Disappearing for a few days…
Yeah, this scribe is getting away from the Blue Jays for a few days, getting out of Canada even. I’ll be kicking back at a friend’s cottage in Michigan this weekend, catching up with some of my old buddies from MSU.
Funny how it worked out that the Jays are heading to Detroit for a four-game set starting Monday. The lovely Mrs. Bastian will be dropping me off in Motown on her drive back to Toronto after our weekend by the lake.
So, I’ll be back here blogging come Monday in Detroit. Until then, keep the comments coming…
~JB
Major League Bastian 
Enjoy it Jordan!
Jordan, hope the skeeters don’t get you.
You can say all you like about Rios but he is no center fielder Wells would have caught that ball hit bu Crosbie.
AJ looks like he may be a little off tonight.
Hey on yahoo it said that Gaston is going to be with Toronto in 09. I think thats great. I know this year isn’t going that well at all, but a full year under Gaston should be interesting.
This Duchscherer is making the Toronto hitters look more pathetic than usual.
Jordan I hope you catch some fish, Thats if they still have any fish in Michigan. LOL.
Well, let’s hope AJ hangs in there and gives us a chance to come back.
Brian Dopriak was moved up to AA New Hampshire today from Dunedin and David Cooper, our first rounder, continued his rapid rise and was moved to Dunedin to replace Dopriak. Hopefully, Dopriak settles in at AA over this month and we see him in September call ups.
Both seriously deserved the promotion. Dopriak led all of the FSL in HR.’s with 27 in 106 games and was either first of in the top three in almost all hitting categories. Cooper was hitting .354 in Lansing.
It will be interesting to see who we move from Auburn to Lansing to replace Dopriak, since both Amar and McDade are burning it up in Auburn, with McDade hitting .353 and Amar hitting .349.
Nice to have such an over abundance of talent in a position player; too bad we don’t have the same depth for ss and 3rd base.
Garry-opposing batters are only hitting .194 off him, so it’s not just us that have difficulties facing him.
Also moving up to New Hampshire a couple of games ago is left hand pitcher Bradley Mills. Brad is one of the many pitchers we drafted in 2007, and this year has moved from Lansing to Dunedin and Now New Hapmshire. Looks like he likes AA, since he’s now started twice, went 10 innings and given up 1 run, so his era is at .90
I’d bet Blevins was scared to pitch to our RBI machine Johnny Mac and therefore walked him. lol
Hey-guess you is batting 1.000 in Syracuse right now, Travis Snider, who in his first at bat in AAA hit a double and knocked in 3 runs.
sorry, for the real bad spelling. That should read “guess who”
Here comes B.J, let’s all keep our fingers crossed.
Just great, Tying run is on base!
*knocked in 2 runs gsumner not 3. and it turned out to be the only runs in the game. syracuse wins 2-0. great debut for snider. 2 for 3, with a double and 2 RBI’s
also i think mills has been in new hampshire for a handful of starts already. the move was a couple of weeks ago. another good looking prospect. give him a year or two, and he could be looking as another option in the rotation.
canadian-thank you for correcting my error on Snider I did mention Mills had a coupleof starts aready-another good looking leftie.
Canadian, the other item I forgot to mention for that Syracuse game is Brian Wolfe started, went 5 innings, gave up 4 hits, no runs and got 5 k’s, 1 walk.
They have been stretching him out to start and it looks like its going well; in 3 starts over 11 innings, he’s not given up any runs. He could be ready to go with a few more outings.
i thought that was rather interesting, stretching out brian wolfe. he was originally a starter back in the twins orgination back around 2001-03. had alot of sucess in the lower levels of the minors, but since, has been used for the most part out of the pen when he progressed up. i think he could be a useful arm, just to have incase of an injury. he has decent control, nothing outstanding when it comes to his pitches, but solid none the less.
Gsumner when I said McGowan was a poor pitcher that’s just what I meant he has spent parts of four seasons with the Jays and he has a 20 and 22 record,I say Purcey will not make a starter,he might be okay in the bullpen but that’s all.
Garry
You have to be patient with young pitchers. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s not many lefties who can bring it at mid 90’s. Purcey changes speeds well from 90 to 95 with good movement, has a great slider but needs work on his changeup. When he gets that down, he’s going to be special. Maybe Marcum will teach him his changeup.
He gave us a quality start tonight and most times would be or should be winning the game. I’d expect if he gave us 25 starts like that he’d win 15 games.
Remember I said it would take 5-10 starts for him to settle in. Frankly, I’m pleased with his progress.
Garry-Remember at the start of the season, I said Rickie Romero would have a break out type season. Well, guess what?
He went 7 innings against the best team in the league with a very tough lineup, gave up 5 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks and struck out 10. His era in AAA is now 2.12. He still needs to lower the number of walks he’s giving up, but he is starting to look good.
By the way, Wells is 0 for 3 so far.
