Sturtze isn't too happy, according to the AP report:

"I think my decision this past offseason would have been different if I knew I was only going to get eight or nine starts and then be judged on that."

Reed Johnson is hitting 327/369/446 in 101 AB for Syracuse, and unlike Werth, is content to contribute what he can as a backup. I hope he returns to Toronto, but have heard nothing official.

I would think it would have to be Reed Johnson. If not him, some other outfielder who isn't considered a great prospect.

When Werth was called up, I opined that he would get 4 starts a week - against lefties and occasionally to spell Vernon and Shannon against righties. That didn't happen.

Perhaps they found that, despite his potential, Werth wasn't ready to hit big league pitching on a consistent basis. Cat seems to be holding his own against lefties, so it's better that Werth gets to play everyday in Syracuse.

Mr. Sturtze...

How much money do you make? Let me tell you that a pitcher with your track record shouldn't be guaranteed a starting spot no matter how badly he does in the first 6 weeks of the season.

I wasn't comfortable with Werth being up in the first place. This seems like a good move, esp. if the callup is Johnson. Werth wasn't all that great last year- I'm not sure where the hype about him comes from- but if he's going to be anything more than a boderline 4th OF, he needs one more year in AAA learning the strike zone. Plus it stands to reason he'll only get better in the OF with more regular PT- last year was his first season out there. With the Syracuse OF hitting so poorly, it seems like seeing if Werth could handle CF wouldn't be a bad idea.

I can understand Sturtze being unhappy but hey, too bad. He's not being judged on eight or nine starts this season. He had poor numbers for 33 starts last year and he's even worse this season. He could make an argument that Doug Davis should be bumped but he's had only one bad start, albeit real bad, in his three games.

Tanyon, if you were Greg Maddux or even Derek Lowe, pitchers with a proven track record that have struggled in 2003, you'd still be in the rotation. But the only difference between this year and last is that you're pitching for a better hitting team. Hence, you have three wins.

Dude, you're on pace to give up 274 hits and 46 home runs this season. You just got whupped by the only team in the American League that couldn't whup you last year, because you pitched for them. This is the part where you nod, say that the move to the pen will help you clear your head and work on your mechanics, and be grateful you're not a Durham Bull.

Gotta be Reed Johnson coming north -- no one else in Syarcuse is doing much, and they're not going to bring any of the phenoms up from AA to sit on the bench. Count me among those who didn't see why Werth was up in the first place -- he handled himself relatively well, but he clearly needs more work on his hitting at Syracuse. Giving Johnson a full year at the big-league level will also be inspirational for the other AAAA prospects grinding out a living on the farm.

I'm not sure Johnson is a AAAA prospect yet- he's only 26, and has had some injury troubles. I'd like to see him get as much PT as Werth was getting.

Anyone else notice Ruben Mateo cleared waivers? I think the Jays should've grabbed him- he'd be perfect as the 4th OF, or at least provide Syracuse with some needed sock. There's a couple of people on the 40 man I'd bump for Mateo...Syracuse and New Haevn are pretty much mirror images at this point in terms of hitting performances, so I think by mid season we'll see at least two of the studs there promoted. Hopefully, 1/2 May, June and July are enough time to see if Werth/Johnson are ready to take over a corner in case they want to deal Stewart. Will be an interesting year...

Good, now we have three prospects to follow at Syracuse: Cash, Werth and Arnold, and I am with Robert: Mr. Sturtze you are lucky you have met JP before and have a job.

Is there any cost to putting in a waiver claim, other than having to put the claimed player on your 40 man roster? If that's it, claiming Mateo does sound like it would have been a good idea. Not much risk in picking him up and dropping Wise.

If Stewart is traded at the deadline who gets called up? The prevailing wisdom until today was Werth. If he needs the rest of the season at AAA, then is it Johnson?

As a longtime B. Jay fan out here on the leftcoast I gotta say that moving Werth back down to AAA is the move that had to be made. Werth only had a so so 2002 in the minors. He was no phenom as a Sept. call up and there is nothing so far to indicate that he will ever be an above avg. OF. As long as the Cats back holds up you gotta have him in the line-up and see that he gets his 500 AB's. This guy could end up as the team MVP.
Sturtze, give me a break. JP might know hitting but he is totally off base with ALL of his pitching signings. Ouch! Why was Werth even called up. Ouch. Poor JP judgement I suspect.

Peter:

You're forgetting about Politte, of course, but your point is well taken. And Lidle's a good #3--it's just a shame there's no #2. We'll have to see what the verdict is on Arnold.

