Fly like a bird: The 2008 Toronto Blue Jays

[lilbman07]

September 08 Review

Team Stats
Overall Record: 80-82
September Record: 14-12
Current Standing: 4th place in AL East (23 GB)

Team Leaders
Batting Average: David Eckstein (.298)
Home Runs: Barry Bonds (35)
RBI: Barry Bonds (98)
SB: Alex Rios (15)
Wins: Roy Halladay (18)
ERA: Dustin McGowan (3.90)
K's: Dustin McGowan (191)
Saves: BJ Ryan (23)

2008 Batting             Team    G   AVG    AB    H  2B  3B  HR   BB    K   SB  CS    R  RBI   SLG   OBP
Betemit, Wilson           TOR   52  .229   192   44   5   1  11   13   49    2   0   26   27  .438  .275
Bonds, Barry              TOR  130  .253   470  119  26   0  35   77  105    1   2   89   98  .532  .361
Chacin, Gustavo           TOR   24  .000     1    0   0   0   0    0    0    0   0    0    0  .000  .000
Eckstein, David           TOR  139  .298   524  156  28   2   1   27   42   11   2   71   40  .365  .341
Halladay, Roy             TOR    2  .333     6    2   0   0   0    1    1    0   0    1    0  .333  .429
Hill, Aaron               TOR  162  .284   613  174  39   2  12   36  100    3   3   69   57  .413  .325
Jeroloman, Brian          TOR    4  .214    14    3   0   0   0    3    5    0   0    0    2  .214  .353
Lind, Adam                TOR   61  .313   163   51  16   1   9   19   28    0   0   24   32  .589  .391
Litsch, Jesse             TOR    1  .000     2    0   0   0   0    0    0    0   0    0    0  .000  .000
Luna, Hector              TOR   13  .296    27    8   0   1   0    1    4    0   0    3    1  .370  .321
Marcum, Shaun             TOR    2  .000     3    0   0   0   0    0    0    0   0    0    0  .000  .000
McDonald, John            TOR   94  .277   202   56  12   0   0   11   26    7   3   24   12  .337  .316
McGowan, Dustin           TOR    2  .400     5    2   0   0   0    0    1    0   0    0    0  .400  .400
Nady, Xavier              TOR   99  .264   326   86  16   1   9   20   70    2   0   45   51  .402  .313
Overbay, Lyle             TOR   59  .268   149   40  12   0   2   14   35    0   0   16   24  .389  .329
Rios, Alex                TOR  155  .275   622  171  36   8  27   54  116   15   5  100   87  .489  .335
Stairs, Matt              TOR  134  .287   470  135  39   3  26   44  100    1   0   74   77  .549  .351
Stewart, Shannon          TOR   65  .257   214   55   7   2   3   16   21    1   1   28   23  .350  .307
Thigpen, Curtis           TOR  139  .193   467   90  20   2   9   41  100    2   2   46   56  .302  .260
Thomas, Frank             TOR  139  .255   495  126  30   0  16   64   95    0   1   69   70  .412  .350
Wells, Vernon             TOR  130  .263   495  130  24   1  21   26   94    6   2   61   58  .442  .300

2008 Pitching            Team     IP   ERA    G  GS   W   L  SV    K   BB   R/9
Accardo, Jeremy           TOR   63.2  2.97   66   0   6   1  16   54   18 10.46
Chacin, Gustavo           TOR  101.1  5.60   30   6   3   4   1   62   48 15.63
Dotel, Octavio            TOR   72.0  4.75   66   0   5   6   0   83   25 12.38
Halladay, Roy             TOR  239.0  4.26   34  34  18   8   0  166   52 10.96
League, Brandon           TOR   28.1  6.35   14   3   0   2   0   20   17 16.52
Litsch, Jesse             TOR  146.2  7.12   27  27   7  14   0   80   67 16.88
Marcum, Shaun             TOR  206.0  5.16   36  36  10  15   0  167   57 13.81
McGowan, Dustin           TOR  214.2  3.90   33  33  17  10   0  191   75 11.57
Parrish, John             TOR   25.0  4.68   22   0   0   0   0   21   17 16.20
Ryan, B.J.                TOR   46.0  2.93   48   0   2   1  23   56   15 10.57
Tallet, Brian             TOR   84.1  4.27   66   0   3   6   0   53   31 12.59
Vermilyea, Jamie          TOR    0.2  0.00    1   0   0   0   0    0    0  0.00
Wells, Randy              TOR    6.2  1.35    3   0   0   0   0   11    1 10.80
Wolfe, Brian              TOR   13.0  8.31   13   0   0   3   0    8    7 20.77

Team Injuries
SP Gustavo Chacin (Ruptered Knee Ligaments) September 22, 2008 - ???


Bonds Watch

Barry Bonds (.254 BA, 35 HR, 98 RBI, 89 R)
797 HR


Final Comments
We missed my goal of .500 by 1 game. Well this season wasn't a complete failure. I want to thank the team for a good year. And hope we have a better season next year.

