Game #84: Jays at A's pregame
Toronto (40-43) at Oakland (43-40)
at 4:05 p.m. ET at McAfee Coliseum
Today’s lineups:
BLUE JAYS
Vernon Wells, CF
Alex Rios, RF
Troy Glaus, 3B
Frank Thomas, DH
Aaron Hill, 2B
Matt Stairs, LF
Gregg Zaun, C
Curtis Thigpen, 1B
Royce Clayton, SS
PITCHING: RHP Dustin McGowan
ATHLETICS
Shannon Stewart, LF
Mark Kotsay, CF
Nick Swisher, RF
Jack Cust, DH
Eric Chavez, 3B
Dan Johnson, 1B
Mark Ellis, 2B
Bobby Crosby, SS
Jason Kendall, C
PITCHING: LHP Joe Kennedy
NOTES: Toronto manager John Gibbons said that the rotation after the All-Star break will likely begin with Roy Halladay, followed by Shaun Marcum and Dustin McGowan. After that? "We’ll see how things stack up," Gibbons said.
Major League Bastian 
Another excellent start by McGowan.That’s two starts in a row where our starter gave up no era’s-how good is that.
McGowan is now the starter the Jays thought he would be. Cuddles to the management for how they’ve handled him this year versus last which has lead to his success. As a fan, it’s going to be great to watch him for years.
It is starting to appear that the offence goes as Vernon goes, Vernon had a good game and we ended up scoring 10 runs.
It’s unfortunate we performed so badly in Seattle or it would have been a successful road trip.
Our backs are to the wall now, so we need to play Cleveland well here or face a demantling of this team.
Jordon, I disagree with your posting today of sending both Lind and Thigpen back to AAA. I think Thigpen would develop as a catcher better here being around Zaun, Whitt and Gibby-why send him down. Phillips is just above the line of being a disaster-why keep him here and send Thigpen back down.
If the Jays aren’t happy with Thigpen as a catcher-then send him and Phillips down and recall Fasano.
I also do not agree with sending Lind down-hes coming along and is a lefty power bat which we desperately need to go along with Stairs. Send down Howie Clark or trade Royce Clayton-we do not need that many back up infielders.
One other point. I think it’s time to send DeJong back down-he’s not ready for prime time, and recall Gronkiewicz
who performed admirably for us when he was up.
Great win by the bluejays today. Hopfully this will get the team motivated to win. But then again, that is what I said every time the jays had won a game. Then the jays just wound up losing the next day.
Dustin is going to be good one day. If he can stay consistent, he will be great! Great job by Stairs. Nice to Vernon (finally) come around.
Oops..
*Nice to see Vernon (finally) come around
Lind and Thigpen are the likeliest to get set downn because they are young and they will benefit more from playing everyday, as opposed to being backups and sitting on the bench. I agree that Clayton, could be traded, and that Philips stinks. Keep Fasano in AAA to teach Thigpen tho.
Thigpen is going back down to learn how to play 2nd base.
So says Jeff Blair of the G&M.
Next year Hill moves back to short and Thigpen is at 2nd.
Lind is going down because we need Johnson as the table-setter at the top of our lineup, and sitting on the bench would be bad for him.
If we fall completely out of contenion (check back in 2 weeks after facing Boston and NY for 4 each), we may trade Stairs to a contender and bring Lind up to platoon with Johnson. And if Thigpen is a fest learner we may see a preview of next years middle infeild in september.
“sitting on the bench would be bad for him”
him = Lind.
incase there’s any confusion.
And I meant to say *fast* learner about Thigpen.
I think what ever moves are made depend on where we sit in the standings after we play NY and Boston. If we close the gap and have a chance, then I’d likely send Thigpen down, but I still think I’d keep Lind here as a left hand bat. I don’t thing he grows any more in AAA.Clayton no longer fits send him down or trade him. Howie Clark is a good replacement infielder,low cost, better bat and young-keep him instead.
If we’re out of the race, then I think I’d make the following moves.
Trade Stairs, Towers, Royce, Phillips and possibly Thomas. Don’t get me wrong, I love Stairs, but we can always sign him back next year and right now, he’d command good value-like maybe a first round draft pick for 2008. Hopefully we could trade all these guys for draft picks-which would be my first choice.
