Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Tampa Bay Rays

-In a similar incident to J.A. Happ, in the same stadium at Tropicana Field, Alex Cobb was struck in the head by a line drive off the bat of Eric Hosmer. CNN says that he’s been diagnosed with a mild concussion, and let’s all hope there are no more complications and he can come back to play as soon as possible.
-Wil Myers might be called up very soon. Bleacher Report looks into what reciprocal move the Rays should make in the case of calling up their top prospect.

New York Yankees

-Mark Teixeira left Saturday’s game with an apparent wrist injury. According to USA Today, he joins a list of many injured Yankees players, like Alex Rodriguez and Kevin Youkilis.
-Mickey Mantle was one of the greatest players to grace the Yankees Pinstripes. Bleacher Report looks back at an incident that made his first edition card so rare and valuable.

Boston Red Sox

-A lot of good news if you’re a team that needs to make ground in the AL East (*cough Blue Jays cough*), now may be the time. As well as injured Yankees, Clay Buchholz may hit the DL too, as reported by the Boston Herald.
-Mike Napoli also looks to be suffering from the injury bug. His ailment is described as a “general illness,” according to the Boston Globe, although they are denying any sort of concussion problems. A likely story.

Baltimore Orioles

-It’s teams like the Orioles that do well the more each individual brings towards a win. The Baltimore Sun details T.J. McFarland and how crucial he’s been for the team in a long relief role.
-Alexi Casilla might be the worst base runner in the majors. Domenic Vadala of Birds Watcher details how a huge base running blunder might have cost the Orioles a win at the end of Saturday’s game.

Weekly AL East Standings (Overall Standings)

Baltimore 5-2 (39-30)

Toronto 4-2 (31-36)

Boston 4-3 (42-28)

Tampa Bay 2-5 (36-32)

New York 1-5 (37-31)

Follow @ItsDanielGeorge

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

While the possibility of a playoff run is close to statistically impossible this season, the Blue Jays are not a terrible team. Even though the team is 11 games back of first place in the AL East, there are numerous reasons why the Blue Jays should not hit the panic button. Here are just a few of them.

Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day: Neither Will A Playoff Contender

It’s easy to second guess a business decision after you see some of the results come back negative. Both Mark Buehrle and R.A. Dickey have Top 20 worst ERA’s out of 98 qualified starters, Jose Reyes has been injured for most of the year, Emilio Bonifacio has been a weak bat and a weaker glove and Maicer Izturis has the lowest fWAR in the majors.

The Blue Jays are not built solely for an all-or-nothing, one year campaign. Nor should any other team, really. Their core of Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Brett Lawrie, Brandon Morrow and Adam Lind are all under contract (club options for Lind and Morrow) through the 2015 season. In fact, the Blue Jays have at least 16 major leaguers under team control through 2015, as this spreadsheet by James. G explains. The team is built to win over the next few years, and it just so happens that very capable guys are not showing off their bests right now.

It’s only now that Anthopolous took the team over the edge by bringing in elite players through trade and free agency. To completely give up on the blueprint and start over after not even one half of one season would be both disastrous to the Blue Jays’ core, front office management and the fans.

It would show the team’s leaders that management are giving up on them, that they aren’t good enough to win. Panicking on a long term plan after short term losses is not a show of confidence in the staff making the decisions, making it exceptionally difficult to bring in any coaches or executives of quality to replace the current ones. Worst off, by selling off elite major leaguers for prospects you give the fans little reason to watch the games on TV or at the Rogers Centre, especially if they have seen 2nd place finishes with much worse talent on the roster. As a matter of fact…

Many Players Are In Abnormal Slumps Right Now

There has been a plethora of players that have been in the middle of career slumps this year. 40% of a season does not constitute the fairest of sample sizes, but we are talking about career worsts and well below career average performance from a number of Blue Jays players. (stats taken from June 11, 2013)

All stats provided by fangraphs.com

All stats provided by fangraphs.com

All stats provided by fangraphs.com

All stats provided by fangraphs.com

All stats provided by fangraphs.com

(Click To Embiggen)

When a GM goes out and gets players, they value the contract length and money offered (or what they offer in trade) based on career norms and a mean level of progression/regression, depending on the age of the player. Nobody could have expected Izturis, Josh Johnson, Dickey, Buehrle and Morrow to perform so terribly, all at the same time.

