Miss a Week, Miss a Lot

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?