A followup...

Something Canucks fans have been wishing for for a long time...

Anyone bitching about that contract extension these days?

Doc

Well, Roy Halladay is gone.

It had been a foregone conclusion for some time now. Roy had, on two prior occasions, signed discounted deals to stay with the Jays, and what with him turning 33 next year and the Jays being nowhere close to the playoffs (again,) it was clear he wasn't going to do it again. Halladay wants a chance to win something while he's on top of his game.

Alex Anthopolous did well for himself, trading Halladay's 2010 season to Philadelphia for some quality prospects, but it still hurts. Since Delgado left, Halladay has been virtually my only reason for tuning into Jays games. I would literally build my schedule around his starts. Go to the gym today? Maybe, who's starting? Tallet...okay, gym it is. Halladay? Screw the gym, I'm staying home and watching the doctor operate.

I cannot predict how my Blue Jays fandom will fare next year. It seemed every year I found myself becoming less a Jays fan and more a Halladay fan. With the team slashing payroll left and right this off-season, it looks to be a woeful season next year for Toronto. Not only have they lost Doc, but they have made several "additions" that just say "we're not trying." John Buck, Alex Gonzalez, and Joey Gathright? Alright, 100 losses, here we come!

The pitching is somewhat exciting for next year, with a lot of young (cheap) starters. I am interested in seeing what we'll get from Ricky Romero, Mark Rzepczynski, and Brett Cecil. I do wonder how Jesse Litsch, Shaun Marcum and (maybe even) Dustin McGowan recover from their injuries. But without Halladay -- I just don't know.

We will never again have another guy like him. It was such a treat watching a starter who had a chance at a complete game almost every time out. A starter that worked so quickly I sometimes would go to the washroom and miss his entire inning. As much as I'm excited about Romero, Cecil et al, none of them will ever be Roy Halladay.

Maybe I'll just buy MLB.tv and follow the Phillies...

Random Canuck Thought of the Day.

Since plucking him off waivers from the Laffs, I've considered myself a fan of Kyle Wellwood's. I always defended him, always enjoyed watching him play, and even thought the pool-side photo was unfair (Hard to do squats every day with a broken leg.) With all that said, his statistics this year mystify me. I mean they are baffling. How the hell can a player with his talent and smarts, who gets a decent amount of icetime (18:09 last game!) ... have 1 point in 16 games?

Because that's what we're looking at now. He's played 16 games, has 0 goals and 1 assist. He averages about 14 minutes a game, including 2 minutes per game on the powerplay, and hasn't scored in 16 games. I can't even explain how that is possible. Darcy Hordichuk is outscoring him at this point. The only other forward who has played 16 games without a goal is Ryan Johnson, and Johnson wouldn't see PP time if he was the sole survivor of a plane crash.

Baffling.

40-HR Kings

Chris Jaffe over at the hardball times has been posting some cool lists lately. The theme: "when was the last time a franchise had a player who...."

He has tackled "won 20 games" and "had 200 hits." I, of course, wondered about home runs. So I am going to completely rip him off and post the list for 40 home run guys. So, for all 30 MLB franchises, when was the last time each one had a player hit 40 ding-dongs in a season?

I will cluster them into 3 sections...

Section 1: The Recent Years:

PHI Howard    2008
MIL Fielder   2007
CIN Dunn      2007
TBD Pena      2007
NYY A-Rod     2007
NYM Beltran   2007
HOU Berkman   2006
CHW Dye/Thome 2006
CLE Hafner    2006
ATL Andruw    2006
BOS Ortiz     2006
WSN Soriano   2006
STL Pujols    2006
CHC Lee       2005
TEX Teixeira  2005
LAD Beltre    2005

Some notes:

* Pujols is sitting on 39 right now. So St. Louis will soon be on top at 2009.

* Pena's season in 2007 was the first 40 HR season in Tampa. He could possibly make it again this year as he is at 31.

* Adam Dunn has hit exactly 40 homers four years in a row. With 31, he is basically on track to do it again this year. Rooting for him.

* Chicago, Texas, and LAD are going to drop off the 5-year window as no one is close.



Section 2: A Little While Ago:

SFG Bonds    2004
TOR Delgado  2003
LAA Glaus    2001 
ARI LuGo     2001 
COL Helton   2001
SDP Nevin    2001
OAK Giambi   2000
SEA A-Rod    2000

Some notes:

* Troy Glaus hit 47 dongs in 2000 and 41 in 2001. Nobody else has done it for the Angels. Their leader this year is Morales with 27. But, they're leading the AL in runs, so I doubt they care.

* Luis Gonzalez's season is the only one in Arizona history, but Mark Reynolds has 38 this year, so should make two.

* San Diego may also see their spell end, A-Gone is at 33.

* Coors, where art thou? Crazy that nobody has hit 40 homers for the Rockies in the past seven seasons, and this year will be 8 as their leader is Tulo with 23. Damn that humidor.



Section 3: Official Droughts:

BAL Raffy    1998
FLA Sheff    1996
DET Fielder  1991
PIT Stargell 1973
MIN Killer   1970 
KCR No-one!  ----

Some notes:

* Matt Wieters hasn't quite challenged this yet.

* Yep, Barry Bonds never hit 40 for Pittsburgh. He hit 46 the year after he left though, so there's that. Brian Giles hit 39 in 99, and 38 in 2002. Bay hit 35 in 2006.

* Kansas City and Pittsburgh you expect to see at the bottom of every list, but what's Minnesota doing there? But yep, known to prefer the speedy slap hitters, they live up to that reputation on this list. Roy Sievers hit 42 dingers for the team in 1957 (when they were in Washington, of course,) and Harmon Killebrew did it 8 times for the Twins, from 1959 to 1970. Since Killer, though? Nothing even close. Justin Morneau hit 34 in 2006 and has 28 this year. In fact, the Twins only have nine 30-HR seasons since 1970.

* And finally we have the Royals. In existence since 1969 and zero 40-HR seasons. Zilch. Nada. Their leader is Steve Balboni with 36 in 1985. I knew this, of course, from reading a lot of Joe Posnanski, but I still find it amazing. You'd think you could get one guy that could fluke his way to a 40 dinger year. Or hell, even a 39 or 38 homer year. That nobody has even been close in 40 years is astonishing to me. Mike Jacobs is their team leader this season. He has 16. Sixteen! In their history, they have ten 30 HR seasons, and only Danny Tartabull has managed that feat twice for the Royals. Boy, I hope Billy Butler works out for them . . .

Are the characters on 24 the stupidest people ever?

Okay, let's see.

There is an imminent terrorist attack.

It is in Washington, DC.

What do YOU think the target is?

New site

I have set up a new website for hockey statistics.

The data is from the hockey-databank yahoo group. You can use my tool to query the statistics and generate custom reports on hockey statistics.

Here is the URL: http://www.hockeyhunter.com