Player Watch: August 5, 2009.

Here is today's prospect update. There's some good news for position players:

Travis Snider	LF
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AAA)	5	9	6	1	2	11	0.500	0.625	1.278
Season
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AAA)	35	36	9	1	9	30	0.293	0.400	0.602
Blue Jays	32	24	6	0	3	12	0.242	0.292	0.394
Totals	67	60	15	1	12	42	0.270	0.355	0.509
J.P. Arencibia	C
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AAA)	4	2	0	0	0	1	0.143	0.235	0.143
Season
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AAA)	83	75	26	1	11	48	0.227	0.278	0.411
Totals	83	75	26	1	11	48	0.227	0.278	0.411
Brian Dopirak	1B
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AAA)	5	11	0	0	5	12	0.478	0.478	1.130
Season
	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)	17	27	3	0	5	16	0.375	0.387	0.625
Totals	104	128	32	1	24	84	0.320	0.376	0.585
Brian Jeroloman	C
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AA)	4	4	0	1	0	0	0.333	0.385	0.500
Season
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AA)	84	66	12	1	6	22	0.235	0.345	0.349
Totals	84	66	12	1	6	22	0.235	0.345	0.349
Kyle Phillips	C
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AAA)	1	1	0	0	0	1	0.250	0.400	0.250
Season
	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)	53	65	12	0	5	16	0.333	0.400	0.472
Totals	65	72	12	0	6	17	0.306	0.373	0.434
Justin Jackson	SS
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Season
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (A+)	78	53	12	1	0	17	0.213	0.321	0.269
Totals	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)	5	5	2	0	1	4	0.263	0.263	0.526
Season
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AA)	94	88	23	0	5	46	0.251	0.322	0.360
Totals	94	88	23	0	5	46	0.251	0.322	0.360
Kevin Ahrens	3B
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (A+)	4	5	2	0	0	1	0.313	0.333	0.438
Season
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (A+)	84	65	14	1	2	26	0.212	0.283	0.283
Totals	84	65	14	1	2	26	0.212	0.283	0.283
Brad Emaus	2B/3B
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AA)	5	6	0	0	1	2	0.353	0.450	0.529
Season
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (AA)	107	101	25	2	7	49	0.256	0.341	0.382
Totals	107	101	25	2	7	49	0.256	0.341	0.382
Eric Thames	OF
Week
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Season
	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OPB	SLG
Blue Jays (A+)	42	48	11	2	2	30	0.308	0.391	0.442
Totals	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)	4	1	0	0	0	2	0.071	0.188	0.071
Season
	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)	27	22	5	1	2	13	0.234	0.339	0.372
Blue Jays (AAA)	27	22	3	1	0	6	0.229	0.327	0.281
Totals	59	54	9	2	2	22	0.257	0.351	0.348

Travis Snider was an absolute monster at the dish last week. Over 18 at bats he was slugging 1.278 and had a monster .625 OBP. Not to be outdone, Brian Dopirak also had a great week at the plate; a whopping 1.130 slug with 12 RBIs. Hopefully we'll get to see Dopirak in Toronto as a September callup—I'm sure he'll hit better than Millar and probably better than Overbay. Jeroloman also had a good week in New Hampshire, and once again Arencibia continues to struggle this season. Jeroloman is making a case to be the future starting catcher over Arencibia. Justin Jackson and Eric Thames are both injured and on the 7-day DL.

On to the pitchers:

Ricky Romero	LHP
Week
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays	1	0	2.57	1	7.0	0	1	5	1.29
Season
	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	10	4	3.53	17	109.2	13	42	87	1.38
Brett Cecil	LHP
Week
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays	1	0	5.14	1	7.0	0	1	3	1.00
Season
	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	5	1	4.36	11	66.0	9	25	52	1.53
Marc Rzepczynski	LHP
Week
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Season
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Blue Jays	1	2	3.25	5	27.2	1	17	30	1.32
Zach Stewart	RHP
Week
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Season
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Robert Ray	RHP
Week
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Season
	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
Brad Mills	LHP
Week
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Season
	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

Romero had a an excellent start in Oakland last week. Cecil's start last week wasn't as solid has his previous two with the Jays, but what he has show since being recalled has definitely been good. Rzed didn't get a start, but is on the mount tonight versus the Yankees. Both Mills and Ray are injured and not pitching.

