Player Watch: July 29, 2009

It's Wednesday: player watch day. Here are weekly and season stats for the notable young position players on the farm:

Travis Snider	LF
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AAA)	7	10	1	0	3	9	0.345	0.387	0.690
Totals
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AAA)	30	27	3	0	7	19	0.257	0.355	0.486
Blue Jays	32	24	6	0	3	12	0.242	0.292	0.394
J.P. Arencibia	C
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AAA)	6	2	1	0	1	3	0.077	0.077	0.231
Totals
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AAA)	79	73	26	1	11	47	0.230	0.280	0.423
Brian Jeroloman	C
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AA)	5	3	0	0	0	0	0.231	0.375	0.231
Totals
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AA)	80	62	12	0	6	22	0.230	0.344	0.342
Kyle Phillips	C
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AAA)	1	1	0	0	1	1	0.250	0.400	1.000
Totals
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AA)	12	7	0	0	1	1	0.175	0.233	0.250
Blue Jays (AAA)	52	64	12	0	5	15	0.335	0.400	0.476
Brian Dopirak	1B
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AAA)	6	8	0	0	0	0	0.333	0.360	0.333
Totals
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AA)	87	101	29	1	19	68	0.308	0.374	0.576
Blue Jays (AAA)	12	16	3	0	0	4	0.327	0.346	0.388
Justin Jackson	SS
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (A+)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.000	0.000	0.000
Totals
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (A+)	78	53	12	1	0	17	0.213	0.321	0.269
David Cooper	1B
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AA)	7	3	2	0	0	3	0.115	0.115	0.192
Totals
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AA)	89	83	21	0	4	42	0.251	0.325	0.350
Kevin Ahrens	3B
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (A+)	6	2	1	0	0	0	0.095	0.174	0.143
Totals
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (A+)	80	60	12	1	2	25	0.206	0.280	0.275
Brad Emaus	2B/3B
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AA)	7	6	2	0	0	3	0.316	0.480	0.421
Totals
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AA)	102	95	25	2	6	47	0.251	0.336	0.376
Eric Thames	OF
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (A+)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000	0.000	0.000
Totals
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (A+)	42	48	11	2	2	30	0.308	0.391	0.442
Scott Campbell	2B
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AA)	7	8	1	0	2	8	0.308	0.333	0.577
Totals
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (A+)	5	10	1	0	0	3	0.500	0.522	0.550
Blue Jays (AA)	23	21	5	1	2	11	0.263	0.366	0.425
Blue Jays (AAA)	27	22	3	1	0	6	0.229	0.327	0.281

Snider had a pretty good week in Las Vegas. No doubt, we'll probably see him again when the roster increases to 40. It's nice to see him getting some power back as of late. Dopirak also had a good week, but all of his hits were singles. Down in New Hapshire, Brad Emus had a couple of doubles over the week and a very good .480 OPS. Scott Campbell also had a great week for the Fisher Cats and showed some great power with 2HR and a double; he also cashed in 8 runs.

Was a pretty horrible week for J.P. Arencibia. It's looking like he and Jeroloman will be fighting for a spot in the MLB over the next little while. Kevin Ahrens also had a terrible week in in HiA; he only had two hits all week.

Justin Jackson went on the 7-day DL after his game on the 24th. Eric Thames remains on the 7-day DLl he hasn't played since the June 28.

Now for the young arms:
(Note: this week, in the weekly stats, ERA is a change in ERA. I will make it a weekly ERA next week) This problem has been fixed and the stats have been updated

Marc Rzepczynski	LHP
Week
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays	0	1	4.89	2	9.2	0	6	14	1.52
Totals
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays	1	2	3.25	5	27.2	1	17	30	1.32
Ricky Romero	LHP
Week
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays	2	0	6.49	2	11.1	1	6	5	1.98
Totals
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays (A+)	0	1	13.50	1	4.0	2	1	5	1.75
Blue Jays (AA)	0	0	1.69	1	5.1	0	5	4	1.57
Blue Jays (AAA)	0	0	7.20	1	5.0	0	2	3	2.00
Blue Jays	9	4	3.59	16	102.2	13	41	82	1.39
Brad Mills	LHP
Week
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays (AAA)	0	0	0.00	0	0.0	0	0	0	0.00
Blue Jays	0	0	0.00	0	0.0	0	0	0	0.00
Totals
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays (AAA)	2	8	4.06	14	84.1	6	35	72	1.40
Blue Jays	0	1	14.09	2	7.2	4	6	9	2.78
Brett Cecil	LHP
Week
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays	1	0	1.29	1	7.0	1	3	7	1.00
Totals
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays (AAA)	1	5	5.69	9	49.0	2	19	32	1.47
Blue Jays	4	1	4.27	10	59.0	9	24	49	1.59
Robert Ray	RHP
Week
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays (AAA)	0	0	0.00	0	0.0	0	0	0	0.00
Totals
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays (A+)	0	1	4.91	1	3.2	0	0	1	2.19
Blue Jays (AAA)	0	0	0.00	1	4.1	0	3	3	1.22
Blue Jays	1	2	4.44	4	24.1	4	6	13	1.20

