The On Deck Circle

 As a card-carrying member of #RasmusNation, I really want to believe that the Colby we’ve all witnessed for the past six weeks is the “real” Colby Rasmus, and not just another short-term hot streak. But, as always with Colby, it’s tough to know for sure. The narrative is certainly there to support his arrival as [...]

It shouldn’t be news at this point that baseball is being dominated by an East Coast bias. Of course, I’m not referring to the generally maligned East Coast Bias of media reporting, whereby West Coast coverage falls by the wayside due to time zone differences. No, the Eastern Bias I’m referring to here is the [...]

Last week I took a look at the ZIPS Rest of Season projections for the primary Jays’ hitters, concluding that while some players are due for a positive performance bump, the net gains would be about zero since the team’s run scoring output was already surpassing what one would expect from their slash lines (AVG/OBP/SLG). [...]

The Jays sit a game above .500 in fourth place in an insanely tight and highly competitive AL East. While 4 games out isn’t significant, the Jays have definitely missed some opportunities to shrink the gap. With very few push-over opponents in June (only 6 games against sub-.500 teams, and 3 of those are the [...]

With a 2.61ERA and a 1.10 WHIP, nobody is going to be complaining about Henderson Alvarez’ results so far this season. Alvarez, the Blue Jays’ second-year number three starter, is off to a great start based on traditional baseball card numbers, also sporting a 3-2 record and averaging just shy of 7 innings per start. [...]

I’ve heard a lot of people complain this offseason that the Toronto Blue Jays didn’t do enough to improve their team for 2012. Of course, these people tend to be those who believe the Jays should have thrown $300M at Pujols, $250M at Fielder, and $100M at Buerhle, but do they have a point that, [...]

If we’re being completely honest, the best rookie in the American League this season has been Brett Lawrie, followed closely by Desmond Jennings and Dustin Ackley. The Rookie of the Year race should be between these three future franchise cornerstones, but it seems grossly unlikely that voters will give the nod to players who played [...]

Search “Nestor Molina” on ESPN.com and it returns 0 results. That’s how under the radar Blue Jays pitching prospect Nestor Molina is/was. But this is absolutely a name to make note of and file away for 2013, because Nestor Molina has been an absolute beast in the minors so far this season. Signed out of [...]

The Blue Jays dipped into the post-deadline trade season, shipping Aaron Hill and John McDonald to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Kelly Johnson. On the surface, the deal is more or less a wash, a “challenge” trade, or moving deck chairs, if you may. On a deeper level though, this has the makings of another savvy [...]

The basis of this article, as you’ll probably discern, is a bit selfish in nature. To provide context, some #HumbleBrag is necessary. To wit – I have strong intangibles (I think). In general, I’m not an exceptionally talented person in any measurable way, and what I bring to the table professionally, socially, and athletically, is [...]