• Lyle Overbay has signed a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 1B will get a chance for a new start and will hopefully prove himself on a club that definitely needs strong play from their 1B. At the very least, Overbay will provide the Pirates with some of the best 1B D that they’ve had in a very long time, which bodes well to help out their young pitching. It’s the end of a tumultuous time for Overbay in Toronto, but we at Jays Journal wish him well in Pittsburgh;
• Jeremy Accardo has reportedly signed a 1-year $1.08 million contract with the Balitmore Orioles. He’ll make the same am0unt as he did with the Jays in 2010 despite spending most of that season in AAA; (more…)

The Closer Situation:

There are 2 trains of thought when it comes to closers and I’m sure we know exactly where Alex Anthopolous stands on the issue. There’s 1 train of thought that says you must have a top notch closer to win in baseball, and there’s another that says that you can find a good enough option out there without having to overspend. Well, last off season when Alex Anthopolous took Kevin Gregg on, everyone thought he was crazy. They said he’s get eaten alive in the AL East and would never become the closer. They preferred Scott Downs or Jason Frasor in the role. Well, now that we know what we know, and 37 saves later, Kevin Gregg looked like a decent pickup to fill the void left behind by the injury plagued BJ Ryan.

Now, that’s not to say that this off season will be different. There are some options sitting out there that look very attractive for the Jays and that could help solidify an area that I credit with enough losses to cost the Jays a playoff run. If the Jays pen had been better in 2010, it’s possible that they could have made a better run at the end of the year. Here are my candidates, put in the role either by trade, by FA acquisition, or internally:

Through Trade

1 – Heath Bell – 6-1/ 1.93 ERA/ 70 IP/ 56 HA/ 1 HR/ 28 BB/ 86 Ks

This guy is my top choice if I have the goods to get him and can afford the talent transfer. Not only is he still relatively young at 33, but he’s a great club house presence, would add leadership to the pen, and has been as dominant as it gets in recent years. If the Padres have any chance of being competitive over the next decade, they’re place in the daunting scenario of being forced to trade both Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell. Feels like the Doc Halladay deal did for the Jays, but Gonzo is their big fish. Heath may cost the Jays 2-3 prospects depending on the talent, but he won’t cost a king’s ransom like Gonzo will. It would be a pipe dram for the Jays to get both, but how great would that be?

I know what many people are thinking, take Heath Bell out of San Diego, and maybe he gives up more hits and more HRs, spiking his stats to the negative side. I don’t buy that one bit and can prove it as follows:

Bell’s home stats: 35 games, 131 batters faced, 30 hits allowed (.229 avg), .303 OBP, 2.25 ERA, 19 saves, 13 walks, 48 Ks

Bell’s away stats: 32 games, 122 batters faced, 26 hits allowed (.213 avg), .297 OBP, 1.59 ERA, 28 saves, 15 walks, 38 Ks

Not only did hitters fare worst against Bell while he was on the road, but he lowered his ERA by a fair amount, indicating that he’s more than comfortable feeling the heat of unfriendly crowds.

The cost? I’m not sure, but starting with decent SP and OF prospects would be a good start. They may also have interest in David Cooper or Michael McDade who could give them some protection once they deal Adrian Gonzalez. The Jays would probably want to extend Bell for another 2 years as he is entering his last year of Arbitration after making $4,000,000 in 2010, but they are in a position to afford him and would get exactly the kind of leader the pen needs for a fair price.

2 – Jonathan Papelbon -5-7/ 3.90 ERA/ 67 IP/ 57 HA/ 28 BB/ 76 Ks/ 1.269 Whip (more…)

As the Hot Stove starts to boil and the deadline for exercising one of Kevin Gregg’s options mere hours away, the Jays have some decisions to make on a fair amount of their players in the offseason. The Jays have a total of 15 players who are arbitration-eligible, with 5 of them being non-tender possibilities. For anyone who endured sleepless nights because there was no information on Jeremy Accardo or Brian Tallet in my 2011 bullpen post, let’s take a look at them:

Jeremy Accardo – The saga of Jeremy Accardo could possibly come to an end this offseason. After being hurt for most of 2008 following his career year where he replaced B.J. Ryan in 2007, he spent the majority of 2009 at AAA Vegas before earning a September call up. He did well in the 26 games he appeared in, posting a 2.55 ERA and 6.6 K/9 in 24.2 innings. After this late season success at the Major League level, Accardo and his agent went public by requesting Accardo be non-tendered by the Jays and be able to build off his 2009 Major League success (forgetting about his 6.6 BB/9 that year too) with another club. (more…)

If the Jays are really going to bring a new swagger to the team and claim to compete in the AL East, they’re going to need to make Toronto a place where players clamour to come to. What better way to do this than to secure players such as Romero who help the team compete year after year. Also, remember that earlier this year the Jays also secured Adam Lind’s services through 2016, giving the team control over another of its core players through that time. (more…)

Over his last 10 games, Brandon is 3-2 with a 3.19 ERA, 62 IP, 54 HA, 22 ER, 21 BB, and 60 Ks. If we take out the two “bad” games against the Yankees (5 ER) and Red Sox (4 ER), we’re left with 2 games where he allowed 3 ERs, and the remainder are all 2 ERs and under. That’s a very consistent stretch of games and a reflection that everyone was right, leaving him in the rotation (with the right coaching and help of course) would lead to a blossoming of his skills as a starter. The Jays have to be happy to see Brandon pitch so well. (more…)

