January 31
Toronto Star
columnist Richard Griffin
"
At various baseball meetings this off-season, one of the priority issues has been how to fix the hit-and-miss, always-overpriced, less-than-satisfying major-league baseball draft as the problems involved in scouting and signing the next generation get worse. Consider that the struggling Nationals finished last overall, partly due to payroll concerns, then were forced to pay the largest bonus in history to keep No. 1 overall pick Steven Strasburg, a left-handed ace, from going back to university. Consider that last July, Aroldis Chapman, a young Cuban, strolled out of a Rotterdam hotel into a waiting car, setting off toward Spain and freedom. Chapman became a citizen of Andorra with a ..."
January 29
Toronto Star
columnist Richard Griffin
"
It was a tough, frustrating year for Blue Jays reliever Jeremy Accardo in 2009. There was that lingering rehab assignment to start the season that turned into an option, a late-July demotion to the minors, suspicious manipulation of two days of service time that will delay his free agency by a full year and, finally, a wedding date in Arizona, with invited guests already on the ground that was mysteriously called off less than 24 hours before the Nov. 14 ceremony. "It was just a series of things that happened," Accardo said of the last-second bailout on wedding vows with fiancée Carly Lind, a Toronto native. "It was the first time for both of us and things just happened. We're just ..."
January 28
Toronto Star
columnist Richard Griffin
"
It was a tough, frustrating year for Blue Jays reliever Jeremy Accardo in 2009. There was that lingering rehab assignment to start the season that turned into an option, a late-July demotion to the minors, suspicious manipulation of two days of service time that will delay his free agency by a full year and, finally, a wedding date in Arizona, with invited guests already on the ground that was mysteriously called off less than 24 hours before the Nov. 14 ceremony. "It was just a series of things that happened," Accardo said of the last-second bailout on wedding vows with fiancée Carly Lind, a Toronto native. "It was the first time for both of us and things just happened. We're just ..."
January 26
Toronto Star
columnist Richard Griffin
"
Training camp is less than a month away for the Blue Jays, but it's in the second week of March when the millionaires head to the main stadium in Dunedin for games that minor league camp will take over at the Englebert Complex under the team's vice-president of baseball operations, assistant GM Tony LaCava. That's where the future of a rebuilding franchise must begin to take shape. The low-profile LaCava, 48, has been a behind-the-scenes force as assistant GM since 2002, under rookie GM Alex Anthopoulos, he has been handed the player development aspect of an organization that knows it will be relying on the production of the farm in order to compete. "It's a great challenge," LaCava ..."
January 23
Toronto Star
columnist Richard Griffin
"
The Blue Jays under first-year general manager Alex Anthopoulos are stressing pitching depth as the best way to compete. They've supplemented their core group from last year with younger veterans who are still hungry and trying to bounce back. The Jays will head to spring training next month in Dunedin with an amazing total of 33 pitchers among the 60 players invited. The latest addition is Mississauga native Shawn Hill, a graduate of Bishop Reding High School in Milton and a former Team Canada player. The 28-year-old right-hander, a free agent following Tommy John surgery last June, agreed to a minor-league contract on Friday. "Shawn will be on the same (rehab) program as (Jesse) Litsch," ..."
January 18
Toronto Star
columnist Richard Griffin
"
The Jays have decided to play hardball with six players who accepted arbitration. Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos insists his team, for the first time in club history, is not prepared to negotiate with its arb-eligible players beyond the MLB dictated deadline of Tuesday. That does not affect their status as already under contract. Only the dollar amount is determined by an independent arbitrator. That Jays list includes starter Shaun Marcum and relievers Jason Frasor, Brian Tallet, Casey Janssen, Shawn Camp and Jeremy Accardo."
January 15
Toronto Star
columnist Richard Griffin
"
On Dec. 12, the Blue Jays were within 48 hours of keeping Roy Halladay for the 2010 season and having to settle for two compensation draft picks in the June 2011 draft. The Phillies' offer of Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor and Travis D'Arnaud was sitting on the table, but there was nothing left to play it off against. Rookie Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos had gone the equivalent of "all in" with a pair of twos. The bluffing was over, the pot was set, and it was now or never. The young GM's poker face was starting to crumble as the reality of his flimsy dealing position set in. The Jays could have ended all trade talks right then and kept their ace in the rotation for what still would have been a ..."
January 12
Toronto Star
columnist Richard Griffin
"
On Sunday, as word leaked that prized lefthander Aroldis Chapman had spurned the Jays' offer to sign with the Reds, the 32-year-old Alex Anthopoulos ended his eventful first 100 days as Jays GM. Chapman notwithstanding, in terms of fulfilling the Day 1 promise of showing firm leadership and direction for the franchise, it has been a largely positive tenure. If Anthopoulos is to be graded for his early efforts, he would earn an A-minus. On the other hand, if you were to ask him, personally, considering his Jan. 2 marriage and just concluded Hawaii honeymoon, the young Montrealer might, in an off-the-record moment, rate himself an A-plus. Right from the beginning, Anthopoulos, the personal ..."
January 3
Toronto Star
columnist Richard Griffin
"
On Wednesday, when ballots are counted and the class of 2010 is made official, two names familiar to Canadian baseball fans deserve to be at the top of the list headed to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. They are second baseman Roberto Alomar and outfielder Andre Dawson. This may or may not be the most difficult hall of fame in pro sports in which to gain entry, but it is easily the most debated. The reasons: 1) The transparency of the voting, with Baseball Writers Association of America members held accountable for their selections. 2) The incredible value and volume of statistics able to be broken down and compared against other eras with convincing arguments pro and con, ..."