The Great Train Robbery

I went to Wal-Mart after work to pick up some supplies the night of November 13, 2012. Before I entered, Bob McCown of Prime Time Sports said that Serena Williams was due on the popular Canadian syndicated radio show at 6:20pm.

Once inside the store, my android phone started buzzing and ringing like crazy! What happened, I thought, as I checked my phone in the frozen food section. At first, I misread everything on the screen, and thought the following:

"Oh, we picked up Josh Johnson. How about that?"

When I returned home, and the reports from MLB.com, Facebook, and Twitter tweets poured in, I realized just how big and massive this trade turned out to be.

Toronto Blue Jays acquire:

• SS Jose Reyes; three-time all-star, 40 stolen bases last year, 2011 batting title winner (.337 BA, 1st in National League), due to make $92 million over next five years
• SP Josh Johnson; 8-14 win-loss record on one of the worst teams in the NL, 3.81 ERA, one year left on his contract
• SP Mark Beuhrle; 13-13 last year, fastball throwing lefty, gutsy, 33 years old, threw 2 no-hit games.
• 2B Emilio Bonifacio
• C John Buck

PEACE OUT! Former Marlins star Jose Reyes, pictured above, joins JJ, Beuhrle,
Bonifacio, and Buck on the trading block to Toronto
 in blockbuster deal between the two clubs.

Miami Marlins acquire:

• SS Yunel Escobar
• SS Adeiny Hechavarria
• SP Henderson Alvarez
• C Jeff Mathis
• Minor league prospects Anthony DeScalfini, Jake Marisnick, Justin Nicolino

What does this mean for baseball fans in Toronto? For the first time since 1993, when Toronto was last in the postseason and this happened, the Blue Jays are legitimate playoff contenders in the American League, if not in all of Major League Baseball. Their division, the American League East Division, is wide open: The Yankees are vulnerable with the health status of Derek Jeter and their starting rotation up in the air, The Red Sox and new manager John Farrell are rebuilding (sidenote: John Farrell sent Blue Jays fans a friend request LOL), the Rays are in steady decline, and the Orioles are a wild card o_O Now, or maybe next year, is the time for Alex Anthopoulos to make his move.

Before everyone goes bananas on pitchers' win-loss records, please bear in mind that statistic is a double-edged sword. They are a basic level understanding of a pitcher's ability, however a more advanced understanding of the game will tell you a pitcher's wins and losses are more a reflection of a team's performance behind him, and a minor reflection of the opposition the pitcher faces with every outing. The Miami Marlins finished the year 69-93, which is good for dead last in the National League East Division, so Johnson and Buerhle combined for 21 wins; that's thirty percent of the Marlins' win total between two pitchers: The former coming off tommy john surgery in 2011, while the latter started 31 games and won his fifth consecutive Gold Glove from the pitcher's mound. The pride of the Blue Jays pitching staff is to have groundball pitchers, or pitchers that throw down in the zone, which is a key asset in the ultra competitive, hard-hitting AL East, so Buehrle and Johnson are a nice addition ^_^

I'm a little disappointed the Blue Jays lost SS Hechavarria and SP Alvarez, because they represented the future of the organization, similar to their prospects. I wish them the best of luck in a town, which according to Twitter, is full of vitriol for the Marlins organization for going through with another "fire sale". Without the world championship his Marlins won in 2003, Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria probably wouldn't have a team with which to sell all its star players, nor would he have a baseball-only stadium with a retractable roof built with taxpayers' money.

Nevertheless, it feels good to be a Jays fan today ^_^ Any chance the season can start tomorrow? o_O

It's My Last Day: Yunel Escobar

In preparing to write this piece, I made a quick study of my writing career. Nothing too elaborate, mind you, I took an account of the number of years I wrote about life, people, events, sports, baseball, and other various things. I made writing "my thing" after a meeting with my English professor in 2004; his name was Mr. Jacobs, and he encouraged me to write, because he thought I could be very good at it. That was really BIG for me, because up until that point I didn't think I could write at all o_O

Moving on, I decided to list the number of years, give or take, I spent writing and separated them by field and/or topic since 2004:

Academic writing: 4 years
Sports writing: 4 years
Baseball writing: 5 years
Life writing: 5 years

Blue Jays shortstop Escobar NOT wearing eye black.

