The Jays lost several AAA pitchers in the last few months so the signings are not a surprise.  Josh Towers was non-tendered; Lee Gronkiewicz and Jamie Vermilyea opted for free agency; Ryan Houston was lost on waivers and Justin James went to Cincinnati in the Buck Coats deal.  As with all relievers here's hoping Carter and Patterson have career years in 2008.

I'd rather have Gronkiewicz and Vermilyea than Parrish and Ketchner, but obviously the Jays felt differently.

As for the signings, Carter and Parrish have had good years in the past, but both have struggled recently. Parrish is a lefty whose weakness has been his struggles with his control. Carter on the other hand, has struggled to strike batters out in the last few years.

I'm delighted Sparky has signed. Offensively, I think Stairs vs righties and Reed vs lefties will give us an above average LF. Defensively, Reed is fine and Stairs is...better than Canseco.

With the Jays having relatively little room in their bullpen, I am sure it is in Gronkiewicz and Vermilyea's interests to hook onto another team to give them a better shot at the major league level. Good luck on making it to the bigs. 

I really wish that they had cut the cord with Reed after last season.  I think that this is simply too much to be paying a 4th outfielder, especially one that doesn't show any special ability to mash LHP's.  He does play good defense, and can handle CF, but that skill is somewhat wasted since we already have two OFers (Wells and Rios) on the roster that play a better CF than Reed does.  IMO, they would have been better off pocketing some of the money and signing a player such as Ben Johnson or Kevin Mench, or hell, even Shannon Stewart.

My big worry is that Reed will end up "scrapping" and "clutching" his way into the starting lineup everyday, while two superior options (Stairs and Lind) either sit on the bench or play in AAA. 

Reed cut from 124 to 66 in OPS+ last year. Just ugly as can be but obviously the injuries cost him. If the Jays think he is now healthy then a 100 OPS+ isn't unreasonable especially if limited in playing time. $3 mil for that doesn't seem horrible, especially with solid defense.

Still, the Jays would be wise to keep looking for solid guys ala Johnson for AAA and lower (say, 80+ OPS+ in the majors with very solid defense) so they don't have to pay more than the ML minimum for players like him in the future.

the Jays have signed minor league contracts with pitchers Lance Carter, John Parrish,

I have to admit, I first skimmed that and thought to myself "Why in the world would the Jays sign Lance Parrish again? Isn't he, like, 50?"

Never mind.

Nick Swisher was traded to the White Sox for a package including Gio Gonzalez.

According to MLB Trade rumors Clement just signed with the Cardinials, options for reclamation projects are getting thin.

Still, the Jays would be wise to keep looking for solid guys ala Johnson for AAA and lower (say, 80+ OPS+ in the majors with very solid defense) so they don't have to pay more than the ML minimum for players like him in the future.

Ryan Patterson (24), Aaron Mathews (25) and David Smith (26) are three right-handed outfielders who project to start in AAA this year.  All three mashed lefties at AA.  It would be reasonable to believe that one of them would become a decent platoon partner in the Jays outfield (or fourth outfielder) as early as 2009.

Reed isn't coming cheap, but the price isn't exorbitant either. I think he'll be useful in a LF platoon with Stairs (and as a defensive sub). He hits lefties very well (career: 308/371/462) and is a good fourth OF. Of course, the risk is that Gibbons starts to like his "grittiness" a bit too much, and starts playing him every day again.

Nick Swisher was traded to the White Sox for a package including Gio Gonzalez.

Gasp. Billy Beane sure is flaunting his job security this offseason with all these intertemporal-substitution trades. Gonzalez was Hughesian as a 21-year-old at AA last year. The minor leaguers coming along with Gonzalez are righty Fautino de los Santos, who had a 2.40 ERA in the SAL last year at age 21, and 22-year-old oufielder Ryan Sweeney, who's played two full seasons at AAA.

I'm surprised the Sox think they can compete with the Tigers and Cleveland this year. More power to 'em. Swisher should benefit a lot from playing at the Cell instead of the Coliseum, and the Sox do get an infusion of the OBP they were sorely lacking last year. Swisher, Thome, Konerko, Dye, Pierzynski, Richar, Cabrera, FIelds, Quentin, Crede. Maybe that isn't such a bad hitting team after all. Their pitching could be unsightly though. Javier and Mark and pray for... dark?

Uh, on second thought, actually, maybe Gonzalez was not quite Hughesian. But close. Hughesish. His actual results were substantially less amazing than Hughes', but his defense-independent stats were very comparable:

Gio Gonzalez (21), AA, 2007: 611 BF, 30.3% K, 9.3% BB, .310 BABIP, 52% GB, 1.6% HR, 3.18 ERA
Phil Hughes (20), AA, 2006: 448 BF, 30.8% K, 7.1% BB, .255 BABIP, 55% GB, 1.1% HR, 2.33 ERA
Jesse Litsch (21-22), AA, 06-07: 550 BF, 18.1% K, 4.9% BB, .313 BABIP, 56% GB, 2.05 HR, 3.78 ERA

I would have liked to see the cord cut on Reed as well.  I think it's time for Lind to take the everyday LF spot. He has nothing left to prove in Triple A and we need the left handed bat.

