Axford script may include Jays role
The Blue Jays have been mentioned prominently in terms of signing freeagent reliever John Axford over the past few days. There are three factors that make sense for the native of Port Dover, Ont.
In no particular order: There’s the fact that the Jays’ ninth-inning job is wide open. There’s the family issue — with his two young children, 3 and 2, living in Ancaster, Ont., he can give his family some stability after four home cities in two seasons. Then maybe there’s TIFF — the tiebreaker.
Axford, who will be 32 years old by opening day, was one of many Canadian major leaguers at the Baseball Canada awards banquet on Saturday at the downtown Renaissance hotel overlooking the field at the Rogers Centre. Many of those in the room have already been locked up by the Blue Jays for 2015 — including Russell Martin, Jeff Francis, Dalton Pompey and Andrew Albers. Spring training for Jays pitchers and catchers is just 43 days away, and Axford must make a decision soon.
“Living and growing up not too far away from Toronto — Port Dover, Ont. — I lived just under two hours away,” Axford said of the proximity factor. “Growing up a Blue Jays fan, that would be a big deal for me, definitely. I still live close to Toronto, about 45 minutes away in the off-season, still close to home. So, yeah, it would definitely be big for me, but I’m not going to shut out any team.”
Then there’s the battle for the closer’s role. Axford broke through in his second full season, 2011, with the Brewers, who signed him as an unwanted free agent — a day after a workout at Mississauga’s Baseball Zone with 15-year-old Pat Griffin, my son, catching his final bullpen before Milwaukee scout Jay Lapp inked him. Then Axford was 2-2 with a 1.95 ERA and league-leading 46 saves, earning ninth in 2011 Cy Young balloting.
It’s been a roller-coaster since. “Certainly, that would be fantastic,” Axford said of ever closing again. “It’s still something that I definitely want to do. I had those issues in 2012, but the Brewers really stuck by me. Despite the nine blown saves that I had, I still had 35 saves. I had a lot of strikeouts, but I had a lot of walks. That’s when the home runs started coming in a little bit. I was leaving the ball up. I tried to make the adjustments the following season, 2013. I just had a horrendous first four games in which I gave up five home runs and nine runs, but after that everything was good. Everything was where I thought it would be. Obviously finishing the season with St. Louis, everything was great.
“Cleveland (in 2014) was the spot and it started off great. I had the most saves in the league in the first month, with an under two ERA. And then I had a bad week and things didn’t really balance back out. It frustrates me knowing I had that job. I had the grasp on it and I let it go. I want to be able to grab a hold of that job again at some point in my career and prove that I can do it again.”
The possible wild card for the Jays is the Toronto International Film Festival. Axford was a communications major at Notre Dame and Canisius College and is a huge fan of films. With the Brewers, he was part of the committee for the Milwaukee Film Festival and for the past three years has hosted a John Axford Presents segment. Most impressive, Axford was a perfect 18-for-18 in choosing the 2014 Oscar winners on Twitter prior to the telecast. He has been ap- proached by various media to do it again this year.
“I’ve seen a lot of really good ones,” Axford said of this year’s best pictures. “Two that are probably my favourites of the year are Boyhood and Birdman. There’s a few I’m trying to get out to see. In Ancaster, you don’t get as many films as you would get in Toronto. When I saw Nightcrawler, I (tried to) plan my night to see how long it will take to get in to Toronto, if I’m going to be able to see it.”
Axford is confident in his own ability to bounce back. He has gained 13 pounds this off-season, up to 235, and believes he has figured things out regarding his mechanics.
“Last year when I was having some of the walk issues, they came in clusters, which is strange for me,” Axford said. “I can have a great couple of weeks and all of a sudden there’s three walks in a game. It just comes out of nowhere. Sometimes it’s frustrating to try and figure those things out. . . . I’m getting a lot stronger and trying to cut a little bit of that arm swing, arm action, so maybe it won’t linger in the back.”
But beyong mechanics and psyche and age and family and competition, what Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos has going for him — all things being equal, in terms of years and guaranteed money — is TIFF.
“That would honestly be fantastic. I’ve always wanted to go,” Axford said. “I’m still part of the Milwaukee Film Festival and have been for the last four years. I’m a sponsor and (donor) there.”
The last great Jays movie was the 1993 World Series highlight film. Oh, was that in colour?