Mark me down for 14.

Heh, I counted the roster and also got 14.

So I'll say 13.

For the record, I'm saying 11:

Batista
Bush
Frasor
Halladay
Lilly
Zaun
Hinske
Hudson
Johnson
Rios
Phelps

And no Tosca.

15 for me. I got Tosca still around too.

Vivica A Fox just threw out the first pitch, and Vernon Wells came off the Dl to catch it.

She'd make me feel well, too.

And interesting prediction Jordan. Many obvious ones. Some not so obvious like KLigt gone, Cash gone (and not Zaun). One that surprises me is the lack of Chulk. Does he get traded? Or won't he be good enough for the 'pen of '05?

A fun contest would be to guess who will be on the Jays 25 man on opening day. Maybe I'll run that one after the All-Star game.

Nice first inning for Miguel. Get him an early lead-Lackey'll be wild today, just a hunch.

Doc, I've never managed to shake my worries about Chulk. His numbers stopped being interesting after Double-A, and even in Syracuse, where he was exclusively a reliever and presumably had a faster fastball, he still didn't have the ratios you want to see for a short reliever. I think the league is going to start figuring him out any day now -- they may already have begun that process on Friday -- and that his current run of good outings won't last much longer. But I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

Also, although I doubt he'll be back next year, I'd still like to see Speier kept on. I maintain that he has the best stuff and the best record of any of the off-season bullpen acquisitions, and that he should be given another chance next season, healthy and adjusted to a new league.

I agree about Speier-he'll pick it up.

Doesn't it seem like some hitters display good patience on 0-2, 1-2, and 2-2 counts only to swing at a bad 3-2 pitch? It's like they say "OK, the pitcher HAS to throw a strike now, so I have to swing." Hinske did it there, and I've seen Hudson and Johnson do it recently as well. Cuzzi's behind the plate as well.

I'd have Chulk on my list, perhaps as a long man, not a setup man, and Menechino or Gomez could return if they agree to the local pay scale. They might still have Cash and Zaun, with Q's bat standing by, so I'll guess 14.

Who would replace Tosca? If there's someone better available who really wants the job, that's one thing, but I'm against change for the sake of change. Everyone on the current staff helped hold the club together through this season's adversity, and they sure did a great job last year, so I'm hoping they all get extensions.

I think the turnover ratio will be right around 50%: 13 stay, 12 leave.

Big swing for the Jays and the Walrus! Carlos ties it up.

Sure is nice to have Delgado back. Ties the game 1-1 in the 2nd.

Hmmmm

Little ball sacrifice bunt for Rios...

And it works because Gomez brings him in.

Well the little ball paid off, although we aren't to know what would have happened without it. Looks okay though.

Going, Gomez, Zaun! 2-1 good guys. You play for one run, you usually get one run, but sometimes that's exactly what you need.

*buries head in hands*

Sparky just turned a single into a triple

Yeah, Reed hasn't been burned by the turf often, but he'd like that one back. Then he almost atoned for it with a spectacular effort and near-catch.

Tough luck for Batista, who did a nice job to get Vlad and keep it tied.

The strike 3 to Hudson and strike 1 to Delgado were pretty poor calls. Hinske keeps mashin' with another double.

Wow, not sure I've ever seen a thrown bat almost hit the pitcher. Delgado clearly wasn't looking for the heater.

http://www.bluejayway.ca
15

Ouch.

Rare defensive miscues by two normally solid defensive infielders.

Come on Miggy!!

LOL, Molina is sooo slow. Hudson sidestepped a sliding Erstad and still had Molina by a good 3 steps. Smart play by Hudson knowing who's running.

Ugh, Lackey goes 3-0 on both Zaun and Rios and gets them both. I wonder what the OBP for hitters in 3-0 counts is? It's gotta be pretty high.

Ouch! Hudson's gold glove has a hole in it.

Ouch.. Hudson ought to return that glove to the junkyard he got it at. Just shows that anyone can have a bad day.

The Angels just keep on coming, punishing errors and giving themselves chances. I fear that playing the Yankees will be like this (in some respects; not in terms of speed on the bases). How do you think we'll play against them? 8-11 would be a good result I think.

What did JP tell Tabler about Rios a few minutes ago? I was on the phone and I missed it.

Ack-terrible 0-2 pitch to Molina.

I don't have the radio feed Moffatt so I can't tell you, sorry.

I believe that's the third 0-2 RBI base hit for the Angels today.

At least for today it would seem that Batista isn't so good when ahead in the count and the Jays hitters aren't doing so well when they get ahead in the count as well.