Notice that I've added Zach Stewart (acquired in the Rolen deal). He has yet to make an appearance in Las Vegas.

On to the rehabbers:

Shaun Marcum	RHP
Week
	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Season
	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 (AAA)	0	0	0.00	0	2.0	0	0	2	0.50
Season
	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	9.82	0	3.2	0	1	3	1.56
Blue Jays	2	3	6.23	5	26.0	4	7	11	1.81

After making his way quickly to Class AAA during his rehab stint, Marcum did not pitch over the last week in Las Vegas. No news as to why. Hopefully he hasn't aggravated the injury; he was timelined to be back mid-late August, and I'm looking forward to seeing him pitch in the MLB again.

Casey Jansen also didn't see much action pitching from the pen in Class AAA. The two innings that he did pitch were solid.

The ultimate fantasy camp.

It's good to see MLB players taking time to give back to the fans. Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard took it upon themselves to start their very own baseball fantasy camp.

Could you imagine how much fun a Scott Downs/Brian Tallet fantasy experience would be?

(h/t to David Pinto of baseballmusings.com)

Downs undergoes surgery on toe

After reinjuring his toe during the ninth inning of the Jays game on Saturday, Blue Jays closer Scott "Snake Face" Downs was placed on the DL. Downs flew back to Toronto on Sunday to have his big toe—often dubbed the "Captain of the Toes" or "the one who went to the market"—by team podiatrist Dr. Glenn Copeland. Copeland acknowledged that Downs had injured ligaments in the metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint of the toe. "This is a typical injury which usually results from a hyperflexion mechanism; the toe is bent too far upward," Copeland explained. "For a pitcher with this type of injury" he continued, "there might be slight discomfort when pushing off the mound."

Downs will undergo a procedure similar to Tommy John surgery whereby the ligaments in the toe will be replaced with tendons taken from elsewhere in his body. Much like Tommy John surgery, it will take Downs 10-12 months to recover and he shouldn't be expected to regain 100% power in his foot until sometime after.

When asked if the surgery was necessary, Copeland responded by saying "Absolutely not. His toe is sore. We told him to play through it as the soreness would last a few days at most. Scott refused to even pickup a baseball until 'his boo-boo toe wasn't bwoken.' That's exactly how he said it," Copeland stated in a mocking tone. "This is ridiculous. Arsnberg pretty much forced me to do it. He asked me if it was possible to do Tommy John surgery on a toe. I thought about it for a minute and jokingly responded by telling him that it was technically possible. His face lit up and that was that; the decision was made."

It's expected that Jason Frasor will take over closing duties with Brandon League filling in when Frasor is not available. The Jays might also experiment with the newly acquired Josh Roenicke who has experience closing in college ball and in the minor leagues.

Game Scores Update: August 3, 2009

It's time for this week's GSc update. Jays pitching this week was below average:

	AGSc	Chg	GS	Starts	Week Avg
Roy Halladay	61.55	-0.66	20	1	49.00
Marc Rzepczynski	55.60	-0.90	5	1	52.00
Ricky Romero	53.76	-0.84	17	2	47.50
Scott Richmond	52.79	-2.21	14	1	24.00
Brett Cecil	48.82	+0.22	11	1	51.00
Robert Ray	48.50	+0.00	4	0
Brian Tallet	47.56	+0.00	18	0
David Purcey	41.00	+0.00	5	0
Jesse Litch	37.00	+0.00	2	0
Brad Mills	25.00	+0.00	2	0

All five starters underperformed. Most notable was Richmond. On Friday, he made his first start since returning to the majors from a stint on the DL. In that game in Oakland, he only went 3+ innings and had to be replaced by Tallet after giving up 6 runs (4 earned) on 19 batters faced. Doc Halladay also had an uncharacteristic start where he gave up 11 hits over 7 innings.

