Bits on a Thursday

Yesterday's rain out cost John McDonald his first start at short of the season and cost Scott Richmond a start, he'll be in the bullpen till June 20th in Washington. Tonight's game, should it happen, will have Romero and Millwood as the starters. It is hard for me to believe that the field can dry out enough to get the game in, especially with more thunderstorms in the forecast for today.

Around the internet with the Jays, I agree with all this from the Southpaw talking on the saying of David Dellucci, I think he makes a much better suggestion in Jimmy Edmunds:

Edmunds - since he stopped being a good everyday hitter - has done one thing exceedingly well the last 3-4 years - he has pounded the crap out of RH pitching. He's out there, as an unsigned free agent. Sure he'd need maybe until the break to get his swing together at AAA, but Dullucci is going to have to spend a week or two down there anyway. Edmunds is a dirtbag, which JP and Cito love, he's a former teammate of Rolen's, and has the same sort of "winner" attitude that the Jays covet. And, he crushes RHP. At this point it CAN'T cost much to sign him for what is little more than half a season and the jays are some 4 millionish under budget anyway, not counting any influx that might be granted for a stretch run addition.Heck, if Edmunds hits well enough you might not NEED to trade for another hitter.

Mark Zwolinski in the Star talks to Brad Arnsberg about elbow surgery. Arnsberg was through it too, talking about all the Jays that have had Tommy John: 

"I've gone through the paperwork on all of them," Arnsberg said. "And I can't see anything that would have prevented it. Some arms can take it, some can't. I take this very personally, and I've gone over it a lot, and I wouldn't do anything differently with any of them, or with the 100 or so starters I've had at the major-league level."

The only one of the bunch that I think the Jays could have done Shawn Marcum. I felt they pushed him a little too hard when he came back from injury last year but then you never know.

Lots of stuff out there about the draft, if you are looking for draft links Beyond the Box Score has several, including a link to Hugo's  terrific Day One post.

If you are looking for a run down of our day two picks, bluejays.com has them here, we'll likely go over some of them in the next few days. 

Baseball Prospectus talked a little about our first pick: 

26. Chad Jenkins, RHP, Kennesaw State The Good: This sizable right-hander has one of the better sinkers around, as his 92-94 mph fastball has been up to 96 this spring while featuring significant drop to go with natural tailing action. He also has a solid slider, and his changeup really impresses scouts. The Bad: That breaking ball needs more refinement; his body is a bit soft. In A Perfect World He Becomes: A solid everyday starter, but he'll likely always have the ability to get ground balls in either a starter or relief role.

And this about our second pick: 

Paxton was very high on some boards but didn’t perform and has a history of nagging injuries; at times he has premium stuff with a mid-90s fastball and power breaking ball.

Boy when it rains in Texas it really rains in Texas. I'm hoping it is a little better by Saturday because I'm heading down to Houston, but rain or not it's not going to be a fun trip. My wife's sister who a bit more than two weeks ago you would have said was the healthiest person around, died of liver failure Monday. About a week before that a co-worker at the hospital she worked at noticed she looked a little yellow. Quickly they found he liver wasn't functioning right. Last Tuesday she was getting medicine and things were improving. Thursday, things were no longer improving but she was healthy and strong and all would work out. Saturday morning they put her in ICU and she was at the top of the transplant list, Saturday afternoon they thought they had a liver for her, but before the surgery they decided that this liver was damaged. 

Monday there was another liver, had surgery scheduled for Tuesday morning but by Monday night she had internal bleeding and after a few frantic minutes for the doctors and nurses there really was no more they could do and she died. Elaine didn't drink, smoke, kept herself in great shape, ate well and in about a week went from healthy to dead.

Anyway no real moral to the story other than be nice to those around you. You never know when it's your turn or their turn.  No use leaving yourself with a chance for regrets.

Hopefully see you all in the game thread tonight.