A review of the 2005 Toronto Blue Jays thread (197 posts!) reveals many changes to your hometown Jays. Last year the Jays were coming off a disappointing 67-94 record (last in AL East). This year they are coming off an encouraging 80-82 record (3rd in AL East). With a multitude of off season roster moves and an increased payroll (from $50-60 million to $70-80 million), the Jays have high hopes for 2006.

Some arrivals and departures:

Arrivals: 3B Troy Glaus (trade), LHP B.J. Ryan (free agent), RHP A.J. Burnett (free agent), 1B Lyle Overbay (trade), INF John McDonald (free agent)

Departures: 2B Orlando Hudson, RHP Miguel Batista, RHP Dave Bush, OF Gabe Gross, RHP Chad Gaudin, INF Frank Menechino, C Ken Huckaby

O-Dog will be the most missed, as in '05 he won his firt gold glove at second base. Aaron Hill will likely move from third to second and be expected to duplicate a solid rookie season at the plate. Moves may still be made as there is a surplus at 3B/1B, and a power-hitting corner outfielder may be sought.

Blue Jays Pride Night has already been listed on the offical website as Friday June 23, 2006 vs. New York Mets. A number of ethnic days (some new) have also been listed, including Asian Heritage Day, Italian Heritage Day, Greek Heritage Night, Irish Heritage Night, and Japanese Night.

The season opens April 4th at home vs. Minnesota and ends October 1st at Yankee Stadium. Between then, anything can happen.

O-K!
Blue Jays!
Let's play ball!

The Jays have signed ex-Dodger/Met c/1b Jason Phillips to a minor league contract.

The are actively trying to trade Corey Koskie back to the Minnesota Twins, who may want to the Jays to pick up part of his salary ($11 mil. over the next 2 years). Apparently, J.P. Ricciardi has visions of Eric Hinske in right and Frank Catalanotto in left (weak defense!), with Reed Johnson and Alex Rios as defensive replacements (and starters for left handed pitching).

With the Blue Jays' acquisition of Troy Glaus, Corey Koskie's services are no longer needed and he has been traded to Milwaukee in exchange for pitcher Brian Wolfe. I'm sure Koskie's presence as a Canadian on the only team based in this country was good PR for the Blue Jays, but his offensive production was down considerably from when he played for the Twins (although he was out of action for several weeks). And of course there was the money factor too.

I'll miss the O-Dog, too! Ditto for pitcher Dave Bush, although mainly for the eye-candy factor wink I'm glad to see the Blue Jays have acknowledged gay pride on their website.

The Jays trading Koskie to the Brewers was essentially a salary dump, but one which continues to leave the team defensively weak. Yes, the pitching is stronger, but pitching and defense goes hand in hand.

I don't think the Jays as an organization have been all that interested in signing Canadian players, either. Consider we've only had the lesser names like Rob Ducey and Rob Butler and Paul Quantril, while nver really expressing much interest in the stars like Larry Walker and Eric Gagne, or rising stars like Rich Harden, Jeff Francis, Justin Morneau, Eric Bedard, etc.

I was reading that last year the Jays payroll was only $45+ million, 24th out of 30 teams. This year it will be around $70-80 million. It's interesting, though, that after all the monster contracts (B.J. Ryan, A.J. Burnett; acquisition of Troy Glaus), the Jays are having to trade away salary to manage the payroll.

The Jays signed RP Ben Weber to a minor league deal. Weber was a solid part of the Angels bullpen in '01-'03, but his last two seasons were injury plagued and unproductive.

The Jays signed some of their salary arbitration-eligible players to contracts:

- 1B Lyle Overbay will make $2.525 million this season, up from $446,000 with the Brewers last year
- reliever Scott Downs will make $705,000
- Ted Lilly gets a 1-year $4 million deal

Reports are saying that the Jays are about to sign catcher Bengie Molina to a 1-year $5 million deal, with a $7.5 million option.

Molina is signed. Yet another great signing for the Jays this off season. They look to have a vastly improved team (on paper at least). Lots of positive buzz about the team for the first time in years in the city.

I've already put my order in for tickets to a bunch of games this year. It should be fun to finally have a real chance to actually challenge the megabuck division rival Yankees and Red Sox again.

seems like the Jays are taking the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" with concerns to the AL East superpowers.

