Wells thinks a flaw in his swing has been detected.

Was it swinging wildly at pitches high and outside?

Much like yesterdays Griffin column, the headline is much worse than the article. The piece wasn't that bad UNTIL he threw in this doozy at the end:

...The go-go Sox had four sacrifice bunts, including a suicide squeeze, a walk-off sac-fly and a perfectly executed hit-and-run.

On the other side of the field, Tosca must sit on his bound hands and wait for his hitters to come out of their slumps. That's the way the front office dictates it. Small ball is still illegal in Blue Jay Nation.

I guess he couldn't go two days without throwing in something ultra-negative.

Gotta love Richard Griffin. If only the Jays would play small ball, then all would be fine!

Actually I agree with Griffin somewhat in that the Sox executed well yesterday and that got them the win, whereas the Jays execution with runners on base has been awful all year, and has cost them several wins.

It's the way he presents his argument that's annoying.

This was the part that got me:

However, he is not ready to bring in home-grown replacements. They're not ready to improve anything. It could only retard their progress.

I couldn't figure out what he was talking about for a second. It would hurt the Jays' progress to improve? I thought it was some kind of ill-formed sarcasm until I got the pronouns sorted out.

From Elliott's column:

The Jays, no doubt, will try to portray Delgado as the greedy villain, as was the case when other free agents such as Al Leiter, Devon White, Robbie Alomar departed. We know which horse we're backing in that race.

The Blue Jays NEVER portrayed Devon White as greedy. White left because he wanted to play closer to his father. While the Blue Jays were disappointed he chose to leave, it was an amicable parting. Elliott should have left White's name out of this.

From Elliot's column:

Rather than see Delgado just walk away for draft choices, the Jays should increase the team budget and retain him.

Really? How come no one else thought of this? You know, the Jays could acquire Magglio Ordonez, Randy Johnson and Jose Vidro too, and I think that would also make them better.

Has anyone noticed on the Jay's Gameday Sportsnet broadcast a little black line in the top left corner of the screen? It's been there all season and its originating on their broadcasts so its not my TV.

How slim are the odds that Ted will eventually toss some change the Jay's way?

There are a handful of similarities between the rosters in Chi & Toronto.
One difference, though, is Chicago's depth. Cashing in on former talent (i.e. Konerko for Cameron) instead of letting players slip away (Green for Mondesi, for...or, Michael Young for Loaiza, for...) has an unmistakable impact on the success or failure of future lineups.

I'm sure that Carlos wants to stay and could very well work something out with J.P. at season's end. But, if Delgado were to lumber off to greener pastures, it would just be the latest example of the Jays (& other smaller market clubs) misfortune in the critical area of talent retainment.

With Ricciardi at the helm, Toronto's depth of talent within the organization has risen exponentially. J.P.'s moves have shown that he understands the obvious benefit of getting something for nothing. However, time will tell how well he avoids the opposite scenario.

Some of us, myself included, were harshly critical of a Rosie DiManno article on baseball. To be fair to her, check out her profile of John Ferguson Jr. in the Start today. It just goes to show that she can write if she is on comfortable ground.

I suppose that it is the same with Richard Griffin and his profiles of people in the game, which are generally quite good. When he strays into analysis, trouble follows.

Rumor on ESPN message boards says Ligtenburg might be traded to Oakland for Sarloos and a prospect. Anyone else hear about this? I find it kind of hard to believe. If true, I suppose Mercir would probably be let go.

I think the Jays would do backflips if they could punt an overpaid ROOGY for Saarloos. However, as a newly signed free agent, Ligtenberg will be a Jay until June, if I'm not mistaken.

Rumor on ESPN message boards says Ligtenburg might be traded to Oakland for Sarloos and a prospect. Anyone else hear about this? I find it kind of hard to believe. If true, I suppose Mercir would probably be let go.

I'm probably way off with this, but does it seem like there is really only a small pool of players that the Beane-Ricciardi-Depodesta connection covet and trade around to each other? I was going to mention this after the Sarloos to Oakland trade - but now that this rumour has popped up, it seems even more evident.

These players either belong to these guys, they've been dealt to each other, or they are or were once highly coveted. They're also coveted by most every SABR fanboy with a blog. You could call them the Moneyballers I suppose.

Kielty
Lilly
Blanton
Youkilis
Sarloos
Durazo
Morneau
Bellhorn

Like I said, I'm probably way off with this.

Eddie, how could you forget Jason Arnold and John-Ford Griffin? Or Eric Hinske, for that matter? The pool's not as shallow as you think.

Certain guys obviously appeal more to some teams than others, depending on the organizational philosophy. You can generalize, but that hardly covers every circumstance. Let's not forget that in his first deal with J.P., DePodesta traded a "Moneyballer" (the undersized RH Frasor) for a toolsy former #1 pick.

Eddie, how could you forget Jason Arnold and John-Ford Griffin? Or Eric Hinske, for that matter? The pool's not as shallow as you think.

Good point Coach. I guess JFG and JA are on my second tier of Moneyballers and I probably take Hinske for granted - not as a player, but as a moneyballer.

That said, I bet there are 25-30 players that you could include in this list. Roughly none of them are allstars.

Good point Coach. I guess JFG and JA are on my second tier of Moneyballers and I probably take Hinske for granted - not as a player, but as a moneyballer.

Let me rephrase that. Yes, by definition they are Moneyballers since they were traded for each other. What I was getting at was - do you ever read a player's name in a blog and associate that player as a Ricci-Beane-Depo prospectplayermuse?

Generally because of their high OBP, high K/BB, or high number of pitches per PA. Kielty as an example - Last year, I'd have a hard time naming the Twins 4th OF (or any team's 4th OF for that matter). But since Kielty was a Moneyballer, I knew who he was and, as a result, expected great things. Similarly, I expect Blanton to be a future number 1 guy. Sarloos too. After I read Moneyball, I thought Youkilis was going to be the next Ty Cobb.

I guess what I'm getting at here in a roundabout way is:

-JP-Beane-Depodesta-blog fanboys all covet a certain type of player (SABR)
-These players are acquired and shuttled back and forth between the three teams.
-As such, these players stick out in my mind as Moneyballers

I bet I couldn't name any more than 30 Moeyballers in AAA or the bigs. Anyways, just thought I'd share.

I have not heard Griffin's boss publicly come out in favour of him - we can only hope his job is not secure