Archive: Blue Jays
Royals' Greinke takes AL Cy Young Award
Kansas City Royals right-hander Zack Greinke, who put together an historic pitching season in relative obscurity for the second-worst team in the American League, was voted the winner of the AL Cy Young Award on Tuesday by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Greinke, 26, won only 16...
By Dave Sheinin | November 17, 2009; 02:05 PM ET | Comments (10)
Moment of Levity: The Big Picture
Something tells us that Edwin Encarnacion wasn't trying to sum up the Blue Jays' entire season when he offered up this assessment of a Sean Henn offering on Monday night, but it sure feels about right, doesn't it?
By Cameron Smith | September 22, 2009; 04:44 PM ET | Comments (1)
What Did Boston Offer for Halladay?
In the past couple of days, the package Boston offered Toronto for ace Roy Halladay has started to come into sharper focus, and it turns out the Red Sox offered a massive, five for one deal. Why did Toronto turn it down?
By Cameron Smith | September 15, 2009; 03:35 PM ET | Comments (2)
One Very Expensive Free Pick Up
On Monday, the White Sox picked up Alex Rios, a two-time All-Star with the youth to overcome a couple sub par seasons and still grow into the player the Blue Jays thought he would become when they gave him a $70 million contract. But is it really a smart deal for Chicago's future to assume so much salary on another outfielder?
By Cameron Smith | August 11, 2009; 12:57 PM ET | Comments (1)
Orioles Review and Preview: Tigers, Blue Jays
After dropping three of four in Detroit, the Orioles now travel to Toronto to face a division foe that is in the midst of its own second-half swoon.
By CJ Holley | August 7, 2009; 12:06 PM ET | Comments (0)
For Phillies' Sake, K. Drabek Had Better Be Good
And so, the Phillies turned away from Roy Halladay and traded for Cliff Lee instead. The price was steep: four prospects, all of them rated among the Phillies' Top 10 by Baseball America before the season. Yet none of them was Kyle Drabek, which means the young pitcher was the difference between a trade for Halladay and Cliff Lee. For that, he better be good.
By Dave Sheinin | July 29, 2009; 03:38 PM ET | Comments (9)
The Real Reason Toronto's Trading Halladay
What changed the thinking of Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi's thinking so drastically? Why would the team openly shop its best asset just months after pledging that he'd be a big part of its future? The answer has everything to do with money and what Halladay plans to do after the 2010 season.
By Cameron Smith | July 24, 2009; 02:41 PM ET | Comments (3)
Past Tomfoolery May Affect Halladay Deal
Toronto Blue Jays General Manager J.P. Ricciardi is hoping that a trade of ace Roy Halladay will yield a haul similar to the five-for-one deal the Orioles received from the Mariners for Erik Bedard. Halladay is certainly a better pitcher, but should a dumb deal be the baseline for negotiations?
By CJ Holley | July 23, 2009; 12:04 PM ET | Comments (6)
Moment of Levity: The Big Picture
MISMATCH? That depends on how you look at it. Sure, by accepted standards of physical stature, tonight's starting pitching match up between Toronto's Roy Halladay, left, and San Francisco's Tim Lincecum, right, would be one-sided. But add in Lincecum's incredible movement and fastball and size suddenly becomes less important....
By Cameron Smith | July 14, 2009; 04:22 PM ET | Comments (1)
Lincecum, Halladay Get the Start, but Should They?
Obviously San Francisco's Tim Lincecum and Toronto's Roy Halladay are fine choices to start this year's All-Star Game, but are they the best pitchers for the job?
By CJ Holley | July 13, 2009; 02:36 PM ET | Comments (3)
Orioles Review and Preview: Mariners, Blue Jays
The Orioles return to Baltimore after going 3-4 during a West Coast trip to host the Toronto Blue Jays who are licking their wounds after being handed a three-game sweep by the Rays in Tampa Bay.
