“We would’ve liked to have had the player back, but there’s no question it had to be at the right price for us knowing the opportunity cost.”

Opportunity Cost. A word I learned in ECO20 at Western (usually while trying to recover from last night’s hangover at the Ridout, but that’s another story…damn 10am classes).

I have never heard any other sports General Manager use the term. I’m sure a few of them are familiar with it, but to finally hear it actually used by the person in charge of running my baseball team. I can’t tell you how happy this makes me.

We’ve got the right guy running the show now. Yes Beeston (he of the Dick Cheney like search committee) made him bring back Cito, but otherwise, everything Anthopoulos has done, and more specifically, the way he has done them and the rationales he has used, I love it all.

This team may not make the playoffs next year. But by God, with this guy in charge, it’s not going to be for lack of INTELLIGENT EFFORT or for a true understanding of value.

Go Double A.

Oh really?

I wonder then how they will react to this: Halladay wants deal done by spring

One of Halladay’s agent’s partners, Jeff Barry, has told the Jays that if Roy is not moved by the start of spring training, he will not discuss ANY move for the rest of his last season in Toronto. And since he has a full no trade clause, his word is the law.

Let’s leave aside for the minute that this asshole Barry is a complete scum bag for spouting off about Hallady’s situation to begin with…although that is admittedly hard to do, given the harm it does to the Jays.

Let’s instead think about the implications of this for the Jays. The rest of baseball now know that the Jays, if they want to trade him, must do so this off season and cannot hold out the hope of waiting till next year’s trade deadline. Do you think that gives the Jays more leverage or less?

And all this on the very morning when “I don’t care about value” Mr. Griffin pens yet again another hapless article stating, “The Jays were better off trading in July. Not true.” This is the same dinosaur who is obliviously contemptuous of the entire concept of Moneyball, of course getting it entirely wrong in the process, thinking it’s about rating OBP over stolen bases when all it’s about is finding undervalued assets, be they high on base percentage players, defensive gems, or as Billy Beane has recently pointed out, scouts! – and what is Anthopoulous doing right now? That’s right, he’s hiring a boat load of scouts (and using Tom Tango as a consultant…this guy gets it). Spending money wisely, what a concept. Alex rocks.

And let’s not forget McCown. Just last week, he, along with Shannon (who has been a massive disappointment as a guest host – his television insights being obviated by his inane attempts at commentary on other topics he has zero knowledge of…god help me, I almost miss Kelly…almost) was also reiterating his own clueless opinion that trading Halladay now would definitely land the Jays more in return. Specifically he said, “we talked a lot about this…before the trade deadline that the one interesting phenomena of the off season is that GM’s forget how bad they actually are…a couple of things here and there and all of sudden the market expands.”

McCown’s contention is that there are a greater number of potential suitors for Halladay now than at the deadline, because some of these new teams are able to delude themselves into thinking they are actual contenders and as such, will be looking to aquire a final piece of the puzzle like Roy.

Well here’s the thing, that premise (more teams interested) may well be true, but it does not follow that the Jays return increases. While there may be a higher quantity of teams now, at the deadline the fewer number of teams were far more motivated. I’d much rather have three highly motivated teams like we did at the deadline (Phillies, RedSox, Dodgers) than 8 only somewhat motivated teams now. And that is the position the Jays find themselves in. Plus of course to say nothing of the fact that by trading for him at the deadline you simply get more out of Halladay, an extra half season and a full extra playoffs. That simple fact alone all but guarentees that the offers the Jays receive now will be less. Because the team’s are receiving less.

I’ll try to put this into term’s that even Griffin could understand (although given the medifore I’m about to introduce, that’s doubtful):

Imagine you’re out at the bar and looking to pick up. When are your chances better? At 9pm with one of 10 completely sober young ladies, or at 2am with one of three bombed and horned up little tramps?

We had our chance to bend a hot coed over immediately in late July. Now we’ll have to be content to buy her dinner, listen to her witless banter, and probably not even receive any friggin tongue in return.

Christ.

Unlike the vast majority (that is to say 95%+) of idiotic Leafs fans and media, I would like the time stamp of my prior post so noted.  The disgrace of a decision by Burke to trade away 1st round picks that has become this debacle was entirely foreseeable.

If Burke had any class whatsoever, he would resign immediately.   Where’s all his big talk about “shortening the success cycle” now?

What a completely predictable catastrophic long term disaster.

So said Yoda to Luke, warning him NOT to give into the temptation of the Dark Side.

