In a dramatic turn of events today, Jordan Bastian tweets that the Blue Jays have pulled out - read: were never in - the Carlos Delgado sweepstakes. Bastian has it from a major league source that he does not fit into the Jays' plans, unsurprisingly. Since Bastian is a Blue Jays beat writer we can suppose that the major league source is from the Jays organization and can be taken with pretty good authority. So what does this mean?
- The Jays are not going to pay for something they can get for free. Read: they aren't stupid.
- They don't think nostalgia will sell tickets. I would not expect a boost in ticket sales would match what Delgado will make next year anyways but it seems that the Jays executives wouldn't expect Delgado fans to become repeat customers.
- The Jays don't see a position for him. Does this mean that they like Ruiz at DH or that they don't feel Lind can play in left field full time? Probably more of the latter.
Sounds good to me! There is a glut of players at the 1B position anyway (Overbay, Ruiz, Dopriak), so no need to toss Delgado onto that pile.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The only justification, in my mind, to bringing in a veteran hitter is the assumption that he's going to assume some of the leadership and mentoring role that seems to be unfilled on the Jays. Delgado is the wrong guy for that, though, as JW has outlined here.
ReplyDeleteBeyond those reasons, I always felt that one of the major weaknesses suffered by the Jays during the Delgado years was a lack of leadership. He's a great player on the field, but I will always question his ability to command respect in the clubhouse.
I'm surprised they wouldn't think nostalgia would sell tickets... I think a lot of the fans seem to be an older audience (fans who can remember the early '90s and their success). May I suggest a post on Alomar and his sportsmanship problems/AIDS allegations? (I don't know if it is off the scope of this blog, but I think it would be super interesting).
ReplyDelete