Bring up Sergio Santos from AA to be the backup shortstop and give him time with McDonald and Butterfield. I’d keep Thigpen here and trade Phillips. I think Thigpen develops faster here being around Zaunie, Gibby and Ernie than he does in AAA.
So those are the moves I’d make-what are yours?
Here’s my move!
Getting all the fans out here to stop reading your rediculous blogs. Please stop with the stu-pid santos comments.The guy is a stiff!!!! Couln’t hit in trips so they sent him down to New Hamphire this year. Next move will be out the door. Where in the world do you get off thinking other teams would part with anything for guys like Phillips or clayton? The best move would be to dump the dummy Gibbons and bring back Cito.
Bye the way Howie Clark is 33 yrs. old. Didn’t know that was considered young in professional sports…LOL
DID YOU NOT READ WHAT I WROTE?
The Jays are sending Thigpen down so he can learn how to play 2nd base. (According to Jeff Blair of the Globe and Mail)
THEY DO NOT VIEW HIM AS A CATCHER ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!
He’s not good at calling a game and his defence is average at best. They feel he’s a good enough athlete to play 2nd or 3rd.
I suppose if they trade Glaus it tells you they want him at 3rd.
Here. Read this. 5th paragraph
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070703.wsptoverbay3/BNStory/GlobeSportsBaseball/
Or this. 12th paragraph
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070628.JAYSEARLY28/TPStory/?query=Curtis+Thigpen
Or this. bottom of the page, the 2nd question in the “mail bag” section.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070627.wsptblair27/BNStory/GlobeSportsBaseball/
Please note the 1st article is the newest, the third is the oldest.
I wasn’t just making it up.
rbastasich,
Thank you for pointing out Howie Clark’s age. But I have to call you on something;
Cito Gaston would never agree to work for a clown like JP Riccardi.
I will now point out things you didn’t.
gsumner.
YOU CAN’T TRADE DRAFT PICKS IN BASEBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And even if you could; A 1st round pick for Matt Stairs? who on a playoff team is a bench player? (Like he was supposed to be here before the injuries).
NO ONE WANTS JOSH TOWERS!
NO ONE WANTS ROYCE CLAYTON!
NO ONE WANTS JASON PHILLIPS!
And don’t go on a rant about free speech.
I am a firm supporter in a persons right to make themself look stupid.
gsumner: Although I think these guys are being a little harsh on you, I have to agree with what they’re saying. There aren’t many teams out there who will trade much of anything to the Jays for Towers, Clayton, or Phillips. With the kind of seasons those three guys are having (and not to mention Towers’ inflated salary), they’re waiver wire fodder at best — by that I mean if the Jays release them, someone will probably pick them up for nothing and give them a shot.
Otherwise, I’m sorry to say the Jays are probably stuck with these guys.
As far as Santos goes, I wouldn’t hold my breath. He’s shown some potential, but his time at AAA was a disaster. For now, he needs many more minor league games and at-bats to show he’s made some kind of progress. If all goes well, hopefully he’ll be a September call-up.
But that’s only my two cents. Who knows what might happen? And keep the posts up, guys, I enjoy reading them — just keep the bickering and the insults to a minimum….
hem.gold: you are right but gsumner basically thinks his next career will be running a mlb team. I get a real kick out of reading his dillusionary commentary daily.I wouldn’t want phillips playing on our slow pitch team. Now robertlee knows what he is talking about.It’s nice from time to time hearing the reality of the jays situation.What we really need to do is band together and have this ***** ousted from managing our team.It would be nice to have a real manager who understands the game, not some illiterate dum-my who can’t speak english.Maybe Gibbons could make a cameo in a remake of the movie deiiverence.Oh I forgot i’m sure he could never remember his lines.
This time i’m gonna agree with rbastasich no one is gonna give the jays anything for phillips, towers or clayton. Also Santos is not gonna be called up next year for the season and that is probably why as robertlee said, thigpen is going to second while hill will move back to short. I don’t think the jays will trade Glaus away but if they do they will probably get a 3rd baseman in return. I think moving hill back to short isn’t such a great move since hill, i believe has settled at 2nd base and he is doing really good there. Before i was against being burnett traded but i think trading burnett might be the right move especially if you trade him to the orioles for bedard, who seems to be better than burnett. Also dustin mcgowan is turning out to be like burnett without the injuries (hope i didn’t jinx him). Oh and stairs should only be traded if we are not in the race and if we get something good for him in return which i doubt. What do u guys think?
