The second "half" begins, 96 games played, 66 games left. And two weeks and three days to the trade deadline. The Jays play the following teams before the trade deadline: White Sox; Rays: Red Sox: Nationals and Cardinals. Thats two division leaders, the won nine in a row Red Sox, the Cardinals who have the same record as the White Sox, and the one game under 500 Nationals. Thats a total of 16 games. The Jays are 2.5 games out of the wildcard but they have to climb over five teams to get there. So, what record do the Jays need to have over the next 16 games for you to say we are in it to win it? 10-6, 9-7, or is 8-8 good enough?

Well, time for the game that used to be so much fun - players in their team uniforms playing a game against opponents they never saw, now all in special USA themed crap playing guys they played last week.

New Hampshire and Vancouver were winners out of four games. Eddie Micheletti is heating up for New Hampshire. Edward Duran and Mathieu Vallee led Vancouver to their win. Buffalo had a lot of hits, but lost.

Rounds 5-20 of the MLB Draft will begin at 11:30 am Eastern Time today on MLB.com. You can follow the draft right here.

It is tough to win both ends of a doubleheader. On Saturday both Buffalo and Dunedin did just that. Vancouver won with a little league home run and the FCL Jays also won. New Hampshire were the only losers, six wins and just one loss.

The MLB Draft begins today. It will be a while before the Toronto Blue Jays make their first pick. They will not be picking until 39th as the Blue Jays received a 10-pick penalty on their first pick (No. 29) for exceeding the second surcharge threshold of the Competitive Balance Tax. The Jays have a draft bonus pool of $5,543,100 to work with and do not have a second-round pick after signing Dylan Cease as a free agent.

The first four rounds of the draft go today and rounds 5-20 will be held on Sunday. MLB.com, MLB Network and Peacock will have coverage of the MLB Draft beginning at 1:00 pm Eastern Time today. Picks 11-40 will be held from 2:30 to 4:30 pm Eastern according to MLB.com so you can probably tune in before 4:30 pm if you only care about the Jays. You can follow the draft right here.

Baseball America has the Jays taking second baseman Jarren Advincula from Georgia Tech with its first-round pick in its latest mock draft. Jonathan Mayo of MLB Pipeline thinks the Jays will go with outfielder Ty Head from North Carolina State while Jim Callis is predicting that righthander Taylor Rabe from Mississippi will be selected. Kiley McDaniel from ESPN is tabbing catcher Will Brick from Christian Brothers High School in Tennessee will layer in as Toronto's selection.

The affiliates were winless on Friday, three losses and two suspended games in Florida. A few hitters had nice games. Eddie Micheletti homered and drove in three runs for New Hampshire. JR Freethy had three hits and a hand in all three Vancouver runs. And Jay Harry had three hits and a walk.

We head into the all-star break with three games in San Diego. The Jays are 3-3 so far on their west coast trip. The next three will decide whether its a winning trip or a losing one. The Padres are 46-47 and are 3-7 in their last ten games so they are coming in on the colder side. The Jays have a two game, dragon inspired, win streak.

The affiliates found some hits. Victor Arias had five hits, part of a 16 hit outburst by New Hampshire. Dunedin had eleven hits and the FCL Jays had 13. They all won. Vancouver had seven hits and lost. Buffalo were rained out.

Given we are headed towards another draft I figured it might be a good idea to review the past, as we prepare for the future.  Will we see another Yesavage, a Halladay, or an Augie Schmidt? Time will tell.  

Buffalo registered just three hits in their loss, New Hampshire also had three in their game one loss, Vancouver had four in, yep, their loss. The hitting was better in the second New Hampshire game and in Dunedin but New Hampshire had the only win on the night. Dunedin outhit Lakeland but lost by six runs.

Plus comments on Jay Harry, Jasen Coleman and Juan Sanchez.

Anoiher losing Tuesday on the farm, this is a recording. Buffalo and Dunedin were embarrassed and the FCL Jays lost by a run. The only winners were Vancouver and the DSL Blue squad. New Hampshire and the DSL Red squad were rained out.


Victoria, BC native Sam Shaw had plenty of reason to smile after a perfect night at the plate on Tuesday.

The MLB draft begins on this Saturday and concludes on Sunday. The Jays do not have a good position heading into the draft. Their first pick drops by ten positions because the Jays payroll last season exceeded the second threshold of the competitive balance tax. And the Jays lose their second round pick because they signed Dylan Cease (I believe). Finally the Jays do not get a compensation pick for Bo Bichette because they signed Cease.

The Jays limp into San Francisco after Seattle manhandled them over the last two games. They do have a chance at redemption as the Giants are worse than the Jays. The Giants record is 37-52, 21 games out of first place in their division. The Jays are at 42-48, they would have to go 6-0 to reach the all-star break at .500.

Jake Bloss faced the same team for the second time this week and improved from giving up eleven runs to just one. Buffalo won behind him. New Hampshire took an early lead and made it stick. It was Johnny King day in Vancouver and his eight strikeouts and a Sam Shaw home run were enough for the win. Dunedin trailed into the ninth inning when new legend Giaconino Lasaracina turned a loss into a win. In total four wins!