Jays Journal » Jo Jo Reyes

Yunel Escobar: Elite Shortstop

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 23:57:43 +0000

A little over a year ago, Alex Antholopolous traded an aging shortstop and two mid-level minor league prospects to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for Yunel Escobar and Jo Jo Reyes. As the old adage goes, the team that gets the best player wins the deal. The Blue Jays received the best player. Yunel Escobar [...]

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The End of Jo-Jo in Toronto, and Other Jays Player Moves

Mat Germain — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 11:41:46 +0000

Since I didn’t get to watch yesterday’s game, I thought I would comment on the moves the Jays have made of late and how they affect the team as a whole. The End of Jo-Jo Reyes in Toronto I believe that most Jays fans predicted long ago that Reyes was not going to last very [...]

The End of Jo-Jo in Toronto, and Other Jays Player Moves - Jays Journal - Jays Journal - A Toronto Blue Jays Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

Jays Thump Wildcard Leading Yankees

Mat Germain — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:59:15 +0000

What a way to begin the post all-star break period, with a thumping of the evil empire! Remember this, each and every time the Jays beat the Yankees, they get 1 game closer to being in the Wildcard chase. Still, Jays fans should celebrate this win with caution, because making up 9 games on a team as talented as the Yankees is very close to the baseball version of climbin Mount Everest. Is it achievable? Of course it’s possible, stranger things have happened. However, a whole lot of things would have to happen, and it’s going to take more than an Alex Rodriguez injury to make it happen. The Jays are now 9 games behind the Yankees in the standings, could get closer if they can win – or sweep – the series from the Bombers, but they still have a ton of work to do to get that done. (more…)

Jays Rotation Grading At The Break

Mat Germain — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 11:03:02 +0000

With the Lineup 1st half examined and expectations set for the second half, we set our eyes on the rotation next. While some performances have exceeded expectations, or at least met them, others have had a much harder time. As in 2010, it seems that the Jays are 1 or 2 starters away from making a real run at the wild card, as a minimum. It makes you wonder what Roy Halladay and Shaun Marcum would mean to this team as a whole….

Moving on…

Here is what we could call the “top 5″ at the break and their performances from the 1st half, along with some of the “Next in Line” guys who could come into play in the second half:

Ricky Romero – Unquestioned “Ace” of the Staff (more…)

The Jays Need Better 4-5 Starters For a 2011 Run

Mat Germain — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:13:02 +0000

The Jays rotation has been a mixed bag of tricks of late, topped off by the latest gem thrown by Brandon Morrow who has finally found his groove with another win yesterday. His velocity was great, his command was right on, and he had excellent movement when needed. He joins both Ricky Romero and Carlos Villanueva as a trio of Jays pitchers who have really become of the core of the starting group in 2011. It’s most evident when we display the results from last two times through the rotation for each starter as follows: (more…)

Evaluating the Yunel Escobar and Jo-Jo Reyes for Alex Gonzalez, Tyler Pastornicky, and Tim Collins

Mat Germain — Sat, 21 May 2011 22:55:15 +0000

Last July, the Jays sent SS Alex Gonzalez, who was having a career year after signing with the Jays as a FA, as well as SS prospect Tyler Pastornicky and LHP relief prospect Tim Collins to the Braves in return for SS Yunel Escobar and LHP Jo-Jo Reyes. At the time, only 2 of the players were considered core pieces (Escobar and Gonzalez) because they were the only pieces playing full-time in the majors. Today, all of them aside from Pastornicky are in the majors, which allows for an interesting comparison of both sides of the deal.

In order to get a better grip on the deal altogether, I’ll separate it into 2 portions: the SS portion and the pitching portion.

Part 1: Yunel Escobar for Alex Gonzalez Tyler Pastornicky (more…)

Jays Loss Hurts: Jo-Jo Reyes Now Winless in 24 Consecutive Starts

Mat Germain — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:08:24 +0000

This is the first time in a while that the Jays lose the first game of a series. Maybe that’s a good thing since they’ve also gone on to lose the remainder of the series after winning the first game, so a flip of that scenario would have the Jays winning the rest of the games vs the Rays in this series. It was evident that the Jays missed Jose Bautista‘s bat in the lineup, or JBeasta as I like to call him, and a couple of 2011 Jays additions had a hard time taking up the slack.

Juan Rivera, Rajai Davis, and David Cooper (more…)

Jays Journal Series Preview: May 3-5 vs. Tampa Bay Rays

Jared Macdonald — Tue, 03 May 2011 12:14:01 +0000

After a tough three-game series in the Bronx, the Jays stay in the AL East and find themselves making their 2011 Tropicana Field debut for three games.

Joining me for the series preview is Ben Ice, Lead Writer on FanSided’s Rays site Rays Colored Glasses, and he’ll be adding everything on the Rays after the jump. Here’s everything you need to know:

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Jays Journal Series Preview: April 22-24 vs. Tampa Bay Rays

Jared Macdonald — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:45:08 +0000

After splitting a two-game series with the Yankees – where the Jays rallied back in a team effort to win the first game and lost the second game making Bartolo Colon look like the pitcher he was when he won the Cy Young with the Angels in 2005 – the Jays continue their home stand with three games against the surging Tampa Bay Rays.

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Litsch optioned to Vegas, but Jo-Jo Reyes wasn’t going anywhere anyway

Jared Macdonald — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:57:13 +0000

Now official thanks to MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez, the Blue Jays have optioned Jesse Litsch to Triple-A Las Vegas to make room for Frank Francisco, who was activated from the 15-day disabled list. The move puts an end to the questions surrounding who out of Litsch and Jo-Jo Reyes was going to be sent to the minors when Francisco or Morrow returned to action.

Reyes impressed this spring and pitched better than Litsch, but Litsch has clearly pitched better than Reyes in the regular season when things actually matter. It seems Litsch’s demotion is a touchy topic among Jays fans given Reyes’ struggles in two of his three starts, and the rest of this article is certainly not going help that.

No matter how bad Reyes pitched in his three starts or how good Litsch pitched in his, it was the plan all along to send Litsch down and keep Reyes around for a few more starts, and here’s why.

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