Ryan has no comment, Thigpen traded
Headed over to Dunedin Stadium this afternoon to try to catch up with B.J. Ryan before his appearance here tonight in Bradenton. Ryan was polite and apologetic, but said he declined comment in relation to his velocity issue right now.
“I don’t have anything to say,” he said. “Nothing prosperous.”
Soooo, I guess that’s that for now. We’ll obviously keep trying as the next week rolls along.
Some other movement today: The Jays have dealt catcher Curtis Thigpen to the A’s in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. I hope Thigpen can find a place with Oakland. His stock had fallen with Toronto and catchers J.P. Arencibia and Brian Jeroloman had flown passed Thigpen on the depth chart.
Had he not been traded, Thigpen would’ve likely would up at Double-A as the backup to Jeroloman, and maybe would’ve been moved around the field as a kind of super utility guy. Thigpen is a guy I also covered briefly when he was with the Lansing Lugnuts back in ’04, when I was still at Michigan State, so I’ll be pulling for him.
The Jays also released pitchers Mike Maroth and Rick Bauer today. As for Matt Clement, he showed up at Minor League camp and has accepted the invite to pitch at Triple-A. Good move on his part. If he pitches well, he’ll likely receive a chance to start for the Jays at some point this season. He gives the club some veteran depth in a year that will feature a lot of young arms.
It’s a windy night here in Bradenton. More later…
Today’s lineup:
BLUE JAYS
Marco Scutaro, SS
Brad Emaus, 2B
Alex Rios, RF
Vernon Wells, CF
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Scott Rolen, 3B
Rod Barajas, C
Travis Snider, LF
Howie Clark, DH
Roy Halladay, P
PIRATES
Nyjer Morgan, LF
Freddy Sanchez, 2B
Nate McLouth, CF
Ryan Doumit, C
Eric Hinske, 1B
Brandon Moss, RF
Andy LaRoche, 3B
Brian Bixler, SS
Virgil Vasquez, P
~JB
Major League Bastian 
Good luck to Curtis Thigpen, I hope he catches on with Oakland.
Yes good luck to Thigpen, It was my hope when he came up that he would be better than he was. Maybe all he needs is a change.
Two things: First, Ryan’s current situation reminds me of what happened with Duane Ward — the best 3-inning man I have ever seen in his prime — though Ward had a shoulder injury, not an elbow injury. Second, one of the major blue jay reporters (can’t remember his name) just said on prime-time sports that he thinks that the Jays may be the worst team in the American league. He says that the young pitching is starting to falter, and show an inability to pitch out of problems. Moreover, he states that the young talent at both the major league level and AAA level in both Kansas city and Baltimore is superior to what the Jays have. He suggests that this might be one of the worst seasons ever for the Jays, and suggests they will be lucky to win 75 games. If this is true, I just wish 20 million was not tied up in Ryan and 120 million in Vernon Wells. I wish the Jays would start acting like a responsible team and stop signing players because they think that the fans will whine and boycott the games if their favorite player is traded. Just look how bad Vernon’s contract looks now. Was the whining worth it?
I heard it as well, it was Jeff Blair.
Its just an opinion, doesnt mean its true. If the offence is as bad as it was last year, and the pitching takes a dive to the bottom then yes it could happen. But I think its more likely the offence improves. The pitching will be alright unless Halladay gets injured. The kids will struggle, but I can see all of Litsch, Purcey, and Cecil winning a decent amout of games.
I don’t thinh Cecil will be in the mix, Romero and Richmond will both go North with the team the way I see it.
Too bad the Blair piece gets in the way of the real news here. Thiggy was a fan favorite in Syracuse last year but he was a player without a position in a lot of ways. Clement deciding to take the MiL assignment is the real plus as he will almost certainly spend some time in Toronto before the year is out. Major League experience waiting in the wings.
As far as expectations for this year, people, this is baseball. Anything can happen. We have some talent, we have some weaknesses, and no doubt we will have some surprises. Let’s wait until we start playing games that count before “Giving Up”.
Cecil will pitch his fair amount this year, not going north to start but should be back once the weather warms up. He is by far the best prospect out of Mills or Romero so in the end I see him getting more wins.
My prediction is that Mills, Romero, Richmond, possibly Clement at some point will bounce between AAA and the Majors, with mixed results. But I really see Cecil stepping up and taking a rotation spot sooner rather than later. Even though he was sent back down already.
I heard the Blair peice too and like Denoit said it’s just an opinion. He mentioned that Baltimore’s younger players are better than Toronto’s but failed to mentioned that the veterans still on this team are capable of performing better. I don’t think this team will lose as many games as many critics are predicting.
The Docter is back and maybe Ryan is too.
