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I have the minor league rosters and I will post them shortly (I need to see some of todays game first).

There are some highlights:



Zach Stewart is back to New Hampshire

Randy Boone makes the Vegas rotation

Henderson Alvarez starts on the DL

Jon Diaz starts at New Hampshire

McGuire, Jenkins and Wojo in Dunedin

Drew Hutchison will be in Lansing

 

LAS VEGAS

L   Perez, Luis - 26
L   Mills, Brad - 26
R   Richmond, Scott - 31
R   MacDonald, Mike - 29
R   Boone, Randy - 26


R   Abreu, Winston - 33
R   Cordero, Chad - 29
L   Henn, Sean - 30
L   Hinckley, Mike - 28
L   Ledezma, Wilfredo - 29
L   Lewis, Rommie - 28
R   Roenicke, Josh - 28


Budde, Ryan - 31
Jeroloman, Brian - 26

Cooper, David - 24
Romero, Niuman - 26
Woodward, Chris - 34
Lawrie, Brett - 21

Mayorson, Manny - 28

Thames, Eric - 24
Mastroianni, Darin - 25
Loewen, Adam - 27
Perales, Daniel - 26
Lane, Jason - 34


Disabled List
Podsednik, Scott - 35
Shealy, Ryan - 31
Ray, Robert - 27

 

NEW HAMPSHIRE

R   Stewart, Zach - 24
R   LaMura, BJ - 30
R   Carreno, Joel - 24
R   Gonzalez, Ray - 25
L   Collazo, Willie - 31

L   Crawford, Evan - 24
R   Daly, Matt - 24
R   Everts, Clinton - 26
R   Farina, Alan - 24
R   Korecky, Bobby - 31
R   Perkins, Vince - 29
R   Uviedo, Ronald - 24


D'Arnaud, Travis - 22
Gomes, Yan - 23

McDade, Mike - 22
Diaz, Jon - 26
Hechavarria, Adeiny - 22
Sobolewski, Mark - 24
Stansberry, Craig - 29

Tolisano, John - 22


Calderone, Adam - 27
Gose, Anthony  - 20
Sierra, Moises - 22
Nanita, Ricardo - 29


Disabled List
Campbell, Scott - 26
L   Potts, Jared - 25
Crabbe, Callix - 28
Sanchez, Luis - 24
Quintana, Al - 28
Liuzza, Matt - 27

DUNEDIN

R   Jenkins, Chad - 23
R   McGuire, Deck -21
R   Wojciechowski, Asher - 22
R   Beck, Chad - 26
R   Tepera, Ryan - 23
R   Molina, Nestor - 22

R   Beck, Casey - 24
L   Gailey, Frank - 25
R   Garcia, Dumas - 27
R   Etheridge, Wes - 26
L   Wright, Matt - 24
R   Shopshire, Ryan - 25


Jimenez, Antonio - 21
Ochinko, Sean -  23

Talley, Jon - 22
Contreras, Ivan - 24
Goins, Ryan - 23
Ahrens, Kevin - 22
Van Kirk, Brian - 25

Jackson, Justin 22
Nolan, Kevin - 23

Wilson, Kenny - 21
Glenn, Bradley - 24
McElroy, Brad - 25
Hopkins, Chris - 23


Disabled List
Alvarez, Henderson - 21
Anderson, John - 21
Barron, Raul - 25
Schimpf, Ryan - 23
Shoffit, Sean - 25
Liebel, Andrew - 24
McClanahan, Justin - 25

LANSING

R   Hutchison, Drew - 20
R   Diaz, Misaul - 21
R   Webb, Daniel - 21
L   Smith, Egan - 22
R   Lawrence, Casey - 23

R   Barnes, Daniel - 21
R   Gracey, Scott - 24
R   Marze, Dayton - 22
L   Pepe, Alex - 24
R   Permison, Drew - 22
L   Strickland, Sam - 23
R   Turnbull, Steven - 24


Perez, Carlos - 20
Murphy, Jack - 23
Bowen, Joseph - 23

Hobson, KC - 20
Pena, Garis - 19
Pierre, Gustavo - 19
Namba, Bryson - 20

Dominguez, Oliver - 22
Fuenmayor, Balbino - 21

Knecht, Marcus - 20
Marisnick, Jacob - 20
Crouse, Michael - 20
Brisker, Markus - 20


Disabled List
Antolin, Dustin - 20
Fields, Matt - 24
Nolin, Sean - 21
Durham, Lance - 23
Loup, Aaron - 23
Slover, Brian - 22
Walden, Marcus - 21

Full depth chart is here.   I don't have details on who is in extended spring training yet.

