2011 MLB Draft Preview

With the 2011 first year player draft less than 24 hours away it is time to talk about it. This is going to be a special draft because it is likely to be the last one with the "Type A, Type B" compensation rule. This rule makes no sense for both the players, and the MLB so it is one of the rules most destined to be changed in the next CBA. The players take a huge pay cut because teams with low draft picks are resilient to sign a player if that takes away the teams first round draft pick. When the bottom feeding teams cant add from the free agent pool, it means that the only teams improving are the ones with high draft picks, from around pick 15 and above, because they can sign players, and not care what happens to there pick. It makes no sense for the league because of the sandwich round in between the first and second rounds of the draft.This creates a huge number of draft picks to teams who lose players in the off-season, but makes the teams that don't get barely any talent from the draft. The premier example is the Pittsburgh Pirates this season. The pirates have the first pick in the draft, but there next pick is the 63rd, which means they only get one high ceiling player, and the rest are high risk players. In between those two picks, teams such as our Toronto Blue Jays, and the Tampa Bay Rays have a plethora of picks, and will improve drastically more from the draft then a team like Pittsburgh. The Pirates haven't had a winning season in 18 years, and this system is partially the reason.
This is also anticipated to be the last draft without draft pick trading, a rule in the other big three North American sports, yet to come to the MLB. This rule would fix the compensation rule, because it would allow teams like Pittsburgh to move up into the compensation round, from the second and third rounds of the draft.
2011 MLB First Round Draft Order
1 Pittsburgh Pirates
2 Seattle Mariners
3 Arizona D-backs
4 Baltimore Orioles
5 Kansas City Royals
6 Washington Nationals
7 Arizona D-backs
8 Cleveland Indians
9 Chicago Cubs
10 San Diego Padres
11 Houston Astros
12 Milwaukee Brewers
13 New York Mets
14 Florida Marlins
15 Milwaukee Brewers
16 Los Angeles Dodgers
17 Los Angels Angels
18 Oakland A's
19 Boston Red Sox
20 Colorado Rockies
21 Toronto Blue Jays
22 St Louis Cardinals
23 Washington Nationals
24 Tampa Bay Rays
25 San Diego Padres
26 Boston Red Sox
27 Cincinnati Reds
28 Atlanta Braves
29 San Fransisco Giants
30 Minnesota Twins
31 New York Yankees
32 Tampa Bay Rays
33 Texas Rangers

Brett Lawrie was placed on the 7-day DL in Las Vegas today, but it is retroactive to June 1st, meaning he could play again on June 8th. He likely wont be on the Jays until June 17th in Cincinnati, because AA likes to start prospects away from the Rogers Centre.

Rumors are circulating that the Jays are switching uniforms next season, i personally like the newer ones, and i think the Jays have to stop trying to change everything back to the glory years, because that doesn't win championships, winning teams do.

The Best Laid Schemes of Mice and Men Go Often Awry

On Tuesday afternoon Alex Anthopoulos hinted that superstar prospect Brett Lawrie will be making his major league debut on Friday night at Camden Yards in Baltimore. About five hours later Lawrie stepped into the batters box in AAA to face newly called up pitcher Anthony Bass of the Tucson Padres. On the second pitch of the at-bat, Lawrie was hit by a mid-90's fastball, and was taken to the hospital for x-rays. The twitter world was going crazy, and every single Jays fan was holding there breath, praying that Lawrie would be okay. After 3 hours of sitting and waiting to hear what had happened to his hand, Lawrie posted on twitter that it was just a bruise, and nothing was broken. Lawrie, who is batting .354 with an ops of 1.092, a very good mark. The stat that was holding the Jays front office back from calling him up was BB/K, but he has raised the mark significantly since he was told to only swing at pitches in the strike zone , even if it means less hits. Lawrie has hit more home runs since the discussion as the result of only swinging at pitches he knows he can hit. He is likely to join the Jays on the upcoming road tip, but will not be ready to play in Friday's game because of bruising. Fantasy owners should pick him up immediately because he will be playing against a weak pitching staff in Kansas City next week when he gets called up to "The Show".

The Jays Gm also announced that Dustin McGowan might come back to the bigs as a starter, not as a reliever like the team suspected. McGowan will begin a rehab assignment when extended spring training ends, and will then need to be called up to the Jays, or put on waivers.

4 Dunedin Blue Jays were named to the FSL All-star game today. Among them is 2010 first round draft pick Deck McGuire, who has a 2.70 era, and a 1.20 whip in A+ so far this season.

Follow me on twitter on @bluejaysplus

Does Anybody Have a Closer the Jays Could Borrow??

Imagine what life could be, if the Jays had a reliable closer. Imagine the shape our hearts would be in because they wouldn't be pounding every minute that we have a lead in the 9th inning. Imagine how many wins the Jays could get if they can develop a closer, that saves games.
We all hope that Dustin McGowan will be back in the next 3 or 4 months, but will be he ready to take on that role. Dustin has lost a significant amount of velocity because of all 4,789,584 of his shoulder surgeries he had this past two years( he really only had two). I would like to see him develop his curve ball, it used to get .455 percent of the time, compared to the league average of .241. His other two pitches, slider and splitter, were also hit over 40% of the time last night. He was clearly a fastbal;l pitcher, as t=hitters only hit the ball 13% of the time, and he averaged the third best speed in the league behind Justin Verlander and AJ Burnett. He needs to be recalled and on the 25 man roster within 60 days of starting to rehab.

Frank Fransisco did blow the game last night, but he induced two ground balls, so he really pitched well, but the defense behind him wasn't the best. The "Closers" are struggling right now, but the rest of the bullpen is pitching amazingly.

For its 1,2,3 Bautista Bombs at the Old Ball Game!!!!

