Toronto Blue Jays Fan Blog

Jays’ GM willing to give teams time to talk contract with Halladay before making trade

GameSetMatch — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:57:21 +0000

In an apparent departure from his predecessor, Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos will give teams interested in trading for ace right-hander Roy Halladay a window to discuss a contract extension with the pitcher.

The Blue Jays’ Web site reports Anthopoulos would allow teams to talk to Halladay about an extension if it means the interested team will improve its trade offer. Halladay is signed through next season.

Former GM J.P. Ricciardi opposed the idea of a contract window when he was shopping Halladay last summer.

Click here to read the full article – By of sportingnews.com

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Halladay: GM stood up for him

rsanrel — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:30:56 +0000

Roy Halladay wanted to set the record straight.

During those crazy days at the end of July when J.P. Ricciardi was testing the trade market for Halladay, it was presumed by many that the Blue Jays GM was unnecessarily embarrassing the franchise’s crown jewel.

Not true, says Halladay.

“J.P. always looked out for my best interests,” Halladay said yesterday. “That was lost in a lot of that. I think people blamed him for that. Knowing the situation, the team was in and my situation, he was looking out for my best interests.

“He took a lot of flak for that and he shouldn’t have. I’ll always appreciate that he did stand up and defend me. I always thought that he was in my corner. He is a tremendous man and somebody I enjoyed working with. He had a lot to do with my career.”

Click here to read the full article – By KEN FIDLIN of Slam.Canoe.ca

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Angry Jays turn on manager Gaston: Reports

rsanrel — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:30:17 +0000

Players speak off the record against manager Cito Gatson

The Toronto Blue Jays are about to end a disappointing season on a very sour note. Players are fed up with Cito Gaston and ready to make it known they do not want the manager to return next season, according to two published reports this morning.

“It’s nearly a mutiny right now,” one source said in a report published at Foxsports.com. “He has lost the entire team.”

According to a story by The Canadian Press, players have spoken about the situation over the past few weeks, but only if their names were not used. CP reports some players wanted to speak to senior team officials first – and to avoid the news leaking while the team was playing home.

The Blue Jays begin their final series of the season tonight in Baltimore.

One player told CP there was simply “constant negativity” coming from the manager’s office. Another noted that Gaston once said “there aren’t any good players in here.”

Gaston’s in-game decision making has also been a target of criticism this season, as it was during first tenure as Jays manager from 1989-97.

One player was asked by CP how many others felt the same way, he replied: “Just about everyone.”

Click here to read the full article – By Star Staff of TheStar.com

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Lind powers Jays victory

rsanrel — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:00:42 +0000

BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox are back in the playoffs for the sixth time in seven years.

The Red Sox clinched the AL wild-card berth when the Los Angeles Angels beat the Rangers 5-2 on Tuesday night and eliminated Texas from the race. That gave Boston its seventh wild-card berth – more than any other team in the majors.

The Red Sox had long since lost to Toronto – their fifth consecutive loss – and most of the players left Fenway Park to find someplace else to wait for the West Coast game to end. Slugger David Ortiz said he would come back to the clubhouse for the traditional spraying of the champagne.

“Hell, yeah,” he shouted, calling for a clubhouse attendant to give him a pair of goggles. “We worked our way to be in this situation. Even not winning this game tonight, you move into the playoffs so there’s a celebration.”

Adam Lind hit three of Toronto’s six homers to lead the Blue Jays to an 8-7 victory and put Boston’s celebration on hold. The Red Sox scored five times in the eighth inning and put two on with two outs in the ninth before Jason Frasor got Kevin Youkilis looking on a 3-2 pitch to end it.

Click here to read the full article – By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS of Thestar.com

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Purcey passes Jays’ audition

GameSetMatch — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:14:56 +0000

The Blue Jays have been waiting a long time for David Purcey to realize his potential. The big lefty showed flashes of his ability on the mound last season and was trusted with a spot in the club’s rotation when this year began.

