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A mixed night on the farm as New Hampshire scored more runs than the other three affiliates combined as the Junior Jays finished 2-2.


Colorado Springs 1 at Las Vegas 3

Robert Ray, or Bobby Rae, or Bob Rae, or whatever he is called now, matched his best start of the season, going six strong and allowing a single run on five hits and four strikeouts. Encouragingly he walked none, the first time in 4 starts so far he has walked fewer than 3. The 51s meanwhile did their scoring in the first two innings, as Chris Aguila would score on a groundout in the first and a double by Chris Lubanski and singles by Luis Figueroa, Aguila and Jarrett Hoffpauir, the latter three with two outs, would score two more. Aguila and Hoffpauir would each have two of Las Vegas' 8 hits, Brett Wallace went 0fer and Brian Dopirak had a single. Steven Register, David Purcey and Jeremy Accardo each contributed an inning of scoreless relief. Meanwhile Chris "Oh My God AA Please Make an Offer for Me" Iannetta went 0 for 4.


New Hampshire 14 at Trenton 12

Woah! The Fisher Cats completed a three game sweep against the Trenton Thunder, scoring 14 runs on 11 hits (8 singles) and 9 walks Most of the damage came in a seven run fifth where the Cats went out, walk, single, walk, single, double, single, double, walk, out out, giving New Hampshire a lead they would not relinquish. Yes, eight straight batters reached safely. Rather than going through all the scoring (which occurred in only 4 innings) why don't we just summarize so I'm not still writing this when you wake up... Every Cat hit safely except for the 3 and 4 hitters David Cooper and Brad Emaus, who both drew walks. Particularly deserving of recognition are Al Quintana who went 3 for 5 with 3 RBI filling in for Brian Jeroloman, Shawn Bowman who went 1 for 2 and drew 3 walks, and pretty much every other Cat: 6 of them scored 2 runs. As you may have surmised this was not a night for pitching, as Luis Perez, who has been having an excellent season, was chased after 3, allowing 5 runs, 3 earned. He walked 2 and struck out 3. Zach Dials and Tim Collins (side note: noooooooooooooo!) both got hammered in single innings of relief, giving up 3 runs apiece. The runs were the first allowed by Collins all season, though he did strike out 2 batters. Bubbie Buzachero fared a little better, allowing 1 run in his three innings. Danny Farquhar picked up his sixth save with a scoreless ninth.

Dunedin 4 at Tampa 7

Damn Yankees! Tampa scored in 4 of the first 5 innings and that would be all they'd need, as the D-Jays couldn't get on the board until the 6th. 2008 draftee Ryan Page was the victim in this one, an boy was it ugly. Page gave up 10 hits and 5 runs in 3.1 innings, walking 1 and whiffing 1. His 2010 FSL campaign is not going as well as his 2009 one. Meanwhile the offense wasn't much to speak of; Justin McClanahan had 2 hits, Welinton Ramirez and Dan Perales had home runs and Raul Barron doubled and walked.

 Lansing 3 at West Michigan 7

Another losing effort, though in this one the affiliate took the lead briefly before Western Michigan put up 3 in the third and four in the fifth. After 3 good starts
Ryan Shopshire got knocked around, giving up 6 runs in 4.2 innings, allowing 10 hits and a walk while striking out 3. Sean Ochinko had 2 hits and 2 RBI and no one else did much of interest as the Lugnuts could only muster 8 hits and 2 walks.


3 Stars!

3rd Star: Shawn Bowman - 1-2, 3 BB, 2 R, RBI

2nd Star: Bobby Rae - 6 IP 5 H 1 ER 0 BB 4 K

1st Star:
Al Quintana - 3-5, 2 2B, R, 3 RBI


Bonus Question: What would you be willing to give up for Chris Iannetta? I would part with Brad Mills and perhaps even Zep. I'm fairly confident Iannetta would  be one of the 10 best catchers in baseball, if some team *coughtheJayscough* would give him a chance.
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Jay1308 - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 07:57 AM EDT (#214402) #

I believe Al Quintana was filling in for Brian Jeroloman not Travis d'Arnaud

Gerry - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 08:59 AM EDT (#214403) #
I was down at the RC last night and I confirmed that D'Arnaud has a minor injury that the Jays are trying to get him through without putting him on the DL.
Anders - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 11:17 AM EDT (#214404) #
I believe Al Quintana was filling in for Brian Jeroloman not Travis d'Arnaud

I guess this is what happens when you write at 2 in the morning... will change!