However, there are such things as outlier seasons, good or bad. Excluding Johnson, who is a free agent after this season, these unfortunate players have time to turn it around. It may not be for this season, but definitely in seasons to come. They have proven in the past to be too good to stay playing like this.

Coaching/Front Office Aren’t The Reason Why The Team Is Losing Games

John Gibbons and his coaching staff have done tremendous work in their short time for the Blue Jays. They have Bautista and EE batting in the 2-3 spots in the lineup, which allows them to get more opportunities to drive in runs (including yesterday’s game-tying HR by Bautista). Lind has had limited time against lefties, the main reason for his success. Bullpen management has been fantastic, especially now that they don’t have to come in during 5th innings as much as at the beginning of the season.

The staff cannot, however, wish the pitching staff to perform well. Nor can they make Brett Lawrie, J.P. Arencibia or Emilio Bonifacio suddenly stop striking out and take more walks. They can work on mechanics and plate discipline, but that will take time. Poor performance in short amounts of time cannot be corrected without patience.

Same with the front office. Alex Anthopolous has done a great job for the Blue Jays since taking over in late 2009. His drafting strategies led the Blue Jays to a top 3 minor league system heading into 2012. Since then, he gave up a bunch of blue chip prospects for major league stars. Don’t forget that Jose Reyes and R.A. Dickey, proven stars, are Blue Jays for years to come because Anthopoulos gave up a part of a large pool of drafted players. While it may look to be doom and gloom now, remember that trades are not made in a vacuum and are just a small part of building a playoff contender.

Our Farm System Is Not As Terrible As It Seems

Yes, the Blue Jays do not have a Top 3 minor league system anymore. As of right now, they sit around the 13th-22nd spot, depending on if you ask Baseball Prospectus, Keith Law or Baseball America. However, there are a lot of great players with bright futures. Aaron Sanchez, Roberto Osuna, Daniel Norris and D.J. Davis are just some of the names with the majors on the horizon.

The problem is that there are a lot of high school players being drafted as of late. Because of this, the Blue Jays can expect to see most of their best prospects have an ETA of 2015 or later. Fortunately, the Blue Jays’ most imminent needs are only of pitching and catching options, with Marcus Stroman, John Stilson, Sean Nolin (one start) and A.J. Jimenez expected to make an extended appearance in 2013-2014. It’s unfortunate that the first non-catcher or pitcher taken in this year’s MLB Draft for the Blue Jays came in Round 13, but it might be more of a testament to the strength of the major league team. You can never have too much pitching.

What Can The Blue Jays Do Instead Of Panicking?

They can do many things. Stay the course. Wait for Jose Reyes, Brandon Morrow, Brett Lawrie, Kyle Drabek, Sergio Santos, J.A. Happ, Luiz Perez and (possibly) Drew Hutchison to come back from injury to see just how great the team is as a completed unit. Perhaps make a small trade or two at the deadline. Make some more trades involving major leaguers in the off-season. Almost anything you can think of is a better suggestion than to panic and blow up the team.

Rash decisions occur when you forgo mapping the road and walking the walk in lieu of digging a hole through the center of the Earth to try to get to the other side.

This week, we focus on the MLB Draft that wrapped up yesterday, and how it will affect the AL East. For Blue Jays coverage of the draft, make sure to read our articles on Blue Jays draft picks Phil Bickford here, Clinton Hollon here and Patrick Murphy here.

