Simmons Says: What do Jays do with Brett Cecil?
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What to do with Brett Cecil is next on the Blue Jays agenda of internal decision making.
He isn’t the Cecil of a year ago. He’s not even close to that unhittable pitcher.
Cecil started the season terribly, got injured and missed six weeks in the process. The Jays hoped upon his return that they would find a pitcher somewhere between the troubled reliever of the early season and the overwhelming lefty of a year ago.
Now they can’t be certain what they have.
Cecil has made six appearances since coming back. He has pitched one clean inning. His earned run average this month is 6.23. And this has been his worse month.
With Aaron Sanchez remaining in the starting rotation for now and Cecil no longer dependable, the pressure shifts to president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins to fortify the bullpen. Or in the case of manager John Gibbons, to establish roles for seventh and eighth inning relievers that don’t necessarily include Cecil.
Cecil can still get it back: He has proven that in the past. But right now, the longest-serving Blue Jay can’t be trusted in game-on-the-line situations.
THIS AND THAT
Two words on Edwin Encarnacion: Sign him. Three more words: Sign him now. I’m figuring three years at $63 million, with a club option for a fourth year, should get it done ... A thought on the Justin Smoak contract extension: Smoak is the least valuable starting player on the Jays roster. Why the rush to extend him? ... Word around was the Leafs made an offer to defenceman Kris Russell. Turns out, word around was wrong. No offer was ever made. In fact, the Leafs have no interest at all in the free agent ... You win NBA championships when you have LeBron James, Steph Curry, Tim Duncan or Kobe Bryant. You hope to compete for an NBA championship when you have DeMar DeRozan ... Cory Joseph deserved a trip to the Olympics for all he did for Team Canada in the qualifying tournament. Too many of his friends let him and the country down by deciding not to show up for the event in Manila ... Home run derby champ Giancarlo Stanton looks like he should be playing linebacker for somebody in the NFL ... Offensive lines are like referees and umpires: You only notice them when they’re lousy. And we’ve been noticing the Argos offensive line far too much this season ... The consternation over the Auston Matthews’ contract negotiations needs to end. A deal will get done. With bonuses or without. The Lou Lamoriello way. His team. His term. His rules ... One view from Maple Leaf Sports: Better to find out now that Steven Stamkos doesn’t want to play in Toronto now than to find out later ... The sale of the UFC for $4 billion confirms one thing I’ve believed for a while: UFC fighters are most underpaid athletes in sport and if the company is worth that much money, they’re getting financially screwed in the process.
HEAR AND THERE
Marcus Stroman isn’t the worst starting pitcher in the American League right now, but he’s close. That list would include New York’s Michael Pineda, Minnesota’s Ricky Nolasco, Tampa’s Drew Smyly, Jered Weaver of the Angels. All have earned run average’s higher than Stroman’s 5.15 ... What was completely out of character Friday night: Stroman gave up three home runs to the not very powerful Oakland A’s. And he’s not a guy who gives up home runs. He’s 30th in the American League in HRs relinquished and was actually 47th before the game in Oakland ... This is the second season in a row in which Marco Estrada leads the AL in BABIP (the sabermetric measure that calculates batting average on balls in play). His numbers in this category are better than the best pitchers in baseball including Clayton Kershaw, Madison Bumgarner, Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer ... The new math: Four Tenors minus one Tenor equals Three Tenors ... The notion that ball hockey wasn’t allowed on certain neighbourhood streets in Toronto is almost anti-Canadian. The fact that a bylaw had to changed to allow, the fact there was even such a bylaw, borders on the asinine. “Car!” ... If you didn’t see TSN’s feature on Emanuel Davis on Friday Night Football, go find it. You’ll thank me later. And sorry about the tears.
SCENE AND HEARD
I was offended to learn that my $75 seat at BMO Field will cost $599 for the Grey Cup. I was even more offended to learn after the fact that there is an $18 service charge on that seat, which would bring the actual Grey Cup price to $617 ... The book on Jared Sullinger is big talent, difficult guy. Some have deemed him uncoachable. Many have said he can’t get his weight down. This is the latest test case for coach Dwane Casey ... Shocked, I mean shocked, to hear that Brock Lesnar may have tested positive for a performance enhancing drug. Like he never looked the part? ... All that has happened to the Miami Heat since losing to the Raptors: Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng and Joe Johnson have taken their talents away from South Beach ... K.C. catcher Salvador Perez has been to three major league all-star games. Each was a going away party: One for David Ortiz. One for Derek Jeter. One for Mariano Rivera ... The best part of the all-star game: The player reception for Ortiz when manager Ned Yost removed him from the game ... There’s a reason Jamie Benn got paid more money than Stamkos got in Tampa. For the past two seasons, he has been the better, more impactful player ... The suspicion here: The Florida Panthers will expose 38-year-old Roberto Luongo in the expansion draft next June. Odds are Las Vegas will pass on Bobby Lou ... The NHL rules are not out yet, but there’s a belief the Leafs won’t have to protect Nathan Horton in the expansion draft, even though it’s expected players with no movement clauses must be protected. The thought is that long-term injured players won’t factor in the draft either way. They can’t be chosen, won’t have to be protected. Leafs won’t leave much available in expansion draft: Maybe Peter Holland.