[lilbman07]

Playoffs

Before the playoffs started




After the World Series

[lilbman07]

Toronto Sun

Blue Jays re-sign a few release a few today

Blue Jays re-sign
1B Frank Thomas (2-yr 5.85M)
3B Wilson Betemit (1-yr 2.35M) [arbitration]
SS David Eckstein (3-yr 5.15M)
LF/DH Barry Bonds (2-yr 7.5M Player Option 8.25M)
SP Gustavo Chacin (1-yr 1.1M) [arbitration]
RP Jeremy Accardo (1-yr 4.15M) [arbitration]


Blue Jays release
RF Xavier Nady
LF Shannon Stewart
SS Hector Luna
RP Brian Tallet
RP John Parrish

[lilbman07]

ESPN The Magazine

Free Agent Report

Catcher
Jason Kendall (85) [.252, 1 HR, 36 RBI, 49 R)
Ivan Rodriguez (83) [.286, 3 HR, 18 RBI, 15 R)
Javier Valentin (77) [.300, 24 HR, 111 RBI, 71 R)

1st Basemen
Jim Thome (86) [.252, 40 HR, 91 RBI, 81 R)
Ben Broussard (80) [.279, 13 HR, 66 RBI, 57 R)
Daryle Ward (79) [.270, 5 HR, 35 RBI, 29 R)

2nd Basemen
Ray Durham (83) [.273, 10 HR, 38 RBI, 62 R)
Clint Barmes (83) [.304, 0 HR, 13 RBI, 19 R)
Jeff Kent (81) [.277, 21 R, 68 RBI, 70 R)

3rd Basemen
Casey Blake (86) [.299, 23 HR, 91 RBI, 67 R)
Russell Branyan (84) [.242, 10 HR, 51 RBI, 30 R)
Ty Wigginton (82) [.250, 17 HR, 72 RBI, 56 R)

Shortstops
Rafeal Furcal (84) [.248, 8 HR, 41 RBI, 95 R]
Christian Guzman (84) [.242, 1 HR, 48 RBI, 68 R)
Orlando Cabrera (79) [.240, 10 HR, 46 RBI, 80 R)

Left Fielders
Raul Ibanez (82) [.271, 13 HR, 86 RBI, 70 R)
Matt Diaz (80) [.309, 27 HR, 85 RBI, 69 R)
Josh Willingham (80) [.265, 12 HR, 35 RBI, 56 R)

Center Fielders
Mike Cameron (.243, 28 HR, 74 RBI, 93 R)
Shane Victorino (.291, 19 HR, 63 RBI, 99 R)
Melky Cabrera (.288, 11 HR, 66 RBI, 89 R)

Right Fielders
Bobby Abreu (93) [.278, 14 HR, 87 RBI, 100 R)
Xavier Nady (86) [.264, 9 HR, 51 RBI, 45 R)
Ken Griffey Jr (84) [.268, 27 HR, 72 RBI, 76 R)

Starting Pitchers
Dave Bush (89) [14-8, 4.27 ERA, 137 K)
Sidney Ponson (86) [14-3, 3.99 ERA, 150 K)
Mark Mulder (83) [0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 K)

Relief Pitchers
Damaso Marte (84) [4-4, 3.94 ERA, 74 K, 1 SV)
Hideki Okajima (82/84) [11-3, 4.08 ERA, 93 K, 4 SV)
Bob Howry (82) [5-7, 4.11 ERA, 66 K, 0 SV)

Blue Jays have 22.27M Cap Space

[lilbman07]

Toronto Sun

Jays trade fan favorite Wells to Giants

The Jays and Giants agreed on a 5 player trade that would send CF Vernon Wells (84), RP Jordan De Jong (67/70), and 3B Kevin Ahrens (55/83) to the Giants for SP Henry Sosa (69/85) and CF Wendell Fairley (60/89).

[lilbman07]

Toronto Sun

Blue Jays sign 6 today and make 2 trades

The Toronto Blue Jays have signed 6 free agents today [which is the limit]

Blue Jays sign
1B Jim Thome (86) [2-yr, 9.95M]
SP Dave Bush (89) [3-yr 7.4M]
RP Hideki Okajima (82) [2-yr 6.3M]
SP Pedro Martinez (82) 2-yr 4.4M]
C Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez (82) [2-yr 6.2M]
RF Ken Griffey (84) [2-yr 8.25M]

They also made 2 trades today. They traded SS David Eckstein and Matt Stairs to the Cardinals for CF Isaac Galloway (63/86)

The 2nd one was 1B Lyle Overbay (80) and LF Adam Lind (77/82) to the Mariners for RF Wladimir Balentien (77/85)

[lilbman07]

2009 Season Preview
2008 stats in parenthesis

Lineup

2B Aaron Hill (.284, 12 HR, 3 SB, 69 R, 57 RBI)
RF Ken Griffey (.268, 27 HR, 1 SB, 76 R, 72 RBI)
CF Alex Rios (.275, 27 HR, 15 SB, 100 R, 87 RBI)
LF Barry Bonds (.253, 35 HR, 1 SB, 89 R, 98 RBI)
1B Jim Thome (.252, 40 HR, 0 SB, 81 R, 91 RBI)
DH Frank Thomas (.255, 16 HR, 0 SB, 69 R, 70 RBI)
SS Wilson Betemit (.229, 11 HR, 2 SB, 26 R, 27 RBI)
3B Wladimir Balentien (.297, 3 HR, 0 SB, 12 R, 15 RBI)
C Ivan Rodriguez (.286, 3 HR, 2 SB, 15 R, 18 RBI)

Bench
2B Russ Adams (.000, 0 HR, 0 SB, 0 R, 0 RBI)
LF Ryan Patterson (.000, 0 HR, 0 SB, 0 R, 0 RBI)
C Curtis Thigpen (.193, 9 HR, 2 SB, 46 R, 56 RBI)
SS Pedro Lopez (.000, 0 HR, 0 SB, 0 R, 0 RBI)
RF Buck Coats (.000, 0 HR, 0 SB, 0 R, 0 RBI)

Starting Rotation