Boston Red Sox

-At #7 overall the ball was in the Red Sox’s court, as they were the first team in the AL East to select a player from the draft. And as Rasheed Wallace would tell you, ball don’t lie, as the team drafted LHP/OF Trey Ball. The best pitcher/batter prospect in the draft, it will be up to the Red Sox to decide the 18 year old’s fate. He already sits 87-92 with the fastball, low 80′s with the changeup and mid-high 70′s with the curveball according to his Coast2Coast prospect page. Offensively, he plays as a left handed gap hitter who stays well on the ball.
-Sticking with pitching, the Red Sox drafted RHP Teddy Stankiewicz at 45th overall with their second round selection. A 2012 Mets pick that went unsigned, Stankiewicz worked on his stuff, including a better-developed changeup to compliment his eventual-plus fastball. You can read more over at SoxProspects.
-Earl Nash of BoSox Injection doesn’t like GM Ben Cherington’s choice to draft Trey Ball. As a pitcher, Nash argues that Ball’s leg snaps and jerks in an awkward fashion that might create future health problems, something that no GM wants to hear or admit to.

Tampa Bay Rays

-From 7th overall all the way to 21st, with the Blue Jays at 10th. That alone should tell you just how strong the AL East division was last year, especially with pitching. However, Jose Molina is not getting any younger, so the Rays went and drafted a strong-throwing-and-hitting catcher in Nick Ciuffo. The State covers his story, including committing to South Carolina at the age of 14. He is expected to sign, however.
-Many people believe in the notion that there is no such thing as a pitching prospect. However, I believe that with the Rays there are only future stars and org players. With the Rays drafting Ryne Stanek 29th overall after an impressive stint in Arkansas, we’ll just have to see what the future brings. The Kansas City Star details the mustachioed right handed pitcher’s career.
-David Hill looks back at the minor league career of former #1 overall draft pick Tim Beckham and ponders his future over at Rays Colored Glasses. It’s a bit of a bummer to see a player who was drafted better than anyone else in his year (including Buster Posey) to be considered a utility player at best 6 years later.

Baltimore Orioles

-The Orioles went the legacy route when it came to their first round draft pick. Son of reliever Bryan Harvey, the team selected RHP Harvey Hunter from Bandys High School. The Baltimore Sun details Hunter, who is not committed to a college program and has been ranked the 5th best prospect in the organization.
-The team went with a top of the lineup guy with their next selection of Josh Hart. The lefty CF has close to elite speed, alright defense and a good approach to the plate. Bleacher Report has you covered with his prospect grades in all facets of his play.
-Domenic A. Vadala of Birds Watcher previews the upcoming series that the Orioles face as summer baseball starts to heat up. They have an excellent chance on making ground in the division with a bunch of AL East series on the docket.

New York Yankees

-While most of the other teams in the AL East drafted high school players, the Yankees’ first two picks went to college players. I’d like to think it’s because the median age of Yankees players eats early bird dinners at 4PM and they need close-to-ready college players, but it’s possible that the team wanted to draft 3B Eric Jagielo as a safeguard in case Alex Rodriguez is suspended in the ongoing Biogenesis case and they can escape the albatross that is his contract. Either way, the left handed bat is profiled over at the Yankees website.
-Just 7 picks later, the Yankees were on the board yet again. This time, they drafted CF prospect Aaron Judge, who at 6’7″ and 255lbs. Such an imposing figure looks to jump over Judge Reinhold in Yankees fans’ lists of favorite judges, as he may have unlock his power potential swinging with wooden bats. Reading this article at Bulldog Blitz suggests that the aluminum bats used at college were like “swinging toothpicks,” which may very well be an apt description in the hands of a giant player.
-Alex Pugliese of Yanks Go Yard catches up on the performance of former Yankees players throughout the major leagues. To get into specifics, the players covered are Nick Swisher, Jesus Montero and Ian Kennedy.

Weekly AL East Standings (Overall Standings)

New York 5-2 (36-26)

Toronto 4-1 (27-34)

Tampa Bay 4-2 (34-27)

Boston 4-2 (38-25)

Baltimore 3-3 (34-28)

Follow @ItsDanielGeorge

#TholeFreed
Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

According to the official Blue Jays Twitter account, the Blue Jays have recalled catcher Josh Thole and purchased the contract of Andy LaRoche. To make space on the roster, they have also designated Henry Blanco for assignment.

