Last night, Toronto’s baseball faithful enjoyed one of the most entertaining editions of Pitch Talks to date.
Alexis Brudnicki shared her deep insights and knowledge about Canadian International Baseball. I always appreciate the early speakers and panelists. Most of the time they bring a new and fresh perspective on the sport.
Alex Seixeiro and Scott Cullen shared their thoughts on the upcmoing fantasy baseball season. I’m not a huge fantasy player. However, there were tons of people in attendance who had their nerd caps on. It was an amazing sight to behold.
Finally we had the pre-season Blue Jays banter with Scott MacArthur, Mike Wilner, Jamie Campbell and Gregg Zaun. And this panel DID NOT disappoint. Zaun, in fact, stole the show. He shared stories of his time with the Baltimore Orioles (getting put in his place by Cal Ripkin Jr.), Florida Marlins (World Series champs) and Toronto Blue Jays (helping JP Arencibia learn to become a major league catcher). Zaun was uncensored and in the mood to share with fans of the best sport in the world.
If you’re a fan of baseball in Toronto (or Canada for that matter) then Pitch Talks is the place to be. What are you waiting for?!
If you are a hardcore baseball fan living in the Greater Toronto Area then you were probably in attendance last night at the latest Pitch Talks event. Hosted by Kevin Kennedy at the Culture, Art, Media & Education Centre in Toronto, last night’s event featured a short Blue Jays film by Cashew Mirman Videos as well as the Canadian premiere of the Dock Ellis story: No No: A Dockumentary.
Kicking off the festivities was a round table panel discussing the latest Blue Jays move this winter featuring: Megan Robinson (Sportsnet Fan590), Ben Nicholson-Smith (Sportsnet), Shi Davidi (Sportsnet) and Drew Fairservice (NOT Sportsnet – Fangraphs).
As the Toronto Blue Jays start the second half of the 2014 season, I thought I would take a quick look at the various positions and players to see what where we are at and what we need to do to win the American League East.
First Base is currently being played by all-star player Jose Bautista. Adam Lind? He’s on the DL for the next little while after taking medical advice from his mother. Strange days. While he was playing, Lind was hitting the cover off the ball. Against righties mind you. Manager John Gibbons, understanding that Lind can’t hit lefties, has platooned him for most of the season with Edwin Encarnacion. Lind is currently hitting .320 but don’t expect him back until August.
DH/First Base. Edwin Encarnacion continues to assault the ball with his towering home runs. When he’s not injured. Yikes. Encarnacion sits at the break with 26 home runs.
Second Base. Started with Maicer Izturis. But he only played 11 games. Third baseman and all-Canadian Brett Lawrie has been playing there. But guess what? Injured. So the Jays got Steve Tolleson from Buffalo.
Shortstop is the oft injured Jose Reyes. But guess what? He’s not injured! Yay. While his range is not world class he’s been (while he’s not injured) a steady contributor for the Blue Jays at the top of the batting order. Currently, Reyes sits at 17 stolen bases.
Third base. See above for Lawrie. In the meantime, Juan Francisco has been….ok. In 71 games he has hit 14 home runs. Not bad. But he has also struck out 85 times. Not good.
Left field is currently being patrolled by Melky Cabrera. I can’t remember if he’s injured or not. Seriously, he’s not injured. His play, when you compare it to last year, is a 180 degree difference. He has 7 assists as a fielder and is a very capable second hitter in front of Toronto’s power hitters.
Center field is currently patrolled by Colby Rasmus. He’s not injured but he’s not even hitting .250. He does have 12 home runs but he also has over 70 strike outs. EVen Anthony Gose looks like a superstar when he has replaced Rasmus. And Gose is not hitting that much over the .250 line.
Right field has mostly been patrolled by Bautista (when he’s not injured or playing first/DH). His home runs might not be as high but he can still bang with the best of them. His hitting has actually gotten stronger as he’s using the entire field. Which is a benefit considering opposition teams play him to pull almost all the time.
Catching. Anything is better than JP Arencibia from last year. Where is JPA now? In the minors trying to play first base in the Texas Rangers system. Good grief.
The pitching corps has actually being a bright light for the Blue Jays. Mark Buehrle has been the ace of the staff. Buehrle sits at 10 wins with an amazing ERA of 2.64. Bright lights? Rookie Marcus Stroman and closer Casey Janssen.
Manager John Gibbons has been outstanding. That’s just my opinion. But look where the Blue Jays sit: In second place 4 games out of first. Now that’s pretty good. And so is this team. When they are healthy.
What do the Blue Jays have to do from here to win the division and play for the World Series?
Get healthy and stay healthy.
Get a top of the line pitcher.
Get a star infielder.
Time for Alex Anthopoulos to step up to the plate.
A friend of mine was bemoaning the state of sports radio in Toronto when I suggested that he look at podcasts as his source of sports talk “radio”. He’s a hockey and baseball fan. I can’t help with hockey because I’m only a fan every 4 years (hello Olympics!). So here are my favourite baseball podcasts:
And there are only two worth your time. And they are both brought to you by the same folks who brought to you the best damn sports mobile app of all time: The Score.
Otherwise known as DJF, this podcast and blog provides everything a Toronto Blue Jays fan could ask for. The writers of the blog also provide everything you don’t want to hear such as why the Jays suck this year. Answer: Too many crap players. Writers Andrew Stoeten, Dustin Parkes, Drew Fairservice, and Scott Lewis provide amazing analysis that most writers and sportscasters ignore because of timelines, word count or just plain ignorance about the sport of baseball.
The DJF podcast is just as delightful. However, be careful. The content is NSFW so wear a headset if you listen to it at work or at home around kids. One thing you will notice is two things: Firstly, the crew are not shills for the team or ownership. Which means they tell it like it is. Secondly, they always provide insightful analysis no matter the colour of their language. So it’s both entertaining and educational.
My favourite part of this baseball blog is the My Approach series by Drew Fairservice. If this is all the baseball you read then you will be 1000 times smarter than anyone else you listen to in Toronto sports radio – never mind your baseball drinking buddies. Drew has interviewed a dozen or so of the top baseball stars of today asking them about their approach to the game. He sometimes interjects the interview with thoughtful analysis backed up by stats and videos. You will be hard pressed to find better baseball writing anywhere else.
The Getting Blanked podcast is the best baseball podcast around. These guys know their baseball and can talk about it just as well as they can write about it. Expect analysis of breakout players, Mike Trout, the most underrated players, Mike Trout, thoughts on stats and moneyball and even everyone’s favourite player, Mike Trout. Oh, expect to hear the boys trashing Toronto’s baseball beat writers and radio hosts for being lazy…and stuff. If you want to be a well rounded and knowledgeable baseball fan, then the podcast and the blog are a must. And the bumper music they play is outstanding too!
