Blog Archives
Melk! It’s Good For Your Outfield: Where Does Toronto’s New Outfield Stand?
Thursday, November 22nd, 2013
Photo Courtesy of bleacherreport.com
Alex Mednick (Baseball Writer and Analyst)
Since the Blue Jays and Marlins blockbuster trade, there has been a lot of discussion about Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle. Jose Reyes is going to have an amazing presence at the top of the lineup, getting on base, steal bases and playing beautiful shortstop on the left side of the infield with Brett Lawrie for the Blue Jays ground ball pitchers. Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle immediately make the Blue Jays rotation a top rotation in all of baseball by being inserted in. Effectively, they got two top of the line starters to create an elite rotation that makes them serious contenders.
Alex Mednick (Blue Jays Fan and Writer for MLB Reports): Gibbons May Work Out!
Tuesday November 20th, 2013
Note from Lead Writer Chuck Booth: Just to be fair on this whole John Gibbons hire, I am posting this article written by my fellow colleague/Baseball Writer at the MLB Reports) in order to give a different vantage point. Alex is a Blue Jays fan, so he has a passion for the team. His thoughts are of his own and while I may not agree with his opinion, that is okay. That is why we all have our own minds and are not all sheep! So here is his article (based on a question he answered on my previous piece this morning.)
The Blue Jays have not qualified for the Playoffs since they won Back to Back World Series in 1992 and 1993. Only Pittsburgh and Kansas City and Toronto have not made a playoffs appearance since the 1994 strike. Will 2013 be any different with OLD/NEW MGR John Gibbons?
Alex Mednick (Baseball Writer and Analyst):
I responded to our Lead Baseball Writers Message about not liking the Gibbons hiring in this article earlier today here.
It was, frankly, my initial reaction as well..I was not pleased when I first read this news about Gibbons. I think AA also realizes the consequences of spending his bosses money and then making a poor decision. If it does not pan out, it could mean his job…AA is not untouchable, even though there has been a demi-god status applied to him. Bosses don’t like when you squander their money…period.
But for some reason I am intrigued by this hiring. I was absolutely fed up with the Ricciardi/Gibbons regime, and thought that they should have been fired 2 years before they were. But Gibbons acted largely as the puppet of an egotistical, and nonsensical J.P. Ricciardi, which I can attribute to a lot the reasons he was criticized. There is no doubt, even though managers do not take any at bats themselves, they have a large impact on the team. Look at Bobby V and Boston.
I think that Gibbons was a stooge for JP Ricciardi and that is part of why he is so attractive to AA. AA actually stated during the hiring process he was looking for someone who could fall in line with his and the organization’s theory. Farrell was the opposite of that, a free thinking executive type, who also seemed disinterested in the organization as a whole. He didn’t take the job seriously.
“At first, I was not happy with the signing, having thought about it a little more, lets give it a shot.” Alex Mednick
MLB Reports 
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