Monday Morning Media Mashup: Frost Warning Edition

This morning, I woke up to a frost warning from the Environment Canada as it will drip below freezing in Toronto... on May 13. I thought we'd be cruising right through summer with increasing temperature.

I have a couple of drinking-related announcements to make. First, there will be a Bluebird Banter meetup day later this month in Toronto (sorry for the late notice). We will be releasing details some time this week. Also, TallBoys has released the schedule for the rest of their Jays Days Beer Club events this season, so put these in your calendars:

Here's the regular season schedule for the rest of Jays Days 2013. twitter.com/JaysDaysClub/s…

— Jays Days Beer Club (@JaysDaysClub) May 9, 2013

Blue Jays Related

Bautista now getting results on hard-hits - Stats & Info Blog - ESPN
Jose Bautista is heating up: he is finding holes and has decreased his chase rate. Mark Simon looks at his (and Edwin Encarnacion's) hard-hit average.

Toronto Blue Jays’ Brandon Morrow confident he’ll be ready to go Wednesday - National Post
Brandon Morrow is feeling better, and should be able to make his start on Wednesday against the Giants. John Lott also reports how a deal with Louisville Slugger company prevented players who use other brands from using pink bats for mothers' day. If I was a major league batter I'd still step up to the plate with a pink bat to see who would stop me.

Toronto Blue Jays broadcaster Jack Morris apologizes to Clay Buchholz for 'spitter' comment - ESPN Boston
Quote from Morris: "I told him I was sorry that I had taken attention away from what he was doing -- that's not what I was trying to do. I told him to have fun with it." Bah! Morris didn't retract his claim that Clay Buchholz was spitballing so why even go for this half-apology? Should've either stood his ground or fully apologize and retract his claim--I don't like this wishy-washy halfway stuff.

Signs of Life - Infield fly
Greg Wisniewski is starting to enjoy watching the Blue Jays again.

Blue Jays’ Melky Cabrera to receive World Series ring during Giants’ visit to Toronto - Toronto Star
The Giants are coming to town for a short two-game series (how 'bout getting that first series sweep, Jays?) and there will be a present waiting for Melky Cabrera.

Down on the Farm

Blue Jays preaching patience with Romero - Sportsnet.ca
RIcky Romero pitched pretty badly in his first outing with the Buffalo Bisons this past Saturday, pitching on short rest after throwing just 29 pitches in his last start with Toronto on Wednesday. He went only 6.2 innings, giving up six runs (all earned) on 10 hits, and five walks along with a wild pitch and a balk. He didn't strike anyone out, and threw just 41 of 76 pitches for strikes. One good piece of news is that he wasn't hit hard, but he probably didn't throw enough strikes to be hit hard. I hope that the Blue Jays would be able to leave him in one level and just let him work every five days until he can get 4-5 good starts in a row before even contemplating promoting him back to the big leagues.

Around Baseball

Fraction of balls put in play is at an all-time low - High Heat Stats
Andrew Kamholz, better known simply as "Andy", wrote about how only 68% of balls have been put in play so far in 2013, and how percentage of balls in play have shown a steady decline since the early 2000's. Some people have complained that Alex Anthopoulos didn't think too much about defense when building the 2013 Blue Jays--maybe it's because it matters less now than ever?

Roy Halladay Apologizes to Fans - Seriously - The Good Phight
Roy Halladay had been struggling for a while and now is gone for a few months to recover from surgery. What does he do? Call the media over so he could apologize to Phillies phans. Wow... what a guy.

Sounds of a Major League Baseball game from players' perspective - ESPN
An interesting article by Tim Kurkjian about the sounds of the game of baseball.

Astros Sign Edgar Gonzalez, Designate Philip Humber - MLBTradeRumors.com
When the Blue Jays DFAed Edgar Gonzalez for the second time this season, he elected free agency rather than accepting an outright assignment. It turns out that the Astros were interested in him and signed him to a major league contract. To make room, they DFAed perfect game thrower Phil Humber. Too bad the Blue Jays' 40-man roster is full.

Anthony Rizzo Signing 7-Year, $41 Million Deal - Bleed Cubbie Blue
We might be seeing the end of the Free Agent Era.