By CJ Holley | July 10, 2009; 02:21 PM ET | Comments (0)
The Toronto Pitching Pipeline
Last year, Toronto only needed eight starting pitchers to make it through the season. This year the Blue Jays have already used 12, including six rookies, yet still have managed to stay afloat in the uber-competitive American League East.
By CJ Holley | July 8, 2009; 10:14 AM ET | Comments (2)
Moment of Levity: The Big Picture
This girl in Arlington wins the award for best use of a rain delay after she got sick of sitting in the heat during a torrential downpour (yes, it's still hot, sticky and humid when the rain pours down in the DFW corridor) and decided to take matters into her own hands. Hey, just because the Blue Jays and Rangers couldn't play doesn't mean she had to suffer, right?
By Cameron Smith | June 11, 2009; 04:52 PM ET | Comments (1)
Talking Behind Their Back: Blue Jays
Update: The Orioles have in fact optioned reliever Chris Ray to Class AAA Norfolk to make way for David Hernandez. You may proceed... It's amazing how one series and a series of announced roster moves can change your whole perspective about a team, isn't it? The Orioles finally got their...
By CJ Holley | May 28, 2009; 02:36 PM ET | Comments (2)
Moment of Levity: The Big Picture
WOULDN'T MOMMA BE PROUD? If she's the Momma of Jose Bautista she sure would! The Blue Jays outfielder and about half of his major league friends went up to the plate with pink bats yesterday, celebrating fund raising efforts for the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation. Add to...
By Cameron Smith | May 11, 2009; 04:21 PM ET | Comments (0)
Moment of Levity: The Big Picture
AIR FIVE Scott Downs is celebrating a recent Blue Jays win in Toronto, but who is he celebrating with? Catcher Rod Barajas? Casper the friendly ghost? His imaginary friend Farnley (Oh wait, that's Ryan Freel. Nevermind.)? (Frank Gunn/AP/Canadian Press)...
By Cameron Smith | May 5, 2009; 04:12 PM ET | Comments (0)
Talking Behind Their Back: Blue Jays
The Orioles got swept for the second straight time as the Blue Jays won all three games of the weekend series in Toronto. Baltimore had its chances in each game, tallying runs in the first inning of the first two games and twice tying the game in Sunday's finale. To...
By CJ Holley | May 4, 2009; 02:01 PM ET | Comments (0)
Talking Behind Their Back: Angels
The Angels blew through town to pull off a quick two-game sweep of the Orioles but in a strange wrinkle, it wasn't necessarily poor pitching that doomed Baltimore, but rather missed offensive opportunities. In the first game, the Orioles jumped out to a 3-2 lead after three innings, yet despite...
By CJ Holley | May 1, 2009; 02:00 PM ET | Comments (0)
Reasons for Toronto Skepticism
Baseball Prospectus's Joel Sheehan has a talent for digging up numbers that expose teams that appear to be succeeding beyond anyone's wildest expectations. On Wednesday, he set his laser sights on the Toronto Blue Jays, and he has some pretty good reasons to doubt that the Jays' blazing start to...
By Cameron Smith | April 30, 2009; 11:52 AM ET | Comments (1)
A Little Bit More on Darren O'Day's Day
In the AL Wrap, I dropped in this quote from Toronto's Kevin Millar: "Gabbard I thought was a left-handed pitcher and he came in throwing sinkerballs, side-armed right-handed, so I was a little confused at first." This was in reference to recent Rangers acquisition Darren O'Day. How recent an acquisition...
By CJ Holley | April 23, 2009; 02:17 PM ET | Comments (4)
Shawn Hill's New Home: Toronto?
Well, at least that's what it looks like. According to the Globe and Mail's Jeff Blair, the Blue Jays are already in serious negotiations with the former Nats starter, a move that makes a lot of sense both for Hill and Toronto. Why does it make sense for both sides?...
