Following a disappointing 2004 season (67-94 record; last in AL East), Blue Jay fans might best start the new year with low expectations... and hope to be surprised. The Blue Jay payroll in '05 will likely be in the $50-60 million range, while our division rivals will be in the $200+ and $100+ range.

Team leader in HR and RBI Carlos Delgado was not offered salary arbitration and will likely sign with another team.

On the plus side, Canadian 3B Corey Koskie was signed to a 3-year deal. Roy Halladay should be back in form, leading a pitching rotation that includes Ted Lilly and Miguel Batista. Vernon Wells will continue to anchor the offence and defence, along with the likes of Frank Catalanotto, Orlando Hudson, Russ Adams, Alex Rios and others.

Also on the plus side, the Blue Jays continue to show support for the gay community. They are one of the official sponsors for the Canadian Stage Company's production of Take Me Out. They have also already listed Pride Day on their promotional schedule: it's set for Pride Week (Thursday June 23rd, vs. Baltimore Orioles).

As we say during the seventh inning stretch:

O-K! (O-K!)
Blue Jays! (Blue Jays!)
Let's (Let's)
Play (Play)
Ball!

Just remember, you started it -- it wouldn't be there if not for you.

Not to be outdone by that $207 million team, the Blue Jays announced today that they have signed a 1-year $950,000 deal with catcher Greg Zaun. Zaun had a career year in 2004 with 6HR, 36RBI and a .269 BA in 338ABs (the most in his 12-year career). A switch-hittter, Zaun may platoon with Guillermo Quiroz, and possibly veteran Greg Myers (who was signed to a minor league contract). The Jays other catcher Kevin Cash was traded to the D-Rays in December.

Amid big-money announcements (Mets sign Beltran to $119 million deal; Green agrees to $32 million extension with D-Backs), the Blue Jays announce the $900,000 one-year signing of hard-throwing righty Billy Koch. Koch, as you recall, was one of GM J.P. Ricciardi's first moves--he shipped him out to Oakland for Eric Hinke, who promptly became rookie-of-the-year before settling on mediocrity. Koch, a one-time closer (163 career saves; 100 with the Jays in 3 seasons) has been erratic in the past 3 seasons and will compete for the Jays closer position.

A big-money deal by Jays standard, lefty Scott Shoeneweis is signed to a 2-year $5.25 million deal. Despite a 6-9 record and 5.59 ERA last year with the White Sox (as a starter), Shoeneweis supposedly limited lefties to a .222 BA.

The Jays are also supposed to be swinging a trade with the D-Backs for Shea Hillenbrand--he of the "Trade me, faggot" comment prior to being traded by Theo Epstein from Boston to Arizona.

Lucky you...it's just like when the Phils got Todd Jones last year. wink

According to Sportsnet's Marty York, they SkyDome will be officially re-named on Wednesday. Rogers Communications (which owns the Blue Jays), recently purchased the stadium (for a song) and apparently will re-name it and announce upgrades to the stadium turf and a new scoreboard as ways to bring excitement (and fans) to the Blue Jays.

We shall see.

Want to live like an MLB star? Carlos Delgado's former Yorkville townhouse is up for sale for $1,495,000. The three-story house is only 4 years old and has 3,200 sq. ft.

Also on the market is Vince Carter's harbourfront condo. It's 5,700 sq. ft. and is available for $3.5 million.

Watch out world, the Jays are getting a makeover. At this morning's press conference it was announced that the SkyDome will be renamed... (drum roll, please)... the Rogers Centre. (For those who don't know, Rogers owns the Blue Jays, TV cable service, Internet service, cell phone service, TV and radio stations, magazines, video stores.)

Upgrades to the Rogers Centre will include a new scoreboard, plus ancilliary scoreboards (I believe they said there would be scoreboards in the outfield fences :confused: , plus those illuminated things that go all the way around the inside of the stadium--which are more common in areanas--for advertising and graphic displays--I quite like those; when Casino Rama advertises at Raptors games, they light up the signs to make the arena look like a giant roulette wheel). They will replace the turf with simulated grass-type turf (like in Tropicana Field). And Rogers has committed $210 million over 3 years for team payroll (of course, this equates to $70 million a year... but given that the Yankees payroll is over $200 million this year, who knows what it will be 3 years from now? $70 million may be meaningless).