For the Jays doing rehab:

Shaun Marcum	RHP
Week
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays (AAA)	0	0	4.50	1	2.0	0	1	0	1.50
Totals
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays (A+)	0	1	3.00	2	6.0	0	0	5	1.17
Blue Jays (AA)	0	1	1.17	2	7.2	1	2	8	1.39
Blue Jays (AAA)	0	0	4.50	1	2.0	0	1	0	1.50
Casey Jansen	RHP
Week
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays (AA)	0	0	27.00	0	1.0	0	1	1	4.00
Blue Jays (AAA)	0	0	30.00	0	1.2	0	1	1	3.33
Totals
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays (R)	0	0	9.00	0	1.0	0	0	0	2.00
Blue Jays (A+)	0	0	0.69	3	13.0	0	2	10	0.62
Blue Jays (AA)	1	0	2.40	1	15.0	0	5	12	1.13
Blue Jays (AAA)	0	0	21.60	0	1.2	0	1	1	3.33
Blue Jays	2	3	6.23	5	26.0	4	7	11	1.81
Scott Richmond	RHP
Week
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays (AAA)	0	1	1.76	1	5.1	1	1	5	0.78
Totals
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays (R)	0	0	8.10	1	3.1	1	1	5	3.23
Blue Jays (AAA)	0	1	1.69	1	5.1	1	1	5	0.78
Blue Jays	6	5	3.69	13	85.1	15	30	71	1.20

Scott Richmond is finished his rehab stint and is penciled in to start on Friday. Jansen is now doing bullpen work in Las Vegas. I would expect that he won't be starting any more games this season. I feel he works best from the pen anyway. Marcum is now pitching in Las Vegas. I'm interested to see him get a few more starts at that level.

What a stinky mess

The shit show Mets somehow created an even worse shit show at a press conference announcing the firing of the creator of the original shit show—that's a lot of shit.

Today the Mets fired former player personnel chief and future UFC competitor Tony Bernazard after an incident last week. Bernazard, in a heated rant to players on the AA MiLB affiliate, ripped off his shirt and challenged team members to fight him. This prompted an investigation by the Mets, which uncovered other past incidents: altercations with visiting scouts, an altercation with closer KRod and an altercation with other staff members.

In today's press conference announcing the firing, Mets' GM Omar Minaya singled out Adam Rubin, the reported who wrote the piece that prompted the investigation. Minaya accused Rubin of somehow having misplaced interest, as in the past he had inquired "about how to get into baseball."

A clip of the original press conference can be seen here. Minaya's comments prompted such turmoil and shit throwing that Rubin—a reporter himself—had to state a psudo press conference with his colleagues; that can be seen here.

This one makes absolutely no fucking sense to me. First off, he reported something that was 100% true. In no way did he make a malicious attempt at getting Bernazard fired. Read all the shit that is coming out about Bernazard now. Apparently, this is not a recent turn in his character. Second off, the guy made a general inquiry about how to get into baseball with baseball people. What the fuck is wrong with that? It would be the same as a student of journalism asking Rubin about how to get into sports writing. Would Rubin fear that the student wanted his job? Absolutely not. Ridiculous.

Well, all eyes are on Minaya now; he's made a stab at one of their own. You better believe this will be in the headlines for a while considering the Mets aren't doing anything on the feild that warrants being documented.

Update:

Jeff Blair's tweet on the fiasco is pretty damn funny. GloBlair posted,

This just in: Omar Minaya says he'll trade Adam Rubin to NY Times, but that there's a "premium" to being traded within the city.

