PHOTO DAY! PHOTO DAY!

Today was Picture Day. Or, as I call it, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" Day.

Sadly, neither Vikings nor French Canadians were present at this photo shoot. I don't know where they were at, but hopefully that will be rectified soon. There must be a Day 2 because the smiling fool in the John Lott photo above isn't in this group, either. 

I love how they keep making him do this with his face like it's a natural thing. 

Judging from many of the pictures from today, the Jays have many seemingly interchangeable white guys now. This one is called Steve Pearce.

How someone can be so filthy on the mound and yet so guileless in the face is amazing to me. Will the wonders cease? This is the face of a boy who says, "Gosh!" a lot. 

The lighting and angles on some of these things are terrible. Devon Travis is a good looking kid and this is just mean. Powder is your friend, people.

Also, what are you looking at??!?!?!?!

We used to have two large, taciturn Dominicans. We are down to one.

He looks a little sad. It's ok, Cisco, you get to throw to Russell all season this year.

"Don't talk to me or my son again." 

"Osuna needs braces!" "Dental plan!" 

Also, rectify that situation on your chin, immédiatement

Doldrums: Pitchers. Catchers. Reported.

I have long tried to fight the emotional aspects of my baseball fandom. Possibly because I'm one of the only female bloggers on the Jays beat I wanted to be taken seriously as a writer and I didn't want to be both the girl and the moody one.

But, as you have probably noticed, baseball related content has been missing from this site for three weeks. I've faithfully posted music related content for Music Monday (find the link in the top navigation) but haven't been invested in baseball.

Part of it was that it was the off season and there just wasn't much to talk about. But there is something else. 

I noticed in the pictures for the Tribe Fest (the Cleveland Indians fan fest) a little while ago, and they just took a picture of Edwin Encarnacion doing his signature parrot walk and Photoshopped Indians gear on him and as the gnawing feeling grew in my stomach, I realized something

There isn't going to be anymore of this:

And I'm still pissed off. I've tried to tell myself it doesn't matter but apparently it does. I'm still mad about how this off season went down. I'm not going to pretend it's logical or try to defend it. I don't think the team is doomed or anything. But I'm irritated. 

I've been at this since April 2007 and it's the first time I've felt this faraway.

I'll get over it.

Probably. 

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While I'm getting over it, take a look at my favourite pictures by John Lott so far this spring.

I saw this smile live late last summer. He was getting his hair cut. I told him he was great. And I randomly held his foot in my hand. This was the reaction. It was stupendous. 

Birthday Boy gets Birthday Gibbyisms. 

Birthday Boy gets Birthday Snuggles by Eccentric Co-Worker.

Bonne fête, Coltrane.

I wonder if Gibby can use that phone. Can you transfer a call, John? Can you use the Conferee Selectable Display and Disconnect feature? 

Shoulders. 

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Album - An Anthology Released - November 1972 Song writer - Robbie Robertson

Skydog and the Queen of Soul cover Canadian created Americana. 

I picked up my bag and I went lookin' for a place to hide
When I saw Carmen and the Devil walkin' side by side
And I said, "Hey, Carmen, come on, would you go downtown"
And she said, "Well, I gotta go but my friend can stick around"

Yordano Ventura: 1991-2017

Over the weekend, Kansas City Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura was killed in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. Ventura was a big part of the Royals back to back World Series appearances, particularly beloved by Royals fans for his role in the 2015 World Series championship.

Alcohol was first reported to be the cause of the accident, but reports have since come out that suggest Ventura was alive immediately after the crash but was robbed, assaulted and left for dead. His family believes Ventura had, in his possession, cash and other valuables, including his World Series ring. His family can't locate the ring. The public was already at the scene of the crash when authorities arrived. His grandfather has pleaded, through the media, for the National Police to have a thorough investigation as to what happened. 

Pedro Martinez tweeted that he wants there to be a formal inquiry over the incident.

Que indignante saber que una vida como la de Yordano pudo haberse salvado de no haber sido que lo saquearan de la forma en que lo saquearon

— Pedro Martinez (@45PedroMartinez) January 24, 2017

“How outrageous to know that a life like Yordano’s could have been saved had it not been that they robbed him the way he was robbed.”

Ojalá se levante una investigación, pues si existen evidencias puntuales de esto, sentiría mucha vergüenza ajena por mi país.

— Pedro Martinez (@45PedroMartinez) January 24, 2017

“I hope an investigation will be carried out, because if there is any specific evidence of this, I would feel a great deal of shame for my country.”

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There is also the tricky situation of Ventura's contract. The Royals still owe Ventura $20 million dollars on his contract, but if he was impaired at the time of the accident, that contract could be voided. The toxicology report will be key in determining whether or not the Royals will pay Ventura's estate what is owed. 

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I mostly knew Ventura for this kind of stuff:

4/12/15: Mike Trout singles and glares at pitcher Yordano Ventura, who exchange words after Albert Pujols' double Check out http://m.mlb.com/video for our full archive of videos, and subscribe on YouTube for the best, exclusive MLB content: http://youtube.com/MLB About MLB.com: Commissioner Allan H.

As well as tweeting trash talk to José Bautista. It was always hilarious to see Ventura run his mouth and then have the much larger Salvador Perez stand between him and whoever he was mouthing at. 

Remember how saucy things were between the Royals and the Jays? A blood feud of the best kind. Also, note Pat and Buck talking about Bautista's ability to come up big. This is before the 7th inning of Game 5.  

AARON SANCHEZ (AGE 23) - TORONTO BLUE JAYS - P Site Location: Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario (45,736 attendance) Original Airdate: Sunday August 2, 2015 (ICE-TV) (SNO-TV)

What I didn't know is that Ventura played soft ball the night after the Royals lost game seven of the 2014 World Series.

I am literally playing softball against Yordano Ventura. #royals #beroyal bout to get this win @YordanoVentura pic.twitter.com/jfIxK1auhR

— Tyler Hill (@T_Hill816_KC) October 31, 2014

@ebelden @TheFakeNed friend posted pics on fb. Here's one pic.twitter.com/merxJSTcq3

— Evan Cline (@5joeclines) October 31, 2014

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The funeral was today. I put tweets from the Kansas City Star's Vahe Gregorian into Storify because I thought the description of it all was really beautiful. 

A Day Later, A Little More Official

The deal appears official. I have nothing much to add to what I wrote yesterday. 

John Lott has thoughts. 

This made me pause:

This keeps coming up. This came up in the Encarnacion discussions, too. Why are they prioritizing Justin Smoak's playing time over someone a lot better/ more consistent offensively? Smoak should be playing the role he did with EE still in the lineup. In there when they need a better glove over there and a bat off the bench. 

Pearce is a utility player and a journeyman. Why not utilize him in LF, in a platoon with Upton? Now that Saunders is out of the picture, they were always going to need an outfielder. Why not put Upton in right field?

I just can't with the idea of prioritizing Pearce/Smoak over maximizing the play of a much better player. The drawbacks with Bautista's right field defense disappear when you remove him from RF.   Bautista should get out his first base glove and start picking throws from Donaldson and Travis. 

Other than those thoughts, the only other thing I have to contribute is this GIF from the archives:

Oil your parts down, it's time to party #Bautista pic.twitter.com/bp21khLYWo

— Joanna (@HumandChuck) January 17, 2017

I distinctly remember seeing this video when it first came out. I was going to attempt to write about 2012 ESPN The Body issue in a somewhat serious fashion, but when the makeup artist started to oil Bautista down, that flew out the window. 

It still makes me laugh. 

I don't have Squad Goals, I have Quad Goals.