SIZING UP MANOAH: SO FAR, A WONDERFUL EXERCISE FOR THE JAYS
Early results match or better Stieb, Halladay
He couldn’t be more different — Alek Manoah — from Dave Stieb, from the late Roy Halladay, from the greatest starting pitchers ever developed by the Toronto Blue Jays.
Manoah oozes personality along with pitching poise. He wants the ball, the headlines, the show, everything that goes with being a Major League star.
He has demonstrated that since arriving in Toronto a year ago and he gave a peek to the rest of the baseball world Tuesday night at the all-star game, pitching and broadcasting an inning, smiling his way through his three strikeouts, all at the very same time.
He is nothing like the uber-intense Stieb, who came to the Jays at age 20 as an outfielder-turned-pitcher with ridiculous talent. Stieb was known for the movement on his pitches, or for the stare he might give an infielder or an outfielder who had made an error while he was on the mound.
It was once said of Stieb that he would leave Major League Baseball with the same number of friends he started with — none. All he did was his job: For 12 seasons, he was the greatest pitcher in Blue Jays history.
Halladay didn’t start the way Stieb did. He almost lost his career before his delivery was reinvented in the minor leagues. He wasn’t an instant success the way Manoah has been. But once he found his way, the tightly wound and ultraserious and singular Halladay had so intimidating a presence in his own clubhouse his teammates were intimidated by him.
The early numbers from Manoah’s first 38 big-league starts are quite similar to those of Stieb. Manoah has 19 career wins, Stieb had 17 with a lesser team back in the early 1980s. And Stieb threw 271 innings in his first 38 starts to the 226 Manoah has thrown in these protected pitching times.
The biggest difference, though, is personality. Halladay didn’t care to show any. Stieb was a fight waiting to happen most days he was on the mound and most days off it. Manoah so much wants to be a face of the game, someone we talk about, someone we can trust.
Being in on Manoah early is like being in on a great stock. He’s right where Stieb was at the early stages and ahead of where Halladay was in his early challenging years.
Halladay went on to have eight great seasons with the Jays. Stieb had 12. The Jays would settle for either of those numbers now and in the future.
When Matthew Tkachuk followed the Johnny Gaudreau departure in Calgary with the stunning news he wouldn’t re-sign with the Flames, it was almost as if they were piling on general manager Brad Treliving and the city itself.
But Treliving took a punch to the gut, stayed on his feet, and recovered by dealing Tkachuk to Florida in exchange for winger Jonathan Huberdeau, defencemen Mackenzie Weegar and other parts in a rare big-time for bigtime hockey trade.
If somehow the Flames now turn around and sign Nazem Kadri as a free agent, they would be adding Kadri, Huberdeau and Weegar to their lineup while subtracting Tkachuk and Gaudreau. That would be a big win for Calgary.
There is over a week to go before the Major League trade deadline on Aug. 2. This is indeed a signature time for Ross Atkins, Mark Shapiro, and the up-anddown Blue Jays.
This has not been a great half-season for the Jays — and placing that aside, almost anything seems possible for the second half. The most important requirement though — finishing first among wild-card teams in the American League.
The Jays can’t finish first in the American League East unless something completely wild happens to the front-running New York Yankees in the second half.
But in the new three-team wild-card setup, finishing first among the second best matters a lot. The first wild-card team will have home-field advantage in the post-season.
That’s all your home games in a best-of-three series and that’s never happened before.
It’s very possible that Tampa, Toronto, and Seattle will be the wild card teams. The question is: In what order.
A three-game series at home with Manoah and Kevin Gausman starting the first two games and Jose Berrios starting the third, if necessary, puts the Jays in an advantageous position. They have a strong home record and a so-so road record. Tampa has almost the same numbers, home and away.
The Jays’ needs at the deadline are 1) hard-throwing bullpen depth; 2) another starting pitcher; 3) a left-handed batter, like Josh Bell, from the Nationals. With a move or two they can win a playoff round: After that, as the Atlanta Braves proved a year ago, anything is possible.
Kevin Durant and Juan Soto are both available for trade, two of the largest stars in the NBA and Major League Baseball, and it’s funny to see Toronto linked as a player of sorts in any kind of trade conversation.
Once upon a time, a Durant or a Soto, with Toronto as destination, would never be mentioned when megastars of this calibre are available.
It’s entirely possible and probable that both Durant and Soto will end up traded to other places, the higher profile teams in higher profile cities. But what’s different about the now is, that the Raptors can actually put together a package of consequence for Durant, maybe as deep a package as any NBA team can muscle up.
Whether Masai Ujiri wants to be that aggressive is a card he has yet to play. The beauty of Durant at this stage: He has four years remaining on his contract with Brooklyn.
The Blue Jays have a deep minor-league system, with more prospects and young players of significance than they’ve had in years. And like Durant, Soto is signed up for this season and the two seasons after that. So any team making a deal for the young slugger will have to pay only US$17 million a season, which is less than the average of what Jays will be paying Jose Berrios for the next six seasons.
They have enough to put together a package for Washington.
Whether they choose to be involved is their business right now.
Time was, this kind of talk would be reserved for sports radio and nowhere else. Now there’s an element of possibility to it, small as that may be. But an element nonetheless.