In addition, Fox Sports reporter Ken Rosenthal tweets that the Blue Jays will also sign Chien-Ming Wang to a contract after opting out with the Yankees earlier today.

Josh Thole has provided quite the offensive boost for this Bisons squad this year. His .322/.383/.510 slash line is bound to decrease as he returns to the majors, but that 8.4% walk rate and 9.1% career walk rate in the majors would be quite the improvement over J.P. Arencibia, who is on pace for a major league record 13.6 K/BB rate. Most likely Josh Thole will be brought to the majors initially only to catch R.A. Dickey‘s starts, but if Arencibia continues his .607 OPS pace from May we might see more of Thole behind the plate for the Blue Jays. He does provide yet another left handed bat, however his career .072 ISO suggests that he will be more of a slap hitter than a slugger. His defense can’t be much worse, as JPA’s defense rankes 71st out of 76 in catcher defense rankings.

Andy LaRoche, however, will likely stay up for as long as Brett Lawrie remains on the DL. The career journeyman has a slash line of .282/.358/.463 this year down in Buffalo, with 7 HR in 204 PA. His advanced defensive metrics at 3B for his career suggest a league average defense at the hot corner, however it has been on the decline since 2010. My guess is that the Blue Jays are tired of putting Edwin Encarnacion over at 3rd base, and after returning from a road trip consisting of multiple NL games with no DH, the team can rely on having both EE and Adam Lind in the lineup without resorting to a massive decline in defense.

The Chien-Ming Wang signing is the most intriguing. After being injured running the bases in an NL game in June 2008 that has turned out to be career-threatening (when will the NL learn to get with the times and adopt the DH?), Wang has had little success in the majors. Since then, he’s posted a 6.39 ERA over 136.2 innings and a lot of time in the minors. While he has had a lot better looking stats down in the Yankees AAA system this year, his low strikeout rate combined with a bad Blue Jays defense might spell trouble for a team in desperate need of starting pitching depth.

But right now, beggars can’t be choosers. While it’s great to realize that Josh Thole has finally been freed, the Blue Jays are 11 games back of the AL East leading Red Sox with a 25-34 record heading into a series against the AL West leading Rangers. They’re desperately flailing as they try to right the ship that’s been heading down towards the depths of the MLB standings. The only team with a worse record in the American League is the Astros. Might as well shake things up.

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Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

Tampa Bay Rays

-OF prospect Josh Sale has had an interesting time in the Rays system, to say the least, since being drafted by the team in 2010. Last season he was banned for 50 games for using stimulants (of which he is still observing) and earlier this week he was suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the organization. Sporting News covers the events, which include throwing change at a stripper.
-Chris Archer, pitching prospect for the Rays, has been called up. Sports Talk Florida details Archer’s history and repertoire. While he did not fare too well against the Indians (4 innings, 5 ER, 2.50 WHIP), the future might look better if he develops his changeup.
-Robbie Knopf looks in depth at (yet another) Rays rookie pitcher Alex Colome and his major league debut for Rays Colored Glasses. It’s an intriguing look into Colome’s stuff, including Pitch f/x analysis, that shows just how impressive he will be going forward.

New York Yankees

-Hideki Matsui is reportedly to sign a one day contract with the Yankees in order to retire from the MLB wearing the pinstriped uniform. ESPN details the career of one of the best Japanese-imported players in the history of the MLB, including winning the 2009 World Series.
-The Yankees activated both Mark Teixeira and Kevin Youkilis off the DL on Friday. CBS’ Eye On Baseball reports on just how much the team needs these players to produce, and produce now. They’ve lost 6 of the last 7 games.
-Alex Pugliese of Yanks Go Yard details the good, the bad and the ugly of the Yankees’ month of may. Differing from Jays Journal’s Blue Jays May recap, Alex focuses on how specific Yankees players have fared during the month. However, it does end referencing the team’s bad batting average and on base percentage during May.

