Wells out 6-8 weeks; Accardo also shelved
CLEVELAND — Well, here we go again. Last year, the Jays had 12 players undergo 13 separate surgeries. This year, the injuries are starting to pile up once again, though only Casey Janssen has had to go under the knife.
The latest blow came on Saturday, when the Jays’ learned center fielder Vernon Wells would miss six to eight weeks after fracturing his left wrist on a diving catch a night earlier. Wells also tweaked his right hammy, but that issue is moot now.
Toronto also placed reliever Jeremy Accardo on the 15-day DL with a strained right forearm. Wells decided to stick with the club on this road trip, while Accardo has already left for Florida, where he’ll begin treatment in preparation for a rehab assignment.
Mighty Joe Inglett never got on his plane out of Cleveland. He’s was optioned and recalled without ever leaving Ohio. With Accardo out, the Jays purchased the contract of Armando Benitez. To clear room on the 40, Tracy Thorpe was designated for assignment.
For now, Alex Rios assumes center field and Brad Wilkerson and Kevin Mench can handle left and right field. Shannon Stewart will also be worked into left field on occasion, though he was serving as the DH on Saturday.
Progressive Field has been a nightmarish destination for Toronto. The Jays have gone 1-12 at the Tribe’s home park, dating back to 2004. Now, Toronto loses arguably its best offensive performer and a Gold Glove center fielder in Wells in Cleveland.
“This place hasn’t been real kind to us,” manager John Gibbons said.
Aside from the necessary lineup tweaks in light of Wells’ injury, Gibbons also gave a day off to slumping second baseman Aaron Hill.
Today’s lineups:
TORONTO (17-20) at CLEVELAND (17-18)
at 7:05 p.m. ET at Progressive Field
BLUE JAYS
Alex Rios, CF
Brad Wilkerson, RF
Scott Rolen, 3B
Kevin Mench, LF
Shannon Stewart, DH
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Marco Scutaro, SS
Gregg Zaun, C
Jorge Velandia, 2B
PITCHING: RHP Dustin McGowan
INDIANS
Grady Sizemore, CF
Jamey Carroll, 2B
David Dellucci, LF
Victor Martinez, C
Ben Francisco, RF
Travis Hafner, DH
Ryan Garko, 1B
Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
Casey Blake, 3B
PITCHING: LHP Aaron Laffey
COUNT ‘EM: 32 different Jays lineups in 38 games
Major League Bastian 
Well, that wasn’t the best first inning we’ve seen this year.
I don’t mean to be negative, and I know that it is still early in the year. But with Wells gone for a while now, and the others still not able to hit, I think I am going to start looking foward to next year. I do really hope the Jays change my mind though. Preferably sooner than later in the year.
Just got back from fishing my god what happend 12-zip, We need more guys like Mench and Wilk, why not bring all of the garbage thats out there to TO,Maybe we can build a MLB team out of them and get rid of the -A TEAM That we are playing now.
Since Thomas left and went to Oakland his OBP is 407 and his AVG is 271 did we make a mistake oh no not JP right. Now with all the players getting hurt we are out of luck no more money for good players.
AGREE WITH FREEDOM AND GARRY…2009 IS OUR SEASON
Last night’s exhibit was pathetic. The team played with no intensity, simply mailed it in, feeling sorry for themselves. McGowan, feelng he had to be perfect in order to win, was trying to be too fine in the first inning and paid the price.
However, we’re only 5 back in the wild card race, which is the only race we’ve ever had a chance to win this year, so it isn’t quite over yet.
We play 3 in Minnesota and 3 in Philadelphia after this Cleveland series. In order to have a chance, we need to “stay close” until either we start hitting or get some guys back. Is that going to happen-who knows?
For me, one thing is for sure. This team either contends this year or we have to blow it up. If that’s the case and I was Mr. Ted Rogers, I’d start at the very top and bring in a real baseball guy to replace Godfrey and let him make the changes below. I would do this the moment we’re out of the race. From a player perspective, I’d have a nucleus of McGowan, Litsch, Marcum, Rios, Hill, Diaz, Lind, Purcey, Cecil and Snider. Everyone else is available and I’d trade for high level prospects and rebuild this team.
