Jays Journal » Octavio Dotel

Jays Get Pronked, The Jays Pen Just Isn’t “Right”

Mat Germain — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 17:38:00 +0000

I went to bed after a long hard day believing that the Jays had this one in the bag. But, knowing that things happen quickly sometimes, I changed the channel on my TV, brought it back to the game (so it wouldn’t add 2 hours of baseball I had watched to the DVR) and set it to record the last inning. What I saw when I watched it this morning was about as horrible a game-ending as one could imagine. (more…)

Jays Win Despite Lack of Output From Key Players, New Strategy Working

Mat Germain — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 16:47:25 +0000

The Jays are not by any means beating up on the AL as they currently sit at .500, but to have achieved that level of performance despite all of the losses the key players they were missing is both impressive and possibly unexpected. To beat up on the Rangers as they did, winning 3 of 4, and to beat the Yankees in the opener of this series is impressive on its own. They have the chance to be 1.5 games back of the Yankees if they win today’s game as April ends, and could begin to improve on that in May as key players return to the fold and fresh blood from the minors begins to make its impact felt.

Why is it impressive and unexpected? (more…)

A.L. East Week-in-Review: (3/31 – 4/10)

Mat Germain — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 22:07:38 +0000

The following is a review of prominent events that have taken place during the past week in the A.L. East, as compiled by Fansided’s writers from each club in the division. This “Week-in-Review” series is one which will run all season long and will be posted each Monday to recap the previous week (Monday through Sunday). To add a little gloating rights to this series, the teams will be posted in an order that replicates the actual standings as of the day of the post, giving a chance for the writers to rub some salt in the wounds of the other team writers. However, the post will be made on each site in a rotational basis, meaning that each team will provide a link to the post, but only 1 site will actually have the compilation posted.

Here is the A.L. East Week-in-Review for the week of: March 31st through April 10th:

1st Place: Baltimore Orioles (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…)

2011 Blue Jays: Bullpen

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 12:27:05 +0000

For all of the experience that the Jays rotation lacks, the bullpen has it in spades. This includes four pitchers with over 400 innings pitched in the Majors, and three with significant experience closing games. On paper, it looks to be stronger than the Jays pen’ in 2010. The loss of Scott Downs to free [...]

2011 Blue Jays: Bullpen - Jays Journal - Jays Journal - A Toronto Blue Jays Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

Jays Affiliate Assigments Begin

Mat Germain — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:40:11 +0000

The following players have been asigned to some of the Jays affiliates over the last few days. It does not guarantee that these players will begin the 2011 season with these teams, but it’s an indication that it is the plan, for now. Since all of the recent assignments deal with AAA and AA rosters, those are the ones I will present below. Here are the additions that the Jays have made to those affiliates:

AAA Las Vegas

Assignments: (more…)

Jays Journal: Leonys Martin, Richard Thon, Spring Notes, and Links

Mat Germain — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 11:53:59 +0000

I recently broke down the argument for the Jays to sign Leonys Martin out of Cuba (actually, he is currently in Mexico), and heard a lot of feedback from fans who were apprehensive about spending so much money on a light-hitting, good speed and good defensive ability center-fielder. So, I asked John Manuel of Baseball America, a professional who actually has the scouting breakdown on Martin, the following question on Twitter in order to get a sense for how Martin would fare amongst Jays prospects:

“@johnmanuelba Would Leonys Martin be within the top 15 Jays prospects if signed?“

And he answered as follows: (more…)

Jays Leadership Still Present Without Vernon Wells and Shaun Marcum

Mat Germain — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:37:21 +0000

Let’s face it, the Blue Jays and Alex Anthopoulos have dealt or let go the majority of what people in baseball recognized as the leadership of the franchise. It started when Roy Halladay was dealt to the Phillies, continued with the departures of Scott Downs, Brian Tallet, Shaun Marcum, and was most apparent when Vernon Wells was dealt to the Angels.

Even some of the leaders who were added last season by Anthopoulos, such as John Buck and Alex Gonzalez, have come and gone. So, many people in the industry rightfully question how much leadership remains in Toronto and question whether or not there’s enough of it on board. I say that the latter question is non-sense, and that there’s plenty of leadership remaining with the club for the 2011 season.

Some of the players that can be expected to take on a bigger leadership role with the Jays in 2011 are predictable, and others are not. What bodes well for the Jays is that those who do take on that role will likely do so because they want to, and also because they can do so with the respect of the remainder of the team.

Here are my candidates to become the likely leaders of the club in 2011: (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…)

The Jays Frank Francisco Signing: Making Sense of the Term

Mat Germain — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 14:39:10 +0000

As Jared posted earlier, the Jays signed the newly acquired RP, and potential closer, Frank Francisco to 1-year term worth $4,000,000. The signing is important as it allows both sides to avoid arbitration, allows Alex Anthopolous to concentrate on the lone and most important arbitration eligible player – Jose Bautista, and settles the last question mark about the bullpen in 2011. The signing is slightly closer to what the Rangers had offered Francisco before he was dealt, $190,000 below the mid-point, since they offered him $3.5 million, and he had countered with $4.88 million (numbers courtesy of MLBTR’s arbitration tracker).

Since the signing took place, everyone seems to be fine with the dollar value of the deal, but many fans have been wondering why the Jays were unable to sign him to at least a club option to go along with the 1-year. Some are even pondering whether they should have signed him to a 2-year deal from the start, in hopes of having a closer on the cheap for the 2012 season as well as for the 2011 season. Nobody can be blamed for either question, because Alex Anthopolous has proven to be agile in adding those options and setting up the Jays very well by allowing for flexibility in contracts. However, in my opinion, there are some very good reasons for not signing Francisco to a longer term than was necessary. Here they are in no order of importance: (more…)