The Daily Duce: Friday, May 6th
7 years ago
Daily??!?!?
“If you’re going to boo me, don’t cheer me when I’m pitching good,” says Brett Cecil, irked by the treatment he’s received from certain wet-diapered Jays fans as he’s struggled to start this season, according to a piece from Steve Buffery of the Toronto Sun. As I said the other night on Twitter, you can boo whoever and whenever you want. Your ticket gives you that right; it doesn’t give you immunity from being told you’re being shitty. And booing a player on your own team because — despite working his ass off, and despite being a hugely important of this team for several years, the last few of which have been as an elite back-end reliever — he’s struggling? That’s shitty, you fucking dopes.
There’s another side of fan psychology, of course, and according to another piece at the Sun, Jose Bautista definitely gets it. A lifelong fan of the Miami Heat, Bautista apparently doesn’t want to say much about their current playoff series with the Raptors. Told by Buffery that the city would be OK with it if he came out fervently for the Raptors’ opponents, Bautista quipped, “No they won’t. They’re fans. I’m not reasonable when I’m a fan. Nobody’s reasonable when they’re a fan. I will not put that on their plate.”
Edwin Encarnacion is heating up, and Gregor Chisholm of BlueJays.com looks at the now-traditional breakout month for the slugger.
At Vice Sports John Lott tells us about the most obscure and longest-serving member of the Blue Jays, Jesus “Figgy” Figueroa — the club’s left-handed batting practice pitcher, who has suited up for BP with “Tony Fernandez and Dave Stieb, and Jose Bautista and Marcus Stroman, and everyone in between.” Great story!
Long ago I decided to never link Bleacher Report, because fuck Bleacher Report forever, but I can’t resist linking this excellent and lengthy feature from Bill Speros on the relationship between Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman.
Over at Sportsnet, Stephen Brunt lays out why it’s hard to believe Chris Colabello — and it’s in part because of Colabello’s own words. “There was no mystery supplement that might have been contaminated, no independent trainer who might have given him something under false pretenses. Everything he had taken, he said, came directly from the team. And everything the team distributed, as president Mark Shapiro confirmed in an interview, was certified and approved.”
Elsewhere at Sportsnet, Arden Zwelling goes deep on Aaron Sanchez and the potentially disastrous outing this week that he turned into a true success.
And one more from Sportsnet, as Jeff Blair looks at the Jays’ bullpen, where Roberto Osuna seems to be the only guy with a defined role right now. Forget the mess: Osuna is so good. “He’s figured out how to get ready in different circumstances,” John Gibbons tells Blair, after saying that it doesn’t take Osuna long to get warm. “He’s serious about his job, man. He wants to be a closer. He knows it’s a role where you can make a lot of money.” And with Aaron Sanchez looking like he can handle a rotation spot going forward, maybe that’s even OK.
Eddie Michels of Florida’s Rocket Sports and Entertainment has a couple shots of Devon Travis on the field this week in an extended spring training game against the Yankees — including one of him chatting with an in-uniform special assistant to the organization, Sandy Alomar Sr. “It felt great,” Travis told him, adding, “my shoulder feels great.” Good stuff!
Great stuff from Jays Journal, where Braydon Holmyard compares Josh Thole to the various other backup catchers in the American League, and particularly in the AL East. The result? Shock of fucking shocks! Backup catchers are all bad.
Elsewhere at Jays Journal, Keegan Matheson looks at the Jays’ options on what to do with the two open 40-man roster slots they currently have. (He also takes an interesting spin through the roster, looking at some early-season statistical outliers.)
Speaking of rosterbation, Jake Sinclair of Bluebird Banter makes the case for Andy Burns, while Jays From The Couch looks at a potential Jays bullpen option who is down in Buffalo: Justin Antolin. If you’re asking yourself, “Who?” you’re not alone. Which… is exactly what the post is for, so go read it.
Another at Bluebird Banter looks at Kevin Pillar, who is good again now that he’s hitting. I don’t think I’d be extrapolating from one-month samples of defensive stats to crow about it, though.
Chris Cwik of Big League Stew profiles Colby Rasmus, who seems to have finally found peace in Houston.
CBC.ca wonders about Troy Tulowitzki and the Coors Field effect, which… uh, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t just a Coors creation all along.
Lastly, some schadenfreude-ish: the New York Post thinks they’ve found a fatal flaw in Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard, which is… wait for it… the fact that runners seem to be able to steal on him. Uh… sure? But I think he’ll probably be fine. Oh, and Ben Diamond of BP New York writes about how the Yankees are stuck.
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