Maybe come April with the Raptors struggling and Leaves not doing so well, the fans might actually show up after opening day at SkyD.....errrr Rogers Centre(or is it Rogres Centre wink )

Indeed. The Jays have almost doubled their payroll from $45 million (6th lowest) to $75-80 million (still likely out of the top 10), although this is still far shy of the Yankees ($205 million) and Red Sox ($121 million) 2005 payroll.

Single game tickets go on sale starting this Saturday via the Blue Jays website only. Regular ticket sales begin February 25th.

I predict a rise in program sales, as fans will be looking at the field and saying 'Who are these players?'

The Blue Jays box office officially opens for single game sales this weekend with the Swing into Sping event at the Eaton Centre (there's a Blue Jays shop and box office in Sears). Among other things, they will be auditioning potential future national anthem singers.

Blue Jays off to the World Baseball Classic: Vernon Wells (USA), Alex Rios (Puerto Rico), Frank Catalanotto (Italy), Gustavo Chacin (Venezuela). Also minor leaguers Vince Perkins (Canada), Adrian Burnside (Australia).

Canada plays Tuesday March 7 vs. South Africa, Wednesday March 8 vs. USA, Thursday March 9 vs. Mexico.

The Jays lose their Spring Training opener 9-5 to the D-Rays. Roy Halladay gives up 4 unearned runs on 4 hits in 1 inning of work. The Jays had 4 errors and a passed ball in a rusty start to the season.

[ March 02, 2006, 07:51 PM: Message edited by: canmark ]

The Jays sign Roy Halladay to a 3-year $40 million contract extension. He's currently on a 4-year $42 million deal, and is now signed through 2010.

Steinbrenner North strikes again. wink

Here's a promotion I've never heard of before: June 27th will be "Chacin Cologne Night."

I do have to wonder why they're giving it to the "first 10,000 fans exiting Rogers Centre..." Perhaps they don't want people to throw the samples on the field during the game, but doing the giveaways at the end of the game... doesn't that encourage people to leave early?

If the cologne samples are in tiny bottles, they're taking precautions against them being hurled onto the field. That makes sense. Now explain why the last giveaway item I got at a Flyers game was given out on the way out the door. It was a tie. :confused: wink

If they gave the cologne away as people entered the stadium, not only could the vials be thrown at the players but the throws would be accompanied with the (appropriate, considering it's cologne) phrase: "YOU STINK!" For what it's worth, the LA kings have done a couple of giveaways this season with items being presented upon exiting. Maybe it's a trend?

~Adam

But doesn't giving away the gift upon exiting reward the people who leave in the seventh inning and punish the faithful fans who stay till the final out? If they're only giving away 10,000 and there are more than 10,000 people at the game, it's the diehard fans who'll go home without Chacin, the fragrance. And they're the ones who most deserve to smell nice.

I can't speak from experience regarding the Flyers' ties because they gave one to everyone, but perhaps they'll only start giving them away when the game actually ends? That way you have to stay if you're too cheap to buy your own cologne. wink

I'm with JIP, it seems like it would be a safety measure against fans tossing the cologne vials onto the field or at other fans.

Pride Day 6/23...count me in !

Brokeback infield? Veterans Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett staged an elaborate mock wedding for young, cute Blue Jays infielders Russ Adams (ss) and Aaron Hill (2b), complete with airplanes flying banners ("Congratulations Aaron + Russ"). Toronto Star. Globe and Mail.

The aforementioned $55 million man A.J. Burnett will start the year on the 15-day DL, and is 'scheduled' to miss his first two stars, but be ready to take the Brokeback mound after that.

I know some people have taken offense at this mock wedding, but I think it's funny! These guys went soooo far with this practical joke, and I appreciate it. I don't think the intention was to attack gay people in any way, and I don't think there was a hint of "homophobia" in it. They were just being funny - and they succeeded.

Personally, I thought the mock wedding showed how cool the Blue Jays players are with the whole gay issue. Homophobes would act with anger and fear and violence, but the team acted with good-natured fun. It was a party.

I went out to lunch with some women from work on Friday (one of them was going on maternity leave), and one of the women was telling the others about the Jays' gay wedding incident. I think everyone thought it was fun--in the cool sense. I mean, people come from all over the world come to Toronto to get gay married, one of the men in our department is a gay couple with two kids, everybody is cool with it. So, I'm not sure why some (gay) people are taking offense (as mentioned in today's Jock Talk). Lighten up, will ya?