 RE: BeaneBall ... That seems like a pretty good haul from the Sox. Sickel's rated them as numbers 1, 2 & 5 on his CWS prospects list... not bad at all. If the Jays have a first half like last year (injury wise) Ricciardi should be able to do better with Rios by July 31st..

Reed isn't coming cheap, but the price isn't exorbitant either.

I'm feeling it's pretty exorbitant if he's only successful against LHP. Considering a team's PAs will be about 25% vs. LHP, that means Reed at $3.275 to only play against LHP is like paying a full time player $13.1MM. That would make him one of the highest paid Blue Jays on a per PA basis.

He'll need to play vs. RHP and improve greatly over last season's stats against them to be worth that kind of money. I'm not terribly confident he can do that. It pains me to write that. I love the socks.

I'm feeling it's pretty exorbitant if he's only successful against LHP

I guess I'm more in the "it's Rogers' money, not yours" camp. Besides, a Stairs/Johnson platoon gives you pretty decent LF production for about $5M combined. If they falter, Lind can take over.

Having Johnson also gives the Jays needed depth. After last year's injury debacle, I'm happy to see the Jays have some extra flexibility. (I'm annoyed that Fasano looks like our backup catcher, but that's another story.)

I like the signing. Reed isn't going to knock your socks off at the plate, but he manages to get on base enough and occasionally hit for enough power that LF isn't the total offensive hole that it looks like it's being portrayed to be.

Defensively - consider this: one run lead late in a ballgame, runners at first and second, fly ball hit deep down the left field line. Lind and Stairs may manage to hold the batter to a double (2 runs score)....Johnson at least seems to give himself a chance to make a play on the ball. His positioning, reaction time, and routes chosen to the ball - combined with a pretty strong and accurate arm - put him head and shoulders above either of our other LF choices. Lind definitely made progress in the field last season, and Stairs was a lot more mobile than I thought he'd be - but Johnson is still unquestionably better defensively. There were a number of times while Johnson was on the DL that I saw balls drop just out of the reach of Lind or Stairs that made me think "Reed would've gotten to that." It's not that he's got truly impressive range - it's just that he seems to maximize his effectiveness (and yes, I've seen him get burned on balls that were just out of reach but ended up rattling around the bottom of the wall, too).

I don't understand why John McDonald gets carte blanche because he's "a defensive wizard" when he can't hit a lick, but Johnson gets unfairly pilloried as an underperformer at the plate even though he's a pretty damn good defensive fielder. Johnson should never have been a leadoff man - he's a bottom-third of the order guy - but that's not his decision to make. He does manage to hit for a bit of power (granted, not what you want from his position) and get on base fairly regularly while making a good contribution in the field...and he can play RF in the event Rios or Wells are absent.

What's not to like? It's not like they signed him to a long-term "albatross" of a contract or anything. If he's healthy and starts 80+ games, is used as a defensive replacement late in games, and supplies some depth and injury insurance for Rios and Wells, then I think the price was about right.

from Baseball America

Toronto Blue Jays Signed: RHP Lance Carter, RHP Kane Davis, RHP Bubba Nelson, RHP Jamie Vermilyea, LHP Ryan Ketchner, LHP John Parrish, OF Luis Rivera, OF Matt Watson

Toronto Blue Jays Signed: RHP Lance Carter, RHP Kane Davis, RHP Bubba Nelson, RHP Jamie Vermilyea, LHP Ryan Ketchner, LHP John Parrish, OF Luis Rivera, OF Matt Watson

The signings of Carter, Parrish and Ketchner had been announced a few days ago.  Davis is a long time minor leaguer who will be a good bullpen addition for Syracuse. Nelson is younger, 26 vs 32 for Davis, and has yet to master AAA, he could go to AAA or AA.  It is good to see Jamie Vermilyea back but it might be a sign that he did not have many other offers.  The signings of Rivera and Watson are more interesting.  The AAA outfield candidates already include Wayne Lydon, Adam Lind, David Smith, Aaron Mathews and Ryan Patterson.  Watson and Rivera make it seven candidates for four jobs.  Some players are going to upset to be sent back to AA.

I guess I'm more in the "it's Rogers' money, not yours" camp.

It's allocation of resources though. Sure, it's not my money. I can't even comprehend money that big. But I do understand what a budget is and when it's somewhat limited, you'd like, as a fan, to have those resources used optimally.

It's the same as a fan complaining about a player having a starting role or a spot on a 25-man roster over another player. Money, like these roster spots, is finite. Waste of all kinds in all of a team's resources ultimately leads to fewer wins, which is what I care about most as a fan.

I don't understand why John McDonald gets carte blanche because he's "a defensive wizard" when he can't hit a lick, but Johnson gets unfairly pilloried as an underperformer at the plate even though he's a pretty damn good defensive fielder.

