Late night wins make the next morning feel so much better. Let's have a few links to kill the hours before Ricky Romero takes the mound this afternoon.
- I'd imagine most of you have seen the stories about how Randy Ruiz ended up going to Japan. If you haven't here is one from Erika Gilbert in the National Post. I'm not sure how 'set for life' he is, I can't imagine he'll be getting huge money, by baseball standards, but it is good to see him make out ok after all those years in the minors. Don't count me as one of those people that think he got screwed by the Jays. He got a chance to play in the majors from the Jays, which got him the contract in Japan. I hope he does great.
- I started to write about this 'If the Jays Become Buyers' post on MLB Trade Rumors twice yesterday, but Hugo had a great post in the morning on the up coming draft and when I started on it again, in the afternoon, the news about Ruiz came out. I really can't imagine the Jays trading for a 'veteran' starter, we have 3 guys coming off the DL in the next little bit. I do think that, if the Jays stay in the race, we will start cursing the Roy Halladay trade. Can you imagine Doc, Romero and Marcum at the top of our rotation, the way each is throwing right now?
- I can see a trade for a rental type first baseman, if the Jays insist on Brett Wallace stay in the minors and if Lyle Overbay doesn't start hitting. But, as the Southpaw notes (among other things), Lyle is hitting .346/.393/.731 over his last 7 games. Maybe he has found his stroke.
- John Shandler, in the Post, talks about our pitching depth. I'm linking to it less for the story and more for the terrible picture of Brandon Morrow they use at the top of it. Couldn't they have found one that was maybe a little more manly?
- Over at his blog, Rob Neyer answers the 'Are the Jays really this good?' question with a no. Have I mentioned how much I hate the folks that figured we would be just awful telling us, now that we have shown not to be near as bad as they thought, that it doesn't count because we haven't played the Yankees? Yes, I know the ESPN world revolves around the two suns of the Yankees and Red Sox, but couldn't, just occasionally, they give a friggin' rest.
- You want Alex Anthopoulos to go after another Cuban? Yunesky Maya is 'unblocked'. Yes the Yankees are interested and yes if they don't sign him we'll be told he wasn't any good anyway. 28 and likely major league ready and he says he wouldn't be against being in the bullpen.
- Speaking of the Yankees Jorge Posada is out for a month with a fracture in his foot.
- Beyond the Boxscore's Power Rankings are out. We are number 6 again, after dropping to 10th last week and still the Mets lost.
- Angel Pagan, in last night's Mets game, hit an inside the park home run and started a triple play and still the Mets lost to the Nationals.
- Want to see the world's ugliest mascots?
See you in the Game Thread.