Speaking of insurance for AAA at 2b, I would rather see Diaz return to AAA this year, the earlier, the better.  In spring training he pretty much did everything they wanted him to do as a non-roster invitee.  In 37 AB he went 405/439/489 with no errors in the field.  In ST, as a later inning sub, he batted in 7 runs and scored 9 (second to Travis Snider).  Last year in the minors, including 1 month+ recovering from a horrible car accident, he was 267/381/339 with 6 errors in the field.  Gotay last year was 247/333/347 with 13 errors. Plus Diaz can more than "kinda" play 3rd and short.  But such is life for Diaz, ever the organization man.  He adds value where ever he plays.  I think he would be a good candidate should there be a need to promote to AAA.

It's not surprising. Arce spent almost the entire year in the Gulf Coast League -- the lowest rung of the organizational ladder. It's a bit of a jump from there to the Midwest League.

Thanks Sano for the update.  

I am not aware of Syndergaard missing any time.  If he had worrisome tightness in his arm or shoulder then the Jays would shut him down until it feels better.  My speculation on this matter is that his delivery could be putting stress on his arm or shoulder and the Jays are adjusting his delivery to reduce the stress.  But such an adjustment is usually minor, say from straight over the top to 7/8ths or from 7/8ths to 3/4.

We shall see.  As we go through the season I will ask some front office folks about this.

This is the strongest Blue Jays farm system ever and I expect it will be stronger next year - The FO has really done an excellent job of adding talent to the organisation both at the Major League & Minor league level.I'm especially happy at the conservative approach to promoting players, the player should earn the promotion and not be promoted because of pedigree (see high school prospects from 2007 draft). I'm also impressed by the new development team for the farm system, last year fewer prospects seemed to under-perform and there was even a glint of hope in some of the 2007 HS picks. With some of the 1st wave of talent expected to become ML ready sometime this year, the Jays will be in an excellent position to trade for the type of quality talent many posters wished had occurred this offseason - It will be interesting to see whom the Jays retain and whom they trade - I hope they hold onto D'arnuad & Gose.Man, Am I excited about the coming minor league season!!

Same here. I'm not crazy about the Ottawa idea. If affiliating with the Blue Jays is the only way a team there can survive, then it's probably not a strong enough baseball market to have a team.

Vancouver becoming a AAA affiliate for the Blue Jays doesn't make much sense. It's very desirable for major league teams to have their AAA clubs nearby so that call-ups can be made on short notice. Since they've been affiliated with Las Vegas, the Blue Jays have been forced to play with fewer than 25 players on the roster on several occasions. While direct flights between Toronto and Vancouver are plentiful, travel becomes more complicated when one of the teams goes on the road. For this reason alone, Buffalo or Rochester would be far superior AAA affiliates for the Blue Jays, if an agreement with one of them could be reached.

There are other reasons why AAA baseball is doubtful to return to Vancouver any time soon. The weather in April and May makes short-season ball more practical, and I doubt the local governments would be willing to pony up the cash for a new ballpark with the amount they've had to spend on sports facilities recently.

It would be prohibitively expensive and impractical, given the limited revenue that a minor league baseball team generates.

Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, the Lansing Lugnuts broadcaster, and his new partner Keaton Gillogly have recorded a pre-season podcast. The podcast reviews the roster and gives you background on many players.

You can find the podcast here. Note: I had to click on properties and unblock the file to get it to play.