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Jays come up short
TORONTO — Well, I for one was a little surprised at just how active the Blue Jays were at this year's deadline. No, they didn't swing any deals in the end, but Toronto came close to acquiring Raul Ibanez and was in on talks about Jason Bay.
The Jays might've been able to obtain British Columbia's Bay, but Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi said the price was simply too steep. It's believed that the Pirates wanted outfield prospect Travis Snider and starter Shaun Marcum, and that might have been just for starters.
Said Ricciardi: "It was pretty steep for us. At the end of the day, we may have been able to get the player, but it would've been at a very, very steep price and I don't know if that would've helped us going forward, as opposed to maybe setting us back a little more."
As for Ibanez, the Jays were ready to pull the trigger until the M's pulled the plug. Reports are that Toronto was gearing up to send to players from its active roster to Seattle, but the Mariners decided against the move with minutes to spare before the 4 p.m. ET deadline.
Said Ricciardi: "We had some really good talks with Seattle. I'd say they were pretty intense and pretty in depth. We thought, at one point, there was a possibility to get something done there. But, it just didn't come to fruition. We were ready to go forward. … Both parties worked hard. At the end of the day, they probably weren't as comfortable making the trade as we were. That happens."
So, that's that. The Blue Jays are who they are and Ricciardi said he still thinks the club is still in it, even with four teams ahead of them in the division and five ahead of them in the Wild Card standings. Why else would the Jays be in buying mode and also holding on to starter A.J. Burnett? Toronto wants to see if it has a late-season run in there somewhere.
Ricciardi also addressed a couple other topics today. There was the "encouraging news" of Dustin McGowan's shoulder surgery. McGowan will need 8-9 months of recovery time, but can begin a throwing program in roughly four months. He should be ready for Spring Training, since he required no work on his rotator cuff.
As for Scott Rolen's recently revealed shoulder woes, Ricciardi said:
"We talked to the doctor again today. Our worries aren't that great. I think what happened with Scotty is, if you know him at all, he's not a go-easy guy. I think when he's working on something, it's an excess of swings, excess of batting practice. We just have to get him to back off a little bit and give his shoulder a chance to rest a little bit. I talked to the doctor who performed his surgery again today and, medically, nobody has any concerns about him long-term continuing to play. He just needs a couple of days here and there in the course of the middle of the summer. But, we're not worried at all. Like I've said, before we made the trade, we did all the background check we had to do on the surgery and we checked with all the rehab people. We had our doctors check. His shoulder is as strong as it can possibly be. It just gets a little fatigued from overwork."
As for the "controversy" of calling up Scott Richmond, taking Team Canada's ace away from the Olympic squad just days before they take off for Beijing:
"Obviously, the first thing we thought about is, 'We're not going to bring this kid up for one start and hurt his chances of playing on the Olympic team and putting the Olympic team in any kind of jeopardy.' We talked about that at length. We said, 'If this is going to be one start, then we wouldn't bring the kid up.' But, I also think that a lot's being made out of this. Every kid dreams of playing in the big leagues. I think if you went and asked all those Canadian Olympic kids last night, when they were on the field, if they wanted to switch uniforms with a big-league guy right there, as opposed to going to China, I think you'd have a consensus of saying they'd rather be a big-league player. I think that's an unfair shot at us, saying that we did something that was against the Canadian Olympic team. We have great respect for what they do and we have a great relationship with them. But, if we get a chance to bring a guy up to help our Major Legaue team, unfortunately, we're not going to let that get in the way of us making the decision. Listen, I was a part of the U.S. Olympic selection committee twice, so I know what gos into it. But, I also know that when a guy comes to the big leagues, nothing gets in the way of that and that's really what the situation was with Richmond."
So, there you have it. I'm not hitting the road to Texas, so expect a lack of blogging over the next few days unless there's news to discuss.
83 Comments
Well, there you have it. JP had no intention of rebuilding this team by acquiring young talent. Instead, he tried to trade for major league players to save his job. My only hope for this team is that JP is let go at the end of the year and the team admits that it is time to rebuild with the young talent they have in their own farm system. Let the kids play! My fear is that either JP will be kept, or he will be replaced by a Godfrey butt kisser who preaches the old message that we are just a year or two away from contending.
I don't want them to get rid of B.J. I want them to get rid of his contract….B.J. just happens to be the guy who is signed to it. I know he can be a very valuable closer to the Jays but the guy is making 10 million a season despite the fact that I do like what he can bring. They have Accardo, Downs and possibly Janssen as guys who can be an effective closer, so why not free up an extra 10 million if they can get a good prospect or 2 while doing it. They can then use that extra $10million in the offseason for the bat or 2 or pitcher (to replace Burnett) that they need.
JP was asked about the availability of Barajas.
As much as I would of loved to see Jason Bay come to Toronto, I wouldnt want to part with Marcum or Snyder right away, and I wouldnt want J.P for another year. This also goes to show that J.P doesnt have any plans for Lind, I mean with Wells in center, Rios in right, Bay in left…Lind not in Toronto. I think Lind will be just as good as Bay is now by next year.
Freedom, actually Lind is better already than Bay in the most important stat, hitting with risp. Lind is .283 and Bay is .216.
But-in my view, JP never even inquired about Jason Bay. A 3 team deal doesnt go together in 1 day-it takes longer than that and if you read Jordans post, JP is stating he called today. It's all BS.
However, the one that makes no sense is Raul Ibanez-unless the two players he offered were Wilkerson and Mench. Ibanez is 36. The last thing we need is another old guy on his last legs-we already have 4 of those with Wilkerson, Mench, Zaun, and Stewart.
What Sportsnet reported is JP offered David Purcey and Brandon League for Ibanez. If he had done that deal, we should have got together, gone down to The Rogers Center and lynch the SOB.
Sportsnet denied the fact that JP offered Purcey and League…I am sure even JP isnt that stupid.
I also commend JP on not following further talks when Snider and Marcum's names were mentioned. He might have called today just to show he is doing something but that does mean he is acutally doing something.
Who did you all want him to trade? Don't you get it, no one wants Eckstein, Zaun, Mench, or Wilkerson. Even if someone did, he would get nothing of significance back. The fact is, no one knows what happened in the front office today, so it is pointless to argue about it. This team is set up to win, they just need a couple more quality bats. JP is not the complete disaster that everyone thinks, but if he doesn't go after ManRam, then he doesn't deserve the job anymore.
Boston would keep Manny before trading him in the ALE . There wasn't a chance of Manny coming here or to an AL team . Its not so much the players that teams didn't want but their salaries and Jays can't afford to carry all these player's salaries. There is a lot more to trading than "you give me this and I will give you that" .
For those interested in the GM aspect, this article is well worth reading ,
True we don't know what went on in the front office. What we do know is JP tried to trade for another old, underperforming overpaid outfielder in Raul Ibanez. Whether one thinks we're close or not ( and I don't) doesn't really matter. Ibanaez is not going to help this team and to offer two of anything for him is ridiculous-unless it included Eckstein, Stewart and or Wilkerson. Lets get rid of dead wood, not add more. With Wells coming back soon, Lind in left, Rios in right, and Stairs at dh, what position do you expect Ibanez to play?
Harry-Actually Sportsnet reported it was Purcey and League and the Jays denied it. Although it doesn't matter one way or the other, my tendancy is to believe Sportsnet over JP.
We know JP lies.
I agree with Sumner, there is no way we should be trading for a OF or a C, luckily he didn't try to get another C.
Lets see the situation in OF, Wells, Lind, Rios, Snider, thats 4 quality bats where one of them will play DH.
If they inquired about Barajas I would have traded him, he isn't doing much better than Zaun anyways, and if another team inquires then we are probably bound to get something in return.
You are right, Zaun, Eckstein, Wilkerson and Mench won't get us anything in signficance back, but if another team signs them then we do get a draft pick for Zaun and Eckstein.
JP is going to do what is best for JP — that is why JP was trying to acquire Ibanez. A few more wins, and maybe he keeps his job. He makes a trade, now it appears like he is trying to do something. All he is doing is replacing one broken part, with another borken part. A good analogy for JP's managerial methodology would be the "shell game". If it somehow comes out that Sportsnet was correct when they reported it was Purcey and League in the package, there is absolutely no hope for this team, short term or long term, becasue the GM is both insane and desprate. Again, I blame the media, since the media drives things for the most part. Where is the outrage in the media regarding a .500 team once again, and JP's inability or unwillingness to move Burnett or anyone else? It has been 7 years, yet he continues to be given a free ride. It was the media that got rid of Ferguson. Don't kid yourself, if the media did not constantly talk about his lack of performance, MLE would have him in the job today. Unbelievably, the media seems to be more apathetic than the team…and that is saying something. Now with the olympics starting, the focus of the media will be on the lone Canadian who wins a bronze medal in sport-fishing. JP will likely fly under the the radar, free to take a kick at can next year!
