2010 Toronto Blue Jays- A New Era

[gosensgo101]

Looks like the start to this season may halt any rebuilding process in its tracks.

[Ninetyfourgoali]

Looks like the start to this season may halt any rebuilding process in its tracks.

Hopefully its not the same thing that happened last season

[Ninetyfourgoali]

May Series 1: Blue Jays vs. Orioles

Game 1: Blue Jays 3 vs. Orioles 9
Game 2: Blue Jays 4 vs. Orioles 2
Game 1: Blue Jays 5 vs. Orioles 7

May Series 2: Blue Jays vs. Tigers

Game 1: Blue Jays 5 vs. Tigers 4
Game 2: Blue Jays 3 vs. Tigers 2

May Series 3: Blue Jays @ Rangers

Game 1: Blue Jays 9 @ Rangers 8
Game 1: Blue Jays 1 @ Rangers 6

May Series 4: Blue Jays @ Athletics

Game 1: Blue Jays 1 @ Athletics 3
Game 2: Blue Jays 5 @ Athletics 3
Game 3: Blue Jays 2 @ Athletics 5

May Series 5: Blue Jays vs. Yankees

Game 1: Blue Jays 3 vs. Yankees 9
Game 2: Blue Jays 4 vs. Yankees 0
Game 3: Blue Jays 3 vs. Yankees 4

May Series 6: Blue Jays vs. Indians

Game 1: Blue Jays 0 vs. Indians 4
Game 2: Blue Jays 6 vs. Indians 5
Game 3: Blue Jays 3 vs. Indians 1
Game 4: Blue Jays 2 vs. Indians 3

May Series 7: Blue Jays @ Rays

Game 1: Blue Jays 6 @ Rays 10
Game 2: Blue Jays 5 @ Rays 4
Game 3: Blue Jays 1 @ Rays 2

May Series 8: Blue Jays @ Phillies

Game 1: Blue Jays 3 @ Phillies 4
Game 2: Blue Jays 3 @ Phillies 4
Game 3: Blue Jays 1 @ Phillies 3

May Series 9: Blue Jays @ Orioles

Game 1: Blue Jays 11 vs. Orioles 6
Game 2: Blue Jays 4 vs. Orioles 7
Game 1: Blue Jays 5 vs. Orioles 7

May Series 10: Blue Jays vs. Rays

Game 1: Blue Jays 1 vs. Rays 0
Game 2: Blue Jays 5 vs. Rays 1
Game 3: Blue Jays 2 vs. Rays 4

May Record: 12-17
Season Record: 29-24

[Ninetyfourgoali]

[Ninetyfourgoali]

May Review

Now we find ourselves in 3rd place after getting off to a great start. The thing we are most looking forward to is Marc Rzepczynski. He has been flat out dominant so far is his rookie season with only 2 games so far where he has allowed more than 1 earned run. He hasn't been so lucky with just a 4-1 record despite having a 90% quality start rate. Our offense has been average and our starters have been either great or terrible. Rzep has a 1.69 ERA, McGowan has a 2.96 ERA and Cecil is in the middle with a 3.73 ERA. Then Litsch has a 4.35 and Ricky Romero has a miserable 5.23 ERA. Last season Romero showed some excellent promise and by his attitude we think he may need a change of scenery. Justin Verlander has been made available by the Tigers and we have been in talking with them. They want both Romero and Aaron Hill and I'm not sure if we can give both up. The Royals also have Greinke on the table but they want Romero, Hill and Casey Kelly which is definitely a no. Greinke and Verlander are the only top pitchers out there that make sense for us at this time but both will cost us a huge amount.

With the draft a day away, here are the top 10 draftees in my opinion. We have the 10th pick so there is a good chance one of these guys will be coming to Toronto.

1. 2B Jose Urbina 71/93 - Great contact and solid fielder
2. CF Brian Nichols 73/94 - Outstanding power and eye; Gold Glove fielder
3. CF Russ Hanshaw 64/95 - Solid all around
4. C Manuel Torris 69/88 - Great contact and very good fielder
5. SP Larry Tubbs 63/94 - Power pitcher with 3 decent pitches
6. SP Manuel Costillas 65/97 - Very raw but has a nasty fastball
7. RF Wilfredo Andrado 69/91 - Great power and average fielder
8. 1B Brad Farrelly 70/86 - No question the most polished player in the draft, great all around hitter
9. LF Lee Cook 61/93 - 5-tool prospect but has a lot of work to do
10. C James Brain 72/87 - great arm, decent hitter

[Ninetyfourgoali]

Amateur Draft

1st Round Pick: 1B Brad Farrely 70/86 - With 1B prospect Davd Cooper struggling badly and no promising 1B prospects, let alone power hitters, in our system. All we have for 1B is 27 year old Kotchman and 31 year old Nick Johnson so getting a great 1B here is huge.

2nd Round Pick: RF Morgan Bledsoe 67/82 - Bledsoe has great vitals for his overall and with 75 power, 92 arm, and 90 fielding already, there is little doubt he will be at the very least a very good fourth OF.

3rd Round Pick: C Billy Eaton 70/82 - Eaton is decent and increases our chances that one of our "ok" catching prospects will be something.