That's eighteen years worth or written work o_O I'm surprised I don't have carpal tunnel LOL All kidding aside, there are a few times when writing became really difficult. For example, when I wrote about abortion about three years ago, I did not experience or feel like my life was under threat, praise God, but I worried I would lose my ability to write professionally. I am still writing, which is great, but I am constantly under threat that my words could harm someone emotionally or physically. Yes, it do receive feedback, both positive and negative. Sometimes, I receive feedback within a half hour of posting what I wrote (Hi Nichole LOL). I am happy for the positive feedback, but I must admit it isn't all roses and daisies; I lost friends over things that I wrote as well, from times I took a stand for what I thought was right according to my faith, beliefs, and so forth, to times when I was a complete jerk for which I spent many weeks and months apologizing for afterward. It's that last point I want to dwell on, because when you take the time to think what to write about, find a writing utensil, find a piece of paper or fabric to write that thought out, and then showcase it for many dozens and hundreds of people to see you are bound to run into problems.

Case in point: Last Saturday, the Toronto Blue Jays were losing another home game to the visiting Boston Red Sox during their weekend series. The game would take on added significance when a fan's photos of Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar revealed an inflammatory, controversial, and derogatory slur written in his native Spanish on his eye black. Toronto is a multicultural city, and the largest city within a country proud of its multiculturalism and diverse population; to call out any particular group of people with a written, derogatory term, take a public stage, and transmit that image to many thousands of people paints the person (Escobar), his teammates, his coaches, his team (Blue Jays), his management, his organization (Rogers), his city (Toronto), his province (Ontario), and country (Canada) in a bad and inaccurate light.

Since the leaking and duplication of the controversial photo on the internet and the story's publication on various social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, The Toronto Blue Jays organization and Yunel Escobar came forward, and Escobar publicly apologized saying it was "a joke", and it was "not meant to offend anyone". Escobar received a three-game suspension for his conduct from a "collective" of baseball people such as the Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos, coach John Farrell, commissioner Bud Selig, and Public Relations officials, according to AA on Canadian radio hours after the press conference, but to many critics and fans of the game it is not enough.

No Laughing Matter: Escobar received a three game ban
for displaying an inflammatory slur on his person during last Saturday's
game against the Red Sox.

This morning, I posted on my Facebook wall that I could forgive Escobar for this incident, but anything less than suspension for the year would be unacceptable, and I stand by those words. Contrary to preceding and comparable incidents (See Ben Chapman, John Rocker, Delmon Young), Escobar thought, planned, and executed this act, and to make matters worse did it in 2012 with Facebook and Twitter and Google+ and Pinterest and nationwide television audience and so on...! My reaction and judgment would be the same had another player write the N-word on the baseball cap: If anyone did the same thing in their line of work, whether he was the world's greatest CEO or the assistant to the junior mail room executive, he would have their things in a box taking them out to his car! The debacle that was the press conference, the less than appropriate three game ban handed down not by the GM, but a "collective", and the weird apology Escobar made without taking proper ownership of his actions probably made me angrier than I was this morning, hence all the exclamation points and run-on sentences >_<

I'm sorry you had to read this. I would rather discuss other things baseball, or rant about the precedence of the WHIP statistic over win-loss record, but I must write about the hot topic issue of baseball at the moment. It saddens me, too, because when the Toronto Blue Jays traded for Yunel Escobar from the Atlanta Braves two years ago I was excited. He did a lot of highlight reel things on the diamond, when he started playing here, and although 2012 was a rough year I was more than willing to give the Blue Jays a pass. Now, I'm not so sure anymore -_-

No doubt you noticed there are no pictures of Escobar doning the controversial eye black in question. I did that on purpose; I thought about, planned, and executed it with the purpose of not transmitting those  images on my blog. No, I'm not sorry.