JP likes to win the battle and loose the war, because winning the battle = him staying longer
If JP was working for the yankees can you guess what the only job Steinbrenner would have him doing,Steinbrenner,HEY JP dont forget to dump out my trash can tonight and get here early tomorow the hall needs mopping.
JP would still be the GM only this time it means great mopper.
Jordan posted the Jays are looking for more output from the catchers.
"Since Gaston joined the Jays, Barajas had hit just .193 (17-for-88) with two doubles, three home runs and 10 RBIs. During that time, he watched his average drop from .289 to .252, while also striking out 11 times.
Zaun had hit even worse, batting .173 (9-for-52) since Gaston's arrival. The perennial backup has managed only one home run, two doubles and eight RBIs in that span, watching his season average plummet from .269 to .245."
****The solution is calling up two of either Diaz, Arenciba or Jaspe from the minor leagues, get rid of Zaun and Barajas and quit the whining.
Sumner, I agree with you on your solution to bring up Arenciba or Diaz. AS for everyone ripping J.P. is it really that bad ? they are a .500 team with poor hitters. If they can just go out and sign a power bat and another good bat this offseason this team will be in good shape but i guess that's just my opinion. Harry mentioned Lind, Wells, Rios and Snider – 2 of those guys were drafted by J.P. a couple of you mentioned that Lind is actually better then Jason Bay and most of you have said Bay is a good hitter. Sumner, mentioned Arenciba and Diaz…..again drafted by J.P. You guys also mentioned how stupid J.P. would've been to give up League and Purcey in a trade (he didn't by the way) and guess what ? Purcey was drafted by J.P.
Anyway my point is things aren't as bad as you guys are making it seem..they do have young talent that can make an impact soon. To suggest that J.P. has completely ruined this team is alitte ridiculous. As for getting rid of dead wood, the season is a lost cause anyway but I think it's safe to assume that Wilkerson, Mench and Eckstein wont be back next year.
Uncle Teddy has tons of dough so who cares what the BEAST makes. ha. B.J is just too good to let go unless we get overwelmed with a deal of young studs. J.P should use the off season to try and extend B.J while his value coming off TJ is as low as it will ever be.
Although I think JP looks like Gonzo and I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him, (maybe not, he is pretty skinny) he has made some decent draft pics (minus Romero over Tulo) and has brought in some quality players (Burnett, Ryan). He just hasn't done that bad of a job as some of you say he has.
Everyone seems to forget that when this franchise was winning it was winning with the leagues highest payroll. Coincidence? I think not.
Dear JP Defenders:
If the goal is to field a .500 team for 7 years in a row, JP has done a wonderful job. If the goal is to field a competitive team, JP has done a poor job. If the goal is to field a contender, JP has done a terrible job. If the goal is to bring a division title to Toronto, JP has failed. If the goal is to bring a championship to Toronto, JP has failed. If the goal is to build a strong farm system, JP has failed according to the experts that rank our farm system among the weakest in all of baseball. If the goal is to bring respect to the organization by not bad mouthing players on other teams, JP has failed. If the goal is to bring respect and optimism to this team so that free agents will want to sign here (without being paid 3 times what they are actually worth), JP has failed. If the goal is to tell the truth to your fans, JP has failed. I guess you guys who seek to defend JP must also be leaf fans — satisfied with 40 years of mediocrity — willing, like JP, to dream you are only a couple of players away from baseball nirvana!
Guys you both forget something-we're in 4th place-that's really all you have to say.
Yes Gsumner, but it is how we arrived in 4th place that is the issue.
Oops! And how we get out of 4th place, other than falling to 5th.
I think Enigma and Rmatty have good points, burt you might be right, however
Do we have a great pitching staff? YES
Do we have a great bullpen? YES.
do we have a great offense? NO WAY.
Do we have any good players on our offence? A COUPLE OF PLAYERS.
Do we have any good batters coming up? YES A COUPLE
Did this team have an awesome offensive year under JP? YES
What are we missing? JUST 1 – 2 MORE GOOD BATTERS (in combination with the youngsters)
So in a way, yes we are mediocre right now, yes we were mediocre before BUT WE HAVE BEEN A GOOD OFFENSIVE TEAM, WE HAVE BEEN A GOOD PITCHING TEAM,WE ARE ONLY MISSING A COUPLE OF PLAYERS, WHICH COULD THEN PUT US OVER THE TOP. SO EVEN THOUGH WE MIGHT NOT BE GOOD NOW I THINK WE HAVE A GOOD SHOT AT THE FUTURE.
Saying that, does JP need to go? YES. because he can;t trade and he signs the wrong people. I think unknowingly he might have done a few good things, but he doesn't have the vision to complete it. So yes WE ARE NOT TOTALLY BAD, BUT JP NEEDS TO GO.
Here we go again they can't hit with RISP.
Let's not forget he also had the fortitude to offer up Alex Rios for Tim Lincecum. Had he made that trade he would look like a genious. You can't deny how good Tim's season has been and how dissapointing Rios has been… though I do believe he can perform better and since he is here i'm glad it's a long term deal. By the way, implying that Lind is a better hitter then Bay because of his RISP is like me saying Eckstein should hit clean up (I believe his risp is the best on the team). You can't go by one stat to prove who is a better hitter. Lind may in fact be better though. I will say this about J.P. I don't care one way or the other if he is gone this offseason.
Burt is right the team hasn't had a great deal of success but at the same time I don't think it's as far away as most of you guys seem to think and that's my main point. They've had a winning record 2 or 3 straight yrs. (suddenly can't remember) so obviously there is something their, they just need to add a bit more.
As for the Leafs analogy; the Jays have actually won something of significance during my life time so i'll always be a fan. I got off the leaf bandwagon a year ago.
Hey, maybe a day off helped Rolen.
hey garry did you end watching the dark knight yet ?
It's all about hitting with risp. Home runs are nice, but if I had a choice between a guy that hit 30 hr's while only hitting .200 with risp, and a guy that hit 15 hrs, but .290 with risp, I'd take the 15 homer guy every time. The difference in this team hitting .235 with risp and 280 with risp, is probably 10 wins and 2nd place.
Our problem as a team is we're loaded up with a bunch of nice hitters who don't hit with risp. That's why were in 4th place.
The guy that is disappointing me the most is Rolen, who has a reputation for clutch hitting; but not this year-he's dismal.
A winning record is only 1 game over .500. In this division that will likely asure us of 4th or 5th place each year. Personally, I want to see us win-I'm not happy just truging along at .500 or 5 games above .500.
I'll give you the RISP arguement, it's a good point. I'd like to see how good/bad the RISP stat has been in previous years for these guys though before I can say that they suck and should be gone.
Imo, the jays have yet to finish below 3rd in J.P.'s tenure. It'll likely happen this year but to say it's going to happen each year is pushing it.
Enigma no but I was only kidding if you want to talk about it go ahead,I'll forget what you said by tomorow anyways,Thats one of the nice things about getting old you forget a lot so if you see somebody you havent seen for awhile you can now make a new freind because you forget who he was, lol.
Here are the culprits:
Matt Stairs: .191risp/.097risp-2 outs
GZaun: .219risp/.233risp-2 outs
Lyle Overbay: .221/risp/.171risp-2 outs
Kevin Mench:.158risp/.167risp-2 outs
Brad Wilkerson: .212risp/.184risp-2 outs
Rod Barajas: .267risp/.103risp-2outs
Scott Rolen: .195risp/.212risp-2 outs
Alex Rios:.245risp/.156risp-2 outs
That was pathetic
Never watched the game on the tube after they tied it I knew what the outcome would be, This team just plain sucks,I checked on game day to see the results.
Now you all know why no one tried to trade for Blow J.HE IS NOT A GOOD CLOSER most of the time he just barely gets the job done,He is not fun to watch.
Garry-I like the nickname-Blow J. lol I don't think JP even tried to trade him. In fact I'd bet he took calls on him and said he wasn't available; JP likes this team-remember…….
We're committed to paying Blow J 10 mill per year for 2009 and 2010.
Most of the time, winning just does not happen. It is a process and a culture that has to be developed. (Think about the Detroit Red Wings.) That is why I do not think that we are a couple of players away from being a contender. What happened on the field last night was not the fault of the few, but the many. A team loss. Like the Jays in the 80s, we need to start with young talent (Lind, Snider, Cooper, Diaz Arcenebia, McGowan, etc.), trade to get more, then let the team learn to win. It worked for us in the past, it is working for the Rays, and it can work for us again. Blaming Blow J is fine, but he is only part of the problem. After a 6-0 lead, there should have been no need to bring him into the game period.