Thing is, with all the youngsters and oft-injured players, I think the Jays are one of the most unpredictable teams in the AL this year.
Best case scenario, their offense performs like it did in 06 (one of the best, if not the best in the league), combined with surprise pitching performances like in 07 (unlikely). In that scenario, they surprise a lot of folks.
Worst case scenario, their offense tanks like last year (unlikely), and their overall pitching drops to below AL average. In that scenario, they might very well be the worst team in the league.
I think the reality will be somewhere in the middle. But I guess that’s why they play the games – to find out. I, for one, am looking forward to finding out…
According to Jordan’s Twitter, Ryan topped out at 85. If he could get it up to 88-89, he should still be effective… If I’m not mistaken, that would be similar to Carlson’s velocity. Carlson is no closer though.
I assume Jeff Blair was on with Bob McGowan, the self appointed JP hater. Now to be fair, I think JP should be fired as well, but McGowan has had it on for JP for two-three years and Jeff Blair licks McGowan’s shoes-it’s pathetic to watch.
Let me ask you all one question-how can Jeff Blair or Bob McGowan rate our minor league system when they’ve never seen a game-I’m not sure either of these two clowns even know our minor league team names let alone follow the prospects.
The fact is how others rate our minor league system matters not-although baseball prospectus last week just ranked us 10th in baseball. Everyone who rates them, rates them all differently-so what does that tell you. None of these ratings mean squat, because none of the groups rating them see every game or for that matter mostly never see a game.
What matters is whether we have the pieces in the minors needed for the big club. It matters not how many good prospects we have for outfield, since I don’t see us changing Rios, Lind or Snider anytime soon-Wells is a different matter.
In case anyone hasn’t noticed, our kids in spring training have shown they are good hitters with risp. Look at Snider, Lind, Emanus, Arencibia and Campell-they all deliver rbi’s. Cooper and Fuenmayor are the same-but farther away.
Campbell, with an obp of .398 last year was one of the best lead off hitters in AA, the league all-star 2nd baseman and has shown he can play here with an obp of .357. Emanus leads this team in rbi’s, and just hit another double and hr tonight, proving his break out last year and league all-star 2nd baseman selection was real-this kid can just plain hit. That’s 4 hr’s for him, 5 doubles and 13 rbi’s in 45 at bats-you guys figure out what that translates into annual output-but it isn’t shabby. Sort of looks like a serious power 3rd baseman to me in a year or two.
So maybe if we turn Emanus into a 3rd baseman, put Hill at short and Campbell at second-batting out of the lead off position-we might have the pieces we need other than first base.
I’m not personally convinced yet that Cooper has the serious power we need for 1st base, I think he’s going to be another Overbay type-BUT Fuenmayor does have that potential and the word is he’s being moved to 1st base this year. I will say this here-Fuenmayor will turn into a fast riser this year and exhibit what his power potential is.
Don’t get me wrong, we got lucky with Campbell, Arencibia and Emanus, but so does every other team. It just so happens it now looks like we have prospect strength in the areas in which it looked like we were the weakest and also the positions we really needed it.
rene-topping at 85 in one of every 5-6 pitches, the others are in the 80-83 range. Ryan is a serious problem.
Guys, relax with the young pitchers. They will have good days and bad days, but if we’re patient with them, they will all turn into MLB quality pitchers-with Cecil potentially a number one starter and next spring we will have a surplus of young proven pitchers.
We do have strength in the pen and the offense will be better this year-if they remain healthy. My expectations for them are higher than they were before spring training because of how some have played in spring training,although JP could still screw it up. I’d expect them to be a .500 club or close to it this year which should put us in 4th place again.
GS, im not sure if you just have trouble with peoples names or dont know what your talking about. But its Bob McCown, he is in no way related to Dustin McGowan. When you speak of Halladay, its not a Halliday. I dont know who Emanus is, but Brad Emaus is having a pretty good spring. You have some good points, but when you cant spell the names of people you are talking about no offence it makes you look dumb.
Denoit
No, what’s dumb, is when a jerk like you continually harrasses posters on here for spelling mistakes, particulary when you’re one of the biggest offenders.
I don’t think I’ve seen a post on here that had perfect spelling or grammar-yours included. But this isn’t a spelling site, it’s a baseball site-just so you know.
Unfortunately, I, like many others, am too spoiled with spell checkers in email and word processing, so spelling mistakes are common in blog entry. If it truly bothers you, then don’t read my or anyone else’s posts, no one is forcing you to.
You harrass people under this alias and every alias you”ve ever posted under on here.
Sometimes, you make good posts, and then sometimes you decide to harrass posters, like maybe you woke up with a hangover or something was put up your ***** the night before, it’s really quite strange.
