The Toronto Blue Jays have decided not to re-sign fan favorite, and all around great guy Munenori Kawasaki.
Kawasaki, who spent last season in both Toronto and Buffalo (their AAA affiliate) was an interesting character both on and off the field. I think I speak for most Blue Jays fans when I say that we will miss him.
Although it will suck not having him around, the ugly truth is that Kawasaki was a dispensable player. At the end of the day, his role on the field won't be hard for the Blue Jays to fill, but his role off the field, well that's a whole different ball game.
I've decided to honour this great character by showing you some of his best work over his time with the Blue Jays, and the Seattle Mariners. Here are Munenori Kawasaki's best moments. And here's to hoping he lands himself a job in the Majors.
This is a video of his first ever major league home-run. It was a pretty special moment for him, and you can tell by everyone's reaction that it was a special moment for them too.
Perhaps his best moment came in this post-game interview, where he emphatically stated to the Blue Jays fans who he is, and where he is from.
In another special moment for Kawasaki, he hits a walkoff double here securing a win for the Blue Jays.
Here we see him signing autographs and singing the Canadian National Anthem.
The infamous dugout dance. He danced this little diddy when he was playing for the Seattle Mariners.
This is my personal favorite. He's playing catch with some Blue Jays fans hours before the game is even supposed to start at US Cellular Field in Chicago, home to the Chicago White Sox. Once again assuring that although he's replaceable on the field, his personal, and funny nature can't be replaced. http://baseballhotcorner.com/toronto-blue-jays-munenori-kawasaki-plays-catch-with-fans/ (here's a better link to the longer video of him playing catch with the fans).
The Toronto Blue Jays have reported that they will be expanding their payroll for the 2014 season. Although they dug deep into their pockets last season acquiring the likes of RA Dickey, Jose Reyes, and Melky Cabrera, this team still has a lot of work to do to be considered a contender among the top teams in baseball.
Their main focuses for their lineup should be finding an every day second-baseman, and improving their play behind the plate. JP Arencibia struggled last year batting only.194 with an awful .227 on base percentage, despite hitting 21 homers and driving in 55 RBI. Funny thing sports is though. One year a guy may struggle, but maybe next year JP will his .330 and have a .410 on base percentage. Is that likely? Maybe not, but you never know.
They've already announced that Brett Lawrie will be playing third-base full time, which leads me to believe that the Jays lineup will look something like this next year on opening day.
C - ???
1B - ???
2B - ???
3B - Brett Lawrie
SS - Jose Reyes
LF - Jose Bautista
CF - Colby Rasmus
RF - Melky Cabrera
DH - Edwin Encarnacion
Bench:
OF - Anthony Gose
C - Josh Thole (he can catch the knuckle-ball, AKA RA Dickey)
??? ???
One thing's for sure, they have some holes to fill. Here are 10 free agents that the Blue Jays should take a serious look at acquiring for the upcoming season:
1 - C - Brian McCann: If the Braves don't resign McCann, the Jays would be stupid not to go after him. A lot of teams will be looking for a catcher who's been as good as McCann has over the past five years, but with their expanded payroll, the Jays could try and pick him up. His .350 career on base percentage is almost an entire point better than Arencibia's. He's a career .270 hitter and is coming off a great season with the Braves. He's experienced, and he's an upgrade.
2 - C - Jarrod Saltalamacchia: Coming off a good season for the Red Sox, Salty could be an every day catcher if he's given the opportunity. With the solid play of David Ross behind the plate, it'll be interesting to see what the Red Sox do with Salty during the off-season. Although his power numbers were down from 2012 (25 homers in 2012, 14 in 2013) he upped his RBI numbers from 59 in 2012 to 65 in 2013.
3 - C - Carlos Ruiz: The Philadelphia Phillies catcher hit 5 homers and 37 RBI, and had a .268 batting average in what was limited action, as he only played in 92 games. He had a fielding percentage of .997, making only 3 errors in his 86 games as a catcher.
4 - 1B/C - Mike Napoli: Not sure if the Red Sox are planning on re-signing the bearded first-basemen, but the Blue Jays could use a guy like Napoli. He's coming off a season where he hit 23 homers and drove in 92 RBI. I think Adam Lind is a great player, and he has similar numbers to Napol in terms of average, on base percentage, and home-runs. Napoli had better RBI numbers and can also play catcher. He'd be a good fit in Toronto.
5 - 1B - James Loney: Loney is coming off a solid season for the Rays where he hit .299 with 13 homers and 75 RBI. Although he struggled with his OBP in 2012 (.283), he improved it to .348 in 2013. He also had an insane .995 fielding percentage for the Rays in 2013.