You can't blame the offence last night but you can blame the pitchen,All in all you can't blame the pitchers in genral just Marcum and Blow J. for last night only,We have had great pitchen all year but no offence and nothing is going to change next year unless JP gets off his *** and makes some drastik changes this winter,Maybe some of the minor league players will be ready to come up and play a role next year,let us hope so,Also I have been thinking maybe it's a good thing that JP has not brought up Snider Cooper Dias and Arcenebia yet The longer they play in the minors the better they will be.As for this year all is lost we dont stand a chance to make the playoffs for the 15th straight year how sad is that maybe we can beat the Leafs record of 40 years lol.I guess if JP stays on we could get bthat done.
AS long as Rogers owns the team we may never make the playoffs he knows nothing about baseball all he cares about is the bottom line are we making money, we are then let's leave things the way they are good job Godfrey *** kisser give yourself and JP a raise and screw the fans let's make money.
Burt if you're going to bring hockey into this then i'll bring up Tampa. They won the cup a few seasons ago and fell into last place this past season, how do you explain that ? Now with the additions they have made (Stamkos, Malone etc.) I wouldn't be surprised if they can finish in the top 6th in the conference. If you want a baseball example explain the Tigers ? They add a great talent in Miguel Cabrera and are worse than last year. Point being in some cases it doesn't take much to change the team around. Yes it's easier to make the playoffs in hockey but if you look at it the Jays are a mediocre team with guys who aren't hitting well and are only 7.5 games behind a playoff spot considering the circumstances I think that's pretty good. If they can get decent offense next year I believe this team can be a wild card threat.
One more point, If J.P. was trying to save his job that badly he would've pulled the trigger on the Jason Bay deal. It's true that he wanted to be a buyer instead of a seller, but the fact that he didn't give up Marcum and Snider for Bay should tell you something.
Garry-Money isn't the issue, organizational culture and plan is. The Toronto Blue Jays have no plan. In case you haven't noticed both Boston and New York are putting extra emphasis on scouting, player development, signing bonuses and their minor system as a whole.
New York have started a process of dumping the high priced free agents and will continue that process, while at the same time dumping huge resources into player development. Boston just unloaded Manny Ramirez-who would have ever thought they'd do that.
One of the most successful teams, Oakland have now-by most standards, stocked their minor league system to enable them to remain competitive for the next ten-fifteen years. Look where they're at this year with a $48 million dollar payroll. They keep turning their players over for prospects, once the player is about to hit free agency.
We're all over the place. We have no set plan nor strategy of building the organization.The only good draft we've had since JP became GM is last year. Previous to that JP drafted only from college ranks and kids he felt were safe picks.
He really never drafted any or many high ceiling prospects, until Snider. In the old days of Gillick, that's all we drafted. Of course a number didn't make it, because with high reward also comes high risk, but the ones who did were special. Now, all we have is a nice bunch of kids-with some exceptions, coming up that could be journeyman players.
That's the reason our minor league cupboard is so bare. Once you take Litsch, Diaz, Cecil and Romero out of the AAA team, there's no reasonable prospects left.
Take Campbell, Arenciba, and Snider from AA and you have the same thing you have in AAA. Single A Dunedin is about the same, although some of the kids from Lansing ( which is where the majority of our real prspects are) are now moving up to Dunedin.
Frankly, although we value some our prospects high, I doubt any of them will make the top 100 prospects this year by Baseball America.
We will not win this division we're in without a real strong committment to our minor league system and scouting groups. We need to build from the bottom up-like Oakland are doing, and restock our minor league teams with high ceiling prospects. Once these kids make it up here, and we need one or two extra pieces to get over the hump-then fine sign a free agent. But look who we're signed in the last two years:
Frank Thomas,Matt Stairs, Shannon Stewart, Kevin Mench,Royce Clayton,Jason Phillips, Sal Fasano, Howie Clark,Ray Olmedo,Tomokazo Okha, Victor Zamrano,Armando Benitez and others whihcin aggregate probably cost us $0 million. Imagine if that same $40 million had been invested in higher signing bonuses for A+ prospects.
Enigma-that whole Jason Bay conversation never happened-JP lied about it.
The facts are the Jason Bay deal was a 3 way deal. Those deals take time and that deal had already been done by the time JP supposedly made the call. ITs pure BS and never happened.
Enigma, The best we can hope for next year is 4th place and if Baltimore picks up we're looking at last place.
If we wanted to contend next year we should have traded Burnett, Ryan, Mench, Zaun, Barajas, Overbay, Tallet, Rolen, Wilkerson and Stewart for high grade prospects, brought them up and play them.
You woudn't get high grade prospects for most of those guys though. I know Joe Torre was interviewed about the addition of Manny and he said "it all happened so fast" it does generally take time though so I understand what you're saying. Anyway, i think we'll have to agree to disagree about how J.P. has put this team together. You seem to think that they are destined for 4th place for a while, but I think with a couple of additions they can be in the playoffs next year.
The jays are better of to keep the garbage pickups until the season is over and get draft picks when they sign with another team,I't dosn't matter where your picks are the more picks you have the better chance you have to get lucky.
If we want to make the playoffs next year we need a good right fielder with a 280 AVG and at least 15 HR a year a DH with power at least 35 HR a year and a short stop with a 280 avg and 15 HR a year,They must trade Rolen and get a good third baseman if they do all that then we have a chance.
The way Hinske is playing he can be the third baseman,he will be a free agent next year and he ows the Jays.
I just agree with Enigma…Gsumner you are letting your hatred for JP influence what you think about this team…I don't know why BUT THEY ARE NOT GONNA BE A 4TH PLACE TEAM FOR THE NEXT 5 YEARS. yes they might be this year and maybe the next, but we are only 2 clutch bats out of it.
You are the stats guy for us…so tell us how many 1 run games have the lost so far this season and how many 1 run games have we won
Show us Rolen's RISP not including this year (or maybe just his RISP for his last full season).
"If we wanted to contend next year we should have traded Burnett, Ryan, Mench, Zaun, Barajas, Overbay, Tallet, Rolen, Wilkerson and Stewart for high grade prospects, brought them up and play them."
Gsumner: Either than Burnett and Ryan, I'm not sure any of those players would net "high grade prospects". Most of those players are back-ups or emergency fillers on a playoff team. With Rolen's subpar season and injury history, too, I doubt anyone would have taken his contract. Some GM's are probably skeptical of Ryan, too, considering he's not far removed from Tommy John surgery. And from what I've read, teams were scared to pick up Burnett because if he bombs or gets injured in the next few months, he can always pick up his player option.
There are many reasons to criticize JP, but I don't think his inaction at the trade deadline should be included. Most of the players you mentioned are at low-level points in their career and wouldn't have garnered much in the way of return, especially in terms of good prospects. Hopefully they bounce back next year to help the Jays or get more interest trade-wise. Most of them (Eckstein, Zaun, Stewart, Mench, Wilkerson) will simply be let go at the end of the year or even in September and they'll fill another team's roster (possibly even at AAA) in 2009.
I'd like to see those RISP stats too from previous years. It just seems like too many guys on this team are underperforming and if they can get a year that's reasonably expected out of Rios and Wells the outfield problem that Garry mentioned is solved. Shortstop can be solved by going after a second baseman instead and moving Hill (health pending) to short. The third base problem I think will have to solve itself. That's something that J.P. may end up regretting if Rolen can't perform the way he should. I think the thing to worry about is catcher. Do they want to put a lot of faith in a couple of prospects + Barajas ? They'll need someone to replace Burnett too but their are plenty of ".500" pitchers available though I do think Burnett is better than that label.
Harry, I would very much appreciate it if you stop making assumptions about what I'm thinking. How in the hell do you know whether I hate JP or not? I just don't think he's doing a quality job and as a result I think he should be fired. End of story.
What you guys haven't quite accepted or acknowledged is JP has now been here 7 years and the fact is we're in no better a position now than when he arrived. Our record in year 2000 was 83-79 and we finished in 3rd place. 8 years later and where are we-struggling to maintain 4th place.
We've been 3rd or worse every one of the years he's been here-except one. That doesn't get us into the playoffs.
The grand plan he laid out for re-building the minors has fallen short, as a result of his poor drafting (other than last year) and poor implementation of scouting.
Having a good draft once in 7 years doesn't quite cut it in this league. All he has proven in the last two years, is he knows how to sign old has beens that no one else wants.
You don't compete with the Sox, the Angels and Yanks just because you think we're going to be better as you suggest. We're a lot more than just two bats away from seriously competing with those guys.
