29 posts tagged “toronto”
Through the end of May, Jesse Litsch was 7-1 with 3.18 ERA. Now, after going 1-6 and 6.12 in June and July, the sophomore right-hander is on his way back to Syracuse for some seasoning. Don’t fret, though, Jays fans, he’ll be back in due time.
One thing that stands out about Litsch is he acts like he belongs in the big leagues. Unlike his replacement, David Purcey, Litsch has never looked nervous in his time in Toronto, as was especially evident in his memorable debut last June against Baltimore. In that game, Litsch allowed just four hits and a run while coming up one out short of a complete game.
He did, however, struggle at points last season, but bounced back, which makes it all the more possible to believe his latest rough stretch is just another hiccup on his road to becoming an established major league starter. In his fourth start of 2007, Litsch gave up five runs and failed to get out of the first inning against the Yankees, and was subsequently sent to the minors afterwards. He was recalled a month later, and responded with four quality starts in his first five outings. Then, after losing his first three starts of September, Litsch finished the season by allowing just three runs in his final three starts, two of which were against Boston and New York.
Purcey has struggled mightily in his two starts with the Jays this season, surrendering nine runs and 11 walks in just seven-and-a-third innings. Both, however, were spot starts, and the former first round draft pick’s confidence should benefit from having an established spot in the rotation, at least for the time being. He’s been great at Syracuse thus far, going 8-6 with a 2.69 ERA in 19 starts, and was a starting pitcher in last week’s International League All-Star Game.
I’m not sure this move is in any way a sign of whether or not the team thinks it has a shot at competing the rest of the season. At this point in time, it just looks as though Purcey has earned a chance to start regularly, and Litsch has shown he’s in need of some work on the farm. In the long run, both should benefit from the move.
Jays fans, this just in: Adam Lind doesn’t suck. You see,
these are the things you discover when you decide to give a prospect more than
19 at-bats in the big leagues before sending him down, figuring he’s not ready.
That, of course, is what the Jays’ savvy, motivated team of front office
personnel did when Lind managed just one hit in his first six starts, afraid of
how his .053 average would project over a full season.
Lind was recalled when Cito Gaston stepped in as manager, and as you’ve likely noticed, he’s raking. Since returning June 22, he’s hitting .346 with five homers and 22 RBIs, easily the Jays’ most productive hitter in the time frame. Gaston, who, to his credit, has given Lind the chance John Gibbons (and the rest of the team’s front office, I’d assume) didn’t, seems to have noticed the production, and has moved him from the number nine spot in the order to the hallowed seven hole in recent games.
Lind had the best game of his young career last night against the Orioles, smacking four hits, including a home run, and driving in three runs. He’s hit in 10 of his last 11 games, including another three hit performance two weeks ago, also against Baltimore. His last hit of that game was a walk-off single, giving the Jays a 6-5 win.
Much was made about the Jays’ decision to keep Shannon Stewart over Reed Johnson this spring. As much as Toronto fans seem to love Johnson, Lind is the team’s future in left field, and whoever started the season would’ve only served as a stopgap until Lind’s time came. Well, that time looks like it’s now.
For all the promise he showed after his call-up in May of last season, could Dustin McGowan be any more ordinary this year? Sure, the Jays' pitching as a whole this season has at least allowed the team to tread water, but after his efforts towards the end of last season, McGowan left me wanting more in '08. Am I the only one that's underwhelmed?
McGowan and Shaun Marcum both turned heads last season, and of the pair, McGowan was considered a sure thing to repeat his performance. And why not? Players around the league marveled about his overpowering stuff last year, the best of which was on display when he carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning against Colorado in late-June. Marcum, on the other hand, relied on breaking pitches and command, both of which seemed to fail him as the season wore on. So you'd expect McGowan to come back stronger in '08, no? Think again. After last night's loss to Seattle, McGowan sits at 6-7 with a 4.36 earned run average. Marcum? 5-4 and 2.65, the latter number amongst league leaders. Marcum, however, is beginning to show signs of wear and tear -- he was placed on the disabled list two weeks ago with a right elbow strain.
