Give that Surgeon a Contract

Sunday, September 23 2007 @ 01:15 PM EDT

Contributed by: Gerry

Shaun Marcum has a torn meniscus in his knee and will have surgery later this week with a 4 to 6 week recovery period.  Here is the Blue Jays upcoming schedule:

Tuesday - Vernon Wells shoulder surgery
Wednesday - Lyle Overbay hand surgery
Thursday - Shaun Marcum - knee surgery

Frank Thomas and Scott Downs are day to day.  John McDonald is back in the lineup Sunday.

The Jays strong play against the Yankees has come from the bottom of the order.  If you consider the Jays normal top of the lineup, Reed Johnson and Matt Stairs have not been hitting well recently, Stairs has suffered from playing every day and probably will get time off next week.  Vernon Wells and Troy Glaus are gone home for the winter, and Frank Thomas has not been hitting well since his three home run game.  The bottom half of the lineup has been hitting better, Aaron Hill, Russ Adams, Adam Lind, Curtis Thigpen and yesterday Rey Olmedo all have been hitting.

Even though Thigpen had a couple of hits yesterday, and even though it looks like the Jays will leave him at catcher, I would look for the Jays to sign a major league veteran catcher in the off-season who could back up Zaun and let Thigpen play every day in AAA.  I still don't know why the Jays didn't do that this year.

There are a lot of candidates for the job of backup infielder next season, Rey Olmedo who is smooth with the glove and rough with the bat; Russ Adams who is good with the bat and rough with the glove; Hector Luna who hasn't shown much so far; and Joe Inglett.  I think Luna will be released unless the Jays have a spare 40 man roster spot.

Aaron Hill has played in 153 of the Jays 154 games this season, it looks like he might need a rest, he has been hitting well but he looks a step off in the field.  Look for him to get a day off Tuesday or Wednesday.

With two marathon games agianst the Yankees, 33 total pitchers used, perhaps the most surpising thing was that Greg Zaun threw out a runner.

Early in the season the Jays were encouraging Jason Frasor to work faster, that's a dead issue now.  Frasor has really slowed and must rank as one of the slowest pitchers in baseball.  I wonder if Frasor will get traded over the winter as he seems to be a frustrating player to the organization. 

I haven't seen a lot from Joe Kennedy these games to suggest he should be in the pen next season.  I would have more faith in Downs and maybe even Tallet.

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