After hitting home runs in the past two games, Jose Bautista was 1 ahead of Curtis Granderson for the MLB lead coming into Sunday's game. But poor Bautista didn't feel comfortable with just a 1 home run lead, so he decided to join Roy Halladay in the non-human club. He went up to bat 3 straight times on Sunday, and all three times hit home runs. Bautista is now on pace to hit 64.8 if he plays every single game until the end of the regular season. With Jose's help The Jays wrapped up the sweep of the ailing Twins by giving them a nice thumping by a score of 11-3. Aaron Hill looked as he finally found his swing after a year and a half of just waving at the ball. Hill went 2-5 with 2 rbi's, and Jose Molina went 3-4 but did a lot of running. Molina scored from first on a double by Yunel Escobar, and also tagged up from second to third on a pop up to center field again off of the bat of Yunel Escobar. Brandon Morrow looked good when he was good, but looked awful when he was bad. Morrow walked in a run in the 4th, but also struck out 8 in just 5 innings of work. Morrow just couldn't find the strike zone most of the time, and that was the reason behind his high pitch count, which tallied 106 when Shawn Camp came into the game to work the 6th inning. The Jays are now back to .500 for the first time since April 30th, and are 4-3 when Alan Ashby calls the game on Sportsnet.

After Winning the game for the Jays on Tuesday night, David Cooper thought he would stay in Toronto for a while, presuming they would go back to a 7 man bullpen when Jayson Nix is ready to return from the disabled list. That prediction was wrong as Cooper was sent back down to the Las Vegas 51's today to make room for the healthy Nix. Cooper was batting .121 for the Jays, but also drew 5 walks.

Tomorrow's game in Detroit is scheduled for 7:05 PM, and Adam Lind is scheduled to be back in the line up for the first time since last Saturday.

More Roster Moves, Delgado Retires

After David Purcey couldn't find the strike zone again on Monday night, he was designated for assignment. That means he needs to be traded, released, or get put on waivers in the next 10 days. AA said he believes he can trade him, but I think the best trade he will be able to get is a PTBNL or a bench player. Purcey also might be an add on to a possible Juan Rivera trade, or Edwin Encarnacion trade. Brad Mills was called up to replace Purcey in the bullpen.Mills didn't get to make an appearance as on Wednesday night he was sent back down, while Luis Perez, the left handed pitcher was called up to replace him. The Jays enter a four gamer with the Red Sox, so they are going with a 8 man bullpen and 3 man bench because of the 14 inning game on Saturday night that tired there bullpen.
Rajai Davis was put on the DL on Tuesday, and Casey Jannsen was recalled, just 4 days after he was sent to down to Las Vegas.

The Jays have the most scouts in the MLB, and have the 4th best farm system.That is very good, and that is why TWIB is doing this weeks show on the Jays.The way the Jays get most of there prospects is via the draft, and they wont be short of high round picks this year, once again. The Jays have 7 picks in the top 80 this year, but don't get there first round pick until 21st. Pittsburgh will have the first pick in the draft this year, and hopefully they dont waste it again (Brian Bullington).
Former Blue Jay Carlos Delgado announced his retirement yesterday, and will be eligible for the Hall in 2016. Delgado is the Jays leader in a lot of categories, such as home runs and rbi's.
Poll results come out tommorw, but right now Brett Lawrie looks like the best prospect in the Jays minor league system.

Game 8: LA Angels of A 6, Blue Jays 5 F/14 innings

When a baseball game takes 5 hours ands 3 minutes, you know its a crazy game, but you don't expect it to be so crazy. You don't think that the Jays would turn 5 double plays,one bizarre one.You don't imagine that a fast guy like Bobby Abreu would be thrown out at home twice in extra innings.I'm sure you did not think that the Jays would call MLB headquarters during the game to get clearance for Yunel Escobar to play in the game last night, but they did.But what you don't expect is an umpire to hold a grudge on the jays for 19 years, but he did.
Think back to the World Series in 1992, when the Jays were facing the Braves.Do you remember the play when the Jays had turned a triple play, but Bob Davidson ruled it a double play, because most Jays fan do.So Davidson decided to show the Jays that he still hates them, and blew the game again tonight.He called an offensive interference on Yunel Escobar, which made the go ahead run in the top of the 13th not count, and it was all down hill from there.
Dan Haren came on in the top of the 14th,yes Dan Haren the starter, and shut down the Jays making them go 1,2,3. Jon Rauch came on in the bottom of the 14th to try to hold the Angels in check, and was doing a very nice job of it. Unfortunately after getting two quick outs, and getting ahead on Peter Bourjos hit a liner to right field. Travis Snider tripped while running back to the wall, and it was a double for the speedy Bourjos. Rauch then gave up a single to Maicer Izturis, and a strong throw from Jose Bautista wasn't able to get Bourjos at the plate as the Angels walked off 6-5.
It was a great game, but the Jays should have won it if Bob Davidson wasn't such a jerk.Jim Joyce is now the second worst umpire of all time in my books, as this is now the second time Davidson ruined a Jays game.

Shocking News from Tampa Bay

Just a few minutes ago, Manny Ramirez retired from playing America's Game professionally. The slugger who has 555 career home runs, good enough for 14th on the all time list, decided to hang up his cleats because of an issue he had regarding the MLB's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. If Ramirez decides to come back and play again, he would have to continue with the program, from where he is leaving off. The Rays have now gone from a team that could have a good year, to a team that will most likely finish under .500.

Brandon Morrow and Frank Fransisco had horrible rehab appearances in Dunedin yesterday, but they will still pitch at least once more before rejoining the club. Octavio Dotel was reinstated from the DL yesterday, and will be part of a indestructible force with Mark Rzepczynski coming out of the bullpen. He will be the man to face right handers, while Rzepczynski will handle the lefties in late game situations. Casey Janssen was optioned back down to AAA, and will likely join the 51's this weekend.

The poll results are in, and out of the 13 people tested, 5 of them said the Jays will win the World Series this year. 3 people said the Red Sox would take it the championship, while 2 said the Phillies would, and three said another team would.0% of the people tested responded with the Giants repeating as World Champions this year.

