Many years ago, when I was just entering high school, I took a business class. The teacher, let’s call him Mr. Stewart, was a quirky fellow – and quite honestly not that great of a teacher – but on the first day of class he told us something that he said we’d remember for the […]
Tag: Jose Bautista
Artificial Turf Wars Ep. 77: And Now our Watch is Ended
Episode 77 Greg and Josh go over the final week of the season and the decisions and press conferences from the immediate aftermath. They discuss Jose Bautista’s final games and the declining of his option, Josh Donaldson’s desire to remain in Toronto, the early outlook for the upcoming offseason based on comments from Ross Atkins, […]
Artificial Turf Wars Ep. 76: AFL and a Fond Farewell
Episode 76 2016 first round draft pick and Blue Jays prospect T.J. Zeuch stops by to discuss life leading up to the draft, how he picked his university, the nomadic lifestyle of a recent draftee, and prepping for the upcoming Arizona Fall League. Greg and Josh also go deep on the legacy and (likely) final […]
He May Lay Down his Crown, but Bautista Will Always be King
Wherever there was a hello, surely, in time there has to be a goodbye. The greeting, the initial unfamiliar acknowledgement of a beginning is something clean. At one moment, you were unaware of the existence of someone at all. Then, suddenly, they have a name and a face and presence. Some people, some relationships are […]
Jose Bautista and the Unpredictability of Baseball
Over the past few weeks, there has been spirited debate over who deserves the title of “The Greatest Blue Jay of All-Time.” Everybody’s top five consisted of a mix of players that captivated a country and rose to immortality like Roberto Alomar, Roy Halladay, Dave Stieb, Carlos Delgado, Tony Fernandez, and maybe even George Bell […]
Putting Justin Smoak into Jose Bautista’s Context
The Blue Jays have been defined by no player better in the past decade than Jose Bautista, the former utility journeyman turned home run king. His transformation was the only thing that got fans through the lean years between Roy Halladay and the 2015 playoff run. He was the star. But before he was able to […]
The Murky Mosaic of the Blue Jays Post Trade Deadline
July 31st is in the rearview mirror, and the Toronto Blue Jays look a little bit different than they did a few days ago. Gone are Francisco Liriano and Joe Smith. Nori Aoki is here, although whatever that means remains to be seen. However, the biggest story of the deadline for the Blue Jays wasn’t the […]
The Many Versions of Jose Bautista We’ve Seen in 2017
Jose Bautista’s career with the Blue Jays has been nothing if not eventful. From walks to bat flips and punches to home runs, Bautista has been through it all over his 1132 games with the Blue Jays. Through all of this, he’s managed to be an extremely productive hitter. Even last season, in which he […]
Which Blue Jays are Putting the Barrel on the Ball?
Back in February I wrote an article around the Statcast ‘Barrels’ metric and how the Blue Jays (new and returning) stacked up in regards to that metric. If you haven’t heard much about Barrels and their ‘official’ definition, that article would be a great spot to brush up on them. You can see the leaderboard here. Just […]
Jose Bautista’s Hitting May Have Turned a Corner
It’s been another tough week for the Toronto Blue Jays. Central to the Jays early season struggles is an offence that continues to perform in fits and starts. The Blue Jays offence has been limited to scoring one run three times since last Sunday (granted two of those games were started by Masahiro Tanaka and […]