The Jays' home opener this year (Friday April 8th) will be against the World Series champs Boston Red Sox. Our second homestand (starting April 20th) will be against the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

They're getting to be quite common, especially in the new ballparks. At the Outsports Convention Phillies game, our section was in right field, so we couldn't see the scoreboards on the right-field wall. If this link works you'll get an idea of what they mean. This is just a drawing, not an actual photo. Best I could find quickly.

Link works, so I'll edit to add this, which I forgot: I hate the new name. If they need to put their name on it, it should be Rogers SkyDome.

[ February 02, 2005, 04:09 PM: Message edited by: Joe in Philly ]

Actually, that's not what I meant. Or what I thought I understood the \"scoreboards\" to mean (although, it might, in fact, be what they mean). What I thought they were saying is that they would be video screens on the outfield fences.

That's what the Phillies have, in between the two main sections with out-of-town scores...one or two screens which have video capability as well as for showing stats and the like.

You Americans are so up-to-date. wink I guess I was just wondering how they would do this since the outfield fences at the SkyDome are not permanent, but must be set-up and taken down on a regular basis. Anyways, I did see an illustration of what it would look like and there will be electronic signs on the outfield fences that will show out-of-town scores and whatnot.

All very cool....though I always liked the place for not giving in to the corporate naming craze.

It will be interesting to step into the place for the first of a half dozen times or so next season.....

ps....used to hate that OK Blue Jays song, but ever since they made God Bless America a permanent part of many 7th inning stretches across America it has gone way up in my opinion.

Illustration of some of the new scoreboards.

Blue Jays regular-season tickets now on sale!

Any Outsporters interested in attending the Jays Home Opener on Friday April 8th, 7:15pm, vs. Boston Red Sox?

I'm going to get tickets in the upper deck, and I have 2 Outsporter 'maybes' so far.

The Jays are on the cover of Sports Illustrated.



The article.

[ March 09, 2005, 08:20 AM: Message edited by: canmark ]

Uh oh...the SI Jinx! He's not going to make the team now, and the Jays' chances of winning the AL East are in trouble. wink

Let's hope it doesn't jinx the Blue Jays! I enjoyed Tom Verducci's Plimpton-esque article. I'm slowly catching up with what's going on in baseball, with the season fast approaching...I didn't realize the Blue Jays had acquired Shea Hillenbrand, who will likely be a DH (Designated Homophobe? ) Also, I noticed catcher Greg Myers isn't listed on the Jays roster.

Greg Myers and former Jay catcher Ken Huckaby are on the "non-roster invitee" list.

Pitching news is the current story, as the rotation is being finalized. Miguel Batista, who was demoted from starter to closer late last year, was supposed to return to the starting rotation but has now been officially declared "closer" (ousting Justin Spier from the role he had in name only; closer-by-committee was also a consideration). This opens the door for Gustavo Chacin, the lefty rookie who had an impressive start against the Yankees last season as a call up. The starting rotation is now: Roy Halladay, Ted Lilly, David Bush, Gustavo Chacin, Josh Towers.

Oh, and I got my tickets to the Blue Jays home opener vs. the Red Sox. Yay! Outsporters welcome to attend, as I may have an extra ticket(s). Upper deck, row 5.

[ March 11, 2005, 03:08 PM: Message edited by: canmark ]

It was announced that the Blue Jays have dumped their public-address announcer Murray Eldon, who had been with the team for 27 years. frown

My guess is they want to hire some DJ from a radio station who'll yell stuff like "LET'S MAKE SOME NOISE!!!!" into the microphone and generally make a nuisance of himself.

[ March 16, 2005, 08:57 AM: Message edited by: Joe in Philly ]

The Jays said they "wanted to go in a new direction" when they fired Murry Eldon, who was a great announcer, so you may be right JiP.

But I'm reminded of when Blue Jays mascot BJ Birdy was replaced by the bland and politically correct male and female mascots Ace and Diamond. Murray Eldon's deep, level voice harkened to the old days of baseball--voices like Jack Buck--full of character and wisdom. I hope they're not going for some young, excitable voice which is more suited to the basketball ambiance.

Partly due to the death of former Jay pitcher John Cerutti, Sportsnet is changing their broadcasting lineup. Sportsnet anchor Jamie Campbell will take over play-by-play coverage, assisted by a rotation of former Jays Pat Tabler, Tom Candiotti, Rance Mulliniks and Darrin Fletcher on colour commentary.