Ducey - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 11:32 AM EDT (#214405) #

Meh...Ianetta.  He had a nice 2008 with a .390 OBP and has some power but he strikes out a lot and does sound like he is great behind the plate.  Last year he fell back quite a bit.

He likely will get on base at a higher rate than JPA due to his patience but I don't see any reason to send away two pitching prospects to get immediate help at C right now.  The Jays can afford to wait an see what develops on the farm.

tstaddon - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 11:54 AM EDT (#214406) #
Jarrett Hoffpauir has struck out once in 74 at bats - are you kidding me??!
Gerry - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 12:09 PM EDT (#214407) #

John Lott in the National Post discusses the Jays catching depth in the minors with Tony LaCava.

"We have good catchers at every level, and every one of those guys has a chance for some time in the big leagues," said LaCava, the Toronto Blue Jays assistant general manager.

 

Jay1308 - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 12:13 PM EDT (#214408) #
Per the league transactions, "Dunedin Blue Jays placed C Travis d'Arnaud on the 7-Day disabled list retroactive to April 27, 2010"
Mike Green - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 12:23 PM EDT (#214409) #
Hoffpauir played third yesterday.  He's always been a good hitter.  Last year he hit .291/.357/.486 with 14/35/28 HR/W/K in 393 PAs in triple A Memphis.  He is, of course, doing a little better than that in Las Vegas, but he's 26 years old.  As a fan, I'd much rather see him at third than Johnny Mac. 
MatO - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 01:13 PM EDT (#214410) #
Hoffpauir's had a pretty amazing minor league record of walking more than striking out at every stop in his minor league career.  Even his short stint with the Cardinals last year he had 4BB and only 2K.
China fan - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 02:00 PM EDT (#214412) #
Hoffpauir has posted some impressive numbers, but he is hobbled by one weakness that disqualifies him from playing 3B for the Jays:  he is not owed a guaranteed salary of $4.75-million this season.
Mike Green - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 02:15 PM EDT (#214415) #
Actually, there would be a use for Encarnacion even if the club decided that he wasn't able to play third base well enough.  You could use him in the putative Randy Ruiz role, DH/1B against lefties.  That isn't what I was suggesting.  I was simply pointing out that as a fan, I'd rather see Hoffpauir on the roster than McDonald, notwithstanding that McDonald is owed $1.5 million this year and next.  The club could use another bat, and one of the disciplined pure type rather than the "big scary" type.  I have visions of Rance Mulliniks in my head; Mulliniks didn't really get his start until age 26. 
China fan - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 02:25 PM EDT (#214416) #
I totally agree on Hoffpauir -- I'd much rather see him at 3B than Encarnacion or McDonald.   My point was simply that the Jays management won't allow it, for reasons of ego and pride.  If you're paying $4.75 million to a player, it's difficult to see him riding the bench.  Unless it's a spectacular flameout on the scale of BJ Ryan or Frank Thomas, you can't just write off the investment.  There's a human tendency to keep attempting to get your money's worth.  And so they'll keep trying to squeeze their money's worth out of Encarnacion, even if he probably doesn't warrant a starter's role.
China fan - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 02:37 PM EDT (#214417) #
As for the Mulliniks analogy:  it's an intriguing idea, but how would Hoffpauir get the playing time to prove it, unless he's a starter or regular platoonist?  And since there's no platooning these days, he'd need to be a starter, which probably means 3B.   If you simply slot him into the McDonald role, he would be playing once a week at most.  That's not enough playing time to find out if the Mulliniks analogy could hold true.
uglyone - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 02:43 PM EDT (#214418) #

EE and Hoffpauir are the same age.

EE has 2000 mlb AB, Hoffpair has 12.

Not sure EE would be being favoured just because of his contract.

China fan - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 02:57 PM EDT (#214419) #
John McDonald has 1900 plate appearances in the majors.  Does that also qualify him ahead of Hoffpauir?
Mike Green - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 02:58 PM EDT (#214420) #
In the case of Encarnacion, there isn't really a pride/ego issue.  The Jays didn't give him the contract, the Reds did, and the price of acquiring Zach Stewart for Rolen was assuming the Encarnacion contract.  That doesn't necessitate assuming his play in addition to his contract.  If you believe that Encarnacion is a good bet to be a valuable player after 2010, then I can see playing him at third.   
John Northey - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 03:06 PM EDT (#214421) #
Checking Hoffpauir's B-R page I see he climbed fast, low A in 2004, A+ in 2005, AA in 2006, AAA in 2007 then stalled at AAA for '08 and '09 and (so far) '10 with a brief ML call up last year.

