Title: Waiver Claim Made on Rios; Jays Have to Decide
Date: August 7, 2009
Original Source: The On Deck Circle
Synopsis: After the Jays had placed overpaid outfielder Alex Rios on waivers, he was shockingly claimed by the White Sox, leaving the Jays with a tough (not really) decision to make on Rios’ future.
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Title: Looking at Ben Zobrist’s Breakout Season
Date: August 7, 2009
Original Source: The On Deck Circle
Synopsis: As The Zorilla emerged as a legitimate star for the Tampa Bay Rays, I examined exactly how this seemingly unpredictable break-out could have occurred.
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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: Small Deals Buoy Colangelo’s Design
Date: July 31, 2009
Original Source: Raptors Republic
Synopsis: This Raptors Republic piece took a look at the trades that Bryan Colangelo had made during his tenure as Raptors GM to that point, highlighting that while his bigger deals didn’t always work out, his smaller trades always seem to provide incremental value.
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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: An Early Look at the 2009-10 Toronto Raptors
Date: July 28, 2009
Original Source: Raptors Republic
Synopsis: This Raptors Republic article was a player-by-player analysis of the Raptors’ roster in advance of training camp.
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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: 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: Where Does DeRozan Fit?
Date: July 21, 2009
Original Source: Raptors Republic
Synopsis: I made my debut at Raptors Republic, ESPN True Hoop’s Raptors affiliate, in July of 09. This first piece looked at how the recent #9 overall selection would fit in with the current roster.
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Title: Shaq to Host Raw
Date: July 20, 2009
Original Source: The On Deck Circle
Synopsis: For whatever reason, I went nearly four months without writing and returned to let people know about this.
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Blake Murphy Sports Writing 