SIMMONS SAYS: Blue Jays need to find a way to keep Semien in the fold - Toronto Sun

Minggu, 03 Oktober 2021

SIMMONS SAYS: Blue Jays need to find a way to keep Semien in the fold - Toronto Sun

Author of the article:

Steve Simmons

The Blue Jays' Marcus Semien is having another great season. Photo by John E. Sokolowski /USA TODAY Sports

Marcus Semien loves Toronto. Loves downtown. Loves the walk to the Rogers Centre. Loves the restaurants. And loves the kind of season he has had with the Blue Jays.

What he doesn’t love? Playing second base. He views himself as a shortstop. That’s his position. In his mind, that’s his place in the big leagues.

And therein is one of the significant off-season challenges for Blue Jays. Finding a way to convince the effusive Semien to re-sign with the Jays and finding a way to keep him happy.

This would seem to have been a season for the ages from Semien, if he hadn’t done something similar just two seasons back.

Then he finished third in MVP voting in the American League. This year, likely behind Shohei Ohtani and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., he will probably finish third again for that prestigious award.

He has hit more home runs and knocked in more runs this year than ever before. But two years back in Oakland his OPS was slightly better as was his on-base percentage. And he doesn’t miss a day, need a day off, do anything other than set an example for young ball players still trying to find their way.

If the Jays needed a leadoff batter with George Springer out, Semien led off. If they needed somehow to hit second, he hit second. If they needed to give Bo Bichette a day off at shortstop, Semien took his place. All he did was produce.

Now he’s a pending free agent. The Jays can’t possibly be as imposing without him in the lineup next season. The challenge — how do you get it done?

THIS AND THAT

My biggest complaint after watching the All Or Nothing five-part documentary on last season’s Maple Leafs team, is this: I didn’t know anything more about Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and Morgan Rielly after five episodes than I did before the show. I do know more about Zach Bogosian, Jimmy Vesey, and Nick Foligno, though. But you don’t watch movies to see the bit-part actors. You watch for the Oscar winners … I still think most Leafs fans will enjoy the series but I believe way too much of the best behind the scenes action was left on the cutting room floor … Nylander scored five goals in seven games against Montreal and has a new place this year on the Leafs No. 1 power play, which should vault him near the 80-point mark for the first time in NHL career … If the Leafs are healthy when the season begins in two weeks, is there a place in the starting lineup for Wayne Simmonds? I figure Matthews will centre Marner and Nick Ritchie. John Tavares will centre Nylander and Michael Bunting or Alex Kerfoot. David Kampf will centre Ondrej Kase and Ilya Mikheyev on the third line and Adam Brooks ends up with Jason Spezza and either Bunting or Kerfoot. So where does Simmonds fit? … The Leafs signed coach Sheldon Keefe to a contract extension in the summer. The reason they didn’t announce it right away was because they needed to let the loss to Montreal fade a little. In fact, had Pierre LeBrun not broken the news on TSN, they probably wouldn’t have announced it all … The Leafs adore Mikheyev’s talents. They like his size, his speed, his defensive works, his penalty killing, his effort level. What they’d like to fix is his confidence. If they can get him scoring, what a complete player Mikheyev would be … Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong has officially informed his first three players of Olympic participation as per the IIHF rules: They are, not surprisingly, Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid and maybe just slightly surprising, defenceman Alex Pietrangelo. I thought his third choice might have gone to Carey Price.

HEAR AND THERE

The tendency is to think New York is bigger than the rest of the world — but consider this: The Yankees had one of their largest TV audiences the other night — just more than 500,000 people watching on YES. And, yet, that’s 900,000 less than the Blue Jays had from across Canada watching the team play the Yanks on Rogers Sportsnet on Thursday night … I can talk myself into why Ohtani should be the MVP in the American League and I can talk myself into why Guerrero Jr. should win. It reminds me of one of the college debates where you were asked to pick a side and then debate. Both players are deserving for completely different reasons and the voting should be fascinating … I do wonder, with 28 of 30 Cy Young voters from the United States, if that will impede Robbie Ray’s Cy Young candidacy in any way? It shouldn’t, but I wonder … Just because, wouldn’t it have been neat numerically had Steven Matz finished the season with 13 wins? … The Jays have a team right now that can win a World Series, even though they gave up 18 runs in three games to the Yankees. With a rotation of Ray, Jose Berrios, Alek Manoah, and Hyun-jin Ryu, and just in case, Matz, they could give any team trouble in a short series. Makes you wonder how they can get better next year without Ray or Semien … Bo Bichette began the season as a struggling shortstop with a strong bat and ends it as a difference-maker, offensively and defensively … After 52 years of playing and broadcasting the game, Sunday is the last broadcast for the former Expo, Ken Singleton. He played the game at a very high level and broadcast it just as well.

