The Jays also released three hitting coaches from the minor leagues. Al LeBoeuf, Ken Joyce and Charles Poe were all told they will not be back in 2010. Guess they are restructuring the hitting department?

I'm pretty sure JorgeVargas is a pitcher, isn't he?

 

Vargas is a pitcher, that is why I said six hitters, there were seven awards in total with only Vargas, in the DSL, a pitcher.

Jim Callis from Ba answered a couple of Blue Jay related questions in his chat today.

He thinks Tim Collins has a limited upside, sees him as a major league reliever, he will not be a top 100 prospect.

Says Zach Stewart could be the Jays #1 prospect but thinks he too could be a late-inning reliever.

Carlos Perez sounds like my kind of player, controls the strike zone very well and plays good defence at a key position.  He turns 19 next month and I imagine that he'll be in Lansing next year.  If he is, that is a powerful incentive to make a trip.

I posted this in another thread but when Alex Anthopoulos was asked in an interview about which prospect most improved his standing this year he cited Alverez and, among other things, said "he might be our #1 prospect"

Al LeBoeuf, Ken Joyce and Charles Poe were all told they will not be back in 2010. Guess they are restructuring the hitting department?

Were they in the lower levels?  Makes sense, if so, as the drafted high school hitters have collectively underperformed. 

Al LeBeouf was at AAA at least while the team was in Syracuse, and Charlie Poe seemed to split time between Syracuse and Dunedin. Lost track of them when they went out West, though. Ken Joyce was with new Hampshire for the past couple years.

LaBeouf was in Dunedin, Poe was in Auburn and Joyce was in Las Vegas this past season. Las Vegas won the PCL batting title and had the MVP of the league in Randy Ruiz. Doesn't make sense to get rid of someone who has had success.

im surprised the hitting coach from lansing survived. if their reconstructing they ought to make it complete.

I suspect there are a lot of things that go into hiring/firing coaches that we'll never know.  The biggest element would be how well they do with top prospects, and how well they do at identifying issues quickly with all players.

For the easy to check stuff... runs per game per level 2008 vs 2009 (avg age in brackets).  I'm skipping the DSL as it is a bit odd for an assortment of reasons.
AAA: 4.18 (26.6) vs 5.43 (27.6) moved from low run to high run environment
AA: 4.51 (24.4) vs 3.98 (24.9)
A+: 5.09 (23.6) vs  4.55 (22.5)
A: 4.06 (20.7) vs 4.46 (20.8)
SS A: 4.28 (21.6) vs 4.20 (20.9)
R: 4.74 (19.8) vs 3.55 (19.7)

AAA was the only move, but boy was it a big one, from Syracuse (hitters purgatory) to Las Vegas (hitters heaven).  A full year older on average in AAA but 1.25 more runs a game.  Due to the park move it is hard to say if that was good or bad.  Syracuse this year was 4.17 (27.5) for Washington - nearly identical in production but a bit older vs the 2008 Jays.  Vegas in 2008 was with the Dodgers and scored 5.53 (27.7) - slightly more than the Jays did this year with a crew that was the same age.

AA dropped drastically - .53 runs per game despite being 1/2 a year older.  David Cooper, a prime prospect, did not develop well.  Scott Campbell regressed a bit.  Brian Jeroloman forgot which end of the bat to use.  Only Brian Dopirak did well there.  That hitting coach had to be scared as the year rolled along.

Dunedin (A+) also dropped by 1/2 a run a game but also got a full year younger.  A few guys did well, but Moises Sierra was the only really young one to do well.  OK, Eric Thames did very well for a first pro season (313/386/487 at 22 years old in LF).  But top prospects Justin Jackson and Kevin Ahrens did not do well at all.

Lansing (A) improved by almost a 1/2 run while staying the same age.  That is impressive.  Yohermyn Chavez hit 283/346/474 at 20 yrs old, Michael McDade at 20 also was over 800 for OPS.  However Balbino Fuenmayor, while just 19, hit just 263/279/384.  Tyler Pastornicky was under 700 for OPS (at 19 at SS) and Jonathan Talley had a poor year this year (under 700 OPS).

If I was to keep any of those hitting coaches I'd say Lansing's earned it the most.

