I think I can hear Juan Perez warming up in the bullpen already.

• Hands up, those of you who predicted that Brett Cecil would be in the all-star game this year. Baseball is unpredictable.
• I don't see why the Jays are experimenting with Lawrie at second. He's a great defensive third baseman. Maybe Izturis prefers to play third when he's in the lineup, and because he's actually hitting and stuff, what he wants gets priority.
• I think The Tao Of Stieb called Lawrie's situation perfectly: he's trying to attack the game of baseball, and it can't be played that way. Lawrie in a batter's box reminds me of the description of Billy Beane there - it was a cage that crushed his spirit. I wonder whether Lawrie would have been better off playing football - I can see him drinking five cans of Red Bull and then going out and crushing a defensive safety.
• I think I have finally figured out Adam Lind. I knew that he was going to struggle the minute I heard that he had to miss a game with back problems. He's the hitting equivalent of Steve Karsay, for those who remember him: he's good when he's healthy, but not often healthy. Lind hit like gangbusters in the spring because, for once, all of his parts were working.
• I find it hard to blame AA for this season, despite it all. When (a) you trade for three starting pitchers, and (b) your team's glaring weakness is starting pitching, there's not much else you can do, other than maybe trade for six starting pitchers.
  
• The way things are going, Josh Johnson might wind up with the Jays in 2014 after all - as a non-roster invitee.
  

Pat: Carlos Marmol has had some big strikeout seasons.
Buck: Yep. His high was 65 in 74 innings in 2009.

Buck read the walks column, not the strikeout column. No crime in making a mistake, but you'd think the unimpressiveness of 65 would have raised a red flag.

Marmol's career high is 138, a 16.0 K/9 rate.

Nick Delmonico strikes me as a pretty good return for two and a half months of Francisco Rodriguez.

If the Jays could get a prospect equal to Delmonico for what's left of Darren Oliver, I'd take that without hesitation (not that I think that's necessarily possible). Delmonico has questions defensively, but he's a potential power bat, particularly if he can stick at 3B. He was rated this offseason as Baltimore's 4th best prospect by Baseball America. To me, that's quite good value for two and a half months of a reliever.

I know the calculation may be different if the Jays were considering dealing Delabar or Cecil or Loup with their several years of team control. I also understand that the Jays probably aren't interested in an A-ball 3B who is 2 years away from the majors, at least, if he makes it. However, I'd rather gather assets for Oliver and possibly Janssen and Juan Perez and sort the rest out later.

• Started 13-0 and everyone thought 'wow'.
• Then from May 3rd to May 19th they lost every game, a 12 game losing streak.
• By June 4th they also had a 6 game losing streak followed immediately by a 6 game winning streak.

• Brett Lawrie is central to this club's future and Darren Oliver is not.  Lawrie looked much, much better at the plate last night.  He wasn't as nervous, and looked under much better control.  I consider that to be a very good sign and much more important than the result of last night's game.
• Mark DeRosa can no longer play third base
• Adam Lind's striding-to-the-plate music is tolerable the first time, but becomes progressively more irritating as the game goes on.  He has to be limited to 3 plate appearances per game, if for no other reason.
• The bullpen is not in sync, and it is not because of a shortage of players.  They need a long man.  Perez is capable of filling the role.  He didn't pitch in a natural long man situation on Monday night because he had pitched the day before, with the result that Gibbons had gone through his high leverage guys in a blowout loss.  Ahead 8-3 last night, it would have been natural to bring in Perez to see if you can spare the high leverage guys.  Gibbons didn't - Cecil didn't have his control, McGowan was hit pretty hard and Oliver was hit even harder.  
• The club played with intensity the whole game; it was not a hard game to watch unless the result of the game was the key point.  

I still like the core of this club- Rasmus (I had no idea that he would be a core player at the outset of the season but he is), Encarnacion, Bautista, Lawrie and Reyes. I'd be looking for a defensive specialist to play shortstop with the intention of moving Reyes to second in the off-season.  I'd also be looking for a first baseman who can play the position.  I actually think the club's pitching will be fine if you put a good defence behind them. Strangely, Josh Johnson's poor season may result in him being back in 2014, with the club putting in a qualifying offer.