Relax and Take Notes

Far behind and out of the loop is where you'll find me, thus the two day-old obvious reference in the title. How about a quick-ish spin around the Jaysdial?

Brett Cecil and the Futility of Spring

So Brett Cecil chopped up his finger, can't throw his curve and now finds himself on the outside looking in? For some reason I really don't buy this. There is much to be said for the Grand Plan of AA and his cohorts, none of which likely boils down to "who pitches the best in three inning intervals in March."

Call me crazy or just a guy restating the obvious, but spring seems to be about health more than anything. As in, they know who's coming north and who's destined for the PCL or worse long before spring pitches are thrown in anger. What kind of business decision is made on the strength of 12-15 pointless innings? No good kind, that's for sure.

The supposed drama is good for column inches and motivating the players with the fear of God; there's no way one bad, chicken-impaired start by Brett Cecil is the lone factor between him making the big club. I suppose that goes for hitters, too. Can they (or should they) make big decisions based on the smattering of fine-tuning at bats in the spring? I'd like to assume the legwork on these decisions is long finished.

Frasor Rumors Persist, Grow Silly

As enjoyable and relatively valuable as the foshed-up Sausage King is; no way the Cubs trade a stud shortstop prospect for him. Sorry friends, as exciting as that thought may be, nobody, NOT EVEN THE CUBS, is that stupid. Frasor throws strikes and would do well for a year in the NL Central. However, losing a player with success in the low minors at a young age is too scary for most teams to consider, even with a potential first rounder coming right back in compensation.

Not only does it seem silly to overpay for a highly replaceable (albeit talented) right-handed relieving arm, it represents a move in direct opposition to current convention baseball wisdom. In other words, look for a shrewd team to cobble together a roster out of graying thirty somethings working on below-market contracts and somehow steal the World Series in about three years.

Wellness!

With a serious hat tip to Vancouver Fan Boy #1 Dave from Go Jays Go, I present a very brief video of the Tiny Tim Collinsicum working out in a funky, unusual way. I expressed my interest in these new style exercises a few weeks ago, it's pretty exciting to see them put to good use by a young guy whose very survival in baseball depends on getting the very most out of his normal human-sized body.



You can learn a lot about a person by their reactions to specific, divisive items. If a person watches the power-building workouts and suggests "yo, grab some weight or sit down fag!" then we probably shouldn't hang out. If a man prefers the blandly obvious Tim "Tom" Collins nickname to the brimming-with-hope-and-awesomeness moniker "COLLINSICUM (c/o Drunk Jays Fans) we could still be friends, we just don't see things the same way.

Straight Up Listikillin

• In the wake of Frasor trade talk, the value of Jeremy Accardo and Casey Janssen came up on John Lott of the National Post's twitter. The value of Casey Janssen? Nil. Word is he's a real prince, but one that doesn't miss nearly enough bats for my liking. He was pretty dreadful last year, I'll be amazed if he makes this team. Though the power of remaining options can never be overstated.
  
• In spite of what I said above, could Mike McCoy play his way onto the Jays? No fucking way! Too many incumbents in front of him, including Randy Ruiz. Over Clarence's undead body.
  
• Aaron Ciba = Rod Barajas in a younger body? Go Deep of GTFO!
  
• This is pretty great.
  
• So was this, as much as it could be anyway.

AP image courtesy of Daylife