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Nice start to the season! Four wins, 2nd place in the east. Hopefully the Jays keep it up this weekend against Baltimore. There's no game today, however I have a boat load of links for your reading pleasure. Grab a coffee, read, discuss. Want to talk about something else? Feel free. Here's a few Jays links to get you started, but much much more after the jump.
JAYS LINKS
Those Shifty Blue Jays
Drew Fairservice at Getting Blanked looks at how the Jays utilized the exaggerated infield shift against different Red Sox players - seems that they are making well informed decisions on where to place their infielders.
Drabek Watch: Overanalyzing His First Start
Don't worry Matt, if bloggers didn't over analyze everything, we wouldn't have much to talk about. Nice post about Drebek's first start.
Blue Jays grounds crew jumps the gun
Whoops!
Baltimore Orioles at Toronto Blue Jays
Paul Casella at MLB.com previews the upcoming Jays / O's series.
Lots of Minor League Links, Game Recaps and Around the League Links after the Jump!
MINOR LEAGUE LINKS
Greetings From Dunedin
Bradley Ankrom at the Drunks has a great post where he compares prospect lists and provides a breakdown of how the Jays top talent was acquired.
Right fielder takes pride in throwing
The Las Vegas Review-Journal has a piece on Moises Sierra, and how he has patterned his game after Raul Mondesi.
Fisher Cats are 'fan'tastic
Kevin Gray writes about how much fans have grown to love AA ball in Manchester, New Hampshire.
He's Still Got It
Thomas at Batter's Box summarizes the Jays minor league action from yesterday.
RHP Prospect Chad Jenkins
Jay Floyd at 1 Blue Jays Way interviews the AA pitching prospect.
RECAPS
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Oakland Athletics fans get Royal treatment from outfielder Jeff Francoeur
This is pretty sweet. Free pizza is never a bad thing!
A Better Understanding Of Baseball Teams For The Year 2012
Getting Blanked has some fairly entertaining team previews.
Early-Season Contract Extensions Raise a Few Questions
Jonah Keri wonders it these extensions being handed out are smart.
The Reds Strike Again: The Phillips Extension
Matt Klaassen at FanGraphs breaks down Brandon Phillips' extension.
Have Indians Locked Up MLB's Best Catcher?
Rob Neyer (commenting on another article) likes the Carlos Santana extension. There's a few interesting comparable presented here. Neyer had a couple of other interesting posts yesterday. The first was about how tough it is to win awards, here and the second was about how the Rays finally had a starting pitcher over 30 pitch, here.
Robinson Cano, Raul Ibanez, David Wright
Joel Sherman takes a look at the Kinsler extension and wonders how much Robinson Cano will end up with.
Sources: Johnny Damon to sign with Cleveland Indians
According to Rosenthal, Johnny Damon is signing with the Indians, and he somehow swung a no-trade clause.
MIA-PHI Match-Up: Pitch Type Linear Weights
Bill Petti at FanGraphs compared hitter and pitcher linear weights for the Miami / Philadelphia match-up yesterday.