February 15, 2009

They're back...


You can't see it in that picture*, but Jesse Litsch, along with his epic gut, has man-breasts.

It's great to see that Litsch has come to spring training in the best shape of his life, ready to seize the opportunity to become the number two man in the Toronto Blue Jays' rotation, behind the one and only Roy Halladay.

Truthfully, Litsch's gut and tits don't bother me in the least right now. Not even his rotund figure can deter the optimism that reigns supreme in February.

In stark contrast, The Beej looks great, doesn't he? I can hardly wait to see his first fist pump of the season after he closes out a game. Between B.J. and Jason Blake, the fist pump is enjoying a tremendous revival in Toronto.

Seriously, though, look at Litsch's smile. It just about rivals mine. The boys of summer are back.

And the Blue Jays are winning the pennant.

*A hearty tip of the hat to Ian over at The Blue Jay Hunter for letting me post that pic. It's a beauty. Head on over to his site, and add it to the RSS reader of your choice. Ian does yeoman's work, and even brings Blue Jays heads together for a weekly chat to talk about the upcoming season. And, by "talk about the upcoming season," I mean: Doc's winning the Cy Young, Travis Snider is winning AL Rookie of the Year, and Vernon Wells, Alex Rios, Lyle Overbay and Scott Rolen are all going to have monster 2009s. Playoffs.

10 comments:

Archi said...

On the plus side:

Being a good pitcher and being in shape have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

"On the PLUS side..."

Get it!?!?

You're right, though. Jesse can eat as much ice cream as he wants as long as he eats up innings as well.

bkblades said...

Fantastic shape aside, this still doesn't change my stance on seeing a BJ Ryan trade to clear that salary.

But in good news, Litsch will be our new David Wells sans the surly, jerkface attitude.

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

Trade the Beej? Negative. We need that fiery, fist-pumpage action out of the pen. We've cut enough bloody payroll. We can afford to keep Ryan.

bkblades said...

If trading BJ means we get another bat, you pull the trigger. And as for cutting enough of the payroll, an ownership as tightfisted as Rogers right now won't allow more salary adage, so trades are virtually the only way the Jays improve.

Besides, Brandon League and Jeremy Accardo can both put their heads and arms together to help compensate the potential loss of Beej. I'm on the BL train. What of it?

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

I have faith in the bats. I had faith in them last year, and under Cito, they hit like we thought they would.

It's the pitching I'm concerned about, hence why I don't want to trade The Beej. That being said, I am also all aboard the Brandon League train. He's sick. But Accardo is coming off a bullshit, injury plagued year. It would be good for guys like League and Accardo to learn from the likes of B.J.

But, if the team struggles early on to hit, and we can get a bat for the Beej, it would of course have to be considered.

Anonymous said...

You never know about closers--League was lights-out last year, but who knows how well he'd handle being The Man? That said, you're right: if you get a solid offer for BJ, you've got to seriously consider it.

Ian Hunter said...

Jesse needs to get rid of those chesticles ASAP.

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

@ Escaped: I can see Brandon League being the future closer. The guy's pitches have serious movement on him. Here's hoping for another crazy year out of him, The Beej, and Scott Downs. And Jesse Carlson, too. Jesus, I love our bullpen.

@ Ian: Truer words have not been spoken.

Stan the Caddy said...

Yep, those are real hooters.