Rosenthal: Jay need more character (vets)

[dagger]

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/toro ... use-092512

Those types of conversations take place in major-league clubhouses every single day; it is how young players learn how to carry themselves, learn the intricacies of their crafts. The Jays are short on veterans who provide such direction, and it’s a problem.

Bautista should be the model, but he spent the first two months bickering with umpires, setting the wrong example. A free agent such as Torii Hunter would be perfect if he does not re-sign with the Angels. Someone like Josh Willingham also would make sense, not that the Twins are interested in trading him. The truth is, few players qualify as leaders. But when Anthopoulos goes shopping this winter, he should factor intangibles into the equation.

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Some might ask, “Wait, isn’t it the manager’s job to lead?” Yes, but there is only so much a manager can do. The Jays’ John Farrell isn’t a baby-sitter; he shouldn’t need to walk from player to player, inspecting their eye black. The best teams police themselves — and if the Jays want Farrell to sign an extension beyond next season, Anthopoulos should be doubly motivated to clean up the Jays’ act.

[Mattd97]

that and some relievers

[Gibby]

Off topic a bit but this blue jays team has got to be the most whiniest bunch I've ever seen when it comes to strikes and balls. Escobar, Bautistia, EE, Lawrie are all hilarious when a borderline strike is called

[Mattd97]

Off topic a bit but this blue jays team has got to be the most whiniest bunch I've ever seen when it comes to strikes and balls. Escobar, Bautistia, EE, Lawrie are all hilarious when a borderline strike is called

ive never seen lawrie react to a ball/strike call.

[MikeM]

Lawrie reacts every time lol. One time he just turned around and screamed the F word as loud as he could. I laughed pretty hard.

He doesn't yell at the umps anymore though. But he does react.

[satyr9]

I don't agree with the premise that the team just needs vets. And **** me if anyone thinks Torii Hunter is anyone's idea of a positive veteran leader. I think when Jose's healthy and playing everyday and Ricky's not the worst pitcher in Baseball the Jays're decently covered. It could be better, but no one was complaining about discipline problems or Veteran leadership in June.

I'm not against getting veteran character, but actual character rather than just a guy with experience. I flirt with the idea of eating a large chunk of Utley's salary for the presence he'd bring. It'd also give them a reason to keep Yunel and Hech around for another year 'cause Chase will get hurt, but keep him in the clubhouse at all times. I'm not positive that's a great solution, it's certainly a costly one, but he'd be a guy who I think could do a reasonable mentoring job for guys like Lawrie. I'm sure there are other good examples, but he's the one I think of who has an all-star career to back up anything that goes on in the clubhouse, is gettable for pretty much only money, solves a positional issue (well fingers crossed about that anyway), and has the kind of general make-up I could see appealing to our uber douche types (not a slag on Chase).

[Mattd97]

Lawrie reacts every time lol. One time he just turned around and screamed the F word as loud as he could. I laughed pretty hard.

He doesn't yell at the umps anymore though. But he does react.

i gotta disagree. the worst ive ever seen him was the one time, when quietly and respectfully walking back to the bench after a called strike 3, he mishandled his helmet. we all know what happened next; as it accidentally fumbled out of his hand, a gust of wind directed it straight at the umpire, where it just barely whisked past his body. then the espn talking heads jumped on it as if Lawrie did something wrong. thats the only reason you think lawrie sometimes argues calls.




.... i should probably get some sleep.......

[s e n s i]

Off topic a bit but this blue jays team has got to be the most whiniest bunch I've ever seen when it comes to strikes and balls. Escobar, Bautistia, EE, Lawrie are all hilarious when a borderline strike is called

ive never seen lawrie react to a ball/strike call.

i guess you missed this game then



followed by the most violent reaction of any blue jay this season.

[BigLeagueChew]

Obivously nobody has watched a game lately because they haven't been doing that as much as the first of the season.

[Mattd97]

Off topic a bit but this blue jays team has got to be the most whiniest bunch I've ever seen when it comes to strikes and balls. Escobar, Bautistia, EE, Lawrie are all hilarious when a borderline strike is called

ive never seen lawrie react to a ball/strike call.

i guess you missed this game then



followed by the most violent reaction of any blue jay this season.

i didnt figure i needed green font in saying that lawrie has never argued balls and strikes, but i guess i expected too much

[MikeM]

Well I didn't think you'd be sarcastic while agreeing with someone. Who does that? It's absurd.

[s e n s i]

i didnt figure i needed green font in saying that lawrie has never argued balls and strikes, but i guess i expected too much

ya i guess so man. apologies for not getting your supposedly obvious sarcasm, even though i don't think lawrie is that bad overall when it comes to balls/strikes.

[Mattd97]

apologies for not getting your supposedly obvious sarcasm, even though i don't think lawrie is that bad when it comes to balls/strikes

i blame no one but myself, ive been working on something and have reached that moment where you start to lose it. and in all honesty hes cooled down a lot since then, so i agree with you.

[dballislife]

lets get some pitchers that can pitch and some hitters that can hit before we worry about character

[Randle McMurphy]

lets get some pitchers that can pitch and some hitters that can hit before we worry about character

Someone should let Colangelo know about this strategy for his basketball team.

[satyr9]

lets get some pitchers that can pitch and some hitters that can hit before we worry about character

Someone should let Colangelo know about this strategy for his basketball team.

People have tried, but he also doesn't know about starch yet so he has string connecting his collar to earplugs to help keep him stylish.

That's also why he likes Bargnani so much. It's an easy word to lip read when he's doing interviews.

[Avenger]

Can we please impose a moratorium on posting articles written by Kenny Rosenthal, JP Morosi, Jon Heyman and Cathal Kelly ?

[TheBunk]

Nothing brings out the vultures, I mean sportswriters, quite like a team decimated by injuries.

All of these remedies recommended by **** writers, are fool's gold.

The team needs to get healthy and make moves that they feel to be beneficial to the team, regardless of goofy rigid guidelines like adding multiple veterans for the sake of adding multiple veterans.

[TheBunk]

Nothing brings out the vultures, I mean sportswriters, quite like a team decimated by injuries.

All of these remedies recommended by **** writers, are fool's gold.

The team needs to get healthy and make moves that they feel to be beneficial to the team, regardless of goofy rigid guidelines like adding multiple veterans for the sake of adding multiple veterans.

[J-Roc]

I actually liked seeing the Jays hitters react like they were pissed off. Romero, too. It's on them to not let it affect their game. And you have to know when/how to draw the line. But as a fan, I felt going into this season like the players actually had expectations.