Although, there were some deals JP did this year I was not in favor of, the Rolen/Glaus trade wasn’t one of them. Rolen had a history of clutch hitting, and although I didn’t expect him to hit 30 hr’s, I did expect he’d continue at or close to his career risp averages of .287BA/.517slg. In addition after Glaus asked Jp to trade him, there really wasn’t a lot of choice.
Rolen’s performance tonight cost us the game. In the bottom of the 4th after we’d just scored one run, with 2 guys on and 2 outs, he made no effort to get out of the way and took a walk by getting hit, leaving Johnny Mac in a do or die situation with the bases loaded. A hit would have got one run and maybe two and changed the game momentum.
As it happens, Johnny Mac has hit .667 with the bases loaded so far this year-meaning he’s due to reverse to average, whereas our slugging 3rd baseman is only hitting .111 with bases loaded and due for a turn around.
We don’t pay Scott Rolen $11 million per year to take walks and leave the heavy lifting to Johnny Mac.or at least I didn’t think that was Rolen’s job function.
If his shoulder is hurting, why isn’t he being examined. Maybe he needs another operation and if that’s the case, in my view, it’s better to be done now and give him more time to recover for 2009.
The point is, Rolen isn’t doing anyone any favors and is declining on almost a day by day game basis.
I’m sure if JP tried to trade him, we’d probably eat most of his 22 million salary for 2009 and 2010, so we might as well try to fix him now and get some value in 2009 or at least hope he starts off well next year and dump him at that time.
J.P Arenciba-An interesting tidbit on 22 year old catcher Arenciba. “Arencibia hit .440 with 10 homers as a high school junior. He batted .500 as a senior with 7 homers. His 17 home runs tied the school record, held by Alex Rodriguez. ” We drafted Arrenciba in 2007.
Why we’re not bumping Arenciba from AA to AA instead of Brian Jerolman is a mystery. Both Jerolman and Thigpen are struggling at AAA to maintain an average just north of the mendoza line, and Robinson Diaz has yet to hit like he did before his injury.
Arrenciba has tore it up all year between Dunedin and New Hampshire and for the year is hitting .303BA/.324obp/.544 slg. He’s hit 24 hr’s and driven in 96 rbi’s in 105 games. He will probably be the first Jays organization player to drive in 100 runs this year and given the current pace he’s on, do it in under 115 games. He’ been recognized:
06/14/2008 FSL Mid-Season All-Star
06/02/2008 FSL Player of the Week
05/26/2008 FSL Player of the Week
It seems to me with the power outage we have here, we’d be pushing kids like Arenciba and Dobriak along with Snider and get them all here sooner than later. After all between the 3 of them they’ve hit 72 home runs, while the entire Blue Jay slugging lineup has hit a staggering 76.
I can’t wait for Wells to get back and play center Rios missis to many balls that Wells would never Miss.
Funny how that is. Rios certainly has more speed than Vernon. Wells is just smarter at the position, he takes better paths to the ball and is able to get a better jump. His instincts and reactions are spot on as a center fielder. Kinda like Jim Edmonds, not a lot of speed but could get to more balls than the Cory Patterson’s or B.J. Upton’s of the world.
Halliday is not his old self today I dont think he will get his 14th win today,he is being out pitched by Byrd today who is averaging 10 pitches per INN.
yeah, this is pretty depressing after coming off the four game sweep. I’m a Jays fan living in a suburb of Cleveland, so you can imagine the hard time I’m getting. Hopefully Cito can right the ship and the Jays can be serious contenders next year..
It’s great to have a Jays fan in Cleveland I hope they don’t tease you to much,I think next year will be a lot better than this year but they have to make some changes,At third and first and DH,I would leave J.Mac at short bat or no bat he is worth the money to watch.
well Cleveland is having a pretty rough year, and because they have been pretty dominate over the Jays in recent years I get it pretty good. But I have tremendous pride in my Jays, and I go to The Prog whenever the Jays play, even though it has been disappointing recently, especially this year when I watched Halladay take a real tough loss and then watched McGowan just get lit up the next night..but man am I thankful for MLB Extra Innings..anyways, it is a shame that Overbay has never really been the same since his first year with the Jays..I also think they should just shut Rolen down and let his shoulder heal properly so he will be a asset next year..
Rios should have caught that ball. Sometimes, I think Rios is day dreaming out there. It’s got to upset Halliday, 4 runs only 1 earned.
Hey, nice to see a Jays fan in Cleveland. Welcome.
A pitcher who is 6 and 10 with a 464 ERA and he is making the Blue Jays look stupid.
yes and he’s really bringing it at 85 mph. these guys are playing like they’re all asleep today
If the defense was on today Halliday would still have the lead.I would like to see them trade Rolen in the off season also Overbay.
I think they all have a hangover,Big drunk after 4 wins in a row now they are paying for it.
what a horrible day defensively..usually when you give Halladay a 2 run lead it’s a done deal..and if you take away the 3 unearned runs the Jays are still up 2-1..just a disappointing day all around..I can’t wait to see Vernon back in the lineup Monday..I’m not sure that the Jays need to get rid of Overbay and Rolen. I just think that the new offensive philosophy needs time to work..I’m extremely happy that Bito is staying on for next year..if the Jays can get healthy, they can be so dangerous..
sorry..I meant Cito..
