The 2008 Blue Jays-What could have been

Ya my Expos Dynasty was accidently deleted by my brother so i decided to start a new one.

*This Dynasty takes place in an Alternate universe where the proposed Alexis Rios for Tim Lincecum deal was accepted by the Giants.*

December 7th, 2007

My cell-phone was ringing beside my ear, I rolled over in bed and picked it up. “Alex, this is J.P, Sabean just accepted the Rios for Lincecum deal. I’d like you to come with me to St. Louis tomorrow, we’re going to meeting with David Eckstein and then have dinner with John Mozeliak to discuss the Rolen for Glaus swap I was talking to you about.” “Alright, meet you at the airport tomorrow.” I looked at the clock beside my bed, 1:10 AM, hopefully I could get 5 hours of sleep before tomorrow, it was going to be a big day.

My name is Alex Watson and I was hired by the Blue Jays as Special Assistant to the General manager at the end of the ‘07 season. I had spent the last month and a half of the 2007 season in San Francisco watching everyone of Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain’s starts in person. J.P had met with Giants GM Brian Sabean in Nashville at the start of the winter meetings, he had proposed a Rios for Cain/ swap which Sabean was reluctant to do. Instead they started discussing a Rios for Lincecum deal. Personally I favoured Cain, he had a more durable build at 6’3, 231 lb compared to Lincecum who was 5’11, 160 lb soaking wet. Cain also had a much more compact delivery whereas I felt Lincecum’s delivery would eventually lead to an Elbow or shoulder injury. However, I had to admit, not many pitchers could touch “Tiny Tim” in terms of “stuff”.

J.P eventually worked out a deal that sent Rios and 2005 first round pick/bust Ricky Romero to San Fran for Lincecum. Now with our rotation set we had the line-up to worry about. Rios was the only reliable offensive performer last year and now we had next to nothing. Vernon Wells had just come of his worst season ever where he hit .245 with only 16 home runs. Frank Thomas hadn’t played in 140 years in two straight seasons since 02-03 and Matt Stairs was due for a down year. It was going to be a struggle to score runs this year.

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“Thanks for coming with me Alex,” said J.P as I met him at Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson airport. “Remind me again why are we pursuing Eckstein? Johnny Mac was excellent their last year and if we really need to we can play Scutaro or Pedro Lopez there when he needs a day off.” “MacDonald was awful with the bat last year and now with Rios gone we really need to get more offensive production from short.” “Whatever you say J.P, I just think we should stick with Mac, especially with all the groundball pitchers we have.” These comments from me made for a somewhat awkward flight to St. Louis, although I slept most of the way anyways.

After an hour of talking with Eckstein and his agent we had hammered out a deal that would give him 4.5 million for the 2008 season. I was surprised how willing he was to sign with us after J.P had told him point blank that he would have to beat put John MacDonald for the starters job. Next up was a trip to the Outback steakhouse to meet with Cardinals GM John Mozeliak. Over the course of steaks and beers we discussed trading Troy Glaus to the Cards for Scott Rolen. The trade would benefit both sides as it would get Glaus off the field turf in Toronto and get Rolen away for Tony La Russa. By the end of dinner we had agreed on the deal and sent it to the NLB head office for approval.

Today had been a productive day but we still had a long ways to go if we were going to beat out the Yankees and the Sox.

*Up next:Rules and Spring Training*

Rules:
- As of right now I am not allowed to initiate any trades because I anm only the Special Assitant to the GM. If and when J.P gets fired I can initiate 4 trades per year using the trade block and one per year where i make an offer to the AI

-I am allowed to accept computer trades but i may not change them except to balance cash

-I can sign a number of free agents equal to my final ranking minus one

February 10, 2008

I arrived in Dunedin today along with Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum and Vernon Wells. Players are not required to report for another 5 days but these three look like they are anxious and eager to get started. I watched Lincecum warm up in the Bullpen today with pitching coach Brad Arnsberg and I was impressed. He had alot more movement on his slider than I had seen last year and Arnsberg assured me that his mechanics were very sound and he was the least likely to get injured on the staff. He has alos been following Doc around like a lost dog and hopefully he will pick up on some of Doc's habits.


February 15, 2008

The rest of the team reported for Spring Training today. Everyone was looking good and things were looking up until I got a call from J.P. "Alex, Janssen just got back from seeing Dr. Andrews. He has a torn labrum and is going to miss the rest of the year." Great, I thought to myself, Janssen was one of the most consistent members of the 'pen last year and his absecne would be huge. One good piece of news on the Injury front was B.J Ryan. Only 9 months removed from Tommy John surgey he was throwing off a mound today and was looknig like he'll make a full recovery.