For notables in the majors the GSc looks this:

Pos	Chg		AGSc	Chg	GS	Starts	Week Avg
1	+0	Dan Haren	66.00	-0.75	21	1	51.00
2	+0	Tim Lincecum	65.73	+1.53	22	2	81.00
3	+1	Chris Carpenter	62.59	+0.12	17	2	63.50
4	+1	Roy Halladay	61.55	-0.66	20	1	49.00
5	-2	Zack Greinke	61.45	-1.70	22	2	44.50
6	+2	Matt Cain	61.24	+1.09	21	1	83.00
7	+0	Javier Vazquez	60.52	+0.12	21	1	63.00
8	-2	Felix Hernandez	59.59	-2.21	22	2	37.50
9	+1	Justin Verlander	59.32	+0.22	22	1	64.00
10	+1	Yovani Gallardo	59.14	+0.29	21	1	65.00
11	-2	Josh Johnson	58.71	-0.74	21	1	44.00
12	+0	Adam Wainwright	58.09	+0.56	23	2	64.00
13	+0	Wandy Rodriguez	57.82	+0.32	22	2	61.00
14	+0	Josh Becket	57.81	+0.55	21	2	63.00
15	+2	Johan Santana	57.33	+0.93	21	1	76.00
16	-1	Jake Peavy	56.69	+0.00	13	0
17	+7	Cliff Lee	56.39	+1.03	23	1	79.00
18	+1	Matt Garza	55.81	-0.24	21	1	51.00
19	+7	Joel Pineiro	55.45	+0.82	20	1	71.00
20	-4	Jair Jurrjens	55.43	-1.09	23	2	44.00
21	+2	Roy Oswalt	55.36	-0.02	22	1	55.00
22	-4	Jered Weaver	55.32	-0.88	22	2	46.50
23	+2	Chad Billingsley	55.04	-0.15	23	2	53.50
24	-3	Jon Lester	54.67	-0.83	21	1	38.00
25	+4	Carlos Zambrano	54.15	+0.26	20	2	56.50
26	+1	Kevin Millwood	53.95	+0.00	21	0
27	-5	CC Sabathia	53.91	-1.56	23	2	37.50
28	+0	A.J. Burnett	53.14	-0.75	21	2	46.00
29	+1	Jason Marquis	53.14	+0.14	21	2	54.50
30	-10	Mark Buehrle	53.00	-2.55	22	2	27.50
31	+0	Ryan Dempster	51.37	-0.40	19	2	48.00
32	+0	Doug Davis	51.27	+0.08	22	1	53.00
33	+0	Dallas Braden	50.41	-0.59	22	1	38.00
34	+0	Barry Zito	50.05	+0.30	22	2	53.00
35	+1	Tim Wakefield	49.53	+0.00	17	0
36	-1	Nick Blackburn	49.05	-0.55	21	1	38.00
37	+0	Derek Lowe	48.83	+0.05	23	1	50.00
38	+0	Bronson Arroyo	48.14	-0.02	21	2	48.00
39	+0	Kevin Slowey	47.63	+0.00	16	0

The Aces...

Tim Lincecum had two very good starts last week. On July 27th he pitched a complete game gem against the Pirates. He allowed no earned runs on 4 hits, struck out 15, and earned a GSc of 87 (his second highest of the season). He followed that great outing with a GSc of 75 on August 1st against the Philadelphia. In that outing he pitched 8 shutout innings, struck out 8 and only gave up one walk.

Matt Cain—in his only start of the week—earned a 3 hit complete game shutout against the Pirates on July 29th (the Pirates seem to be padding pitcher stats for opposing teams); he earned a GSc of 83 in that effort.

Cliff Lee—in his first start with the Phillies—pitched a complete game one run affair against the Giants. He gave up only 4 hits, had 6Ks and 2BB.

The Bums...

