLB experience is to actually play in the MLB. I don’t see the problem with Vlad Jr. getting his feet wet in a bunch of nothing games, especially when the previous star occupier of 3B has moved on and the Jays are playing their 35 year old catcher at third.
It’s just so silly and contradicts so much of what’s said other places. For instance, Gibby had lots to say after Sean Reid-Foley’s last start about learning from start to start, and that he will adapt and learn as he gets more experience facing big league hitters.
That’s true of all of them. It’s true of humans, in general.
We experience, we learn, we adapt.
(P.S. Maybe next April? MAYBE?!?!?!)
Let's Get Rowdy
Rowdy Tellez has had one hell of a first week. I was at games Friday and Saturday and there was a real buzz from the crowd when Tellez is announced. It’s an energy that’s been missing from much of this season and it’s nice to know that it can still be summoned.
Alternate angle:
Wahoo Stays Home
With Cleveland rolling into town late last week, news came that the team was going to remove Chief Wahoo from their uniform sleeves for the Toronto series.
Mark Shapiro mentioned Wahoo in his meeting with the Toronto writers on Friday:
Ooof @ replies.
More Donaldson Fallout
The Donaldson trade remains a hot topic in baseball circles. Ken Rosenthal wrote that rival teams are wondering just how this was allowed to go down.
Several of the AL teams with current playoff implications (Yankees, Red Sox, Astros) had questions about the timing of the deal and how Donaldson was dealt when he still wasn’t healthy enough to be off the DL for any sustained time.
The Jays got Donaldson to agree he was healthy enough to be put through waivers, he eventually did, he passed through waivers, was traded to Cleveland and was immediately put back on the DL by the CLE medical staff.
While it is sort of hilarious to see other teams complain about this as though they themselves haven’t pulled this kind of nonsense. I will also say it doesn’t make the Blue Jays look particularly good either. The image of them trying to convince Donaldson to say he’s healthy enough to play when he is saying his legs hurt sounds awful.
I’m also going to go ahead and assume that all of this is true because Ken Rosenthal is truly baseball’s ultimate insider. People are just willing to spill all their secrets to him.
It’s probably the bow ties.
Dolan and Doolittle
Eireann Dolan and Sean Doolittle rival Gabrielle Union and Dwayne Wade as my favourite sports couple. They are definitely my favourite baseball couple.
The two are interviewed for Expanded Roster, a new baseball related website.
Expanded Roster is an online publication dedicated to unique, forward-thinking content. Expanded Roster is both deeply irreverent and deeply passionate about baseball. We have a more modern, offbeat vision for what a sports website can be. We’re building an online space for honest discussion without the vicious toxicity. We also have very strong feelings on high socks.