Trystan Magnuson returns to Toronto

Caught up with Trystan Magnuson, recently reacquired by Toronto, and asked him about returning to the Blue Jays. Nothing earth shattering here, but it's still great to talk with Mags, who appeared in nine games for the A's in 2011. He is among 52 Fisher Cats grads who've reached the majors.


"I really appreciated the opportunity (Toronto) gave me in the past and I'm excited for this upcoming year. I have always improved year to year, so I am looking forward to continuing that trend this season ...  I learned a lot from my time in the big leagues last year and made some adjustments that produced good results like my outings against the Marlins and the Rangers. I'm working hard this offseason to continue those adjustments in order to win consistently at the big league level."


What specific adjustments did you make with Oakland? Delivery? Mechanics?


"Pitchers are always making adjustments," said Magnuson, who was traded for cash. "You have to be able to learn from outing to outing, even pitch to pitch, and make the corresponding adjustment. So, it's tough to pinpoint one adjustment. I always want to use my legs, pitch aggressively, and throw quality pitches. Within that, pitchers are always making tweaks."

Trystan Magnuson

Roger Ebert's got nothing on TLR

Love how the managers and media are working together on this one. Here's the situation: Tony La Russa enters the press room at Busch Stadium to talk about the World Series. You can't really ask the St. Louis manager about Chris Carpenter pitching a potential Game 7 -- which is a good story -- because the Cards first need to win Game 6. What to do? Talk "Moneyball."

"Good acting. I mean, I was offended because of what the book represented and how a lot of those guys were portrayed," La Russa told reporter before Game 6. "I knew a few of those guys as scouts. It strains the credibility a little bit. (The A's) win 20 in a row, qualify for the playoffs, go two up on the Yankees, and there wasn't anything in the movie except a brief about Miguel (Tejada) and Eric (Chavez), three starters, Billy Koch. It was about a couple of trades and turning Scott (Hatteberg) into a first baseman. That club was carried by those guys that were signed and developed the old-fashioned way. That part wasn't enjoyable. It's a nice story but it is not accurate enough."