Among the missing players are:

Leonard Davis
Jesus Merchan
Ryan Page
Russ Buckwalter
Vincent Bongiovanni
Brian Stokes

Other than Page, all of those players were minor league free agents added by the Jays over the last few years.

Thursday is opening day!

 

Minor League Rosters | 35 comments | Create New Account
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whiterasta80 - Saturday, April 02 2011 @ 02:28 PM EDT (#232018) #

Starting Stewart at AA would seem to confirm that the Jays have no intention of letting their premium arms see the light of Vegas (if that wasn't clear before).  I can't think of another reason for him to be back in AA.

ramone - Saturday, April 02 2011 @ 03:00 PM EDT (#232019) #
Thanks Gerry, any idea what's wrong with Alvarez?
wacker - Saturday, April 02 2011 @ 03:50 PM EDT (#232020) #
Where's Eric eiland?
Mike Green - Saturday, April 02 2011 @ 04:09 PM EDT (#232024) #
I wonder what position(s) Tolisano is going to play in NH. They seem to have a regular infield. He could be a super-utility player.
Matthew E - Saturday, April 02 2011 @ 04:42 PM EDT (#232028) #
Oh, Uviedo's still in the organization. I wasn't sure. Good.
mamboon - Saturday, April 02 2011 @ 05:31 PM EDT (#232029) #

Gerry, Thanks for the good work. If it's worth reporting, Bauxites usually see it first!

BTW, I believe Jesus Merchan landed with the New Orleans Zephyrs (AAA-PCL) in the Florida Marlins Organization.  He shows up in some reported spring training games for N.O. and is on the MILB site as Active status for N.O. as a shortstop.

I also heard that Bongiovanni was released.

Interesting to see that the Adeiny Hechavarria - Jonathan Diaz double (and triple) play machine is still in tact in NH.  Add the newly svelte "man mountain" Mike McDade  (this year's Defence Player of the Year in the Blue Jays Org), and we're in for some great D from the NH infield.  Diaz earned the organization's defence honors last year.

raptorsaddict - Saturday, April 02 2011 @ 05:31 PM EDT (#232030) #
Not saying anyone should do it, but it would be good to know what type of injury guys have, and when they got it, expected return time, etc.

Thanks for the info.

Bankertuck - Saturday, April 02 2011 @ 07:02 PM EDT (#232034) #
Is it me or does there seem to be an inordinate number of players on the DL?
TamRa - Saturday, April 02 2011 @ 07:42 PM EDT (#232035) #
there's an inordinate number of those marginal players period. if all those guys were healthy a lot of them would be on the street looking for a job.

Just glancing over this group it looks to me like there's a heck of a lot of room for pitchers to be promoted, while most hitters will likely stay where they are all year.

Also, 1B at Dunedin looks awfully weak. Are they trying Van Kirk at 1B? I assume that Talley is ticketed for a 1B/DH role.

I still muse that when Durham is activated it's the obvious place for him.

Gerry - Saturday, April 02 2011 @ 09:34 PM EDT (#232036) #

I have reached out to try and find out what is wrong with Alvarez.  I get limited time with the coaching staff and it's not worthwhile to do a laundry list of injuries.  Remember that there is probably at least one hitter, and one pitcher, on each roster with no real injury.  They are there to be available in case an active player gets injured.

I would guess that some more players will get demoted and/or released over the first month as guys get healthy.  Just think what could happen if Francisco, Morrow and Dotel come off the DL in the next week or two.  Three current major league pitchers will have to go to AAA.  AAA will have to move 3 pitchers down or out, so there are still moves to be made.

 

Gerry - Saturday, April 02 2011 @ 09:46 PM EDT (#232037) #

In general the starting pitchers are younger than the relievers, who are often former starters.  I see that New Hampshire has two 30 plus year old starters.  When Alvarez comes back, and if a major league starter goes down, a guy like Randy Boone might go down to AA and one of the 30 year olds might be moved.

As was mentioned, Lansing could put out nine position players aged 20 or younger.  That is low for the Midwest League.

In addition to Zach Stewart being surprised by his AA posting, Alan Farina is also likely disappointed by his assignment to AA.

