Notes from Spring: Tulo, Sanchez Starting and a Statue.
In a move to counteract all the late season "Tulo hates Toronto" talk there have been several pieces about how much Tulowitzki loves Toronto. The latest comes from Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling.
“I’ll tell you one thing people that people don’t know about Troy Tulowitzki. This guy’s an endless worker. We just hit for two hours in the cage. You’d think a guy of his stature and his financial freedom wouldn’t care as much as he does. But he cares so, so much.”
They also go into more detail about their Vegas trip, which involved UFC tickets and Sanchez teasing Tulowitzki about how he got comps to him as a high school short stop.
“Tulo’s really done wonders for that. It’s a lot like how baseball used to be. You know, guys hanging around the clubhouse, talking about the game, drinking beer or whatever. Guys just spending time together.”
’Guys just spending time together.’ I can see why Goose Gossage hates them so much.
“Playing this game, you know anything can happen. And you always say you do. But then it actually happens to you, and it’s like, ‘Wow, this really is a tough business, and things really can change in a hurry.` But now that I look back at it, I’m a firm believer that things really do happen for a reason. I’m definitely happy to be here. And I can’t wait to start a new year.”
This is the picture that Sportsnet uses.
Sportsnet Magazine used the most emo picture of the dude possible. It might be Tulo's "serious" look, but between the sad, worried eyes and the ears that stick out, it's less "serious" and more "Eeyore."
He takes the most emo pictures since Colby Rasmus.
Photo by John Lott
There was quite a lot of talk yesterday on Twitter between Wilner and Wilner followers about whether the Jays see Sanchez as a starter or out of the bullpen. Wilner's opinion is that since it's a "in now" sort of season, the Jays shouldn't experiment and should keep Sanchez as a reliever.
I don`t agree. This dude put in a tremendous amount of work in the off season, putting on 20 lbs and adding a curveball, and has looked pretty great this spring. This guy has the biggest upside on the staff of anyone not named Stroman and can make baseballs do things that might be illegal. Sanchez's start over the weekend, though it was versus a split squad of Tampa Bay Rays, was impressive. The pitches had gorgeous movement and it was ground ball out or strike out for the most part. The walks are down and he only gave up one hit in four innings, a lead off double.
I just don't see this as that much of an experiment putting Sanchez in the rotation. If this were Osuna, I'd get the hesitation. But it isn't. It's go time for Aaron Sanchez.
“I can definitely feel it. I feel a lot stronger out there. I feel like I’m not even trying to throw. It’s more about putting my body in the right position to execute a pitch, and it’s seamless for me out there right now.
”
My reaction looked a lot like this:
Photo by John Lott
Now for a break- MVP Bringer of Rain being Baseball Delicious.
Photo by John Lott
You might notice the benefit of braiding your hair. You get curls.
Photo by John Lott
Another day of Goose Gossage being an idiot.
It was a slow news day at ESPN Radio Chicago`s Waddle and Silvy Show. They had Goose Gossage on to talk more trash about Jose Bautista. The only thing different was this time he threw in some stuff about it being all John Gibbons`fault.
“It makes my skin crawl when I watch Bautista throw his bat like he threw his bat last year.
”
Oh.
“And the whole Toronto team basically acting like fools, jumping up and down. What have they won? Nothing.
”
I wouldn't categorize the A.L. East as "nothing" but okay. It isn't the World Series. But given that every team that advances into the playoffs whoops it up, I don't see why Toronto is the team that gets singled out.
It just makes me suspect something. That something was confirmed when they asked Goose whether Gibbons was responsible.
“Absolutely … You were supposed to act like a professional.”
I'm just going to go ahead and assume Joe Girardi got a phone call after this.
Look at these men acting like fools. They haven't even won anything.
Let's remember the situation here. The Yankees were up nine games on the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays handed them their asses in the second half of 2015, over took the Yankees to win the East. If one were going to be cruel, one might say the Yankees choked. As a result, the Yankees played in the Wild Card game against the Astros. And lost.
Seriously, I don't care that the Yankees whooped it up, but I do find it all a little rich.
I don't remember the tirade from Gossage last fall. This is all a way for Gossage to contribute to the Yankees. He saw what happened last year, he knows the Jays have the potential to be very good and he is going to do his part by picking at the Jays in the media. It's kind of sad.
Also kind of sad. Actually more than kind of. Also a lot of ridiculous.
Stacy May Fowles wrote about the situation for The Globe and Mail, rightly pointing out that women get harassed and threatened on Twitter all the time with little to no reaction and someone threatens a statue owned by a large corporation and the police show up.
“Specifically, he tweeted that he would throw a 3.5-metre, 360-kilogram bronze statue of Ted Rogers – which stands outside the Rogers Centre – into the Toronto Harbour.”
Now, Nicholas Kharshoum sounds rather silly tweeting various things about the Blue Jays, a lot like the average Blue Jays Talk caller or Sportsnet.ca comment section. But I don't think anyone took any of it seriously. Except, I guess, Rogers and Toronto Police.
I don't want to say it's because he's a young brown man, so I'll just end this sentence now.
Fowles goes on:
“In fact, as a female sports fan, I spend much of my time doing two things: enduring aggressive online abuse from (mostly male) strangers, and being told either to ignore it or not to take it too seriously. I’ve faced cruelty and threats in comment sections, on social media, and from those who take it upon themselves to e-mail their unsolicited opinions. Although most of this onslaught is simply irritating, there have certainly been moments in my online life that I have been legitimately afraid.”
Few idiot comments:
“For women ‘people disgareeing with me on Twitter’ = ‘online harassment’.”
No. Sorry. No.
I think a lot of men would be horrified to experience what many women have to deal with just existing in the world. And anyone who dismisses that is just ignorant. It's often ridiculous.
“‘In fact, as a female sports fan, I spend much of my time doing two things: enduring aggressive online abuse from (mostly male) strangers, and being told either to ignore it or not to take it too seriously.’
And so you would as a male sportsfan. Welcome to equality.”
Do people comment on your looks, make lewd comments on your sexuality or wanting to sleep with players or otherwise threaten your safety on a regular basis? Do they tell you you should be raped because they don't agree with your opinion about a certain pitcher? (It happened to me.) I'm thinking no. Also, sports fan is two words.
Also, if men also got harassed like this, how is that okay? How about everyone stops getting harassed? The answer to this issue is not "Everyone gets harassed, so shut up."
Finally:
Big ups and salutations to the Tao of Steib for giving this blog a shout out on Blue Jays Talk yesterday. We did indeed start our blogs on the same day. BJ Ryan's Back Forever.