His lifetime AAA line is 288/364/433. Only in A+ did he hit for a sub-780 OPS. As to fielding he has 631 games at 2B, 10 at SS, 10 at 3B, and 2 in the outfield. In those 10 at third he has 5 errors (an 81 error pace). His 2 games there for the Jays in AAA have been fine (9 chances, 0 errors, 2 DP) but last year in 2 games for St Louis in AAA he booted 3 balls. I fully understand the Jays wanting to give him a bit of time there in AAA before calling him up.
uglyone - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 03:12 PM EDT (#214422) #

John McDonald has 1900 plate appearances in the majors.  Does that also qualify him ahead of Hoffpauir?

JMac is near 10 years older than EE and Hoff, and has a career .591ops.

EE and Hoff are the same age, and EE has a career .788ops.

EE is a good young player. JMac is a bad old player.

So no, that does not qualify Jmac ahead of Hoff.

China fan - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 03:33 PM EDT (#214423) #
Encarnacion a "good young player"?   Maybe he was in 2008.   Now he is 27 years old and should be entering his prime.  But his OPS last season was .729 and so far this year it is .677.   That's a steady decline over the past 375 plate appearances.  And his defence is questionable.  Lingering injuries might be a partial excuse, but how long do we keep making excuses for him?  I don't think he should be immune to challenges from players who are posting strong numbers in AAA.
92-93 - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 03:39 PM EDT (#214424) #

If you believe that Encarnacion is a good bet to be a valuable player after 2010, then I can see playing him at third.

I guess that depends how you determine a valuable player - EE will probably file for at least 6m for 2011, and IMO doesn't have a very good chance of providing "value" back on that salary. It seems unlikely that the Jays will be in the position in 2011 where it makes sense to pay market value for him.

Mike Green - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 03:51 PM EDT (#214425) #
You don't figure that he's Lee Majors, eh?
uglyone - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 04:08 PM EDT (#214427) #
Encarnacion a "good young player"?   Maybe he was in 2008.   Now he is 27 years old and should be entering his prime.  But his OPS last season was .729 and so far this year it is .677.   That's a steady decline over the past 375 plate appearances.  And his defence is questionable.  Lingering injuries might be a partial excuse, but how long do we keep making excuses for him?  I don't think he should be immune to challenges from players who are posting strong numbers in AAA.   Yes, EE is a good young player who has been set back by one major injury.   And nobody said he should be "immune" to challenges from other players, but just that it makes sense that this young 3B who has proven that he can be a solid .800+ops, .350obp/ 25+hr power type hitter in MLB whenever he's been healthy would get a chance ahead of a career minor leaguer.   And before we get too excited about a month of AAA numbers in the PCL, let's remember......   AAA
  • E.Encarnacion (22-26):  409ab, .320avg, .389obp, .548slg, .937ops
  • J.Hoffpauir (24-27): 1032ab, .288avg, .364obp, .433slg, .797ops
 
Mike Green - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 04:43 PM EDT (#214428) #
Encarnacion was a great prospect in 2005, and Hoffpauir is definitely not that.  Unfortunately, Encarnacion has not developed much and has accumulated enough service time that he is very unlikely to be part of the next contending team here.  Hoffpauir could possibly be, as could Emaus, Bowman, or Pierre (who I figure will end up as a third baseman).  I am hoping that one of the first three will be the everyday third baseman by July.  
Spifficus - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 04:45 PM EDT (#214429) #

If there was a better long-term option to Encarnacion ready, I would join in the chorus to remove him. Currently, though, he's the highest upside play, has the highest floor, the youngest of all ML-ready options except Hoffpauir, might actually net a decent enough return in a trade, and the money's already spent. As it stands now, he's the best option for 3B.

92-93 - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 05:54 PM EDT (#214431) #
He's only the best option at 3B if Bautista doesn't have to play everyday in Clarence's book; otherwise that means either Lewis or Snider isn't facing RHP. It's bad enough that Clarence doesn't start Snider vs. LHP despite being adamant in the preseason that he'd play every day...I worry what will happen upon EE's return, and am not looking forward to it. However, I have no problem with EE at 3B and a Bautista/Lewis platoon, but that's only because I accept that Clarence will not institute 1B & LF platoons of Overbay/Bautista & Lewis/McCoy. 
VBF - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 06:48 PM EDT (#214434) #
It appears that Zach Dials has been released as per the Fisher Cats official Twitter. He had walked 20, gave up 24 hits, and struck out 18 in just over 28 innings.

