His efforts at free agency were short lived, as he wound up re-signing with the Jays 24 years ago today on January 8th, 1987.

The Boston Red Sox selected Whitt in the 15th round of the 1972 draft, but his path to the Major Leagues was blocked by future Hall-of-Famer Carlton Fisk. He was left unprotected during the expansion draft after the 1976 season, where he was plucked by the Blue Jays.

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As I return to the helm of Jays Journal, I’d like to first thank all of those who will return to reading it and to apologize for the long pause. I hope you’ll be able to rejoin us often here and to enjoy the growth and progress the Jays make together. With Alex Anthoplous at the helm, all hands are on deck and the search for a manager may be finally coming to an end.

Oh…did I say we?

Yes, I did. In order to ensure that such pauses never take place again, I’ve decided to add one or two writers to the staff. John Parent, the MLB Director for Fansided, forwarded the applications he received to me and I was lucky enough to find a gem in Jared Macdonald.

Jared will be getting his bearings over a short period of time and will work with me to bring some high quality content to you. I am positive that he will be a great addition to the content here at Jays Journal and look forward to his first post!

Welcome aboard Jared!

I will have a review of the new Jays manager up soon, as it is rumored that the Boston Red Sox pitching coach -  John Farrell – will get the job for the Jays (unconfirmed), and will get a handle on what it means for our beloved pitching coach to have a pitching coach taking over from Cito Gaston. Hopefully it only enhances Bruce Walton’s voice and influence, as he has done a wonderful job bringing our young and inexperienced staff along.

Other upcoming posts:

• Top 10 prospects at each level of the minors for the Jays;
• Review of BA’s top prospects by league – emphasizing which Jays were included and omitted;
• Free Agency and the Jays Budget; and
• Jose Bautista’s Contract Issues – is there anything more pressing this off season, and where will he play in 2011?

Once again, I’m extatic to be back and I hope you all enjoy our content!

Cit Gaston learned his lesson about how to use Brandon Morrow at the end of the game. He pulled him after exactly 100 pitches instead of leaving him in there to blow the game – as he had done during Brandon’s 2 latest starts when he allowed him to come out for the 7th and 8th respectively, and then lost the game as a result. With this start, Morrow finally has his ERA below 5.00 at 4.97 and he is definitely showing signs of maturity. His stuff is still very hard to hit and the fact that he can slot in this rotation as a #4 pitcher makes the Jays a contender for the foreseeable future. (more…)

Travis Snider has shown some maturity at the plate in recent games and has inched his way up to hitting 7th in the lineup. It took him a while to do this, but he was only placed there after he had struggled while hitting 5th and 6th, so does that mean Brett Wallace will get a shot to prove himself? Or, will he simply follow in the footsteps of Travis Snider and hit 9th?

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Only one thing bugs me about this game – that John McDonald was allowed to hit in the 9th to record the last out. I’m positive that if you asked John whether he’d be pissed about being taken out of the game to give the Jays a chance to hit, he’d say no way. I will even go as far as to say this – Cito Gaston is obviously under utilizing Randy Ruiz because he is absolutely certain that a hot Randy Ruiz would kill his chances of being able to use Lyle Overbay in the lineup, something he adamantly wants to avoid. What would happen if Randy was brought in all of those times he should have been and he produced something big? Management and fans alike would have pressured Cito to play Randy. Instead, Cito keeps Randy on the bench, keeps Lyle and John in the lineup, and hopes Lyle finds hit swing again so that the Jays can trade him when they get a decent offer.

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James Hall of MLB.com has a good review of what has and is happening in this story here that is definitely worth the read. The signing where the players wore 6 Lyle Overbay jerseys in order to show their support for him was the best display a united team I have seen in the Jays clubhouse – ever. It’s a simple gesture that wasn’t loud or whiny, it just made the perfect statement – we believe in Lyle, and we stand by Lyle 100%. This statement also indirectly provides support for their coach, Cito Gaston, who had continuously defended the player from the hoards of reporters who preyed on his horrendous start for a story. Well, now that the players are behind the coach, the media is forced to relent a little bit and to use caution in their approach of the issue. If one player, say Jose Bautista, would have come out and complained about Lyle’s play instead of supporting him, it would have added fuel to the fire. Instead, the group now feels like they are a closer knit family, that they have each other’s backs not only at the plate but also in the media limelight, and that they also support the coach’s decision to let him work out his kinks in the lineup. What is there not to love about that scenario – nothing. It is simply outstanding…..except that…..