Back to our subject, though: McGowan has been strong as ever at home in '08, but a different pitcher altogether on the road. In seven home starts, he's 4-2 with a 2.20 ERA; on the road, he's 2-5 with a 6.17 ERA. Is it a mental thing, then? That's the way it would seem.
At 26, McGowan is still young, but he's starting to show an early onset of A.J. Burnett syndrome. Like Burnett, he has electric stuff, but doesn't seem to be able to harness it. Still, with nowhere to go but up in this suddenly-hopeless season, it's worth waiting to see whether or not McGowan is all he's hyped up to be. Let's just hope he doesn't turn into another guy who gets by solely on potential. Even if he does, though, he can rest assured someone will be waiting to give him a $55 million contract.
With T.J. Ford all-but-officially on his way to Indiana, you had to figure it was only a matter of time before the Raptors wrapped up Jose Calderon to a long-term contract. That deal apparently was reached early yesterday, as Calderon agreed to remain a Raptor, according to the point guard’s official website. Terms of the contract were undisclosed, though it’s reported Calderon will receive around $8 million per year – not a bad deal for one of the league’s most efficient players.
Calderon averaged 11.9 points and 8.3 assists while playing all 82 games last season. His 5.4 assist-to-turnover ratio was tops in the NBA, and his play in Ford’s absence had many around the league picking him as an Eastern Conference All-Star.
Ford, of course, suffered a neck injury courtesy of Hawks’ rookie Al Horford in December. After his return in early-February, he served as Calderon’s backup before his complaining and erratic play in limited minutes eventually led Calderon to sacrifice the starting spot.
Something had to be done this off-season, and I’m certain general manager Bryan Colangelo did the right thing. By the end of the season, Ford had burned just about every bridge with teammates and fans alike, and it became increasingly evident that Calderon would, deservedly so, be the Raptors’ long-term investment at the point. It’s disappointing how quickly Ford fell from grace – he was instrumental in the team’s remarkable turnaround two seasons ago and was inspirational in his comeback this past season. Nevertheless, he’s responsible for his own falling out.
In Calderon, the Raptors have a point guard that’s improved in each of his three seasons in the NBA and should continue to do so. Aside from his assist-to-turnover ratio, Calderon’s shooting percentages (51.9% from the field, 42.9% from three and 90.8% from the stripe) were also amongst league leaders. He did, however, seem to wear down towards the end of the season – a trend he’ll have to avoid should the Raptors hope to get past the first round of the playoffs in coming seasons.
By now, you’re likely familiar with the J.P. Ricciardi and Adam Dunn saga. Last week, Ricciardi told a caller on The Fan 590 the Jays weren’t interested in the Will Ferrell look-a-like, insisting Dunn “doesn’t really like baseball that much” and “doesn’t have a passion to play the game”.
Dunn’s response: “I know nothing about this clown. I have no
idea who he is. This guy doesn’t know anything about me other than what he sees
on whatever SportsCenter they have up there.”
Fair enough. Ricciardi claims Dunn doesn’t like baseball, Dunn calls him a clown. Dunn shows ignorance for Canadian sports television. What goes around comes around.
Ricciardi called Reds general manager Walt Jocketty to apologize, and eventually got a call back from Dunn on Saturday night. Or so, that was what he thought.
“If he said he talked to me, it’s a lie,” Dunn said after last night’s game at Rogers Centre.
Turns out J.P. fielded a call from a Dunn imposter. He claims it was a 519 number – the area code for a large portion of Southern Ontario. Cincinnati’s area code, on the other hand, is 513. Close. Close enough to fool the mastermind Ricciardi.
After the game, Dunn reiterated his lack on concern for the esteemed Jays’ GM.
"I'm just so sick and tired of this," he told reporters. “Again, I'm not going to go out of my way to apologize or get an apology from a guy I don't even know.”