Gsumner.
You have to keep Doc every team needs a class A ace and Doc is our best bet.
Garry
Why-If we explode this team, by the time we contend will be 3-4 years away and Doc will be 34-35. Right now he has maximum value and we could likely get two or three top quality prospects for him, guys like Jed Lowrie of Boston as an example. Hopefully from trading Halliday and Burnett, we can get tops prospects for 1st, 3rd, ss and possibly a young starter.
Our new ace will be one of McGowan, Purcey or Marcum with Litsch and maybe Cecil completing the rotation.
Injuries, injuries, injuries!!! I don’t want to hear that word again. I think that our main priority, if we were to give up on this season and start shaking things up (which i wouldn’t be ready to do quite yet), is aquire guys that will not get injured. Tough guys! I really can’t wait for our guys from two A to get up here.
Before I dismantled this team I would look at replacing managment from the top to the bottom the only ones I would keep is Butterfeild as third base coach and Arnsberg.
You can’t help injuries but JP leaves no money in the till to aquire new players with and we have no quality back up players in the minors.
Batters have a hard time getting used to batting in different positions in the lineup…Hill was hitting the ball well…Gibbons moved him up in the order…his avg dropped…moved back down in the order. Same thing with Rios…always moving him around in the lineup. This happened all last year as well. Good call with releasing Reed Johnson!! A true leadoff hitter is now gone, Stewart is old and hear come the injuries…I agree with Gary: Mench and Wilkerson are wasted moves…lastly, while Gibbons is on the way out, dump anyone involved in hitting. Not scoring a single run off of average starting pitching is pathetic! I didn’t sign up for MLB Extra Innings to watch these horroble displays of wated talent–I get more excited when the Jays are in the field, at least I can watch some decent pitching and defense.
we’retalking
You’re right we have a lot of talent on that Lansing ( A-) team. There’s 9 pitchers with era’s under 2.0 and 7 guys hitting .280 and over. But these kids are likely 3 years away. If we keep playing like we’re playing this team needs to get exploded in early June, while we still have high value in some of the veterans. With the right GM ( not JP), we should be able to get some top prospects and these kids coming up could be backup or final contender tuneups.
Garry-agreed. The first go go is Godfrey, we need a real baseball guy running this team who replaces JP, Abner and everyone else..
Problem is, I just don’t think Mr. Rogers will take this plunge and of course Godfrey won’t fire JP and JP won’t fire Abner. So maybe we’ll become the Toronto Maple Leafs of baseball and not win for 50 years.
Theres always the chance that we could go on a winning streak other teams do it so why not us we still have 125 games left so who knows, Nobody is happy with the way they are playing now and you can’t blame the fans but maybe this team will surprise us and start winning.
One thing for sure if the rain keeps up we can’t lose today.
actually a rain-out should help these guys out. give all the starters an extra days rest and time for everyone else to reflect on what they need to do.
No it’s not over yet. They need to win 75 or so of the remaining 125 games to get to 92 or more wins-likely the minimum to contend for a wild card. that’s .600, which is very achieveable, but isn’t the way they’re currently playing
Crap, it looks like they’ve set up a double header for tommorrow. Today is rained out.
A doubleheader might give the starters extra rest, but if they struggle – Gibby will ride the bullpen like a rented mule and screw us for the next series. Wonder if Paul Beeston would come back if Godfrey was turfed out.
We can only dream.
I would love to see Beeston come back and replace Godfrey, that’s the kind of move we need.
I think we need a turnover too (like i mentioned before)
keep these players:
DOC
MARCUM
MCGOWAN
CECIL BRETT
SNIDER
RIOS
WELLS (cause noone wants to pick up his contract)
HILL
AHRENS
2 OF DIAZ, ARENCABIA, BRAIN JEROLMEN
CARLSON
RYAN
We do need to give up some good players so thats why we can put in litsch for a good deal when his value is high and i think everyone else is fair game…
and i basically agree with what everyone is saying…
Two games tomorow the starters will go 8 inns.We will win the first one 5 to 4 the second one 4 to 3 my wife picked these scores remember you heard it here first.