Edit: just read the Queerty comments. Do these people know anything about baseball or the Toronto Blue Jays? Referring to Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett, they say "...they're both just living in his (ex-BJ Carlos Delgado's) shadow, and their good-but-unspectacular pitching games will be forgotten." Good-but-unspectacular? Uh, Roy Halladay was the AL Cy Young award winner in 2003. In 2005 he was 12-4 with a 2.41 ERA in 19 starts before being injured after being hit by a batted ball. He's a 3-time All-Star with a career 79-43 record. He is one of the top pitchers in the entire league.

If anything, the "gay wedding" shows how comfortable the players are with the "gay issue." If they were homophobes they would reacte with anger, fear, or violence. Instead they act with good-natured humour.

While I'm not ready to bestow a gay medal on the Blue Jays organization, I think it's totally unfair to call humour "bigotry" and attempt to start a letter-writing campaign. Bah, humbug!


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[ April 01, 2006, 08:59 AM: Message edited by: canmark ]

Jays home/season opener tonight. Roy Halladay vs. Johan Santana. First pitch: Shirley Cheek (wife of deceased Blue Jays radio broadcaster Tom Cheek). National anthem: Blue Man Group. OK--Blue Jays--Let's play ball!

Blue Man Group??? I'd arrive late.

~Adam

I wasn't able to go to the game, anways, and missed the first few innings on TV because of work. :mad:

A solid start to the season, though.

7+ innings from Roy Halladay for the win.
New Jay B.J. Ryan gets the save.
HR by Alex Rios.
HR by new Jay Bengie Molina.
Hits by new Jays Troy Glaus and Lyle Overbay.

Jays 1-0.

Where did all the fans go? Opening night attendance: 50,000+. Second game of the season: 18,156. Those 18,156 fans enjoyed a dismal 13-4 loss. frown

Solid pitching tonight in a 6-3 win. 6 2/3 solid innings from Chacin and the second save of the season for B.J. Ryan. Jays 2-1. Only 16,221 in attendance. frown

Hey Mark:
April midweek games against anybody other than the Yankees or Red Sox never draw that well in Toronto. And unlike in the 4 million a season crowds of the early 90's, when the Jays had almost 30,000 season ticket holders and a waitlist for more, these days I think they are down in the 12,000 range for season tickets. Up a bit from last year.

Advance single game ticket sales though for this season are about 400,000 ahead of what they were at this time last year. And based on the record setting TV ratings for the opener on Sportsnet (almost 700,000 viewers), it is obvious the interest is back.

I'm sure most of the larger advance sales are for tickets to either weekend games or games later in the season. Plus of course I'm sure the advance sales for our big AL East opponents the Yankees and Red Sox are huge. I would not be surprised to see a few of the games against the Yankees and Red Sox be complete sell-outs this year. If I'm not mistaken I think the only sell-out last year was the home opener against the Red Sox.

I expect a good sized crowd in a couple of weeks when I have tickets for the Red Sox on Apr. 21. Plus with both the Leafs and Raptors not making the playoffs this year, the Jays will have the entire Toronto sporting scene to themselves for the entire spring for the first time in years. That can only bode well for even bigger crowds down the road.

Of course this is all assuming that they are improved as much as we all think they are. wink

Pat

Who of you went to the opener or since????

I've heard that the Jays are continuing to remake the Rogers(or is it Rogres) Centre even more so than last season's addition of the new video boards, out of town score boards on the fences and the like.

I'll be making a few visits up north as I always do and was just a bit curious.....

Hey Blueraider. I have not been to a game yet this year, but will let you know after I've been there on the 21st. I know they have added more video boards. Re-designed and upgraded a number of the private boxes. in fact there is now one 'party box' that can accommodate over 200 people. They also removed the last couple of rows of seats on the 100 Level to create a bigger mezzanine area with all kinds of new food concessions, and extras like childrens play areas, teen video games etc. They've even added a Rogers Video store. (Nothing like cross promting amongst Rogers brands.)

They have also made a new exclusive restaurant/bar/lounge area directly behind home plate in the 200 level, where for just $400.00 you can order that special bottle of champagne to toast that special occassion. (Perhaps a group of Sabre fans up from Buffalo celebrating the Leafs not making the play-offs.) wink

[ April 07, 2006, 04:26 PM: Message edited by: Travelpat ]

I've read that they've added a "front row" in front of the front row of seats (luxury seats like the ones behind home plate... they just showed Pat Hentgen on TV sitting in some kind of front row seats with what appear to be green leather padding that looks like a couch--perhaps this is them) which had some of the season's ticket holders (who had the old "front row" seats) complaining.

