It should come as simply no surprise to many that the Toronto Blue Jays are 10-18 and dead last in the American League East with a record of 10-18 (9.5 games back of the first place Boston Red Sox).
Why? Well, the majority of their top off-season acquisitions came from losing cultures. Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Emilio Bonifacio were all on a terrible Miami Marlins squad last year that underachieved significantly. They also signed pitcher R.A. Dickey from the equally bad New York Mets and outfielder Melky Cabrera from the San Francisco Giants, who was nowhere to be found on the Giants’ World Series Championship roster because he was suspended in August for taking high levels of testosterone.
I admit. I am very skeptical of the Toronto Blue Jays this season. I am not completely convinced the core group of talent that Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos has brought in is the right mix.
In many ways, the Blue Jays are trying to do the same thing that the Miami Marlins did last season and that is to bring in several missing pieces and contend for the playoffs. It was a disaster for the Marlins last year, and the Blue Jays not only made several offseason acquisitions, but they acquired four Marlins in the process.
The slow start at 2-5 for the Blue Jays was no surprise to me. However, the win on Tuesday in Detroit was as much of a character win you can get at this stage of the season. The Blue Jays were losing 6-1 on the road against the defending American League champions, when the offensive flood gates opened.
The Blue Jays scored three times in the sixth inning, highlighted by a Mark DeRosa two-run RBI double, and a three-run RBI double by J.P. Arencibia in the seventh inning en route to a 8-6 victory.
The Blue Jays may only be 3-5, but the impressive comeback win could bring definitive confidence in their locker room going forward.
The Toronto Blue Jays have opened up their wallets again. On Friday they signed outfielder Melky Cabrera from the San Francisco Giants to a two year deal worth $16 million.
Cabrera was the Most Valuable Player of the All-Star Game last season. He led the senior circuit with a .346 batting average before he was suspended 50 games for steroid use.
With the signing it appears Cabrera will go to designated hitter. The signing is just the latest example that the Blue Jays mean business this season.
In other Blue Jays news, they are still waiting to hear from the MLB front office for approval of their blockbuster deal with the Miami Marlins. If the deal is disapproved for any reason, don’t be surprised if television ratings plummet next season and attendance drops dramatically at the Rogers Centre.
The Detroit Tigers have also signed Torii Hunter away from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Hunter is a nine time gold glove award winner who set a career high in batting average last year at .313.
The Toronto Blue Jays have made one of the biggest deals in the history of the franchise, maybe the biggest deal they have made since acquiring Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter from the San Diego Padres in 1990.
On Tuesday, the Blue Jays acquired starting pitchers Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson as well as shortstop Jose Reyes, catcher John Buck and second baseman Emilio Bonifacio from the Miami Marlins for pitcher Henderson Alvarez, shortstops Yunel Escobar and Adeiny Hechavarria and catcher John Buck.
The Miami Marlins have named former Major League catcher Mike Redmond as their new manager.
Redmond played with the Florida Marlins, Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians from 1998-2010, where he batted .287 in 764 career games. However, he did not have much power as he only had 13 career home runs.
This is an interesting move by the Marlins because Redmond spent the last two seasons managing in the Toronto Blue Jays A system, last year in Dunedin. Redmond also has never even had a managerial interview at the Major League level before.
Redmond will replace the controversial Ozzie Guillen, who managed the Marlins to a 69-93 record and dead last in the National League East.
The Miami Marlins have decided to make a managerial change. On Tuesday, the Marlins decided to fire Ozzie Guillen, who spent one year with the Marlins and posted a record of 69-93.
Expectations were high heading into the season for the Marlins with the offseason signings of closer Heath Bell, starting pitcher Mark Buehrle and shortstop Jose Reyes, but the team drastically underperformed, finishing in last place in the National League East, only ahead of the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros in the senior circuit. The Marlins also entered the season with a new name (Miami Marlins instead of the Florida Marlins) and a new state of the art baseball stadium in south Florida.
Now questions are rising if Guillen could fit in Toronto? I’m not so sure because Guillen still has $7.5 million on his contract that the Marlins will pay him. Will Guillen have the inner desire to manage and if he goes to Toronto, how much of his contract would the Blue Jays be required to pay?
The Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox have made a baseball trade.
On Sunday, the Boston Red Sox traded third baseman Kevin Youkilis to the Chicago White Sox for outfielder Brent Lilibridge and right handed pitcher Zach Stewart.
Youkilis might be on the downside of his career, but has hit as many as 29 home runs and recorded as many as 115 runs batted in over a season.
This season however, the three-time Gold Glove winner had struggled, as he was only batting .225 with four home runs and 13 runs batted in.
It’s interesting because even though the White Sox are in first place in the American League Central and the Red Sox are in fourth place in the American League East, Chicago and Boston have identical records of 38-34.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jays lost 9-0 Miami on Sunday and fell to 37-35 on the year. Heading into a big three game series this week in Boston at Fenway Park, the Blue Jays are still in playoff contention as they are only 2.5 games back of the Tampa Bay Rays for the wildcard. They will however continue to struggle if their pitching staff has injury woes.
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame, we preview the Stanley Cup Final, we look at why the Phoenix Coyotes were so mad when they were bounced by the Kings and we discuss a controversial new feature on the CBC. As well, a possible return for Dominik Hasek and a look at the NBA playoffs!