Remember Harry, it's about winning, not just fielding a team.
"Most of those players are back-ups or emergency fillers on a playoff team." I agree 100% with that statement-so why bring them here in the first place and why hang onto them-that's my point.
Frankly, I was trying to be kind to everyone in that list other than Ryan, Burnett, Overbay and Tallet-I should have said what I meant and that is dump the others, for b grade low minor prospects. I think we could have gotten 5-6 high quality prospects for Ryan,, Burnett, Overbay and Tallet. If we traded with the right teams and got the right prospects it could have seriously overcame the area we're the weakest-the infield, other than 2nd base.
But alas, all JP wanted to trade for Raul Ibanez-another 36 year old on his last legs.
I can't understand why anyone would stand up for JP he has done a lousey job since he took over just this year alone Glaus for Rolen,Sent Thomas down the road witn 10 mil.How about Stewart,Let Johnson go with 750Gs,Took a pitcher away from our Olympic team to help the Americans,Eskstein thats just a few of his mistakes this year only,And has not drafted well,Now all you Morons that think JP is good for the Jays you are what I just said and you deserve the title.
Garry, I really don't think we have a problem in the outfield with hitting with risp. The career numbers are as follows:
Rios: .286ba/.336obp/.281risp/.230risp-2 outs
Wells:.282ba/.330obp/.280risp/.253risp-2 outs
Lind: .272ba/.310obp/.316risp/.260risp-2 outs
Rios is well below career stats for this year, but Wells is pretty much right on.
Gsumner: You make some interesting points, but I'm still not convinced that there was much of a market for any of those players, even for "B" level prospects. I'm pretty sure if the Jays released Mench, Wilkerson, Stewart, and Zaun outright, a team would probably take a flyer on them — either as a backup or part of a platoon, which is exactly the role they have on the Jays at the moment. But as far as actually trading for them? I doubt it, but then again, I'm no GM!
The trade deadline was pretty quiet, too, as far as dealing "prospects" went. Other than the guy from Milwaukee's system (who's name I can't remember) who was part of the Sabathia trade, no big name prospects were dealt. In general, I think teams are being pretty tight fisted with their prospects this year. Seattle, for example, was bent on having a fire sale, yet the only guy they were able to move was Arthur Rhodes. So, all in all, I'm saying that it seems unlikely the Jays could have received any big name prospects in a market where teams simply aren't going to deal their prospects for a rent-a-player.
Hem, there were some great prospects traded for both Sabathia and Santana. Oakland also received good prospects in their trades, so there were good prospects traded if the right player was offered.
I would put Ryan and Burnett close to that class and they would have garned good prospects. However, our GM was not focused on trading for prospects, he was focused on trading for Raul Ibanez. So, we'll never know one way or the other.
What I do know is Milwaukee were looking for bullpen help, both in their closer and left hand relief. Whether they would have done a trade for Ryan and Tallet-we won't know, because JP didn't try.
It's obvious, the only trades JP wanted to do were ones that would help us finish better this year to save his skin-hence the Ibanez trade
Just so you all know in the CFL my riders are 6 and 0.
I thought Blow J. was going to do it again but thank God he got it done,Burnett sets a career high with 13 wins good for him.
yes, Burnett pitched a good game. BJ doesn't seem to have the velocity he had before the operation. I guess it's taking longer than expected to get it back.
Hey, it looks like we're stretching Wolfe out in AAA to be a starter. He started tonight and threw 59 pitches, went only 3 innings and gave up 3 runs-none earned. 3 errors cost the runs and the reason he only went 3. I think he could be a good starter, certainly nice to have another in the mix.
I agree with you sumner I think it's a smart move to see how Wolfe can pan out as a starter. At the least it'll add to the 5th spot competition next year. It looks like Accardo is done for the year. It's too bad really.
I expect if they keep stretching Wolfe out, we'll see him up here sooner than later. Probably right after they get him to 100 pitches for a couple of outings-assuming he's still pitching as well as he is now. His era is now 1.04. If he can handle the load, I think he'll be a fine starter.
The other guy who looks like he's really came back from last years injury is Davis Romero. He's been starting in AAA, but yesterday was used in relief because Wolfe only went 3 innings. All Romero did was go 5 innings (70 pitches), no hits, nor runs, no walks and 11 strikeouts, if you can believe it. His era is now 3.54. I liked Romero when he was here, a little guy with a lot of heart and another lefty never hurts.
Accardo has had 3 outings in Dunedin, including one yesterday, so I'm surprised you stated he's done for the year. I was starting to think he'd be back with us in a week or so. Did something happen?
Now it's Wilkerson with a sore shoulder-what is it, when all these guys aren't performing they have sore shoulders? First Rolen and now Wilkerson.
Sorry for the misinformation guys. I misunderstood a comment on Mike Wilner's blog. Turns out Accardo could be back soon as Sumner stated. I thought it was odd myself when I read it but it was 1:45 in the morning lol.
It looks like Burnett is a changed man, Last night in the dugout he went up to Wilkerson while he was telling his story about the home run he never caught lol and kissed him on the check,now that means you get along with your teamates and he is having fun,I bet he wins 20 games this year then we will pray he stays with Toronto, My thought is JP had better give him a new contract now before it is to late,
Gsumner I agree with you on rebuilding the team but not the pitchen staff keep them in place we have good pitchen now and some good ones in the minors who we will need in the future,With McGowan gone for the year and Da Kid in the minors for who knows for how long we cant afford to trade away pitchen.
Well, guys that kiss other guys, can tell you a lot of different things, only one of which is he gets along with his teams mates. lol.
I don't think we have a hope of competing this year. We have TB, NY and Boston in front of us, and all 3 are a lot better than we are. So I'd trade some pitching to get the pieces, I think we need for the future. I think we need a power hitting 1st and 3rd baseman, and a short stop with speed and high OBP as a lead off hitter.
I'd trade Ryan, Burnett, Camp, Richmond and or Carlson to try to partially fill that need with A+ prospects from either AA or AAA. My favorite two guys, as you know is Escobar and Gamel from Milwaukee. I suspect it would take Ryan,Camp and Carlson to complete that trade.
I'd also trade Rolen and Overbay if possible and go all out to sign Tiexera as a free agent over the winter. If all that could be accomplished between now and spring training, we would be competitive next year and probably content in 2010.
My take is Accardo, Downs, League and Janssen between them can handle the late inning relief next year making Ryan expendable.
Tiexera is after a 10 year contract and the Jays can't afford him not for that long.Idon't think we can trade Ryan because of his contract to big for what he is.Rolen after claming his shoulder is bothering him just lost all of his trade value.Overbay can be traded so can Camp and Carlson but why Burnett no one wants him because of his contract so we might as well see what he can do and if JP doesn't up the contract then at least we get two picks for him.
Personally, I'd give Tiexiera whaever he wants. He is a true 4th hole power hitting first baseman and exactly what we need. If we sign him, and fill the short stop lead off and power 3rd baseman positions, we would be very solid in the infeild when Hill returns. We already have depth in pitching and outfield positions, so if we make thse changes, we could contend for a long time.
So what would everyone offer Texas for Josh Hamilton?
I forgot to mention he will only sigh with a team that contends every year so you know he will nonly be going to the Yankees.Why was Hamilton out of baseball for 3 years and I would give them everyone but Doc. Hill Rios and Lind.
By the way welcome back Hemgold I think lol.
He had a little problem for 3 years butis ok now. How about Ryan, Burnett and RIos?
What was his problem.
He got a bit carried away with his signing bonus and enjoyed spending it on a number of vices.
Garry-this article provides a good explnation of his difficulties.
TAMPA — The doorbell rang at 2 in the morning last October. Mary Holt trudged to the door, looked through the peephole and saw a stranger on her porch. Holt, 75, slowly opened the front door. It was as if she saw a ghost. The boy had lost 40 pounds. He hadn't slept in four days. His face was ashen. His cheeks were sunken. His eyes were glazed and distant. His body was trembling.
"Hello, granny," he mumbled.
Josh Hamilton, the former All-American baseball hero of Raleigh, N.C., was a junkie looking for shelter.
Today, seven years after the Tampa Bay Devil Rays made the outfielder the No. 1 overall pick in the June Free Agent Draft, Hamilton is a recovering drug addict looking for one last chance.
He hasn't played an organized game of baseball since July 10, 2002, when he his shoulder and elbow and drifted into the drug scene to relieve the boredom from being sidelined.
Major League Baseball had him on its suspended list until last week, when he was given permission by Commissioner Bud Selig's office to participate in baseball activities. The 6-4, 235-pounder says he has been in and out of eight drug rehab centers since 2003 but has been clean since last Oct. 6. The Devil Rays have no idea where it will lead.