Game Scores Update: July 27, 2009

It's Monday, meaning it's GSc update day. Here we go: It was an up and down week for Jays starting pitchers,

	AGSc	Chg	GS	Starts	Week Avg
Roy Halladay	62.21	+1.98	19	2	79.00
Marc Rzepczynski	56.50	-3.00	4	2	53.50
Scott Richmond	55.00	+0.00	13	0
Ricky Romero	54.60	-2.48	15	2	38.50
Brett Cecil	48.60	+4.98	10	2	68.50
Robert Ray	48.50	+0.00	4	0
Brian Tallet	47.56	-0.50	18	1	39.00
David Purcey	41.00	+0.00	5	0
Jesse Litch	37.00	+0.00	2	0
Brad Mills	25.00	+0.00	2	0

Amongst all the trade diarrhea spewing from every crevasse of the baseball conglomerate, Roy "Pitching Machine SOK-7000" Halladay had a fabulous week; he went 9 innings in both starts and for the week his line was 10H, 2ER, 3BB, and 17K. Vintage Halladay. He recorded GSc of 78 and 80 respectively in those starts. Romero had a bit of a tough week; he didn't earn a QS in either of his outings. Cecil got the call form Las Vegas and was fabulous this week; over 14IP his line was 11H, 1ER, 7BB, and 16K. Rzep's first start of the week wasn't great and he was yanked after 4.1IP over which the Red Sox scored 4 runs (only two earned).

For notables in the MLB, this week's GSc stats are,

Pos	Chg		AGSc	Chg	GS	Starts	Week Avg
1	+0	Dan Haren	66.75	-1.08	20	2	57.00
2	+0	Tim Lincecum	64.20	-0.69	20	2	58.00
3	+0	Zack Greinke	63.15	+0.37	20	2	66.50
4	+0	Chris Carpenter	62.47	+0.77	15	2	67.50
5	+2	Roy Halladay	62.21	+1.98	19	2	79.00
6	-1	Felix Hernandez	61.80	+0.86	20	2	69.50
7	-1	Javier Vazquez	60.40	-0.16	20	2	59.00
8	+1	Matt Cain	60.15	+0.93	20	2	68.50
9	-1	Josh Johnson	59.45	-0.02	20	1	59.00
10	+1	Justin Verlander	59.10	+0.78	21	2	66.50
11	-1	Yovani Gallardo	58.85	+0.18	20	2	60.50
12	+3	Adam Wainwright	57.52	+0.37	21	2	61.00
13	+5	Wandy Rodriguez	57.50	+1.17	20	2	68.00
14	+0	Josh Becket	57.26	+0.04	19	1	58.00
15	+2	Jake Peavy	56.69	+0.00	13	0
16	+6	Jair Jurrjens	56.52	+1.63	21	2	72.00
17	-1	Johan Santana	56.40	-0.71	20	2	50.00
18	-6	Jered Weaver	56.20	-1.97	20	2	38.50
19	+0	Matt Garza	56.05	+0.49	20	2	60.50
20	+10	Mark Buehrle	55.55	+2.44	20	2	77.50
21	-1	Jon Lester	55.50	+0.39	20	2	59.00
22	-1	CC Sabathia	55.48	+0.42	21	2	59.50
23	+1	Roy Oswalt	55.38	+1.22	21	2	67.00
24	+4	Cliff Lee	55.36	+2.05	22	3	68.33
25	-12	Chad Billingsley	55.19	-2.18	21	2	34.50
26	+3	Joel Pineiro	54.63	+1.34	19	2	66.00
27	+0	Kevin Millwood	53.95	+0.11	21	2	55.00
28	-3	A.J. Burnett	53.89	-0.22	19	2	52.00
29	-6	Carlos Zambrano	53.89	-0.55	18	2	49.50
30	+3	Jason Marquis	53.00	+1.00	19	1	71.00
31	+3	Ryan Dempster	51.76	+0.00	17	0
32	+0	Doug Davis	51.19	-1.34	21	2	38.50
33	-7	Dallas Braden	51.00	-3.00	21	3	33.00
34	+2	Barry Zito	49.75	+1.42	20	2	62.50
35	-4	Nick Blackburn	49.60	-3.46	20	2	18.50
36	-1	Tim Wakefield	49.53	+0.00	17	0
37	+0	Derek Lowe	48.77	+0.46	22	3	51.67
38	+1	Bronson Arroyo	48.16	+0.86	19	2	55.50
39	-1	Kevin Slowey	47.63	+0.00	16	0

Halladay led last week and moved up a couple of spots to now sit 5th on the list. On the heals of his perfect game—his GSc for that game was 93—Buehrle had the second best week. His other start was a QS agaist the Orioles: 7.1 IP, 8H, 1ER, 0BB, 7K. Jair Jurrjens had a great start against the Mets which he followed by another great start against the Giants; over the week he pitched 13.2IP, 5H, 1ER, 3BB, and 10K for the third best week.

