According to Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated, the Blue Jays have offered a scouting position to former Mets and Expos general manager Omar Minaya.

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Image from CityNews Toronto

On April 13^th 2011, Carlos Delgado officially retired from Major League Baseball. The 38 year-old Puerto Rico native had spent 17 seasons in the big leagues, accumulating very impressive rate and counting statistics. Delgado spent 11 years with the Blue Jays, and set a number of club records. These include: home runs (336), RBI (1058), walks (827), slugging percentage (556%), OPS (949%) runs (889), total bases (2786), doubles (343), extra base hits (690), and home runs per at bat (14.9). Delgado also finished 2^nd in MVP voting in 2003. These stats alone make it pretty obvious that Delgado was one of the best Jays position players of all time, my question is: Should Carlos Delgado be honoured on the Jays level of excellence?

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• A recent article published on Baseball America by Larry Millson tells us a little about Moises Sierra‘s issues in 2010. It seems that there were 2 injuries that limited his chances to progress that season: the first was a microfracture in his shin, and the second was a broken hamate bone in his wrist. It seems that the Jays still have faith in his skills, still believe he is young enough to progress, and will therefore give him a shot to earn a spot in AA New Hampshire. (more…)

For what it’s worth, Winston Abreu, signed by the Jays to a minor league contract in December, is the only member of the Jays organization currently playing in the Caribbean Series in Puerto Rico, where he plays for the Dominican Republic. He didn’t allow a hit and struck out 2 in his first appearance, before he gave up 4 hits and 4 earned runs (including 1 home run) with no strikeouts over his last 2 outings (1 inning).

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• Blue Jays MLB.com reporter Gregor Chisholm offers some updates on Jesse Litsch, Brad Mills, and Adam Lind
• Roberto Alomar and Blue Jays CEO Paul Beeston were both recently on the Fan 590 with Bob McCown (more…)

John Lott (National Post) – Hamilton, Cano, Bautista, Cabrera, Crawford, Konerko, Longoria, Beltre, Young, Mauer

Shi Davidi (Canadian Press) – Bautista, Cabrera, Cano, Hamilton, Longoria, Mauer, Konerko, Beltre, Crawford, Young (more…)

Jorge Padilla is 6’1″ 215 lbs and bats right. He was drafted in the 3rd rd of the 1998 draft by the Phillies and has had limited success since he was drafted. His highest totals so far have been 16 HRs (2001 in HiA and 2007 in AAA), 32 SB (2002 in AA), .367 average (2009 in AAA), .424 OBP (2009 in AAA). He was good enough in 2009 to get a look with the lowly Nationals, but has very limited power potential. As a bench player, he could do well enough since he’s hit for high average throughout his minor league career and does have some speed. His OBP is sound, but he would have a to prove effective right away to stick around on any MLB club. Out of the 3 players signed, he has the most potential to stick around in AAA and get called upon during 2010 if needed.

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image from bleacherreport.com

Carlos Delgado was the mainstay in the Jays offense for many years, may be the best 1B to ever play for the Jays along with John Olerud, and is looking for a place to play in 2010. While reports from his first two games in Puerto Rico are mixed, he has had some success, hitting a home run in his second game. The Mets are reportedly not impressed with how well Carlos is moving, but there’s a difference to how the Mets would use Carlos and how the Jays would use him.

Before I get into that, what can Carlos offer the Jays? He’ll be 38 in June, is coming off an injury plagued season, and managed less than 100 AB as a result. What he can offer is leadership, a feel good story for fans to watch that would be similar to Ken Griffey returning to Seattle, and it would also take some pressure off Vernon Wells because Carlos would demand a decent amount of media coverage. I would also add that it was just in 2008 that Carlos was able to hit 38 HRs, so a return to form in the range of 25-30 HRs is not entirely out of the question.

The dilemma is what to do with Lyle Overbay? Well, they could revisit the Chris Snyder trade and hope he returns to health, or ask for different players from Arizona who are clearly interested in Lyle Overbay. With Aubrey Huff and Troy Glaus signing, Seattle getting Kotchman, and Laroche demanding too much money, Overbay could be Arizona‘s best bet.  What about a Lyle Overbay and Scott Downs for Gerardo Parra and Chris Snyder trade? Eric Byrnes is coming off injury and has no real place to play with Justin Upton, Chris Young, and Connor Jackson manning the OF in Arizona and Gerardo Parra coming on strong as a 4th OFer. The Jays could take Byrnes on instead, but salaries would have to be weighed and it wouldn’t fit the Jays youth drive – while also disregarding the fact that both guys the Jays would get are huge injury risks. In any case, it was just a quick thought. Baltimore, the Mets, and even Florida could be destinations for Lyle. I added Florida because I believe they could be open to taking Lyle, prospects and cash on in return for Dan Uggla.

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