Mark Buehrle—the week after going el perfecto—recorded game scores of 45 and 10 in his two starts of the week. In the latter outing against the Yankees, Buehrle gave up 7 earned runs and 12 hits in 4.1 innings. Buehrle's terrible week drops him 10 spots in the rankings and he lost 2.55 overall points on his season average.

King Felix Hernandez had a terrible start against the Jays on July 27th; he stayed in for 5.2 innings where he gave up 11 hits, and 7 earned runs. He earned a GSc of 20 in that outing. Hernandez dropped below 60.0 for the season.

Sabathia had a bad outing against the Rays (GSc 33) and a bad outing against the White Sox (GSc 42). Over 12.2 innings and 57 batters, he gave up 10 earned runs, 19 hits and 3 home runs.

Series Recap: Blue Jays @ Athletics, July 31-Aug 2.

The Jays continues their west coast swing with three against the Athletics of Oakland. A few notable events occured for the Jays going into this one: The big Scott "The Human Highlight Real" Rolen trade—if you haven't already, check out The Blue Jay Hunter's top 10 Rolen defensive gems as a Jay—which brought Edwin "E5" Encarnacion and Josh Roenicke to the lineup on Saturday; and on Friday Scott Richmond made his first start after coming off the DL.

Game Recaps
Game 1: Oakland 8, Toronto 5

Scott Downs Richmond made his first start since a month long stint on the DL and he stunk himself right out of the ball park. I was embarrassed to be a Jays fan watching this disgrace unfold. The entirety of the best fielding team in baseball was clearly murdered before the game and replaced with an inferior fielding group of cyborgs. Alex "I'm scared of a routine fly ball" cost Richmond a couple of runs in the first. The train was off the tracks and never quite got back on. Richmond went a pathetic 3+ having given up 7 hits, 6 runs—4 earned due to the Rios error—on only 19 batters. I'm not going to show the FanGraph win probability graph for this one; it looked like the heart-rate of a 400lb blob of a human chasing a twinkie.

What business did Kevin Millar have batting 4th? Jesus. His slash line was a joke going into this game: .227/.303/.370. Not cleanup hitter number. Those are teetering on Mendosa line numbers for Chirst sake. At least he made up for his pathetic batting with great defense. No wait. He bobbled a grounder routine that would have ended the 4th inning. Millar is useless and needs to be released. End of story.

My Cyborg speculation was proven to be true when Cyborg John McDonald committed an error on an innocently hit ground ball—the real Sir John A. would have made the play, clearly. The only bright spot of this one came from the one, two, three hitters—Scoots, Hill, Lind—who had 8 of the 10 hits. I'll be honest; this game was so bad that I passed out sometime during the top of the 4th and had to watch the rest of the game the next morning on mlb.tv

Game 2: Toronto 6, Oakland 5

Okay, game 1 had Millar in the 4 hole. This game had Overbay in the 4 hole? What the fuck is going on? I guess this begs the question, who else do they have to put in the cleanup slot? Fair enough. Personally I think Hill should be batting 3rd—I don't think he has the speed of a true number 2—and ideally Rios should be batting second. However, this year Rios's batting average doesn't warrant him a spot in the top 3 (I'm planning on writing a post on the 2010 Jays and a possible lineup soon). Anyway, Overbay as cleanup.


Cecil had a decent game. In fact, he only ran into real problems in the 2th. Taking away the 2th inning, Cecil had an excellent start. The Blue Jay bats were working in this one providing enough run support to squeak out a win. Wells AND Rios both had good days at the plate and Hill extended his hit streak, had 4 RBIs, and a home run that came at an absolute perfect time (look at the change in WP on the graph).

League continued his string of solid appearances going 3 up and three down relief of Cecil in the 8th. BJ Ryan Scott Downs had another rough outing which was saved by an apparent foot/leg/labia injury. Not sure if he took a dive so that he didn't blow another save, but in any case Frasor had to come on and clean up the mess. He did. We won. Yay.

After the game, Downs was placed on the DL and Accardo was bounced back up; he hadn't even left the hotel in San Fransisco yet...