Blue Jays Minor League Rosters

Triple-A Las Vegas

SP — Luis Perez
SP — Brad Mills
SP — Scott Richmond
SP — Mike MacDonald
SP — Randy Boone

RP — Winston Abreu
RP — Chad Cordero
RP — Sean Henn
RP — Mike Hinckley
RP — Wilfredo Ledezma
RP — Rommie Lewis
RP — Josh Roenicke

C — Ryan Budde
C — Brian Jeroloman

1B — David Cooper
2B — Niuman Romero
SS — Chris Woodward
3B — Brett Lawrie

UTL — Manny Mayorson

LF — Eric Thames
CF — Darin Mastroianni
RF — Adam Loewen
OF — Daniel Perales
OF — Jason Lane

DL — Scott Podsednik
DL — Ryan Shealey
DL — Robert Ray

Double-A New Hampshire

SP — Zach Stewart
SP — B.J. Lamura
SP — Joel Carreno
SP — Ray Gonzalez
SP — Willie Collazo

RP — Evan Crawford
RP — Matt Daly
RP — Clinton Everts
RP — Alan Farina
RP — Bobby Korecky
RP — Vince Perkins
RP — Ronald Uviedo

C — Travis d’Arnaud
C — Yan Gomes

1B — Mike McDade
2B — Jon Diaz
SS — Adeiny Hechavarria
3B — Mark Sobolewski
DH — Craig Stansberry

UTL — John Tolisano

LF — Adam Calderone
CF — Anthony Gose
RF — Moises Sierra
OF — Ricardo Nanita

DL — Scott Campbell
DL — Jared Potts
DL — Callix Crabbe
DL — Luis Sanchez
DL — Al Quintana

Inactive — Matt Liuzza

Class-A Dunedin

SP — Chad Jenkins
SP — Deck McGuire
SP — Asher Wojciechowski
SP — Chad Beck
SP — Ryan Tepera
SP — Nestor Molina

RP — Casey Beck
RP — Frank Gailey
RP — Dumas Garcia
RP — Wes Etheridge
RP — Matt Wright
RP — Ryan Shopshire

C — Antonio Jimenez
C — Sean Ochinko

1B — Jon Talley
2B — Ivan Contreras
SS – Ryan Goins
3B — Kevin Ahrens
DH — Brian Van Kirk

UTL — Justin Jackson
UTL — Kevin Nolan

LF — Kenny Wilson
CF — Bradley Glenn
RF — Brad McElroy
OF — Chris Hopkins

DL — Henderson Alvarez
DL — John Anderson
DL — Raul Barron
DL — Ryan Schimpf
DL — Sean Shoffit
DL — Andrew Liebel

Inactive — Justin McClanahan

Class-A Lansing

SP — Drew Hutchison
SP — Misaul Diaz
SP — Daniel Webb
SP — Egan Smith
SP — Casey Lawrence

RP — Daniel Barnes
RP — Scott Garcey
RP — Dayton Marze
RP — Alex Pepe
RP — Drew Permison
RP — Sam Strickland
RP — Steven Turnbull

C — Carlos Perez
C — Jack Murphy
C — Joseph Bowen

1B — KC Hobson
2B — Garis Pena
SS — Gustavo Pierre
3B — Bryson Namba

UTL — Oliver Dominguez
UTL — Balbino Fuenmayor

LF — Marcus Knecht
CF — Jacob Marisnick
RF — Michael Crouse
OF — Markus Brisker

DL — Dustin Antollin
DL — Matt Fields
DL — Sean Nolin
DL — Lance Durham
DL — Aaron Loup
DL — Brian Slover
DL — Marcus Walden

Oakland Series Update

The Oakland A's have announced that Dallas Braden will be moved back to start against the Jays on Wednesday, as Brandon McCarthy will be moved up to start on Tuesday. McCarthy will oppose Jays No.4 pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes as the series gets underway on Tuesday night.Rajai Davis is set to return to the line-up to face his for teammates, after he turned his ankle on opening night.

The Jays might have started there season last Friday, but the minor league affiliates have yet to start the 2011 campaign. The Las Vegas 51's, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, and the Dunedin Blue Jays are all playing there first games this upcoming Thursday, the 7th.The other 4 minor league affiliates do not start for a while, and all of the players on those teams will stay at the Bobby Mattick Training Centre in Dunedin, Florida for extended spring training. After extended spring training, the BlueField Blue Jays, and the Vancouver Canadians will begin there first year as Blue Jays affiliates.

Game 3: Twins 4 Blue Jays 3

A late Rally by the Jays came up short as the Blue Birds fell to the Twins 4-3 at the Rogers Centre on Sunday. The Jays lost there first game of the season, after starting 2-0 against the Twins.

The reigning Home Run King, Jose Bautista hit his second home run of the new campaign off of Twins starter Nick Blackburn in the Fifth inning, on what happened to be Jose's own bobble head day. J.P Arencibia hit three shots that would have been home runs if the dome was open, but because it was closed, the balls just died at the wall. Adam Lind also hit a sure thing ball 399 feet, but becuase of the lack of air flow, the ball just stopped moving at the wall and just fell into CF Denard Span's glove.

Edwin Encarnacion had two errors in this game, which moves his total to three, in two games. Jose Bautista was supposed to start the season playing third base, but Manager, John Farrell moved Bautista back to RF, Encarnacion to 3B, and Juan Rivera to DH. We all know this move is just temporary as the Jays are going to bring up 3B prospect Brett Lawrie in a couple of weeks. Juan Rivera is just here to be a fill in guy, until Lawrie comes up, and Encarnacion moves back to DH.

Brett Cecil looked a little shooken up after he gave up a solo home run to  Danny Valencia in the third inning. He was taken out after the fifth inning, as he gave up 2 runs on 5 hits, and 1 walk in that fifth inning. Travis Snider helped Cecil that inning as he gunned down Danny Valencia at the plate, from left field. That throw was a real sign of Snider's defensive abilities really starting to grow and develop.

The Jays are off until Tuesday at 7 eastern when they send Jo-Jo Reyes to the mound in Toronto to face Dallas Braden and the Oakland A's

2011 MLB Awards Preview

With the MLB preview done,I need to predict the awards for 2011.Will Roy Halladay win the NL Cy Young again,will Adrian Gonzalez take the switch to the American League easy?We will find out, but for now this is who I think will be the recipients of the awards at the end of the season.