Of course, a lot of those good young hitters (Phelps, Wells, and recent minor league fave Rios) are products of the previous administration.

Jurgen-

Peter did say "signings"- Lidle and Politte were both acquired in trades. I think we can agree at this point that a $3 million starter would be a nice thing to have around- minus Doug Creek, Jeff Tam, Sturtze and Jose Cruz, we got ourselves at least a Kenny Rogers.

Richard Griffin weighs in:

In truth, if Tosca had not informed Sturtze of the move to the 'pen on Wednesday night, then perhaps yesterday's starter Davis might, by his miserable outing against Tampa Bay, have pitched himself into consideration.

The key word is "perhaps" -- the Jays don't make personnel decisions based on one game; they believe that two lefty starters give them better matchups than one lefty and a righty who makes the whole league (.893 OPS against) look like all-stars. If Davis, still a pretty nice pickup for a bag of loonies, follows yesterday's disaster with another quality start, he'll be 3-of-4 in Toronto, but if he gets rocked again, J.P. will make further adjustments. Most reports expect one or two rehab starts for Pete Walker in New Haven, followed by a cab ride to the Bronx next week to rejoin the Jays.

FWIW, Reed Johnson didn't play for the SkyChiefs last night. I think the Jays just wanted to scour the waiver wire for an alternative before making his recall official.

I am out of options, so the Blue Jays couldn't just claim me and send me to the minors.

Also, I have never walked, drawing just 204 total walks in over 3650 plate appearances.

Nearly all of us here agreed Werth should be in Syracuse. What was the reason for having him sit on the bench a majority of the time?

Sending Sturtze to the pen was the right decision. You know what you have with him, a 4.50 ERA at his *best*. He should be happy he got a guaranteed contract this offseason. What you don't know is what you have in Hendrickson & Davis. Maybe it's nothing, but the Jays need to find that out.

As I recall, Sturtze said in spring training that the Jays were the only team willing to use him as a starter. All the other teams interested in his services wanted to make him a reliever. He should be thankful that the Jays gave him an opportunity to start at all and may still give him another shot in the rotation.

Allow me to pile on here: if Sturtze wants to guarantee himself a rotation spot, he should try getting his ERA below 6.

It's easy to compare Sturtze to Hendrickson, as their stats are right next to each other in the Jays' USA Today stat page. The two pitchers have virtually identical ERA's, strikeouts, and innings pitched, but:

(a) Hendrickson has walked 10 fewer batters;
(b) Sturtze has allowed two more home runs;
(c) Sturtze has allowed a bunch of unearned runs.

I don't think that either Hendrickson or Davis has much of a future in Toronto, but the Jays owe it to themselves to find out if either of them is going to be good enough to pitch. If both of them fall down on the job, and the Jays are looking for somebody who can regularly go seven innings and give up five runs (four earned), Sturtze will still be there.

According to CBS Sportsline Reed Johnson's been called up.

"Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca said Tanyon Sturtze (P) Tor will set up closer Cliff Politte now that Sturtze is working from the bullpen, according to the Toronto Star."

For the love of christ Carlos why!!!?!?!

Re: Mateo- the guy is 25, but he's been a prospect for so long that's easy to forget. He has good power and decent speed, but a history of nagging injuries. The Reds haven't played him consistently enough to see if there's anything there, and the Jays wouldn't either. Between him and Johnson, I guess I'd rather have Johnson on the ML roster...
I hope Reed Johnson Reloaded gets more PT than the original version, b/c for the week he was up, the Jays looked like they were doing everything they could to keep him from the batter's box.

"Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca said Tanyon Sturtze (P) Tor will set up closer Cliff Politte now that Sturtze is working from the bullpen, according to the Toronto Star."

It could actually work. Many mediocre starters have become useful relievers. For some reason, they tend to add a couple of MPH on the fastball when they go to the pen. Sturtze throws fairly hard - he's a decent candidate to do well in the pen.

Many mediocre starters have become useful relievers.

Case in point: Paul Quantrill.

While he did start his career as a reliever (with the Red Sox -- does anyone remember that?), he was a taterific starter for two years before being unceremoniously returned to the pen. The next thing you know, he's good for 80 appearances and an ERA of 3.00 year in, year out for the next six years (and counting).

The odds are certainly against Sturtze from doing the same, but it's not unprecedented.

I'm leery about pitchers who resent their job. As long as Sturtze is over his disappointment and gives everything he's got to the setup role, this could turn out OK. If not, Pete Walker gets the next audition. Both are better candidates than Aquilino Lopez, who should thrive in lower-pressure appearances.