Boston Red Sox

-Dustin Pedroia is a beast. He’s been playing through a UCL injury in his thumb that he’s sustained since Opening Day, according to Sports Illustrated. Even though a normal athlete would be hindered playing through an injury that would typical result in 8 weeks on the DL, he has a hit every 3 at bats, an OBP over .400 and is taking walks at a better rate than striking out, because of course a Red Sox player overcomes the odds to perform well above his means.
-It must be nice to have too much infield talent to know what to do with. Mr. Farrell is thinking of keeping Jose Iglesias around as a utility infielder when Will Middlebrooks comes back from injury, according to the Boston Herald’s Clubhouse Insider.
-Steve Peterson looks at the amazing futility of Jonny Gomes and his stride to help overcome adversity for BoSox Injection. Baseball is, at best, a distraction from the unfortunate events that sometimes are of the focus of life. As a two-time survivor of near-death experiences, Gomes does his best to provide help after the terrible events that occurred at the Boston Marathon.

Baltimore Orioles

-Jim Johnson needs to be removed as Baltimore’s closer, according to the Baltimore Sports Report. At the time of its filing, Johnson had blown his 4th of 5 save opportunities against a fortunate Blue Jays squad and sported a 21.60 ERA over his past 6 games.
-Yahoo Sports covers the events of an exciting conclusion to Friday night’s game, including a walk off home run for Chris Dickerson off of Tigers closer Jose Valverde. Any time there’s Orioles magic is a fun time, indeed.
-Randy Buchman looks into the validity of a true closer, in regards to Jim Johnson’s poor play, over at Birds Watcher. It’s an intriguing view on how managers use their relievers late into play, in which he argues that managers should use one of varying relievers to close out games based on the matchups instead of one dedicated closer. It’s not one that I agree with, as I would certainly want to use the best reliever in the highest leverage situation (including tied games in the 9th+ inning), but there is a compelling argument provided by Randy.

Weekly AL East Standings (Overall Standings)

Tampa Bay 6-1 (30-25)

Boston 4-3 (34-23)

Baltimore 4-3 (31-25)

Toronto 3-4 (23-33)

New York 1-6 (31-24)

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Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

Top 5 League Bests (May)

-2nd best in batting LD% (24.2%)
-3rd best in swinging strike % (8.0%)
-4th best in reliever K/BB rate (3.03)
-5th best in runs scored (140)
-5th best in SLG (.437)
-5th best in reliever BB/9 (2.62)
-5th best in reliever BB% (6.9%)

Top 5 League Worsts (May)

-League worst in starter BB/9 (4.04)
-2nd worst in starter FIP (5.30)
-2nd worst in starter xFIP (4.91)
-2nd worst in starter xFIP- (120)
-2nd worst in starter K/BB rate (1.45)
-2nd worst in starter SIERA (4.96)
-2nd worst in reliever HR/9 (1.49)
-3rd worst in starter K/9 (5.87)
-3rd worst in starter ERA (5.74)
-4th worst in starter fWAR (0.1)
-4th worst in starter BAA (.282)
-4th worst in starter WHIP (1.57)
-4th worst in starter ERA- (137)
-4th worst in starter FIP- (128)
-4th worst in starter tERA (5.86)
-5th worst in reliever HR/FB% (14.0)
-5th worst in reliever FIP (4.47)

(All stats provided by fangraphs.com)

As you can see, the list of positives is not so heavily outweighed by the negatives as it was during April. In fact, the Blue Jays were in a lot more top 5 bests in baseball offensively before yesterday’s 17 inning game against the Padres. At the same time, the Blue Jays didn’t have 4 teams with at least 5 games above .500 ahead of them in the standings, as the Rays have improved dramatically in May.

