Moreno Gonzo

After the booting of Charlie Taeffe, I certainly was surprised to see Moreno moved to Winnipeg (a divisional rival and in theory a rival for a playoff spot) for DE Tom Canada and a Canadian currently on the Bills practice roster (Corey Mace). Then Canada says he would rather retire and surf in California than report to Hamilton. Then Canada has an enlarged spleen and goes on the nine game disabled list. Finally the trade is reworked, where Hamilton gets Winnipeg's first round pick next year for Moreno and we get
the rights to Mace, a defensive tackle, and we send a conditional third round pick if we sign Mace. Uh,
magic beans?

One thing I will say first is that CFL trades are notorious for being somewhat meaningless in the long term. Certainly one team can lose immediately and the other team can get some results for a year, but after a year or two, often no one involved in the trade is still in the game. With regards to Moreno, I am sad to see him go, however let's face it, the Cats have been crap the past season with him. Last year, he was a force, but this year I often found myself blogging about the need for Moreno to have a big game for us and unfortunately it didn't really seem to happen. During last week's game, BC was repeatedly able to pass into the area that should have been covered by the middle linebacker. He will be 30 soon and there is certainly the possibility that after two more seasons he's not playing in the CFL anymore. Receiving Canada back, as was going to originally going to happen, would have strengthened the defensive line, which certainly needed it, although it seemed pointless to weaken yourself at middle linebacker to do it. Personally, I feel we should have done what Winnipeg did and signed Kai Ellis, a salary cap cut from Montreal to bolster the defensive line and forget this trade (and let Winnipeg rot with the fact they've lost two middle linebackers to injury).

What happens at middle linebacker now? Cornelius Anthony I guess. I'm a bit afraid to see what Ricky Ray does to that this week.

The one positive thing I see coming out of this week, has to do with the Argos firing coach Rich Stubler and hiring Don Matthews. If Hamilton can get him signed next year as the defensive coordinator, that may be an important step in leading us to the promised land of 9 and 9 (ah the soft bigotry of low expectations). Plus we can get rid of Denny Creehan (yes Dennis may be a shitty name, but man up and go by Dennis than rather Denny fuckwit). Don't know what the Don will mean to Toronto.