Blue Jays Are Melking It, Baby!

Don't take my word for this, but trending right now on Twitter is a rumor the Toronto Blue Jays are working to bring Babe Ruth back from the dead to hit clean up, maybe pitch a little, for the 2013 season.

It's not enough, is it, you greedier-than-Trump Blue Jays, that you took advantage of Jeffrey Loria's bat-$#!t crazy ways of running a baseball franchise to secure a trade for nearly all of the Miami Marlins' good players?

Sorry about that. I must have been channeling my inner Brian Cashman.

Ok, where was I?

Who knows at this point if this is a good move or not, but Canada's only team today has reportedly signed Melky Cabrera to a two-year deal with $16 million.

This past season in San Francisco, Cabrera was tearing it up – he was hitting .346 – and was well on his way to securing a lucrative free agent contract. But then, as you know, Cabrera, the All-Star Game's MVP who helped secure home-field advantage for the Giants, was suspended for 50 games after testing positive in August for performance enhancing drugs.

Now, Cabrera is back, but will he have the same motivation to light it up with his bat the way he did in his contract walk year?

We'll see.

In the meantime, ESPN's Buster Olney, after the news of Cabrera's signing broke, Tweeted the Blue Jays' possible lineup for 2013.

Possible Jays' lineup: SS Reyes LF Cabrera RF Bautista DH Encarnacion 3B Lawrie 1B Lind C Arencibia CF Rasmus 2B Izturis/Bonifacio. Speed.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 16, 2012

Olney's lineup does not account for the possibility of the Blue Jays resurrecting Ruth.

You Have My Permission to Pick the Jays to Be Contenders

Ok, in 2013 I'm giving you guys a pass.

And by "you guys," I mean all you baseball prognosticators who annually say "hey, look out for the Blue Jays to be contenders in the American League East this year."

You hear and read that every year, right? And then every season, Toronto is nowhere to be found, unless you take a peep near the basement of the AL East.

The "we-rarely-live-up-to-expectations" Jays have finished fourth in the division each of the past five years and have placed higher than third only once (second in 2006) since 1994.

I considered writing a post just after the regular season ended, begging all you Nostradamuses out there to lay off the Blue Jays this season.

But now… well, now if you’re picking the Blue Jays to be competitive there's nothing I can complain after they traded Wednesday for nearly every good player on the entire Miami Marlins roster.

In case you missed it, the Jays acquired short stop Jose Reyes, right handed pitcher Josh Johnson, lefty Mark Buehrle, infielder Emilo Bonifacio (love that surname) and catcher John Buck. Speaking of bucks (as in dollars), the Marlins also threw 4 million of those across the Canadian border.

So, who's leaving Toronto for Miami? Taking their talents to South Beach, if you will. That would be short stop Yunel Escobar, righty pitcher Henderson Alavarez, short stop Adeiny Hechvarria, left handed pitcher Justin Nicolin and a few other guys you've probably never heard of.

I'm not saying this trade makes the Blue Jays instant contenders. How would I know?

I'm just saying if you're one of those guys who annoys me by perennially picking the Jays to hang with the Yankees and Red Sox – and let's not leave out the Orioles – in the AL East, I'm ok with that.  

This year.

Just Because I Love Double Plays

As I write more and more about baseball here, you'll probably come to know that I'm a sucker for double plays. It’s my favorite play in baseball. I once thought of starting a blog dedicated to only to twin killings. (That's a horrible idea.)

This is a small, if not insignificant, item, but today Fangraphs has a Q&A with shortstop Mike Aviles, whom the Toronto Blue Jays just acquired from the Red Sox in the as compensation for manager John Farrell. Here's what Aviles had to say about his double play partner in Boston:

“I think I’m the same shortstop regardless of who is next to me. I’ve played games without Pedey [Dustin Pedroia] and feel like it’s been the same thing. Of course, any time you have a guy like Pedey over there, it makes you that much better. You know that any ball that can be turned into a double play is going to be, every time. That’s the reason he’s the reigning Gold Glove winner. But regardless of who my double play partner is, I’m out there just trying to do my job. I‘m not flashy, but I can make the plays.”