Game 3:

Another game with Overbay in the 4 hole. Jose BAW-tista leading off? Oy vay. Anyway, this was a game to actually get a little excited about:


The Jays' hitters got to Athletics' starter right from the get go: Hill had a two run shot; Alex Rios hit a line drive double to left. It was 5-0 going into Romero's side of the first and the Jays never really looked back. Romero had a great game completing 7 innings, giving up 8H, 2ER, with 5K and 1BB. He also had a very impressive 50% GB% and recorded his 10th win of the season.

McDonald does his best Scott Rolen impression by starting a seemingly impossible double play. We also got a first look at the newly acquired Josh Roenicke. His 95 mph fastball was impressive; he struck out two of the four batters faced.

Finally a game where there offense and pitching were clicking at the same time. This was a great game to watch.

Thumbs up goes to...

Aaron Hill. Hill was an absolute monster this series. He went 6 for 14, had 2 2B, 2HR and cashed in 8 RBI. His wOBA for the series was a massive .545.

Rickey Romero. Recording his 10th win on a very good start on Sunday.

Jason Frasor. He continued his string of great relief—even in high pressure situations—when he cleaned up Scott Downs' mess on Saturday.

Josh Roenicke. Got a good first look in one inning pitched on Sunday.

Thumbs down goes to...

Scott Richmond. His first start back from the DL was brutal. Let's hope this was just an anomaly.

Scott Downs. Brutal. DL. Good riddance.

Alex Rios. His only hit of the series was his bases loaded double in game three. He didn't reach base in any of this other 11 plate appearances.

The next series is a short 2 gamer at home against the Yankees starting Tuesday. The probable pitchers are Pettitte (8-6, 4.51) vs. Halladay (11-4, 2.68) and Mitre (1-0, 7.90) vs. Rzepczynski (1-2, 3.25).

Looking forward to both pitching match-ups; it's always great to see The Doctor on the mount; and the battle of the youngsters should be great on Wednesday.

I'll have the Game Score Update done later tonight.

Rolen out.

"I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own"

Scott Rolen is now a member of the Cincinnati Reds. Considering JP's recent "we're going for it in 2010" attitude—Halladay still remains a Blue Jay and no other moves were made at the deadline—I just don't get this one. In my humble opinion, I suggest that having the top defensive three bagger in the league would be a key component to building a playoff contender in the ALE. I also suggest that keeping the team's most consistent hitter—especially in a lineup that has lacked consistency at the plate—might also be an asset for any team considering a post-season run in '10.

Notwithstanding the above, veteran leadership is also a huge plus for any contender—especially given the youth of the Blue Jay lineup: Lind, Snider, Hill, Cecil, Romero, Rzepczynski. Scott Rolen time and time again has proven himself to be a professional: he goes to the ballpark and plays his position; he is never distracted by anything off the field; and you have to love how he buries his head and sprints around the bases after a home run.

Given the Jays' new/old philosophy for next year, this trade stinks. I'm not saying that the trade itself is bad; I don't mind the players that we got in return at all. But, I do think this seriously hurts the 2010 Blue Jays. Sure, I can understand that Rolen was going to make 11M+ next year and that he probably wasn't going to resign. That's baseball.

Alright, that's my opinion on that trade: I hate to see Rolen leave. He was without a doubt my favourite player. Had this been part of a rebuilding situation wherein Halladay was traded for a group of young players, I would have been very happy with this deal.

So, who did we get in return?

Edwin Encarnacion has been a full time player for the Reds since 2006. 2008 was his best season and he his .251/.340/.466 with 26HR in 146 games and 582 plate appearances. This year, however, Encarnacion was on the DL from April 25th to July 4th. Since his return from the DL he has hit .267/.368/.507 with 4HR and 10RBI in 23 games. Encarnacion might bring more power to the lineup, but won't compare to the consistency Rolen was showing this year. The story on defence is much worse, I'm afraid. This season, Edwin has a terrible -23.1 UZR/150. However, he has only played in 43 total games giving a relatively small sample size. Over his career, he has boast a bad -12.2 URZ.150. Compare these to Rolen's numbers—7.9 UZR/150 this season and a career 15.6 UZR/150 (only going back to 2002)—and we see that the Jays are giving up a lot on defense. Looking at the WAR numbers shows that Rolen has given the Jays 3.0 wins, while Encarnacion has cost the Reds -0.2 wins. Overall, the deal will save the Jays about 6.25M next year (depending on how much cash went over to the Reds in the deal).