@fishercats Roster moves: Jaspe comes off DL and RHP Dumas Garcia joins team from Dunedin; Zach Dials released and Al Quintana transferred to Dunedin




vw_fan17 - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 08:09 PM EDT (#214437) #
It's really too bad that Scott Rolen turned out to be the Terrell Owens of MLB. He could have probably had another 2-3 very good years here until we had a good/very good prospect ready instead of "3B by committee" or whatever it is now..
Mike Green - Friday, April 30 2010 @ 09:43 PM EDT (#214439) #
Kyle Drabek had another decent outing tonight for the Fisher Cats.  His control is still a bit shaky, but the stuff is working leading to plenty of strikeouts and ground balls.  Brad Emaus and Eric Thames homered. 
Kelekin - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 01:28 AM EDT (#214441) #
I'd give my left nut for Iannetta.  And my left nut is made of diamonds.

I've followed his entire career and there is no way he wouldn't be at least worth Mills or Zep.  I'd rather trade Mills though, because Zep has better stuff.  Mills gets away with a lot because of his delivery, and as we've commonly seen, that can only work for so many years before people completely catch on.  Zep has better long term potential, no question.

Iannetta has proven himself at the MLB level and the Rockies are idiots.  I'd even trade them JP Arencibia alongside Mills for Iannetta.  Then they can have Olivo and Olivo Jr. on their team, it would be perfect. =)

Sneeps - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 02:16 AM EDT (#214442) #

Mills AND Arencibia for Chris Ianetta?

you've got to be kidding me!

Kelekin - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 11:45 AM EDT (#214445) #
Yeah, maybe it's a little much.  But don't over-value prospects just because they are Toronto prospects.

But hey, if you'd prefer Arencibia and his barely above .300 OBP over Iannetta who has had a career OPS in the majors over .800....

christaylor - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 12:49 PM EDT (#214446) #
I give Rolen the benefit of the doubt, he seemed genuine during his first press conference here and spoke a ton about family. He kept his desire to leave quiet. He went to a non-contending team closer to where his family is from...
that adds up to a guy may have stayed here if the circumstances were different on the team (i.e., winning).

Doesn't sound at all like T.O. and his ODs, constant b*tchin' at QBs, and GQ photo shoots.
TamRa - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 03:25 PM EDT (#214456) #
But hey, if you'd prefer Arencibia and his barely above .300 OBP over Iannetta who has had a career OPS in the majors over .800....

At 22, over 2 levels in the minors, JPA had an .850 OPS
At 22 over the same 2 levels, Iannetta had an .848 OPS

At 23, Ianetta stepped up but JPA regressed (to some unknown degree, due to health issues)

JPA is 24 now and off to an .803 start, at 24 Ianetta's OPS was...yep, .805

It's all about relative value.Ianetta gets on base very well, but isn't a slugger. JPA hits for noteably more power but so far hasn't shown any OBP skills.

I don't think either - in a neutral park - is dramatically more valuable than the other. Just that they have different skill sets.

Still, if I could trade JPA and mills for Ianetta and know I was getting the 2008 version, id' do it probably because I'd know I had plenty of options to follow him when he moved on.

(Also, I think he's struggling in AAA so far this year)


vw_fan17 - Monday, May 03 2010 @ 02:09 PM EDT (#214507) #
Yeah, Rolen hasn't been as public as T.O., but AFAIK, this is now the THIRD time he's wanted out of some situation he wasn't happy about.. After a while, I stop blaming management...
vw_fan17 - Monday, May 03 2010 @ 02:11 PM EDT (#214508) #
Don't look now, but after a MONSTER weekend, J. Buck now has an OPS of 818 IN THE AL EAST!

IOW: maybe he's not QUITE as bad as we were thinking..

bpoz - Tuesday, May 04 2010 @ 06:22 PM EDT (#214594) #
I don't follow the prospects of other teams just Jays prospects. In spring training I believe the ranking was Zep, Cecil and Mills. I valued them all pretty much equal. Since we have extra pitching then we probably should add position players,if Ianetta is wanted then if I am paying 2 pitchers or 1 pitcher + JPA (Proposed trades) then they get Mills and/or Cecil (or Zep but he is injured). None of these guys have PROVEN anything yet longterm, but I would not want to trade JPA because the jays have not developed a catcher for a long time and he is close. So then, Mills impressed Cito in 2009 ST and Zep impressed him during 2009 and yesterday Cecil impressed everyone. Is this still a good trade? If I am playing the GM do I strike now while the iron is hot and give up Cecil alone but ask for Ianetta + another prospect?
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