Here is a review of the major events in the minors for the Jays on Thursday, 29th of April:

AAA Las Vegas – Won 3-1 vs Colorado Springs

• The 51s were the recipients of Robert Ray‘s best start of the year. He gave them 6 innings of work, only giving up 5 hits and 1 ER while striking out 4 (no walks). The outing earned Ray his 2nd win of the year and lowered his ERA to 4.57.
• Steven Register (5.02), David Purcey (3.00), and Jeremy Accardo (0.00) all chipped in with 1 shutout inning a piece that had Accardo earning his 1st save of the season.
• RF Chris Aguila (.311) was 2 for 4 with a double while batting leadoff, and Jarrett Hoffpauir (.324) followed him up with a 2 for 3 day. Of note in this game was that Jarrett manned 3B instead of 2B, adding to his repertoire and possible utility role qualifications.

(more…)

Coming up to Toronto from AAA Las Vegas are relievers Rommie Lewis (2.35, 5 saves) and Josh Roenicke (0.00). In a way, these moves should be equal to trading for 2 relievers because they do make the Jays significantly better and more fresh in the pen. I like these moves a lot and do believe they were exactly what the Jays needed. At the very least, I do hope Cito trusts both enough to give them a real shot to prove themselves and that they settle a pen that has been volatile in recent days.

I hope this isn’t a trend of Dana Eveland (4.57) falling back down to earth because he looked utterly ineffective on Monday. He allowed 8 hits and 3 walks in only 3 innings, which accumulated 7 ER against. He left so many pitches up in the zone that I couldn’t imagine anyone missing as they swung. Even a team that lacks the power of the Yankees in the lineup will hurt you big time if you don’t stay low in the zone – although I have to admit that the umpire wasn’t calling many low strikes, which could have hurt his chances anyhow.

(more…)

1. First and foremost, the Jays are in building mode, not rebuilding, so this means they want to remain competitive in the AL East. Brian Tallet is not helping the Jays accomplish this. Although his efforts in 2009 were heroic because he managed to plug a whole in the rotation fairly effectively, he didn’t put up great numbers in 2009 and is continuing that trend in 2010. His ERA has been over 5 each season and his whip leaves a lot to be desired.
2. Since the Jays are trying to build something, they want to get younger and cheaper. At 32 years old and with an expiring contract worth $2 million in 2010, Tallet doesn’t fit the bill.
3. There are plenty of candidates to take over from Brian in the rotation, and 1 of them is a left-hander which gives the Jays the opportunity to replace 1 lefty for another. LHP Brett Cecil and RHP Brad Mills have both been very impressive throughout the spring training and thus far in their season int he minors. Both deserve a shot at the rotation an have much higher ceilings than Tallet.
4. Brian Tallet threw 160.2 innings in 2009, 104.1 innings more than in 2008. History tells us that injury usually follows such a massive increase in innings thrown and the Jays could lose Tallet for nothing as a result. Better to trade him for a decent mid-level prospect and get some budget relief at the same time. Likely candidates include the Mets, Nationals, and Diamondbacks who could all use the pen help as well as spot starter or 5th starter.
5. Moving Tallet to the pen is another option to trading him, but it would most likely mean demoting Jeremy Accardo who still has options remaining. Accardo didn’t take well to being in AAA in 2009 and using this option would rock that boat a little more. Besides, the Jays have a multitude of relief arms just waiting to get into the pen at a lesser cost than what Tallet currently costs the Jays.
6. Marc Rzepczynski, Jesse Litsch, and Dustin McGowan will all be knocking at the door sometime around mid-season, so the Jays need to look at what needs to be moved in and out. Dana Eveland has definitely proven he belongs in the rotation, possibly as the #3 starter in the rotation, so he’s staying. Ricky Romero and Shaun Marcum are automatically in, so that leaves Brandon Morrow and Brian Tallet as the incumbents. Morrow is much younger and has a higher ceiling, so he should remain unless he continues to slump, in which case he can be sent to the pen.
7. Something a lot of people are not talking about yet is the fact that with so many high draft picks in the upcoming draft, the Jays have a small “where do they play, who gets promoted, and who gets released” dilemma on their hands. If players sign quickly after the deadline, they have to play somewhere, right? Therefore, Alex Anthopolous has to clear some space in the minors to allow for them to absorb a ton of young talent and the arrival of Adeiny Hechevarria. With 3B being the only real lack of depth in the minors for the Jays right now, you can bet that a ton of those draft picks will be young arms, so moving guys like Brian Tallet and Jason Frasor needs to be done before they are forced to resort to releasing some half-promising prospects, something the Jays want to hoard, not throw away.

For those reasons and the fact that Tallet may want to play for a team that has a real shot at contending, he should be traded ASAP. Regardless of how you slice, cut, or dice it, he’ll be much more effective in the NL and would never get much better as long as he’s playing for one of the lesser talented AL East teams. I hope I’m right in assuming that Alex is already on the phones trying to find a place for him since he seems to be about 1000 times more proactive than the previous Jays GM. My guess is that he’ll be out of the rotation by mid-May, whether he is traded or not. I just hope he does well wherever he winds up, as he certainly deserves it.