We had extended spring training invites to top prospects Travis Snider, J.P Arenciba and Brett Cecil. I was excited to see how these guys would perform. Snider is just what the Jays need right now, a 40 HR threat at the Corner outfiled position, to bad he won't be ready for atleast another two years. Arenciba was a surefire top 10 pick last year had he not been injured and was now showing why as he has potential to be a middle of the order bat and an above average defensive catcher. Cecil was Maryland's closer last year before we picked him in the compensation round, since then we have been working on converting him into a starter. Stuff wise he boasts a fastball that tops out at 92, an MLB ready slider and a developing curve & change. Cecil and Arenciba could see some time as September call-ups this season while all 3 are predicted to start at A Dunedin.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cujo376

Snider is just what the Jays need right now, a 40 HR threat at the Corner outfiled position, to bad he won't be ready for atleast another two years.

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I've got the perfect short-term solution for your corner outfield problem...

B**** LAMAR B****

:D

i'm gonna try to stay away from felons for now,lol.

March 1st, 2008

Roy pitched 4 scoreless innings today against the tigers and Vernon Wells went 1-2 with a home run and a great diving catch. Accardo,Downs,Parrish,Chacin and Cecil pitched an inning a piece and combined to give up only 3 hits and 1 run. A.J Burnett was schedueled to pitch tommorow but the p@#$y broke a nail and won't be able to pitch until the end of the week.

March 17th, 2008

Damint, Rolen just got hurt and is gonna be out until the end of April after he broke his finger. He was just doing routine fielding drills and the ball took a weird hop. This means Scutaro is gonna have to play third until he's back. The Yankees better watch out,our line-up will really be scary in April..........

March 29th, 2008

We just finished our last spring training game today against the Phillies and are Scheduled to fly back to Toronto for the Home Opener against the A's on the 2nd. J.P, Myself and Gibby sat down and worked out this line-up for opening day(ratings are from Commish mode):

1. Aaron Hill 2B 88/88
2. Adam Lind RF 76/84
3. Vernon Wells CF 83/83
4. Frank Thomas DH 81/81
5. Matt Stairs LF 83/83
6. Lyle Overbay 1B 77/77
7. Marco Scutaro 3B 78/78
8. Greg Zaun C 77/77
9. John MacDonald 79/79

Bench:
SS David Eckstein 78/78
IF Hector Luna 75/75
OF Shannon Stewart 73/73
OF Buck Coats 72/75
C Curtis Thigpen 75/79

Rotation:
1. Roy Halladay 94/94
2. A.J Burnett 93/93
3. Tim Lincecum 93/95
4. Dustin Mcgowan 86/92
5. Shaun Marcum 80/86

CL: Jeremy Accardo 84/85
SU: Scott Downs 83/83
SR: Jason Frasor 81/81
SR: Jessie Carlson 79/79
MR: Brian Tallet 75/75
LR: Brandon League 75/80

DL:
Scott Rolen 79/79 24 Days
B.J Ryan 88/88 12 Days

Minor Leaguers to watch:
Travis Snider 67/96 starting in A
J.P Arenciba 69/87 starting in A
Brett Cecil 67/90 starting in A
Jessie Litsch 75/79 starting in AAA

Season Outlook:
Our pitching staff should keep us close but our line-up is really gonna need to overacheive. Wells, Thomas and Stairs are the only batters with legitmate 20HR power and Aaron Hill is in no way a good fit in the leadoff spot but he;s the best thing we've got. If we aren't hitting by the time June rolls around J.P will start shopping Burnett for a bat and use Litsch as the 5th starter.

*Next Up: Opening Day*

April 2, 2008

Doc Was great tonite, he pitched a complete game shutout striking out 7 while walking two and giving up only 5 hits. He threw only 102 pitches and had his curve and cutter working forcing 15 ground outs compared to 5 flyouts. Frank Thomas hit a 3 run homer and Lyle Overbay went 2-3 with a walk. We turned 4 double plays while hitting in one which was a relief after seeing all the DP's we hit into in spring training. Joe Blanton was mediocre tonite for the A's giving up 5 runs on 6 hits over 5 innings; he also struck out 6 and walked one. A.J "O no, I broke a nail" Burnett will be pitching tommorow against Chad Gaudin while Tim Lincecum will make his Jays debut against Canuck Rich Harden on Monday.

*Next up: Mid-April Summary

I like it so far. Also, A.J. Burnett can't pitch his curve with a broken nail. He's not a p**** after all :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MaineEvent

I like it so far. Also, A.J. Burnett can't pitch his curve with a broken nail. He's not a p**** after all :D

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ehh,o well,he's still a pussy cause he broke a nail :p