Harry-both Doc and Ryan will be past their prime by the time we contned again, so they should be traded and Wells needs to be dumped. Trading Litsch is, in my opinion not a good thing. He’s young, getting better each time out and low cost.
i don’t see us getting alot in return if we give up players that are old and not that much needed…we would need to give up some good arms (sell high) to get good prospects
frankly i don’t see litsch doign that good in the long run
I think Litsch will be a solid #5 starter and I would still keep Doc because he will pitch the same at 42 as he is pitchen today pitchers like him are rare and he can help any young pitchers we aquire in the future.
Does anyone think that the Rays will be able to keep up their great season so far. After all they still have Cliff Floyed a Al Reyes on the Dl. I don’t know if Kazmir is back yet either.
I think both Ryan and Halliday would garner some great prospects; Burnett to a lessor degree.
Freedom-I think the Rays are for real. I see them getting stronger throughout the season. Remember, they also have the number one pitching prospect in baseball from the 2007 David Price coming.
Harry,
Who would you trade then, since you want to keep everyone who has any value???
The trouble with the Jays is they have too many players no one wants and too many players they don’t want. The only players worth trading are the ones we should probably keep… Rios, Hill, Snider and some of our arms. Everyone else is essentially worthless. Wells contract look AWFUL
apparently once they page FINALLY loads it automatically submits my post….
Anyways… Wells contract is awful right now and he would be impossible to move unless we feel like paying for another player to go help another team win (Thomas).
We are basically stuck with what we got!!!
Gsumner,
I think the Rays are for real as well. I think they will contend for the wild card. The biggest reason for there success is the bullpen. There bullpen has been great. They have won 9 in a row at home. That is where a young team has to win first, at home. They have swept the Red Sox and Angels at Tropicana Field and the Jays at Disney. A big series for the Rays this week, the dreaded N.Y. Yankees come into town for a 4 game series. Kazmir shut down the Angels last night and Floyd had a good game today. Floyd came off the D.L. today. Floyd always seems to get hurt.
They have won alot of games near the end of the game this year. Last year they lost a bunch at the end.
At the beginning of the year, I thought the Rays could finish with a .500 record. Right now, I think they could win 85 games. The Rays have stuck to there plan. I give the front office alot of credit. A solid nucleus they have and it is young. They are playing with alot of conifidence and they expect to win now. Unlike years past, they expected to lose.
Yo G,
What happened to your boy Lind??? Still want him over Bonds??? LOL
rmatty
yep, I’d take Lind over Bonds any day and I’d expect we see him back up here shortly. In case you haven’t noticed, we do not have a lot of outfielders who hit RH pitching well. The main reason, though, is one way or the other Bonds isn’t going to play here or anyplace else ever again, he’s history. You guys dreaming about him coming here is simply something not going to happen.
Hopefully, this nexdt time Lind gets off to a better start, although it seems a disease of not hitting has infected the entire lineup.
You are right, hopefully next time Lind gets off to a better start. In my books he has two strikes against him, last year and this year and you know what sport we are playing. I don’t see Lind having any impact on this team this year, he is obviously not ready. What happens in 09 when he is still the fourth or fifth outfielder on the major league depth chart and Snider’s locker is beside his in AAA???
His bat is not good enough to make up for the rest of his game.
I also agree that Bonds probably won’t play again, but it’s not because he can’t, it’s because no team has the guts to sign him and his bad PR. I also say that the Jays are the perfect fit for him… We are terrible, he is good. We can’t hit, he can. Who cares about the rest
How many of you people still think we have a chance and if so why. Do any of you think we can get there with Abner and JP at the helm.
What players do you think can help us and what players should we get rid of if we can.Who should we bring up from the minors.
gsumner,
I wouldn’t compare the Jays to the Leafs quite yet, although we do have a lot of veterns on the team right now that are just not getting the job done. I can’t wait 3 more years personally, I’ve already been waiting for 13. J.P. promised this team would be contending by now, they are not, its that simple. We need a playoff appearance, desparately.