Evan Crawford has moved quickly to AA.  Some of you may have seen him recording five outs against Tampa in the last spring training game.  Crawford looks to have good LOOGY potential.

Gerry - Saturday, April 02 2011 @ 09:54 PM EDT (#232038) #

I just went back and checked my pre-spring training forecasts of where starting players will start and I did a pretty good job.

I got the catchers and first basemen right.  At third base I didn't think that Sobolewski would make it to AA but I did say that something needed to be done to get playing time for Sobo and Ahrens.  I also thought Matt Nuzzo would be in Lansing, but the spot went to Bryson Namba.

In the middle infield I pretty much got them right other than Gari Pena who got the Lansing 2B job.

I had thought Anthony Gose would go back to Dunedin but I did say that a good spring could see him in AA.

I did not see Randy Boone in AAA but I think he is there because of injuries.  I also thought Aaron Sanchez would be in Lansing but I did get the rest mostly correct.

92-93 - Saturday, April 02 2011 @ 10:15 PM EDT (#232040) #
I would have liked to see Gose excel at Dunedin first before sending him to New Hampshire, but I guess the Jays FO decided they saw enough in the 27g last year and in ST this year to accelerate. I just don't see the sense in doing that with a career .260/.326/.372 hitter who is 20.
dan gordon - Sunday, April 03 2011 @ 12:05 AM EDT (#232042) #

I'm very, very surprised that Stewart is going to New Hampshire.  If they really don't want their top pitching prospects to go to LV, what are they going to do when they've got Alvarez, McGuire, Jenkins, Sanchez, Wojciechowski, Hutchison, Diaz, and others ready to move up from AA in the next couple of years?  Sure, it's a tough pitching environment, but they have to be able to use their AAA team for starting pitching prospects or things are going to get seriously backed up. 

 A pitcher has to be able to deal with adversity.  If a guy can't handle pitching in LV, what's he going to do in NY or Boston with 40,000 leather-lungs yelling insults at him about his ancestors?  It's not like they'd be pitching in some softball league diamond with a 250 foot fence.  What does it add to a team's offense, a run and a half a game?  Two?  Crazy.  Farina should be there, too.  Some of the Lansing pitchers could be in Dunedin, too.  I think they need to clear out some of the non-prospects and make a bit more room.  Especially when some of the injured return.

Thanks for providing the lists - great stuff!!

ComebyDeanChance - Sunday, April 03 2011 @ 12:31 AM EDT (#232043) #
A pitcher has to be able to deal with adversity. If a guy can't handle pitching in LV

I suspect it has less to do with pitchers handling adversity than it does giving the club an ability to assess. When everything lifted in the air hits the seats, when guys like McCoy, Hoffpauer, J-F Griffen look like studs, it's not really an environment to assess performance. It's not as simple as subtracting a couple of runs from era. I tend to think the club has a fair idea about what it's doing.
ComebyDeanChance - Sunday, April 03 2011 @ 12:38 AM EDT (#232044) #
I guess the Jays FO decided they saw enough in the 27g last year and in ST this year to accelerate.

Justin Mashore was the hitting coach last year in Dunedin and they may feel Gose worked well with him. Mashore has been promoted to NH.
Doom Service - Sunday, April 03 2011 @ 12:42 AM EDT (#232045) #
I also think a better pipeline of talent - and perhaps a better major league reputation - could help get them a more favourable AAA affiliate. They're only committed to Las Vegas through 2012. Avoiding Las Vegas might be an issue for some of the top prospects, but may not affect the guys in the lower leagues.
Lugnut Fan - Sunday, April 03 2011 @ 02:03 AM EDT (#232046) #
18 of 25 players repeating Lansing this year....Ummmm, can't say I have ever seen that before.  Hopeuflly there are promotions shortly.
TamRa - Sunday, April 03 2011 @ 04:01 AM EDT (#232047) #
It's a sound observation by Gerry that activation of injured players (the quality folks, not the Al Quintana's of the world) well make a big impact.

It will be fascinating to see how the Jays manage to get three more pitchers onto their roster. if they hoard Reyes they either have to demote Drabek (increasingly harder to do) or send him to the pen (assuming Litsch pitches well). how do you take three guys out of that pen? probably Purcey and Villinueva just because they have options, but who else? Janssen? I hope not.