Sportsnet's Warren Sawkiw will join the radio broadcast team of Jerry Howarth and Tom Cheek (who had a brain tumour last year and is reducing his duties) as colur analyst on The Fan 590.

Sportsnet, The Fan, and the Blue Jays are all owned by Rogers Communications.

Surprised that canmark--our resident Blue Jay expert--hasn't posted this yet, but Billy Koch has been released by them.

~Adam

I'm surprised that anybody noticed that. In his first 3 years in the majors, 1999-2001, Billy Koch, a one-time flamethrower who used to get it up to 100 mph, saved 100 games for the Jays. And in 2002 he saved 44 games for the A's after being traded for Eric Hinske (who would become rookie-of-the-year as a Jay). After that his career went down the drain. The Jays signed him in January to a 1-year $900,000 deal. He wasn't going to make the team, so they released him. And that's all there is to say about Billy Koch. Mis-take.

[ March 17, 2005, 08:17 PM: Message edited by: canmark ]

Pitcher Ted Lilly will start the season on the DL. Pete Walker may fill in his spot in the rotation. David Bush may get the start in the home opener vs. Red Sox.

At present, the Jays have the best Spring Training record in the AL, 11-5.

Not sure if any of you guys have posted on this or have heard about it, but next year the Blue Jays actually plan on competeting with the big boys by writing some fat checks. Apparently Toronto is tired of being written off before the season even opens up.

Unfortunatly for the Blue Jays, next years free agent crop ain't all that great.

Rogers has promised $210 million over 3 years. Considering that the Yankees spend $210 million in one year, and $210 over 3 years works out to $70 million per year, I don't know if that qualifies as "fat checks." Still, it's unlikely that the Jays will use much of that money in the '05 season. Our payroll will likely be in the $50-60 million range this season (presently, it's $50 mil.). This may open up more money for future years--but, of course, everyone will be spending more money in future years and the Jays will be just keeping up with the Jones's.

The Jays are investing money in upgrading the Rogers Centre (SkyDome). They have installed new turf and several new scoreboards.

The home opener is still nowhere near sold out. frown

[ April 01, 2005, 05:24 AM: Message edited by: canmark ]

Oh, ye Blue Jays. You think you're so cool. According to the Toronto Star, the Trailer Park Boys will throw out the first pitch at the home opener, and Slash (of Guns 'N Roses) will do the national anthems on electric guitar.



[ April 01, 2005, 11:36 AM: Message edited by: canmark ]

Jays finalize their roster. In: OF Gabe Gross, who led the team in Spring Training with a .400 BA, 8 HR and 18 RBI; P Pete Walker, who could start (in place of Ted Lilly) or relieve; Greg Myers, the veteran catcher; RP Vinnie Chulk. Out: P Kerry Lightenberg, who was released (the Jays are on the hook for his $2.5 mil. salary); P Justin Miller was sent down to AAA.

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

Note: I've got an extra ticket to the Jays home opener on April 8th, if anyone is interested. Upper deck, row 5, $11.

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

Jays season opener April 4th at Tampa Bay scheduled starters: Roy Halladay @ Dewon Brazelton.

[ April 02, 2005, 03:39 PM: Message edited by: canmark ]

Game #1: Roy Halladay turns in a fine performance, scattering 9 hits over 7 IP, with 2 ER, 0 BB and 7 K in the win. Miguel Batista gets the save. Dewon Brazelton and Jesus Colome pitched decently well for the D-Rays, but were burned by the long ball. The Jays showed surprising power, with homers by Orlando Hudson, Vernon Wells and Eric Hinkse. Attendance at Tropicana Field was a disappointing 26,018, less then 60% capacity. Jays record: 1-0.

Exhibit #1 as to why the Devil Rays should be contracted or moved to Vegas.

Glad to see the Doc in good form as he's on one of my fantasy teams this year.

2 - 0. If only we could play the D-Rays every game.

I'm off to the Blue Jays home opener this Friday night against the Red Sox. I've really lucked out as a friend has come through with his corporate seats, 4 rows back just to the visitor side of home plate. I've sat there before, within about 15-20 feet of the visitors on-deck batters. Great seats. Should get a great view of the new and improved Jumbotron replacement and the outfield wall video boards at the new and improved SkyDome....er, I mean Rogers Centre as well.