AL MVP Adrian Gonzalez
AL Cy Young Jon Lester
AL Rookie of the Year Kyle Drabek
AL Comeback Joe Mauer

NL MVP Albert Pujols
NL Cy Young Roy Halladay
NL Rookie of the Year Aroldis Chapman
NL Comeback Nate Mclouth

AL Silver Sluggers
C Joe Mauer
1B Adrian Gonzalez
2B Robinson Cano
3B Evan Longoria
SS Derek Jeter
OF Jose Bautista
OF Vernon Wells
OF Vladimir Guerroro
DH Adam Dunn

NL Silver Sluggers
C Brian McCann
1B Albert Pujols
2B Chase Utley
3B Aramis Ramirez
SS Troy Tulowitzki
OF Matt Holiday
OF Carlos Gonzalez
OF Ryan Braun
P Shaun Marcum

AL Gold Gloves
C Russell Martin
1B Mark Teixera
2B Robinson Cano
3B Evan Longoria
SS Derek Jeter
OF Jose Bautista
OF Ichiro Suzuki
OF Tori Hunter
P Mark Buehrle

NL Gold Gloves
C Yadier Molina
1B Albert Pujols
2B Chase Utley
3B Scott Rolen
SS Troy Tulowitzki
OF Matt Holliday
OF Ryan Braun
OF Carlos Gonzlez
P Bronson Arroyo

2011 MLB Preview

It is that time of year again,yes its opening day.So it is time to do a nice little preview. Will it be the Red Sox for the third time in 8 years, or the Phillies for the second time in 4 years, we don't know, but we do know that right now everybody has the same record.



American League

East
1st Boston Red Sox 99-63
2nd New York Yankees 93-69
3rd Toronto Blue Jays 87-75
4th Baltimore Orioles 85-77
5th Tampa Bay Rays 83-81

Central
1st Minnesota Twins 96-66
2nd Chicago White Sox 89-75
3rd Detroit Tigers 79-83
4th Kansas City Royals 75-87
5th Cleveland Indians 71-91

West
1st Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 92-70
2nd Oakland Athletics 84-78
3rd Texas Rangers 82-80
4th Seattle Mariners 72-90

National League
East
1st Philadelphia Phillies 104-58
2nd Atlanta Braves 86-76
3rd Florida Marlins 82-80
4th New York Mets 72-90
5th Washington Nationals 69-93

Central
1st Milwaukee Brewers 92-70
2nd Cincinnati Reds 89-73
3rd St.Louis Cardinals 83-79
4th Chicago Cubs 75-87
5th Pittsburgh Pirates 73-89
6th Houston Astros 68-94

West
1st San Fransisco Giants 94-68
2nd Los Angeles Dodgers 87-75
3rd Colorado Rockies 85-77
4th Arizona Diamond-Backs 73-89
5th San Diego Padres 64-98

Playoffs

Division Rounds
Boston Red Sox defeat LA Angels 3-1
New York Yankees defeat Minnesota Twins 3-2
Philadelphia Phillies defeat Cincinnati Reds 3-0
San Fransisco Giants defeat Milwaukee Brewers 3-2

Championship Series
Boston Red Sox defeat New York Yankees 4-2
Philadelphia Phillies defeat San Fransisco Giants 4-1

World Series
Boston Red Sox defeat Philadelphia Phillies 4-3

2011 Blue Jays Preview

With 2011 Spring Training coming to a close it is time to do a preview for the 2011 Jays. I happened to be in spring training earlier this month, and I was very impressed with the group of players Alex has brought in this season. Jose Bautista looked even better than he did last season, and Adam Lind looks like he is ready to regain his 2009 Silver Slugger form. There are still a few question marks surrounding this team, and I will be answering them in this article.

1. Will Aaron Hill be able to regain his 2009 form, and if he doesn’t are the Jays going to pick up his two option years at the end of the season?
In Hill’s case last season he just lost his timing, and that is why he struggled so badly last year. I was fortunate enough to see him take a couple of at-bats while I was in Dunedin for spring training, and he absolutely crushed the ball to left field, twice. The first time the outfielder made a nice catch at the wall to rob Hill of extra bases, but the second time Hill won the battle. He ripped a ground rule double to left, clearing the fence after a towering hit. If he does perform I do see the Jays picking up his options. If not then he has been a great guy while on the Blue Jays, but likely won’t be signing with them for anything more than a one year deal come the off-season.

2. Can Jose Bautista repeat his performance of 54 hr`s and 124 rbi`s, and can he adjust to third base?
No, but he will have a great year. It is very unlikely that Bautista will put up those types of numbers again this season, but I do expect at least 35 hr’s and 95 rbi’s out of this guy. We know Bautista had the power his entire career, but he didn’t know how to utilize it. When he came to Toronto he was able to fix his swing, and he was off. From September 2009 till the end of last season he led the majors in home runs with 64, yes 64. I don’t think he will have to play third base for long this season because of the phenom Brett Lawrie ready to come up to the bigs. By June Bautista should be back in right field, and Juan Rivera will be traded.

3. Who will be the Jay's number 4 and 5 starters this season?
Entering Spring Training there was 4 pitchers vying for those two spot, and two others, but they had small chances of making the club. Kyle Drabek, Jo-Jo Reyes, Jesse Litsch, and Mark Rzepczynski were the favourites, with Zach Stewart and Scott Richmond as the outsiders. On Sunday, Manager John Farrell said that Rzepczynski was officially out of the race leaving just Drabek, Reyes, and Litsch. I believe Litsch will obtain the 4 spot, while Reyes will nab the 5th and last spot. The reason Reyes gets the spot over Drabek in my opinion is that the Blue Jays can delay Drabek`s free agency a whole year if they keep him in the minors to mid-May. So for a club that isn’t looking to contend till 2012, bringing him up earlier would just be stupid. Once Drabek gets called up Reyes will move to the bullpen if he is pitching well. If he doesn’t pitch up to standards, he will be optioned to the minors and placed on waivers.