That is a story and a half I hope the young feller all the best in the world he sure has a lot of tallent.
Yes, I also wish him well. They interviewed him at the All-Star home run derby and he seems to have it together now. Now he gives talks on drugs to pther young people which is great. An amazing talent.
Well it's certainly nice to see Stairs hitting again.
yes it is. Man I don't think any lead is safe against these guys.
Purcey in my opinion will never make a MLB pitcher.
I watched him on gameday and he is brutal.
If they send this loser out for the 5th off goes the tube.
Garry- I will remind you that you used to say that about McGowan. lol, Purcey will be fine, but he will need 5-10 starts to settle in.
Texas stadium on a night like tonight is a homer dome. It's still 97 and a south east-out of the park wind. The ball travels a lot farther in conditions like that, just hit it well , high and its outta there.
With regards to earlier comments about only being 7.5 games back and being a couple of .280 hitters away from contention, as you know I do not agree with this logic. The reason being is that you are analyzing a STATIC situation. What happens if Tampa continues to improve (as one might expect)? What happens if one of NY or BOSTON manage to shore up with free agents, while restocking their farm system as gsumner suggests? We may very well pick up the players you want, and still find ourselves 7.5 games back next year. What we can be sure of is when you have excellent home-grown talent you will always be competitive. Perhaps it is because I am older, but I saw the Jays build their first winner this way. Every year you knew that they were going to be in the race simply because they had top-notch young talent. Eventually, free agents were judiciously added to the mix, and we became the best in baseball. Some of you did not understand the Red Wings analogy I was using earlier. I am talking about creating a winning organization, where a good product is going to be put on the field (or ice) year in and year out. Look at detroit's record over the last 10 years. It is number one. Every year their fans know that they can enjoy good hockey during the regular season, plus have hope of winning a championship in the play offs. Whether they manage to win it all is neither here nor there. I couldn't care less if the Jays win the world series over the next 10 years, as it is a very hard thing to do. However, I do want to watch great baseball players and a team that has a legitimate shot of winning the world series (year in and year out). I want hope. I want excitement. I want to grow with the team and its players. It appears that some of you want to catch lightning in a bottle (pardon the pun). Like Tampa, you want to make a one-time run and win the world-series, then next year start watching golf, when your team finishes near the bottom. For some baseball fans, it is not the destination, but the journey that is important. It is the difference between a one-night stand (empty) versus a marriage (long-term fulfillment). I want to know that I have a good team to root for year in and year out. That is what Beane is giving his fans in Oakland. Every once and a while, they will make it to the playoffs and to the world series. But every year they have the hope of doing this as they have legitimate talent. They don't need to wait for has-beens to have career years. The talent level is high enough that even if they have decent years they have a contending club on their hands. I want the same things for the Jays.
I'm with Burt but can JP see the big pitcher I dont think so,
After last night I give up on this team they are one of the worst teams I have ever seen and I can't see them getting any better.
I mean the big pitcure.
I remember being in a suite at the Rogers Centre when Joe Carter hit his home run. We had 8 guys in the suite and had to yell almost as loud as one can yell in order to hear each other, no more than 3-4 feet apart. Skydome used to flash a sound decibal level on the video board and at times it reached 120+ in there. People who understand audio know what I'm talking about.
For me, part of the baseball experience is what happens in the stadium. All sports franchises today spend huge amounts of money trying to improve the fan game experience. What better way of improving the fan experience is there than having 55,000 screaming fans in the dome with the roof closed. It is an energizing experience-it really is. One doesn't really understand what I mean, unless they have experienced it. I can tell Burt has and feels the same way I do.
Fans in this city, province and country loved supporting this team. We watched them grow in front of our eyes, improve year after year, saw young rookies break the ranks and then deliver the goods and then finally we added those last few guys through free agency and won. We won twice in a row, that doesn't happen often.
It was an amazing experience, something to be part of that I enjoyed like so many others. At the same as the team improved, fan support improved from 2 million to 3 million to setting a new MLB record of over 4 million fans per year or over 48,000 per game. As fan unfriendly as Skydome was in those years, the fan experience at those games was unbelievable and something to remember.
I want those times again, I want to go to games with 50,000 other fans. I want to win, not just tread water like we have for the last 15 years. The last 7 years are pretty much a write off, I hope the next seven aren't.


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Anti-aging strategies straight from top longevity researchers: 28 things you can do to stay younger and healthier, longer.
Age-Proof Your Body
How do you see yourself in your 70s, 80s, and 90s? Our personal longevity heroes include Esther Williams, still swimming and a business owner at 85; Ileana Sonnabend, a formidable presence in the art world at 92; and Ruth Gruber, 95, who published her first book of photography last month after decades as a foreign correspondent. These women need not be exceptions to the rule. Researchers tracking the health and longevity of tens of thousands of people have accumulated powerful data that provides some clear advice for all of us. The bottom line: You have more control than you think, and the time to take action is now.
"It's not what you do when you're 75 but what you do when you're 40 or 50 that makes a difference," says Lewis H. Kuller, MD, a public health professor at the University of Pittsburgh who has been involved in a dozen different aging studies. "Now we know — you can move the clock back."
Surprisingly, genes have little to do with longevity. Whether your parents lived to 58 or 98, that number is neither the death sentence nor the free pass that you might imagine. "Knowing the age at which your mother or father died reduces the uncertainty about when you will die by only about three percent," says James Vaupel, PhD, executive director of the Max Planck Institute in Germany. "How long you live is largely explained by your environment — are the cars safe? is good quality healthcare available? — and by your behavior." These practical do-it-now suggestions are gleaned from major aging studies.
Keep Tabs on Your Cardiac Health
Even if you haven't been diagnosed with heart disease, a slow, silent buildup of plaque in your arteries can age you before your time. The Cardiovascular Health Study at the University of Pittsburgh tracked nearly 3,000 subjects age 65 and older, testing for their degree of subclinical cardiovascular disease (SCVD), which is marked by blockage in the arteries that supply blood to the brain, heart, and muscles. During the eight years of the study, women with little or no SCVD displayed the mental and physical health of women six-and-a-half years younger.
"The health of your circulatory system has a big impact on how long you live and the quality of your life as you age," says Kuller. "Cardiovascular disease has a long, slow incubation period, and there is a lot you can do in midlife to keep it from developing later on in life."
Beyond the well-known advice for reducing your risk — don't smoke, stay active, maintain a healthy weight, and keep your cholesterol and blood pressure in check — Kuller recommends proactively managing and lowering any existing heart disease risk factors that you do have with these steps.
Schedule a Cardiac CT Scan
"If your blood pressure or cholesterol is a little elevated, but not so high that you need medication, or if you are overweight or have diabetes, get a coronary calcium study — a CT scan that reveals the amount of calcium in your coronary arteries — as a baseline when you are 55 or 60," he says. "That will let you know how aggressive you need to be with your risk factors." (Cardiac CT scans are widely available, and more insurers are covering them.)
Lower High Blood Pressure
If you're hypertensive in midlife, the length of time you'll live without heart disease shrinks by 7.2 years compared with women with normal pressure. Even high-normal readings cut two years off your heart-disease-free life expectancy, according to the Framingham Heart Study. "It's not enough just to take your blood pressure medication. Get your pressure checked frequently and make sure that you reach adequate levels of blood pressure control with medication, physical activity, and a healthful diet," says Oscar H. Franco, MD, of the University Medical Center in Rotterdam.
Assess Your Hearing
A little-known sign of cardiovascular risk: high-frequency hearing loss as you age. It's most likely the result of high insulin levels and stiff arteries, according to researchers with the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study of the National Institute of Aging. These may damage or reduce blood flow to vessels in the inner ear.
Keep Yourself Moving
Have you slacked off on exercise lately? Here's a fact that should get you back on your feet. According to the Framingham Heart Study, women who are moderately active (the equivalent of walking 30 minutes five days a week) gain one-and-a-half years in life expectancy over couch potatoes, and highly active women boost that benefit by three-and-a-half years.
"Exercise increases the number of years you can live without heart disease and decreases the risk of a second heart attack or stroke in women who have already had one," Franco says. And it's never too late: "You can become active at 50 or 60 and still increase your life expectancy."
Gauge Your Physical Abilities
Jot down how long it takes you to walk one-quarter of a mile (one lap around a school track); repeat every few months. If your time increases, it means you're moving more slowly and may need to boost your exercise routine or ask your doctor for a cardiovascular disease check. "As you lose fitness, sooner or later even normal activities make you short of breath; then frailty kicks in," Kuller says.
