Welcome to 2000-whine…

Be still my beating heart.

O.K. time to go into full spin mode since the alternative involves a length of rope and a knot behind the left ear. The Toronto Blue Jays (who are the New York Yankees in Bizarro World) haven’t just gone dumpster diving; they’ve followed around the dog that got into the dumpster before them until digestion was fully accomplished and took the end result and signed them to minor league contracts.

I’m just gonna comment on two of them (they inked four) because it only hurts half as much.

Mike Maroth’s claim to fame is being a recent 20 game loser having gone 9-21 in 2003 at age 25. He is left handed which is promising and has good command with a career BB/9 of 2.57 and has a GB/FB ratio of 1.31 even though he doesn’t strike out many—he sounds like a southpaw version of Jesse Litsch. In 2004, he logged over 200 league average innings which would be awesome if he could come close to that and his career to date is reminiscent of Jamie Moyer who didn’t find himself until he was Maroth’s age.

So, when you take that along with the Jays’ defense and bullpen there is a remote chance that—if healthy—he could be a useful member of the rotation. I don’t think he will mind you but I am trying to be optimistic here.

Michael Barrett is still young enough to be capable and unlike Rod Barajas seems to be able to hit lefties fairly consistently although he’s pretty incompetent in hitting righties. It may seem odd to platoon two right handed hitters but if Barrett can continue mashing southpaws (.295/.380/.587) as he has since 2005 and Barajas can be league average against right-handers then there shouldn’t be a black hole offensively behind the dish. Let’s face it, Barajas is primarily a defensive receiver that will go on the odd hot streak as he did for 28 games last season batting .348/.408/.584 but other than the occasional longball is pretty much an out machine (.289 career OBP)—I mean, when you’re looking up at Omar Moreno and have John McDonald breathing down your neck on the OBP standings then chances are good you’re inept offensively.

Did the Jays improve themselves? It’s possible—I just worry that they’ll win jobs based on their veterany goodness rather than actual performance.

Anyway, I finally put together a comprehensive reply to Jack Marshall’s article for The Hardball Times and part two of my Blue Jays’ 2000-hate crap up for SMSN Sports. As to the THT piece, be sure to use the loo and pack a lunch because it’s a beast of an article. I generally shoot for no more than 1200-1500 words when I write anything anymore and “The Baseball Ethicist—a reply” ran over 5200. Jack and I exchanged pleasantries on Ball Hype on it (seriously, there is no animosity between us—we just agree to disagree and not let somebody we’ve never met be the source of hostilities…pretty silly of us eh?).

Well, I’ll soon be back in harness although I did a lot more writing during my December break than I intended—oh well.

Best Regards

John