Jays Lose Season Opener in a Heart-Breaker

Well it was nice to see the boys of summer back on the field. Unfortunately for us sober Jays fans the end didn't suit what was a rather exciting game.

In my opinion the 2010 Jays season is mainly about the stories. Marcum, Wells!!, and Lind all have began to write a ncie story, while Frasor and Gaston have not.

Frasor didn't pitch well, everyone noticed that. However, I feel that Gaston made a mistake by not pinch-hitting for Overbay when the Rangers brought in a lefty to face him with the bases loaded and less then 2 outs. IMO Ruiz made this team so he could pinch hit for Overbay (and sometimes Snider) when a lefty is brought in. Gaston decided to leave Lyle out there (keep in mind I am fan of Overbay because he is a very good on-base guy, and has more then a solid glove at first) and he promptly struck out on 3 pitches. Basically Washington out-managed Gaston in that situation.

All in all it was very exciting game. Marcum was excellent and I truly do feel that the lineup can put up some runs.

With that said Tallet goes tomorrow, so the offence should be put on notice!

2010 Direction?

Well here we are folks, moving into what could be a very interesting 2010 season for the Jays. Clearly, the team is at a crossroads, no one will deny that. But what direction will the team take moving forward?

The Jays finished up a decent Spring session with a nice win over the Houston Astros, however the best news of the Spring came when the Jays organization announced the long-term signing of young slugger Adam Lind. Adam is now locked up (with various team options) for the next six seasons. I am not only happy for the Jays team, but also for Adam himself. Furthermore, and maybe even more exciting for me is that the team showed support for Adam. Wells, Hill, Overbay, and a couple other players all attended the announcement. This tells me that the team, might play like a team this season.

If I had to guess the opening day lineup, it would look like this;

Bautista
Hill
Lind
Wells
Overbay
EE
Snider
Buck
Gonzalez

SP -- Marcum

It's not a terrible lineup by anymeans. However an overall young pitching staff usually means a long year, but only time will tell.

One move coming out of the Spring I am not happy with is the fact that Billy Tallet was basically hand picked to be the number 2 starting pitcher for this team. A spot he did not earn in the Spring. Tallet helps this team much more as a relief guy, not as a starter. The argument to have him there include that he is a "proven starter" (he's actually not), and that he eats innings (he averaged just over 5 innings per start last season, so he actually doesn't). IMO Cecil should be there, but I guess time will tell.

The rest of the starting rotation looks like this;

Marcum
Tallet
Romero
Morrow
Eveland

All in all, I am very excited for the season to start. I still plan to attend 25-30 homegames this season. Hopefully you will too!

Are You Ready?

Hey guys - Sorry for the lack of posts. I will be back in full blogging mode starting next week!

Brandon League and a Prospect sent to the Mariners for Brandon Morrow

According to a number of sources the Jays will be sending the enigmatic Brandon League and a prospect (details to come) to the Seattle Mariners for fireballer Brandon Morrow.

So far this looks like a good trade for the Jays (depending on who the prospect is). League wasn't amounting to much in Toronto, and will probably not mount to much in Seattle. Morrow on the other hand is a year younger, has tons of upside, and is controllable for longer.

My sources tell me that the Jays may consider moving Morrow back into a starters role.

** It's nice to have a GM that other GM's will actually work with.

Halladay Traded to the Phillies - FINAL

Well it's happened. The good Doctor will be leaving Toronto. Halladay will be sent to Philly as part of a four team blockbuster. The other teams involved are Seattle and Oakland.

Coming to Toronto are highly touted prospects;

Kyle Drabek:

Drabek is the center-piece of the package for the Jays. He is known to have plus fasetball, and the makings of a good changeup. He is also known as a fierce competitor.

Travis d’Arnaud:

Travis is said to have a great makeup and good tools. He is seen by most pundits as a future starting major league catcher.

Brett Wallace:

Wallace is known to be a "special hitter" and a "student of the game." AA sees him playing first base for the Jays in the near future.

Thanks for everything, Roy. You were a treat to watch, and you truly are a great human being.

It would have been awesome to see you win as a Blue Jay, but I understand the current clubs situation and the fact that you want to win now. Perhaps if your still around in four years a return to Toronto could be in the cards?

However, thanks for all the great memories, and good luck in Philly!

Jays Sign Chavez to a Minor League Contract. Bring in John Buck too..

Well this is somewhat interesting. The Jays now have no catchers on the current Major League Roster. Something must be in the works. I have heard the names of Doumit and Mike Napoli.

I wouldn't mind seeing Napoli in a Jays uniform. That man has some serious power.

UPDATE: Unfortunately it turned out to be not that interesting afterall. Chavez was resigned to a minor league contract. The Jays have also signed former Royals catcher John Buck to a one year deal.
Oh well... another position of weakness for the Jays.

Looking Forward to 2010

What are people's thoughts about 2010?

Does anyone buy JP's and Beeston's promise of contending? We have to remember that the Yanks, Boston, and Tampa Bay will not be worse next season. Odds are that Boston will actually try to improve considering just how good the Yanks will be over the next few seasons. The Rays players are still young enough to keep them all on that team. So do we really have a chance to compete in 2010? Can we pass at least 2 of those 3 teams next season?

It looks like right now we have following team going into next season (either signed or ARB);
1B -- Overbay $7.95 million
2B -- Hill $4 million
SS -- ???
3B -- Edwin E $4 million
C -- ???
CF -- Wells $16.143 million
LF -- Lind
RF -- Snider
DH -- Ruiz

SP -- Halladay $15.75 million
SP -- Marcum
SP -- Romero
SP -- McGowan/Litsch/Richmond/Purcey/Cecil/Zep

RP -- Downs $4 million
RP -- League
RP -- Camp
RP -- Tallet
RP -- Janssen
RP -- Frasor
RP -- Roenicke/Wolfe/Accardo
** BJ Ryan $12 million

My figures are not 100% accurate because I am unclear on how much the Jays are paying Rolen next season, but it looks like we have approx. $64 million in locked up salary for next season. We will obviously need to sign our ARB available players as well. We also need to sign a shortstop and a catcher just to feild a full team. We have some options in the minors for both positions, but none of those players look anywhere ready to make the jump. We have some tradeable pitching assests in my opinion.Will we compete next season? I say no unless we upgrade C/3B, and sign a decent SS (perhaps Scutaro). A true number 2 starter would be nice too.I guess we won't know what the direction the club is taking until the offseason, but either way it's tough to compete in this divsion no matter how you look at it.

Scutaro is an interesting case. He will be 34 years old going into next season and only has one good year under his belt. He is in line for a HUGE raise. If the Jays are planning on contending next season then maybe your offer him a 2 or 3 year deal. I don't really like signing players into there late 30's, so I would perfer a 2 year deal.

I actually think the Jays have stuck gold with Randy Ruiz at the DH spot...

Next year will be something.