Josh Roenicke provides immediate help to the Jays' bullpen, as Accardo was optioned to AAA upon acquiring the right hander. Roenicke, the soon-to-be 27 year old, started the season in AAA where he pitched in 27 games. He posted a decent 2.57 ERA and recorded 12 saves with no losses. He also posted a very impressive 10.29 K/9, 1.93 B/9, and gave up no home runs. Roenicke also saw some play with the Reds, posting a 2.70 ERA, 14K, 4BB over 54 TBF. Roenicke is hard throwing and mostly relies on a fastball that touches 95mph and a cutter that touches 88mph. He was not rated as one of the Reds' top 15 prospects of 2009 by Baseball America, but was ranked as the number 6 prospect by the hard grading John Sickels. Sickels gave Josh a B- grade and said "Very impressive arm, could be a closer perhaps." Good pickup if Roenicke develops into a decent closer.

Zach Stewart a 22 year old RHP was probably who the Jays were after in this trade. Steward was a third round pick in last year's entry draft and has since progressed very quickly up to Class AAA. He started this year in HiA and Class AA, where he was used as a starter; he went 4-1 over 14 starts and posted a 1.82 ERA. He also scored a good 7.15 K/9, 2.04 BB/9 and only gave up two home runs. In Class AAA Stewart has been use exclusively out of the pen. There, he has faced 55 batters giving up only 1 ER, recording 16 K, and 8 BB. Stewart was not on the Baseball America top 15 Reds prospects, but he was given a grade of B- and ranked 7th by Sickels: "Strong arm, command issues, could move fast in the pen. Maybe a C+?" I would imagine that this grading is higher now since Sickels' December 6, 2oo8 ratings. JP Riccardi commented that the Jays were going to try Stewart in a starting role in Class AAA Las Vegas for now.

All-in-all, the Jays did receive a couple nice young arms in this deal and someone to fill the void at 3B. If the Jays were actually trying to rebuild, I'd really like this deal.

For any of you who can take it, here's a little tribute to Scott "The Human Highlight Reel" Rolen. You will be missed, but not forgotten:

Series Recap: Blue Jays @ Mariners, July 27-29.

The last series against the Mariners was about as disappointing as the last three. Seattle won the series 2-1. Both losses were by one run and one of the losses came in the bottom of the ninth; yet another blown save by Scott Downs in the past week. The Jays just couldn't put together a full game of baseball: When their bats were working in game one, pitching wasn't at it's greatest; when their pitching was somewhat decent in games two and three, the bats weren't there to provide any significant run support. This coupled with some good pitching for Seattle pretty much sealed the deal on any hopes of taking two or three games.

Game Recaps
Game 1: Toronto 11, Seattle 4

WP Romero (9-4), LP Hernandez (11-4)


The FanGraph win probability graph shows the game was fairly even until the 6th when the Jays started to poor it on. Alex Rios—of all people—tied the game at four with a liner to left that scored Wells. Amazing. Rios hit to score Wells. Somehow Rios and Wells combined to score a run. Barahas and Inglet had back to back singles to score a couple more. All this with two outs. Carlson came in in the 7th, Downs came in in the 8th and Hayhurst—yes Dirk got some action!—came in in the 9th to shut down the Mariners.

Wait a second? Downs came in in the 8th while the score was 11-4? Downs has been taking a serious read from the B.J. Ryan book of pitching since the All-Star break. I just don't think putting him into a game situation in the 8th when the game is all but done—yes, I'm trying not to think about the 8 run blown lead from last week—is worth anything. A closer is a closer; they work under high pressure situations.