Okay, Dunn doesn’t care about Ricciardi. The important thing, however, is that we find out who the genius prank caller was. If you’re out there, be assured that there is absolutely no shame in coming forward.
Admittedly, I don’t follow college basketball much from April through February. From what I understood though, Andre Iguodala was a solid NBA prospect – an athletic swingman expected to go anywhere as high as third overall in the 2004 NBA Draft. So when Iguodala was still available when the Raptors chose eighth, I was excited.
It was then that David Stern delivered those fateful words: “With the eighth pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, the Toronto Raptors select Rafael Araujo from Brigham Young University”.
Sweet. I can’t believe Iguodala was still available that late. He’ll definitely help out our perimeter defense, considering Vince Carter stopped trying a couple years ago. Wait…hold on…Rafael Araujo? From Brigham Young University?
It was true, and Rob Babcock officially became “Lord of the Idiots”. Iguodala, who was drafted by Philadelphia with the following pick, led the Sixers to the playoffs last year, averaging 19.9 points and 2.1 steals per game. Araujo, in the meantime, also enjoyed his best professional season in 2007-08, averaging 11.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game – for Spartak St. Petersburg of the Russian Super Basketball League.
That answers the question of “Where is he now?”. However, in order to fully grasp how horrible of a pick Araujo was, it’s important to look at how he did with the Toronto Super Raptors of the National Super Basketball Association.
Araujo was drafted following his senior season, supposedly “NBA ready”. Ready, that is, to average 3.3 points and 2.7 fouls per game for the 33-49 Raptors. “Hoffa” took a slight step back in his second season in Toronto, averaging 2.3 points and 2.0 fouls while shooting 36.6% from the field, despite the majority of his attempts coming from within three feet of the basket.
With Babcock gone following the 2005-06 season, new general manager Bryan Colangelo was able to dump Araujo on the Utah Jazz, where he averaged 2.6 points in just under eight minutes per game. When Utah opted to fill their roster with mighty Ukrainian Kyrylo Fesenko prior to last season, Araujo signed a one-year, $500,000 deal with Spartak St. Petersburg.
I get upset every year around draft time. Still, I suppose you can’t blame Araujo – I’m sure he’s a good enough guy and I know he tried his hardest (those foul per minute numbers don’t lie). With the 17th pick in this year’s draft, it’s unlikely Colangelo will drop the ball the way Babcock did in 2004. That is, unless he trades for the first pick and grabs an Andrea Bargnani clone.
Yikes -- lately I've been so engulfed in the Blue Jays' great battle to score runs that I've failed to notice what else is going on around baseball. I knew the Tigers had turned it around briefly after their 2-10 start, but noticed just now they've been swept by Kansas City for the second time this season and sit at 16-25, again losers of 10 of their last 12. Luckily for them, as is the case with the Jays thus far, nobody in the American League has really set themselves too far ahead of the pack. Though they're last in the Central, the Tigers are just six games back of first place Cleveland with 121 games to play. Time to count them out? Not by a long shot...
Once again, right after John Gibbons was written off as fired by just about anybody with a pen in arm's reach, the Jays have caught fire, winners of four in a row. The great Joe Inglett was the hero this afternoon, singling home the winning run in the top of the 11th in a 3-2 win over the Twins. Again, the Jays have crept to within a game of the hallowed .500 mark (21-22) and sit three-and-a-half games back from that team from Tampa Bay that refuses to lose. Should the Rays hold off the Yankees this evening (they're up 5-2 in the seventh), New York will drop into sole possession of last place in the East. How great does that sound?
Think J.P. Ricciardi regrets pulling the plug on Frank Thomas a few weeks ago? My bet is he'd stand by his decision, and that he'd be lying in doing so. The Jays split a doubleheader with Cleveland yesterday, losing 3-0 in the opener and winning by the same score in the nightcap, scoring all three runs in the tenth inning. They leave Cleveland having scored four times in the four-game series, three more runs than they would've managed had Shaun Marcum not given them a chance to play extras last night with his eight-inning, two-hit shutout. Toronto has scored the second-fewest runs in the American League (only Kansas City has fewer) and fourth least in all of baseball (San Diego, San Francisco).