4. Can Adam Lind and Edwin Encarnacion adjust to playing first base?
Yes, I saw both of them play while I was at spring training, and they were great. If they struggle I assume red hot David Cooper will be called up to the show to replace one of them.
This is my Predicted roster for the Jays come April 1st.
Position Line Up Number Name
CF 1 Rajai Davis
SS 2 Yunel Escobar
3B 3 Jose Bautista
1B 4 Adam Lind
2B 5 Aaron Hill
DH 6 Edwin Encarnacion
LF 7 Travis Snider
RF 8 Juan Rivera
C 9 J.P Arencibia




Rotation Number Throwing Hand Name
1 LHP Ricky Romero
2 RHP Brandon Morrow
3 LHP Brett Cecil
4 RHP Jesse Litsch
5 LHP Jo-Jo Reyes

Position Name
INF Mike McCoy
INF John Mcdonald
C Jose Molina
OUT Corey Patterson

Throwing Hand Name
RHP Jon Rauch
RHP Jason Frasor
RHP Shawn Camp
LHP David Purcey
RHP Jesse Carlson
RHP Casey Janssen
RHP Carlos Villanueva

I believe the Blue Jays will finish 3rd in the American League East again, with a record of 87-75.

Jays Sign Posednik

The Blue Jays have signed OF Scott Posednik to a minor league deal today. He will compete with Corey Patterson for the 4th outfield spot. If Posednik has a great spring, he could take over the starting job from Rajai Davis, and bat leadoff. He had 35 steals last year in 134 games played with the Royals and Dodgers.

Busy Weekend for AA and the Blue Jays

Last winter when the best pitcher in baseball, Roy Halladay was traded to the Phillies Vernon Wells was given the role of clubhouse leader,Now that role is going to be handed down to Jose Bautista, the 2010 Home Run Champion, because Vernon was traded on Friday afternoon. The Angels acquired the two time gold glove Center field, but had to swallow his $86 million dollar contract over the next 4 years.The Jays got C Mike Napoli, and LF Juan Rivera, in exchange for Wells.Wells was in second place in virtually every offensive category for the Blue Jays in his career, right behind 1B slugger Carlos Delgado,who left the team after the 2004 season.

Today Mike Napoli learned a lesson,don't think once you get traded once in 3 days, doesn't mean your not going to get traded again. The Blue Jays have received reliever Frank Fransisco, in exchange for new Blue Jay Mike Napoli from the Rangers. Napoli was part of the Vernon Wells trade, just 3 days ago.Fransisco was 6-4 last season with a 3.76 ERA, when he lost the closer's job to AL Rookie of the Year Neftali Feliz. The Blue Jays now have 4 former closers in the running for the closers job; the job will be given out during Spring Training.

This is my second prediction for how the Blue Jays roster will look next season.

C J.P Arencibia
1B Adam Lind
2B Aaron Hill
3B Jose Bautista
SS Yunel Escobar
LF Juan Rivera
CF Rajai Davis
RF Travis Snider
DH Edwin Encarnacion

1SP Ricky Romero
2SP Brandon Morrow
3SP Brett Cecil
4SP Kyle Drabek
5SP Zach Stewart

MRP Casey Janssen
MRP Jo-JO Reyes
LRP Shawn Camp
LRP Jason Frasor
SU Jon Rauch
SU Octavio Dotel
CL Frank Fransisco

Bench
John McDonald
Jose Molina
Corey Patterson
Mike McCoy

Alomar Elected to Hall in Second Year,Bautista Moving Back to the Outfield?

A year ago Roberto Aomar was just 8 votes shy of being elected into the Hall of Fame,this year he won 90% of the vote, and was elected. Alomar won two world series championships with the Jays in 1992 and 1993, and won 10 gold gloves during the course of his stellar career.He also won 4 silver slugger awards at second base, and drove in over 100 runs twice.He will be inducted with former Blue Jays GM Pat Gillick on July 24th 2011.

Since AA would hate to put Jose Bautista at third base he is trying to get another option to play the hot corner. The Blue Jays have already had 6 time gold glove winner Eric Chavez try out for the position,and would love an upgrade at the position.

Lee, Greinke Find New Teams

Cliff Lee, the most prize free agent of the 2010-2011 off-season,is off the market.A 2008 Cy Young winner, and October baseball fanatic, Lee signed a 5 year $120 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. Lee will join 2010 Cy Young winner Roy Halladay, Three time All-Star Roy Oswalt, 2008 World Series MVP Cole Hamels, and Joe Blanton, to make up the best rotation in baseball today, and arguably the best in history. Expect the Phillies to be serious contenders in the 2011 World Series chase.

On December 17th, Zack Greinke, a 2009 Cy Young winner, asked his team¸the Kansas City Royals to be traded.The obvious reason was because the Royals have finished in the cellar of the AL Central more than one would want too. On December 19th, Greinke was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers. Just days before that, Shaun Marcum, the 2010 Opening day starter for the Blue Jays was traded to the Brew Crew.With those two additions the Brewers basically secure the division crown, in the NL Central.They now have an amazing rotation, to go along with one of the best offenses in the National League.

This might be a little to early, but this is what the 2011 playoffs look life in my head.

Phillies over Cardinals 3-1
Brewers over Giants 3-2

Yankees over Rangers 3-0
Red Sox over White Sox 3-2

Phillies over Brewers 4-2
Red Sox over Yankees 4-1

Phillies over Red Sox 4-3

The Phillies have too good of a pitching rotation,for the league`s best offense from Bean town to beat them.

Some Changes Coming to the Playoffs?

