Jays Journal » Jesse Carlson

Roster Move Roundup: Hoey, Coello, Carpenter, Jeroloman, Rasmus

Jared Macdonald — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:08:50 +0000

Despite tonight’s non-tender deadline, today was a busy day in terms of transactions news and other notes, so here’s a rundown of everything that was released this afternoon:

The Blue Jays claimed 6-foot-6 reliever Jim Hoey off waivers from the Minnesota Twins, as released on the Jays’ official site. Before returning to the Majors this year, Hoey hadn’t pitched at the big league level since 2007. In 24.2 innings for the Twins this past season, the right-hander compiled a 5.47 ERA/5.58 FIP with almost as many walks (13) as strikeouts (14).
(more…)

Jays Notes: Tinoco, Rivera, Carlson, McCoy

Jared Macdonald — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:51:39 +0000

Belated congratulations to Jose Bautista for winning a Silver Slugger award again this year and to Mel Didier for being recognized recently as one of baseball’s top scouts. Here are some additional Jays nuggets from today:

The Jays signed 16-year-old Venezuelan right-hander Jesus Tinoco this morning, according to Baseball America’s Ben Badler. Badler goes on to mention that the 6’3″, 198-pound Tinoco possesses a heavy fastball that already touches 91 mph and, in addition to being projected to be a power pitcher, he has an advanced feel on his mid-to-high 70s curveball. Tinoco is the third international youngster the Jays have signed who has trained with Ciro Barrios. (more…)

Jays Journal Series Preview: April 5-7 vs. Oakland Athletics.

Mat Germain — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:46:56 +0000

The Jays had a very good series against the Minnesota Twins to open the season, winning two games against the 2010 A.L. Central champs, and now they must face one of the teams favored by many to be a candidate to win the A.L. West in the Oakland A’s.

Joining me for the series preview is Joseph Lopez, Senior Editor over at FanSided’s great Oakland site, Swingin’ A’s. He will be handling everything from an Oakland perspective in the preview. Here’s everything you need to know:

(more…)

Top 10 Reasons to Not Panic About Lack of Jays Runs This Spring

Mat Germain — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:50:00 +0000

Many Jays fans and writers seem to be losing their minds about the lack of runs the Jays have been able to drive in thus far this spring. We’re only 3 games into spring training, and the pessimists are eating it up, making it known that this is an indication of what to expect in 2011 – great pitching and horrible hitting. My comment to them are as follows: relax, don’t look too closely at box scores, and come back to me the last week of spring training. Only then will performances and the lineup in general deserve a closer look.

Having said that, there are plenty of other reasons to not worry about the performance of Jays hitters thus far. Here are the top 10 I could come up with this morning:

1 – It’s spring training for crying out loud!! This is by far the biggest reason to not panic and it really shouldn’t need to be said at all. Players are all working out the kinks and working on getting their swings going. Everyone knows that the pitching is usually ahead of the hitting in the spring, so this lack of runs shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
2 – The Jays lineup is currently missing a player that is expected to knock in 20-30 HRs in 2011 to go along with a ton of doubles in Aaron Hill. His presence in the lineup will make it much tougher to navigate through and he’s someone that the current lineup definitely misses immensely. (more…)

Jays Secure One Fifth of Rotation Through 2016

Mat Germain — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:32:36 +0000

Ricky Romero has blossomed into the ace that the Jays knew they were going to need to take a step forward after losing Roy Halladay this off-season. His demeanor and take-no-prisoner attitude have really set the standard for the rotation and he, along with Shaun Marcum, has taken the rotation under his wing as he gains maturity and experience. The Jays and Alex Anthopolous recognize what they have in Romero, moved to secure him long term in order to provide stability in the front of the rotation, and now have one fifth of the rotation secured through 2016. Well done Alex.

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…)

Hoffpauir Hits Cycle, Dopirak Nails a Walk-Off Grand Slam

Mat Germain — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 11:17:13 +0000

The Las Vegas 51s had an outstanding day at the plate yesterday as they were able to hammer out 17 hits against Sacramento (OAK). Jarrett Hoffpauir and Brian Dopirak were definitely the stars of the show. Jarrett hit for the cycle, starting it off with a home run in the 1st – getting the hard part out of the way, a double in the 3rd, and then got his triple in the 4th inning. Not a bad start to the game! He finished it off with the easiest part, a single, and said that he feels so comfortable at the plate that he never thought about bunting himself on. Well, that bodes well for the Jays, because anyone who watched the game yesterday had to notice Aaron Hill wincing as he ran towards first and refusing to bend his knees to get that ground ball which allowed the first 2 runs to score against the Jays. If those are indications of his health status right now, the Jays may call on someone like Jarrett to fill a bench spot should Aaron return to the DL.

(more…)

Jays Minors Review: 20-Apr-10

Mat Germain — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 12:04:36 +0000

Here is a review of the major events in the minors for the Jays on Tuesday, 20th of April:

AAA Las Vegas –Lost 8-5 vs Salt Lake (LAA)

Rei Gonzalez (6.06)was not at his best Tuesday as he allowed 9 hits over 5.1 IP, 4 ER, 3 walks, and got 4 Ks. Luckily for the Jays, there is no rush for him to perform after his promotion to AAA since others are definitely proving to be up to the task of providing depth for the big club.
Another pitching note is that Jesse Carlson gave up 2 runs on 3 hits in his 1 inning of work in relief.
OF Chris Aguila (.375) led off and went 2 for 5 with a double (his 5th of the season), while JP Arencibia (.273), Jeremy Reed (.238), and Jorge Padilla (.262) all went 2 for 4.

