April 04, 2010

The Cito Effect


While you're fawning over Adam Lind's new contract extension -- and you still ought to be celebrating the deal, considering it's worth, over seven years, $45 million less than Nick Markakis' -- please do me a favour: take a minute and recall that it was "The Manager" who made it his first order of business, after he was rehired in June 2008, to assure young Lind that he'd seen the last of the minor leagues; that he was from then on, and forevermore, a big leaguer.

Let's not forget that for all the dirt thrown on Cito Gaston's name, it's been under his tutelage that Lind has blossomed into one of the finest designated hitters, and a Silver Slugger, in the American League. Clarence Cito isn't all bad. Mostly bad. But not all bad.

A Flying Start

Who does this Alex Anthopoulos guy think he is?

First he makes, by all accounts, a great trade -- if there ever could be one -- for Roy Halladay. Next: spring training, and his lauded efforts in making the Toronto Blue Jays a more transparent organization. Then AA beats out, ho-hum, the New York Yankees for the services of Cuban prospect Adeiny Hechevarria. Finally, the extension for Lindiana's Finest.

Tell me: what's not to like? While the coming season will certainly have its trials and tribulations, Anthopoulos certainly seems like the right man to lead the Blue Jays out of the post-season wilderness.

The Money Quote

"We believe in the player, just as we believed in Aaron."
- Alex Anthopoulos

An ode to J.P. Ricciardi, it makes me that much fonder of the new general manager.

8 comments:

Jays Balk said...

Longest lede of all time?

SP said...

When JP said "the player" he was an arrogant douche. Ah, perception.

Escaped Lab Rats said...

AA's been pretty good so far, although his Alex Gonzalez and Kevin Gregg acquisitions weren't my favourites. Still, at least they're short-term deals. Looks like we've got a legitimate shot at a proper rebuild.

What's the over/under on our win total this year? 73?

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

@ JaysBalk: Clearly

@ SP: If he was that much of an arrogant douche, do you really think he'd have lasted as long as he did?

@ Escaped: I'm with you on Gonzalez; Mike Wilner said if it were up to him, Mike McCoy would be his starting SS. This season's all about seeing what we've got, so a stop-gap SS in Gonzalez doesn't make much sense. Unless he has a career year, then AA's a bloody genius. As for Gregg, Drew at Ghostrunner on First made an interesting point that perhaps that signing was due to MLB pressure after shedding so much payroll. Who the hell knows?

As for the over under, BaseballProjection.com has the Jays going 68-94. Pinnacle Sports, the betting website, has its props line at +156 for 71 wins, and -184 for under 71 wins.

Me, I've got the Jays going 82-80.

SP said...

eyeb, complete misunderstanding. I'm saying there's a double standard. I'm a JP defender, remember?

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

My bad, SP. And you're absolutely right, complete double standard. Long live we, the JP apologists.

kushnir said...

We signed Adeiny Hechevarria!? I never saw anything official...

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

It's unofficially official. Blair had a column last week where he wrote that Anthopoulos was congratulated on the signing by Detroit's assistant general manager. And AA all but admitted to Wilner that the only thing holding up the process is visa issues. But, shit, that's enough for me; Hechevarria!!!1