Now for the bums: Blackburn had two horrible starts. The first was against the Athletics where he gave up 13H and 7ER over 5IP; the other was against the Angels where he gave up 6H and 6ER over 3.2IP. For the week we averaged a pathetic 18.50GSc. Billingsley's week was ruined by a horrible 1.2IP, 9H, 6ER, 0BB, and 0K against the Astros; he recorded a 13GSc for that outing. Braden's week was brought down by terrible starts against the Angels and the Yankees; he recorded GSc of 17 and 24 respectively in those starts.

Again, I'm open to adding any starting pitchers to the notables list. If you'd like to see someone included, let me know.

DH woes

Recently, the Jays have been testing various players in the DH/LF position. Adam Lind aside, a few donkeys that come to mind immediately are "The Louch," BAW-tista and Millar. Well, the Royals might just have a worse problem. The first paragraph of an article in the Kansas City Star reads,

Mike Jacobs is a designated hitter who has been replaced in six of his last 13 games for a pinch hitter. This is not a good thing. He has played just three times since the All-Star break, a trend that figures to continue.

Ouch. What the fuck?

I find it amusing to read about other shitty teams eating shit.

The Halladay Saga...

We're now two days from Riccardi's imposed "Jays Line" and I'm really not sure what to think: Will Halladay get traded? Will he stay in Toronto for the duration of his contract? Is it possible that he'll resign after 2010? I thought I had a firm grasp of these answers in my own mind on Thursday. By the way things were sounding from all sources—J.P., Beaston, pretty much every baseball writer, bloggers, the whole damn baseball nation—I thought Doc was a goner for sure. I watched his start on Friday like it was going to be his last. When he walked off the mount in the bottom of the ninth to a huge ovation from the crowd, a feeling of sadness sweep over me; how could I see The Doctor not in a Jays uniform?

My feelings prior to Friday were if the Jays could get a spectacular package of MLB ready or close to ready prospects, they had to make the deal; I didn't think Halladay had any chance of resigning with the team. Halladay is certainly worth more than the two compensation picks the Jays would get if they lost him on the free agent market.

Friday's game just had the feeling of it being Halladay's last. I think this was in everybody's mind—both fans and players.

In a very uncharacteristic move for Roy, he sat down with the media for 20 minutes after his start. Reading the various transcripts of this interview gave me the feeling that he didn't want to leave. Here are a few tidbits

Do you believe you'll be here past Aug. 1?

Right now, yeah, I think I will be here. It's obviously a complicated situation, and for that reason I've never felt like there's been a big press on being moved, or wanting to be moved. I think for that reason, I think it's more of an ideal situation-type thing for the Blue Jays, and for myself. If there was an urgency to be somewhere else, and an urgency from the team to have me somewhere else, I think it would be different. I just don't get that feeling, so for that reason, I think that at this point, I feel like I'm going to be here. ...

I've always felt that I just don't have that urgency ... it's hard, because it is such a great place, and I've enjoyed being here so much, I don't feel like I'm really trying to go somewhere else. And I think just for that reason, on both sides, I don't think there's that urgency. That's just a gut feeling.

Did you tell the Blue Jays that you intend to test the free-agent market?

Yeah, I don't think necessarily in those words. For me, I like being here — whether we have a chance to win next year or the year after, I don't know. I would hope so, but for me it was more I would like to wait and see. I don't feel like I want to test [free agency] — it has nothing to do what I might get elsewhere. It has to do with I don't have a crystal ball, I don't know 100% what's going to lay in store here or somewhere else. And for me, I feel like it's just something that I don't want to look that far in the future right now. I think I would rather assess the situation when the contract's up. Again, I don't feel like I'm trying to go somewhere else. Just at this point, I would like to wait and see what's going to happen. Where's the best place to win? It could be here. It might be here. But I just don't have that crystal ball. I can't see that far in advance. And I feel like the Blue Jays have given me an opportunity to take care of my family, fulfill some of those obligations. And I think for myself, knowing that window's getting shorter, to have that chance to win, I want to make that decision knowing everything that's out there.