I think Godfrey does a good job getting people in the stands, despite our poor team performance. Attendance has been gradually, little by little, increasing and we’ve been pretty disappointing as a team. He, J.P. and the front office have just not put together a winning ball club (although im still not giving up on THIS year).
A dismantlement looks, from what im seeing, imminent for the future, in the same spirit as the A’s or Marlins.
rmatty
I’m not sure one can make a decision about a player after 6 games. I remember last year and the year before when I supported McGowan a lot and no one else here did. The only reason he’s as good as he is now, is we were forced to play him last year and when we did he responded after 5-6 difficult games. Now we all love him.
Lind hits rh pitching very well, and he’s a good clutch hitter, he does not hit Lh pitching well. He is not the fastest LF in the bigs, but he seldom makes errors. So I don’t see him as the 4th or 5th outfielder. I see him playing one corner outfield, Rios in center and Snider in the other corner. I see Lind being our LF against RH pitching and platoon with someone who hits LH’s-much like the Johnson/Cat platoon that worked so well in 2006. The guy is hitting .393/.433/.643 in AAA against RH pitching. Yes, there is a difference between there and here, but it’s not that much. We just need to bring him up and keep playing him until he gets comfortable. The fact is, what do we have to lose.
I don’t think it’s the bad pr on Bonds that is holding back teams from signing him. I think it’s either they think he’s done or so close to it and the distruptions he causes in the cluhouse aren’t worth what he brings to the party.
But one way or the other, he’s not coming here-that’s been stated over and over again by The Jays, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to keep wishing he were coming, regardless of anyone’s opinion on him.
Garry
No, no and all of them except the ones I named in an above post.
we’retalking
My comparison to The Leafs was about the management. lol I disagree with you on Godfrey. I think he’s a good administrator, but let’s face it Beeston & Gillick put 4 million in the stands. Fans here will support this team in a huge way, if there’s a winner in the stadium and the team is managed well. I just feel this team needs a major shakeup, and to date Godfrey is standing behind JP who’s standing behind Gibbons, so it doesn’t appear anything is going to change to signficantly improve the management and thus the performance of this team.
Remember as well, we’re all starting to know JP better and his style of pathelogical lying to fans is not something Blue Jays fans ever had from anyone in a Jays management group before. I don’t ever remember Gillick, Beeston, Cito and others ever getting caught up in a lie. JP treats fans as if he thinks they’re all stupid and didn’t remember the BS he told them a month ago. That depicits a management style that is unbecoming to Canadian sports fans and Godfey knows fully well what JP’s style is and does nothing about it-what the hell does that tell you about Godfrey.
The other thing I’d say about Godfey, is I’ve never in my life as a sports fan seen a home team give an out of town fan from Boston preference and first rights on tickets like we did this year. That was the stupidist move I’ve ever seen in sports marketing. Obviously it pissed off numerous fans and the team is paying for it in attendance and will for some time. Godfey had to approve that promotion.
If Godfey doesn’t want to make changes and I was Mr. Ted Rogers, I’d sack them all. Attendance is falling, and it’s going to fall a lot more because this team is pathetic to watch-almost painful. They play with no intensity or spirit, it’s like they mail it in each game. I remember 2006, if I didn’t see the game, I watched one of Mr. Rogers channels to see the game highlights and fully expected to see a highlight reel of a spectacular play by ether MacDonald, Hill or Johnson. Even when we lost, the highlight reel was enjoyable.
We had this great young team that was exciting to watch. All that’s now gone. We went out of our way to sign old has been players, dumped Johnson and leave Macdonald on the bench. It’s not only that we’re losing, it’s that the games themselves are now boring as hell to watch and I see nothing happening except the signing of more “has beens” as our saving grace or at least the BS story of the day.
Hey just noticed the paragraph spacing. Much easier to read!!!
The question for the rest of this year is…. Where are we going to find some power??? We are missing that big bat in the middle of this lineup.
Apparently it doesn’t work for me… Yo G, how did you get your paragraph spacing?
Who would i trade?