Yet another game where, midway through atleast, it felt the Jays would have a VERY good chance of winning. Seems like Cy Lackey is just too much.

JP said Rios will play full time when everyone comes back. Rios RF, Wells CF, Johnson and Cat split left. He also said that Gross will be up to see what he can do.

I don't have the radio feed Moffatt so I can't tell you, sorry.

It was on the TV feed, but no worries. I got my answer. Thanks NDG!

JP alson mentioned that Zach Jackson is close to signing, but snickered about Purcey. He still expects to sign Purcey but the way he said it made it sound like they are pretty far apart.

We just can't compete with Anaheim. Their hitting is just superior to ours. All but one batter in their lineup boasts a .290 avg, and 6 have an OBP of >.350. Yikes.

Not on my tv feed. I've got the awful away stuff on mlb.tv. I don't know who the colour man is but he is excrutiating.

Good to hear about Rios staying in. That's a strong outfield, when it gets together.

Yes, the third 0-2 hit (Erstad, Figgins, Molina) - Miguel has only gone to ball three on one batter (full count to Guerreroh in the 2nd), but the defense really hasn't given much help todayh

Darn.

In comes the Anaheim bullpen. I was really hoping that the Jays would get to Lackey.

It won't be easy, but I still have a gut feeling that the Jays can come back in this one.

I hear ya Andrew. It's Rex Hudler, ex-Angel. It's his voice that's annoying more than anything else. That and a tad of homerism, but take that away and he actually makes some intelligent comments. But not enough to make it easy to listen to. MLB.TV has way too many away feeds for us Jays fans.

Hey-a bullpen stranded runners. I hope the Jays bullpen is taking notes.

Yeah, it's his voice really. He tries too hard to be exciting and comes across as a half-wit. Some of his comments have been very good, the sort of thing you get from an ex-player. Some are inane, talking for the sake of talking.

Mind you, the choice is these usually-poor away feeds or Faulds! If I could synchronise the video feed with one of the radio stations I'd do that but it never stays in sync even when it starts in sync.

A bit off-topic, but whatever...

I'm sure this has been discussed, but did anyone else catch the Cheer Club on the Conan O'Brien show?

They showed the O-Drum, and someone wearing a black Jays jersey jumping up and down. The reason it was on Conan was because the Jays asked to use Conan's CN Tower and Seattle SkyNeedle.

Anyone else see this?

RALLY CAP TIME!!!

Dave, here's a screenshot of the Cheer Club appearance on Conan.

Tough game. Beaten by a manifestly better team.

At least Tampa Bay and Baltimore are losing.

Andrew, what makes these losses worse is the fact that while watching the game, it felt like the Jays had a fairly good shot at winning in all 3 of them.

I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Sums up the first half of the season entirely. Just when it seems they were making up some ground, or coming around and getting back to 500... this happens.

Oh well, here's hoping that the team comes back inspired after the long layoff. Who knows, it could possibly work wonders for guys who normally aren't used to playing as much as they've had to this season (Berg, Clark, heck even Reed)

Coming off a sweep with their three top starters lined up for the series I really thought they had a good shot at going into the break just 6 games under .500 and maybe even just 4. The good news is that there should be a Cat in left the next time they play. Does anyone know when Miller's likely to be back?

Beaten by a manifestly better team.

This week, it's hard to disagree. Actually, they're similar teams; the return of Catalanotto and Wells will pretty much close the offensive gap, and while you have to admire their bullpen, I like our rotation better. This still-depleted Jays lineup would also find it hard to match runs with the Yankees, but at full strength, we'll see plenty of exciting games in the second half.

Any word on when Wells is expected back?

Are the conspiracy theorists still out there, you know, the ones who think the Jays are trying to hide a possible achilles injury to Wells, and not the calf muscle injury they have claimed?

Any developments?

Wells is expected back during the Texas series (right out of the break).

The latest word on Vernon is very encouraging. As A says, there are rumblings, though no confirmation yet, that he might be able to play as soon as next weekend. I don't know about conspiracy theories, but Will Carroll's sources disagreed with the club's official statements, and it now seems that wherever it originated, that worst-case scenario may have been exaggerated.

Wells probably needs a rehab assignment -- I think it would be wonderful if he's back with the Jays in time for the 11-game stretch against divisional rivals, beginning July 21.

I'm not sure I agree, Coach, that the Jays and Angels are roughly similar teams at full strength. Almost all the Angels starting 9 are hitting at .300 or very nearly there (and OBPs roughly to match). We surely wouldn't have expected Sparky, Woody, Hudson, Cash, Phelps to hit at .300 even in an ideal world. I agree that Wells and Delgado match Guillen and Vladdy but the rest of their lineup looks better, man for man.