Pat

[ April 06, 2005, 01:36 PM: Message edited by: Travelpat ]

With the Jays leading 5-2 in the 8th, I had visions of the Jays being in sole possession of first place in the AL East. Alas, the bullpen coughed up 6 runs and the Jays lost 8-5 before an afternoon crowd of 8,764 (20% capacity) in Tampa.

I will be at the Jays home opener as well, 5 levels above Travelpat, in section 521. Looks like it will be a sell out. Scheduled starters: Bronson Arroyo @ David Bush.

I'm attending every game this weekend and it should be some great baseball. I have seen the new field and scoreboard in person and they all look much better than before.

The matchups for this weekend are:

Friday - Arroyo vs Bush
Saturday - Wells vs Halladay
Sunday - Clement vs Lilly

Go Jays!

Well, Opening Day at the 'new' Rogers Centre, and canmark has plenty to say.

- supposedly the Jays had their highest Opening Day attendance in team history (50,560)
- the crowd, though, was full of jokers who threw the free fridge magnet/schedule on the field; the Jays seemed to do little to stop this embarrassing and dangerous display (most were thrown from the upper deck, and paper airplances, toilet paper rolls were thrown, too), as there were few ushers and the announcements were tame (there was also a guy who ran onto the field)
- the new video screen was nice and bright, but one segment seemed to malfunction during the game; also, the info on the batter they packed on the screen was sensory overload, and the type was sometimes too small for my poor eyes to read; while it's nice to know the pitch count, I would much rather see the balls and strikes on the batter, which I had difficulty finding amid the clutter
- the outfield fence screens were blindingly bright (it was impossible to follow the ball or player in front of the screen) and caused injury to Johnny Damon (a cut on his arm); some players say they are wary of running into the screen-covered plexiglass screen as it is harder than the regular outfield fence, and the brightness is distracting when they are trying to catch the ball
- the displays on the outfield fence (out of town scores) were useless... seemed more concerned with graphics (bright green baseball field design) than the line scores
- the ribbon boards were nice, but lacked the motion and excitement of ribbon boards in arenas (I think they don't want to have 'moving' graphics during play, unlike in basketball)
- national anthem performer Slash appealed to head bangers (which I'm not), and not really appealing to the family audience the Jays are purporting to be chasing
- the sound system seemed much more muffled/echoing and unclear than I've heard it before
- the dancers and mascots are lame
- oh, and the Jays lost 6-5
- but, on the plus side, the Jays did show some pop in the bat (2 more HRs) and did rally for 2 runs in the 9th off of Keith Foulke



Vernon Wells & Frank Catalanotto collide in front of the new outfield video board.

I agree with Mark that the videoboards were a bit of sensory overload and they certainly had the tunes cranked. But I think that is what it is going to take to get the young fans back. I had seats in row 4 behind home plate and the brightness of the outfield fence video boards combined with the huge Jays Vision screen was a bit much to look at at times. And when certain companies ads were on the ribbon board - in a very bright yellow, the guy next to me said he needed sunglases it was so bright between all the light coming off the various boards. But the huge video board that replaced the old jumbotron has an incredibly clear picture compared to the old one.

The other thing I really did like about last night with 50,000+ there was the fact that with the 2000 - 3000 Red Sox fans at the Dome making a fair bit of noise, Jays fans responded by cranking up our volume many notches compared to our usual quietness. In fact in the bottom of the ninth when the Jays came back from 6-3 to make it 6-5 and load up the bases it was near deafening down at field level where we were. In that 9th inning it may have been the loudest Blue Jay crowd that I have heard since Joe Carter's World Series winning home run back in 1993. That moment was by far the loudest crowd that I have ever been in.

And the Slash guitar version of the US and Canadian national anthems, not my usual type of music but it looked like a lot of the crowd really got into and a lot of the Red Sox seemed to love it too. They were high fiving Slash as he left the field through their dugout and David Wells really seemed to love it.

Also the new turf was good to look at and the balls got much more natural true hops and the balls rolled much slower than the on the cement like old turf.

I had fun. Looking forward to my next game against Sammy Sosa and the O's April 22.