Sadly for  Toronto Maple Leaf fans, their team continues to give into temptation, year after year.  And this time, without the right to draft a top pick this year or next, it will truly come back to haunt them.

The Leafs and most of their lemming like fan base are giddy with excitement to start the 09/10 season.  Well count this particular fan out of the party.

The moves Brian Burke has made (trading away 1st round draft choices) show the same impatience for which Ferguson and Quinn and Fletcher (notice the trend here) were all pilloried.  And the hockey media (new and old) of Toronto are complicit in this as they have all come out with admiring words for Burke’s desire to win right now.  Whereas they would have (and did) kill his predecessors’ exactly similar mortgage the future moves.

Burke’s quotes after the Kessel deal make clear that they are not building towards a Stanley Cup, but rather taking the quick and easy path, trying to shorten the success cycle, towards nothing more than contention for the last couple of playoff spots.

Well fuck that!  I want a CUP, not a 1st round loss.

The sad fact is that up until Burke traded away the picks for Kessel things were actually looking up for the franchise.  Along with Luke Schenn from last year, the selection of Kadri at #7 this year was looking even more positive than if the Leafs had finished last and drafted Tavares (the kid can’t skate well enough to live up to the hype).  If the Leafs had just been willing to put in the time and endure another lackluster season, it was quite likely they would draft top 3 (what with the improvements of most of the other bottom feeders) and would certainly end up with one of Hall, Fowler, or Kabanov.   Anyone of whom, specifically Hall, may well be better than Kessel (an admittedly excellent young sniper who nonetheless is cause for concern coming off his injury) in the long run.

But they just could not wait.  As has been the case for 40+ years, the Leafs are trying to do things the easy way.

And it will not work.  It never works.  It is fundamentally not the way to construct an elite franchise that contends, not for the playoffs, but FOR THE CUP, every single year.

By missing out on someone like Taylor Hall or Cam Fowler they are missing out of long term building blocks.

Worst of all fans seem to think that it’s ok because we received Phil Kessel in return.  The problem is, in a salary capped league, they are paying FULL MARKET VALUE for him, whereas when you draft young stars you get them at a cost controlled price for their first three years.  By having to pay Kessel full price, the Leafs forgo the ability to use that money on other players with which to surround their young stars.  Something they would be able to do had they simply waited, drafted high next year, and slowly developed their own young talent.

But no, the Leafs have chosen the quick and easy path…to oblivion.

And for the thinking Leafs fan (a seemingly rarer and rarer breed), without the hope of high draft choices for long term Stanley Cup contention, what is left for him?

Naught.

For heaven’s sake, even convicted murderer Colin Thatcher had the Faint Hope Clause.

Fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs are now bereft of even that.

Somehow I don’t think Mr. Bettman is going to get too much sleep between now and September 10th.

Bring it home Jimbo, bring it home.

Wow.

On a side note, I jumped on RA at 50:1 for the BC just as she was crossing the finish line at Monmouth.  Jackson proclaims she’s not going but by the time November gets here the pressure to run her will be insane.  Bring it home girl.

Will the even money favourite Rachel Alexandra’s connection’s risk their all star filly in this shit?

If they don’t the percentages all up for the other horses total no more than 60%.

100% is the level for no juice.  Most races end up around 110% (give or take Betfair’s prices).

This could get very interesting…

Today, Brights Grove Ontario’s own Matt Hill, only the SECOND RANKED AMATEUR golfer in the world, played the 1st round of the Buick Open.  He made an eagle on the 16th.  TSN did show that in their hightlights.  Most Canadians seeing this might then have wondered, “Gee an eagle, that’s pretty good.  Wonder how he finished up?”  TSN then proceeded to show a lot of missed putts by Tiger Woods.  Then they went to their leader board.  On the left of the graphic they had the leaders, on the right they had “Other Notables”.   Listed there were Tiger, Duval, and two other NON CANADIAN golfers.

As for the Canadian, the kid who is coming off of being named the Jack Nicklaus NCAA player of the year, who won 8 times this season in college, who made the cut at Tiger’s AT&T tournament in Washington DC just a month ago, who just two weeks back blew away the field in the Ontario Amateur?

Nothing.  Nadda.  Do you think maybe, just maybe, people might be interested in where their home country up and coming star finished?  Apparently the geniuses at TSN don’t think so.  No, they’d rather tell you about two other, non descript, non Canadian golfers, rather than list Matt Hill’s score.