6 - 2B - Robinson Cano: Ok, I realize that this one is a stretch, because I doubt that the Yankees would let this guy go. His stats speak for themselves. He's a natural all-star, and the Jays do need a second baseman.
7 - 2B - Omar Infante: If the Jays want to find a second basemen who's good in the field and decent at the plate they don't have to look any further than Omar Infante. He had a .980 fielding percentage in 2013, and hit .318 with 10 homers and 51 RBI with a .345 OBP. Showing that he can chip in offensively as well as defensively.
8 - 2B - Skip Schumaker: If the above two are scooped up by other teams, the Jays could look off the board with Schumaker. He played in 125 games last season with the Dodgers but a lot of that was in the out-field, which shows that he has versatility to play multiple positions. He only hit .263 with 2 homers and 30 RBI, but had a .970 fielding percentage when playing as second base.
9 - OF - Shin-Soo Choo: With the Reds last year, Choo hit .285 with 21 homers and 54 RBI. What really stands out with Choo and the 2012 season was his .423 OBP. This pickup could depend on the fate of Jose Bautisa, who has been subjected to trade rumors, and Rajai Davis, who is a free agent.
10 - OF - Corey Hart: He's always hovered around the .270/.280 mark with his batting average but he's hit 30 homers twice in his career. He's coming off a season with the Brewers where he hit 30 homers and drove in 83 RBI. He played in 149 games last season. He would open up some options for the Blue Jays with regards to their outfield.
The signing of theses players will depend on what the Blue Jays decide to do with their roster. There have been rumors that Jose Bautista and JP Arencibia have been discussed in trade talks, but GM Alex Anthopolous said that there are not trade talks happening with regards to those two players at the moment. One omission that seems obvious from this list is that of Red Sox OF Jacoby Ellsbury who is currently a free agent. The reason I didn't include Ellsbury on the list is because the role that he would fill is already taken. The Jays have a solid lead-off hitter in Jose Reyes, and a good center-fielder in Colby Rasmus. They also have a pretty good young outfielder in Anthony Gose in the minor leagues chomping at the bit for his chance to play in the majors.
What do you think? Should the Blue Jays look at signing some of these players for the 2014 season? Or should they maintain their roster?
Much to the dissapointment of many Goldeyes fans who I've spoken with, the Winnipeg Goldeyes have traded starting pitcher, and fan favorite Matt Rusch to Trois-Rivieres Aigles the Can-Am League at his request.
Matt Rusch
Rusch ended up with the Goldeyes two years ago because his girlfriend was moving here for a job. It's believed that his girlfriend is now moving back to Quebec, and Rusch asked to be traded for that reason. He'd previously played two seasons with the Quebec Capitales of the Can-Am League before playing in Winnipeg for two seasons.
It's a tough situation for Forney, who didn't want to trade the right-hander, but sometimes in independent baseball that's the name of the game.
"This was a tough trade for us to make because Matt brought so much to our organization and helped us win a championship two years ago," Forney said. "He expressed the desire and need to get back to the east and we're happy to accommodate him."
Cam Kneeland
In return, the Goldeyes acquired the reversionary rights to infielder Cam Kneeland. The 23 year old Kneeland is a versatile infielder who played first base, third base, and short stop for the Aigles last year. However, Kneeland's contract was purchased by the Baltimore Orioles, so the Goldeyes would only retain his services of he's released by Baltimore.
"He's a good young player that I really liked a lot last year," Forney said. "We had a chance to see him in six games against Trois-Rivieres. He was a real difference maker on that team. We wish him the best in his endeavour with the Orioles, but if it doesn't work out with them, we'd be awfully excited to have him be part of our organization."
In 99 games with Trois-Riveres, Kneeland hit .306 with nine homers and 62 RBI. He also had a .364 on base percentage. He finished fourth in average in the Can-Am League, and third in RBI.
A short 30 for 30 film was brought to my attention by my astute colleague Marc "Marcy Marc" Legace, that is perfectly fitting in this blog. (Side-note: If you love documentary films, and sports, you have to watch the 30 for 30 films, they're amazing.)
It tells the story of Henry and Holly Stephenson. A couple who made the entire Major League Baseball schedule, with a pencil, and some pieces of paper.
That's 30 teams, each playing 162 games, with heavy travel, and many other things that team's want to work around specific dates. The Stephenson's did it all.
I will let the film speak for itself, it's about twelve minutes long, and it's a nice, home-oriented, and heart-warming story about a modest couple who writes schedules.
Let me start by saying that this is not a post dedicated strictly to baseball. This is a post pertaining to sports, in particular sports culture, and what I think is so messed up about it.
I love sports, I always have, and I always will. But every now and then something happens in the sports world that shakes my confidence in not one, but all sports and the people who play them. This, of course is an initial reaction. Any betting person would say that the majority of athletes, and people associated with sports in general are nice people. When I step back to think about it for a bit, I realize that's it's just one rotten, crappy apple in the bunch.