Part of the problem with the big ticket sales for the Yankee and Red Sox games is that half the crowd are Yankee and Red Sox fans. I'm sure the upcoming weeked series with the Red Sox will be full of Beantowners.

I'm still waiting (and waiting ) on news about this year's Pride Night, but will post when I find out.

---------------

blueraider, have you seen this site: diehardballfan.com Like you, this guy seems to like to visit different ballparks and take pictures (incl. recent SkyDome pics of 200 level renos). He's not quite up to your veteran status (having visited only 23/30 MLB parks), but you might be interested. I just discovered this site, like, now, so I don't know any more.

[ April 07, 2006, 04:59 PM: Message edited by: canmark ]

Yes, and we'll be bringing the recently won(or hijacked from down the street) Stanley Cup to drink from as well. wink

Ahhhh...yes, more proof that I'm not crazy. People keep telling me I am but then I see stuff like this.

Another roadtripper to hook up with, sweet! Thanks CM .

For some reason the Jays seem to struggle against the D-Rays, this time dropping 2 of 3 at home.

Next stop: Boston's home opener.

Roy Halladay will miss his next start due to stiffness in his arm. A.J. Burnett, who started the season on the DL, will take Halladay's start.

Jays are not off to the hot start they hoped. Now 3-4, half a game out of last place in the AL East. frown

I know it's early, and perhaps some were wondering about all the pre-season Jays hype - with the loss to Boston earlier in the week after losing 2 of 3 to TBay, which dropped the Jays to 3-4. Add in the concern of Halladay being hurt and suddenly it was looking not quite as bright for our Jays.

But in the last three games - Wow! Two big wins in Boston, followed by a spanking of the World champs right in Chicago last night! 49 hits and 29 runs in those three games for the Jays!

Plus it is great to see the contributions being made by the players that the Jays added in the off season. Closer Ryan untouchable in his 3 appearances. Molina, Glaus and Overbay with clutch RBI's. And with those bats added to the order, Vernon Wells is getting pitches to hit and he has come through with 5 home runs and 11 RBI's already. Plus Rios has shown signs of more power than last year with 3 home runs and 8 RBI's already.

And today perhaps more good news, when AJ Burnett, whose signing started all the hype with the Jays in the offseason, makes his debut against the White Sox.

The fun should continue next week here in tToronto with the Yankees coming in for two, followed by Boston for 3 next weekend. And Halladay is not seriously hurt and will pitch next week, maybe even on Friday at the game I'm going to against the Red Sox.

If nothing else - with the Leafs likely falling from hockey playoff contention later today or tomorrow at the latest - the Jays are giving us something to watch and to be a bit excited about this April.

Spanked, eh? You hosers got put in your place by the World Champion White Sox!

Hey - I'll grant you that the Sox fairly beat us on Saturday - but there is no way that the game on Sunday should have been allowed to make it to end of the top of the 5th inning - so that the Sox who had the early lead - could get credit with a win by making it an official game.

Even some White Sox players are quoted as saying that for the top of the fifth the conditions were not playable. And the headline on the game in today's Star is 'Game should have been called sooner - Unsafe for Players'

So the Jays end up with a 3-3 road trip to Boston and Chicago. This week we'l see how they do at home against the teams they have to beat with 2 games against the Yankees followed by three versus Boston.

Pat

The Jays hitting has been very strong so far this season, while pitching has been inconsistant. We haven't swept any series, but haven't been swept, either. As a result: 6-6 record.

I'll be going to Tuesday's Jays-Yankees game.

Hey Mark:
You must have had fun last night at the Rogers Centre. By the time I got home those Yanks had already scored 4 in the top of the first and I was thinking oh-oh. But from that point on the Jays bats boomed and the Yankees looked awful - with the exception of Johnny Damon who made two or three great catches crashing up against the fence in center. Or when in Toronto is it centre field? Without his great plays the Jays would have won by more than the 10-5 score they ended up winning by.

And finally a boisterous Jays crowd too with the 48,000+ actually making some noise for a change.