Does anyone know when bedard becomes a free agent incase orioles don’t trade him?
Richard Bastasich
You know in spite of the warnings you continue your immature posts and attacks. So Richard-this is baseball, 3 strikes and you’re out.
It appears to me, you are the owner of the RDG Group International. It also appears to me that The Ripoff Report has some interesting things to say about your company.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/searchresults.asp?q5=rd%20group%20international&q1=ALL&q4=&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0&submit2=Search%21&Search=Search
Maybe you should focus on your company instead of wasting your time here.
Care to comment on that Richard.
gsumner: Although I realize this guy has really got under your skin, I can’t even begin to describe how creepy it is that you tracked him and his company/employer down. Don’t you think you’re taking things a little too far?
On a much lighter and more baseball related note, is there any substance to the Burnett for Bedard rumours? I’m not sure why the Orioles would ever agree to that trade considering Burnett’s problems, but I’d love to see it happen!
And I really hope a Stairs trade never happens — he’s the only real “fan favourite” the Jays have these days….
I agree with you harrypotter229
I don’t really think they’re going to trade Glaus, but that if they do it’ll likely be to the Dodgers for a package including LaRoach (sp?) their young 3B.
I also agree Hill should be left at 2B, but this whole Thigpen moving thing isn’t my idea. I figure SS can’t be much harder to play than 2B so why can’t Thigpen play there?
I think Bedard is a free agent after ’09, and I don’t think the Oriols will trade him. Even though they apparently believe he’ll leave as soon as he can, they’d get blasted in the media for trading him before the offseason before he’s an FA. Remember I said a little while ago that Jamie Campell is the one who reported that he wanted to come home, which means no-one in America read it.
But I think you’re missing the point on Stairs, trading him wouldn’t be for our benifit, it would be for his benifit to be traded to a contending team with a shot at the world series. Just sometyhing nice to do for a veteran player if we fall out of the race.
Yeah, I was about to adress this but, I’ll second hem.gold’s comment to gsumner about the creepyness of what you did.
Hem.gold. The Burnett for Bedard “rumor”, isn’t a rumor.
harrypotter229 just made it up/suggested it.
Reason people on here are talking about Bedard is because I pointed out that awhile ago in his sportsnet.ca blog Jamie Campbell reported that an Oriols offical told him they (The Orioles organization) believe Bedard will “come home” to Toronto at his first oppourtunity (Free agency after ’09). This would be in line with his reputation as a guy who isn’t the happyest guy in the world an perhaps being away from home has something to do with it. – Not that he’s some ***** baby momma’s boy, just that maybe he’d be happier at home.
I don’t think the Orioles would want to agree to a Burnett (whose wifes family is from the Baltimore area)deal but if they are desperate not to lose Bedard for nothing then maybe.
It’s also worth pointing out that things change; so maybe Bedard will like Baltimore by the end of ’09 (meet/marry some girl from Baltimore perhaps), or maybe he wont want to come here, or maybe aliens from Pluto will attack us for having the audacity to delist pluto as a planet. 😉 Point is we don’t know what the future holds.
As for Stairs I have to disagree, I’d rather watch him try and win a world Series as a bench/platoon player for somebody else than watch him play meaningless games for us the last 2 months of the year.
TO RICHARD BASTASIH.Your insults to gsummer and the rest of us are a waste of time. The reason we post is to give our opinion right or wrong.We can’t all be geniuses like you seem to think you are.As far as trades go the Jays have nothing to trade.I believe i was the one who said Burnett for Bedard but you can’t trade a cripple.Tell me what team would want Troy when he cant walk.If you want to trade someone trade Thomas and keep Stairs.Oh but I forgot he gets 9mil we may have to pay half his salary for one and a half seasons of course JP does that all the time.I thoght i knew a lot about baseball and the Jays but i learned a lot from you guys thanks and keep up the good work.P.S. gsummer don’t get yourself into any trouble over this guy he’s not worth it.He or she must be a very sad and lonely person.
