Title: Five Tasks for the Blue Jays
Date: August 6, 2009
Original Source: The On Deck Circle
Synopsis: Late into a lost season, I highlighted five things the Blue Jays could focus on for the season’s final two months to mine some value out of the year.
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Title: Matt Kemp and the Batting Order Question
Date: July 30, 2009
Original Source: The On Deck Circle
Synopsis: It may seem odd now that he’s a candidate for Best Player in Baseball, but in 2009 manager Joe Torre didn’t know what Matt Kemp was, juggling him around the lineup and generally mis-using the star-in-waiting.
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Title: Just How Bad Has Vernon Wells Been?
Date: July 27, 2009
Original Source: The On Deck Circle
Synopsis: This article now seems a couple years ahead of its time, but believe it or not Vernon Wells has been struggling since way back in 2009. I dove into the stats to see just how rough the year had been for the former Gold Glover.
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Title: Buehrle’s Perfect Game and the Fantasy Impact
Date: July 24, 2009
Original Source: The On Deck Circle
Synopsis: After Mark Buehrle tossed a perfect game, I took a look at how little of an impact such a singular spectacular performance would have on a fantasy team.
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Title: Three Methods for Evaluating a Halladay Trade
Date: July 23, 2009
Original Source: The On Deck Circle
Synopsis: With speculation running wild that Roy Halladay may get dealt, I took a look at three different ways of evaluating any possible trade.
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Title: Risk-Seeking Behavior at the Fantasy Season Mid-Point
Date: July 22, 2009
Original Source: The On Deck Circle
Synopsis: This piece took a look at why risk-seeking behavior should only really exist for middle-of-the-pack teams in fantasy baseball leagues at the mid-way point of the year, because top teams will be risk averse and bottom teams will look to build for the future (or stop paying attention in a redraft league).
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Title: About Last Night – Blue Jays Edition
Date: April 7, 2009
Original Source: The On Deck Circle
Synopsis: Following a huge season opening victory, the Blue Jays had provided the fanbase with a glimmer of hope for the 2009 season.
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Title: Josh Hamilton: The Real-Life Roy Hobbs?
Date: March 13, 2009
Original Source: The On Deck Circle
Synopsis: With Josh Hamilton finally starting to reach his potential and dominate baseball, I drew some comparisons to Roy Hobbs, the main character from The Natural.
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Title: AL East Foes a Reason to Watch the Jays This Year
Date: March 10, 2009
Original Source: The On Deck Circle
Synopsis: Without much hope for the 2009 Blue Jays, I argued that any baseball is still worth watching and enjoying. 72 games against elite competition should provide more than enough reason to watch, if you need more than the usual “die-hard mentality” to stay interested for 162 games.
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Title: Spring Training Notes: Unintentional Jays Humor Edition
Date: February 24, 2009
Original Source: The On Deck Circle
Synopsis: Just ahead of the start of Spring Training games, I took a quick look at some Blue Jays’ notes.
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Blake Murphy Sports Writing 