Jays Journal » Derek Jeter

Travis Snider Tees Off, Adam Loewen, and Other Jays Notes

Mat Germain — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 22:05:35 +0000

If Ricky Romero was looking to get the bottom of the order fired up in order to get more run support, he got his wish as the bottom of the order was on fire last night. From Edwin Encarnacion in the 6th spot all of the way to Rajai Davis in the 9th spot, the Jays bottom dwellers were a total of 11 for 19 (.579) with 2 doubles, a HR, and 2 stolen bases. Talk about great support! This is the kind of run production many of us were expecting when looking at the names in the lineup at the beginning of the season. Hopefully it translates to many more wins post All-Star break.

Travis Snider Tees Off (more…)

Jays Journal: A.L. East Predictions for 2011 Season

Mat Germain — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:00:58 +0000

With the season just about set to begin and most of the position battles settled, I’m ready to set forth and make some bold predictions, and others not so bold. I’ll post my MLB wide predictions (most of which are unlikely to come true but make for good stuff to talk about), and hopefully I’ll come up with a few gems that will make some sense (as my 2010 prediction of the Jays finishing above .500 and Texas winning the West did last season).

Here are my A.L. East predictions, going from last to first, just to make things more interesting and to build up to the surprise team that I expect will win the A.L. East.

#5 – The Baltimore Orioles – Record: 78 – 84 (more…)

Vernon Wells Backs Young, Respects Alex Anthopoulos

Mat Germain — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 12:55:41 +0000

For the first time in a while, a post about Michael Young‘s situation in Texas won’t be focused on where he winds up. Instead, it will be about how Vernon Wells spoke up for him, and how he directly boost the reputation of Alex Anthopoulos and the Jays while doing so.

Vernon, a long time friend of Young’s, spoke at length about how the situation has developed in Texas and how it has been handled overall. It’s funny in some ways that many people had picked Texas as the best landing spot for Wells because of Young’s presence on the team and due to their homes being near by. Instead, both are speaking against the organization and how it treats its players. That’s a huge sign to other players that says “maybe I should consider other destinations”, a sign that Cliff Lee saw well ahead of time.

The quotable portions from Wells are as follows, for those who missed it (quotes obtained from the Los Angeles Times article written by Mike Giovanna, available here):

“It’s been handled poorly on their end, I’ll say that,” Wells said of the Rangers. “Of course, I dealt with it in a completely different way. I dealt with it in-house, which was the right way to do things. He’s having to deal with it, unfortunately, publicly. It creates all kinds of problems.” (more…)

Jays Fans Poll Results: “Are you satisfied with the moves..”

Mat Germain — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 14:48:39 +0000

I posted this poll just before the new year, at a time that had the Rajai Davis acquisition and the Octavio Dotel signing were the only major moves made by the Jays and GM Alex Anthopoulos. Therefore, the initial results and leanings of the poll in the first few weeks were entirely different than the results we see today, as we close the poll just before spring training.

Here is the question and the results of the poll in question:

“Are you satisfied with the moves made by the Jays so far this off season?” (more…)

Top 50 Jays Prospects, Jays Journal Edition: #22 Darin Mastroianni

Jared Macdonald — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 04:16:14 +0000

After Shane Opitz at #23, comes the player who easily benefited the most from last week’s Vernon Wells trade at #22…

Image courtesy of MLB.com

#22: Darin Paul Mastroianni

Center Fielder / 25 years old / 5′11″ 190 lbs

Born: August 26th, 1985 in Huntersville, North Carolina

Bats: Right Throws: Right

High School: Fox Lane H.S.

College: University of Southern Indiana

Drafted By: The Toronto Blue Jays in the 16th round (505th overall) of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft

Jersey Number: #23 for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats

(more…)