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Blue Jays Morning Brew: Let’s get down to business

ByKeegan Matheson|

Welcome back to the Morning Brew, Blue Jays fans, where we round up the best and brightest of Blue Jays news from around the web. Trade rumor season is ramping up (isn’t it always?), and Toronto is becoming the easy team for “insiders” to link available players to. Let’s get through this month together, everyone. I’m not telling you that it’s going to be easy.

More from Toronto Blue Jays News

The one that got away  –  This great story from Shi Davidi of Sportsnet might leave you a little heartbroken, but it opens the door on what a crapshoot the MLB Draft can still be. Kris Bryant, currently a budding superstar for the Chicago Cubs, was originally drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 18th round of 2010’s draft.

With a commitment to play university ball at San Diedo already in place, Bryant says that he and the Jays held no meaningful contract talks. This one stings, but at the same time, teams passed on Bryant 545 times before Toronto took a swing. Bryant had a refreshing look on his choice to play college ball, as well.

“Honestly, I would recommend college for anyone out there, I think it should be necessary to go to college the way they do in the NBA. You learn to grow up, you learn a lot of things in college that you don’t know when you’re in high school. I’m really glad I got to experience that.”

The Bringer of Obvious  –  I’m always fascinated with how players view the management of a club internally, and how they truly feel about whether or not a trade should be made come deadline time. In this piece from Chris Cotillo of SB Nation, Josh Donaldson addressed the question while attempting to maintain some level of…err…subtlety?

Also on Jays Journal: Jeff Hoffman climbing the ladder

“I definitely think with the offensive capabilities we’ve proven so far, there probably could be a couple of additions that would be nice,” Donaldson said on Monday. “I’m not going to say which ones, but at the same time I definitely think that I wouldn’t be surprised if something does happen.”

Translation: “Pitching, please.”

A look at Yovani Gallardo  –  Joshua Howsam over at Blue Jays Plus offered up another great addition to his series on available starting pitchers. This time around, it’s Yovani Gallardo of the Texas Rangers. Howsam links Gallardo’s early career path to that of Marcus Stroman, both of whom suffered similar injuries while under similar lofty expectations.

Gallardo’s velocity has been on the downturn recently, but he’s countered this with an uptick in his sinker usage which has resulted in more ground balls being forced. Since May 19th, Gallardo has posted some downright ridiculous numbers. His ERA sits at 1.29 since that time with opposing hitters posting a .196 batting average. Check out the breakdown of his pitch placement, though, which leaves us with the suggestion that Gallardo is due for some regression.

Is Devon Travis All-Star worthy  –  The easy answer is “yes”, but check out Greg Wisniewski’s piece from Blue Jays Plus if you need some more convincing. Wisniewski highlights the incredible tear that Travis has been on since his return from the DL on June 26th, posting a slash line of .379/.393/.466.

The knockout punch?  “To put it in perspective, among all second basemen with at least 200 PA this year (Travis has just 202 because he missed so much time) he sports a .367 wOBA, second only to Jason Kipnis and ahead of  .004 points. Both of those men are going to the All-Star game.”

Next: Blue Jays rumors: Cueto links refusing to die

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