Mind. Blown.



So, I feel weird. Shocked.

It appears instead of wrestling people over deals at the mall and finding an excellent price on big screen TVs, Billy Beane was shopping bodies.

The Blue Jays traded Brett Lawrie (and other bodies, including Sean Nolin) to Oakland for Josh Donaldson.

So much for a Canadian/Dominican co-production.

I like Lawrie a lot. He makes insane plays, his energy is something and he was charming when I met him. Thinking about him talking enthusiastically about having Martin and Pompey join him on "Canada's Team" a few weeks ago seems quaint now. I have trouble looking for pictures of the boy to include. I heard hilarious pep talk stories he gave teenagers at Baseball Canada events. Not the type of pep talks you might expect.

Oakland is talented team and Lawrie might thrive there. The stadium is a dump but San Francisco is a nice place to live. He can hang out with people at Google.

There was a little ballyhoo about Lawrie playing some 2nd and how he might not have liked it all that much. My thought was he's a great athlete, he used to play that position and he also doesn't really get to make that call. Lawrie backed away from statements and said he'd play wherever for the team.

There might be more concern about Lawrie's obliques than the Jays said publicly. And sure enough, right after I write that sentence, this appears:

Sometimes you just make assumptions about your team. You get used to the idea of having certain guys in certain spots and you just assume certain Canadian fireballs are going to stay. But it's a business and AA is looking to win. Now. His job depends on it. He has to pay off that Honda. 

As for the new guy, per Stoeten:

7.7 and 6.4. 
Those are Donaldson’s WAR totals in each of the last two years, according to the FanGraphs version of the metric. He was first and second (by 0.2) among MLB third basemen in those years respectively. He hit 24 and 29 home runs — in Oakland. He walks at an above average rate. He plays tremendous defence (UZR of 15.5 in 2014, DRS of +20). He put up a 147 wRC+ in 2013, and a 129 this year.

I guess he'll do. He's a few years older and has "broken out" as opposed to  " maybe about to break out." He's under control for four years, which is exactly the kind contract AA likes. Control gets him going.

Also, Donaldson, like Martin, is a guy who's been on a playoff team. Jose Bautista is a great many things, but he's never been on a playoff team.  It all plays in to the idea that AA is in it to win it.

I don't think Donaldson is in this picture (he's got a generic white boy look, and Oakland has it's fair share. They had great hair last year) but I just enjoy it.


Speaking of hair, Donaldson appears to  favour a faux hawk/rat tail combination.

His dad spent most of Donaldson's childhood in prison and didn't see his kid play baseball until 2013. In that game, his kid had two hits in three at bats, walking twice, with a homer, a double and three runs batted in, in a 9-8 Athletics win.

His dad's name is Levon. I've got Elton John in my head. That song was written about Levon Helm, btw.


Plus,

“I have definitely watched thousands of hours of Bautista hitting,” Donaldson said. “Bob Melvin actually had to stop me from watching him. He said, ‘Hey, I want you to be your own guy.’ ”


And then,

Now they can swap recipes and braid each other's hair.



Read this, cause Ian from Blue Jay Hunter gets cited. Like a boss.


Whispers



Ah yes. Whispers.

Go read this:

Sometime around the Grady Little/Pedro Martinez situation in 2003, I was watching baseball with my dad. He saw the discussion between the two and as Little sauntered back to the dugout (and his eventual unemployment),  my dad said, “Why is he even asking him? Every guy worth his salt is going to say, ‘Yeah, skip. I’m good.’ So asking him is idiotic. The manager should know before he even goes out there.”

Dickey should be having discussions with Gibbons about being pulled. That doesn't mean Gibbons shouldn't be pulling him. But having a high opinion of your own abilities is the mark of a competitive pitcher. It’s up to Gibbons to manage that. Managing big egos is the deal with being a big league manager.

I don’t care that Dickey is a loner. I don’t care that Stroman goes to Buehrle for advice. I’m not Dickey’s friend or his wife or his mom. I’m not working with him. I would like to discuss books with him, but I'd be ok if he didn't want to be buds.

I say this as an introvert. I have sometimes been accused of being aloof or snobby or dumb (because silent equals stupid.) And I’m kind of sick of people assuming that this is some kind of character flaw- that not being chummy with everyone or an open book is a terrible thing. Or that I have low self esteem or think my ideas are terrible because I don`t always voice them (this was especially true as a teenager.)

Dickey’s history might suggest a person who is slow to trust. Or who doesn't trust at all. It’s very common. I loved his book. He doesn't come off like a cuddly person, but I’m ok with that. I just think he’s fascinating.

He's also cheap and pitches 200 innings.

Since we are all so fond of whispering- I’ll relay some whispers that I've heard. That a certain long time broadcaster is not so great to work with and that’s why a smooth voiced former catcher went elsewhere and a more amusing than expected pitcher followed suit soon after- though the official reason was to be “closer to home.” Sources sourcing sources.  So the source of this Dickey opinion amused me greatly.

For the record, Ian is a mensch. The menschiest mensch of all the mensches. So go read his blog.

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.