The most notable turnarounds for the Blue Jays, without a doubt, are Jose Bautista and Adam Lind. While Bautista did show some power for the Blue Jays in April, the batting average was near the Mendoza level. On the opposite end, Lind was an on base machine but had little power. Both players ended May batting with about a 1.000 OPS, a wOBA above .400 and a wRC+ north of 150. They, combined with Melky Cabrera and Edwin Encarnacion, have provided most of the offense at the top 4 positions in the lineup. The offense for the Blue Jays have definitely turned it around to get out of their early slump.

The biggest disappointment for the Blue Jays has been the starting rotation as a whole. While the bullpen has not been so hot, its because they’ve been relied upon so often. In fact, their 22 decisions all season are tied with the Reds for the most in baseball, and their 114.2 innings in May is most in the majors as well. The Blue Jays starters threw the fewest innings out of any team in May, a large part due to using emergency starters like Esmil Rogers, Chad Jenkins, Sean Nolin and Ramon Ortiz. Additional starter injuries to Josh Johnson and recently-put-on-the-15-day-DL Brandon Morrow have not made things any easier. Worse yet, Ricky Romero only pitched 4.1 innings over 2 starts, and is in career jeopardy as he has just been outrighted off the 40-man roster . Factor in the fact that our supposed staff ace R.A. Dickey has a 5.82 ERA in May and you have a very disappointing rotation.

It’s looking less and less of a possibility that the Blue Jays will make the post season. The Blue Jays’ play during May has kept them from falling out of the hunt altogether, but the team is on pace for 90 losses through a third of the regular season, are 12-20 against teams in their own division and only 5-5 against sub-.500 teams. Does this mean that Alex Anthopoulos is going to blow up the team and scrap it for parts? Will EE and Bautista be shipped by the trade deadline like some people who troll about this kind of stuff? Will J.P. Arencibia walk more than twice in a month? We’re just going to have to wait and see, but the outlook is not so good.

Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

However, after almost a third of the regular season complete as we reach near the end of May, Adam Lind has become somewhat of a savior to the middle of the Blue Jays batting order. Entering today’s game, he’s been sporting a .304/.401/.496 slash line with a .384 wOBA, 141 wRC+ and 20 runs over 137 plate appearances. For a man who, outside of his 2009 season, is a 0 fWAR player, just how did he regain his offensive prowess?

VERY Limited Playing Time Against Lefty Pitching

Like many left handed bats, Adam Lind has very little success hitting against left handed pitching. But what separates Lind from the rest of the pack is just how awful he is. Out of all 247 batters in the majors with at least 500 PA against left handed pitching since 2007 (Adam Lind’s first real season in the majors), he ranks dead last in BB/K rate, 3rd worst in wRC+, 4th worst in wOBA, 5th worst in OPS, 6th worst in Batting Average, 11th worst in BB% and 19th worst in K%.

It’s a poor performance like so that has lead to current Blue Jays manager John Gibbons removing Lind from the lineup against almost all games with left handed starters. In fact, through 51 Blue Jays games, Adam Lind has only had 6 PA against left handed pitching this season. Hopefully Gibbons is fully aware of this situation and stays true to the game plan he’s been using early on this season.

Unprecedented Ability To Take A Walk

Adam Lind has always had an average OBP throughout his career. So far this season, however, it’s hovering around .400. While some of the credit goes to having a high batting average, Lind has also sported a 14.6 BB%, more than double his career average of 7.1%. But just how did he accomplish this feat?

For whatever reason, he’s had excellent plate coverage this year. He’s only swung at 21.7% at pitches outside the zone this year, which is down from his career average of 32.5% and this year’s MLB average of 29%. This results in fewer times he’s reached for the ball out of the zone, leading to more balls in the count, leading to more walks. In addition, he’s seen in 46.9% of strikes within the zone without a swing (MLB average is 49.2%) and has a swinging strike % of only 5.7% (MLB average is 9.2%). Fewer strikes mean fewer opportunities for striking out and better counts in which to either work a walk or a hit.