If you’re Alex Anthopolous and you just acquired Brett Wallace who is showing his massive power and bat in AAA, and you’re shopping Lyle as he uses this experience to find his form at the plate (which he definitely did last night), do you have a harder time trading him now that you know the lengths to which the players went to support him? Or, do you know they’ll realize it’s simply a business move? It sounds a little counter intuitive, but there could be some short-lived ill feelings if Lyle is traded after the guys got together “as a family”. Any time a GM deals “a sibling” it has an effect on the group. So long as Brett comes up and makes the team better, I don’t see this as being a big issue, but it could also lead to Alex sticking with Lyle all season and just letting his time run out in Toronto. Brett can get that much better in AAA and begin the season in Toronto.

I honestly hope for the first option to take place because I think Brett will be a major improvement to the lineup in a similar (slightly lower) way that Ryan Braun was for Milwaukee in 2007. Lyle could be a very good option for many teams and he is definitely a great asset at 1B as his defensive skills have never been in question. I doubt he’ll be with the Jays after the trade deadline, and the support of the players may make him more attractive on the market due to his clubhouse effect being heightened by the event.

Whether you’re a present Jays player or are thinking about signing with the Jays in the future, you now know that the clubhouse is sound, supportive of one another, and that they’ll allow you to overcome your issues without hanging you out to dry. The net effect of this should be a more attractive option as a destination for players. They know the Jays have a plan that is being put into action by Alex Anthopolous, they know that the young talent is there to make the Jays competitive in a very tough division, they know that they’ll be in the spotlight due to the teams they’ll play against, and now they know it’s a great clubhouse to be a part of. After the Alex Rios Saga of 2009 and it’s ugly ending, the Lyle Overbay Saga’s outcome is a welcome one that is refreshing, promising, and makes all Jays stakeholders that much happier to be a part of the franchise.

Notes from the Game:

• The new turf looked great. We’ll see what the players have to say about it, but it definitely looked better;
• Vernon Wells keeps mashing. I’m sick of th etalk about “unloading” his contract. It’s not going to happen, and I’m sorry but living with 1 bad contract and still being well under budget isn’t the end of the world. MLBTR has been getting on my nerves lately, posting about how the Jays could trade Wells to rid themselves of part of their contract. I’ll be posting something else about this subject, but it should be known that unless a team is willing to take on half of his salary per season, I fully believe the Jays will keep him and will pay him his salary.
• Both Brian Tallet and Jake Peavy did not have their A or B game, it was more of a C game. Any time Andruw Jones can hit 2 HRs off you at this stage of his career you know you’re having a bad day. Still, Tallet came out ahead, in part due to some stellar D through a couple of double plays. The Alex Gonzalez and John McDonald combination looked great defensively, didn’t it?
• Speaking of John McDonald, he came back down to earth offensively speaking, going 0 for 4. He, along with Travis Snider who went 0 for 5, slowed the team down, but it was Wells who left the most base runners on board with 4 guys left on base.
• John Buck crushed that HR in the 2nd off Peavy which should get his bat going a little more.
• Jason Frasor needs to be careful about blowing saves as he did by allowing a HR to Canadian Mark Teahen. Kevin Gregg has been so effective that such games can cost him his job, trade value, and position in the pen. I don’t expect it to be this quick, but it is already the 2nd game he’s blown – therefore he is mostly responsible for both Jays losses…..
• You would think that the Jays had the perfect scenario with Adam Lind at the plate in the 12th inning and 2 runners on, but he hacked away in the same fashion (ok, maybe a little less harshly than Ruiz who came out of his shoes twice) as they two outs before him (Snider, Ruiz).
• Cito Gaston should have coached a little more in the 11th, when he sent up 3 RHB against Matt Thornton who just dominated them. I thought that Jeremy Reed (the only LHB off the bench) could have given the Jays a better chance for a rally, or even Mike McCoy who hits RHP and LHP equally. As it was, Jays hitters looked horrible and took some nasty looking swings.
• Ozzie Guillen, on the other hand, coached his team well. He put Mark Kotsay in there to get the match up he wanted despite giving up his starting SS in the process and then had Omar Vizquel run for him once he got on base. Small ball folks, not Cito’s strong point by any means. If you ask me, a combination of coaching and Jason Frasor lost this game for the Jays, not Tallet or any other Jay.
• Attendance = 46,321 fans. About 3,000 short of capacity….not bad at all, we’ll see how the rest of the week holds up against historical numbers.
• Two points I’d like to make that may result from this game: less playing time for Travis Snider, who just isn’t coming around at all (maybe even a demotion to AAA if his under performance keeps up) and Kevin Gregg may just have won the closing role. The Jays may still move Jason Frasor, but it would be for much less than they hoped for. As for Merkin Valdez, well, at least he got to warm up even if he hasn’t thrown a pitch in 2010.

Well, we get to do it all over again tonight as Ricky Romero takes on Gavin Floyd.