SCENE AND HEARD

Wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see Perry Minasian, the former Blue Jays’ exec, take a run at Semien or Ray in the off-season. Minasian is the first-year general manager of the Los Angeles Angels and there is pressure already on him to surround Ohtani and Mike Trout with the talent to turn the club into contenders … The 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds, the Big Red Machine, are considered one of the great offensive teams in modern baseball history. George Foster hit the most home runs with 29 in those World Series-winning years, followed by Johnny Bench at 28 and Joe Morgan with 27. The Blue Jays head into the final weekend of the regular season with Guerrero Jr. having 47 home runs, Semien 44, Teoscar Hernandez 32, and four players with 100-plus RBIs. You don’t see baseball teams with 120 home runs from their first baseman, second baseman and shortstop. You just don’t … The biggest surprise of Raptors Media Day: Goran Dragic. He knows he’d like to be traded. The Raptors would probably like to trade him. But the old guy was pure professional on opening day. For as long as he’s going to be here, he will matter … Another reason to wish this Jays season had turned out differently: They lead all of baseball in wins vs. teams over .500. They have 21 more wins against winning teams than the Central Division champion Chicago White Sox … This is odd: They don’t have Halladay jerseys for sale in the Blue Jays shop at Rogers Centre … This from Peter Vecsey on Twitter: “I’m betting Ben Simmons isn’t vaccinated; he definitely wouldn’t take the shot.”

AND ANOTHER THING

Not enough was said about the recent passing of broadcast giant Allan Slaight and the role he played as the voice of reason in the early years of the Toronto Raptors. Slaight was the kind of sound partner John Bitove needed in those days, even when they didn’t get along. And, back then, it was no sure thing the Raptors would or could continue in Toronto … Will all those who don’t have their own podcasts please put up their hands? … What a night for Joe Bowen, hockey dad, at the Leafs’ annual Blue and White game. He got to work alongside his son, Sean, on-air for the very first time. You normally find Sean doing in-stadium hosting at Argo games. He made a fine debut on two networks showing the Leafs game Friday night … I started playing Pickleball about a month ago. I have since been injured twice. I believe my Pickleball career, if there ever was one, is now over … This is strange: Now that single-game wagering is allowed in Canada, can anyone explain why you can bet single games online with Pro Line but you can’t bet them from the local corner store? … The Seattle Mariners are in a playoff race without Ichiro, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr. or Randy Johnson. Honest, do you know anyone who could name the Mariners’ starting lineup? … Canadians Joey Votto and Tyler O’Neill should be listed on a whole lot of National League MVP ballots. They won’t win — maybe Bryce Harper will — but both are in the top five in OPS in the NL … You don’t let people the quality of Scott MacArthur go. You build around them. You pair them with the right people. He’s a brave, honest, historical foundation piece — and now he’s looking for work because Rogers (FAN590) has let him go from their morning show … Money isn’t everything: The Blue Jays paid just $4.1 million this season for Guerrero, Bichette, Jordan Romano, Tim Mayza, Manoah, Danny Jansen, and Alejandro Kirk. That could be close to $100 million in the future … Manoah started 20 games as a rookie for the Jays: Toronto won 16 of them … Happy birthday to Glenn Hall (90), Jean Ratelle (81), George Reed (82), Frederik Andersen (32), Glenn Anderson (61), Fred Couples (62), Dave Winfield (70), Dennis Eckersley (67), Mike Johnson (47), Seth Jones (27), Phil Kessel (34), Mike Schad (58), Mark Rypien (59), Pat Flatley (58), and Junior Felix (54) … And, hey, whatever became of Frank Tanana?

ssimmons@postmedia.com
twitter.com/simmonssteve

—
At a time when we’re not sure what boxing is anymore, Manny Pacquiao was more than just a fighter’s fighter.

He ducked no one at 5-foot-5 in height. If he waited for a fight, it was only because his opponent, like Floyd Mayweather Jr. for example, wanted to find the opportune time to box him rather than get in the ring when it was good for both of them.

Pacquiao was the little giant of professional boxing, fighting Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya, fighting Juan Manuel Marquez four times and having several bouts with Tim Bradley and Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera and single fights with legends such as Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto. His resume isn’t a page or two long, it’s a book of non-fiction.

Pacquiao fought 72 times as a professional, in eight different classes, winning 12 titles in all. As a teenager, he started in the flyweight division By the time he got into his 40s, he was fighting as a light-middleweight. He won championships in four of the original eight weight classes of boxing. And, now, he has retired.

There is really no one to take his place as a world boxing figure. His 26 career pay-per-view fights have generated $1.29 billion U.S., which for an undersized fighter seems beyond impossible. In a sport we don’t tune in to all that often anymore, we will miss Manny Pacquiao in the ring. Pacquiao’s next bout will be an election for president of the Philippines. That’s scheduled for May of 2022.

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Why does there have to be some kind of conclusion to the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady relationship?

Why does there have to be a winner in the greatest coach-quarterback relationship in professional sports history?

Why can’t we just take a step back and realize what happened with the New England Patriots, with Belichick, with Brady, with a rotating cast of roster players, won’t happen again? It was a once-in-a-lifetime relationship between an unlikely coach and at the beginning an unlikely quarterback.

Brady would not have developed into the greatest winner of all time — may be the greatest quarterback — if it wasn’t for Belichick.

Belichick wouldn’t have that collection of Super Bowl rings without Brady. Like a great marriage or terrific partnership, one made the other better. And the combination of their personalities — both of them were win at all cost and to hell with what anybody else thought — worked perfectly as their careers built to a crescendo.

Brady has one Super Bowl ring that Belichick doesn’t have and one isn’t necessarily a reflection of life without the other. Does that give him one-up on his former coach? I’m not sure it does, just as I’m not sure that Sunday’s much-heralded game between Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Belichick’s Patriots has any more meaning than any other football game played this season.

More talk, yes. More drama, maybe. More meaning, not necessarily.

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2021-10-03 12:08:17Z
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Minggu, 03 Oktober 2021