Hitting The Ball Well

The best way to produce as a ball player is to put the ball in play and hope good things happen. Adam Lind has done that particularly well this season, especially when it comes to contact. He’s made contact on 9.9% more pitches outside of the strike zone and 5.1% more total pitches than the MLB average. While a batter who usually takes more walks and is selective with their pitches does so at the price of power, his slugging is the highest its been since 2009 at .496 and his ISO (SLG% minus BA) is at .191. His stats make him seem like a Jose Bautista or Edwin Encarnacion type of hitter at the moment (in terms of OPS, not HR ability).

Can It Last A Full Season?

Probably not.

Adam Lind got off to a cold start. Not even a month ago back on May 2nd, Adam Lind’s slash line was .220/.394/.280 with a .674 OPS. While his ability to take walks was there, he had not been able to effectively hit for power. From then until now, his slash line has been .371/.403/.661 with a 1.067 OPS and a .442 BABIP. Unless Lind has the equivalent of a Stan Musial season, I just don’t see him maintaining his performance so far for an entire year, especially when he’s been sheltered from the storm that is left-handed pitching. What is likely to happen is we’ll see Lind’s ability to take a walk drop down closer to career norms, while the power numbers meet somewhere in between his hot and cool streaks.

Since May 4, the Blue Jays have gone 12-8 and are working their way back to .500, in no short part due to Lind’s success. While it may not be forever, enjoy it while it lasts.

Follow @ItsDanielGeorge

That ain’t so Grand.
Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

New York Yankees

-Curtis Granderson just can’t catch a break. After returning to the majors to play only 8 games this season, Granderson is headed back to the Disabled List; this time with a broken knuckle. According to USA Today, Granderson was hit by a Cesar Ramos pitch during Friday’s game and is expected to be out at least a month. He was also hit by a J.A. Happ pitch during Spring Training, which resulted in the lengthy DL stint.
-David Huff has been claimed by the Yankees from the Indians. NBC Sports’ Hardball Talk  reveals that, since Huff is out of minor league options, he’ll have to be put on the 25-man roster or be exposed to waivers.

Tampa Bay Rays

-David Hill of Rays Colored Glasses asks if the Rays should keep trusting Fernando Rodney to close games going forward. Even though Joel Peralta looks to be the only reliever worth his weight so far this early season, Maddon says that Rodney will close all season. They seem to believe in the one semi-historic season version of Rodney rather than the sum of his entire career outside of it.
-Just like any notable ex-Blue Jay, Yunel Escobar has had some success against his former team this season. During this past week’s play he homered at the Rogers Centre, then celebrated by flashing a “safe” sign as he crossed home plate. According to the National Post, Maddon saw him do nothing wrong. John Lott recaps the incident, while looking into other incidents of Jays fans bringing out the boo-birds against former Blue Jays players.

Baltimore Orioles

-If you’ve been following the Blue Jays this week, you would have known that Sean Nolin was called up to the majors to debut against the Orioles on Friday. The previous game was the time for Kevin Gausman to shine, as he made his MLB debut on Thursday. The Baltimore Sun did a Q&A with the young Orioles prospect to get in depth about just what was going through his mind.
-Pedro Strop is headed to the DL, according to ESPN. He has a strained lower back and is eligible to return to the majors on June 8 at the earliest.

Boston Red Sox

-Mike Carp has performed well for the Red Sox when coming off the bench this season, and NESN uses this knowledge to justify the decision to cut Lyle Overbay during Spring Training. It’s more of a, “whatever helps you sleep at night” piece than anything, but Carp’s ability to play the outfield did give him more flexibility than Overbay had to offer.
-When you’re winning games, you’re allowed to have fun. Such is the case for both the Indians and the Red Sox, as former Red Sox manager Terry Francona (now of the Indians) got into a wrasslin’ match with Red Sox broadcaster Dan Orsillo before Friday night’s game. There’s video of it over at Hardball Talk.