I don't know if you're familiar with this or not, but there's a concept thought up by Bill James some time ago about a defensive spectrum. Basically, it orders defensive positions from easiest to most difficult. Since it is harder to find good defensive players at the difficult positions, teams can be more willing to live with a weak bat there while, conversely, the positions at the easier end of the spectrum need to provide more offense.

Here's the spectrum:

1. DH
2. 1B
3. LF
4. RF
5. 3B
6. CF
7. 2B
8. SS
9. C
10. P

Johnny Mac (who I believe should never be starting) gets carte blanche because he plays a more difficult and more important defensive position. Johnson is primarily a LF, and as such doesn't provide nearly as much value with his glove even if he is a good defender there. The key value he needs to provide to the team is with his bat.

It's the same as a fan complaining about a player having a starting role or a spot on a 25-man roster over another player. Money, like these roster spots, is finite. Waste of all kinds in all of a team's resources ultimately leads to fewer wins, which is what I care about most as a fan.

But unlike roster spots, budget is flexible. What would be a reasonable price for Reed or a player of comparable skils - $2 million, maybe? So it's $1.27 million overspent? What can you get with that $1.27, and, more importantly, if a player is available who needs it, do we know for a fact that another $1.27 isn't available?

He'll need to play vs. RHP and improve greatly over last season's stats against them to be worth that kind of money. I'm not terribly confident he can do that.

Actually, I'm pretty sure he can. He hit 202/275/237 against righties in 2007. In his career, he's hit 267/328/383 against righties.  If he just goes back to his career numbers, he'll have a 200-point jump in OPS. Not that he's exceptional against them, unless Reed.2006 comes back, but that's decent enough; combined with good defence at 3 outfield spots, he looks to be a pretty useful player.

But unlike roster spots, budget is flexible. What would be a reasonable price for Reed or a player of comparable skils - $2 million, maybe? So it's $1.27 million overspent? What can you get with that $1.27, and, more importantly, if a player is available who needs it, do we know for a fact that another $1.27 isn't available?

For a GM, a budget isn't flexible at all. Rogers dictates what JP is allowed to spend and he needs to use those financial resources effectively in order to maximize the team's performance. Even if $1.27MM can't buy an impact player, it can certainly pay for a complementary player, or be added to some other pot of money and be the difference between a $2MM player and a $3.27MM player.

Poorly managed teams like the Pirates, Royals and Devil Rays of years past would overspend portions of modest budgets on easily replaceable parts with unimpressive results, when the money would be better invested in draft pick signing bonuses or pooled for a quality player. In JP's first few seasons, he was the antithesis of those teams' GMs, letting guys like Shannon Stewart go and picking up easily replaceable parts for cheap...guys like Frankie Cat, Greg Myers, Terry Admas, Zaun, Menechino and on and on. And it was refreshing. I'm just surprised and a little disappointed that a part-timer like Reed is taking up a bigger chunk of the budget than he should. Toronto can overspend on superstars. You need to in MLB since they're relatively difficult to get. But you need to save pennies on the bench.

For a GM, a budget isn't flexible at all. Rogers dictates what JP is allowed to spend and he needs to use those financial resources effectively in order to maximize the team's performance.

True, but both Ricciardi and Godfrey have indicated that the budget isn't set in stone, and that more money is available in the right circumstances.

In JP's first few seasons, he was the antithesis of those teams' GMs, letting guys like Shannon Stewart go and picking up easily replaceable parts for cheap...guys like Frankie Cat, Greg Myers, Terry Admas, Zaun, Menechino and on and on.

Unfortunately, the "on and on" part includes the likes of Doug Creek, Jeff Tam, Victor Zambrano, Tomo Ohka, John Thomson, Dave Berg, Jason Phillips, and Ken Huckaby. Don't get me wrong, it's important to take chances, and even in the worst of those cases, there was some potential upside. But you do get what you pay for, and there's value in a known, reliable quantity.

I like this signing b/c a healthy Reed is one of the few Jays that is a decent (not GREAT) lead-off hitter, esp. against lefties.  And righties seem pretty good at getting him on the elbow or shoulder at the most opportune moments.  And who's better against righties leading off, Russ Adams?  Rios is wasted there, let him bat 2nd or 3rd... Stairs has too much pop, Overbay is too slow, Vernon hits righties like my grandma and she'll take more pitches, Lind is too raw.... ??

Reed is also insurance against injury to Wells or Rios... if one of them get hurt, I DON'T want to see Lind and Stairs occupying the corners simultaneously.  Really the solution for getting Lind / Stairs more at-bats is by moving Frank Thomas... would anyone take him?  You could spell Glaus at DH occasionally as well there...

I would rather have a guy like KENNY LOFTON. The Jays need lefr handed bats anyway, and if they aren't in the race in late july, they can trade him for a prospect.

I have some sad news for fans who regularly attend Jays games. Amersia Thompson, otherwise known as "Worlds Biggest Fan" has sadly passed away at the age of 37. She had been the first one in, and the last one out of every Jays game for over 20 years and will be dearly missed by the Blue Jays family. Her obituary appeared in the Toronto Star today.