Highlights include a complete game by Brett Cecil in Vegas, a trademark start by Joel Carreno in New Hampshire, impressive rehab showings by Adam Lind in Dunedin, and a wild walk-off win in Lansing.

Also, in minor league news and according to the Jays’ official site, Josh Roenicke was claimed off waivers by Colorado when he was removed from the 40-man roster, likely for some Canadian stud at Triple-A. In his final appearance as a part the Blue Jays organization, Roenicke struck out all four batters he faced on Wednesday in 1.1 innings. Before Wednesday though, Roenicke had a 6.43 ERA and 5.96 FIP in 15 appearances this season.

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LAS VEGAS 51s: Lost 10-1 to the Fresno Grizzlies (SF) (more…)

TORONTO

Image courtesy of tireball.com

The Jays got two full seasons of Troy Glaus. He came as advertised in his 2006 season, where he earned an All-Star appearance for his .252/.355/.513 line, along with his 38 HR, 104 RBI, 86 walks, and 134 strikeouts.

The next season, however, Glaus was hampered by foot injuries all year which caused his production to drop significantly. Jays fans started getting used to his griping about playing on turf, as well as seeing his tantrums after he struck out. He appeared in only 115 games in 2007, where he managed to club 20 home runs and drive in 62 runs, good for a .262/.366/.473 slash line. At the end of the year on December 13th, 2007, Glaus’ name emerged on the infamous Mitchell Report, but no disciplinary action was taken against him. One month later, the Jays shipped out Glaus out in a straight-up, one-for-one deal with the St. Louis Cardinals for Scott Rolen on January 14th, 2008. (more…)

Image Courtesy of BC's Sports Weekly

(1:23pm EST) It’s now common knowledge that Dan Uggla has been traded to the Atlanta Braves for IF/OF Omar Infante (.321/.359/.416 in 134 games across 5 positions in 2010) and RP Michael Dunn (1.89 ERA in 25 games in 2010). I wouldn’t normally devote an article to a player that got traded to another team, even if the Jays were rumored to have had heavy interest, but the amount of chatter that was sparked in Jays land over Dan Uggla, combined with the Marlins return for him makes it worth taking a look.

The Marlins managed to receive a super utility man who primarily hits singles in Infante, but there’s a chance he could only be with the Marlins for his club option year and then walk after 2011 when he becomes a free agent. Even after his career year, he qualified only as a Type-B free agent, so the best case scenario for the Fish would likely be that they would receive a sandwich pick next offseason should Infante sign elsewhere. Obviously there’s still the scenario of the Marlins attempting to re-sign Infante as well.

Dunn is a reliever that is pre-arbitration eligible and controllable, but has constantly battled control issues throughout his career. He has a career 4.1 BB/9 in parts of 5 minor league seasons, and has walked 22 batters in 23 Major League innings. He always seems to bail himself out of trouble though, always posting a respectable ERA and has 486 strikeouts in 445.2 career innings across all levels.

What am I getting at? (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…)

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…)

If it wasn’t for the dominant outing by Jon Lester, which was eerily similar to the Clay Buchholz outing on Tuesday in terms of sheer efficiency and utter dominance, the Jays could have pulled out tis win. They had chances to play small ball and move runners around a couple of times, but tried to slug their way through the game instead.

Only Mike McCoy was able to get on base twice, while the Jays scattered 2 doubles – one from Vernon Wells and one from Alex Gonzalez. It was really a frustrating display of hitting overall and was topped off with a Travis Snider strike out that had him looking to change the game with one swing. With the Jays hitters looking to get extra bases with most swings, it’s no wonder that pitchers like Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz can take advantage of their aggressiveness. Other than Mike McCoy, Aaron Hill, and Vernon Wells, Jays hitters seem to get behind the count very early and have a hard time getting into good hitters counts. This has to change if the Jays are going to have success this season, but it’s also a specialty of Brett Wallace who should make an appearance sometime in May. His presence in the lineup and patience at the plate will help the Jays get by starters more quickly – I hope.

The Jays welcome the Oakland A’s into Toronto with big wide open arms. In fact, so long as the team coming in isn’t from the AL East, I’m certain the Jays will be happy. Well, I should say Jays hitters are happy, because the pitchers did their parts – and might have went above and beyond what was expected of them overall against the Rays and Red Sox. That’s what I take from these 2 series – yes, it hurt to get swept by the sox and beat by the Rays, but once JP Arencibia and Brett Wallace enter the lineup, the Jays should have a much easier time scoring runs and they already have the hardest part accomplished, getting great pitching that is.

The attendance, just over 15 000, was still fairly small considering the visiting team is a major division rival. Hopefully that will get better as the weather warms up!

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.

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