But then tonight’s Game 5 happened, and it centered on Mike Napoli — the catcher who everybody knows that the Jays acquired this offseason but shipped to Texas before he ever put on a Toronto uniform.

After Adrian Beltre tied the game on an epic, knee-down solo home run off Chris Carpenter, Napoli stepped into a two-out, runners on the corners situation. Just getting under a pitch, Napoli flew out again to center field to end the inning, narrowly missing out on a go-ahead three-run home run. Carpenter escaped the jam with the game still tied, and proceeded to shout expletives at Napoli as the inning ended.

The very next inning, Napoli threw out Allen Craig trying to steal before he clobbered the game’s decisive hit in the eighth, a two-run double to the gap in right center. Then, as Albert Pujols struck out swinging, Napoli fired a perfect throw to the right side of second base to retire Craig trying to steal again. Plus, after Lance Berkman swung well in front of the final pitch of the game, Napoli chased down the ball that had skipped away from him to record the final out of the game. Is it Wednesday yet? Game 6 is definitely going to be interesting.

There was, however, another interesting baseball game tonight, as Canada defeated Mexico 5-3 in the semi-final of the Pan American Games. They’ll now play the U.S. in tomorrow’s gold medal game, and there are some Blue Jays roots on the team worth mentioning.

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Former Blue Jay and Canadian Shawn Hill recently signed a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training yesterday with the Florida Marlins. Hill was released to make room for Rajai Davis in November, but it’s odd the Jays could not have signed Hill to a deal like the one he got from the Marlins for 2011, considering he went 1-2 with a 2.61 ERA (3.08 FIP) in 4 starts (20.2 innings) for the Jays in a small sample size this past season.

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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…)

Fast-forward to this season, and the same kind of scenario was taking place, where the Jays were competitive through the all-star game, but were expected to fall well back of any fight for a playoff spot. However, it was not to be so in 2010. The Jays have hung around enough to give themselves a fighting chance from here to the end of the year. If not to win a wild card spot, then at the very least to severely influence who does get the AL East spot and the waild card spot in the playoffs.

The Jays are 10.5 games back from the wild card spot, currently being held by the Yankees. If the Jays win today’s game, it pulls them within 9 games. Because they do face AL East teams so often (TB – 9 times, NY – 10 times, BOS – 9 times) from here to the end of the season, the Jays control their own destiny. They don’t have to hope and wish that other teas would beat their rivals, they simply have to pull up the socks and beat them. So the question is, can they? (more…)

As posted on MLBTR, the Philadelphia Phillies GM Ruben Amaro “told reporters today that the club may not be able to retain Jayson Werth as they already have $130MM committed to just 14 players for 2011, writes Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer.” Should Alex Anthopoulos perk up and make a move for Jayson before the end of the season? Not only does he have history with the Jays having played there 2 seasons, but he’s exactly the type of player the Jays are in need of – a 5 tool outfielder.

If Alex did make a move for the outfielder this season, it would most likely need to include some pretty hefty pieces and may even require a 3rd team once again, because the Jays lack the “replacing” piece the Phillies would want in the OF. However, the Jays do have some great pieces that the Phillies are in dire need of – relief pitchers and depth for their starting pitching. A combination of a pitchers such as Scott Downs and Brian Tallet, along with another piece going to a 3rd team that would give up an OFer may be workable. The Phillies don’t have the best pen in the world and Brad Lidge is already hurting before the season starts. Since the Phillies do have Domonic Brown in the minors close to being ready, they could be willing to take on a 1 year OFer along with the pitching help. They do have 5 strong guys in the pen, but adding 2 from the Jays would add a ton of value to their pen.

When you consider that the Jays and Phillies completed a huge deal in the off season when they dealt for Doc, you have to imagine that they’d be willing and able to deal a second time around a little more easily. Adding Werth to an OF of Wells and Snider almost makes the OF presentable defensively and would ensure the Jays have someone who can make some spot starts in CF to give Wells a break, without needing to use Joey Gathright or Jeremy Reed. It would also allow for the Jays to wait out the progression of other OFers in the minors who are all in AA or below that level at this time. Otherwise, the Jays may end up trying to rush some of them (Marisnick, Sierra and Mastroianni in particular) in order to replace guys who get injured.

The only problems I have with adding Werth are these: how much would he cost to lock up for 2011 and beyond (say 3 years) and would he actually sign with the Jays if a deal were to get done? If he’s willing to take a 3 year deal as the deal gets done that doesn’t hurt our chances to get some key FAs in 2011, I would love to get him on board. But if he’s not willing to sign and the Jays give up some real talent to get him for 1 season, it makes no sense at all. I seriously doubt Alex and the Jays want to add another 31 year old OFer to the lineup and would rather look for a guy in his mid-20s, but each opportunity has to be considered. Since it appears the Phillies are on a 3 years plan to win-win-win, they’d surely like to get someone for those years without breaking the bank. If the Jays give them that opportunity and more, they could add a 30+Hr and 20 SB player to an already blossoming lineup. I’m not holding my breath waiting for this to happen, but it wouldn’t surprise me one bit.