My weekly opinions, observations and rants about some Canadian baseball stories (Please follow me on Twitter: @kevinglewsports):
Appearing on Jeff Blair’s FAN 590 radio show this morning, Blue Jays manager John Farrell revealed that the team has had discussions about converting uber prospect Nestor Molina into a closer. It also sounds like Brian Jeroloman will receive strong consideration for the back-up catcher’s role in 2011. Here’s a link to the audio: http://www.fan590.com/media.jsp?content=20111128_123219_8708
My now two-year-old campaign for the Jays to sign Canadian Rich Harden and convert him into a reliever continues. The Jays will need to act soon though. Recent reports have linked the hard-throwing, Victoria, B.C. native to the Colorado Rockies.
New Brunswick native and former big league all-star, Jason Dickson, is one of the more entertaining ex-athletes on Twitter. You can follow him here: @JasonDickson
Speaking of Twitter, I’m thinking of hiring a Spanish translator to decipher Carlos Delgado’s tweets. One of his tweets should be “When are the Blue Jays going to add my number to their Level of Excellence?”
For the diehard Expos fans reading this, the outspoken and charismatic Warren Cromartie has a Facebook page that he updates regularly. You can attempt to “friend” him here: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=620310851
Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia is one of the most refreshing personalities to arrive on the Toronto sports scene in a long time. He loves Toronto, he’s looked up to by teammates, he embraces his fans in person and through social media, he’s excellent with the media and he’s driven to improve. It’s impossible not to like this guy.
The New York Mets signed Surrey, B.C. native Adam Loewen last week. With Jason Bay (Trail, B.C.) already their every day left fielder, there’s a strong possibility that there could be two Canadians patrolling the outfield for the Mets at some point next season.
Sad to hear that Nick Strincevich, who spent parts of five seasons with the International League’s Toronto Maple Leafs (Triple A) in the ’40s and ’50s, passed away on November 11 at the age of 96. Born in Gary, Ind., the 6-foot-1 right-hander enjoyed his finest professional season in Toronto in 1947 when he recorded 15 wins and posted a 2.47 ERA in 35 games. He also played parts of eight seasons in the big leagues with Boston, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
maybe the jays will put Delgado up on the level of excellence after the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inducts him in the next couple of years as one of the alltime greatest Jays.
Sign, Harden, Bedard and Francis, not because they are Canadian, but because Harden and Bedard have Cy Young potential every year and Francis is a solid 180 innings a year just hitting his prime.
That would be great to see Delgado in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. He definitely deserves it. I like the idea of signing Bedard. In spurts, he’s still a dominant pitcher. I wonder if he’s better suited to be a reliever in the future.
Thanks for the comment.