Weekly AL East Standings (Overall Standings)

Boston 4-3 (30-20)

Baltimore 4-3 (27-22)

New York 3-2 (30-18)

Toronto 3-3 (20-29)

Tampa Bay 2-4 (24-24)

Follow @ItsDanielGeorge

Welcome to the Show, Mr. Nolin!
Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

The Blue Jays left hander has a fastball that sits around high 80′s to low 90′s, curve ball, changeup and slider (one that he’s only picked up this past year). As well, since reaching A+ Dunedin last year, he’s gone 12-0 with a 1.93 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 2.47 BB/9, 9.56 K/9 and 0.54 HR/9 over 116.2 innings of work over A+ and AA New Hampshire. You can read more about Sean Nolin on our own prospect writeup here.

Knowing the Blue Jays current pitching woes (read: having Ramon Ortiz in your starting rotation), it was clear that Sean Nolin was going to be rushed to the majors sooner rather than later. Alex Anthopoulos himself said that he was likely to be called up this year, and being able to shutdown the competition in the minors might result in some stop-gap innings while Josh Johnson and J.A. Happ come back from injury. On the other side of the coin, bringing up a guy too early can be a bad thing, especially if it stunts his development.

Just like the Ricky Romero call up, this move is out of desperation. The team is 46 games into the season, and very close to getting to a point of no return 9 games back of the division-leading Yankees. Bringing in Sean Nolin now means that the Blue Jays are more focused on making up ground in a tough AL East division than taking it slow and steady with Nolin’s development. Hopefully it will result in a pleasant surprise, similar to Drew Hutchison‘s early MLB call up (minus the TJ surgery).

David Price seen here lowering his trade value by getting injured. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Tampa Bay Rays

-David Price is headed to the DL, according to Yahoo Sports. Jake Odorizzi will be making his Rays debut against the Toronto Blue Jays in his place, as Baseball News Source reports.
-Fernando Rodney is just not that good anymore (along with the rest of the Rays bullpen). Hardball Talk looks into the stats that show Rodney’s deal with the devil has expired after the 2012 season. The walks and runs in 2013 have already reached 2012 totals (ER almost doubling last year’s total) with only a quarter of the season completed.

Boston Red Sox

-Andrew Miller is fine after getting hit in the head by a Jarrod Saltalamacchia foul ball. Bleacher Report chronicles the event while looking into Miller’s somewhat impressive season. He’s very lucky, as he could have endured a J.A. Happ situation, one that could have been necessarily avoided.
-Aidan Flynn of BoSox Injection takes a look at how the Red Sox pitching has been faring this season when it comes to sabermetric stats (As of May 13). While the K/9 is fantastic (2nd in MLB), the BB/9 is quite the opposite (24th in MLB).

Baltimore Orioles

-Jair Jurrjens had his contract purchased, while Alex Burnett was optioned, which allowed Jake Arrieta to be recalled, as Nolan Reimold was placed on the disabled list. Camden Chat tries to make sense of it all, including Brian Roberts‘ disappointing move to the 60-day DL. It’s a shame to think that Roberts will never be the player he once was at the top of the Orioles lineup.
-Buck Showalter seems happy about Tsuyoshi Wada‘s rehabillitation process. CSN Baltimore notes that, while Wada is eligible to come off the DL on May 30, he may be kept until June 15 for a total of 6 rehab starts. It’s nice to have pitching options in the minors, as opposed to sending the Ramon Ortiz‘s and the Aaron Laffey‘s of the world onto the mound.

New York Yankees

-Reid Brignac is headed to the Yankees, according to Newsday. Cashman seems to like the notion of getting any left-handed fly ball hitter with middling success elsewhere to play half their games in the little league park that is the left field of Yankee Stadium. So far, so good for the likes of Lyle Overbay and Travis Hafner.
-The ESPN New York blog seems to think that Hiroki Kuroda is pitching like a Cy Young award candidate. For a 38 year old pitcher to be able to have a sub-2.00 ERA (with only 3 AL pitchers better than him) and to do in from the AL East is quite the feat worth looking into throughout the season.

Weekly AL East Standings (Overall Standings)

New York 5-3 (27-16)

Boston 4-2 (26-17)

Tampa Bay 4-2 (22-20)

Toronto 3-2 (17-26)

Baltimore 1-4 (23-19)

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