Blue Jays “New” Logo – My thoughts

Today the Toronto Blue Jays unveiled their “new” logo for the 2012 season …

  The 2011 Jays Logo                     The “New” Toronto Blue Jays Logo for the 2012 season

The new logo is a throw back to the logo of the Blue Jays heyday era, back when they won back-to-back World Series championships in 1992-1993.

I have mixed reactions with the release of this logo.

Part of me feels the same way as others.

“love it. Brings back fond memories of when I was a kid and the Jays were good.” said @JonathanKochis

“love it! They never should have changed it! Maybe we will have a world series in our near future!” said @AndreaHallam

I like what both said a lot. I agree with them and hope for the same.

I was a huge fan of the Jays back in 1992-1993 ( as I am today). I remember being 8 and 9 and watching the magical moments of the Jays winning the world series twice in two years. I remember how much my sister loved Roberto Alomar and how much I wanted to be like Joe Carter when I grew up and I remember how much my Grandma yelled at the television set cheering them on.

Seeing replays of those moments to this day brings back a lot of the same emotions that I felt at 8 and 9 years old. I have a lot of good memories tied to those Jays teams and their logo, so I’m happy to see it return for that reason.

On the other hand though (and I will surely catch some flack for it), I am a bit disappointed that they Blue Jays went this direction with the ‘new’ logo, instead of reinventing or modernizing their logo (with respect to the past).

Here is why:

There was talk at some point this past season, I think it may have been when Doc came back to play his first game at the Dome (err Roger’s Centre), that this team and the Toronto fans need to stop living in the past. We have a horrible tendency to romanticize history and hold that up as the standard against which we judge the short-comings of the current team. Fans and the team need to stop resting and dreaming on the history of this team. It is not to say that what the Jays did in 1992-1993 wasn’t historical and franchise changing, because it was. The point here is that fans need to look at these incredibly talented guys that line the roster NOW and believe in their power, strength and determination. They need to focus on and support the guys who are here NOW, fighting tooth and nail to take down the stacked AL East. We need to stop focusing on the history and replaying those moment of Carter hitting that home run, or Alomar making those plays. We need to replay and create successes of Bautista, Arencibia, Romero, Lind, Morrow, Thames, Lawrie, etc. and let them stand on their own. Stop putting the pressure of the past on these guys and let them play in the present and for the future.

I haven’t connected with a Blue Jays team like I did the 1992-1993 team, until this past year. This new crop of Blue Jays have given life back to the Blue Jays franchise. They found a way to get fans excited and involved again; through their play, their community involvement and their accessibility through social media. These Jays found a way to connect with fans in the here and now; they released fans from the nostalgia of the World Series years. This team of Blue Jays played in a way that gave fans hope again, hope that this team will again see playoffs and will again bring the World Series Championship north of the border. I believe that the Blue Jays can win the east again not because they’ve done it before  and can do it again, but because the guys they have on this team now are incredibly talented and determined and will accept nothing short of winning. And if they stumble along the way, I don’t want to see them judged again the past, the history of the Jays. I want them judged against what they are capable of.

These guys have reinvented this team. They have moved this team and its fans forward out of the past and have given fans a legitimate hope for the future.

I guess for me, while I love the old logo from my childhood, part of me wishes the Jays had gone with something entirely new and different, while still respecting the past. Give this 2012 team a new logo that they can give their own history to. Give them a logo that they can create meanings and memories for. Give them a fresh start and a clean slate where their fans are able to focus on the future, instead of living in the past.

Again, I love the old logo and I will be happy to watch the 2012 Jays wear the jersey that speaks to the success the Jays saw in my childhood, I just would have like to have seen a new logo clear to be defined and immortalized by the Bautista’s, Romero’s, Arencibia’s, Morrow’s, Lawrie’s, Lind’s and Thames’, instead of fraught with history or players long since retired. Hopefully these guys will have enough success to redefine this logo and immortalize it in their own way.