Wells (noone wants his contract though)
Lind (still has some value)
Accardo
Ryan (ya i see what you guys are saying)
Tallet (I still don’t like him much)
League (doesn’t seem like we would use him much and he does have most of his velocity back)
Rolen (he does have some value still)
Burnett (in the recent struggle for goood arms i am sure ppl would want him)
Litsch (just cause i need to trade someone good to get someone good)
I think i have enough ppl on there you can also add JMAC if you want but i think he is a good defensive player and a cheap player to not keep.
rmatty. hit enter twice instead of once.
I’d pass on the power if we can get the RISP stat to where it should be. With the pitching we have 4-5 runs will win most games, but we need to take advantage of the opportunities when they’re available and that is what we haven’t been doing.
matty I have to hi enter three times for it to work.
like this.
Maybe it is 3 times. Here’s what two looks like.
And here’s what 3 looks like
I think your right Garry-now how do we get these guys hitting with RISP.? lol
Sorry try hit.lol
G.
The only players I would keep if they do nothing this year are- Doc-McGowan-Marcum-Litsch-Downs-Carlson-Wolf-Rios-Hill-Wells if the yankees wont take him because no one else will-and any minor leaguer who shows better than average potential at the -AAA-level
G.
Take a bat and hit them three times lol.
G.
Isn’t it time for you to give us a report on whats going on in the Minors it’s been awhile.
G.
Do you know if sportsnet is going to carry both games or how about you JORDAN.
Garry
As I said previously, I’d only keep Rios, Hill, Marcum, Litcsh, Purcey, Cecil, McGowan, Diaz, Lind and Snider. Guys like Ahrens and others in A ball would be kept although avialable if the right deal came around. All others would be available, although I would be tempted to keep Rolen because of his leadership qualities and winning attitude-which I’d expect he could teach to the young guys.
No idea. But you can follow them here on game day
Garry
Let’s see if Jays management make the right decision. With a double header today, the next time Burnett’s start (16th) comes up, he’d have to go on 3 days rest instead of four. The right decision would be to bring up Purcey for another single outing.
However, the real right decision is to bring up Purcey to pitch on the 15th instead of the 16th. The reason being is that would be Purcey’s day to pitch and it would give an additional day for all the starters other than Burnett who would go on his normal 4 days rest. Of course it’s so sensible, they likely won’t do it. lol
Who knows maybe Abner reads this post and you just told him how to do it.
By the way where is gnorman, at Abners having dinner lol.
Garry
Naw-its too sensible, so it likely won’t get done. lol
There is always a chance that Bonds might wind up in TO. if JP gets desperate enough even though one bat will not make the rest of these guys hit,Denbo is a waste of skin branttly was a good hitting coach and was nothing but a scapegoat now we are stuck with a moran a Yankee reject.
Why not go the trade route and get a good hitting shortstop and left feilder instead of playing around with hasbeens who in the long run will do us no good.
Some of you think JP has drafted well but if he has where are those good players if you look around the league you will see most teams have a solid structure in the minors I don’t think we have maybe in -AA- only so my question is how do we rebuild look around who do we have to trade that anyone wants.
Garry
Our real strength in the minors is at Lansing ( A-), there’s little potential of position players above that level who could immediately help out.
In left field, we could bring Lind back up to bat against RH’s and either keep one of the 3 now here or bring up Ryan Patterson from AA who’s hitting .382/.417/.706 against LH’s.
At SS, we’re 3 years away from our own in-house developed solution. The only option earlier I see earlier than that is in AA with a kid named Scott Campbell, who’s hitting .343, but he’s a 2nd baseman, meaning Hill would have to move to ss. I don’t see them doing a deal at this position unless the team is exploded. If that happens there are numerous options via trade. My favorite is still Jed Lowrie who just got sent back down by Boston. He’s still a bit rough, but going to be a good one-as Bosox will tell you.
Does the Well’s injury now mean that we are going to have to listen to JP blaming the failure of his team on injuries? He was fast to do it last year, and some might say rightly so, but the team obviously lacked the right talent and chemistry from the start. The same thing is true this year. I have been saying for a long time that this team does not have the type of tier 1 talent to compete with the best teams in the division, never mind the league. Even without injuries this team is not good enough, and I hope that JP will start making decisions in the long-term interest of the ball-club, rather than his own short-term interests as manager.