Blue Jays Daily: August 21st 2012

This is basically an injury update because thats all the news we really get these days when you're a Blue Jays fan, but there is some stuff about prospects as well.

Morrow Penciled in for Saturday's Start

Brandon Morrow, who up until Felix Hernandez's perfect game last week led the league in complete game shutouts, will return to the mound for the Blue Jays this Saturday. Brandon will face the Orioles, who need to fade, because they aren't good. No decision on who will be sent down to make room for Morrow has been made, but you have to think its going to be Henderson Alvarez or Ricky Romero.

Bautista/Lind Play for the Dunedin Blue  Jays

Blue Jays All Star Jose Bautista and the man who is in the process of losing his job due to David Cooper's success , Adam Lind, are both playing for the Blue Jays High-A team tonight. They should be back with the big league club at the earliest by Friday. Jose should be leading off tonight, and Lind should be batting 2nd, but the game is currently being delayed because of rain. Hopefully they get the game in so our injured players can get some ABs.

Lawrie Shut Down...Possibly for Good

Brett Lawrie has been shut down from his rehab stint, and will need at least a week before he is allowed to rehab again in minor league games. Lawrie's ribcage is sore again, and that is the reason for this setback. Blue Jays Skipper John Farrell did not rule out shutting him down for the rest of the season so he will be ready for next year.

Yorvit Arrives

Recently signed Catcher Yorvit Torrealba is in Detroit and is ready to play if needed tonight. AA said last week that he and Jeff Mathis will split the catching duties if/when JP Arencibia comes back this season. Yorvit told reporters before the game that many teams offered him contracts, but because the Jays were able to promise him playing time, he chose to sign with them. Torrealba was 5-12 with 3 walks in 4 games played with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats(AA) while preparing to come up to Toronto.

Norris Heading to Vancouver

The crown jewel of AA's 2011 MLB Draft, Daniel Norris, has been called up to the Vancouver Canadians(SS A). Norris announced this via his twitter account today. Daniel had a 7.97 ERA in 35.0 IP in BlueField this season, which makes you wonder why exactly he has been called up. But, he is a top-100 prospect in the game for a reason. He has great stuff. I'm sure he will do just fine while playing for the Canadians. 

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Blue Jays Daily: July 16th 2012

Things can't get any worse, can they? 3 quarters of the rotation is injured(and Dustin McGowan), in the bullpen Sergio Santos and Luis Perez are injured (as well as Jesse Litsch), and All-Star Jose Bautista is injured.

Bautista Hurts His Wrist
Yes, Jose Bautista is injured. Jose injured his wrist after fouling off a ball during tonight's game against the Yankees, but doesn't have a broken left wrist. It is a tendon issue, and more details will be known tomorrow when Bautista gets an MRI.He felt a popping sensation in his wrist, which could never be good, especially because a tendon injury could be worse than a broken bone.
Gose Leaves AAA Game
Blue Jays prospect Anthony Gose has been removed from his game for the Las Vegas 51's tonight, and it looks like he is going to be the replacement for Bautista. Gose has an OBP of .376 this year, to go along with 29 steals! We have been discussing on twitter where he will play(If he comes up), and there are a few opinions. I believe CF, because he is a better fielder than Rasmus, and the issue of switching somebodies position in the middle of the season apply's to both of them, so I would go with Gose in centre. Other people, including Mike Wilner of the Fan 590 think Rasmus will stick in CF for this season, but then again, Wilner thought there was almost no chance Gose would be called up, so, ya. And, according to Shi Davidi's "Source", Gose will be called up if Gose goes on the DL
Luis Perez to Undergo TJ Surgery on Tuesday
Blue Jays relief pitcher Luis Perez will undergo Tommy John surgery tomorrow in Pensacola, Florida performed by Dr. James Andrews(This sounds way too familiar). Perez tore his UCL during the Jays game vs. the White Sox on July 8th, and surgery was decided on during the All-Star Break. Luis had a 3.43 ERA in 42 IP in 2012.
Morrow Takes Another Step Forward
Blue Jays Ace Brandon Morrow has pitched another strong bullpen session yesterday. He is scheduled for another bullpen on Thursday, and if he is setback free(Fingers crossed), he will throw live BP next week. After that he will require 3-5 rehab starts. A Late August return is probable for the pitcher who had a 3.01 ERA in 13 starts for the Jays earlier this year.
Possible Line-Ups Involving Gose?
This would be my ideal line up with Gose in the majors and Bautista injured.
Gose-CF Lawrie-3B Encarnacion-1B Rasmus-CF Lind-DH Escobar-SS Johnson-2B Davis-LF Arencibia-C

What are your opinions on the recent moves and injuries? Let us know with a comment and we can discuss!