4th Round Pick: RP Victor Bachicha 55/84 - Promising RP with a phenomenal changeup and a long road to the majors.

5th Round Pick: CF Mike Cox 63/73 - I fell bad for him, what were his parents thinking when they named his that?

6th Round Pick: RP Geoff Turner 47/84 - could be good but many years away from answering that question

[Ninetyfourgoali]

June Series 1: Blue Jays vs. Rangers

Game 1: Blue Jays 5 vs. Rangers 3
Game 2: Blue Jays 14 vs. Rangers 5
Game 3: Blue Jays 7 vs. Rangers 5

June Series 2: Blue Jays vs. Twins

Game 1: Blue Jays 6 vs. Twins 1
Game 2: Blue Jays 1 vs. Twins 2
Game 2: Blue Jays 3 vs. Twins 4

---Offered a Trade from the Angels and I take it.
Angels Trade: SP Anthony Ortega 81/86 and RP Rafael Rodriguez 76/77
Blue Jays Trade: SP Brad Mills 79/86 and RP Brian Tallet 77/77

June Series 3: Blue Jays @ Angels

Game 1: Blue Jays 19 @ Angels 2 (Had to add this: In Tallet's first game as an Angel, he gave up 5 runs in 2/3 of an inning to us )
Game 2: Blue Jays 6 @ Angels 2
Game 3: Blue Jays 0 @ Angels 4
Game 4: Blue Jays 1 @ Angels 2

June Series 4: Blue Jays vs. Nationals

Game 1: Blue Jays 1 vs. Nationals 6
Game 2: Blue Jays 6 vs. Nationals 5
Game 3: Blue Jays 2 vs. Nationals 4

After this series loss to the Nationals, changes need to be made. We have Monday the 15th off and we will make a move. We started off with what was just a precursor to the major trade:

Colorado Trades: 2B Eric Young Jr. 84/88
Toronto Trades: 3B Kevin Ahrens 67/93, OF Markus Brisker 66/93 and 1B David Cooper 71/81

This deal gives us a good, young 2B (yes, Aaron Hill is going to be traded) with speed which is just about nonexistent on this team. We lose prospects where we have some depth but the Rockies are very thin. The Rockies are in second place but are 8 games back and are just 1 game over .500 and with the team they have, not much of a chance to catch up. Not a huge loss as they have a decent backup 2B.

Now.... for the giant deal. It is with.... the 4th place Kansas City Royals! We add a young, top 5 pitcher in baseball but not without the loss of some great talent. This trade looks a lot like quantity for quality but just about every single player involved is or has the chance to be a great player. Without further ado, here is what we had to give up for Zack Greinke (95/95)...

2B Aaron Hill 93/93, RF Travis Snider 85/93, SP Jesse Litsch 84/86, SP Zach Stewart 77/85, CF Kenny Wilson 62/88, SS Justin Jackson 67/93, SP Stolmy Pimentel 69/88, SP Luis Perez 82/88, RP Jesse Carlson 85/85, and C Mike Beauregard 70/82.

Kansas City obviously gets heaps of talent both at the major league level and minor league level. We get a guy who can lead our rotation for years (as long as he re-signs with us in a few seasons and we can afford the monster contract :P). Our farm system is still ok but we did lose some great prospects. There is still Casey Kelly, our best prospect by a mile and the one guy that was 100% off limits. We do have a hole in RF but Jeremy Hermida can play there and he isn't terrible. We are just 4 games back despite being in 3rd place at 36-30 and this could be enough to allow us to contend for a wild card spot and hopefully reach the playoffs for the first time in 16 seasons.

[Ninetyfourgoali]

June Series 5: Blue Jays @ Marlins

Game 1: Blue Jays 7 @ Marlins 2
Game 2: Blue Jays 1 @ Marlins 10
Game 3: Blue Jays 3 @ Marlins 7

June Series 6: Blue Jays @ Braves

Game 1: Blue Jays 4 @ Braves 5
Game 2: Blue Jays 5 @ Braves 2
Game 3: Blue Jays 5 @ Braves 0

June Series 7: Blue Jays vs. Reds

Game 1: Blue Jays 5 vs. Reds 3
Game 2: Blue Jays 6 vs. Reds 3
Game 3: Blue Jays 3 vs. Reds 4

-----SS Brad Emaus was injured after the first game, with an inflamed rotator cuff. He will be out for four weeks. We put him on the DL and Joe Inglett will be playing SS and we called up 3B Rob Sobolewski. Emaus has been struggling this season anyways, hitting .246 with just a .670 OPS

June Series 8: Blue Jays. vs Marlins

Game 1: Blue Jays 1 vs. Marlins 6
Game 2: Blue Jays 2 vs. Marlins 6
Game 3: Blue Jays 4 vs. Marlins 1

June Series 9: Blue Jays vs. Red Sox

Game 1: Blue Jays 6 vs. Red Sox 3 - Halladay makes his first return to Toronto where he gets knocked around for 4 runs and taken out before finishing the 3rd.
Game 2: Blue Jays 9 vs. Red Sox 8
Game 3: Blue Jays 3 vs. Red Sox 1

June Record: 15-12
Season Record: 45-36