Category: John McDonald

Know Thine Enemy 2009: Toronto Blue Jays

It wasn't long ago that the Toronto Blue Jays were expected to be in the position now occupied by the Tampa Bay Rays as the third wheel atop the American League East. While there is some strong young talent in Toronto, J.P. Riccardi's five year plan is looking more like a two term presidential rebuilding plan in action. It's hard to believe that this team is anything resembling "on the road to competing" in the most vaunted division in baseball.

Last year was a mess for the Blue Jays. Between injuries, slumps, manager changes, and overall bad luck, the Jays still found themselves dreaming of a run at the Wild Card late in the Summer. While an 86-win season was respectable and would have put you in the playoffs in the NL West, it yielded another season leaving Jays fans frustrated with what could have been if there were any semblance of an offense behind one of the best rotations in baseball.

Fire Brand flies along with Paul Byrd

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Paul Byrd. Byrd, acquired from the Cleveland Indians during the latter part of the 2008 season, served the Red Sox very capably out of the back of the rotation spot and was an integral part in getting the team all the way to a seventh game in the ALCS. Read on...

Da Bench! Da Bench!

You might be asking, “who cares?” You know this article’s about the bench, and you don’t really care about the…