It's not what you think. The Bluejays acquired two players today. One was a 32 year old, switch hitting infielder named Maicer Izturis, who will be referred to as "Maestro" in these pages from now on. The other is 25 year old pitcher Jeremy Jeffress, who is best known for being suspended twice for testing positive for "recreational" drugs, not PEDs. This was in the minor leagues, where, if you are caught a third time, the suspension is of the lifetime variety. Since he'll be on the Jays 40 man roster, his punishment for a third offense is a one year suspension, as MLB doesn't seem that concerned about guys firing up blunts and then throwing no-hitters. Marijuana is far from a performance enhancer, but it is illegal and therefore frowned upon by baseball. Jeffress was suspended for 50 games back in 2007 and then 100 games in '09. Since then he's been clean, but his numbers are nothing special. Apparently he can throw a fastball 100 miles an hour, but rarely knows where it's headed. Izturis, is a classic Punch and Judy hitter. A banjo hitter, they used to call these guys because of the sound made when the bat hits the ball. Far from a solid "thwack", the contact is such that it sounds like a banjo string being picked. Izturis is being looked at as the everyday second baseman on the Jays, which is kind of scary. The one good thing about him is his glove. In 246 major league games as a second sacker, he's committed only 10 errors. Your classic good field/no hit player. If the guy can hit 260, steal a few bases and play solid defense, he'll be an upgrade over Kelly Johnson. Pencil him in as your #9 hitter. Up next for Alex Anthopoulos: A manager. Any manager that's left will do.
What was going on with ABC's Diane Sawyer on election night? She sounded as if she had polished off a fifth of Jack Daniels before going on the air. Slurred words, slumped head, asking for music before announcing an election update. She was obviously impaired, although neither Sawyer nor ABC made any statement about her condition. It's possible that she was exhausted from covering Super Storm Sandy, but don't forget, this is not the first time that it’s been suggested Sawyer was drunk on camera. The morning after Obama’s inauguration in 2009, she appeared on Good Morning America in similar word-slurring condition. But, rather than make fun of her on Twitter (e.g. "And Diane Sawyer declares tonight's winner as....Chardonnay) let's look at the problem of alcoholism and the number of lives it affects. I don't personally know Sawyer, but I do know many, many performers, be they musicians, comedians, actors, TV personalities, who like to have a little "somethin' somethin'" before they go on stage or go before the cameras. If the ABC News producers knew that Sawyer had a problem, yet refused to yank her off the air, then they're not part of the solution at all. It's too bad because I think Sawyer is an excellent journalist who is, above all, human. Get some help, Diane. And to ABC, do something about this instead of letting her make a fool of herself.
As you know, we won't see hockey anytime soon, but what better way to relive the glory days than to own a piece of Toronto hockey history. My buddy Hersh Borenstein of Frozen Pond Collectibles is running an auction featuring artifacts from Maple Leaf Gardens. Banners, pictures, seats (even toilets seats from the Leafs dressing room) and lots of other goodies from the hockey world. Here's the link:
http://tinyurl.com/anlws2p
Finally, the Toronto Raptors look to be in some kind of trouble early on. Forget about what I wrote Monday after their win over the T-Wolves. This is a different team now that Kyle Lowry is out and Landry Fields can't shoot and Andrea Bargnani is proving to be as useless as he's ever been. You will, no doubt, point to Bargnani's 25 points last night in a LOSING cause and say he played a pretty good game. Like hell. He shot 9 of 20, but 0 for 5 from three-point land. And while he did grab 9 rebounds, it was the rebounds he MISSED that stood out. Twice in the fourth quarter, he failed to box his man out which led to easy offensive rebounds and buckets for the Mavericks. He just looks so lazy out there.
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