Regardless of their logo though, I love this current Jays team and I will be tweeting away and cheering them on loud and clear all through the 2012 season!

Let’s Go Blue Jays Let’s Go!

P.S. If we’re adopting the old logo for 2012, can we please bring back BJ Birdie too? I love Ace and Diamond both, but BJ was classic, like the new old logo.

Time for a Blue Jays Rant – Lawrie Up – Snider Down

I’m feeling a bit frustrated with the Blue Jays at the moment.

Today the Blue Jays called up Brett Lawrie from AAA. Ok, YAY a Canadian on the Canadian team. I was looking forward to Lawrie coming up, but the Jays have completely ruined it by who they chose to send down (IMO).

To make room for Lawrie on the roster the Jays chose to option Travis Snider back down to AAA, only a couple of  weeks after his return to the bigs.

Travis Snider first made an appearance with the Jays on August 29th 2008. Travis has seen bits and pieces of 3 seasons. He was drafted as a top prospect and he is one of the youngest players to debut in the majors wearing a Jays uniform. Since drafting Snider, the Jays have said that he is a key piece to building a strong future. They’ve said they see him being a cornerstone of the Jays outfield in the future; that he will lead the team in the future.

For all that the Jays organization says the right things about Snider, they certainly aren’t treating him like a Franchise player, a top prospect, or a key piece of their future.

I get that he is still young and has plenty of time, he is only 23; but it can’t be helping his value any if other teams are seeing Toronto play yo-yo with him. He’s been playing in the majors for parts of each of the last three seasons and in my opinion the team is now at this point jerking him around.

At the beginning of the season I seem to remember several conversations with the media by both the coach and the GM saying that Snider was going to be the Left Fielder, that they were going to support him and be behind him 100%; they were going to do whatever they could to make sure that Snider was a key piece of building this year’s team and this year’s outfield.

And how have they done that? Well Snider  had a bit of a slump so they sent him down. Fine, give him a chance to work out his swing in the minors. He works his butt off, does well and gets back here, only to have another outfield acquired which successfully puts him out of a job when Lawrie gets called up and Bautista returns to Right Field.

The outfield is overloaded right now. Bautista is your Right fielder, he is the best player in baseball right now, you’re not sitting him. You have Davis and with the speed he has, you are not getting rid of him, he can generate runs on the bases. That leaves Thames and Rasmus. I like Thames a lot, I don’t want to see him go anywhere. Rasmus though, seems like a nice kid and he is talented without a doubt, but he is a new acquisition that the Jays are standing behind and in doing so they are sticking a knife in the back of Snider (IMO).

I have nothing against this Rasmus kid, he’s a decent player and will probably grow into a fantastic player. But if I were Snider I’d feel somewhat betrayed by my team. I know “whatever is best for the team; whatever will get the wins” blah blah blah, but still I’d be annoyed, I am annoyed and I am just a fan!

Snider was told that this team believed in him and saw him as part of their future. The future is now and they keep pushing him back in line in favour of others.

I guess it is a good problem to have that many talented options for the outfield, I just feel bad for Snider. The organization says the right things, but then doesn’t have the actions to back it.

I’m sure that you could do a statistical analysis that says this is the right move out of the options that they have, but still I feel bad for the kid. He deserves his chance and a real chance. Someone needs to stick up for this kid. Some may argue that he’s had chance, but I’m sorry there have been a lot of players who’ve been a lot worse, who’ve gotten a lot more time to ‘earn their spot’ or sometimes even keep it.

Maybe this is the right move, honestly I don’t know what the best move would be in this situation, I just feel frustrated on the behalf of Travis Snider. If you’re in a job and you boss is telling you that you’re the future of the company and you keep getting sent to the mailroom, how would you feel? (And yes I know, AAA is not comparable to the mailroom).

I hate to say it but maybe what is best for Travis is a trade. I would hate to see him wearing any jersey that wasn’t a Jays jersey, but I think that being traded may be the only way he is ever going to get the chance that he deserves.