Interesting to hear the talk about trading Burnett. Seems to me he’s pretty much untradeable with his opt out clause. The Orioles (or some other team) would be trading for a guy who, if he pitched like they thought he could when they acquired him, would be a free agent at the end of 2008. And if he pitched badly/was injured they’d be on the hook for an additional two years. That would seem to put him in the “I’ll pay you to take him off our hands” category, just like Hinske and Coskie. Personally, if we’re paying him anyway, I’d rather keep the guy around and wait for him to put it together.
My take on all this and the jays:
First of all as many people have already said the jays will get nothing for one of Phillips, Clayton and Towers; even in a package they add little to no value.
The only guys in my opinion that the jays should consider trading are Gluas, Burnett, Thomas, Wells and Johnson (when healthy). They are guys whom the jays can get something for and in some cases wont get major league ready players for them, but at the least it’ll get rid of salary for the off-season. As for trading Stairs, I doubt any contender would trade anything significant for 2 or 3 months of a good bat. The teams not contending probably don’t even pursue him due to his age.
I’d like to add too that a lot of people are criticizing J.P. for “calling out” A.J. Burnett the last 2 days. I feel that there was nothing wrong with that. As a fan I like knowing what the G.m. feels about certain players and situations so if he happens to call out a player then so be it. I’d rather hear J.p’s honest thoughts about somebody or the team then be told “no comment” or “that’s for us to discuss internally.” Do you really want to hear that instead?
I would give J.P. untill the all star game Next year to see if this team can contend uner his watch. If the jays aren’t seriously in the race by that point then i’d fire him (injuries or no injuries).
in the last paragraph i meant to say under instead of uner.
Indians are looking for a lefty power bat/corner outfielder according to their notes column today, which makes them a possible trade partner if we decide to move Stairs.
TheGarry
Hey, Richard started the issue, not me, I gave him two warnings and he still persisted, so he got what he deserved, nothing more or less. If he keeps up the personal attacks, he will get more.
This is a site for The Blue Jays not personal attacks and not slanderous comments on Blue Jays personale. I think his comment of Sergio Santos being on junk is what upset me the most-it was wrong, slanderous and potentially dangerous to a young players career. Richard only said it to appear to be the man who knew everything. That how rumors start, and rumors in this game can kill the player. Richard needed to be backed up.
All that being said, I’d trade Stairs if we’re out of it, to help Stairs and the Jays. As good of a job as he’s done for us, I think we owe him that. If he does want to play one more year we can always resign him for next season.
I’m not sure how JP called out JP Burnett, but if you want to understand his injury, just google the description given by the Dr.-you’ll find it on the Jays site.
To me, it appeared very real and potentially a serious problem, in which the cortizone shot and rest is the first treatment of a cross your fingers and hope. Beyond that is microscopic surgury or potentially an end to his career.
So how did JP call out Burnett-what did JP say?
And if were out of it.
I’d trade Thomas, Clayton, and Towers. Looking forward to next year, we’ll have 4 outfielders, with Lind, Johnson, Wells and Rios. If we resign Stairs 5. What’s wrong with one of those guys rotating threw the DH spot each day. In my view we do not need a full time designated hitter.
Thomas and Stairs will bring value; I’d dump Towers and Clayton for whatever I could get.
I just read JP’s comments on Sports net. Frankly, I think JP needs some emotional help-maybe he should call his mommy and ask her to read him a bed time story.
What I read on the google site of the injury-which was reported by the Dr. AJ went to, is it’s potentially a very serious problem that might or might not be solved by surgury. JP says he’s upset that AJ won’t throw through pain.
What I find hard to understand is JP’s own manager Gibby kept this guy out there to throw 475 pitches in 3 games before the injury, knowing full well he was delicate as most 98 mph throwers are. And now he’s blaming Burnett-whats wrong with this scene.
JP, give us all a break and do two things:
First, fire Gibby and get a real manager who knows how to handle ptichers.
Second, the next time you talk to the press, make sure you get your mind going before you get your lips in motion-that way you won’t come accoss as being so stupid, as you have on a number of occasions this year.