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Blue Jays Mid-Season Grades:Part 2

Time for the second part of my Mid-season grades for the Toronto Blue Jays! The next 5 highest grades will be graded on this post, with the first 5 being graded on yesterday’s post, which can be viewed here if you have not already seen them.

Casey Janssen: B

Since taking over as closer, Janssen
 has been lights out.

Many of you are probably wondering about now why Janssen was not included in yesterday’s post, as you all probably think he deserves better than a B. I was leaning towards giving him a B+ based on his basic stats, ERA,WHIP, and his K/BB rate, but after looking at his FIP and other stats, a B is what I decided on. He has been great as a closer, not that pitching in the ninth is any different than any other inning, but when he enters the game not in a save situation, he hasn’t been too good. Casey has also changed how he has pitched this year. He is throwing his fastball 50% of the time, which is his highest percentage to date in his career, so he needs to be careful, because if he loses command of that fastball, he will fail instantly. To improve this grade Casey is going to need to be as lights out as he is when he closes when he does not. It looks like Sergio Santos will be out for the season, so Janssen is going to be the teams closer for the late season pennant race, and needs to stay healthy and retain his fastball command.

Brandon Morrow: B

Morrow was having a career year
before he got injured.

Oh don’t injuries sting? Morrow was having the best season of his career when he injured his oblique muscle a few weeks ago. He had shutouts, and ERA of 3.02, and a FIP of 3.89. His numbers are quite bloated because he had 2 horrendous starts in May, but other than those two starts, his ERA would be in the low 2’s. As you all likely know, Morrow changes his pitching styles a little bit this year, as he is throwing his fastball a little slower(.9 MPH slower average), and using his changeup more often. It has clearly worked as Brandon has been amazing. His grade would have been an A if it wasn’t for those two starts, and I hope he comes back soon!

Luis Perez:B

Perez is having a career year for the Blue Jays this year, as his stats are better this year than they ever were, even in the minors. He has an ERA of 3.18, a FIP of 3.57, and a WHIP 1.26. He was the most consistent reliever for the Jays up until the middle of May, but has not pitched as well since. He has still been one of the best relievers for the team, and has become a fan favorite as well. Luis is only making $485,700 this season, so the Jays have unquestionably got their money’s worth with him. In order for this grade to improve he is going to need to get back to what he was doing earlier in the season, but even if he continues to pitch like he is currently, he is still a solid long reliever for any team.

Carlos Villanueva: B-

Villanueva has been forced into the same situation as last season, when he was a solid reliever, and had to start for a while due to injuries. Carlos V ran out of gas near the ends of last season because of the starts, and will likely be the first pitcher out of the rotation when a suitable replacement is found for one of the three injured pitchers. Villanueva has a 3.53 ERA this year in 22 relief appearances and 1 start (his 2^nd start is tonight against the Royals), and a FIP of 4.45, so his numbers have definitely been helped by the Jays top 10 defense. Carlos gets some extra points for being that guy on the team who is a solid pitcher whatever position he is in, so that helps his value. In order for this grade to rise Carlos is going to have to continue pitching the way he is but in the rotation, and hopefully he doesn’t run out of gas when he is put back in the pen.

Jason Frasor: B-

Frasor is up to his usual stuff once again, putting up ridiculously similar numbers to his career ones, and being counted on to do so. He has remained a constant in the Blue Jays pen for so many years now, always producing an ERA between 2.50 and 4.00. This year his ERA is 3.82, his FIP is 3.85, and his WHIP is 1.40. His BABIP is above his career rate by .30, so expect that number to fall, while his other numbers decrease as well. The grade of a B- will likely improve to a B+ or so by the end of the year due to his bad luck so far this season when it comes to ground balls getting by fielders.

What do you guys think of the 2^nd installment of this series? Would you have graded them differently? Leave a comment below with your opinion!

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The Evolution of Brandon Morrow

How has the strikeout master Brandon Morrow redefined himself following a frustrating season of inconsistency? 

He looked objectively at his innings from 2011, and made a commitment to become a more complete pitcher. Morrow had been hearing for years that he’d find more success by trying to get quicker at-bats, get more ground balls so he could pitch deeper into games but it wasn’t until this winter that it finally sunk in. Given the fact that Morrow only had one double-play turned behind him in 179 innings of work last year, his off-season work has already proved fruitful with more than 6 DPs in 41 innings of work. This is a huge part of the evolution of Brandon Morrow – using his pitches to allow his defence to get some outs. Pitching to contact and allowing the dynamite defence behind him to get the outs is the most important aspect of his improvement.

