TwistedLogic

AA (on Martin): "We decided very early on that this was going to be our first target in the off-season. He's really the key to the off-season for us."

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So yeah, it's Stoeten (who plugs himself as much as can possibly f***ing plug himself in that article), and it's McCown, and it's a bunch of the same old "he said", rumory type stuff/garbage we're accustomed to, but if there's any truth to it (and there better be some, if it's true how much they're hiking up the ticket prices in the upcoming season) then it's good news and good tidings for the Jays and the Jays fans. Not sure I'd agree with Lester being the guy to make that massive splash and statement on, but what do I know. As a side note, how hilarious would it be if Guy Laurence, the guy everyone was afraid would steer Rogers' focus away from the Jays and a sport he doesn't understand, ends up being the catalyst behind a massive overhaul and change in policy for the franchise.

Okay, just to preface this, I should drop a triple disclaimer here; the tweets at the bottom of the page are from some random dude on twitter, the article about it was written by Stoeten (I accept my ban), and the source behind it all is old-man McCown. But for whatever it's worth, eh? On with the news: McCown: “May Not Be A Real Limit” To Payroll, Rogers Intends To Use Jays To Burnish Image Posted on November 19, 2014 by Stoeten Very interesting stuff from Tuesday night’s edition of Prime Time Sports on the Fan 590 here in Toronto, in which Bob McCown offered his take on the conversations he says he’s been privy to within the halls at Bloor and Jarvis, and what his understanding is of how new CEO Guy Laurence intends to do business with respect to the Jays. In short: if true it’s very, very, tremendously good news for Jays fans. The key points: the club wants to spend — they’ve already budgeted for an increase — and ownership is willing to go over-budget if the right deal comes along. Better still, the club specifically wants Jon Lester, but is concerned about the seven-year term he’s asking for. That would almost seem to be more a Beeston concern, though — i.e. the policy — as Rogers, if we’re to believe it, sees tremendous value in repairing their reputation, and thinks that standing behind a well-funded, successful Blue Jays club could be a great way to help do so. Don’t just take my word for it, though. Here is the full quote from near the beginning of the segment you can hear here, as McCown lays a bunch of inner-workings stuff on co-host Ken Reid before, just as quickly as our nugget of a tangent began, the conversation slips back into typical Toronto radio hockey talk nonsense. http://i.gyazo.com/6d5a04ff54df9a1b67c7fb0ad96773ea.png REID: So you produce a winning team and everybody loves the owner. Which we see in pretty much every team that wins. Is that what you’re getting at? http://i.gyazo.com/9290124ea4c436c803b8fc9cfb7266df.png REID: That would be going against the five year plan. But would this — I’ll call it a P.R. move — would that be enough to bend it? http://i.gyazo.com/867b50969ca18a371964698cb37645b4.png REID: They’re going to have to break that egg at some point. I don’t know if it’s this year, but at some point you’re going to have to just realize that the price of doing business is as much term as it is money — because term is money. I’ll take $20-million a year, but I want it for eight years, not for five, so… that’s 60-million bucks. http://i.gyazo.com/a445f283c8009d9a6157b95c52498d24.png So… weird. It’s like I’m getting deja vu here, and not just because I’ve whined forever about how all the talk we hear about term in these free agent dealings is just a shorthand for more money — as in: Russell Martin didn’t choose the Jays because he really wanted a five year deal more than a four-year one, he did so because the five-year pact was worth $82-million, and the four-year one was topping out around $70-million. No, I’m getting deja vu because it’s like so much of what’s being talked about here is lifted straight from Kelly Pullen’s October Toronto Life cover story on Edward Rogers III, as well as — if I do say so myself — my own thoughts pivoting off Pollen’s work (which you can see by way of last night’s Presented Without Comment…, in the bottom post at this link). http://i.gyazo.com/494b40b64a7bd87bd0e0cab73379e8e5.png Reflecting on Pullen’s passage, I added: “The fact alone that they hired Laurence in part on the basis of upper management’s concern for the brand — unlike the complacent preceding years — would seem good news for Jays fans given what should be obvious about how a well-funded and successful club would reflect on ownership, as opposed to the perception that currently persists.” Pullen later explained that “Laurence believes that the NHL broadcasting rights are a project the entire company can rally behind, and one that can be leveraged to help resuscitate the Rogers brand. The rights may not substantially raise ad revenues, but Laurence is hoping they’ll translate into increased revenue in cable and mobile.” I suggested that, “in theory those same ideas should apply to the Jays, [even] though the parallels are not perfect.” In fact, I later concluded that “if ‘critics of the NHL deal [who] say it has quickly transformed Rogers from a communications company into a sports marketing company‘ are right, in addition to the company’s greater willingness to take risks, and the keenness on un-poisoning their brand, fans can at least feel a little hopeful that sports and the marketing of their teams might now be a central focus of the behemoth, I think. Even those who are fans of the ‘wrong’ sport.” That would seem to be precisely the same message McCown is conveying. Of course, in this case it’s coming from a much more reliable — if not wholly reliable — source than my attempts to make sense of how what Pullen was telling us related back to the Jays. It all sounds pretty awesome to me. Especially the notion of an ownership that — at least for whatever short amount of time Guy Laurence is going to be here — might genuinely grasp the full breadth of immense benefits that being a team that can go out and sign a Jon Lester, and could keep him for more than a half-decade without allowing his contract to strangle the budget, would bring. As always with this stuff, though, I’ll believe it when I see it. Maybe this is all just a cynical ploy to get people to think twice about renewing the season tickets they didn’t bother to when they say how much the prices were going up. But after Russell Martin, and the club’s first real foray into the big-dollar free agent market in forever, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little bit more inclined to think it possible than I was a week ago. I hate to get carried away, but it’s a hell of a feeling. Why not us? Now go get Jon Lester. "Bob McCown just said that their is a sense that new CEO Guy Lawrence wants to improve the image of Rogers and he wants to do that by (1/2)" So you can take whatever you will from all of that. .