By Cameron Smith | March 21, 2009; 09:13 AM ET | Comments (9)
More Positive Fallout From Dutch WBC Run
It was almost an eventuality that someone would take a shot with former Orioles ace Sidney Ponson after the Netherlands' shocking run in the recent World Baseball Classic. That anyone else would get a chance was much less clear. Yet, that's exactly what seems to be happening. According to Globe...
By Cameron Smith | March 20, 2009; 10:23 AM ET | Comments (2)
Bracing for an Attendance Meltdown
Attendance throughout professional sports has been on a steady decline during the recession, with some markets (the NHL in Columbus and NBA in Minneapolis, for example) scrambling to create unique ticket packages aimed at bringing in lower-income buyers. Well, baseball is no different, but thanks to an expected steep decline...
By Cameron Smith | March 9, 2009; 12:57 PM ET | Comments (34)
Alomar Responds to AIDS Claims
According to former longtime second baseman Roberto Alomar, the claims that he has AIDS -- and did while insisting on having unprotected sex with a now-ex girlfriend for four years -- are completely fabricated. If there was any question about how the former Blue Jay, Oriole, Indian and Met would...
By Cameron Smith | February 12, 2009; 12:27 PM ET | Comments (8)
Padres Trade Matt Bush to Blue Jays
Last week, Dave launched into the incredibly depressing story of Matt Bush, the Padres' No. 1 overall draft pick in 2004 who was dropped from the team last week after his latest ridiculous off-field incident ... in which he threw a high school lacrosse player and "represented" his high school...
By Cameron Smith | February 10, 2009; 06:41 PM ET | Comments (3)
Minor and Mid-Major Holiday Moves
Did you miss us? With all apologies for any breaking news you haven't seen up here in recent days, we're happy to report fully re-charged batteries and optimism for the rest of the offseason ... especially now that the excitement/headache that was Mark Teixeira has resolved itself. So what happened...
By Cameron Smith | December 30, 2008; 05:53 PM ET | Comments (4)
Yankees Sign Starter A.J. Burnett
Well, make that $243.5 million the Yankees have committed to new starting pitchers this offseason. Just days removed from reaching an agreement with top-shelf free agent starter CC Sabathia, New York reached an agreement with former Florida and Toronto ace A.J. Burnett on Friday on a five-year, $82.5 million deal,...
By Cameron Smith | December 12, 2008; 07:09 PM ET | Comments (3)
Next Braves Target: A.J. Burnett
The Braves added one of the two starters GM Frank Wren said the team needed in an offseason makeover. Now they may be stepping up the pressure to get the second man they covet at the top of their rotation: free agent former Blue Jay A.J. Burnett. According to Mark...
By Cameron Smith | December 3, 2008; 04:16 PM ET | Comments (3)
Kevin Mech is Going Japanese?
Sorry for the headline. Passing up cheesy pop songs in bigger typeface is almost as hard as walking by a 50-count, gold box of Godiva that just says "free" on top. It doesn't come up very often, so when it does, you probably want to go for it. That being...
By Cameron Smith | December 1, 2008; 07:22 PM ET | Comments (1)
Sabathia's Bank-Breaking Offer
By now you've probably read this story, about the fairly monumental offer the Yankees are reportedly extending to pitcher C.C. Sabathia. Well, details beyond what the AP's Ronald Blum was reporting here are starting to leak out from some New York sources. According to Anthony McCarron of the New York...
By Cameron Smith | November 14, 2008; 06:37 PM ET | Comments (3)
Nationals, Orioles Enter Free Agent Fray
It took two days, but the Nationals and Orioles finally seem to be entering the transactional white noise emanating from the GM meetings in Dana Point, Calif. According to both SI.com's Jon Heyman and MLB.com's Bill Ladson, the Nationals hope to surprise this offseason by signing legitimate stars. Both writers...
By Cameron Smith | November 5, 2008; 09:35 AM ET | Comments (3)
