Tower Talk: August 21, 2013

Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

Blue Jays

The Blue Jays not only managed to lose both games of their double-header versus the Yankees, but they also lost Jose Bautsita to injury. A nagging hip injury forced Bautista out of the first game, and onto the DL where he will spend at least the next two weeks “shut down” and receiving treatment. Moises Sierra has been called up in his place, and we at some point are likely to see a Blue Jays outfield consisting fully of players that should still be in Triple-A…YAY. [Toronto Star]

Joe Carter kind of admonished/kind of condoned Ryan Dempster‘s beaning of Alex Rodriguez the other day…why Joe Carter’s opinion on this was needed is beyond me, but here we are! [CTV News]

With Jose Bautista joining his outfield battery mates Melky Cabrera and Colby Rasmus on the DL, I think it’s a good time for a retrospective on how awesome one of those fallen comrades has been. Colby Rasmus has had an excellent season on a bad team this year, and we shouldn’t forget it. [FanGraphs]

BABIP is a skill that people often mistakenly cite as being purely a function of luck rather than skill. This is clearly folly as someone who consistently hits line drives (like say Joey Votto) will have a significantly higher BABIP than someone that hits ground balls/fly balls more often (like Dan Uggla). Nick Ashbourne breaks down which Jays BABIP may be a function of luck, and which is a function of skill. [Bluebird Banter]

Bills

As I’m sure you’ve already heard, the Bills signed Free Safety Jairus Byrd to a 1-year franchise tender. The signing came as a bit of a surprise (even to the Bills apparently) as their had been no significant headway made in negotiations in recent days. Getting Byrd under contract and in camp is a coup for the Bills as he significantly boosts their defensive secondary for Week 1 when the Patriots roll into Ralph Wilson. [BuffaLowDown]

The Art of War by Sun Tzu is one of the definitive texts on war strategy and tactics, and is often used in the world of business, and by extension sport. Within the text is says the following:

"So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss. If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose. If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself."

With that in mind, we go to BuffaLowDown to “Know Our Enemy” with their Behind Enemy Lines Q&A with the editor of FanSided’s Washington Redskins blog Riggo’s Rag. [BuffaLowDown]

In less philosophical, more roster related news the Bills have released OL Keith Williams. [BuffaloBills.com]

Maple Leafs

So apparently the Maple Leafs are moving to a dynamic pricing model this season, which means that the price of the game will vary based on the opponent, time of day, and number of available tickets. This means that Saturday nigh games, against a top-tier opponent (such as Montreal or Boston) will cost more this coming season. This would be more of a story if there were ever any single game tickets to buy, but alas MLSE seems content with selling their non-season seats in “hockey packs” that force you to buy Marlies tickets you’ll never use (no offense Marlies). [Toronto Star]

The closer training camp becomes, the more of a distraction not having a contract is to Nazem Kadri, which is completely and totally fair. Kadri also says that he feels he is being fair in his contract demands, even saying he is  “taking all that cap into consideration when really, that’s not my job”. Which again, is very true, that’s Dave Nonis’ job that he failed to do when making his offseason moves! [NHL.com]

Raptors

SB Nation did this weird “Best 1oo Players in 2017” list, and three Raptors made it. I say it’s weird because this is the NBA, and in 4 years a lot can change. In 2009 did you think James Harden would be probably the best shooting guard in basketball come 2013? Didn’t think so. [RaptorsHQ]

At Grantland, the always insightful Zach Lowe takes a reprieve from breaking down game tape and has a little fun ranking all of the NBA team nicknames. Not surprisingly the god awful Raptors name gets ranked in a rightfully poor position. [Grantland]

CFL

Ricky Ray is an extremely good football player. In the CFL, he is on a level of his own at the quarterback position, and he once again was awarded the Offensive Player of the Week Award…better start engraving that MOP trophy now guys. [CBC]

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers named Max Hall the starter for this weekend’s game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. I for some reason think that the Ti-Cats aren’t too heartbroken about his. [TSN]

Speaking of the TiCats and Bombers, it seems like they are moving in opposite directions as Hamilton has seemingly figured it out while Winnipeg are suddenly limping along. [TSN]