Miss a Week, Miss a Lot
by Tom Dakers on Aug 29, 2011 11:53 AM EDT
in Toronto Blue Jays News
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Being on holiday, this past week, I've been kind of disconnected from the team and a lot has happened in a week, so I thought I'd review and get myself caught up.
Our Bats Have Quit:
In 7 games, from Saturday to Saturday, we scored 22 runs. Just over 3 a game, not surprisingly there were only 2 wins in those 7 games. Considering that a couple of weeks ago our offense looked great and we seemed to have finally put together the team we wanted, this has been a bit of a surprise. Folks are calling for Dwayne Murphy's head, but then we are still 4th in the AL in runs per game. I'm not sure that anyone figured we would be any better this season. About the only guy hitting is Brett Lawrie. Slumps happen, they aren't fun, hopefully it will end soon.
We Traded Aaron Hill and John McDonald for Kelly Johnson:
Here's how it happened for me: I got an email from the Jays on my phone telling about a press conference with Alex Anthopoulos in an hour. I didn't figure I could make it to Toronto in an hour, so sent an email to one of the Jay's PR people asking if there was news coming. Got a reply, right away, 'yep'. I asked "Big News". He said "I consider it big news". And a few minutes later we found out about the trade.
I have a great deal of affection for both Hill and Mac but this is a trade you'd have to make. Kelly Johnson isn't having a good season but his WAR numbers by year have been: 2007:4.3, 2008:3.5, 2009:0.9, 2010:4.2 and this year 0.1. He is the kind of guy you gotta take a chance on. Even if you are going to let him go as a free agent, this deal works. There is no way that Aaron Hill would have turned down arbitration after this year, so the Jays couldn't have picked up a draft pick for him. Johnson looks to be a Type-A free agent, at the moment, and I doubt he'd accept arbitration. Another part about the trade is that if the Jays were planning to try to sign him as a free agent, now it wouldn't cost them a draft pick to do it.
The Jays get a month and a half to decide if they would like to offer him a contract, if they don't they get draft picks. If they do it kind of messes up the idea that I had that Yunel would be moving to second and Adeiny Hechavarria would soon be our shortstop, but having too many players is a good problem.
I wish Aaron and John the best with their new clubs. Hill hit a homer and a triple last night. The triple was really a pop fly down the right field line that the RFer dived at and missed, but Hill's had enough bad luck, I'm happy to see him have some good.
Colby Rasmus Hurt His Wrist and is on the DL:
They are saying it isn't serious but I hate seeing batters hurt their wrists.
We Called Up Brian Jeroloman and Darin Mastroianni:
What would have to happen for Jeroloman to get into a game? Well, they didn't put him into yesterday's pathetic effort. If you aren't going to use him there to give J.P. Arencibia a couple innings off, I can't see him playing at all. Darin played in 1 game and then was sent back to Vegas.
We Signed Dewayne Wise:
Why? I don't know. Dewayne hit .250/.282/.393, in way too many at bats, for us last year and then .239/.278/.269 for the Marlins this season, before they decided they had seen enough of him. But his fielding is good. Odds are we think it is better than it is, because we remember that catch he made to save the perfect game.
Travis Snider Season Ends with Tendinitis in his Wrist:
Part of the answer to the why above. Really feel bad for him.
Jose Bautista Got Tossed from a Game:
First ejection for him this season. He went a little nuts after but I wouldn't want to take any of the intensity out of his game.
Left-Handed Relievers Trever Miller and Wil Ledezma Were Dumped:
It happened a week apart but we'll group them together. Miller was a part we didn't want in the first place. Ledezma was just awful yesterday. I didn't see why they called him up in the first place, but I guess it is like throwing spaghetti against the wall, hoping something sticks.
Lots of Minor League Moves:
I'm not going to go through them all but we picked up Kyle Davies and signed an undrafted Canadian Luke Wilson. We released Lance Durham. Sal Fasano was name Eastern League Manager of the Year and Travis d'Arnaud got that league's MVP. Drew Hutchison moved up from Dunedin to New Hampshire. Casey Lawrence moved from Lansing to Dunedin. Noah Syndergaard and Justin Nicolino moved up from Vancouver to Lansing. Aaron Sanchez moved up from Bluefield to Vancouver.
Did I miss anything?
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Good recap
In minor league news, d’Arnaud, Gose, and Hech were named as Eastern League end-of-season All Stars (which are given to the best player at each position), and Dennis Holmberg of Bluefield was named Appalachian League’s Manager of the Year. Art Charles, Kevin Pillar, and Chris Hawkins were all named to Appalachian League All-Star team (again, given to best player at each position). PCL, FSL, NWL, MWL awards still to come…
@BBBMinorLeaguer
FSL awards are in!
Dunedin Blue Jays manager Clayton McCullough wins FSL manager of the year. Nestor Molina, Wes Etheridge, AJ Jimenez, Brad Glenn named as FSL All Stars!
@BBBMinorLeaguer
by Minor Leaguer on Aug 29, 2011 6:37 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Wow
Is that 3 manager of the year awards for the Jays minor leagues?
Nope
Make that 4: Mike Redmond of the Lansing Lugnuts was named the Midwest League Manager of the Year. Marty Brown (51s) did not win this year, with the PCL manager award going to Eric Blanton of the Reno Aces. Still waiting on Northwest League announcements. (I don’t think the Gulf Coast League has any awards)
@BBBMinorLeaguer
by Minor Leaguer on Aug 30, 2011 2:46 AM EDT up reply actions
Kelly Johnson
I think the Jays do have to offer KJ a contract (and he has to decline) to get the picks, no? Also, I think AA will tend to bring someone (if not KJ) to make Hech have to earn his spot.
Nice write-up. That’s a good take on the struggling bats.