But that means that 3 of the filler types in Vegas have to go, to the DL or to AA or to the street. Bobby Ray would likely put similar pressure on MacDonald. if they try to hoard those guys then the pressure flows down to the marginal guys in AA. Someone mentioned Farina being worthy of Vegas and that's true, but it probably pays to thin out all the filler and then find a place for him in AA later.

Sometimes the impact is minimal - we lose nothing of importance if Ray bumps MacDonald, or Alvarez bumps Collazo...but that's what those guys are there for - placeholders. there's plenty of room for movement among the starting pitchers, and even relievers though fewer relievers are important enough to take note of.

On the hitting side, there are likely to be a lot fewer promotions. There's room for any of the Lansing guys to move up to Dunedin, 2 of the 3 starting outfielders there are afterthoughts.  If we assume Lawrie is promoted at some point that opens up the potential for third basemen to be promoted (though who knows if they will earn it) - but most of the other hitters are probably on the team they will be on all year. So having a guy like Adam Calderone hanging around isn't a detriment to the organization - it keeps them from having to promote a guy before he's ready.

Personally, looking in from the outside, i like some of my placement better than what we seen here - but i also realize that they have much better information (and better baseball minds) than i do.

I'd have had Stewart and Farina in Vegas, Jenkins in NH, and Durham in Dunedin (though he might yet end up there) but on the whole these are TINY considerations..

----------------------------------


Firing off Gerry's comp of predictions vs. actual rosters, I went back and looked at the projected rosters i posted seven weeks ago and, laying aside unpredictable injuries, here's are the major differences:

*Drabek and Reyes in the majors, albeit one of these is oweing to Morrow's stint on the DL; Ditto Villianueva

*I got the Vegas staff wrong to the extent that guys who are mentioned in the last point are not in fact in Vegas, but I got all the significant hitters right. I never heard of this Romero guy, and Davis is MIA - all the other differences are injury related.

*In NH I got some of the filler wrong on the pitching staff, and was wrong about Farina (i had him in AAA) and Crawford; Among the hitters, I was perfect save for the effects of injuries, and the presence of the since released Conception Rodriguez). I was always a believer that it made Sense to leap Sobo over Ahrens due to relative age.

*I thought they would mimic what they did last year with Jenkins when it came to McGuire and Woj, so I totally missed on the Dunedin rotation - though i also have said i expected Jenkins to get an early promotion to NH which would in turn lead to McGuire and Woj coming on around the same time. Again, the hitters were pretty easy to predict but it remains to be seen if I was prophetic regarding Durham or not.

The Lansing rotation is absent the two guys who surprised me by being in Dunedin, but I have 4 of the five spots right anyway - I didn't see Diaz being the guy who rounded it out. Dumb luck that I got the pen mostly right (and i wasn't aware then that Antolin wouldn't be close to ready to start the year) as most of those guys are of little importance. The most obvious discrepency in the lineup is that I'd plugged in Kevin Nolan as the placeholder at 3B.

All in all though, i'm pretty pleased. although I can easily admit that most of those placements were bleedingly obvious.

 -----------------------------------
In retrospect, a lot of the first section above largely repeats what Gerry said but, eh, whatever.


sam - Sunday, April 03 2011 @ 08:16 AM EDT (#232050) #
The draft is two months away. Any information from sources about what we can expect from the Jays? Will we see the Jays spend like last year? Any links to specific players?

Also, it appears as though this is a strong year in Latin America. What should we expect from that market?

I hope the Jays continue to invest in both these streams of talent. Do they intend on spending $10 million plus again on the draft?
joeblow - Sunday, April 03 2011 @ 12:32 PM EDT (#232063) #
Is Las Vegas too far west to be closely monitored? If so, they should get out. Even from a marketing point of view, it's hard to build excitement about a minor league team so far from its parent's market.

That AAA pitching staff looks quite weak.
TheBunk - Sunday, April 03 2011 @ 01:49 PM EDT (#232068) #
By my count there's only four returning regulars on Lansing this year(Egan Smith, Balbino Fuenmayor, Scott Gracey, Steve Turnbull)

There's a lot of guys who received late season promotions to Lansing but only got their feet wet. Looks like a pretty new looking roster to me and incredibly exciting. I imagine the offense is on the short list for most exciting in the minors.
Kelekin - Sunday, April 03 2011 @ 04:46 PM EDT (#232069) #
Ugh.  I'm definitely in the "Why do they need to avoid putting talented pitchers at AAA?" boat.  Yes, I understand the park is really bad for pitchers, but the level of talent in AAA is still way higher than AA.  I don't believe Stewart is going to become a better pitcher by facing the same level of talent he's been facing for a year and a half, I think he's going to get better by being in a tough hitter's park facing tougher hitters.