My quick and dirty assessment of our Baby Jays - who played in the Minors in 2009 and in order from AAA down - showing the HIGHEST MINOR LEAGUE level each prospect reached is:

AAA:
Hitters: 1) Travis Snider, 2) Randy Ruiz, 3) JP Arencibia, 4) Brian Dopirak, 5) Scott Campbell
Pitchers: 1) Brett Cecil, 2) Ricky Romero, 3) Zachary Stewart, 4) Jeremy Accardo, 5) Casey Janssen, 6) Marc Rzepczynski, 7) Brad Mills, 8) Scott Richmond, 9) Robert Ray, 10) David Purcey, 11) Fabio Castro, 12) Brian Wolfe, 13) Dick Hayhurst - THIS group of young AAA pitchers may well be unmatched in the game. I SERIOUSLY doubt ANY team has this many quality arms Major League ready!

AA:
Hitters: 1) Moises Sierra, 2) David Cooper, 3) Brian Jeroloman, 4) Brad Emaus, 5) Brian Van Kirk
Pitchers: 1) Daniel Farquhar, 2) Luis Perez, 3) Reider Gonzalez, 4) Kenny Rodriquez, 5) Tim Collins, 6) Andrew Liebel, 7) Trystan Magnuson, 8) Randy Boone

High A:
Hitters: 1) Eric Thames, 2) Adam Loewen, 3) Tyler Pastornicky, 4) Justin Jackson, 5) John Tolisano, 6) Kevin Aherns
Pitchers: 1) Robert Bell, 2) Charles Huggins

Low A:
Hitters: 1) Sean Ochinko, 2) Welinton Ramirez, 3) Randy Schwartz, 4) Ryan Goins, 5) Yan Gomes, 6) Ryan Schimpf, 7) Lance Durham
Pitchers: 1) Henderson Alvarez, 2) Matthew Wright, 3) Dave Sever

I have not included the High and Low Rookie teams nor the Dominican League team nor have I included any of the 30 or so (joke guys) of our 2009 draftees who are signed to 2010 contracts.

PERSONALLY:

My Top Six Pitching PROSPECTS are: 1) Alvarez, 2) Cecil, 3) Romero, 4) Bell, 5) Farquhar, 6) Stewart - lucky number 7) Jackson
My Top Six Hitting PROSPECTS are: 1) Snider, 2) Ruiz, 3) Sierra, 4) Thames, 5) Loewen, 6) Pastornicky - lucky number 7) Collins

OOPS...er... so much for LUCKY NUMBER 7 ... I've got Jackson listed as a Pitcher and Collins listed as a hitter. Sigh. Think I'll take a time out and have a scotch - make it a double - single malt - natch.

Oops, my bad.  Sorry about that.

Not so sure it is your bad:

It is hard to quibble with any of the selections except that no pitchers made the list.

As you say, 1 pitcher did make the list...

According to Bastian both Arencibia and Jeroloman are now out of the AFL due to surgeries.

AA:
Hitters: 1) Moises Sierra, 2) David Cooper, 3) Brian Jeroloman, 4) Brad Emaus, 5) Brian Van Kirk

High A:
Hitters: 1) Eric Thames, 2) Adam Loewen, 3) Tyler Pastornicky, 4) Justin Jackson, 5) John Tolisano, 6) Kevin Aherns


What about Mastroianni?
(Actually 3 of these players are older than him).

The guy scored 94 times - on 2 LOSING teams.
Stole 70 bases.
Hit about .300 for the year - had a .400 OBA - and a BB:K ratio of close to 1:1.
And - 51 RBI's - as a table setter.

Defensively - no one covers more ground - and he led the organization in outfield assists.
70 games in CF at AA - and no errors.

Did Mastroianni actually play for the Blue Jays this year - or are they just making it all up?  LOL




 

My Top Six Pitching PROSPECTS are: 1) Alvarez, 2) Cecil, 3) Romero, 4) Bell, 5) Farquhar, 6) Stewart - lucky number 7) Jackson

ROMERO is a prospect? How many game a dude got to start in the majors to not be a prospect?

And if he qualifies, where's 'Zep?

You like Farquhar and Collins better than Zap?

My Top 10 pitching prospects:

1. Henderson Alvarez
2. Zach Stewart
3. Brad Mills
4. Chad Jenkins
5. Danny Farquar
6. Tim Collins
7. Robert Bell
8. Bobby Ray
9. Andrew Liebel
10. Fabio Castro

Just  missing:  Luis Perez, Carlos Pina, Kenny Rodriguez