Don't Just Cut Calories, Burn Them
Dieting to lose weight? Add exercise. When 50- to 60-year-olds in a pilot study at Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis lost weight by dieting alone, they also lost bone density, muscle mass, strength, and aerobic conditioning. But those who shed the same number of pounds through exercise maintained or improved their muscle function and bone density.
Don't Think That Size Protects You from Frailty
Thin, fragile-looking women with low energy are recognizable as frail. "But a woman who is quite overweight may have little muscle and be at risk of becoming frail — unable to do ordinary activities," says Linda P. Fried, MD, chief of geriatric medicine at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore.
Get Back on Your Feet After Illness or Injury
"Start moving right away to rebuild lost muscle mass, strength, and fitness," Franco advises. Muscle loss is greatest in the first two weeks after illness or injury, and the older you get, the more muscle you lose during periods of inactivity.
Adjust Your Attitude
Ever call brain freeze a "senior moment"? Don't do it in front of Becca Levy, PhD, associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health. Her work has demonstrated that negative expectations about aging may be self-fulfilling and downright dangerous to your health. Her study started in the 1970s, when more than 1,100 people (two-thirds of the over-50 residents of Oxford, Ohio) signed up for the Ohio Longitudinal Study of Aging and Retirement. The initial evaluation contained several statements that revealed participants' expectations of aging (such as "As you get older, you are less useful" or "Things keep getting worse as I get older"). Twenty-three years later, Levy found that those who had more positive perceptions of aging (such as "I have as much pep as I did last year" and "As I get older, things are better than I thought they would be") had survival rates that were more than seven years longer than those with less positive impressions. "When it comes to longevity," Levy says, "self-perception is more important than gender, loneliness, physical ability, or socioeconomic status." Here, ways you can think — and be — younger.
Change Your Language
On memory tasks, older people who were read positive aging words just prior to testing (sage, wise, insightful, accomplished) scored significantly better than those who heard negative ones (decrepit, senile, incompetent). Reframe your reality by using positive words instead of negative ones.
Don't Age Yourself
Stop automatically ascribing forgetfulness or some passing pain or weakness to age. Ask yourself whether you might have had trouble recalling the same information at a younger age, or whether you might simply be tired or have a lot on your mind, Levy suggests.
Eat Yourself Younger
Eating what's good for you may be at least as important as avoiding what's bad for you. As part of Sweden's Mammography Screening Cohort, 59,038 women age 40 to 79 told researchers how often they consumed 60 different foods. Ten years later, women who ate 16 to 17 different healthful foods (such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, and low-fat dairy products) on a regular basis were a striking 42 percent more likely to be alive than women who regularly ate eight or fewer from that list. "The number of less nutritious foods they ate (sugars, fats, fatty meats) did not increase death rates but were associated with more cancers of all types," notes Alicja Wolk, professor of epidemiology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Women younger than 40 showed no relationship between diet and longevity. Here, more food for thought.
Make It Mediterranean
In a study conducted last summer by Wolk, more than 40,000 Swedish women age 30 to 49 were encouraged to follow a Mediterranean diet: They got points for eating healthful foods and lost points for eating fatty meats and other foods associated with a Western diet. For women in their 40s, an increase of more than two points on the Mediterranean diet scale led to a 13 percent reduction in mortality and a 16 percent reduction in cancer deaths.
Quaff Some Coffee
Whether decaf or high-test, coffee seems to decrease the inflammation linked to chronic conditions such as heart disease. In the Iowa Women's Health Study of 40,000, women who drank one to three cups a day were 16 percent less likely to die in the 15-year follow-up period than coffee skippers.
Eat Almost Everything
In the Okinawa Centenarian Study, Bradley J. Willcox, MD, of the University of Hawaii, examined the Okinawan lifestyle. Instead of being admonished to "clean your plate," elders tell children to "hara hachi bu" — stop eating when they are 80 percent full.
The New Frontier: Anti-Aging Supplements
Longevity researchers are focusing on our cells' mitochondria to slow aging. These mini combustion engines burn fat and carbohydrates to form ATP, the fuel for all your cells. With age, production falters, which creates damaging by-products: the notorious free radicals. In a vicious cycle, free radicals damage mitochondria, generating less fuel and more free radicals. "Many degenerative diseases associated with aging (Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and diabetes) involve decay in the mitochondria," says Bruce Ames, PhD, a 78-year-old biochemist. Can we live longer and healthier lives with the proper care of our mitochondria? Ames and other scientists think so and have introduced some mitochondria-protecting products to the market.
Anti-Free-Radical Supplement
To boost mitochondrial fuel efficiency and decrease free-radical production, Ames combined acetyl-L-carnitine and alpha-lipoic acid to create Juvenon (juvenon.com). Preliminary studies in humans indicate that Juvenon may lower blood pressure, and tests on memory are now under way.
Herbal Enzyme Booster
To maintain levels of antioxidant enzymes in mitochondria, University of Colorado researchers extracted active ingredients from five herbs proven to increase enzyme production to yield Protandim (protandim.com). "We have statins to lower cholesterol and medications to lower blood pressure, but until now we haven't had a pill for free-radical damage," says Sally K. Nelson, PhD, of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Independent studies are starting to test the supplement in people with liver and heart disease.
A Daily Multivitamin
Not new per se, but according to Ames's research, deficiencies of vitamins and minerals lead to mitochondrial decay. His fix: a daily multivitamin.
Foods That Increase Your Shelf Life
There seems to be a recipe for living longer, and physician and chef Ralph Felder, MD, author of The Bonus Years Diet, has the stats to back it up. "By enjoying the right foods, women can live 4.6 years longer, three and a half of those without heart disease," he says. "Men, because they're more prone to cardiovascular disease, gain even more time." He based his recommendations on the results of the Framingham Heart Study, but he thinks the longevity claims may vastly underestimate the diet's benefits, since only cardiovascular risk reductions were included. What's on the menu?
Wine, because it boosts HDL cholesterol and makes blood cells less sticky. It cuts cardiovascular disease risk by a third. Daily dose: one 5-ounce glass, preferably red.
Dark chocolate, because it lowers blood pressure, relaxes artery walls, and reduces the risk of heart disease by 11 percent. Daily dose: 2 ounces with at least 60 percent cocoa content (1 ounce if you need to lose weight).
Fruits and vegetables, because they lower blood pressure and protect blood vessel linings, cutting cardiovascular disease risk by 21 percent. Daily dose: 4 or more cups (variety counts; potatoes don't).
Fish, because it cuts heart disease risk by 14 percent by lowering triglycerides and preventing blood clots, arrhythmias, and inflammation. Dose: at least three 5- to 6-ounce servings a week.
Garlic, because some studies say that it helps to reduce cholesterol production by the liver and lowers LDL, lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease 25 percent. Daily dose: one clove, cooked or raw.
Nuts, because they lower LDL and triglycerides, cutting heart disease risk by more than 12 percent. Daily dose: 2 ounces (1 if you need to lose weight).

subset: commoncrawl


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bear with us...school is almost over
niggas is on their academic grind
Monday, April 21, 2008
bear with us...school is almost over
Posted by kimmie e at 12:32 PM 1 comments
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
...Essentially the Perfect 10
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holla at them
Posted by kimmie e at 2:00 PM 1 comments
The Godzilla Chronicles
click for his myspace...
Posted by kimmie e at 12:40 PM 0 comments


text:
The union 'Verdi' has announced warning strike actions for Tuesday, 10th April 2018 that will impact the road transport to/from the OE Frankfurt.
Airport ground- and flight operations are so far not affected, but the main gate for inbound and outbound (Gate 3) at the Frankfurt Airport, which serves the OE Frankfurt, will be closed from 06:00 until 19:00h.
Only Gate 2 will be open for inbound and outbound transports by road for vehicles with a maximum height of 3,80m.
Please take care that that your transports will arrive before 06:00 hrs our after 19:00 hrs if the height of the Vehicle is more than 3,80m otherwise please inform your haulier to use vehicles with a maximum height of 3,80m.


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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – An emotional husband spoke with Channel 4 Wednesday night after his wife was injured when a car she was working on fell on top of her Tuesday afternoon.
Patricia Ann Rempe is listed in critical condition at Shands Hospital after the accident that happened outside of her Hardeeville Court home.
Rempe's husband Brian Rempe said that he and his wife had been working on restoring a 1971 Camaro together.
"We've been together for almost twenty years now," said Rempe, talking about his wife Patricia. "This is hard on me. We'll get through it and we'll move forward. To me this will make our relationship stronger."
On Tuesday, the jack stands that were holding the Camaro while Patricia worked underneath failed.
"I was at work at the time when it happened. A friend of mine had actually called me at work," said Rempe. "She started helping me about a week ago, and I asked her if she wouldn't mind helping me. I went out there and showed her what to do. She was doing it fine, she worked on it all week last week, and just started this week during her spare time."