This fucking shit pisses me off so much.  Especially because of what they do subject us too.  All the CFL crap (not a fan as you see).  All the All Canadian NHL matchups ALL the time during the regular season.  How many fucking times this year was Crosby playing Carter and Richards.  Or Ovechkin playing Lecavalier and Stamkos?  How very few of those games did we get to see.  Instead we get Leafs/Sens, Leafs/Oilers, Sens/Oilers.  Now look I’m a Leaf fan, but fuck seriously, they were (and still are) CRAP.  How about showing us some god damned talented and exciting teams.

But when it comes to you know, gee, an actual exciting and young and talented Canadian, what do we get?  Fucking zilch.

I could even live with all this homer centric shit if TSN would just also show the other stuff (TSN2…hello anyone?) or better yet if I was actually allowed to watch ESPN.  But no, the Communists who run the CRTC have decided that irreparable harm would be done to this poor little country’s coddled home broadcasters (ask TSN or ROGERS how much fucking money they made last year…fuck you TED…may you NOT rest in peace) if this country’s free born citizens were allowed to actually…EXCERCISE FREEDOM OF CHOICE.

And the fuck of it is, they’re wrong.  There’d be minimal impact on TSN’s ratings if ESPN was here.  How can this be you ask?  I’ll tell you how.  They don’t fucking cover the same shit!  At all.  They are mutually exclusive.

TSN – NHL and CFL

ESPN – NFL/NCAA

If you wanted your hockey fix, you’d still goto TSN.  Who the fuck is going to listen to Barry Melrose.  The guy’s a loser.

If you wanted to actually see oh I don’t know, say spring practice (let alone more than 20 seconds of actual game highlights during the season) and how things are progressing with the Wolverines or the Cornhuskers, well you would have that choice as well.

But what do we get instead of freedom and choice?

Being told what we are allowed to view.  Being told what we are supposed to enjoy.  Well fuck that.

Oh and Matt Hill, such an insignificant part of the Buick Open that TSN could not deign to give us his final round score today?  He finished at -3, behind just 43 other golfers, as an amateur, in a field of 155.

But hey, I hear those Alouettes/Eskimos highlights will be fabulous tonight.

Baseball Prospectus Radio “If you’re a Phillies fan you’ve got to be jumping up for joy.”

Beyond the Box Score “It’s hard not to like this deal from a Philly fan’s perspective, because they didn’t have to part with Kyle Drabek, Dominic Brown or Michael Taylor, their best prospects.”

Philadephia Daily News “I don’t know if there is an all-points bulletin out for Ruben Amaro in Ohio, but there should be. Grand Theft. Really grand.”

Cleveland Plain Dealer “Only In Cleveland does the major-league baseball team trade the reigning Cy Young Award winners in back-to-back seasons……and not get a player in return who makes an immediate impact at the highest level.”

10 yr old Tribe fan Seth Parker ““I didn’t think it was the smartest trade,” said Seth Parker, 10.”

It’s not so much that EVERYONE (numbers guys, ink stained wretches, fans) agrees the Indians got hosed on this Lee deal that pisses me off. It’s that the defense of the deal coming out of Tribe HQ is that, “oh don’t worry, we evaluate prospects better than you, we have these guys ranked far higher than others, these guys are the ones we really wanted.”

This is like an NFL team with the third pick in the draft, taking the consensus 9th ranked player, with that third pick. You just can’t do that. You cannot give away that much value. Or, to put a local spin on it, recall a certain useless Kazakhstani forward drafted by the Leafs at #10 in the 1998 entry draft when he was projected as an early second rounder. It’s not that directly after him, Colorado took Alex Tanguay at #12, or that the Flyers took Simon Gagne at #22. No, I can live with a team, who if they take the right player at the right spot, just gets unlucky with the player’s development. It’s that NO ONE had this player ranked this high and that if they really were in love with him and really wanted him, all they had to do was trade down, pick up extra picks, and still be able to take him at his correct spot. The expected value they gave away in taking him 10th is foregone and can not be returned.

The value the Indians gave away in only accepting Carrasco, Knapp, Marson, and Donald for Lee can never be recouped.

It’s not about getting the guy you want, it’s about asset maximization. This also reminds me of the Pronger trade to Anaheim. Without exception, the other interested GM’s said they would have ponied up more than what Anaheim received. Lowe did not maximize his asset. It’s the same situation in Cleveland.

These goose stepping morons did not leverage their best asset to it’s full value. And in doing so, they fucked the Jays by undercutting the market for Halladay.