Archive for March, 2010

There were 2 big news items for the Jays today, as they faced Doc in a spring game and Marc Rzepczynski was diagnosed with a broken middle finger. How quickly things change. I can remember sitting here thinking the Jays had way too many arms competing for the 5 spots and that some guys were going to be grumpy when they were sent to the pen or to AAA. That’s not the case any longer, as some who were well behind at the start of the spring (Brett Cecil for example after he did very well in his last couple [...]

Dennis Ryan Tepera – 22 years old, 6’1″ 180 lbs, from Lake Jackson, Texas One of my biggest critiques about the Toronto Blue Jays and their draft history is that they seem to have a really hard time finding gems late in the draft. Well, RHP Dennis Tepera may be proof that the Jays do have at least some skills in finding the odd gem because he truly has the potential to make progress in leaps and bounds in 2010. Dennis was drafted in the 19th round of the 2009 draft out of Sam Huston State University in  Huntsville, Texas, [...]

Rotoworld is reporting that the Jays have sent Jesse Carlson down to AAA, along with SP David Purcey. OF Jeremy Reed, meanwhile, is heading to the minor league camp despite having one of the best springs of all Blue Jays hitters. What does this mean? Merkin Valdez, with no options, will likely be retained as part of the pen to begin the season; My man Mike McCoy will begin the season on the bench, having beaten out a very determined Jeremy Reed; The bench is now set with McCoy, Ruiz, McDonald, and Molina; and The last remaining big question is [...]

Here are some quick Jays notes and information: MLB.com writer Lisa Winston provides us with her take on the top 10 Jays prospects to watch in 2010. They look very close to my top ten, so kudos to her! But, then she also posted about the organization preview, which left no surprises for us. She calls Reidier Gonzalez, Henderson Alvarez and Moises Sierra guys “Under the Radar” guys, while I would content that most who read up on prospects know all about them this year. My picks would have been Santiago Nesi, Daniel Webb, and Drew Hutschison – a little [...]

I’ve had the pleasure to be asked to become part of the new site run by Fansided named “Call to the Pen“, which will feature 8 writers (1 has yet to establish coverage) who will cover everything from prospects to Saber and Draft info. Something for everyone! It just turned out that I was scheduled to bring out my first post (which will be out every Tuesday) for the On The Level portion of the site on the first ever day the site was operational, so don’t think it will be short on content as it will be coming out [...]

First of all, it isn’t even a sure thing that Jayson Werth will become a FA in 2011. The Phillies could trade him before then, which would allow another team to try to extend him past 2010. However, if he does remain with the Phillies, there is no absolute way they can sign him without first shedding some salary because it would take them over the luxury tax levels set by MLB, something the Phillies never want to do and also the same reason they deal Cliff Lee in favor of Roy Halladay. So, with Werth’s impending FA status, the [...]

Here are today’s big events for the Jays: Joey Gathright was released and will have to find a new home to play in for 2010. It made sense to release him since Darin Mastroianni is destined to play CF in AAA and there’s no way Joey was going to accept playing in AA. Brad Emaus was assigned to minor league camp. Chances are he’ll begin the season in AAA after a wonderful spring that had a lot of people wondering if he’d be able to earn a bench spot. His demise seems to be based on last season’s lackluster stats [...]

The trade markets are heating up and teams are beginning to notice who they’ll be forced to trade, who they want to trade, and what their needs are heading into the season. Here are some news and notes about the market as it stand, with some added intuitions: Jason Frasor is close to being named the Jays closer. What a great tactic for the teams that are trying to get him at a low cost. It shows the Jays are willing to keep him, that if they do and use him as a closer he could become a Type A [...]

Welinton Ramirez – 22 yrs old, 6’0″ 205 lbs, from the Dominican Republic Believe it or not, the Jays signed Ramirez all the way back in August 2003, which means that they got him signed as soon as he was legal to sign (assuming his age is correct).You won’t find his name in any Baseball America book covering the Jays, but then again only their international coverage staff knew anything about Santiago Nesi, so that tells you something about the depth of coverage they sometimes take. Add to that the fact that they dedicated one of their  least experienced scouts [...]

The majority of the spring has concluded and I thought it was important to state some of the good things we’ve seen in this camp in order to asses whether it was a “good” spring camp, or whether it set the Jays back instead. Here they are, from least important (10), to most important (1). 10 – JP Arencibia – The Power Prodigy I thought we should start the list with the lightest but most powerful news of the spring, JP Arencibia. If you didn’t know how much power inhabits that wild swing of JP’s before this spring, you do [...]