Sorry, I haven't blogged in a few weeks,I've been very busy, and this next blog will have everything that I've missed.Bud Selig said that he has no opposition to increase the amount of teams going to the playoffs. Selig,the commisioner of the MLB proposed an idea of expaning the playoff format to 5 teams from each lesgue,adding one more wild card spot in each league. You might be thinking to yourself,ok they'll have the best team having a bye to the second round.So how about the second round,there is going to need to be another bye.So,as just explained,this a ridiculous format. I personally like the football playoff system better than the hockey and basketball ones, that are the other options. The NFL has six teams from each league make the playloffs, with the top two seeds receiving byes. This system would work because a team won't have to be a 90 game winner to make the playoffs. Instead the amount of wins needed to make it in will be around 86 to 88 because there is 3 wild card playoff spots, in each league. We will see what transpires this season, but Selig said that the change wouldn't take place until at least 2012, when the MLB and MLBPA's agreement is up.As you already know Jason Frasor accepted arbitration, while Miguel Olivo, Scott Downs, and Kevin Gregg all declined. Downs was a "Type A" free agent, which means that when Downs signs with another team the Jays will receive that teams first round pick, and a sandwich round pick in between the first and second round of the 2011 First Year Player Entry Draft. A "Type B" player will earn his former team a sandwich round pick, an only that. John Buck was a "Type B" player, and after he signed with the Marlins to a 3 year $21 million contract,the Jays received a sandwich pick.The Blue Jays did not offer contracts to Brian Tallet, and Fred Lewis, so they became free agents. Tallet wasted no time by signing with the Cardinals from St. Louis earlier last week.Last Friday AA made a move to strengthen the core of the Bluebirds bullpen when he acquired Carlos Villuaneva, from the Brewers for a player to be named later. This is just the first of many moves by AA this winter that will involve the bullpen, because of the departure of Scott Downs, Kevin Gregg, and Brian Tallet, to free agency.AA pulled off a surprising move today as he once again made a trade with the Brew Crew, but this one was involving Shaun Marcum. Marcum was traded to Milwaukee for Brett Lawrie, a 20 year old second baseman who was the # 1 prospect in the Brewers System. Lawrie had 30 steals last season while hitting .285 for AA-Huntsville. He might just be a prospect that KC wanted,which could bring Zach Grienke to Toronto. Rumors were swirling on Monday afternoon that Carlos Pena is being highly pushed at by the Jays. A GM of another team pursuing Pena, told espn that, and it has been a hot topic since.Well that basically sums everything up, enjoy the Winter Meetings!!!!!

Managerial Roster Finished,Some More Hardware for Bautista

One of the legends of the glory days in Blue Jays history is coming back to the Rogers Centre. Pat Hengten is going to replace Rick Langford as the Jays bullpen for 2011 season.Also joining the Jays staff is Don Wakamatsu as bench coach,Torey Lovullo will be the first base coach, and Luis Rivera as coaching assistant. Brian Butterfield will stay with the Jays to be the third base coach, Dwayne Murphy will remain as the Jays hitting coach, and Bruce Walton will be the pitching coach. Wakamatsu will be allowed to interview for the job of managing the New York Mets,as he was before he signed with the Jays. This staff is very energetic and should be a perfect with the young team that the Jays will put on the field in 2011.

Last week Alex Anthopoulous made a move to decline CL Kevin Gregg's option for the 2011 season. Gregg is a "Type B Free Agent", meaning that if the Jays offer him arbitration, and he declines the Jays will get a sandwich pick in between the first and second round of the 2011 MLB draft. Of course the Blue Jays only get that pick if Gregg signs with another team.

AA also made an interesting move a week ago,when he acquired C Miguel Olivo from the Rockies,for a player to be named later.Only a few hours later AA declined Olivo's 2011 option,once again securing a compensation pick if he signs elsewhere.From those two moves you can tell the direction AA and the Jays are moving in,they want to rack up a lot of draft picks.

In other free agent news, Postseason miracle worker, Cliff Lee had an interview this week, with non-other than GM Brian Cashman,GM of the New York Yankees.

Jose Bautista won his second award of the off-season so far today,when he racked up a Silver Slugger for the most powerful outfielder. Jose will likely win the Most improved player award,which fellow teammate 2b Aaron Hill won after the 2009 season.

Make sure to vote for the TYIB awards,especially for the Blue Jays going for the awards.

Farrell Hired,Butterfield and Walton Staying

On Friday morning John Farrell was hired, and the interest started coming back north of the border.LF Mammy Ramirez, of the Chicago White Sox said he would love to come to play in Toronto with new manager John Farrell. Farrell was the pitching coach in Boston during Manny's last full season with the BoSox. This is a very good sign for Toronto sports in general, because most players will go to a different city if they have a choice instead of T.O.

One of the first moves Alex Anthopolous and John Farrell made was announcing that 3B Coach Brian Butterfield,and Pitching Coach Bruce Walton, would stay with the club for the 2011 season. The club is currently negotiating with Hitting Coach Dwayne Murphy to return.Murphy was the magical hitting coach that led the Blue Jays to there powerful season,posting the third best amount of home runs in one season, with 257.

On Wednesday afternoon the Jays picked up a $1.2 million dollar option on C Jose Molina,meaning John Buck's chance of coming back to the Jays next season is down to next to nothing. That move also means you can expect to see J.P Arencibia as the starting catcher next season.

Go on to bluejays.com,and vote for every award possible.

Vote Jays!!

John Farrell "Is he the Next Blue Jays Manager?"

Peter Gammons, of MLB.com tweeted this morning, that Red Sox Pitching Coach John Farrell will be named the Blue Jays Manager. On Wednesday Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulus gave a finale list of just three names to the media.Red Sox Coach Demario Hale, Cleveland Indians First Base coach Sandy Alomar Jr. and Farrell. Alomar Jr, who is the brother of former Blue Jays great Roberto Alomar, seemed to be the front runner in this managerial race. Also this morning Brian Butterfield, Blue Jays 3rd base coach, said he believes he is the running for the Jays manager spot, even though he wasn't on the list.

Jose Bautista underwent surgery today to repair a sports hernia. Bautista, who earlier in the week was named to TSN's all star team of 2010, will be out for 6 weeks following the procedure. Jose who is is contention for MVP, and who has a silver slugger award wrapped up, will likely also win comeback player of the year award.If he does win the CPOTY, it will mark the second straight year a Blue Jay has won it. Last season, Aaron Hill took home that piece of hardware following his incredible season.