On Monday night, Purcey helped lead the Blue Jays to a 9-2 victory over the Orioles at Rogers Centre, but it was a win that was a long time coming for the pitcher. The win was Purcey’s first in more than a year for Toronto — a drought that Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston did not expect.

“I didn’t think so,” Gaston said. “He’s still a kid, too, I guess.”

At 27 years old and with enough Major League service time to no longer be considered a rookie, Purcey is hardly a kid anymore. He was supposed to be a fixture in Toronto’s staff this year — rather that someone who needed another four months of seasoning on the farm with Triple-A Las Vegas.

Click here to read the full article – By Jordan Bastian of MLB.com

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Snider leads Jays’ homer charge

GameSetMatch — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:44:59 +0000

The field was littered with equipment. A handful of helmets and bats were scattered in the grass down the first-base line at Yankee Stadium, and in the dirt behind home plate, the chest protector belonging to Blue Jays catcher Rod Barajas was abandoned.

A few minutes earlier, New York’s Shelley Duncan was gripping the straps of that chest guard, pulling Barajas out from the bottom of a dogpile during a heated altercation between the Jays and Yankees during the eighth inning of Toronto’s 10-4 victory on Tuesday night.

The late-inning eruption — ignited when Yankees catcher Jorge Posada took exception to a very wild pitch from reliever Jesse Carlson — overshadowed a game filled with positives for the Blue Jays. Toronto matched a season high with five home runs, including two from rookie Travis Snider, and ace Roy Halladay was effective in earning his 15th win of the year.

Click here to read the full article – By Jordan Bastian of MLB.com

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Hill, Lind a surprisingly productive pair

GameSetMatch — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:03:43 +0000

Simply put, there is just one other 1-2 punch offensively in the Majors that has more combined RBIs than Toronto’s Aaron Hill and Adam Lind.

That may come as a surprise to many fans because the Blue Jays aren’t in the pennant race, and Hill and Lind don’t have an aura of star power attached to their names that more experienced and established players enjoy. They both entered Monday’s finale against the Tigers with 97 RBIs.

Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria (103) and Carlos Pena (100) and Boston’s Jason Bay (101) and Victor Martinez (97) had more combined RBIs entering Monday’s game. And with Pena on the disabled list with a broken finger for the remainder of the year, it is likely the Toronto pair will have a chance to take over that lead. And the majority of Martinez’s RBIs came with the Indians before a July trade to the Red Sox.

Click here to read the full article – By Mike Scott of MLB.com

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Snider continues to make adjustments

GameSetMatch — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:48:59 +0000

The life of a rookie in the Major Leagues is about making adjustments — adjustments at the plate, in the outfield and on the mound. And sometimes being a rookie is about dressing up as a Toronto Argonauts cheerleader.

The Blue Jays have plenty of rookies going through this process. Outfielder Travis Snider is one of many. And those adjustments will extend beyond the end of this regular season. So while Snider’s attention on Tuesday will be focused on beating the Yankees in New York, his long-term view of how to improve at the big league level doesn’t stop in early October.

Click here to read the full article – By Mike Scott of MLB.com

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GameSetMatch — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:29:57 +0000

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Gaston, Barajas differ on catcher’s future

GameSetMatch — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:17:30 +0000

Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston suggested on Thursday that catcher Rod Barajas, who can be a free agent at the end of the season, would not be back next year with the team.

Gaston was asked at his daily media briefing what he would suggest to general manager J.P. Ricciardi when discussing needs for next season.

“What would I tell him right now?” Gaston asked. “I think we’re not going to have a catcher next year. I don’t think Barajas is coming back, but [Raul] Chavez has done a great job as far as being a backup here.”

And he praised the catching combination that produced 18 home runs and 76 RBIs. Barajas has 16 homers and 61 RBIs with a .238 batting average.

Click here to read the full article – By Larry Millson of MLB.com

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