Oh Kenny,

So, I was watching some of the footage on Sportsnet in which excruciatingly annoying reporter Barry Davis asks perpetual fly-on-the-wall Ken Rosenthal about what he thought about the Jays' chance this season. And here is what was said:

BARRY DAVIS: "Should the expectations be this high?"

KEN ROSENTHAL: "The expectations absolutely are justified. This is a very good team, a team that if it stays healthy, if its under-achieving players from last year perform better; I think could be a force in the American League East, perhaps even past the Yankees. I had an American League general manager tell me yesterday that he thinks the Blue Jays are not getting enough credit. They're a better team than most people think right now."

BARRY DAVIS: "Well, you know... The Blue Jays didn't go out and make a splash in the free agent market this offseason, but what they have added seems to be a pretty significant significant move if a guy like Rolen can stay healthy."

KEN ROSENTHAL: "Absolutely. And, they did most of their work the last few offseasons with free agents; they really bulked up their team that way. And remember Roy Halladay last season said there was a lack of urgency. I think when you bring in two championship players, Scott Rolen and David Eckstein, that problem is eliminated. Stairs also is a guy who's been there and is a tough-minded individual. And even Marco Scutaro played in some playoff games with the Oakland A's. So I really like what they've done, they've improved their depth dramatically, and Eckstein and Rolen will form a very good left side of the infield."

And blah, blah, blah. Also, the team wants to win, the pitching is good, etc. If you want to see the rest, check out the media section on Sportsnet. Catching the Yankees won't be that difficult, IMO (unless they throw money at their woes, then again... They can and will). Like Rosenthal said, I think the Jays aren't being credited for what is a strong team... When healthy. And I think that's the reason they're not getting credit for a good team. No one believes that these guys are going to stay healthy. And I'm going to admit it right now... Lump me in with that crowd, because sadly, I don't buy it either. Watching the clips from the 2006 offense helps to clear that up a tad (I feel better about everything when I can watch them mash like they once did), but I still think it's going to take nothing short of a miracle to keep all of these guys healthy. Yes, there's significant depth to compensate for when someone goes down, but I just don't think it's going to be enough.

I seriously hope I'm wrong. In any case, I'm going to enjoy the baseball season. Maybe I'm just bitter today for some reason. I love this team and have no doubt about what they can do when healthy.

Speaking of significant depth, the Jays are apparently close to a minor league deal with former Jay Shannon Stewart. Cool. I don't see where he fits into the plans, but I guess depth is depth... And that is good depth. To me, this looks like protection in case Wells, Stairs, Johnson, or Overbay go down... It's a good move. I know Lind is in the minors waiting, but if you think about it... The kid might benefit from a full year in AAA without being bounced back and forth four times. That might be part of the justification for the whole thing.

Also, searching for the above picture of Shannon Stewart showed me that not only is Shannon Stewart a major league ball-player, but also a contestant on America's Next Top Model and a Playboy Playmate! Wow, that's a man on the go.

Let's make some news, shall we?

If there's anything worse than reporters trying to string together baseball articles in the offseason, it's reporters trying together articles during Spring Training... When there's no news to report. Still, they feel that they should be reporting something, as there baseball players are all congregated in one area, doing baseball things. Really, this kind of reporting results in a whole lot of irrelevant crap. Anything that is the least bit relevant is so repetitive.

Here are some examples from the irrelevant crap category:
-Prince Fielder is going vegetarian, says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
-Rios can't put on clothes properly and then needs Overbay's help to correct the problem, and Zaun says something football related.
-Ryan Dempster thinks the Cubs are going all the way in '08, but then again... Kevin Millar says the same about his Orioles. Ten points for Millar for hilarity.

Here are some examples of cookie-cutter relevant crap:
-David Eckstein is small and scrappy, Doc is good, and Matt Stairs is Canadian
-Manny Ramirez exists and is happy/healthy.
-The Tigers are good.
-The Mets and Phillies are in competition! I love how Rollins seems to think he was the first player ever to declare his team was going to win.

And here's just something hilarious. Are you big, loud, and obnoxious? Can you pick up choreography, despite your jiggling belly? Have your friends commonly compared you to a large, sea mammal? WHY.... The Florida Marlins have a job for you! We may have the Junior Jays, but the Florida Marlins are currently casting for the Marlins Manatees. And I assure you, it's exactly what it looks like. I guess all of the pretty is being used up by the Mermaids. Mop up the drool, boys.

Mermaids and Manatees aside, I can't wait until the games start. Six and change days, and there will be actual play to report on. As opposed to: "So and so is feeling good" and "So and so is pitching" etc.

On a completely unrelated note... What kind of movie rental place doesn't have Jurassic Park? Like what the fucking fuck. I wanted to watch some dinosaurs kill things.

Late... As always...

UPDATE (6:46pm): So, Jeff Blair has got the scoop on the Trot Nixon thing. Apparently whatever reason the Jays had for checking out Nixon was not dire enough for them to take interest. The Diamondbacks want a piece of that though, by the sounds of it.

So, I'm a little bit late to the steroid-ranting party. In fact, I had a whole post written up in defense of Andy Pettitte after arguing with folks about the kind of character he was, and why he was in the right to do what he did, until I realized something- I don't care. I don't care about Roger Clemens and his ego. I don't care about the autographs in Congress. I don't care about the further proof that the Bonds hate is racially motivated. I don't care about Zaun's crazy (albeit somewhat believable) steroid excuse.

