Monday 10 August 2009

State of...Perception


The ship is sinking!!! I'm in the sports industry, so I understand that sports is a business. But when I saw the following newsflash I was only looking at it from a fan's viewpoint:

"The Blue Jays have decided to trade Rios to the White Sox without receiving any compensation in return..."

The Blue Jays have officially given up. Not just this year, but they've decided to throw in the towel with regards to baseball in general. They are going to do their best impression of the Florida Marlins. That means get rid of all those players who are making more than a few million per year. But I digress...

How am I, as a fan, to take this? The Jays just let one of their better players walk away for NOTHING! I don't care how much money he makes or is scheduled to make next year. They gave away talent and in exchange got a grand total of ZERO. Teams trade away their high priced talent all the time, I get it. But those teams get SOMETHING in return. At least get some extra batting practice balls!

Rios is a multiple All-Star. Sure he's not having the greatest year of his career, but he's still on pace for 21 homers and 28 stolen bases. That's certainly worth more than NOTHING, isn't it?? He is one of only a handful of players who give at least 20 HRs and 20 SBs each year. He has 30-30 potential every season. Do you know how many 30-30 players there were last year. TWO! And the Jays just gave away a guy who threatens this every year...for diddly squat!!!

So what's a fan to do? I feel like I have to continue to support my team...but they are making it so damn difficult. First they almost trade away the best pitcher in the AL (or maybe in MLB), then they GIVE away Rios. How can I continue to support a team that clearly has no desire to compete for the foreseeable future. You'd think that I'd be used to this being a Maple Leaf fan, but I'm not. I'm pissed.

If I were in Toronto I would have been attending games (someone has to, right?!). But after seeing this, how could I bring myself to continue attending this charade of a season? This team is being dismantled from the inside and they aren't improving. I could maybe understand if our best players were being traded for great prospects...but this deal proves that ownership is only worried about one thing. The bottom line. They don't care about winning, they don't care about giving the fans what they want. You can worry about the bottom line while still trying to get better - many teams do this. What we lack is leadership from the top.

Get rid of JP, that stupid useless, waste of space for a General Manager. He has yet to make a trade that has worked out for the Jays, and the number of moves he's done that have backfired is staggering!!! He's an idiot who can't do anything right at this point! He is the laughing stock of Major League Baseball. Honestly, I wish we could trade HIM for nothing. Hell, I'd even give up a prospect to get rid of that loser.

Please, for the love of God, get rid of JP. Do it. Do it now!!!

Cheers,
LW

2 comments:

  1. Bitch... don't hold back, tell me how you really feel.

    J.P. can do one thing right. Draft good, young pitchers. The number of home-grown good young pitchers to play for the Jays this year is remarkable.

    On the "yet to make a trade that has worked out for the Jays" tip, I would argue that the Rolen trade a couple weeks ago was a complete fleece job as the Jays picked up two stud pitching prospects and a bat with a lot of potential (frustrating as that potential might be). However, in counter argument to the Rolen trade, one could point out that we are currently watching Jason Frasor save games and Jays fans should collectively cry when we look at who we gave up to get Frasor).

    All that said, Rios had to go. Sure, on pace for 21 and 28 but the kid was playing with zero heart and never coming through in the clutch. However, with Vernon Wells playing bad also it was like the two have been feeding off each other for the last two seasons. One had to go to alienate the other and since Vernon is untradeable it had to be Rios. Maybe this can act as a sort of wake up call for Vernon to maybe do some sort of off-season conditioning this year... maybe, just a thought.

    Addition by subtraction. Get rid of a guy who cashed in a big contract and retired and make room for another kid to play with some heart, which the Jays have a couple of at this point in time.

    J.P. has just about wore out his welcome in this town, no doubt. At least he did not get fleeced for Halladay although J.P. hardly has the respect around the league for teams to get serious and make a big trade with him, which bodes poorly for the Jays' future.

    Is the ship sinking? No, but it's sailing mighty low right now.

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  2. I will give you that. The amount of depth we have at starting pitching is unreal. That has been exciting to see these kids come up and play as well as they have.

    Furthermore, many of these guys won't get a true shot till two years from now. With Marcum and McGowan coming back next season it's going to be a crowded rotation - meaning the kids will be back at AAA getting some more experience.

    I'm a fan of Alex Rios. He has a TON of talent and for whatever reason he hasn't fully realized his potential. But he has performed in the clutch this year. His batting average with RISP is .289, solid but not spectacular. But his average with RISP and 2 outs...is .346! And with the bases loaded it's .286. Again nothing to get too excited about, but better than many of our players.

    I was just extremely upset as a "fan" that they lost Rios for nothing. I don't care about the money it saves, blah blah blah. It's not like they are going to go out and spend that extra $10 million on free agents this off-season. It was cost cutting, pure and simple. And as a fan, that pisses me off.

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