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Category: ‘Players’

Starting Pitching Woes Poised to Doom the Toronto Blue Jays
June 14th, 2012 at 9:08 PM
Adding insult to injury last night, Kyle Drabek left in the middle of his start after feeling a 'popping sensation' in his elbow.  Remarkably, it appears as though Drabek avoided any serious injury, but his poor outing was just another punch to the stomach in a week that has been...

The Time is Now for the Toronto Blue Jays to Pursue a Starting Pitcher
June 10th, 2012 at 2:11 PM
Entering today's games the Toronto Blue Jays are a very manageable four games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the AL East division lead, and three games behind the flailing Baltimore Orioles for the second wild card spot (the New York Yankees currently reside nestled inbetween those two).  Toronto has...

Drew Hutchison: Toronto Blue Jays Stopper
June 4th, 2012 at 3:53 PM
It may seem silly to reference rookie Drew Hutchison as the Toronto Blue Jays 'stopper', a term usually reserved for true ace pitchers (of which Toronto really has none).  Labeling him as such is more semantics than anything, but after putting an end to a five-game Toronto losing streak last...

Fixing the Toronto Blue Jays’ Black Hole in Left Field
June 2nd, 2012 at 1:55 PM
Heading into today's action you could make a solid argument that the Toronto Blue Jays have had average or above average production from seven of their nine lineup spots thus far on the year - no small accomplishment by any means.  The primary culprit for the futility at one of...

Toronto Blue Jays Need Ricky Romero to Be Better
May 26th, 2012 at 1:16 PM
Everyone knew going into the year that the Toronto Blue Jays would be trying to contend with a less-than-stellar starting rotation, and most of the rosier projections that saw them securing a playoff spot were relying greatly on most, if not all, of the Blue Jays pitchers to at least...

Assessing the Early Returns on the Toronto Blue Jays’ Drew Hutchison
May 23rd, 2012 at 2:17 PM
***PHOTO1*** Drew Hutchison, one of the Toronto Blue Jays' top pitching prospects headed into this season, has not yet done much to enamor himself with the Blue Jay faithful as he exited last night's loss to the Tampa Bay Rays with a 5.73 ERA.  There are probably plenty in Toronto...

Kelly Johnson is a Deserving All-Star Second Baseman
May 22nd, 2012 at 1:34 PM
When the Toronto Blue Jays traded Aaron Hill and John McDonald to the Arizona Diamondbacks last year for Kelly Johnson, it was difficult to determine which team had 'won' or what the real purpose of the deal was.  Both Johnson and Hill had put together all-star type years in the...

Are the Toronto Blue Jays Done with Adam Lind?
May 18th, 2012 at 5:39 PM
After having begun the season about as poorly at the plate as possible while contributing even less in the field, Adam Lind was finally optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas yesterday, mercifully putting him and many Blue Jays fans out of their misery.  Brought up in place of Lind was Yan...

Brett Lawrie’s Unclear Path to Stardom
May 17th, 2012 at 5:54 PM
***PHOTO1*** What better time to assess Brett Lawrie's sophomore season than in the midst of a four-game suspension he is serving for spiking a helmet which bounced directly into an umpire? The circumstances of Lawrie's outburst are a bit mysterious... there has been a lot of speculation that the umpire...

Adam Lind Putting the Final Nails in His Own Coffin
May 15th, 2012 at 3:05 PM
It is truly difficult to be a worse hitter than Adam Lind has been this year.  At .589, Lind is currently tied for the 20th worst OPS in MLB, but his futility really doesn't end there.  His on base percentage of .273 represents a career low, and his power -...

Henderson Alvarez’ Smoke and Mirrors Act Cannot Last Much Longer
May 12th, 2012 at 3:03 PM
Henderson Alvarez entered this season on many a sleeper list to emerge from an oft-forgotten back-end starting pitcher into a potential front-line innings eater with fantastic control and ground ball rates.  You would be forgiven for thinking that Alvarez has delivered thus far given that he has a 2.61 ERA...

Toronto Blue Jays Sign Vladimir Guerrero, but to What End?
May 11th, 2012 at 12:43 PM
Yesterday evening it was announced that the Toronto Blue Jays had signed potential future hall-of-famer Vladimir Guerrero to a minor league deal that will be worth 1.3 million pro-rated to the amount of time he actually spends with the big league club.  It's hard to imagine why Guerrero, a player...

Francisco Cordero: Should John Farrell Keep Letting Him Close?
May 9th, 2012 at 1:23 PM
***PHOTO1*** In case it was not made abundantly clear in last night's 7-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics (a game that entered the bottom of the ninth inning with a 3-2 score that favored the Blue Jays) Francisco Cordero is not a very good pitcher.  That should not be a...

Revising Expectations on Edwin Encarnacion, and is This Sustainable?
May 6th, 2012 at 1:24 PM
Unless you've been living under a rock you are probably familiar with the fact that Edwin Encarnacion has been something of a god-send to Toronto - think of him, perhaps, as 2012's Jose Bautista - who was not expected to be this kind of a contributor.  Encarnacion has always been...

What’s Troubling Jose Bautista, and Will he Be O.K.?
May 4th, 2012 at 5:04 PM
A year after starting the 2011 season on fire with a .366/.532/.780 triple-slash line with nine home runs in March and April, Jose Bautista has - on the surface at least - regressed remarkably to a paltry .172/.310/.323.  It is as if the clock has struck midnight and Jose Bautista...

Brandon Morrow Dilemma Continues as Toronto Blue Jays Head to Face Baltimore Orioles
April 24th, 2012 at 3:15 PM
As we've been documenting here and here Brandon Morrow has begun this season in a way that is very much un-Brandon Morrow like.  His trademark strikeouts have been missing, his swinging strikes have been down, and he's increased his groundball rate by a great deal.  Perhaps most incredible, though, is that the perennially underachieving Morrow is for once outperforming his peripherals to...

Sergio Santos Ailing, Colby Rasmus Surging as Toronto Blue Jays Aim for Third Win Against Kansas City Royals
April 22nd, 2012 at 1:34 PM
Colby Rasmus had himself quite a day in helping Drew Hutchison record his first major league win Saturday, going three for four with two home runs, four RBIs, and three runs scored.  In the process, he raised his average on the year to a respectable .275 and is slugging an...

The Future is Now: Toronto Blue Jays Recall Drew Hutchison
April 20th, 2012 at 3:09 PM
***PHOTO1*** So much for the experiment that was Joel Carreno.  The Toronto Blue Jays have recalled star prospect Drew Hutchison to start for them on Saturday against the Kansas City Royals.  If there is not already a palpable sense of excitement over this announcement, there deserves to be.  Hutchison may...

Is There Something Wrong with Brandon Morrow?
April 19th, 2012 at 1:21 PM
We are 11 games in to the season, an admittedly early point in the year to be making sweeping analytical claims, but there are some very good early reasons to be concerned with Brandon Morrow.  After last night's embarrassing loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, there are some serious causes...

Toronto Blue Jays Week One Assesments: Strikeouts Galore and More
April 13th, 2012 at 1:06 PM
A 4-2 start to the season has no doubt marked a good opening week for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2012, but beneath the surface there are already some unsettling trends developing on offense.  Granted offense has been suppressed league-wide thus far at this early stage in the season, but...