From the current roster, I actually counted 17 likely returnees, but I will reduce it to 15, because you need to drop a couple off, just due to likely injuries or a lousy spring training, or ...

One key reason why this list cannot be as low as Jordan's 11 is that Syracuse is such a lousy place to find new players right now (Gross and Peterson are likely it, unless Q. has a barn-burner second half).

A second reason is that the money freed up by Delgado will have to be spent on finding an expensive first baseman and another expensive starter, if the team is even to begin the year with hope. That won't leave much money for many additional second-tier players.

Any team that hoped to contend in the American League East, heck in any division, would only bring back Halladay, Frasor, Bush, Chulk and maybe Batista, based on this year's performance. By contrast, the Jays also will have to contemplate bringing back Towers and Speier (be very afraid!). On the bubble, in my view, is the man whose potential always lies ahead of him - ("don't call me Kelvim!") Lilly. On balance, I would guess that he does not make it.

Meanwhile, JP will always give extra points for the 'dirtballs" and the ones who play over their heads, so we can expect to see the return of most (or even all) of Berg, Zaun, Menechino, Gomez, and Johnson. After all, the price is right.

Last, it is probably important for people to name what they think will happen to Catalanotto (in my view, he will go, and be replaced in the outfield by the Gross/Johnson combination).

I'm actually going to guess 17

Batista
Bush
Chulk
Frasor
Halladay
Lightenberg (because he's signed and untradeable)
Lilly
Speier

Cash
Zaun

Hinske
Hudson
Johnson
Rios
Phelps
Gomez
Menechino

The hardest choices were Speier and Gomez/Menechino. With Speier I believe that he is not eligible to become a free agent after this year. Whether JP will tender him a qualifying offer is the hard part. If he pitches well for the remainder of the year I think he will be qualified but I think he's the hardest call on the team. As for Menechino/Gomez. JP has shown an affinity for having a veteran back-up SS. Assuming that Adams will be up next year (a big if mind you) then I think JP will want someone like Gomez around. JP clearly also likes a "jack of all trades" around who can get their nose dirty. Berg is currently filling that role. Menechino seems like a better player (when healthy) than Berg so I guess he stays. The catcher position seems hard, but with Quiroz having missed so much time and struggling upon his return its hard for me to seem him starting on the MLB roster next year.

C Cash
1B FA outside the org.
2B Hudson
SS Adams
3B Hinske
RF Gross
CF Wells
LF Rios
DH Phelps

Bench: Johnson (vs LHP, platoon with Gross), Menechino, Zaun, Gomez

The hitting is pretty standard. Gross and Adams can't be any worse than Johnson (2004 version) and Gomez/Woodward, so we lose nothing there. The key is how we use Delgado's freed up dough. It might be possible to swing a deal with Canadian Corey Koskie, and move Hinske to 1B. Not a lot of intriguing 1B available from the looks of it. Sexson will be overpriced.

In a perfect world, we get Justin Mourneau for Batista.

The world isn't perfect.

Rotation: Halladay, Batista, Lilly, Bush, FA

Highly unlikely we go after Matt Clement or Matt Morris. Ricciardi was after Russ Ortiz a few years ago, but he's probably out of our price range. Probably another "Hentgen/Sturtze" type signing until Josh Banks is ready (which is hopefully mid next year).

Bullpen: Frasor, Chulk, Ligterfluid, Peterson, FA, FA

I think Speier will get traded to Oakland by the trade deadline, and unfortunately, we are stuck with LigtAmatch for another year, unless we convince Billy to take him as well (hey, we took $5 mil Cory Lidle two years ago, you owe us Beane!).

I'd be scared to death to enter 2005 with Frasor and Chulk as our main bullpen guys. Hopefully there is a Benitez floating around for $2-3 mil that we can sign up to close.

http://me.woot.net
S.K., you'd put Gross in right over Rios?

I doubt that we're going to see another FA starter unless someone gets dealt. Halladay, Batista, Lilly, Miller and Bush stack up nicely against most teams 1-5.

"S.K., you'd put Gross in right over Rios?"

Depends on who is better defensively. I haven't seen either of them in the field. If Rios plays RF and Gross LF, it makes no difference from an offensive standpoint. Whatever the club feels is better.

I don't have a guess for how many will be on the 25M.R. next year, but I don't think next year matters...

I think the question is who that we have now will be on the 25M.R. in 2006... Halladay, Bautista, Wells, and Hinske are signed through 2006 at a cost of $21 Mill.