Be sure to vote for all the Blue jays in contention for TYIB awards, and order your 2011 tickets now online at bluejays.com or call 888-654-6529.

Here is a little video to remind us of the glory days.

Toronto Blue Jays Season Review

The Blue Jays finished 85-77,at least 20 wins more than most prognosticators predicted the Jays would win.Leading the league in home runs with 257, tt was a good year for the offense,while the pitching was not far behind.The big 4 in the rotation,(Ricky Romero, Shaun Marcum, Brett Cecil, and Brandon Morrow) all had above 10 wins, with 15 being the most by Brett Cecil. Every pitcher on the Jays staff who pitched more than 50 innings last season, had a whip of 1.60 or lower.This season included some amazing moments from John McDonalds fathers day home run to Jose Bautista's 50th home run.

These are my predictions for next years 25-man roster.

SP Shaun Marcum
SP Ricky Romero
SP Brett Cecil
SP Brandon Morrow
SP Kyle Drabek
CP Kevin Gregg
SU Shawn Camp
SU Casey Janssen
LRP David Purcey
LRP Taylor Buchholz
MRP Mark Rzepczynski
MRP Rommie Lewis

C J.P Arencibia
1B Paul Konerko (Free Agency)
2B Aaron Hill
3B Jose Bautista
SS Yunel Escobar
LF Fred Lewis
CF Vernon Wells
RF Travis Snider
DH Adam Lind

Bench:
C Jose Molina
2B/SS/3B John Mcdonald
1B/2B/3B/SS/LF/RF/CF Mike McCoy
LF/RF/CF DeWayne Wise

Remember to vote for Alex Anthopoulus,Jose Bautista,Moment,Brandon Morrow,Oddity, in the TYIB awards.

Roy Halladay: Human or not Human,That is the Question

On the night of Wednesday October 6th 2010, Roy Halladay got "Doctober" off to a tremendous start. He threw 104 pitches,9 innings and made history by pitching a no-hitter against the NL Central Champion Cincinnati Reds.Halladay did not only throw the first no hitter in Division series history, he outhit the reds by himself,yes he had a hit and the Reds didn't.In the second,the man they call the "Doc" got a RBI single to extend the Phillies lead to 2-0 which would end up 4-0. The front runner for 2010 NL Cy Young threw only the second no-hitter in post season history in his post season debut. Blue Jays fans across the world were smiling and cheering as arguably the best Blue Jays pitcher of all time, and without a doubt the best pitcher in baseball right now threw one of the most dominant games ever pitched by a pitcher in the history of baseball.

Here is the video of all 28 batters he faced.Roy got 27 of the 28 batters out as a 5th inning walk to Jay Bruce was the only blemish on his resume today. As you watch this think of how good Roy really is.



Some time this week i will blog about the Jays season in 2010 and what we could expect from them this off-season.

50 for Bautista,30 for Wells,20 for Overbay,It's the Year of the Long Ball

On Thursday night,Jose Bautista did something only 26 other people in the entire world can say they did.He hit his 50th home run of the season as the Jays beat the Mariners,by a score of 6-4. On Friday night Vernon Wells hit his 30th home run,which is his third 30 home run season in his career.On Saturday in the bottom of the eleventh inning,with the score tied at 4 Lyle Over bay stepped up to the plate and hit a walk off home run.

Last Saturday, Kevin Gregg recorded his 33rd save of the season which breaks his season record of 32 that he posted in 2007.Gregg was signed in the off-season last year and all the critics said that he would be a waste of money and that he was going to pitch horribly.Gregg is pitching decent with 35 saves in 40 opportunities.


Yesterday,the Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman,of the Cincinnati Reds did not throw one of his 25 pitches under 100 MPH. Chapman also threw the fastest pitch ever recorded in a major league game at 105 MPH. Chapman was in contract talks with Blue jays in the off-season but he decided to go Cincinnati instead.

This week the first two clubs to clinch the playoffs were The Minnesota Twins when they clinched the AL Central, and the Texas Rangers clinched the AL West.The playoffs start October 6th on Fox and TBS.

Here are some videos for you:

Jose Bautista's Press Conference after Hitting his 50th Home Run

Bautista ties Bell with his 47th, Big News From Vancouver

On Wednesday night George Bell was relaxing when he got a call from Baltimore. As he picked up he found out that Jays slugger Jose Bautista hit his 47th home run of the season, tying Bell's all time Blue Jays record,which he hit in his MVP 1987 Season.Bautista hit a 1-0 fastball into left field,which was his 7th homer against the O's this season,which is the most by him against any team. All 47 of his bombs have been to left or left center field, and most of them have been on fastballs.

The Blue Jays and the Vancouver Canadians have announced that they are going to be the short season A ball team for the Jays when it comes to the start of the 2011 season.The Jays ended there contract with the Auburn Doubledays, and agreed to terms with the C's.There hasn't been a minor league baseball team in Canada since the Ottawa Lynx stop playing in 2007,but before that there have been many teams.For example ,the Medicine Hat Blue Jays, the St. Catherines Blue Jays, the London Tigers,the Edmonton Trappers, the Calgary Cannons, and the famous Montreal Royals, for which Jackie Robinson played for in 1945.Minor League Baseball in Canada is back and better then ever.

The Future is Ready,Home Run Streak To 15

On Sunday afternoon the Blue Jays did something this city has been waiting for since the beginning of the season.Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos called up RHP Kyle Drabek from AA New Hampshire. Drabek was the number 1 prospect in the Roy Halladay trade and was named Eastern League Pitcher of the year. Drabek was 14-6 with a 2.94 era as he led the Fisher Cats to the playoffs. Drabek also through a no-hitter this year in AA.

Just a few minutes ago Edwin Encarnacion hit a home run to extend the Blue Jays home run streak to 15 straight games. That is the best active streak in the MLB now and better then the 13 game they had earlier this season,which was the Jays previous best.