Jonathan Martin
This moment recently came to me when I heard news of Miami Dolphins offensive linemen Richie Incognito, and his "less than acceptable" actions that got him suspended from the team. Or as I like to call them, his stupid, dumb, asinine, ignorant, stupid, stupid actions.
For those not familiar with the situation, let me give a brief background. Richie Incognito was suspended from the Dolphins for conduct that was deemed "detrimental to the team." Which is a nice way of saying he was being a bully. What Incognito really did was send text messages, and leave his rookie teammate Jonathan Martin voice-mails that were racist, and threatening.
While I do have a HUGE problem with that, he's just a shitty apple in the bunch. Though, this isn't the first time this year that the NFL has had to deal with racist remarks by one of their players. Before the season even started Philadelphia Eagles receiver Riley Cooper had been caught on film hurling racial slurs at an African-American security guard at a country music concert.
My real problem is with the people defending Incognito's actions. A lot of people who I've talked to have said that there is no other side to this issue, what he did is bad and that's that. I think that's just simplifying a complex issue. Maybe I'm reiterating what the majority of people think, I really hope I am, but from what I've seen on Twitter, there are some people who are throwing out the words "locker-room culture" or saying that Martin himself should share some of the blame. One incredibly ignorant example of that is the New York Giants Antrel Rolle saying that Martin should share the blame because he let it happen, which is the dumbest thing I've heard come from the entire thing. Hey Antrel, not everyone deals with bullying the same way as you do. There's no universal code on how to deal with bullies. Everyone handles it in their own way, and guess what? Sometimes people get upset by it, and it begins to ruin something they love.
I've seen people saying that Martin is a "big boy" so bullying isn't an issue for him. Really? REALLY?!?! Do they really believe that? I've seen sports fans get into fights because someone else is wearing a different jersey, or because they said their teams sucks. Sometimes sports fans can be so blind and ignorant they don't see the hypocrisy in their own words. If they get so upset about those things, imagine a teammate doing and saying those things, someone who's supposed to support you.
Plain and simple, those are all tiresome and ignorant defenses of bullying in sports. Because no matter what a players status is with any team, be it at the high school level, college level, or the pro level, they deserve to be treated with respect. BECAUSE SPORTS DOES NOT TRANSCEND THE LAWS OF BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIGNITY.
And there's no measure for my hatred of the words "locker-room culture." I've experience this so called "culture", and let me tell you it can be a terrible place sometimes. I've heard words like "fag" tossed around constantly, and yes, even racial slurs sometimes, for no reason at all. Though most of the time these words aren't meant to be hurtful in any way, they are, and they make people feel uncomfortable.
Rookie hazing isn't about hazing at all. Hazing is assault, and it's a crime. Yeah, someone's a rookie, so make them get the towels, make them fill the water bottles, maybe at the pro level they buy dinner from time to time, and if they don't want to do it then there's no way you can force them to, so if they say no, get up and grab your own damn water bottle.
Let's look at an example of Montreal Canadiens rookie Nathan Beaulieu. What the Canadiens did here is a classic NHL rookie prank. They let the rookie lead the team onto the ice, and stop behind him so he skates around by himself for a bit. Every team does it, and no one was physically harmed, no one was threatened, and no one was bullied.
But when you take it a step to far, when you physically or verbally threaten someone with homophobic or racist names and do it on a regular basis, that's bullying. There's no other term to describe the actions of Mr. Incognito. I've seen some things similar to it, and I find it disgusting.
All I can tell you is that if I were a coach and this happened on my team, you can be damn sure that that person would never play for me ever again. In fact, I would go out of my way to ensure that they never play their sport ever again, because people like Richie Incognito don't deserve to play in their sport.
I've always held the opinion that people who use racially offensive terms, whether they mean them seriously or not, are racists. Richie Incognito is a racist person, a disgrace, and he should never play another down of football in the NFL.
There is no logical defense for Incognito's actions, only ignorant one's. I don't care how important Incognito might be to his team, he shouldn't be allowed to play in the NFL ever again. I can only hope that the NFL and the NFL Players Association take the necessary steps to make an example of him, and let other players in the league know that this kind of crap won't be tolerated. There is no place for this in any sport, respect and human dignity DO NOT END AT SPORTS CULTURE. Sports is not exempt from those societal rules.
Though I do think that this is an isolated incident, (and I really really hope it is) I think that the term "locker-room culture" can, and should be re-appropriated. Your teammates should be your friends, they should support you. The locker-room culture should be a culture of promotion and acceptance. Once we start cracking down on, and condemning people like Richie Incognito, maybe we can begin to work towards that.