Game 2: Seattle 4, Toronto 3

WP Aardsma (3-3), LP Downs (1-3)

What a fucking stinker of a game. I'm really getting sick and tired of these one run losses. Especially the slew of walk-off losses the Jays have endured this year (worst team in baseball in extra innings, what a joke).

Rzed is starting to come back down to earth. I've said this in every single one of my posts about his pitching: his control and efficiency is shit. It's starting to catch up with him. 41% of his pitches were balls. This number has to come down if he's going to be an effective starter. He's keeping the ball too high in the strike zone, which produced only 4GB out of 12 balls in play. He did record 8Ks, which keeps his K/9 very high, but he needs to be more consistent.

This game just plain sucked to watch. The top of the 8th brought on a good high: Scutaro gets on base with a lead off double, Hill doubles, and Rios double—Alex Rios with another clutch hit—to tie the game up at 3. Shaun Camp threw 2.2 great innings, facing 8 batters and giving up only one hit. He continues to be pretty rock solid when pitching under three innings of relief.

Then comes the bottom of the 9th, Scott Downs, and a gentleman simply known as Ichiro. He hit a good pitch to win the game—whatever. The PitchFX tool shows that it was a good pitch from Downs; Ichiro went way out of the strike-zone to get it and somehow muscled a blooper to win the game. I get it. It was a good pitch. The fact is that Downs is pitching like shit. He made a couple good pitches against Ichiro—okay. But, he started off the inning by giving up a single to Hannahan, he walked Johnson and he made an embarrassing attempt to field a bunt from Woodward—Chris fucking Woodward. Downs gave up that hit to Ichiro because he allowed Ichiro to come up to bat by not ending the game 2 batters before. Scott Downs is playing like shit.

Game 3: Seattle 3, Toronto 2

WP Rowland-Smith (1-1), S Aardsma (25), LP Halladay (11-4)


An uncharacteristic 11 hits over 7 innings by Halladay, a great pitching effort from Rowland-Smith—he had a no-no going into the 7th—and a lack of any real offense from Jays and what can you say? Speculate all you want about trade rumours, but Halladay was gassed going into the 7th. He hadn't pitched a great game to that point. I have no idea why Cito kept him in. Camp did throw a bunch the game before, but Frasor, Accardo, Carlson and League were all easily available. I blame this loss on Cito.

The Jays now have a record of 49-53 and sit 13.5GB of the Yankees in the division.

Thumbs up goes to...

Alex Rios. He went 4 for 13, 1 2B, and 2RBI for the series. He also had a couple of clutch at bats in the first and second games of the series and had a 0.293 WPA, tops of all Jays hitters.

Marco Scutaro. He went 5 for 13 and had a wOBA of 0.346 for the series.

Joe Inglett. He went 3 for 6 in the series. He had a great first game of the series and game in as a pitch runner in the second game and got a key single in his at bat.

Aaron Hill. He made a couple very clutch hits and had the second best 0.239 WPA.

Shawn Camp. Great outing in game two.

Thumbs down goes to...

Scott Downs. Duh. Had an absolutely terrible game 2 and lost the game in the bottom of the 9th. During that outing, he gave up 3 hits, and a walk on 8 batters faced.

Kevin Millar. He went 0 for 4 in 6 plate appearances.

Jose Bautista. He went 0 for 5 in 7 plate appearances. It's hard to stay mad at him though; he did make a couple of great throws in the field.

Vernon Wells. He went 2 for 12 and couldn't put the bat to the ball when it counted. His -0.280 WPA was worst on the team over the series.

Next series starts tomorrow against the Athletics of Oakland. Probably pitchers are Richmond (6-5, 3.69) vs. Barden (7-9, 3.74), Romero (9-4, 3.59) vs. Cahill (6-9, 4.77) and TBA vs. Mazzaro (2-7, 5.16).

Richmond gets his first start back from rehab. The Jays are facing the bottom of the rotation. Hopefully they can pull out a couple of wins.