Rempe told Channel 4 that doctors are optimistic Patricia will make a full recovery. As of Wednesday night, she was still listed in critical condition.
"It's just a waiting game pretty much right now," said Rempe. "She has nothing, no internal injuries whatsoever. They are just trying to get everything back together for her. She'll be fine."
Neighbors said they are helping the Rempe family. They are all taking turns cooking the family dinner so Brian can spend more time at the hospital and take care of his children.
"It's definitely appreciated. I love all my neighbors. They been wonderful," said Rempe.
Channel 4 met with professional mechanic Aaron Nelson with Aaron's Car Care. He gave advice about getting under your car, if you're not an expert.
"A lot of the jacks and implements that come with your automobiles, they're not designed for you to crawl under the car and work on it," said Nelson. "They're designed merely to change a tire on your car."
Nelson showed Channel 4 what type of equipment people should be using. If a car owner plans to get under their car from home, Nelson had some important advice.
"If you're going to jack a car up and are trying to do something at home, do it on the concrete," said Nelson. "Solid ground, good surface, level surface. Use a hydraulic jack. Most of these jacks can be bought pretty inexpensively now."


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Season 5 episodes
View:all episodes (74)
Season 5
Gold Soundz
With Auggie and Deckard safe on a plane headed back to DC, Annie and the CIA can cross one problem off their list. But there are still a few major loose ends to tie up, not the least of which is getting Annie and McQuaid out of Buenos Aires. The good news is that Annie and McQuaid have Belenko in custody. The problem is the Russians want him dead and have sent in a Vega Force unit, their most deadly strike team, to make sure it happens. While McQuaid is ready to ditch Belenko, Annie manages to convince him that Belenko's intel on the FSB is too valuable to lose. McQuaid concedes, and then shocks Annie with a proposition of his own: if he and Annie get out of this alive, they should get married.
Auggie may have made it out of Grozny alive, but with Belenko once again in the wind he's still not safe—and neither is his old CIA buddy James Deckard. So Auggie, Annie and McQuaid hastily head down to Buenos Aires, where Auggie knows Deckard has been laying low, in the hopes that they can get to him before Belenko does.
Transport Is Arranged
With Auggie still being held captive, Annie is kicking herself for letting Belenko slip through her fingers in Frankfurt. But she's not about to sit around and idly stew in regret. So while the team back at Langley tries to figure out why a Chechen would be posing as a Georgian diplomat—and why the Russians would be protecting him—Annie and McQuaid head to Chechnya in search of Auggie.
She Believes
On the heels of Auggie's abduction, McQuaid discovers that Auggie is missing and loops in Joan and Calder. As they try to get in touch with Annie, who's still on Belenko's trail in Europe, they work every available lead to find Auggie. It turns out that one of his captors was McQuaid's former employee Alan Langer, so McQuaid digs into Langer's resources while Calder enlists Sydney's help to get more intel out of Mashkov.
Starlings Of The Slipstream
It's Annie and McQuaid's first morning together after his release from the hospital, but there's little time for romance. It seems Auggie, reeling from the news about Tony Salgado's death, has been arrested. Though the two aren't on the best of terms at the moment, after Annie bails Auggie out he shares his theory about Tony's death: it wasn't alcohol poisoning, it was murder. With the deaths of Charlie in Chicago, Mueller in Azerbaijan and now Tony—whom Auggie believes was the real target of the motorcade bombing attempt—it seems that Belenko is taking out members of Auggie's former unit. And with no one else from the team left alive, Annie fears that Auggie could be next.
Trigger Cut
In the aftermath of the bombing attempt on the treaty motorcade, wounds are still fresh. Annie managed to thwart the attack and traitorous Caitlyn is dead, but McQuaid is lying in a hospital bed in critical condition. As Annie sits vigil by his bedside, all she can do is fume over the fact that the mastermind behind the whole plot, diplomat Aleksandre Belenko, is still free. So when Arthur finds a cryptic note in Caitlyn's calendar about a meeting in Istanbul, Annie jumps at the opportunity to go to Turkey. It's a long shot, but maybe the meeting is still on and will somehow help her tie Belenko to the Chicago and DC bombings, and—better yet—figure out how to bring him down.
Sensitive Euro Man
With Ryan on the run and the CIA combing through McQuaid Security, Annie gets a message from the man himself asking her to meet him in secret. When she fills him in on her theory that it's his right-hand woman Caitlyn Cook setting him up, Ryan is reluctant to admit that the culprit could be his longtime friend. Unfortunately, it soon becomes clear that Annie was right, though she and Ryan still don't know Caitlyn's motives—or her next target.
Spit On A Stranger
Just moments after Annie and Ryan kiss, she gets an even bigger surprise when the man Roger Bennett had suspected was following him shows up to meet with Ryan. When Annie and Auggie look into the mysterious dog-walker, they discover that his name is Allen Langer and that not only did he not live in Roger's building, but he was at the scene when Roger was killed. Since she still doesn't know what Langer and McQuaid's connection is, Annie decides to investigate by taking a bold step: resigning from the CIA and going to work at McQuaid Security.
Annie is barely off the plane from Azerbaijan when she and Auggie get some shocking news: according to Roger's sources, Mueller wasn't actually responsible for the Chicago attack. Thanks to unreliable intel from Ivan Kravec, it looks like the CIA may have droned the wrong guy.
Brink Of The Clouds
While being interrogated by the CIA, Ivan Kravec reveals that the mastermind behind the Chicago bombing was terror cell leader Faruq Tabrizi. Though Tabrizi has been on the CIA's radar for a while, they've never had a photo of him, much less knowledge about his true identity, until now: it turns out Tabrizi's real name is Nathan Mueller, and he's not just an American—he's a former CIA operative who mysteriously went off the grid a few years back.
Embassy Row
After their return from Paris, Auggie and Annie have just patched things up when they get a call from Langley about Ivan Kravic. The CIA has learned that he's about to attend an important meeting, and since Annie already has an established relationship with him she's heading back to the City of Lights to see what she can find out about the meet.
Silence Kit
The day begins with good news: Auggie's friend Roger has been able to identify the Postman, the mysterious source who leaked the info on the CIA station in Chicago. It turns out the Postman is Harris Wilson, a senior analyst for the NSA who's been unloading top-secret intel in a hurry, and apparently has more to sell. Joan authorizes Annie to begin surveillance on him, but she'll have to do it carefully, because Wilson is more well-trained—and dangerous—than the typical desk jockey.
Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence
Now that they've got a wounded Borz Altan in custody, Annie, McQuaid and his henchmen have got to get him out of the country. Unfortunately, their plan to cross the border into Colombia goes awry, leaving Annie and McQuaid alone with their precious cargo and headed to Caracas to hide out until the CIA can find them a way out of Venezuela.
False Skorpion
When Borz Altan, the terrorist behind the Chicago CIA station bombing, turns up in Maracaibo, Venezuela, Annie is hot on his heels. And she's not the only one on his trail: after tracking Borz to a mosque where he's laying low, she's surprised to run into McQuaid. He suggests working together to capture Borz, but despite the advantages McQuaid brings to the table—a team of security personnel and seemingly unlimited financial resources, for starters—Annie is reluctant to trust him and opts to go it alone.
Shady Lane
Last we saw Annie, she had finally defeated Henry Wilcox and was making her escape from Hong Kong. But following that ordeal she didn't return triumphantly to Langley. Instead, she disappeared without a trace.


text:
Food & Drink
Seattle's budding economy: Pot tourism
By Bryn Nelson, Special to CNN • Updated 8th April 2013
Up next
If you think 2013 will be a half-baked year for tourism in Seattle, you haven't been paying attention to the curiously pungent smoke signals emanating from this city.
On a recent chilly evening, an unmistakable smell has drifted across the street from an industrial space in the SODO neighborhood. Inside, a DJ spins an eclectic mix of rock while a man in a tie-dyed hoodie distributes cannabis-infused buttered rum and root beer-flavored hard candy to a diverse crowd of revelers. Another volunteer passes around a 12-foot-long "vape bag" filled with marijuana vapor -- one way to get around the city's indoor smoking ban.
Four glassblowers demonstrate the art of making bongs while attendees sip beer, munch on Greek meatballs, and dip an assortment of fruit, marshmallows and gummy worms in chocolate fountains.
If only the party wasn't running low on grilled cheese sandwiches.
This "Member's Frolic," hosted by the organizers of a huge "protestival" called Hempfest, is but a fraction of the size of the annual pro-pot rally that drew an estimated 250,000 people to the Seattle waterfront last August.
