Blue Jays Morning Brew: Picks, Tix and Sticks

Good Morning! Not much has been going on in Blue Jays Land lately. But, there are still some tasty tidbits to tide us over. Let take look:

The 2015 MLB First Year Player Draft order has been set. With James Shields finally agreeing to a contract with the Padres, the order could be established as he was the last of the free agent who received a qualifying offer. Your Toronto Blue Jays will not be enjoying the high picks they did last year. Nope, after signing Russell Martin, they forfeited their first round pick, which would have been 16th overall. They did pick up a compensation pick for Melky Cabrera‘s departure. This will be their first pick and it comes at 29th overall. Then, they do not pick again until number 56, followed by 91st in the 3rd round. In case you were wondering, the Arizona Diamondbacks get the first overall pick. 

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In case you hadn’t heard, going to a Blue Jays game will cost you a bit more this season. The club has announced that it will raise ticket prices for regular and premium games by 2$. To be perfectly honest, given that this is the first price increase in 5 years and it is only 2$, fans can’t really complain too much about this. Especially since Rogers needs to come up with $82M for Russell Martin as well as money to extend Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion who have two more years of team control and will undoubtedly cost a fair bit. The team might as well start saving now.

At wjhg.com (h/t BlueJays Official Twitter), we learn that two former college teammates will be playing together again, but this time at Rogers Centre. Jose Bautista and Russell Martin played together Chipola College in 2001. Both Martin and Bautista discuss the close, team first bond that they shared with their Indians teammates. That is something that will be interesting to watch this year. There is the undisputed leader, Bautista who leads by example and then there is the new guy, who is quite active and vocal in his leadership. It will be great to see them work together to lead what should be a potent offense as they progress through the season. 

More from Toronto Blue Jays News

• Blue Jays: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. open to a long-term contract
• Blue Jays: Snapping cold streaks at the right time
• Who Should the Blue Jays Extend First: Guerrero, Bichette or Manoah?
• Blue Jays now hold the top Wild Card spot, and yes that’s a good thing
• Blue Jays may have the tools to use a Bullpen Day

According to Anthony Castrovince at SportsonEarth.com, the Blue Jays have the 2nd best offense in baseball. While, there really isn’t any criteria offered for this list, it is impressive to see the Blue Jays getting some love. Granted, it is before the season starts and no games have even been played, heck, Spring Training hasn’t even started. Castrovince feels that the Boston Red Sox have a deeper lineup than the Blue Jays. And, he may be correct. After the REALLY imposing first 5 or 6 hitters in the Blue Jays lineup, there are a fair amount of question marks. Once you get into the bench, it gets a little scarier. The Red Sox have done a good job of adding depth to their lineup. Of course, time will tell.

The Blue Jays have promoted Mike Mordacai to the position of coordinator of instruction for the Blue Jays farm system. As Shi Davidi tells us, his job will be to ‘install the fundamentals of the game at all levels of the system.’ This is interesting because we’ve long heard about how clubs like the Tampa Bay Rays have system wide policies and expectations in place for, say their pitchers for example. The St Louis Cardinals have a book handed out throughout the minor leagues about the “Cardinal Way”. It can be argued that it leads to success. But, the Blue Jays have never seemed to have a consistent way of doing things. Perhaps this is a step in that direction.

Next: 2015 Blue Jays Top Prospects: #5 Max Pentecost