In addiiton, we might not catch you in as many bold faced lies as have been caught this year-know what I mean?
Hilarious
gsummer Go to sports news canada sportsnet.ca read Burnett a 55 M 4th starter.But please read it carefully in my eyes he stated a fact.Mabey burnett takes something from this.
Mr. Ted Rogers
It might be time to consider your management of this team from the top down, because it appears they’re out of control.
My vote is bring back Pat Gillick as president, fire Beaston. Let Pat hire his manager, coaches, etc. He’s one of the best and has produced winners before.
You are spending vast sums of money to bring home a winner-which I appreciate as a fan. We are fortunate to have you as an owner.
So help us all out and get the right mangement to do the job.
the garry
I read the comments. On the eve of the most important series we have all year-which determines if we have a shot in the second half or not-to create this controversy now is idiotic. It shows that JP is a machochist loser and only feels comfortable when he’s in that role.
If I was Ted Rodgers, I’d fire him on the spot. Think about it. He stated if he knew in 2005 what kind of starters he has in 2007 he wouldn’t have signed AJ. That’s like saying you’d like to have bought a particular stock two years ago knowing what its current price is.
Idiotic.
i have to agree with gsumner on the JP-AJ issue. JP is a stupid person and i thought he was a good general manager but i think i was wrong. AJ is not to be blamed for his injury and asking him to play through some pain is stupid and could risk loosing him for a lot longer. JP knew what he was getting into when he signed burnett. All i have to say is that show some faith in a pitcher you signed and if you want to unleash some anger unleash it on Gibbons he is the one who wore out AJ. Plus about trading him i don’t think we will get anything for him when he is injured and i hope JP doesn’t trade Aj like he traded hillenbrand (absolutely nothing in return except accardo but could’ve gotten much more)
Don’t you guys think mabey JP is trying to get AJ to opt out.Also do we realy know the extent of his injury.Mabey he just needs to slow his velocity down 2 or 3 miles per hr.
gsumner.
Who said Santos was “on junk”
I know it’s been said that he ***** and isn’t a major league calibre player, but surely that’s valid subjective comment.
And surely you don’t think anything said on this site (by anyone other than Jordan) would ever have any bearing on the man or his future as a player.
I haven’t and don’t plan on reading about AJ’s injury but “most” 98 mph throwers are not “delicate”. How many times was Clemens injured in his youth? or Randy Johnson? or Smoltz. Or Shilling. or Santana.
In their prime (which AJ is supposed to be in) none of these guys had arm injuries.
JP was stating what everyone knows, AJ had an injury for which he had Tommy John surjury, and ever since everytime he feels the slightest twinge in his arm he gets scared that it’s serious and winds up on the DL.
He’s injury prone, and it has made him mentally soft.
Also “fire Beaston” WHAT?
Paul Beaston? He left in like 1997. Do you mean Paul Godfrey?
All he’s trying to do is light a fire under AJ’s rear.
Nothing wrong with that considering it often works.
Remember AJ’s start after Jesse Litsch’s debut, AJ didn’t want to be upstaged by a kid so he pitched probobly his best game of the year.
He was motivated and the results prove it.
How is there something wrong with saying he wouldn’t have signed AJ? He was basically admitting that it was a mistake?
Would you characterize AJ’s signing as a succsess?
And harrypotter229, What?
Have you seen what Hillenbrand is doing this year?
He got released. The Angels are paying him to go away!
Jeremy Accardo is the best player in that trade.
Far better than Hillenbrand, and far far far far better that Chulk.
Rule of thumb, when you end up with the best player in a trade, you won the trade. The Jays stole Accardo from San Fransisco.
If anyone is stupid enough to take AJ of our hands we should pull the trigger.
Think about this.
If he’s good and healthy next year, he opts out.
If he ***** and is injured we are stuck with him for 2 more.
JP is an idiot who deserves to be fired, for signing an injury prone soft pitcher to a five year deal.
Yes thegarryguy,
I think he’s trying to make AJ opt out.
Think about it AJ has to go into the locker room tomorrow, and when he looks around and realizes everyone thinks he’s soft, he’s either going to want to prove them wrong or he’s going to want to run away by opting out.
Slowing down his velocity however is not an option.