Add Rios, Bush, Quiroz (or Cash but not likely both), probably O-Dog, then its the guys from Syracuse... and hopefully a bunch of F.A's...

With luck McGowan will be in the 2006 rotation...

I think this homestand has summed up the entire season. Just when you think the Jays are about to really string together a big time winning streak, they fall flat on their faces. Hard to believe this was the same Jays team that swept the Angels earlier this season. Batista wasn't fooling anybody today as evidenced by the lack of K's. He didn't strike anyone out through 4 innings. You almost though it was Hentgen on the mound. You tend to keep track of these things when free pizza is on the line:) It just seemed when the Angels swung, they didn't miss too often. They spoiled a lot of 2 strike pitches from Batista today.

As for my predictions on who'll be back in 2005, I say 14 of the 25 will still be around.

Halladay
Lilly
Bush
Frasor
Chulk
File
Zaun
Cash
Hudson
Menechino
Hinske
Wells
Rios
Johnson

I know J.P. says he won't deal Batista but I think some team will come up with an offer that's too good to refuse.

http://www.naturesguard.com
I was talking yesterday with a man who works with the Toronto Blue Jays in Sales and Marketing. He came into my store looking to buy a Digi cam, I was in the proscess of selling him this (Pentax Optio 450, very nice choice)when I noticed the Jays cap. I mentioned that it was nice to see considering the lack of baseball enthusiasm in this country. This is of course when he told me he worked for them and how much harder his job gets when the team begins 3-8 in first 2 weeks of the season :) I told him all about battersbox and the fans in section 518. (he mentioned the O-Drum). Here is the interesting part, he gave me his card and said he could really hook me up so if this insurrection is still on contact me and I will send along his credentials. (I don't want to post them, it may not be the best idea).

Now the other interesting point is his opinion on the Jays

A) Tosca; not back next year.

B) Carlos Will be traded if he allows it. His reasoning being it will actually be easier for the jays to sign him without having to offer him arbitration. Allow him to test the water and find out it may be to cold, and sign for less. If we keep him we have to sign/ offer arbitration or we cannot deal with him till may.

Take what you wish from these statements, I know he is a low rung employee but I will tell you its a better source then Marty York ever uses! :)

Discuss....

The problem with that is that Carlos will only waive his NTC if the team he's getting traded to offers him an extension; he doesn't want to be a rental player.

...or so he claims. Delgado's demand for an extension is just that, a demand. Once he realizes that contract extensions aren't flooding in, he may change his tune and consider making a run at a ring with another club and then look at the possibility of resigning with the Jays in the offseason.

Yes....pulling a Ponson.
I just hope sucking badly after being resigned isnt a part of the deal.

Three cheers for the "pulling a Ponson" idea. I've been advocating that for weeks in previous posts. Including actually calling it "pulling a Ponson". I think I would prefer that option over any other possible, and the good part is its actually kinda plausabile if things fall into place just right.

Hmm...I'll guess 15 from the current roster (and if we include the minors and DL, the number jumps to 19-21)

Next year's lineup
C: Cash
1B: Delgado (I think we'll end up keeping him)
2B: Hudson
SS: FA stopgap
3B: Hinske
LF: Johnson
CF: Wells
RF: Rios
DH: ?

Bench: Zaun, Menechino, FA, Gross (who plays a lot of LF/DH)

SP: Halladay, Batista, Lilly, Bush, Miller
RP: Frasor, Ligtenberg, Chulk, 4 new relievers

The eleven departures I predict
1. I think Tosca gets replaced
2. Phelps picks it up just enough to have trade value, and we move him for some bullpen help/prospects.
3. Woodward gets non-tendered (this depends on what happens in the second half, but I thinks it's probable)
4. Gomez is replaced by another FA shortstop
5. Towers starts the year in AAA, or with another organization
6,7,8. Speier, Adams, and File are replaced
9,10,11. So are Clark, Berg, and the Hentgen

Extra Notes for my predictions
a) Delgado, SS, and bullpen are our top FA priorities
b) Catalanotto might fill the current ? at DH, or we replace him with someone else. As he's on the DL right now though, I don't have to make an official decisive guess regarding him at the moment. (I like the rules of this contest!)
c) Peterson has a good chance of landing one of the bullpen spots
d) Quiroz is in Toronto for much of 2005, but not on opening day. He makes his debut when either Cash or Zaun get injured, and barring that, comes up around the all-star break.
e) Adams spends a second year in Syracuse, possibly making the majors sometime in the second half.
f) The Auburn Doubledays are 17-4 right now. Ok, so that has nothing to do with this post, but I just like typing it.

Vinnie Chulk is the best guy in the bullpen by far.