8/9/07

Hi sports fans..



I wanted to write a quick note to let the readers know that I am still alive. I have had a lot of personal business to attend to, however, I have still been paying attention to our beloved Chiefs.



It seems as though Toronto is in the process of cutting dead weight, releasing guys like Royce Clayton and Jason Phillips, while picking up Hector Luna. They also reclaimed Curtis Thigpen and Ray Olmedo from the Chiefs, giving us Howie Clark back, as well as Sergio Santos from New Hampshire.



I hate seeing Clark sent down. The effort he shows alone trumps pretty much any player I have ever seen, both pregame and during the game. As for Santos, unfortunately he has been a bust since coming to the Toronto organization. He is the only guy I have seen to have a 20+ game hitting streak and in that same season not go over .250 or so. He showed strokes of power in New Hampshire, but as per usual, has cooled off the second half of the season.



As for Thigpen and Olmedo, they deserve the call ups. When healthly, Olmedo was easily the team MVP this year for the Chiefs. While I think Thigpen needs to be learning catcher by playing everyday, he performed well in Toronto and its nice to see it get rewarded again. The call up of Robinzon Diaz was something I was looking forward to. This guy has an amazing arm and can swing the bat great. My prediction is that within the next two or three years, you will see Diaz starting at catcher and Thigpen starting at first in Toronto.



As for pitching, I was shocked to see Mark Redman get signed to a minor league deal. The disappointing transaction was the release of Mike Venafro. He pitched quite well his last 15 appearances or so and deserved to stay on the team.


Looking at the roster, I just have so much trouble understanding how this team cannot perform well together consistently. The main flaw I see is outfielding. There have been a lot of game changing plays that have occurred in the outfield this year. Let's look at the five outfielders who are on the roster now:

Wayne Lydon- He gets the most play time and for good reason. He is the only outfielder who can handle center field on a long term basis. He still has trouble judging balls at times, but has improved fielding wise. He still needs to make quicker decisions and work on his arm, but I am impressed by his improvement.

Chad Mottola- He has been hit or miss all season. He has made some good throws this year, but that being said..he has lost too many balls this year in right field and even though he looks great speed-wise on the base pads, his age is starting to show a bit when he is in right field. I would love to see Chad back next year, but I would rather him be at first base or DH.

John Ford Griffin- I actually think he is the second most consistent outfielder on the Chiefs. While he has shown to only be capable to play left and right fields, he is showing good hustle the majority of the time. He seemed gun shy at first (after the injury that the cement turf helped cause him to end his 2006 season) but looks much more comfortable now.

Mike Vento- He looked great at the beginning of the year, but sometimes I am wondering if he is still having affects from the calf injury he sustained early on. He has been very slow in left and right field and has been having trouble handling the ball when it gets into the corner. Unfortunately, knowing Toronto's way of thinking, we will probably not get to see how a totally healthy Vento can play in the field. This is in addition to reports that Vento is unhappy with his current role (DH half the time) and I am doubting he will want to resign with the Blue Jays system.

Adam Lind- Quite frankly, I think this project has failed. Toronto wanted him to become an outfielder. From the looks of it, he is still far away from being an average one. The bit we have seen him in Syracuse consisted of at least two easy fly balls he lost in the sky, attempts to run at balls that flop right out of his glove, and another head injury. I will give credit, the injury was caused by hustle and a dive for a ball. Unfortunately, the cement turf has claimed another left field victim. The problem i have is that Lind doesn't seem to take the games seriously. He loses a ball in the sky then laughs about it. But I can go on about Lind. If anyone has read the Syracuse Chiefs interview with Chad Mottola, you will see a lot of similarities between how Chad describes himself when he was a prospect and how Lind acts now.


So basically, after the release of Jeff Duncan, the Chiefs were left with one speedy outfielder and four guys with average to below average speed. This has not bode well for the team. Spot starts by guys like Ryan Roberts have not been overly successful either. Roberts has speed to get to balls, however lacks the strong arm needed to be a consistent outfielder.

Anyways, my predictions for the outfield?

-Lydon will be resigned and start in Syracuse next year.
-Griffin will be in Syracuse next year. (pending Riccardi stays in Toronto)
-Vento will not be resigned.
-Lind will stay in Toronto organization, my guess is starting off the year in Syracuse.
-Mottola is a tough one. I think Toronto asks him to DH or play first in Syracuse and I am unsure if he would resign in this situation.

So that's my take. I will cover the infield and pitchers sometime soon.