The funny thing about Thomas' release is that Ricciardi did it to save money for next season. The way things are going now, neither him nor manager John Gibbons is going to last till next week. Meanwhile, Thomas and the A's sit atop the AL West at 23-16.
The Blue Jays made a pair of moves in hopes of bolstering their slumping offense yesterday, signing a guy known for his remarkable strikeout-to-anything other than a strikeout ratio and trading for a guy known for having an enormous head. Brad Wilkerson and Kevin Mench were in Toronto's starting lineup last night, and they certainly didn't pay any immediate dividends in a 6-1 loss to Cleveland.
I realize what J.P. Ricciardi is trying to do here -- he realizes his offense is horrible, and after releasing the team's best hitter from last season after a mere 60 at-bats, is looking to throw together the best possible makeshift lineup without having to part with any of his key pieces (any of his starting pitchers, to be more specific). Let's be honest, nobody is going to give up a big bat for a package headlined by Jason Frasor and Joe Inglett. Still, when you're bringing in guys like Wilkerson and Mench, you know you're desperate.
Wilkerson had one nice season with the late Montreal Expos, hitting 32 home runs and scoring 112 runs while serving mainly as their leadoff hitter in 2004. He has, however, struck out 895 times in 888 career games, compared 467 walks and 744 career hits. He spent the last two seasons in Texas, where he hit .222 and .234, respectively. He was cut by the Mariners after hitting .232 in 19 games this April.
Mench was acquired for a bag of balls from the Rangers, where he'd been playing for Triple-A Oklahoma. That's right -- our offensive savior was in the minor leagues for the worst team in the American League. He's well known to Toronto fans for being the Texas player that broke Roy Halladay's leg with a line drive in 2005, ending his season and any dreams the Jays had of at least hanging tough for the final three months of that season. He did, however, open the door for Josh Towers to step in as the team ace and earn a two-year contract. More than anything, though, he's a legend for having the largest head in baseball, a reported size eight.
I guess this is what losing to the Blue Jays makes you do: Prior to yesterday's game in Toronto, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen went off on the following tirade when asked if he thought one of the players in Chicago's minor league system had a shot at cracking his team's anemic lineup:
"Right now everyone in Chicago is making lineups -- 'Call up this guy, call up that guy.' ... If we had 50 people allowed on the roster, we could do that. That's what ticks me off about Chicago fans and Chicago media: They forget pretty quickly. A couple of days ago we were the [bleeping] best [stuff] in town. Now we're [bleep].
"We won it a couple years ago, and we're horse[bleep]. The Cubs haven't won in [100] years, and they're the [bleeping] best. [Bleep] it, we're good. [Bleep] everybody. We're horse[bleep], and we're going to be horse[bleep] the rest of our lives, no matter how many World Series we win.
"We are the [bleep] of Chicago. We're the Chicago [bleep]. We have the worst owner [Jerry Reinsdorf]. The guy's got seven [bleeping] rings, and he's the [bleeping] horse[bleep] owner."
Interestingly, Guillen's blowup came just days after Cubs fans celebrated the 25th anniversary of former manager Lee Elia's famous tirade, in which he ripped into Chicago's esteemed fans. The Wizard of Oz made sure to touch on that, too:
"How about the Cubs celebrating that Lee Elia bull[bleep]? How many times do I curse people out? I will make a lot of money with my [stuff]. I have to keep going because in the future Ozzie will need money, and I can say, 'Here, give me money, here's the 10-year anniversary of my time I called [Jay] Mariotti stuff and the time I went on the radio and cursed out Mike North."
Alright, easy there Ozzie. I'd almost forgotten that Guillen still managed, given the White Sox recent streak of futility. If Jose Contreras hadn't done his Greg Maddux impression in the 2005 postseason, would anyone even realize Guillen existed?
