Went to see the Fisher Cats in New Britain tonight.  Cecil looked pretty good.  Has an obviously-good fastball; the Rock Cats' hitters were often late.  The hits he did allow were hit pretty hard-- the opposing batters were laying off his off-speed stuff and sitting on the fastball a little at times, maybe.  They didn't get much in the air though; seemed to be a lot of ground ball outs.

For me, Arencibia was the standout player.  Two great throws to second base to nab runners, one a straightforward caught stealing, the other a pickoff I think?  I sort of forget the first one now.. anyway, impressive arm, and his homer was really well hit, a real no-doubter.

Long-time lurker who finally decided to join the fray.  Thanks all for distracting me from work for all these years.

While reviewing the Chiefs roster, I was amazed at the logjam of non-prospects in AAA - Coats, Lydon, Adams, David Smith and now Kevin Mench all vying for playing time in the outfield.  Matt Watson seems to be DHing and playing backup at 1B, but played the OF as recently as '06 in Sacramento.  I believe guys like Hector Luna and Thigpen can also played OF in a pinch.  Ryan Patterson's power has seemingly returned this year after his injury, and he may be in line for a promotion soon as he is now 25 and old for AA.

This all made me wonder whether now is the time for JP to say goodbye to Russ Adams.  It would seem like an appropriate time given the recent rejuvenation of sorts with the arrival Cito and Lind playing everyday.  Sporting an OPS of .662 at age 27, having no true position and being passed on the depth chart by peers such as Inglett and Luna does not bode well.  I would love for JP to take a mature approach and release Adams, effectively saying "Our bad, let's move forward", while freeing up a 40-man roster spot.  This would also give more at bats to guys like David Smith, also 27, who has showed great power at AAA in limited ABs this year as well as a decent year in NH in 07.  It seems like at this point Smith has a better shot at helping out the Jays in the future as a 4th OF, but is being squeezed out for ABs by guys like Adams.

Also important to point out for Cecil is 8 groundballs to 1 flyout in that outing.  He's maintaining a better than 2:1 groudball ratio overall while maintaining a high strikeout rate.  These two factors together in a pitcher tend to point to a very good upside, putting Cecil in a similar quadrant as guys like Roy Halladay.  Combine that with his low homerun rate and there isn't much to hate.

It'll be interesting to see towards the end of the year if they relax his pitch count restrictions and let him throw a full 90 or 100+ pitches a few times.  The Jays took three lefthanders before the second round in the years prior but they may have finally found their productive lefty in Cecil.

A number of minor league roster moves today:

Syracuse has added LHP Chris George formerly of Colorado AAA (not sure how he was acquired whether by trade or minor league free agency).  Syracuse had been operating one under the 24 player limit.

Dunedin had been operating one under the 25 man player limit, but has now added LHP Cody Crowell and LHP Brad Mills from Lansing.  RHP Paul Phillips is no longer listed on the roster to leave their roster at 25.

Lansing, to replace Crowell and Mills,  has added both RHP James Dougher and  LHP Frank Gailey from Auburn.

Auburn's roster is now two under the limit.

Anybody know why Eric Thames isn't playing yet? I was guessing that we would see him in Auburn.

Purcey probably left because it took him 70 pitches to make it through 2 innings. There didn't seem to be any injury problems, and the only visit to the mound was from Langford, but he wasn't hitting his spots tonight to say the least. He was squeezed a bit on the corners, but that's hardly an excuse for throwing 70 pitches through 2 innings. And still, despite his control issues, he was the most effective Syracuse pitcher outside of Erik Kratz, go figure.

As for the Syracuse outfield logjam, they need Mench if they're going to make the playoffs, because no one else has really shown that much power, yet. Coats is actually a prospect, I believe. Was in the Cubs system until last year, and has played well at the upper levels of the minors. I don't know what his upside is, but anyone who can run, hit, and field, like he can shouldn't be written off. Lydon needs to be in the lineup because he is just so incredibly fast, and this lineup is built around speed. Can't hit anything more than singles, but my God can he run. I think Smith is about to pass Adams on the Syracuse depth chart, honestly, and I agree he should be getting more playing time. Adams is something like 3 for his last 34 and Davis seems to be losing confidence in him. Thigpen and Cannon, too, finally, because neither of them look that good.