But with last year's legalization of recreational marijuana use for adults in both
Colorado and Washington State
, the gathering offers a telling preview of how a creative counterculture may be poised to go mainstream and reap the rewards of a new "green economy" based on pot tourism.
Banks in Seattle, Washington, are refusing to take money that smells like marijuana.
Thanks to recent laws legalizing marijuana, there are now many people signing up to get a piece of the pot pie.
Just imagine how much the food truck vendors are salivating.
Sound-off: What do you think?
Despite a host of unanswered questions -- not the least of which is whether federal authorities may harsh the mellow by filing a lawsuit that voids all recreational use -- many so-called "ganjapreneurs" are treating the potential for marijuana tourism as a serious business. Recent calculations by a state-hired consultant projected that Washington State might earn up to $180 million in yearly tax revenue from marijuana sales (yes, retail pot shops), not to mention the revenue from a quickly growing list of related cottage industries.
On his blog, travel guru Arthur Frommer wrote that observers should expect a "torrent of new tourism to Seattle and Denver" due to marijuana legalization, and added both cities to his shortlist of hot destinations for 2013. Officials in New Zealand, British Columbia, and multiple U.S. states have openly wondered whether pot tourism might help fill their own coffers.
Sorting out new laws
In Washington State, residents over the age of 21 can now possess up to an ounce of cannabis, one pound of "a solid marijuana-infused product" like peanut butter fudge brownies, or 72 ounces of an infused liquid like a green tea smoothie. But as the Seattle Police Department helpfully notes in "Marijwhatnow? A Guide to Legal Marijuana Use In Seattle," public puffing is still illegal, just as the state's open container law prohibits public consumption of alcohol.
Pot smokers enter legal limbo in Washington, Colorado
Buying or selling marijuana won't be legal until December, after Washington's Liquor Control Board has ironed out all the necessary licensing and enforcement regulations. Police will be able to arrest drivers above the legal limit of 5 nanograms of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in pot, per milliliter of blood (officers already use roadside sobriety tests to issue DUI tickets, but the new law establishes a defined impairment level). And the police department dutifully notes that because it's still illegal to grow, sell or possess any amount of marijuana under federal law, "you probably shouldn't bring pot with you to the federal courthouse (or any other federal property)."
Naysayers have warned that an open embrace of pot tourism and ads that position Seattle or Denver as the Amsterdam of America could tarnish the cities' reputations and invite illegal activity. Then again, both destinations already allow medical marijuana and have had a long history of tolerating the occasional toke.
In Seattle, Hempfest is a major tourist draw as one of the largest annual events in the Pacific Northwest, and minor pot possession has been the lowest enforcement priority of the police department for nearly a decade. Hempfest executive director Vivian McPeak has held brainstorming sessions on marijuana tourism with some city boosters -- he calls it "vision-questing." Publicly, however, government and tourism officials have taken a conspicuously low profile -- a defensive posture that advocates say is likely due to fear of federal intervention.
Optimists assert that the Obama administration is unlikely to take a hard line against the end of pot prohibition here, and have been buoyed by a new Pew Research Center poll that is the first to show majority support among Americans for legalizing the drug. Pessimists, however, point out that the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has regularly exercised its authority to shut down medical marijuana growers and dispensaries around the country. The clear contradiction between state and federal laws has left nearly everyone guessing whether parts or all of the new pro-dope reality may be, well, nipped in the bud.
Entrepreneurs making business plans
Even so, the opportunities are proving hard to resist. Hilary Bricken, lead attorney for the Canna Law Group, a practice area of Seattle-based law firm Harris & Moure, has fielded dozens of pitches from enthusiastic entrepreneurs seeking help in developing business models and navigating the legal issues. One company in the adult entertainment industry even sought her advice on branching out into hemp-based adult products.
"I've heard everything pitched to me from gaming lounges, where there would be a series of recliners and you can get stoned and play Xbox all day, to cannabis cafes where there's a full menu that really adheres to the cannabinoids (the chemicals in cannabis) and how they affect your taste buds and your interaction with food," Bricken says. Some entrepreneurs have talked up the idea of "evaluation bars," where people could bring their own marijuana and experts would educate them on each strain's composition and its potential effects, and Bricken says the sophistication level could eventually rival that of high-end wine purveyors.
Washington's wine industry, in fact, is often cited among cannabis enthusiasts who envision similar tours through bucolic, organic pot farms. Bricken says she has already spoken with winemakers and commercial farmers in eastern Washington who are considering whether a certain new crop might help them tap into a big curiosity factor and generate new revenue. Cannabis farmers markets -- currently limited to medical marijuana patients -- also are popping up around the region and poised to expand their customer base.
Following the lead of several establishments in Colorado, at least two bars in the Seattle region have opened BYOP (bring your own pot) private clubs, while party promoters are gearing up for this month's big "Studio 4/20" bash, complete with acrobats, food trucks, a beer garden and a latex fashion show. Toking while drinking at local watering holes may be a fleeting attraction, however: the Washington State Liquor Control Board has begun a rulemaking process aimed specifically at banning marijuana consumption in bars that serve alcohol.
Christopher Russek, who runs a cannabis bakery called Zzyzyx out of his home in suburban Issaquah, is betting on marijuana edibles instead. Russek, who has a medical marijuana license due to a heart condition, provides fully-loaded confections like Chocolate Raspberry Hazelnut Brownies and Tie Dyed Rasta Cookies to other patients. He has fielded multiple inquiries from people who have come to Seattle on business or vacation, however, and views Washington's new law as an "incredible" opportunity to add tourists to his business model. Does he see a baked goods storefront in his future if the law remains intact? "You can bet on it," he says.
Seattle's takes on pot tourism
Most tourists will need a guidebook, of course, and Brendan Kennedy, CEO of Seattle-based startup Leafly, is positioning his company to become the Fodor's, ZAGAT and Yelp of cannabis. The company's Leafly iPhone and Android apps, among the most popular of a burgeoning class of electronic ganja guides, help medical marijuana users chose among more than 500 strains (with names like Wonka's Bubbilicious and Blue Dream), find nearby dispensaries, and then post their reviews.
Kennedy says the app already has the necessary code to add on retail locations in Colorado and Washington once they come online. In the meantime, he and two partners are using their Privateer Holdings equity firm and its $5 million-plus in capital from private investors to scout out other promising cannabis startups. In essence, Privateer is helping to fill the void left by skittish banks that have all but refused to grant loans to pot-friendly businesses until they discern which way the legal winds are blowing.
Despite the uncertainty, Bricken says companies are still rushing to join what she calls the "secondary risk market," the modern-day equivalent of Seattle's early entrepreneurs selling pickaxes, supplies, and services to prospectors seeking their fortune during the Yukon Gold Rush of the 1890s. Instead of directly providing marijuana -- a model that may prove too risky for many -- businesses are positioning themselves as experts in enhancing the experience.
"They're coming up with things like 'Cannabis Crawls,' going from dispensary to dispensary and showing you how to get there and providing you with food and transportation along the way," Bricken says. Others are creating art and merchandise ranging from coffee mugs to hand towels that depict some of the most popular marijuana strains.
Whatever tourism model emerges here, many observers say it's likely to be uniquely Seattle. With the region's long tradition of art glass, glassblowers are already setting their sights on the high-end cannabis crowd. One recent ad touting a $175 "Create Your Own Bong" class fizzled when only one person inquired. But other glass studios in the area say it's no longer taboo for people inquiring about one or two-hour lessons to specifically ask whether they can make a bong or pipe instead of a "modified vase."
At the recent Hempfest party, one of the four artisan glassblowers holds his partially molten creation aloft at the end of a blowpipe and parades it through the crowd as the bidding begins. It's a detailed, richly colored and surprisingly large bong in the shape of a monkey wearing a yellow top hat and suit coat, and it fetches a winning bid of $350.
Behind a nearby table laden with smaller, handmade pipes fashioned from art glass and recycled guitar wood, a volunteer points out the grand prize for a raffle at Hempfest's own upcoming "420 Fest": a colorful hand-stitched quilt with a stylized marijuana leaf in its center panel. On the reverse side, a dark green camouflage motif features a grinning Scooby Doo in various poses.
Aspiring comic book artist Joshua Boulet has set up shop at a smaller table, with a duffel bag full of several issues of his tongue-in-cheek comic, "The Green Reefer," which follows the antics of a pot-smoking anti-hero and his beer-drinking sidekick, Six-Pack. In many ways, Boulet is the embodiment of Seattle's new entrepreneurial optimism. After attending Hempfest as a tourist last August, he fell in love with the city and moved from Dallas two months later. Boulet says he is now hoping to sell his comic books in Seattle's thriving head shops -- for $4.20, of course.
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