My Interview With Hugo From Bluebird Banter!!

So a couple of years ago, my buddy, the CEO of Bloganomics, aka, Jason Mazzei told me to check out a website called Bluebird Banter. I said "You got it J-swayze!" and over I went, and I immediately fell in love with the site.

It is full of Blue Jays info, enough to make a guy sound as nerdy as Screech Powers on Science Fair day. I decided to reach out to the boys that run the site to see if  I could get a quick interview, and low and behold, Hugo, from the site got back to me, and together, we gave birth to this beauty of an interview.

My Hero!

G - I have been a fan of your site for along time, it is often where I go to scoop all my friends on Jays news, how did the whole thing get started?

H - Well, I wasn't around for the very beginning, so I can't speak to that.  I got involved almost a year after the site's creation. I was a regular poster on the site and one day the then-site manager asked me if I would help out running the site.  It was quite small then.  

Thanks to the great work of my co-bloggers, the great commenters we have on the site, and SB Nation's incredible platform, we have grown and now have hundreds of thousands of visits each month.  Our goal is to create a place where fans can come and have fun and intelligent conversations about the Jays, both in the heat of the moment (in our gamethreads), and after cooler heads have prevailed. 

I noticed you like to use Star Wars References in a lot of your posts, I also love to use Star Wars references. Tell me the nerdiest Star Wars sentence you have ever said. Mine was "We need to send Cecil back to the Taschi Station to get a new arm!!"

We have a pretty strong nerd representation among the site's bloggers.  Star Wars is us at our most mainstream, though to quote it fondly we all have to pretend Episodes I-III never happened.  I still like to yell "It's a trap!" in my best Admiral Ackbar whenever there's a pitchout.

What a line! I love the Admiral!

Through 16 games this year, we have seen two TOTALLY different teams. Which one do you think is for real? The one that got out to the hot start, or the one that is currently ice cold?

Good question.  I am very confident that guys like Adam Lind and Travis Snider are going to hit, and Aaron Hill has been seeing the ball better lately.  The starting pitching is still a work in progress, but I think having Brandon Morrow back is going to help a lot, and there are some good arms in the minors that can help out too.  

The Boston series was just plain ugly, but no one's as bad as they look after a bad series (particularly one in Fenway).  I'm hoping the coming homestand will help.  Over the long haul of the season, I don't think the Jays have the hitters to keep up with New York or Boston, but I do think the Jays are a good team that is only improving.

Kyle Drabek will be the key to a Wildcard birth this year.

What do you see as the biggest problem with this team right now? As well, what is their biggest positive they have going for them?

I don't know if I'd call it a "problem," but the Jays have a fairly big hole at the moment at third base and DH.  Edwin Encarnacion seems to have lost Farrell's faith at third, and Jason Nix and John McDonald aren't anything but adequate short-term fill-ins.  It seems overly simplistic, but going up and down the lineup, the biggest problem right now is that a lot of the Jays players just aren't hitting at the moment.  I expect that to change for most of them, but I also think a couple of players just don't really have roles on this team, let alone going forward.  

The biggest positive the Jays have is an abundance of young talent and a GM with a long-term vision.  The Jays have holes at DH and 3rd base at the moment, and David Cooper, Eric Thames, and Brett Lawrie are tearing up AAA and could fill those spots.  Granted, it is a hitter's environment down there, but all of those players were very well-regarded prospects (Lawrie and Cooper were mid-first-rounders, Thames slipped only because of injury concerns) so there's reason to believe that each can contribute at the major-league level.

Lawrie would probably be up already if he weren't adjusting to learning a brand-new position in Las Vegas.  Pitching-wise, the Jays are in even better shape organizationally.  And of course with the way the Jays have worked the free agent compensation system, the June draft should be yet another big infusion of talent into the Jays' system.

The ace of the staff, Ricky Romero has looked great thus far, too bad the bats can't follow his lead.

I have this team winning the Wildcard, with 94 ish wins. I think with Morrow getting back into the rotation, along with the return of Frank Francisco should right the ship. As far as the bats go, get rid of Rivera now, bring up Lawrie, let him play third, Nix to the bench, or DH (I like him over Encarnacion right now.) and let's call it a Wildcard. Am I crazy, or are you with me?

I think Morrow and Francisco will help quite a bit.  While I think the pitching staff is suffering substantially from the loss of Shaun MarcumLawrie for Shaun.  I'd love to see Lawrie in the majors, too, but it's clear from the number of errors he's had in AAA that he's still learning the ropes at third and I think it's too much to expect him to try to adjust to major-league pitching and to learn to play third on the job.  

That said, once he's got the basics, Butterfield is the one to teach him, so I'm hoping the team doesn't wait too long - I'd like to see him by the all-star break.  I'm not sure the Jays have the firepower to hang with the Yankees or the Sox over the long haul of a season, but Boston and Tampa's slow start have really given them an opening if they can take advantage of it.  So far they haven't, but the Jays have the pitching to rattle off a long hot streak and if the bats come around like they should, maybe just enough hitting to get the job done.   

Anything else you would like to add?

Thanks for having me, and let's go Jays!

There you have it! A big thank you to Hugo for doing this, and big thanks to all of you for reading (aka Mom).

******* In totally unrelated news, I have a bunch of  tickets I need to sell to the big G.G.L.A.D. foundation fundraiser that's going down next Saturday night. The money goes to my bestest pal, the Silkamatic 5000, aka Greg Dubetz. So if you want a ticket, email me and let me know: gettinergoin@yahoo.com (I know, it's almost time to ditch the high school email address.......almost.) *********

 Our shirt contest is still going on over at the Ol' Podcast party! All the details are right here: http://kyleandgary.podbean.com

If you want to join the blog party, feel free to do so by clicking on the beautiful piece of Man Meat here:

So, until next week,  Trojan Horse says " Go Jays Go!!" See ya'll next week.