One more with the Yankees starting in about an hour and then it is the Red Sox for the weekend. I'm going to the game this Friday and just found out that I am going to be in great seats. The tickets I was supposed to have were good seats about 30 rows from the field half way between home and first, but another friend just invited me to join him in seats four rows from the field almost directly behind home plate. Yeah! So my roommate gets my original tickets.

And this must be my lucky day - because a co-worker just offered me a pair to next Wednesday's game agaisnt the Orioles too. Yahoo!

A big, though costly, 7-6 extra-inning victory over the Red Sox last night at that launching pad called the Rogers Centre (8 home runs hit by the two teams).

$55 million man A.J. Burnett left after 4 innings with arm problems... and is off to Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham Alabama.

This afternoon's game features a Halladay-DiNardo (who?) matchup. Halladay himself is not without arm questions.

Hey Mark:
The Burnett arm problems do put a bit of a damper on it - but what a fantastic game last night! And what a rowdy Friday night crowd too! It certainly helped that there were a good 3-4 thousand + Red Sox fans in the house who were very loud as the Sox charged out to their 6-2 lead. But from the bottom of the 8th on, when the Jays came roaring back - right through the dramatic winning run - with a play at the plate - in the bottom of the 12th, the Jays fans were as loud as I have heard them in a long long time! And unlike most Jay crowds I would say well over 90% of the crowd hung around for the full 4+ hours until the wild finish. I don't think I've ever been on my feet at a Jays game as much as we were last night.

It was great to have seats 4 rows from the field just a little to the right side of home plate. We were within 15 feet of the Red Sox on deck batters and the fans around us were constantly razzing the Red Sox players.

I think the turning point of the game was when Beckett - the Boston pitcher who had been brilliant - with wicked 95 mph+ perfectly controlled heat all night long, arrogantly decided to intentionally drill Aaron Hill with a 95mph fastball on his first pitch of the bottom of the 8th, after a Jays pitcher hit a Sox batter with a slow sweeping curve in the top of that inning. I guess he figured his 4 run lead was safe and he would not pay for nailing the Jays batter in retaliation. But that not only woke the crowd up again, it obviously woke up the Jays bats too and 3 home runs later in that inning we had a tie game.

Let's hope Burnett is not on the shelf for too long. He showed some great stuff in his first two innings matching the 95, 96 and 97 mph heat that Beckett was dishing out for the Sox. But sitting where I was you could see he was not nearly as good with his pitches in the third when the Sox jumped ahead by 3.

Here's hoping todays game is even half as good as last nights.

Not that I am going to complain or anything - but after last nights thriller today's game was a bit of a snore. 4-0 after one inning and the Jays just coasted from there to an 8-1 win. Red Sox have a 10-3 record against everybody else this season, but now have dropped to 1-4 vs the Jays this year.

The bad news for the Jays though is that they have put AJ Burnett on the 15 day DL. He may be out much longer than that depending on what the specialist in Alabama advises.

The Jays started a 7 game road trip vs. AL East rivals NY, Baltimore and Boston with a 7-2 win. It's been downhill since then. Outscored 23-14 at Yankee Stadium, the Jays' pitching has been shown up. In first place by percentage points 2 days ago. The Jays are now in 3rd place in the AL East, 2 games out of last.

Note: Toronto Blue Jays Pride Day will not be on Friday June 23rd, as previously posted. I met with team representatives this morning and we (members of the LGBT community in Toronto, incl. myself and travelpat) will be working on a new Pride Day, likely in August. Stay tuned for further information.

The Jays thumped the Angels 13-3, continuing to show that they can win the high-scoring games. The low-scoring games are another matter. Reliever Vinnie Chulk has followed Jason Frasor in the minors, starter Josh Towers is 0-6 with an ERA over 10, and A.J. and may be a bit of a malingerer.

After being shutout 3-0 on Saturday, the Jays show they can win a low scoring game, defeating the Angels 3-1 behind Casey Janssen in this first major league victory.

Despite the (high-scoring) win, the Jays suffered another pitching setback, as Gustavo Chacin (5-1) leaves the game after 3 innings with soreness in his elbow. The Jays can't afford any more losses in their pitching staff.

At present, Chacin, Halladay and Lilly combine for 12 of the team's 18 wins. No other pitcher has more than 1 win.

Re: today's Hot Jock topic pink bats

Blue Jays Vernon Wells, Shea Hillenbrand, Greg Zaun, and Alex Rios are scheduled to be using the pink bats on Mother's Day.

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