Did you get a chance to talk to [interim president] Paul Beeston, and did he say anything that makes you more eager to stay, or more likely to stay?

Well, I definitely feel like there's a plan in place. I feel like it's an organization that's trying to move forward, that's trying to get better. So from that aspect of it, I think there's a lot to look forward to here. But again, I think for me, it's just more of a wait-and-see. But I know Paul's done a great job. I have a lot of confidence in [general manager] J.P. [Ricciardi]. I think that the time that I've been here, he's done the best that he can to put the best team out there ... there's a lot to look forward to here. I just think I owe it to myself to kind of wait and see, and assess the situation when I have to. But I do feel like there's a lot of positives.

Does this team need major changes to win?

Major changes? No. I think the hardest part is obviously the division we're in. The two, three, four teams you're up against, two of them they can go get guys when they need them. That's the hardest part. So I don't think it's major changes — I think at some point, you need to catch lightning in a bottle. A lot of things have to go right, kind of what happened for Tampa last year. I feel like a lot of those pieces are in place, a lot of the future's there. It's just a matter of [whether it] will all come together. I personally don't believe there's major changes — I think that things are going in the right direction.

Just to clarify, you said you didn't say in so many words that you were going to test the market. Is the message that if you didn't think at that time the Blue Jays weren't ready to contend, you would test the market? Can you clarify that?

Basically all I'm saying is it's not testing the free-agent waters, it's getting to that point and seeing whether we as an organization are close. So if not ... maybe I need to look at my best chance to win. But for me it's not I want to leave, I want to go somewhere else. It's I think you're going in the right direction, but I would really like to see how close we are at that point, and make the best decision at that point. Does that help? ...

I told them I would like to wait until my contract's up to make the best decision ... As soon as they say we're interested in maybe seeing what's out there, and are you interested, I think at that point there has to be a little bit of rope. If this is what you're looking for, this is what I'm looking for. And basically, that's all it is. I don't think at that point, you sit down and [offer] a list of six team you want to go to. I think for me, it was important to make clear what I wanted to accomplish, and where I'm coming from. And I think that was important. ...

It's not I want to go somewhere else, I want to play somewhere else. I really feel like — I've fulfilled a lot of obligations, and I think you have to be, at some point, a little selfish in what you want ... I love it here, I want to stay, and I really do hope it's here. But I think for me, I've taken care of my obligations, and I feel like I would hate to look back and regret that I had this three- or four-year window and I didn't take a chance to give myself the best opportunity. And that's really all I'm trying to do, whether it's here or somewhere else.


So, in summary,

• Halladay himself believes he'll be a Jay past August 1st. In the very least, he wants to asses the situation after his contract is up.


• He doesn't believe the team needs any major changes to win and feels the team has the right pieces in place and a good future.


• He doesn't want to leave; he wants to win a championship here.

The best pitcher in baseball is telling the organization to open their fucking wallets up and bring the last few needed pieces over to make the team a contender. I just don't know what will happen now. Of the potential teams out there looking at Halladay, the Phillies are said to be the front runners. The last package on the table was J.A. Happ and Kyle Drabek, along with outfield prospect Dominic Brown.

With Happ, the Jays would receive a top quality young mlb pitcher to partially fill the void left if Halladay were to leave. Drabek is having a great year in A+ and AA, but for a 21 year old, he's already had Tommy John surgery; he's considered to be the gem of the trade. Brown is rated as the number 48 top prospect by Baseball America, and his eta in the mlb is 2011; he'll be 21 at that time. The Jays also asked for Joe Saunders, Brandon Wood, Erick Aybar, and one prospect from the group of Trevor Reckling, Peter Bourjos, and Sean O'Sullivan from the Angels.

With all this conjecture floating around, it's impossible now to tell heads from tails on which teams are seriously interested and what players are being offered. With the deadline only a few days away now, it won't be long before we know for sure. As of this moment in time, my heart is telling me that Roy will stay in Toronto—at least for now.

Hey, and if Rios and Wells continue to turn their seasons around, who knows what could happen next year. We've got all that pitching coming back... oh, we've gone down this road before.

Let's watch our young pitching prospect, Brett Cecil, kick some serious ass today in the Dome.