Bill James invented a formula to calculate how many wins a team will have that season.Using that formula the Blue Jays should have 73 wins as of last night,compared to the 73 they did have last night. At the end of the season if the Jays score and let in the same amount of runs as they are right now they should have 83 wins at seasons end.

Don`t forget to vote for Vernon Wells as the 5 tool player,and for the Roberto Clemente award.Also vote for the late Tom Cheek to win the Ford C. Frick award.

Bautista wins yet another award, Jays Keep on Riding Home Runs to Victory

Jose Bautista is having a year that he could never have dreamed of. The Says slugger leads the league in home runs,is 2nd in rbi's with 103,and is in 3rd with a slugging percentage of .618. Bautista also has 3 player of the weeks awards, and won his second player of the month award on Wednesday.Bautista is also in 3rd in league in walks with 87,and is tied for first with 76 XBH.

The Jays have won there last two games, while hitting six home runs over that stretch. Not only is the batting on fire for the blue birds, Brett Cecil and Ricky Romero have started the two games and have pitched 13.1 innings, allowing just 4 runs while striking out just 5 batters. Vernon Wells and Aaron hill went deep in Sunday and Monday's game.

While scrolling around on the Fisher Cats website I found a left fielder that I've never heard about that made me very excited. His name is Eric Thames and he hit .288 with an impressive 27 home runs and 104 rbi's.Thames also had a .370 on base percentage to go along with a .526 slugging percentage. Thames was drafted 219th overall by the Jays in the 2008 first year player draft. I think he has a chance of cracking a spot on the Jays next season out of spring training if a trade is made to clear up some room in the Jays amazing outfield. Only time will tell with this amazing 24 year old prospect.

Make sure you vote for Tom Cheek to win the Ford.C Frick award and for Vernon Wells for the 5-tool player award.

Morrow to be Shut Down, Manny Going to Chicago

Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulous announced on Sunday that arguably the Jays best starter this season will be shut down after his next start on Friday, because he has approached his inning limit.

Blue Jays 3B Edwin Encarnacion was placed on the 15-day DL on Sunday,while UTIL Mike McCoy was called up from AAA LAs Vegas.McCoy was sent down in June because the team wanted him to work on playing shortstop.

For the third time this season Jose Bautista was named the AL Player of the Week on Sunday. Bautista batted .500 for the week while hitting 4 home runs including his 40th of the season. Bautista is also in the running for AL Player of the month whih will be announced in the coming weeks.

Manny Ramirez is going to the windy city as he was claimed off of waivers by the Chicago White Sox.The LA Dodgers fell further out of a playoff race, so losing Manny's contract seemed like a good idea to them.

Bautista Hits #41 on the season, 100 Career

Jose Bautista hit his 41st home run tonight and his 100th career as the Blue Jays were beaten 7-1 by the Detroit Tigers.On Wednesday night the Jays beat the Yankees 6-3 as Vernon Wells was a double shy of the cycle .On Tuesday night the Jays were obliterated by the Yankees 11-5 as the Bronx Bombers feasted on Mark Rzepczynski's horrible pitching. The Jays are struggling as they are now 4 for there last 10,and only 5 games above .500.

On Sunday August 22nd, Damien Cox, the Hockey Columnist for the Toronto Star, blogged asking a question if Jose Bautista was using Steroids. Although it was a legitimate question,it was wrong in my opinion. Yes, Bautista had never hit more than 20 home runs in one season and 41 of his 100 home runs have come this season, but this guys arms look like those of a normal person. When McGuire,Sosa, and the Godfather of Steroids, Jose Canseco were juicing there arms were bigger than most people's heads.Damien Cox as mentioned before is a hockey columnist which might explain why he doesn't know that from when your 28-32 you play the best baseball of your career, that's why its your prime.

Post comments with your opinion of whether it was okay for Damien Cox to blog that.

Strikeouts,Brawls,Streakers,and Home Runs: The Perfect Ball Game

In the First inning of the Blue Jays game on Monday Night the Jays had the bases loaded with none out.The Yankees got three quick outs and the inning was over.

Eight innings,two home runs,one streaker,one brawl,and two ejections later The Blue Birds beat the Yankees 3-2.Jose Bautista hit his 39th and 40th home runs of the season,while Brandon Morrow pitched a spectacular 12 strikeout performance. In Bautista's second At bat the Yankees pitcher threw the ball right at Jose's head.The benches cleared and on the next pitch he Hammered the ball to deep center field for a fly out.But his next At bat he crushed his 40th home run of the season and his 2nd of the game.

Yunel Escobar and Cito Gaston were both ejected for what seems to be arguing balls and strikes but it isn't clear.

In Washington this morning Stephen Strasburg,the flame throwing 2009 No.1 Pick was placed on the disabled list for the second times in as many months because of shoulder soreness.That injury usually occurs when you throw 102mph at such a young age.

In Arlington, Texas the Rangers Pitchers were two out away from achieving a combined no-hitter but Joe Mauer singled up the middle 25 outs in to break up the No-No.


The Idiot Could be heading Back To Bean town

Johnny Damon was claimed by the Red Sox on Monday morning.The hero of the 2004 world series champions needs to waive his no-trade-clause by Wednesday,if he is to return to Fenway Park this season.

Jays Lose Another, but Bats Finally Come Alive

The Jays have now lost 7 of there last 9 games and destined to make all the baseball predictors stop scratching their heads. All but a few sports reporters predicted that these Jays would finish in last place in the AL East, but the Blue Birds were proving them wrong up until Interleague Play started.The Jays were knocking the ball out of the park at record paces,but just like every other year,the team falls apart in Mid-June.

Remember to vote for Alex Gonzalez, Jose Bautista, and Vernon Wells as those are the three Blue jays that deserve all-star recognition.

Also remember to vote for Jose Bautista, and Vernon Wells who are in the top 5 in the MLB for the lead in home runs and should be representing Toronto during the home run derby on July 13th.

I am going away for the summer so this will be my last post until late august.


Go Jays!!!!!

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