When the Seattle Mariners dealt Morrow to the Blue Jays two and a half years ago there was no question of his potential. The Mariners were frustrated with his volatility and gross inconsistency; there were games where Seattle thought Brandon was their closer, frontline ace, and a wasted first round draft pick. While there should never have been any question of the stuff that Morrow throws, his inability to make hitters chase off-speed pitches and his frequent high pitch counts did not let Morrow see many games after the 6^th inning. It is imperative that ace-type pitchers enter every game with the intent to finish all 9 innings. You can see this mentality when you watched Roy Halladay on the mound, and now Ricky Romero – Brandon Morrow version 2.0 has the ability to finish out games.

Throwing gas is something that Brandon Morrow has always had in spades. The ability to reach back and put a little extra into his 2-seam fastball is a tool that Brandon will always possess; the trouble has been too many walks. Morrow has found himself in many full count situations, while trying to throw through the batter. Morrow’s career walks per 9 innings is just north of 4.0; and so far this year his BB/9 is a sparkling 1.7. This is another major reason for Morrow lasting 6.8 innings per start over his first 7 games of the 2012 season. Any pitcher that does not inherently pitch to contact will struggle having to throw from the stretch constantly due to issuing the free pass. The success of Morrow will rely heavily upon his ability to keep

There will be games this season where Morrow fails to pitch like he did on May 4^th in Anaheim, and those games may occur when his strikeouts rack up. This is completely acceptable. As we should understand, an evolution is a process, a transition. There is no switch or option box to check for Morrow. He will have to improve, grow, and mature into the new and improved pitcher that he is becoming. The evolution of Brandon Morrow will be something that Blue Jays fans and all baseball fans will get to admire for the next couple seasons. 

Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts below. Follow me on Twitter @ntopolie13 

I'm always open to discussion or debate! Blue Jays fans unite! 

Is the Blue Jays Pitching One of the Best in the League?

The main stream media has been writing articles about how good the Blue Jays starters have been this season, even though they haven't actually been that good. They have actually been quite bad. In this article, I'm going to take a look at some advanced metrics that prove that the Blue Jays defense has been responsible for the pitching success, not the actual pitchers.

As most of you know from John Lott's article in the National Post today, the Blue Jays have the best defense in the MLB. The Jays have saved 29 runs from there defense according to DRS (Defensive Runs saved). This is due to the amount of shifts that have worked for the Jays, and their range that has greatly improved with the addition of Brett Lawrie and others.

The Blue Jays starters ERA's is 3.55, good for 3rd best in the AL. That number is way below where it would be if the Jays defense wasn't so good. So, to determine how good the Blue Jays starters really are, we will look at FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching), and BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play). These are the ERA's, FIP's, and Opponents BABIP of the Blue Jays Starters this year. (No #5 starter)

Ricky Romero-3.64,4.03,.214
Brandon Morrow-2.38,4.32,.202
Henderson Alvarez-2.83,5.21,.200
Kyle Drabek-3.34,5.30,.263

As you can see, their ERA's are very low, but once you get rid of the contribution of the fielders (FIP), those numbers are very high. Morrow,Alvarez, and Drabek all have significantly below average FIP's, and Romero's is only a tad below average. If Ricky is going to be your #1 pitcher, then he needs to be your best pitcher, and his numbers so far are pretty disappointing. All of those pitchers have insanely low BABIP's, which means the batters are very unlucky, or the Blue Jays fielding has been phenomenal. Obviously, its the second option.

So, instead of giving credit to the Blue Jays Pitchers for their low numbers, give the credit to their defenders of the likes like Mr.Lawrie,Mr.Escobar, and Mr. Johnson. Hopefully, later this season, the two sides (Pitching and Defense) can both be leading the league, and the Jays will be in the post-season for the first time since 1993.

Feel free to leave your comments below.

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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.

Errors Prove Costly in Jays Loss

Aaron Hill and Alex Gonzalez wont be sleeping tonight. Both middle infielders had errors tonight that led to the decisive three runs in the game. The Blue Jays are 0-4 this season against the Bosox. Brandon Morrow left the game after 1.2 innings. Morrow allowed 3 hits and 6 walks which led to 6 runs. After Jose Bautista's 5th inning home run the bats struggled as that was the last hit the Blue Jays would get in the game. Adam Lind continued to struggle as he went 0-5 tonight while leaving 5 runners on base.Josh Roenicke and Rommie Lewis combined to pitch 5.1 innings while allowing just 4 hits and striking out 5. John Lackey pitched 6 innings and then gave way to the Red Sox bullpen who didn't allow a hit through 3 innings. Instant replay was used in the game tonight as Alex Gonzalez hit a double in the 2nd inning over the Green Monster. The Blue Jays 2 through 5 hitters combined to go 0-16 with 2 walks and 1 run scored. Stay tuned for more Bases Loaded tommorow with the first pitch set to go at 7:10 PM. Dana Eveland(3-1 3.82) vs.Daisuke Matsuzaka(1-1 9.90).