He normally throws 98, in his start in between trips to the DL he was throwing 93 either because he was hurt or because he was scared.
Pitchers throwing slower than normal is always a bad sign.
Think:Brandon League, Jason Shmidt, and AJ and many more.
Always a bad sign.
robertlee
Richard Bastion said Santos was on junk. And I thank you for your correction, I did mean Paul Godfrey not Beaston.
Jp’s comments couldn’t have came at a worse time. This next series with Cleveland will likely determine if we have a chance in the second half or not.
If we sweep, we’d likely be 4-5 games back in the wild card; if we get swept we’d likely be 11 games back and gone for the season.
If as you said, JP was trying to light a fire under AJ-why do it at this time with AJ injured and not able to respond one way or the other. He can’t go out there and prove anything. IF he was trying to get AJ to opt out-why now-is he prepared to throw the season away to get AJ to opt out?
Is this what we have to look forward to as Jays fans, have a GM potentially throw away a season just because?
It was a stupid move-nothing else. Or maybe, just maybe, it was JP trying to save his job from what is ending up to be a very bad signing to go along with Armstrong, Zambrano, Royce, Towers, Okha and probably Thomas.
I just really don’t think calling out AJ is going to have an affect on anyone else.
If anything It’ll upset guys like it did last year and light a fire under them?
Remember when Wells got mad at JP for comments this time last year? He wasn’t really mad that HE got called out, he was mad that OTHER guys got called out.
The guys on this team don’t seem to be the “Oh I’m being pressured, I’m going to fall apart and call for mommy” types, they seem like if they get mad they’d play better. I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched a game and said to myself “someone needs to smack that guy; anything to motivate him”.
Lack of motivation, that’s as good a reason as any to fire Gibbons.
And AJ is able to respond, being injured doesn’t mean you can’t do anything at all.
He could workout to strengthen himself and his arm. Just cause he cant throw doesn’t mean he cant do any streaching exercises and lifting weights.
Motivating him now also allows him time to think about it, and do some soul searching.
I don’t mean to be over dramatic but I think how AJ responds to this and pitches the rest of the year is going to tell you everything you need to know about how the rest of his career will unfold.
He can take this 2 ways,
1)be discusted with the team and ask to be traded or opt out after next year.
2)be discusted with himself,
stop being scared everytime he feels a little something, and finally start doing, with consistency, what he is capable of doing like few men on the planet.
Dustin McGowan had the same injury and surgery as AJ. He was in the organization for 5 years and did nothing.
Last year (year 6) he was on the same team as AJ for several streches in the majors.
This year (year 7) he’s finally doing what he’s capible of doing.
Frankly, I think a part of his development was being scared and then doing something about it.
Being scared of becoming the next AJ Burnett. And doing something about it.
Lets say AJ takes this criticism to heart and says to himself mabey JP [who I don’t like] is right and i’m afraid of hurting myself and it turns him around.This guy can be the best pitcher in the game if he gets his act together.Does he want to be #2 OR #4 OR 5 its up to him .Also if anybody gets traded it wont be until after the BOS.and the NY. series.Six wks ago we were all happy with this team look at us now.Help is on the way after the break Johnson and Overbay.
You guys just don’t get it do you? This team is not about shooting the bolt to win it all right now – it’s about playing good baseball for years to come, and Riccardi has done that very well. This team right now has the capability to go all the way, given a bit of luck, which we have not had this year. That is all you can ask of a team with the size of market we play in. Bad signings? Hindsight is wonderful, but what would you have done with Josh Towers the year after he won 13 games for you? He has probably had all the chances he deserves, but somewhere in there lurks a 13 game winner. Okha et al? What would you have done if you had just missed signing Lily and Meche, and you weren’t sure if Marcum and the others were ready to step up? Pay 10 mil a year for a Mark Redmond? Where would the money come from? I say that even in hindsight, the decisions Riccardi has made stand up if you understand what he is trying to do. Win a pennant? Sure, but we have to stay healthy. Keep a viable franchise in Toronto, and play good baseball for years to come? Ablolutely!
Robertlee
First of, i didn’t know what hillenbrand was doing this year and i last year accardo wasn’t doing that good either so i was basing my judgement on last years results.
