Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The Beautiful Babies Don't Work the Midnight to Six Shift on a Wednesday. This is the Shank Shift.

Welcome all, to the brave new world. I'm not eager to delve too far into the Alex Rios mess because: a) he's already gone. If you saw this coming, you're a liar. b) Stoeten and the Tao both killed it already. Knocked it a mile out of the park. Why bother trying and failing where they've already so obviously succeeded? c) I make an effort to stay out of business affairs as best I can. But here goes.

Know this: reinvested my ass. Beeston famously said "if you're going to spend $100M, you might as well spend $80." Well shit, if you're going to spend $80 in the AL East, you might as well spend $60. So they will. The repercussions of letting a 4/5 WAR player walk ain't insignificant &mdash this will inform the team's decisions for the coming years.

Ed: I know it might cost me membership in the superduper Blue Jays friend club, but fuck Beeston. Why am I supposed to buy everything he or his parrot McCown say and treat every utterance of Riccardi's as patently false? Of the two, who has a bigger stake in consumer confidence and staying on-message? I'm sure he's quite the gladhander and he oversaw some good teams, but enough.

Marco Scutaro WILL NOT be resigned. The two draft picks are what they're after. A sign and trade is the best case scenario for 2010. I've had this feeling for a little while, which is why all the "J.J. Hardy to waivers" talk got me excited. I've longed for Hardy before, and mired in a terribly unlucky season (xBABIP 50 points higher than his current rate, a sure way to fuck up your year) he could be a reasonable replacement for the suddenly superlative Scutaro. Now I'm dubious at best.

Two things I think I know for sure: this team is going hella young and Cito Gaston is not the man to lead it. I've made my comments about Cito before but I just don't see how he can continually be allowed to butcher the in-game management with kids and retreads when he clearly loathes one but fiercely protects the other.

Lose one now to win two later? How's that working out? I seem to recall more wins during the "now" phase than this "later" shitstorm. Two days ago Cito got the boot and I expressed delight over the bullpen management. Give Butterfield the job. Has he not earned it? Does this team not deserve a fresh start to accompany the ongoing face lift? How much more blood do we expect to ring from the 1993 stone?

Then again, the subtraction of Rios and Rolen will turn the Toronto Blue Jays into a bad defensive club in a hurry. Joe Inglett is no man's left fielder, a right fielder he'll never be. Butter's infield magic is in such dire need now that adding more to his plate should be discouraged.

At this point, doesn't JP kinda hafta go as well? There is zero value in keeping him around, other than to avoid paying two guys to do one job. If they truly think they're going to gear up for a huge push at Halladay and/or the wild card in 2010 then keep him in place. Give him a chance to really put his philosophy to the test with some new infielders supporting the pitching staff of his design. If not, promote the assistant GM and bench coach and try to catch fire in a bottle just like 25 other teams do a year. Better than a kick in head, I suppose.

Update: Check out my (somewhat cryptic) warning-come-introduction of Alex Rios to Chicago at the 35th Street Review

16 comments:

  1. Thank you Drew, you nailed this much more concisely and clearly than Stoeten ever could. And thank you for calling Beeston's recent tenure and handling of the situation what it is: bullshit. How a bumbling fool like JP who says the first thing that comes to his mind ever got the reputation of a smoot-talking PR-conscious Rogers suit is beyond me.

    Also agreed that Scutaro is gone for picks, that the team is going to miss Rolen and Rios' defense big time (Stoeten ignores this), that Cito should be out, and that JP should be out as well. In fact, why was he even around for these decisions? Why is he getting a vote of confidence from Rogers? Beeston needs to do his job and get a new president and GM already.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That was me failing the English language above, apologies.

    @Anon 1:21am,
    Not to disagree with you entirely because I think you summarized my feelings quite aptly actually, but Stoeten wasn't exactly ignoring Rios' contribution on defense entirely. He was more or less arguing that Rios' contribution on offense isn't enough to justify keeping him in RF under that contract despite his defense. Now, if Rios was in CF, it's a different story. But Wells isn't going to be moved, especially with Cito on board, so Rios' contribution would have been wasted, great defense or no.

    And to you, the blogger, I'm on board with your "Fuck Beeston" sentiment right now. His bumbling of this situation has to be duly criticized, no?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Counterargument: Rolen and Rios were untradable during the offseason because they were better paid than the free agent alternatives would have been. Therefore, by moving them now, we have access to those cheap alternatives, plus the money with which to pursue them. How much complaining is there that we couldn't sign Abreu for $5M? Well, now we can.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'll happily watch a youth movement if it means laying a foundation for the future. We can be fifth place for the next few years if it means eventual progress. There are no short term fixes unless a whole lot of money is spent...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rios isn't a 4/5 WAR player.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice job by the blogger. You've captured the feelings I have but am loathe to express under the guise of maintaining - wait for it - optimism.

    I've often wondered, why not just turn the pitching staff and in-game management of said staff entirely over to Arnsberg? Obviously, Cito would balk and never accept such an arrangement, but fuck it, what's he gonna do, quit? How long did you go between jobs, Cito?

    Now, maybe Arnie would blow out arms left and right, but I'd be willing to bet we'd see more intelligent decisions there, at least.

    I hate that it's come down to this.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well said, Drew.

    I agree, Beeston deserves more shit. More of the shit being directed towards JP. His one job was to find a President. So, what the fuck, get to it.

    I disagree about Scutaro; I think he stays. And I still maintain that the Rolen trade was fantastic.

    Cito. Citocity. For Sale.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you Drew, you nailed this much more concisely and clearly than Stoeten ever could.

    Oh, fuck off, anonymous.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dude JJ Hardy would be awesome. They're giving up on him after an unlucky half season? Doesn't make any sense considering he's a top fielding SS and only 27. I have no idea if sign and trades are even possible in baseball (can't think of any S&T in the past) but..DO IT.

    Agreed with everything else also, except that there's "zero value" in keeping JP around. If they're actually going to increase spending (yea right), then a new GM should do the spending. But if it's the status quo, I think he's shown enough talent evaluation ability to at least finish out his contract. Then again I'm a huge JP apologist.

    ReplyDelete
  12. And the mancrush for J.J. Hardy continues! They could sign him for cheap, 2-3 year deal for less than Scutaro would be asking.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sign and Trades aren't allowed.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Stoeten do you just go around looking for people who disagree with you so you can tell them to fuck off? You are so pathetic and insecure

    ReplyDelete

Send forth the witticisms from on high