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I'm quaking in my boots.

^chp

You need to develop a better understanding of advanced statistics. You should check out fangraphs.com and read some of the stuff they have there.

jesus christ

What is happening in this post?

Top notch despairing being done by the Jays this off-season. They probably thought that since every agent throws their name into every free agent's list of suitors to raise their market value anyway, why not just go out and have a bit of fun and confirm those "rumors" to make other teams overpay.

I like this. "Although I noted rumours of a new turf arriving this year, the current plan is to have the Blue Jays play on the refurbished field for the 2014 season only, as a brand-new artificial surface will be purchased installed for use in the 2015, 2016, and 2017 seasons."

It does, in retrospect, where the pitchers' WAR would go up thanks to the better framing, but it won't include it in projections. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think projections only count for league average catchers, so you can throw some sugar in there if you got a guy like Martin.

That should probably tell you how little I know about back problems. Regardless, I still believe that the detriments of playing on turf are a bit overblown. I don't see any reason why they shouldn't pursue Headley if the medicals check out. Despite his back issues, he was an elite defender last year (he actually posted the best defensive numbers in the majors), and he's still relatively young.

That 109M doesn't include the league min guys, or the arbitration guys. And I can't f***ing believe we have to pay Ricky Romero $8M in 2015.

After posting 0.8, 0.9 and 0.8 wins in each of the three years prior, Crain was worth 1.9 wins in only 36 innings of relief last year before going down and then missing the entire 2014 season. He's shown excellent consistency for four seasons in a row, his most recent performance is the best of his career, and his stock never has and probably never will be lower. Sell him the whole Canadian, "we-just-signed-Martin" thing, and see if he bites on a heavily incentives-based deal. If he's fine in spring, give him the closer job till he gives you reason to take it away.

With all of Melky's back problems, he didn't have a hard time playing on concrete this past season. The fear of turf is over-rated. Sure it's a factor, but it's probably a far smaller factor than people think. Over the years, how many times have we seen an infielder go down because of an injury in the field? The most common injury Jays players suffer seems to be when they're f***ing running to first base. Reyes hasn't had a single field related injury in his entire time here. And I haven't looked into it, so I'm not sure if I'm recalling this correctly, but I don't think Headley's got chronic back problems like Lind. He had a slipped disk in his back last year. I'm not sure how much of a risk that puts him at for future back problems, but I'd be surprised if it's high.

Should be 5. They should sign Jesse Crain to an incentives deal.

Game.

How do people watch this sport without getting high blood pressure?

This is uncomfortable.

I was just thinking "if they can go 9-0 to start the game, they can go 9-0 here" and they do just that aha

f***, that would have been so nice by Lowry if he made that shot.

I remember liking Devlin when he cast the Jays, but I do remember people saying they don't like him nearly as much when he announces anything else as well. Who knows, maybe I'll warm up to them. Still kind of an irritating first impression to hear them use Leafs references in a NBA broadcast.

Are these commentators as bad as they sound to the untrained ear?