They have to offer arbitration
Technically, Yunel is making Hech earn his spot. We don’t have a 2B in the system as of now.
2011 Jays slogan should be "Power and Speed", not just "Hustle and Heart".
Proud member of the AL North
@VagabondBansal
This is exactly what I needed as I was also off.
Am I the only one to read stories on Syndergaard and start giggling like a school girl. I have a serious mancrush on him right now. He turned 19 today (Happy Birthday) and has a huge athletic frame sits in the high 90’s touching 100 at times. AS A 18 YR OLD!. His secondary pitches are apparently coming along nicely as well. His changeup was reported to possibly be the best of the entire Jays 2010 draft LAST year and this is the first year he’s consistantly mixed in a curve and hopefully they’ll iron out the arm speed on that pitch this offseason. If he can get those 3 plus pitches down in the next 2 years as well as starting to learn a 4th pitch like a slider or cutter. Yike watch out.
You can now follow your crush on Twitter @Noahsyndergaard
@BBBMinorLeaguer
by Minor Leaguer on Aug 29, 2011 3:00 PM EDT up reply actions
Sickels is noticing Syndergaard as well
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2011/8/29/2391421/more-minor-league-notes-august-29-2011
"We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question that divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct."
- Niels Bohr
Desmond Jennings is hitting like Jose Bautista of Spring
Sad, Drunk, And Poorly
My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world. - JL
I finally understand how the Mariners Fans feel during their losing streak
when they didnt score any runs. Team offensive slumps arent pretty, right now we just need 8 other Brett Lawrie and we will back in this thing.
Total Internet Points: 185000 (Thank you to JMac for making me a winner in a bet)
New Official Internet Points Bank Owner (Unlike Kirby the scam)
If we had 9 Brett Lawries
who would play second base?
by neilrqm on Aug 29, 2011 3:17 PM EDT up reply actions 4 recs
Aaron Hill
to make it fair for the other team
Sad, Drunk, And Poorly
My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world. - JL
On Jeroloman's call up...
…I suspect their trying to get Molina a few more at bats to get him to qualify as a Type B. If they DH Molina, they don’t have a backup catcher (without losing the DH) or even an emergency backup with Johnny Mac gone.
Hugo thinks I'm a lazy academic
by bluejaysstatsgeek on Aug 29, 2011 2:25 PM EDT reply actions
I wonder how many times people have actually needed a 3rd catcher in game.
I think you'll find I'm universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult.
Twitter is the thing with all the tweets...
Who would be our best candidate for emergency 3rd catcher?
Let’s assume for a moment that we only want 2 active roster catchers next year and JMac is unavailable.
Well the middle infield is probably the best candidate
i think McCoy could do a fine job as a 3rd catcher
Total Internet Points: 185000 (Thank you to JMac for making me a winner in a bet)
New Official Internet Points Bank Owner (Unlike Kirby the scam)
For an inning or 2 my guess is Lawrie… he caught growing up and is only 3 season removed from the last time he caught.
way too much injury risk at catcher IMO
I don’t think there’s a chance he puts on the gear as a Blue Jay
Total Internet points: 10 000
But what if...
…McCoy was pitching? Would he pitch to himself? :-)
Hugo thinks I'm a lazy academic
by bluejaysstatsgeek on Aug 29, 2011 11:44 PM EDT up reply actions
It's got to be greater than the number of times people
have started Jose Molina at DH in hopes of helping the team win, right?
"Look at me! I'm Tomokazu Ohka of the Montreal Expos!"
by jessef on Aug 29, 2011 3:02 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Haha
in his SI piece, Heyman says Bautista is the best player in the AL, then ranks him 5th in AL MVP.
Sad, Drunk, And Poorly
My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world. - JL
Hah.
I saw that too. It truly is incredible how much some writers try to avoid giving Jays their just due.
Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.
it's stupid to think of the MVP as anything but "best player"
but if you don’t think of it that way, then Jose isn’t the MVP. it’s not an anti-Toronto thing.
Total Internet points: 10 000
the best part
he listed Halladay as 7th on the NL MVP list, and 2nd on the NL CY. Kershaw gets the NL CY, but isn’t even listed in the NL MVP list. Basically, he’s trying really really hard to sell the value of good teammates in MVP voting.
Sad, Drunk, And Poorly
My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world. - JL
I don't follow other sports too closely, but how do MVPs work in other North American leagues?
@BBBMinorLeaguer
by Minor Leaguer on Aug 29, 2011 3:11 PM EDT up reply actions
I think pretty similarly to "traditional" MVP voting
best player on best-or-very good team, unless a single player compiles ridiculous individual stats (but they still usually have to be on a decent team)
Total Internet points: 10 000
Except with Heyman, his body of work suggests that it is at least partially an anti-Toronto thing.
I get what you are saying though. But then he goes and lists A-Gon as number 2. A-Gon isn’t even the most valuable player in his own team (and probably not even in the top 2 – I’d put Pedroia and Ellsbury ahead of him, easily).
Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.
I dunno about his past work, don't read him much
but if you’re not basing it on production, you can base it on whatever ridiculous counting stats and “intangibles” you want, meaning his opinion is largely worthless (except that voters vote like that a lot so…)
Total Internet points: 10 000
Ugh.
The new ‘thing’ is apparently guys voting for Verlander. Olney has him as mvp. How you compare him and Bautista I do not know.
they have a stat for that
Its called WAR, and Jose leads the league.
by ayjackson on Aug 30, 2011 9:03 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I think what she was saying was
how you compare him and Bautista to one another and find that Verlander is better, she does not know
"Look at me! I'm Tomokazu Ohka of the Montreal Expos!"
Brian Tallet activated from DL
Sad, Drunk, And Poorly
My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world. - JL
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