The Boys are already in Dunedin, no one seems to be restricted in anyway. They're saying Chacin might be a little behind schedule, but expect him to catch up quickly and be fine by the end of Spring Training. Spring Training has begun, and they play their first game in 10 days. Who the hell cares about steroids; baseball is back. So let's move on, shall we?

Trot Nixon?:
Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.Com mentioned that the Jays were among four teams that scouted Trot Nixon yesterday in Arizona... This worries me a little. Naturally this could just be something to do, or it could have a deeper meaning. I'm confused, but it does raise some red flags. The Jays have no need for a fourth outfielder... If everyone's healthy.

If there are doubts about Johnson, I admit Nixon would be possible, but unlikely. I think in that case, the smartest thing the team could do would to bring up Adam Lind. Otherwise, it's just a waste of money for what would probably be less production. Another possibility would be that Wells isn't where the team would like him to be. This jumps out at me as more as a possibility, with a void in RF after Rios having to move to centre. But all reports state that Vernon is fine, and in that case... It would still be possible to bring Lind up anyway.

There's also the possibility that Rios is on the block still. I seriously doubt that though, as it doesn't jive with the extension that's currently in the works for our tall, lanky dude in RF. Then again, maybe I'm just overreacting and the Jays were just there to be there. It's a fine way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Spring Training:
Thanks to Jordan Bastian for posting pictures from Spring Training. Rios' new hair makes me sad inside (that's a mohawk? It looks like a very ugly hat). Observe:
Then again, this conversation is pure gold:
RICCIARDI: "Alex, if you cut your hair, you'd be like Tom Brady. You'd have them all. What do you think Johnny Mac?"
MCDONALD: "The problem is that he's already had them all."
RIOS: "Aw, c'mon, Johnny."

Also, whoever mentioned to Adam Lind that he should grow facial hair needs to be kicked in the face. Then again, I guess he's trying to look older. I need a front view before I entirely pass judgment... All I know is that a person doesn't necessarily need to look homeless to look older.

The new design:
Also, everything's working now in all browsers! I had made some mistakes in the CSS that weren't showing up in Firefox (height:100% doesn't fly in IE). I tested it in Netscape, AOL Explorer, IE, Safari, and Opera... So all of the XML and CSS works fine. I've really enjoyed doing this, actually. I think I'm going to translate my personal site into XML. I'm a sad, sad individual, it would seem.

Colours? What?

//EDIT// So apparently the layout doesn't work in IE. You can see the first post and the first link on the right and not much else. I'll try to work it out later this evening, hopefully. Then again, who in their right mind uses IE anymore? Get Firefox, you fools! Still, I will try to fix it. If it doesn't work in IE, I fear what it does in Safari and Opera. It'll probably eat children or something.

Something looks different... Yeah, I was rather productive today. So instead of staring at the boring-ness of the Blogger default templates when you're not reading my blog, you can stare at the boring-ness of my own personal template! At least this is more colourful and more Jays related.

For some reason the navigation bar won't span to the bottom, but it happens, I suppose. I'll try to figure it out, but it'll probably be fine as is.

More to come later when I'm not in a rush. I have a lot of baseball ramblings to get out considering Also, Brad said this blog needed more ninja. So it is done.

Yeah, I'm not dead

UPDATE (9:47pm): THIS BLOG showed up on Google Alerts in my Inbox! The system DOES work!

--

So I tend to disappear from time to time. No, I'm not in a ditch. I'm probably just tearing my hair out from some silly assignment (ever done prolog?), or obsessing over baseball to the point that I don't even know what to blog about. That's right, I get that bad sometimes. Sue me.

So I think the media is playing tricks on me...
I set up some of these nifty Google Alert dealies so that I get the latest Jays news as soon as i happens. I've set up blog and news alerts for Dustin McGowan, A.J. Burnett, Roy Halladay, Shaun Marcum, and the Jays as a whole for the past few weeks and I'm loving it. Sadly, FOX has a meteorologist that shares a name with a certain oft-injured fire-baller, resulting in many daily forecasts from the states, but it's still well worth it. I've found some real gems, and some real... Interesting things.

First of all, there's no love for John McDonald outside of the Jays' blogosphere. Kevin Youkilis is the best thing ever, apparently. The Pirates are going to the 2008 WS. The O's are going to finish ahead of the Jays. Dustin McGowan and Shaun Marcum are going to regress because they are young and unproven, while Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy will carry the Yankees to a WS victory. Troy Glaus and Josh Towers are still on the team, and apparently Frank Thomas is no longer a Jay.

I've read some interesting things. Some optimistic, some pessimistic.

What I mean when I say that the media is playing tricks on me (the media and the blogosphere combined)... My hopes are higher going into this season than I would have wanted them to be. I'm trying to go into the season with realistic expectations, but I'm being peppered with the same expectations of victory that came at me last year... I guess I enjoyed the season more than ever before regardless, but still... I feel hopeful guys.

I've read a number of writings that are of the opinion that the Jays are going to win the division if healthy, or the wild card if mostly healthy. Though I feel a little more cheerful when I read something like that (and often read it aloud, much to the dismay of my poor, baseball-abused roommate), I feel reproachful. We've been burned before, folks!

I do know one thing... Baseball can't start soon enough for me. Or my poor, poor friends, really. My friends hate the baseball-deprived me more than the baseball-engrossed me. I'm jonesing, guys. And jonesing bad. I can't wait to see Doc show his stuff on March 31. I'm sorry, but my Database course is being skipped that day. Without a doubt.