Garry
Hey I’ve been saying dump Overbay and Rolen along with Mench, Stewart, Eckstein, Zaun and Wilkerson for a while. We need hr’s from 1st and 3rd base and high rbi’s. I think Mench and Wilkerson will have a hard time hitting in AAA. Signing Eckstein and Stewart were both mistakes.
Unfortunately, I think the other one who has to go is Matt Stairs, he just isn’t what he was last year. I am not convinced we should have a dedicated DH. We’ve always seem to do better whne we rotate who’s the DH as sort of a day off for someone.
It is a fairly significant re-load with 7-8 guys being moved, but I can’t imagine moving forward with what we have.
cste
I like Cito a lot as well, what’s not to like about one of the few managers in baseball to win back to back world series. I never understood why he didn’t get another job after leaving here Look at the job he’s done with both Lind and League.
What the hell was Overbay thinking about, didnt anyone tell him, were down by 2.
With Lee pitchen tomorow it will be a sweep I don’t think I will watch the game it pains me to nwatch thes misfits play.
you know, I never understood why Cito never got hired either..when Mike Hargorve and Charlie Manuel got fired here in Cleveland, I always thought that Cito would be a great fit..luckily for the Jays he was there when we needed him..and although Lee is a incredibly tough pitcher, I am still going to watch the game, because you never know..hopefully the Jays can pick up a win and get some momentum heading into Detroit..
oh..and Cleveland radio called Overbay getting tagged out a “bone headed play”, and they also remarked that Ryan Garko would be the RBI leader on the Jays with 50 RBI, and they made sure to mention that Garko is not having a great year..just some interesting tidbits from the opposing broadcast..
how did the Cleveland fans react to loosing Sabathia?
Well, it sounds like the Cleveland radio guys know what they’re talking about. I didn’t watch the MaDonald throwing error, was it a real bad throw from Macdoald or did Overbay just not pick it out of the dirt like the one he missed yesterday with Rolen?
well, Cleveland fans didn’t take losing Sabathia too well, even though I think it was expected..the Cleveland organization is pretty thrifty, and they just would not put out the money that Sabathia would command on the open market. I’m glad that Toronto is willing to pay its players, because it is tough watching these players grow and then watching them walk out the door because ownership is too worried about lining its own pockets.
Cst
I understand management for trading him and think it was the right thing to do for Cleveland. Sometimes I think the only guy who has it right on starting pitching is Billy Bean. Develop them, bring them up and when they’re about to hit the big bucks trade them off for prospects. Pitchers are so injury prone. Imagine signing one like CC to a 5 year 120 million dollar deal and have him go down and need TJ surgury or worse, suffer an injury where they come back but not as effective.
Of all the guys who pitch at the MLB level, there’s few that don’t suffer at least one serious injury in their career-look at Chris Capenter as an example.
But CC has certainly helped Milwaukee, so it was a trade that worked for both.
Looks like the “call ups” from this week are enjoying their promotions.
Travis Snider: .364 in Syracuse
Brian Dopriak:.500 in New Hampshire
David Cooper: .385 in Dunedin
Cooper does appear to have an “advanced bat” as suggested in the PR announcing his signing. At each level he’s been at, his Ba, OBP rises; maybe it’s better lighting-lol. Check this out:
Auburn (SS rookie): .341BA/.411OBP/.553slg
Lansing( A-): .354BA/.415OBP/.521slg
Dunedin (A+): .385BA/.467OBP/.692slg
Year to date: .351BA/.417OBP/.546slg., 5 hr, 43 rbis’ in 48 games.
Does anyone have a prediction for how well/bad the jays are going to play over the next 20 games against Detroit, Boston, New York, and Tampa? I think they may win as few as 6-8 games or at most 10-12 games.
The circle on Riccardi’s prime blunder of this season has been completed. Reed Johnson, a solid ball-player if there ever was, gets dumped for absolutely no compensation whatsoever, lands on his feet in Chicago, where he has played great ball and has a chance to be part of a world series club and Shannon Stewart, the guy who was kept in his stead, has now been outright released………..without any compensation. Way to go Riccardi!!!
I heard that Cito is going to be back next year. If this is true, does it mean that JP will also be back? I would imagine that a new manager would want to have the flexibility to hire his own field manager etc. Therefore, if Cito is back for sure, chances are JP is also going to be back.
What is really funny rmiller215, is that Reed Johnson is Top 10 in all MLB at hitting with runners in scoring position. Hitting .369, with many clutch hits for the Cubbies. The irony is huge and it is so funny it makes me cry.
No we couldn’t have used those hits, J.P.? ha ha ha hilarious. Stewart is much better for the team. frustrating
burt I think you’re assuming Cito was hired by JP. I’m not sure that was the case.