(more…)

Reidier Gonzalez Strong in LV Win

Mat Germain — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 11:32:40 +0000

Las Vegas SP Reidier Gonzalez, a pitcher the Jays have very high hopes for this season, kicked the year off on the right foot yesterday, as he went 6 innings strong with no walks, 2 ER, 5 Ks, and 5 hits allowed for his first win of 2010. LV won 7-3 over Salt Lake for a 2-0 start. Josh Roenicke followed up his effort with 2 perfect innings with no hits allowed, no walks and 2 Ks. Jesse Carlson threw the 9th and got through it with only 1 hit allowed.

The offensive force for Las Vegas was very well spread out as 8 of the 9 hitters had hits, and 5 of those had multiple hits (Figueroa, Dopirak, Reed, Arencibia, and Lubanski). However, it was Arencibia that led the way in driving in runs with 3 to his credit, while Dopirak chipped in by driving in 2.

This start to the year is indicative of the fact that the Jays have a very strong club in Las Vegas and will be able to benefit from their talents when injuries strike. If JP Arencibia continues his strong start, there’s a very real chance we’ll see his power bat in Toronto by August. Reidier Gonzalez, meanwhile, has the unfortunate task of getting through more guys mid-season (McGowan, Litsch, Cecil, Drabek) to get any opportunity to get a shot in the lineup – never mind the fact that all Jays starters have looked good enough to keep their roles (Morrow should be better from here on out). Still, he could get a shot if injury or trades occur.

Quick Jays Quirps: 28 March ’10

Mat Germain — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 19:35:30 +0000

Here are today’s big events for the Jays:

Joey Gathright was released and will have to find a new home to play in for 2010. It made sense to release him since Darin Mastroianni is destined to play CF in AAA and there’s no way Joey was going to accept playing in AA.
Brad Emaus was assigned to minor league camp. Chances are he’ll begin the season in AAA after a wonderful spring that had a lot of people wondering if he’d be able to earn a bench spot. His demise seems to be based on last season’s lackluster stats in AA.
Chris Lubanski was also reassigned to minor league camp and will also head to AAA and will represent depth at the OF position for the Jays. That leaves utility Mike McCoy and Jeremy Reed left in camp, both vying for 1 bench spot.
The Jays recently resigned RP Jonah Bayliss who will try his hand in AAA Las Vegas for the second year in a row, although he did leave for Japan for part of 2009.
The Jays also signed 29 year old FA SP B.J. LaMura, who had last been with the LA Dodgers, but spent 2009 in the Independent league. He finished 2009 with a 10-10 record, 28 GS, 147 IP, 71 BB, 98 Ks, and a 4.95 ERA. Perhaps the Jays will look to turn him back into a reliever, because he was much better in that role between 2005 and 2007, although his walk rate has always been horrible.
The Jays brought in Calix Crabbe, Manuel Mayorson, Kenneth Wilson, Jonathan Jaspe, Daniel DeLucia, and behold, they also brought in Welinton Ramirez, who I wrote a piece about and posted it today. All of these players will get marginal playing time, if any at all.
Dustin McGowan has been shut down for 2 weeks after experiencing more shoulder issues. I don’t think we can count on much from Dustin this season, and if we do, it should be as a reliever in my opinion.
Jesse Carlson, meanwhile, has fared much better with his knee issues and threw without pain in a minor league game March 26th.
Jordan Bastien gives us his season predictions for the lineup here. Almost exactly as I predicted in February. I like it!

That’s about it for today, although with a rained out day, it could be just the beginning of a lot of moves!

Jays FA Targets Next Offseason

Mat Germain — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:59:04 +0000

For anyone who wants a continuously updated list of 2011 FAs, MLBTR provides the best source of information here. For Jays fans who want to know how much money the Jays have to work with from here on out, Cot’s Baseball Contracts provides excellent tables that show commitments for the next 5 years here. As you can see within their table, the Jays only have $33.17 million committed in 2011, but you have to add in the small raises that arbitration eligible players will get to that amount. In order to get the best estimate of the budget Alex Anthopoulos will have to work with in the 2010-2011 off season, we have no choice but to make some key assumptions in terms of personnel who the Jays will retain and have on board at that time. Here are the assumptions I am ready to make as of today:

Both Jason Frasor and Scott Downs will either be traded or will not be re-signed for 2011.
The Kevin Gregg acquisition will go through and that he’ll be retained at an approximate cost of 4.75 million in 2011.
Jeremy Accardo will take over the set up role and will do well, and will cost the Jays 2.75 million as a result (the same salary that Jason Frasor got in his final year of arbitration due to good performance)
Shaun Marcum and Casey Janssen will be retained without going to arbitration at a cost of 1.15 million and 900K respectively.
The Jays will not exercise the option for Alex Gonzalez.
The Jays will not sign Edwin Encarnacion who already costs them 5.175 million in 2010 and has 1 more arbitration year that could push his salary over 6 million.
The Jays will trade Lyle Overbay or let him go at season’s end.
Jose Bautista will be retained once again as a bench player, and will cost the Jays 3 million to re-sign in his final year of arbitration.
John Buck will do well and will be retained to split time with J. P. Arencibia at a cost of 2.8 million for 1 season.
Brian Tallet will be let go or traded during the season, while Shawn Camp will be re-signed at a cost of 2 million in his final arbitration year.
Dustin McGowan, only in his second arbitration eligible year, will get a 250,000 raise to .75 million.
Brandon Morrow, Jesse Carlson, and Jesse Litsch, in their first year of arbitration, will all be signed for 600,000 each.
Adam Lind, also eligible for arbitration for the first time, will get a raise to 1,500,000.
Merkin Valdez will make the pen and will make approximately 500,000 in 2011.
For the remainder, we’ll make it the minimum at 450,000.

(more…)