I don’t think we should trade AJ, not only does he bring a lot of life in the locker room, but i still think that he can out there and get it done. This year he has lost alot of his starts due to bad offence. However, saying that 55 million dollars is way too much for burnett. Especially when you know that he is injury prone. JP shouldn’t have signed him for that much but now that we have got him we might as well stick with him because i believe that AJ is worth much more than a minor leaguer in a trade. Therefore if we were to trade him (i am not strongly against it) trade him for someone good.
Maybe JP is trying to get AJ to drop out of the contract but i think that would be a huge mistake again.
Does anyone know the report on Buehrle of the white sox?
gnorman
i believe that JP did do some good things but instead of going after some surefire people, he decided to sign injury prone players, such as burnett, thomas, thompson, zambrano and …
JP perfers to take a long shot and probably hopes that the players won’t get injured.
I understand that JP didn’t have many players to sign but there is always a trade. You could have traded a lot of people. He had done a good job with the offence but i think he has done a really bad job with the pitching, the younger arms came to bail JP out in time.
However being said that JP should be kept a bit longer until perhaps this off-season and see what he does, where as Gibbons MUST BE FIRED now.
why is every one so against Gibbons? i know he hasn’t done that well with the pitching but is it that bad? we have had 12 starting players on the DL this year. let me put it this way YOUR TEAM WILL HAVE A BAD RECORD WITH THAT MANY PLAYERS MAKING A TRIP TO THE DL. if we are basing a mangers preformace on record then Joe Torre should be fired as is Yankees are massively underachiving.I admit i am losing faith in Gibbions but lets finish the season beofre we do anyhting foolish. we still have an excellent shot at even the division this year. we have the players.
as for JP I am not entirely impressed with all his moves but they have been forp the better of the team for the most part. if i have to explain that more just ask.
now on to Burnett. if you guys just have to trade burnett i will go and cheer for that team if he goes. he basically kept us afloat with ace pitching until he got hurt. if he can jsut stay healthy he will be better than Haliday i say keep him. yes he needs a fire lit under his *** at least once a season. but i guess we will just have to put up with that. he will be back and will help pitch us to the playoffs.
and on a final note; is it just me or do both Johnson and Lind look funny when they run? Lind looks like he is swimming and johnson runs like he is wearing clown shoes.
Does anyone know if Alex Rios is going to get asked to the home run derby? After all he does rank 5th in the AL with 17 shots.
I could care less about Gibby or JP but you have to look at where we are two games below five hundred.Now I ask you how many teams do you know of would be where we are with their star closer gone #1 starter gone for three wks.#2 starter with shoulder problems #3 starter no good now gone[OKHA] #4 starter with shoulder problems [ZAMBRANO] #5 starter [TOWERS] here and there. How about [JOHNSON] who by the way will be back tonight. OVERBAY gone TROY bad foot.WELLS not hitting THOMAS not hitting their are more I just can’t remember them all.If we don’t make it this year and they keep this team together we sure as -H- will next year.THOMAS and WELLS are now hitting.
Lind gets sent down not Thigpen we lose a left handed bat.Wells in leadoff not Johnson.I don’t think it matters where Wells hits he was bound to start hitting.Johnson should be in leadoff for he is the sparkplug of this team.
Sportsnet.ca has a video interview with AJ concerning his current status. He did the class thing and backed JP. He did state though, that in his last start he could only bring it at 88 to 90 mph versus 98. I don’t think theres any question he’s hurting. I am impressed with his interview though-he closed the circle and made his boss look good. Good for The Jays.
By the stats and the win/loss record Wells and the team have been better with him leading off.
Of course Lind goes down.
Johnson is an outfielder, Lind is an outfielder.
When Overbay gets back, Thigpen goes down, because Overbay is a 1st basemen and right now Thigpen is a 1st basemen.
Lind only could have been a lefty bat off the bench.
If you want a left handed bat off the bench than Thigpen starts at first and the bat off the bench is Stairs.
I agree theres no question he’s hurting.
Question is whether he’s IN PAIN and throwing 88-90 because he’s scared, or is he INJURED and thowing 88-90 because that’s all his arm is capible of.
Nobody is question whether he’s HURTING, some of us question whether he’s INJURED.
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