Niuman Romero - I'm assuming he's there temporarily until McCoy is inevitably back in AAA.  I was hoping Diaz would get this spot, but it sounds like they already think Diaz has ML-ready defense and they'd like him to continue working with Hech. 

The AAA offense looks exciting.  I'm not used to seeing prospects or, at the very least, guys that are close to and could make it.  No more Kevin Barker.  Jeroloman deserves to be an MLB backup catcher in his career, Cooper will be at 1B, Lawrie at 3B, and our beautiful outfield of Thames/Mastro/Loewen.  Everyone seems to think Loewen has made strides with his AFL performance, and Mastro in my opinion is likely to be as good as Rajai Davis at a bare minimum.

Congrats to Boone for being in AAA for now.  He's not going to have some long major league career but the guy at least deserved to be in AAA on statistical merit.  I rather see him pitch than Reidier Gonzalez. 

Re: Morrow/Dotel/Francisco returns, I think it's likely that one of Janssen and Villanueva get sent down, but I also think Rzep could get sent down.  They now know he works in the bullpen, but they might feel they need to stretch him out in AAA.

AA looks like a lot of fun - not as fun as last year due to some well-deserved promotions, but a lot of young kids being challenged with the promotion there.  I expect a lot of offensive struggles there this year but we can hope for the best.  Also, I know they're going to be making Tolisano a "super utility player", but I hope that involves them rotating him into 3B a fair amount as Tolisano needs extra at bats this year.

Hi-A looks extremely boring on the hitting front - although I'm glad to see Talley being given the opportunity for every day at bats (one would hope).  I'm excited to see how Ahrens does this year.  But that rotation is exciting on a prospect basis.  Jenkins, McGuire, and Wojo...it'll be a lot of fun to watch.  I'm glad the Jays didn't feel the need to send any to Lansing.  Also...Frank Gailey in Dunedin again? Seriously?  The guy can't catch a break.

Not much to say about Lansing.. a fair amount of excitement mixed in with some mediocrity.  I'm not happy that Sweeney won't be seeing a full season gig over someone like Namba who just has absolutely terrible numbers.  Same goes for Fermin not being the 2B over Gari Pena.  What's going on there?
wacker - Sunday, April 03 2011 @ 05:43 PM EDT (#232071) #
Hi-A I may be alone I my thinking but I think this team has alot of potential from a a hitters standpoint. Jeminez did alright last year along with ochinko and Glenn brings alot of power. And I echo kelekin's thoughts on talley. Now that they decided on a position for him and allow him to get everyday at bats, hopefully he'll return to the hitter we all saw in 2008. Ahrens made strides last year hopefully it carries over. If they can get the speed guys on ie Wilson, etc., there's the chance for alot of runs to be scored.
Waveburner - Sunday, April 03 2011 @ 06:23 PM EDT (#232074) #

That is probably the most exciting Jays AAA lineup I have seen since I started following prospects maybe ten years ago. Lawrie and Thames I think are both legit and Cooper may even finally be salvaging his career.  Plus other guys like Mastroianni, Loewen, Jeroloman. The recent success the Jays have had with young pitchers (Romero, Cecil, Morrow, Drabek, etc) leads me to believe they know what they are doing with keeping a guy like Stewart out of Vegas. I'll trust in that because clearly Stewart has nothing to prove at AA, not that he can't work on things there.

Other than that not many surpises from what I had figured. Only real shocks to me were Tolisano at AA, Wojciechowski at Hi-A (Jenkins started at Lansing, I guess they view Wojo as more advanced), Nestor Molina starting at Hi-A (assuming that is the case?), Gailey stuck in Hi-A yet again, Goins over Jackson as starting SS (my how Justin has fallen, even his glove doesn't seem highly regarded anymore), the Lansing infielders Pena and Namba, Turnbull repeating A and Eiland not listed anywhere.  