Pat

Obviously I wasn't at the Jays' home opener, but saw most of the game on TV (it overlapped with a WHL hockey game I was trying to watch, and so I missed some of the Jays' ninth-inning rally). Jamie Campbell and Pat Tabler also made reference to the juvenile behaviour of some of the fans at SkyDome (aka Rogers Centre) as Canmark observed first hand. Oh well, I guess every ball park has their share. At one point, it appeared to me (and to the announcers) that Vernon Wells had hit a homer, but the new scoreboard camouflaged the catch by the Red Sox outfielder. It was good to see the Jays' new short-stop Russ Adams hit his first home run of the season. And it's always a pleasure to look at 'the Cat' (nice butt shot of him, Mark! )

Listening to the 'The Star Spangled Banner' made me wonder if that was the ghost of Jimi Hendrix performing!

I also saw the season-opener against the Devil Rays earlier this week, and noticed how many ex-Jays are now in Tampa (Josh Phelps, Alex Gonzalez and Kevin Cash). Let's hope the Blue Jays get through April with a more respectable record this year. Once again, they play most of their games against the Yankees in the second half of the season, so they don't want to fall behind early. As I write this, Toronto leads Boston 2-1 in the third inning (edited to update: make that 5-1 after three...the Jays just scored back-to-back-to-back home runs by Wells, Koskie and Hillenbrand!)

[ April 09, 2005, 11:01 AM: Message edited by: Marc ]

The Phils are giving these away next Saturday and Sunday. Uh oh... eek!

The Dodgers are doing the same during their opening homestand this week. We won't throw them back onto the field--most in attendance won't know what they are & will be too transfixed on the (inevitable) thrown beachball.

~Adam

The Jays take 2 of 3 from Boston to go to 4-2 on the season. Depending on the results of the D-Rays game, the Jays could be in sole possession of first place in the AL East. eek!

After drawing 50,000+ on the home opener, attendance dropped to 28,000+ and 22,000+ for Saturday and Sunday afternoon games against the Red Sox.

Interesting note on Billy Koch in yesterday's Phila. Inquirer:

Imagine if you're a baseball fan and a player suddenly shows up and sits down next to you at a game? wink

[ April 11, 2005, 06:49 AM: Message edited by: Joe in Philly ]

At this moment in time, Monday April 11, 2005 9:53 EST, the AL East standings are the exact opposite of the finish last season. I wonder how long that will last? :confused:

Toronto 4-2
Tampa Bay 3-3
Baltimore 3-3
Boston 3-4
NY Yankees 3-4

Edit: just realized the Jays play Oakland tonight, so the standings could change.

[ April 11, 2005, 06:55 PM: Message edited by: canmark ]

The Jays just keep on winning, presently with the best record in MLB, 6-2. The A's attracted only 10,106 in their loss to the Jays last night--their second home game of the year.

Impressive outing for Doc Halladay (2-0), as he defeats the Rangers 2-1 on a complete game, 5 hits, 1 ER, 1BB, 9K performance. Jays now 7-3.

Masterful performance by Gustavo Chacin (3-0): 8 shutout innings vs. Texas. Reed Johnson sets Blue Jay record by getting hit by pitch 3 times in the game--twice with the bases loaded! Jays now 8-4.

With 2 straight losses (to the Rangers and Red Sox), and the Jays have fallen to third place in the AL East, with an 8-6 record. Roy Halladay starts tomorow at Fenway, so things will start looking up again.

ESPN.com looked at how many current MLB players were developed by the various teams' farm systems. In terms of total number of players, the Blue Jays come out on top with 42. The top 5:

1. Blue Jays, 42 (Carlos Delgado, Roy Halladay, Michael Young)
2. Dodgers, 39 (Pedro Martinez, Mike Piazza, Adrian Beltre)
3. Expos, 37 (Randy Johnson, Vlad Guerrero, Brad Wilkerson)
4. Mariners, 36 (Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, Jason Varitek)
(tie) Braves, 36 (Jason Schmidt, Andruw Jones, Chipper Jones)

It was a nail-biter, but the Jays pulled it off against the Red Sox, 4-3. Roy Halladay joins Gustavo Chacin at 3-0, 2 of the 4 AL pitchers with 3 wins. Shea Hillenbrand is leading the AL in batting average at .426.

[ April 20, 2005, 06:45 AM: Message edited by: canmark ]