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Is it just me or do the Jays lose every Thursday?

Anyway, let's look at the quotes coming from yesterday's draft:



I normally have the Globe well ahead of the Star and Sun for Jays coverage, but they really drop the ball when it comes to the draft (only a Canadian Press article on their site). Elliot had quotes on both first round picks:
"When Russ Adams was drafted I said he was another Mike Gallego, well Ahrens has been compared to Chipper Jones and guess what -- that may be low," said one scout, who seldom is free with praise.

"(Ahrens) has all the indicators for future offensive success. We'll start him out at short, but he probably ends up at third down the road," Lalonde said. "He has enough arm to play anywhere. We targeted him from before the season. He's a switch-hitter with power from both sides. He only has been switch-hitting a year. If you didn't know, you would think he always had hit left-handed.

Arencibia:
"His hands are good but his footwork needs to be cleaned up," the scouting director said. "His arm strength isn't a question. At the plate he has plus-power, wood-bat power. He had a back problem so he was late getting going. That's why he didn't go earlier. If he had the year we expected, he doesn't get to 16th, let alone 21st."

Arencibia said it was his upper butt muscle, not his back which sidelined him earlier. "It hampered me at the beginning and affected the way I played. After I got healthy and had some games under my belt, the last 20 games I hit something like .440," he said. "I played the way I was capable of playing. It didn't bother me to catch."

Looking at his Tennessee profile it says that  he "hit .459 during Tennessee's final 15 games of the season."

"I know I can catch. I caught all the best pitchers on (Team U.S.A.) and they all said they always wanted to pitch to me. I think people saw me at the beginning of the year and I admit I wasn't playing that well then, but people know me and what I'm capable of. This (reports on his catching) just makes me want to work harder to prove them wrong."

In the 'whoops' department Mark Zwolinski had Ahrens being timed at 7.3 seconds in the 40 yard dash which is a decent time for a 300 lb retired man.


Matchups this weekend out in LA:
Friday - McGowan vs. Penny
Saturday - Marcum vs. Lowe
Sunday - Halladay vs. Schmidt
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Mike Green - Friday, June 08 2007 @ 09:48 AM EDT (#169532) #
Nice pitching matchups this weekend.  Might as well find out what you've got.
westcoast dude - Friday, June 08 2007 @ 11:05 AM EDT (#169535) #
It seems like the Jays always lose matinee games on getaway day. It must be frustrating to be locked in a tie game, playing to a chattering, somewhat juvenile crowd and know you're looking at a long flight to LA . The team was set up for some unpleasant hubris by Vernon Wells in game one. He should have done as Matt said: shake hands as Stairs crossed the plate with the winning run and left it as that.  Nevertheless, the Rays are good and getting better. They took their loss to heart, it's important that the Jays do the same with that 3 game series. Tonight's game is a real David vs. Goliath matchup, just what the doctor (not necessarily Doc) ordered.
Maldoff - Saturday, June 09 2007 @ 10:14 AM EDT (#169609) #
Richard Griffin mentioned in the Star this morning that the plan is to move Curtis Thigpen to 2B in the off-season, and move Hill to SS. This is why there was such a strong movement to draft catchers in this draft.
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