AND ANOTHER THING
I remember George Chuvalo as Canadian heavyweight boxing champion. And he was followed in no particular order by Trevor Berbick, Willie deWit, Razor Ruddock. All household names. The Canadian champion today: Neven Pajkik. Not a household name in his own home ... We will miss Luis Scola, those of us who write and broadcast for a living. He was daily context with the Raptors, an understanding and an explanation of everything and anything that went on. Maybe he wasn’t much of a player anymore, but he was a great interview ... Over the past five Summer Olympics, Canada has won only five track and field medals: The prediction here, Canadians will win at least five track medals, probably more, in Rio. By the way, at the boycotted 1984 Games in Los Angeles, Canada won just five medals in athletics (two of them with relay teams that included Andrew Wiggins’ mom, Marita Payne) ... Just how many days, hours, years, were wasted talking about Deflategate and the truly stupid Tom Brady suspension ... Ex-Jays catcher Yan Gomes is having a rather dreadful season in Cleveland with a very good Indians team: He’s hitting .163 ... A question for someone with more background: I know she’s a kid, but is Brooke Henderson playing too much golf? ... Happy birthday to Bryan Trottier (60), Connie Hawkins (74), Ryan Miller (36) Adam Lind (33), Troy Ross (41), Scott Norwood (56), Daryle Lamonica (75) and Eric Moulds (43) ... And hey, whatever became of Shea Hillenbrand?
BELTRAN WOULD BE GOOD FIT FOR JAYS
Carlos Beltran had a chance to be a Blue Jay about five years ago and said thanks, but no thanks.
The Jays had offered him more money in free agency than any other team in baseball. Beltran took less and signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. He was a kid of 34 at the time.
Now trade deadline approaches and there are more than whispers that the Jays have interest in the now-39-year-old Beltran. And they should have interest.
Beltran can still belt the baseball. He has a .298 batting average with the Yankees, has hit 19 home runs with 58 RBI and an OPS of .883. Imagine the switch hitter in an order somewhere between Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion.
Beltran would give the Jays two things immediately: 1) A top of the lineup unmatched in baseball.
2) Right field insurance in case Jose Bautista doesn’t return to form and can’t play the outfield. If you remove Justin Smoak from the starting lineup, put Encarnacion at first base, you have a choice in right field between Bautista and Beltran, one playing, one being a DH, neither being terrific fielders anymore.
If the prospect cost isn’t overwhelming for Beltran — and why should it be for a 39-year-old free agent — this is something the Jays need to look at seriously.
RIO WITHDRAWLS DON’T MEAN MUCH
I have yet to hear of a sprinter, swimmer, high jumper, rower, gymnast or wrestler who have pulled out of the Rio Olympics because of the medical and safety concerns surrounding the 2016 Summer Games. Not that the medical and safety concerns aren’t real and a little more than frightening.
The reason they haven’t pulled out: This is the largest event in their sporting world on their sporting calendar. Being Olympic champion matters most to them.
It doesn’t matter most to Milos Raonic, the Canadian who lost the Wimbledon final. Wimbledon and the U.S. Open are the big prizes in tennis. Much as he would have been a medal contender had he gone to Rio — and for Canada, that’s a shame — but Olympic tennis is a nice afterthought. It isn’t the big stage for that sport.
It’s even worse in golf — which shouldn’t be in the Olympics to begin with — when the big four, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Justin Day all pull out of Rio for a variety of reasons, including the possibility of contacting the Zika virus.
Millionaire golfers can afford to make this kind of decision. What does it matter if they don’t go? They haven’t trained four years for one big race. A golf gold medal in Rio would hardly be akin to winning the Masters or the British Open.
There are many reasons to worry about the Rio Games, almost all of them well-documented. But when millionaire golfers and tennis players decline, look the other way. It’s more a reflection of their fortuitous status than it is about the dangers of Brazil.
COMPARING SUBBAN TO KESSEL
One hockey executive compares the trading of P.K. Subban in Montreal to the Maple Leafs move of Phil Kessel one year earlier.
“There’s no question about the talent of the player in either case, but that’s not really the question here,” the NHL front office exec said. “The question is about the fit. Does that player fit in with your team? Does he make your team better? Does he make others better? Do you trust him, do the players trust him?
“You look at what happened to Kessel in Pittsburgh. He was a perfect fit with that team. He turned out to be a great player for the Penguins. And you look at Subban in Montreal. If seven or eight players don’t believe in him and maybe management and coaches don’t believe in him, it’s no longer a question of how talented he is. It’s a question of, how do you make your team better? Montreal decided it had to move Subban to make the team better and that was a decision made on a number of levels. The same was true in Toronto. Leafs decided they didn’t want Kessel around to be part of the rebuild.
“Sometimes you have to make deals like these for the good of the whole group.”
Kessel went on to win the Stanley Cup in his first season in Pittsburgh. Next question: Will Subban do the same in Nashville?
