This is baseball, there are rules
NEW YORK — And it’s those rules, so to speak, that are keeping Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi from shedding some light on all the Matt Stairs rumors. Well, “all” is an overstatement. Basically, Stairs is going to the Phillies, but the Blue Jays can’t say so just yet.
No word on what the hold up is, but Ricciardi tiptoed around the topic today.
“If you’re guessing that it could be in the state of Pennsylvania,” Ricciardi said, “I’m not going to tell you you’re wrong. But, I’m not going to tell you anything else.”
Word is that the Jays are to receive Minor League left-hander Fabio Castro. Again, no confirmation from any Toronto types about that either, though. It looks like this trade will probably be finalized tomorrow.
Ricciardi did confirm that he’s talking to the Angels about a possible trade that could send one of John McDonald, Marco Scutaro or David Eckstein to L.A. The Halos are in dire need of a shortstop and have two days to trade for a guy in order to have him eligible for the playoffs.
As for the other development here, young Travis Snider was in the starting lineup for the first time in his career. He was able to fly some family and friends out from Washington on short notice to catch him in his first big-league game, in Yankee Stadium, in his first-ever trip to New York, for that matter.
Jays manager Cito Gaston started Snider in left field tonight. He and Lind will probably shift in and out of left and the DH spot down the stretch. Ricciardi said the Jays want to see if they can potentially solve their need for a DH in 2009 with this combo. Otherwise, there’s always free agency.
Snider is typically a right fielder. In fact, he hasn’t played left at all this year, according to Ricciardi. But, in his first game in the Majors, Ricciardi didn’t want him fighting those all-too-common rookie jitters between at-bats in the dugout as the DH today.
“This way, somebody can throw a battery at him or swear at him,” Ricciardi joked. “Keep his mind off the game.”
Snider was obviously excited to see his name in the Blue Jays lineup for the first time, even if it was spelled “Snyder.”
“It happened in Triple-A, too,” he said, shaking his head and managing a slight laugh. “Hey, it could be a lot worse.”
CLICK HERE for a feature I wrote on Mr. Snider during Spring Training.
Today’s lineups:
TORONTO (68-65) at NEW YORK (71-62)
at 7:10 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field
JAYS
Joe Inglett, 2B
Marco Scutaro, SS
Alex Rios, RF
Vernon Wells, CF
Adam Lind, DH
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Rod Barajas, C
Scott Rolen, 3B
Travis Snider, LF
PITCHING: RHP A.J. Burnett (16-9, 4.58)
YANKEES
Johnny Damon, CF
Derek Jeter, SS
Bobby Abreu, RF
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Jason Giambi, 1B
Xavier Nady, LF
Hideki Matsui, DH
Robinson Cano, 2B
Ivan Rodriguez, C
PITCHING: RHP Carl Pavano (1-0, 5.40)
Major League Bastian 
I thought I heard the same thing on the radio broadcast about Snider having never played LF before… and it’s wrong. I saw him start in left (twice) a couple of weeks ago in Syracuse.
Kid looked pretty comfortable tonight.
Well what did everyone think of Snider tonight.I missed him myself I watched a movie.
Hit the ball hard twice, once for a double. Struck out in the 8th looking with 2 runners on base and nobody out, in a 2-1 game. He struckout looking, but quite frankly I think we got hosed on that called, that ball was outside from Edwar Ramirez. The umpire is probably a Yankee fan.
I’m suprised how comfortable he looked, for starting his first game in Yankee Stadium. Maybe he’ll do better with his name spelt correctly on his jersey, just kidding. He had a fine debut.
http://homerfoodandhistory.mlblogs.com/
welikeroy
I agree, Snider got hosed on the call. Unfortunately in Yankee stadium that seems to happen to opposing teams. I thought it was a good debut, and I expect him to settle in quickly.
I’m glad they called him up now and I commend JP for doing so. I would like Arencibia,Dopriak and Campbell here. Let’s play these kids, let Cito and his group work with them, see what we have and get ready for next year. Cito and his group will help all these kids immensely and short circuit the time needed to turn them into MLB hitters.
JP is wrong on Snider’s playing position, he played either left field or DH all year, and last year played left field only. I cannot believe JP got it wrong. If anyone wants to confirm this, just check the stats at Syracuse where Snider is listed as a left fielder.
Here’s an interesting move. Brad Mills was promoted to AA New Hampshire in late June, started 6 games with an era of 1.10, and was just sent back down to A+ Dunedin.
Mills, drafted in 2007, started the season at Lansing, earned a promotion to Dunedin, then to New Hampshire. His era for the year is 1.95.
Of course, the fact that Dunedin has the best record (.697 win record) in the FSL and about to go into playoffs has absolutely nothing to do with this move. I’m sure the reason is to give Mills a new pitch. lol
I agree gsumner. What this teams needs are position battles in spring training. Call them up in September to begin the process. Some of our veterns need that feeling of insecurity. Cito and company will have to assess our talent and depth in our organization. We can’t be afraid to put pressure on some of our veterns that are not performing. Make it clear to them that if they are hitting something like .245-.260 with a little over of 10 homeruns, that they are replaceable. I’m sure we have a lot of guys that can do better than that at the Major League level.
Watched the game on tape but the tape messed up never saw Sniders hit shame on me for watching a garbage movie that the wife wanted to watch[I watch your kill them all movies with you you can watch a love story with me YUK]But I did see him strike out and it was a ball.
Burnett pitched a great game to bad the misfits could not come through for him.
It is now the time for the GM to give up on the season and bring up the young guns and start to get ready for next year.
Who would you guys like to see go to the Halos to have a chance for a ring
Scutaro and J.Mac are under contract for next year so if we trade one of them we can get something for one of them now providing we can get a player that will help this team better than they can next year.Of course Eskstein will give us a pick when he signs with another team next year it’s a tough choice.
Eckstein