Linden still not ready to talk about departure
Linden still isn’t ready to talk publicly about falling out with Canucks ownership
Summer may be over for you kids, but here’s something that will make your day infinitely brighter: the musings and meditations on the world of sports.
Almost six weeks after the fact, Trevor Linden still isn’t ready to talk publicly and that’s not likely to change any time soon.
Linden, of course, has dropped off the grid since he was removed as the Canucks’ president in late July but, over a series of texts, he sounded philosophical about his fate.
Loosely stated, Linden wrote that his relationship with the Aquilinis had become irreparably damaged. He favoured a patient, strategic approach to the team’s rebuild. Ownership had a different view.
He also wrote that, given that work environment, it was better that he moved on.
There remain about 312 unanswered questions about this whole mess, but neither Linden nor the Aquilinis are going to answer them.
Onward. The Whitecaps didn’t exactly paint a Monet in Saturday night’s win over San Jose, but at a couple of games over .500 and fighting for a playoff spot, they find themselves in a familiar position as they enter the stretch drive to their season.
That’s been their story throughout Carl Robinson’s tenure as manager, but it’s also an accurate reflection of their talent level. You can quibble about some of Robinson’s methods and his lineup selections, but you can’t say the team has underachieved under his watch.
If they make the playoffs, it will be the fourth time in five years under Robinson’s watch. This team has had problems over the years. Coaching hasn’t been one of them.
After careful consideration, I think I’ve come up with a solution to the growing traffic problem in the Greater Vancouver area. We have to find a way to build more condos.
The Lions partly addressed their need at receiver by signing Vancouver kid Anthony Parker over the weekend. The seven-year veteran, late of the Calgary Stampeders, adds Canadian depth to the receiving corps, but the Lions are still searching for an impact import. With the NFL cuts now on the market, GM Ed Hervey may be looking at former Argo DeVier Posey, who was cut by the Baltimore Ravens last week.
Posey was named MVP of the 2017 Grey Cup after catching a 100-yard touchdown pass in the Argos’ win over Calgary. The Lions will likely start a pair of Canadians this week, which at least allows them to get linebacker Micah Awe into the starting lineup. But there will be changes down the road.
Mad props to Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin, who is salvaging a so-so season with a big performance at the FedEx thingy.
Following his tie for 21st in Boston over the long weekend, he’s now on to the third round of the tour’s lucrative windup, and who knows? Hadwin moved up 18 spots in the FedEx standings, sitting at 52nd after two events.
Maybe next week at the BMW Championship we’ll see him on TV. It will help if he’s winning or playing with Tiger.
And finally, the window slammed shut on the Toronto Blue Jays at some point last season, but if there was any doubt about how far and how fast they have fallen, it was removed with the Josh Donaldson trade.
Just two years after their second straight appearance in the ALCS, the Jays unloaded their best player and the team’s heartbeat to the rival Cleveland Indians and paid the Indians to take him.
Their return? The name making the rounds is 27-year-old pitcher Julian Merryweather, who has yet to pitch in the big leagues, but is coming off Tommy John surgery.
This represents the final slap in the face to Blue Jays fans.
Donaldson was the best player in franchise history. Robbie Alomar might have had a better career with the Jays, but in his three peak years in Toronto, Donaldson was an elite run producer and a team leader who played a key defensive position.
In 2015, his MVP season, he scored 122 runs and drove in 123. Carlos Delgado and others had big seasons with the Jays, but for the completeness of his game, Donaldson was the best.
His peak years also coincided with a two-year run in which the Jays captured the imagination of most of this country. There wasn’t much to cheer about in Toronto from 1993-2014, but Donaldson helped change that.
Now it’s gone, the players scattered all over the baseball world, leaving Jays fans with nothing but memories. Yes, the Jays were unlucky with Aaron Sanchez, and perhaps the age factor, with so many key veterans on an inevitable decline. But the Mark Shapiro-Ross Atkins front office tandem also mismanaged the organization’s key assets to an alarming degree and ownership, once more, tried to get by on the cheap.
They’ve got Vladdy Guerrero Jr. and other prospects coming, but the youngsters should have been stepping into a far healthier situation.
It’s a long way to get back to the territory the Jays occupied in 2015 and 2016. Their fans are about to find out how long.