In the past 12 years the Jays have been, well, kind of trapped. 6 years of 3rd place, 1 in 2nd, 1 in 5th, and now 4 straight years of 4th place. During this time attendance has been as mediocre as the team. But when do those fans come out? What does it take to get a crowd? Would it be smart for the Jays to spend millions on stars to push them over 90 wins, push for a move to the AL Central (easier competition) or (financially) is it best to stick as is with the Yankees & Red Sox and perpetual 3rd/4th place finishes.

The Blue Jays have signed right-hander Rick VandenHurk to a non-guaranteed split major league deal.  Fellow righty Alan Farina, reocvering from Tommy John surgery, has been put on the 60-Day Disabled List to make room.

Mother Nature ruined the action on the field in Rochester, New York in late August but a chance encounter with a World Series hero from 1992 made sure Mother Nature wouldn't ruin the day off the field.

Jose Bautista joined The Fan 590 in Toronto with Brady and Lang to discuss handling the off-season attention as a superstar player, his off-season workout routine, playing right field exclusively this season, wanting the Toronto Blue Jays to acquire another bat to give him some protection in the lineup, and the Tampa Bay Rays being picked as the early favorite to win the American League East.

Abbreviated transcript || Podcast (Bautista interview starts the show)

I thought this was a great interview, and not just for the Toronto content. In this interview Dirk talks about the tough time he had in Toronto with half of the Jays roster. He is currently working on his third book which will cover his time in Toronto and he is very mad at some Blue Jays. The interview suggests the stress caused Dirk to self medicate to some extent and get into a very difficult personal situation. It's worth the read.

Vegas win totals are beginning to pop up and the Jays are at their highest total in recent memory, 81.5 wins... which of course puts them in 4th in the division and still a whopping 11.5 games behind the Yankees and 6 games behind the Red Sox/Rays.

Anders, Thomas and I reconvened to talk about the 2012 schedule, the AL West, and the 2009 draft. Listen here.

Today's POTD looks at a former Jay with Canadian roots and a lefty looking to land a spot in Toronto in 2012.

The BBFL is back for the 2012 season.

Gary Carter, the greatest catcher in Canadian baseball history, has passed away. He was only 57.

Details fron ESPN New York here.

Th is for Thursday and for theoretical and for thought experiment...

Click through to this modern re-imagining of the classic Abbott & Costello baseball routine, "Who's on First?" Written by PeteyHendrix for the Red Reporter -- and discovered/re-published here thanks to Baseball Think Factory -- it's one of the cleverest, funniest damn things ever. I don't normally laugh out loud while reading Da Stuff on Da Interwebz, but in this case, I was guffawing so much that my wife in the room next door came over to find out what was wrong. It's brilliant.

Feel free to add suggestions, if you have any, on Hu -- um, that is, who -- else might be incorporated here.And seriously, don't just skim it. It's worth the time for a close, five-minute read! 

 

 

The Jays have avoided arbitration with Casey Janssen, signing the 30 year old reliever for 2 years, $5.9 million with a team option for $4 million in 2014. Janssen had been seeking $2.2 million in arbitration, the team offered $1.8; the signing also buys out one of Janssen's free agency years.

Today's POTD looks at the Blue Jays new closer and the Molina he was not traded for.

The first thing I look at when assessing the immediate prospects for a team in the coming season is the quality of its core. I define the core of a team as the players whose performance would be most difficult to replace. I settled on seven as the number of players in the core, even though stronger teams tend to have a larger core and weaker teams a smaller one.