Beanballs are a black-eye on baseball. They’re just about the most cowardly and dangerous act that can be perpetrated in professional sports. They’re accepted in baseball culture as a way to retaliate; 1) Because there’s far less opportunity for physical contact in baseball than in football, basketball or hockey and 2) Because they inflict maximum damage and are supposed to be a way for the players to ‘self-police’ the game.
It’s August 30th, and the Toronto Blue Jays have a widening, but still ‘post-movie popcorn’ like grip on first place in the American League East. It’ll be a dog fight to the end, with the eleven games remaining against Baltimore and Boston looking more and more like they’ll directly determine who will win the division, and who will be stuck battling it out in the one game Wild Card playoff on October 4th. The series opening win over the Orioles last night was a nice start.
With the news that the Blue Jays have made some relatively major front office changes this past week, firing amateur scouting director Brian Parker, national crosschecker Blake Davis and minor league field co-ordinator Doug Davis, the Mark Shapiro/Ross Atkins imprint on the Toronto organization is becoming more and more visible. Not that it wasn’t already, despite what many fans seem to believe.
In this monthly feature (an homage to the great Jonah Keri), intrepid Blue Jays fan Dan Grant takes a look at the current team roster and ranks what he finds within. An important distinction to make is that this set of rankings is not one designed to judge overall talent, current skill, potential upside or even strength of character. It is one simply designed to reflect how important the performance of the ranked players are to the success of the team, both in the recent past and near future. From top to bottom, who’s hot, and who’s not? And more importantly still, who needs to be?
The newly minted All-Star has become more than the Blue Jays and their fans could have hoped for this season, exceeding all expectations by harnessing his devastating natural ability, and pairing it with a combination of strength and mechanical consistency that was lacking during his first stint in the starting rotation in 2015. So why are we still worried about Aaron Sanchez and his role?
Intrepid Blue Jays fan Dan Grant takes a look at the current team roster and ranks what he finds within. An important distinction to make is that this set of rankings is not one designed to judge overall talent, current skill, potential upside or even strength of character. It is one simply designed to reflect how important the performance of the ranked players are to the success of the team, both in the recent past and near future. From top to bottom, who’s hot, and who’s not? And more importantly still, who needs to be?
In this monthly feature (an homage to the great Jonah Keri), intrepid Blue Jays fan Dan Grant takes a look at the current team roster and ranks what he finds within. An important distinction to make is that this set of rankings is not one designed to judge overall talent, current skill, potential upside or even strength of character. It is one simply designed to reflect how important the performance of the ranked players are to the success of the team, both in the recent past and near future. From top to bottom, who’s hot, and who’s not? And more importantly still, who needs to be?
They say pitching and defense wins titles. So it might shock some of you readers to learn that the hottest starting rotation in baseball belongs not to any of these early season contenders, but to a .500 ball club, one that sits third in their respective division and has so far underwhelmed the colossal expectations of a suddenly rabid fan base.
Is it possible? Does the best rotation in baseball belongs to… the Toronto Blue Jays?
By: Dan Grant In this monthly feature (an homage to the great Jonah Keri), intrepid Blue Jays fan Dan Grant takes a look at the current team roster and ranks […]
Last Thursday was the night of the latest Pitch Talks event, held in Toronto at the Phoenix Concert Theatre. It was a star-studded affair (for baseball nerds) headlined by none other than the Toronto Blue Jays team president, Mark Shapiro. Here is a recap of the night.
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