 

dan gordon - Monday, April 04 2011 @ 01:08 AM EDT (#232090) #

I suspect it has less to do with pitchers handling adversity than it does giving the club an ability to assess

Well, if the club knows what it is doing, as you suggest, than certainly they would be able to assess a pitcher's performance in LV.  Also, it's not a matter of everything "lifted in the air hitting the seats" - the effect is mainly on batting average.  Home runs at LV are pretty well earned.  The infield is rock hard and a lot of balls go through that would be caught elsewhere.  The thinner air means flys travel faster and are more likely to fall in. I'm sure the organization is aware of this kind of thing and they would make the appropriate allowances in evaluating their players.  It seems much more likely that the reason for Stewart being sent to AA is to avoid exposing him to that environment.  They obviously know him better than we do, and maybe they think it might affect the way he pitches.  I still think he should be in AAA to provide a better challenge, and I think it would be demoralizing to remain at the same level after such a good season and training camp. 

rfan8 - Monday, April 04 2011 @ 09:34 AM EDT (#232093) #

Re: Stewart

There could be other factors involved of which we are not aware.

1. Maybe they just want to keep him with the same pitching coach since he was progressing last year?  Not sure if the staff changed.

2. isn't it difficult to throw a good curve in LV?  Maybe they'd prefer he work on that in NH where they won't all be sitters.

bpoz - Monday, April 04 2011 @ 01:13 PM EDT (#232113) #
Janssen, Litsch, Cecil, Zep & maybe Mills & D Bush made it to the Majors after 1 full season in the minors roughly. Maybe the Jays see something in that type of pick being safe. D McGuire may be looked at in that way. However the above pitchers were not picked as high as #11 and signed for less $.
uglyone - Monday, April 04 2011 @ 01:18 PM EDT (#232116) #
Haven't read through all the comments, so I may be repeating someone - but the decisions to send Stewart and Farina down to AA are proof positive to me (after the Drabek clue last year) that Anthopoulous simply has no interest in putting his top pitching prospects in Vegas at all.

which makes plenty of sense to me, IMO.

that is clearly not the best pitching staff we could have fielded in AAA this year, and I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see our top pitching prospects frequently skipping AAA entirely as long as we're in Vegas.
#2JBrumfield - Monday, April 04 2011 @ 03:14 PM EDT (#232128) #
I'm surprised the Jays don't try to use a humidor in Las Vegas which has worked to some extent at Coors Field.  Regardless, it would be nice to see the Jays put together a winning club at AAA so they can wind up with a more desirable location after 2012.
Gerry - Monday, April 04 2011 @ 07:47 PM EDT (#232139) #

I got some more information......

Henderson Alvarez should be back within a couple of weeks.

I was told Zach Stewart is in AA because "that's the best place for his development".

I wasn't getting any more than that comment so it is up for interpretation.  The obvious interpretation, as people here have noted, is that they think Las Vegas is bad for his development.

mendocino - Tuesday, April 05 2011 @ 06:25 PM EDT (#232181) #
Gerry - Thursday, April 07 2011 @ 04:49 PM EDT (#232316) #
Brandon Morrow; Frank Francisco; and Corey Patterson are all listed on the Dunedin roster and presumably will play today or tomorrow.
cybercavalier - Thursday, April 07 2011 @ 09:45 PM EDT (#232333) #
IMO, if the reasoning to keep both Drabek during last season and Stewart this season in AA is sound, would sending Luis Perez and Randy Boone in AA be also good? LaMura and Collazo would spend more time in AAA; they are in 30s anyway. At least Perez and Boone are younger.
Thomas - Friday, April 08 2011 @ 02:25 AM EDT (#232353) #
It would get a bit impractical to always have the club's 5 least highly-regarded pitching prospects at Vegas and the better prospects always at New Hampshire (although I take your point that a simple switch of Collazzo and Perez might make sense). However, the Jays haven't shown signs that they want to keep all of their highly-regarded pitching prospects away from Vegas, just the elite ones. Drabek and Stewart have/look likely to avoid Triple-A, but Ray and Perez are pitching there now and Rzepczynski pitched there last year.

It might be that the Jays just view Drabek and Stewart as a cut above the rest and that it's worth keeping them out of that environment. Or maybe it's the particular type of pitchers they are and the skills the team is looking for the pitchers to develop that make New Hampshire a more appealing environment. I wonder if this strategy was influenced by what happened to Rzepczynski last year, where he spent about 3 months in Vegas and came up to the majors and had about 5 mediocre to poor starts before finishing the year off strong. I know he had an injury last year that could have played a role, but perhaps the front office saw him develop certain habits there that they didn't like and don't want to see duplicated.
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