Perfect case in point from your own post, jerk: it’s I’m, not im; it’s you’re, not your; it’s people’s, not peoples, it’s don’t, not don’t; it’s it’s, not its; it’s can’t, not cant; and it’s Halliday, not a Halliday.
So Denoit, this is your second warning on harrassment. I do not attack or harrass you and no one else on here does. However, if you want to continually go down this path, be my guest and I and others will blow your pimply little *****. off, just like your other alias’s.
Denoit who did you post under before, It must have been an idiot.
Like gsjays said this is a baseball blog, last year we quit all this garbage, so why don’t you quit now.
Are you a Jays fan or a troublemaker, If you are a true Jays fan let’s talk baseball, If you are a troublemaker get lost.
Gsjays is the wrong guy to pick on as you will soon see if you keep it up.
Kate it looks like the Doc. is okay what do you think.
BJ’s velocity is a concern who do the jays have that can close games? Arcarrdo and League both are not proven and Arcarrdo is suffering from a serious lack of control these days.
Good luck to Thigpen hope u find a spot in Oakland.
Rene great blog about our young guys, I agree totally with what u are saying
As for our young pitchers, we have the best pitching coach in all of baseball, They all appear to have loads of maturity plus they are pitchers not just throwers if u know what i mean. I predict that the young arms will do well but tire down the stretch.
Finally Snider has a good chance for Rookie of the Year honors.
Go Jays Go
sorry gsjays i gave rene credit for tour blog on Campbell Emanus and Arenciaba ect. Great post
Not sure where you took the 80-83, but Jordan reports that it was hitting 84 regularly and topped out at 85. Now if he was hitting 80-83 a few weeks ago, and has upped it closer to 85, that’s a good sign that he’s making progress. A little more progress and he’ll be up to last year’s level. I still have concerns over him being the closer though, given how shaky was at at times, even last year. Downs is plan B right now. I think League might get a shot this year or next, if he can prove that he can throw strikes consistently over a long period.
If you post online you have to be open for critizisim. I can talk baseball just I need to know who im talking about. A typo is fine, and I dont have perfect grammer either. Personally I dont think you need to have perfect grammer I consider this a conversation. But when your continually spelling a guys name wrong it just looks bad on yourself. Why should I believe you know what your saying about a person to be true, when you dont even know how to spell their name? I’m only one person by the way, and I don’t think I was harrassing or have ever harassed I simply state the truth.
rene
I got that number on Ryan for other blogs and articles and I don’t think his velocity has improved, I think we’re just seeing different numbers from different postings. The problem is, I seem to remember Ryan being at 90 to 93 pre-op. That speed combined with his herky jerky delivery made him extremely effective. The 80 to 85 range makes him a lot like Chacin and we know how he worked out.
I agree with you on League, his stuff is downright nasty when he’s right. Imagine trying to hit something coming at you at 97-99 mph which moves 7 to 10 inches. Nasty.
Arnsberg has stated his other pitches (other than that sinker fastball) are much better this spring so I think we can look for really good things from League this season.
To be the closer, League just needs more confidence which Cito is very good at instilling-so I think it’s just a matter of time.
I like league as closer and downs as the 8th inn guy. Unless BJ can get it together. Right now he has no trade vaule.
Today we will se what Richmond can do I’m on his side, I like his story it was a long hard road for him to get here.
Denoit
There really is no need for critizism of a poster, difference of opinions are fine on baseball positions, but there’s no need for personal attacks here. You consistently attack individuals and the problem is you don’t attack someone for their baseball positions, you attack them for spelling or some other nonsense position not related to baseball. The other problem is, you are the worst offender of your own critizism and you get things wrong.
Take a look at your own post. “I can talk baseball just”-lol. It’s don’t not dont; It wasn’t me you initially attacked on spelling Halliday’s name wrong idiot, it was Indigo.
Again, no one pressures you to read my posts or anyone elses, so do us all a favor and stick your head back up in that dark little hole between the cheeks you sit on or post baseball and forget the personal attacks.
Actually if you check archives, it will show you that I do know how to spell Halladay . I may make numerous mistakes but it’s generally not in spelling.
http://mlbastian.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/03/jays_rays_pregame_mcgowan_upda.html#comments
No disrespect to anyone
garry,
I was elated to see the “old Doc” pitch last night . I am hoping the young pitchers take advantage of the talent and knowledge Doc has to offer . If he and Arnsberg can take a wild thrower like Burnett and turn him into a pitcher , just think what they can do with the young pitchers the Jays have.
I read an article the other day that said this will be a growing year for the Jays but 2010 should be a break out year . I believe the article was written by Gammons but not 100% sure I am remember correctly who wrote it .