In the GABBYs: Didier Drogba, Barcelona, Caleb Lloyd, Racing Club’s fans, Giancarlo Stanton & the Orlando Magic. The Punchline this week is track star Jessica Ennis. This week we also take a look at FIFA wanting to end the penalty shootout!
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame we look into the Edmonton Oilers parting ways with their head coach (and what needs to change for the Oil to turn things around), we check out the latest NFL bounty news, and we run down the problem with umpires in the MLB.
In the GABBYs: Bikini hockey, Jamaican hockey, Matt Bonner, Coors Field, Ozzie Guillen & Stephen Strasburg. The Punchline this week is Philadelphia Eagles left tackle Jason Peters!
Three game sevens (and possibly a fourth) will dominate my sports viewing this weekend.
In the NHL, there is a game seven in the Eastern Conference Semi-Final between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. This will be a battle of Alexander Ovechkin versus Henrik Lundqvist. Despite limited ice time, Ovechkin leads the Capitals in scoring with nine points, but will have to get by Hart Trophy nominee Lundqvist to move on to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in his career. The game can be seen on CBC tonight at 5:30pm.
In the NBA, there are two game sevens, both involving the Los Angeles teams. Tonight the Los Angeles Lakers host the Denver Nuggets in game seven of the Western Conference Quarterfinal tonight (TSN2, 8:30pm). Questions are surrounding the health of Lakers star Kobe Bryant who played with the stomach flu in game six on Thursday. Afterwards, he was not happy with Pau Gasol for his lack of effort and had no problem telling him so.
Then tomorrow the Memphis Grizzlies host the Los Angeles Clippers (ABC, 11am) in game seven of another Western Conference Semi-Final. Like the Nuggets, the Grizzlies were once down 3-1 in the series but have clawed their way back to force a game seven. Last night in Los Angeles, the Grizzlies won game six 90-88 on Marc Gasol’s 23 points.
This week on the show we’re looking at the second round of the NHL playoffs, the Roberto Luongo situation in Vancouver, some racist comments from Boston Bruins “fans” in reaction to Joel Ward’s series clinching overtime winner and the latest IIHF rankings.
In the GABBYs: Mark Visentin, the Edmonton Oil Kings, Tyrone Crawford, Mohamed Sanu, the Miami Marlins and a couple of Texas Rangers fans. The Punchline this week is the Charlotte Bobcats!
The Masters will obviously headline my television viewing this weekend with the very first major of the PGA Season. Currently Peter Hanson of Sweden (-5) leads U.S. Open Champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, Ben Crane of the United States and day one leader Lee Westwood of England by a stroke.
Other players in contention are Major winners Zach Johnson, Jim Furyk and Paul Lawrie.
The television coverage for the tournament is Friday at 1pm on TSN, Saturday at 1:30pm on CBS, and Sunday at noon on CBS.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Friday–NLL–Rochester Knighthawks @ Calgary Roughnecks–7pm–I’m heading down to the Scotiabank Saddledome this evening to see the Roughnecks in National Lacrosse League action. At 10-3, the Roughnecks are tied for first place in the West Division with the Colorado Mammoth. The Roughnecks lead the NLL with 180 goals scored, are led by former Knighthawk Shawn Evans, who leads the team in scoring with 58 points.
The Miami Marlins have acquired another big name player. On Thursday the Marlins acquired starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano from the Chicago Cubs for right handed pitcher Chris Volstad.
Zambrano has been a major part of the Cubs starting rotation for the last decade. From 2003-2008, he won over 13 games baseball games every season, highlighted by an 18-win season in 2007.
Another major attribute over Zambrano’s career has been his endurance within games he pitches. He has thrown nine complete games in his 1826 innings of work.
Still, last season he struggled by only going 9-7 with a 4.82 earned run average and a 1.44 WHIP.
Volstad was 5-13 last season for the Marlins with a 4.89 earned run average.
Zambrano is just the latest addition to a Marlins team that has changed their name, their ballpark, their manager and their on field product. Since the end of the World Series, the Marlins have also brought in shortstop Jose Reyes from the New York Mets, starting pitcher Mark Buehrle from the Chicago White Sox and closer Heath Bell from the San Diego Padres.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have won the Albert Pujols sweepstakes. On Thursday, Pujols signed a 10 year contract worth $254 million.
Believe it or not but I think the Angels got him on a bargain price. Many baseball experts thought he would sign in the $30 million range.
Pujols, considered by many to be the best player in the game, had one of the best single game performances in baseball history in Game 3 of the World Series. He had three hone runs, five hits and six runs batted in.
Pujols, a first baseman, is a three-time National League Most Valuable Player and two-time World Series Champion. Last season he had 37 home runs, 99 runs batted in and a .299 batting average.
The Angels also signed C.J. Wilson from the Texas Rangers to a five year deal worth $78 million. Wilson, the ace of the Rangers staff, was 16-7, 206 strikeouts and an earned run average of 2.94.
The Miami Marlins, who were very interested in Pujols and Wilson, signed Mark Buehrle to a four year deal worth $58 million. Buehrle, will join his former manager Ozzie Guillen in south Florida. Last season Buehrle went 13-9, with 109 strikeouts ans an earned run average of 3.59.
It should come as simply no surprise to many that the Toronto Blue Jays are 10-18 and dead last in the American League East with a record of 10-18 (9.5 games back of the first place Boston Red Sox).
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