Blue Jays Morning Brew: Hall of Fame Snub, Bullpen & Money

Well, the news of Carlos Delgado not getting the requisite 5% Hall of Fame votes to get another chance next year is still causing feelings of rage within me. But, let’s look at some other goings on in Blue Jays Land.

At The Star, Brendan Kennedy runs down the rest of Hall of Fame candidates who have ‘Canadian connection’. He opines that Fred McGriff may see his last time on the ballot come next season. Former Expo, Larry Walker is seeing his popularity decline on the ballot while another former Expo, Tim Raines is seeing his go up.  Perhaps the best reasoning for this year’s ballot is that it was so crowded with stars. Shi Davidi explains how Carlos Delgado could get left off HERE…he actually uses the term “for shizzle”. Check it out.

Next: Do the Blue Jays Have a Balanced Lineup?

As hard as it is for me, I guess we should move on. As such, let’s talk about…what else? The bullpen. Shi Davidi runs down the dwindling options available to the Blue Jays. He throws out an idea that I floated a while back and that is the notion of trying to fill out the bullpen from within. The reasoning for this according to Davidi is that Alex Anthopoulos now has $5M-$7M to work with. Is it just me, or does that number keep getting lower and lower each time it is discussed without any moves, etc to decrease it? 

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At MLB.com, Gregor Chisholm runs down the work that is left to do with the Blue Jays’ roster. Of note (aside from the bullpen) is the 2nd base issue. Chisholm points out that the Blue Jays are likely to start Devon Travis in the minors since he’s not played above AA. That means that it is a combination of Ryan Goins and Maicer Izturis. Unless the club can figure out another option via trade or the incredibly thin free agent group.

Something that struck me about Chisholm’s piece is the dealing with Dioner Navarro‘s situation. The club is determined to get value in return from any trade they make for him. They are NOT simply looking to dump his $5M salary even if that means keeping him with less than ideal playing time. So, they aren’t penny pinching? Hmmm…

At the Toronto Sun, Bob Elliott gives us a list of the 100 Most Influential Canadians in Baseball. Before he actually gets to the list (it’s 101 long, man. Get to it.) he provides a very interesting detailing of the behind the scenes activity with team ownership group, Rogers Communications, and their supposed search for Blue Jays president,  Paul Beeston’s replacement.

Once he gets to the list there are some interesting names: at #1 is Edward Rogers, deputy chairman of Rogers, the guy who took finding Paul Beeston’s replacement in his own hands. Both Justin Morneau (2) and Russell Martin (3) ranked higher than Alex Anthopoulos (4). The rest of the list is worth a look; it is a good mix of players, management, scouts, etc.