Sunday saw three wins in four tries for the affiliates highlighted by a strong start by a top prospect and the professional debut of another.

The Dunedin hitters had really been struggling over their first two games but on Saturday they faced Brad Lidge who was making a rehab appearance.  They tagged him for four runs and went on to win the game.  New Hampshire won their game too with solid pitching from Zach Stewart and the bullpen and a home run by Brad Emaus.  Tim Collins recorded five outs, all by strikeout.  Las Vegas didn't play well but Brett Wallace hit a home run, while the Lugnuts lost again despite three hits by Bradley Glenn.

Day two of the minor league season looked a lot like day one.  Las Vegas again rode good pitching to beat Salt Lake.  The Dunedin hitters still haven't found their bats and took another bad loss.  Lansing again went to extra innings and again lost.  New Hampshire did not get the chance to do it again as they were rained out.

Stars of the night were JP ARencibia, Rey Gonzalez and Kenny Wilson.

New Hampshire got off to a hot start when Darin Mastroianni led off the season with a home run and before Kyle Drabek reached the mound he had a four run lead.  On the other hand Clearwater threw a perfect game against Dunedin for six innings.  New Hampshire went on to win while Dunedin were well beaten.

Lansing had four RBI's from Ryan Schimpf and home runs from 2009 draftees Schimpf and Ryan Goins but lost in extra innings.   Las Vegas won with a shutout, Brad Mills and the bullpen held Salt Lake to three hits.

Bullpens were generally strong on Thursday, the Fisher Cats got four innings of perfect relief from Luis Perez and Danny Farquhar.  The Lugnuts also got four innings of perfect relief from Nestor Molina and Dustin Antolin but they lost the game in the sixth inning of relief.  Las Vegas got three innings of shutout relief to cement their win.

The minor leagues get going tonight with all four teams on the field.  The relevant local media have been introducing the new teams to their readers.

It was an early Christmas for a baseball fan at the minor league complex on Saturday.  On one field the AAA team were playing the AA team.  On another the Dunedin team were playing the Yankees.  On a third field the Lansing team were also playing the Yankees.  And on a fourth field the extended spring team were playing the Phillies.  Four games, five teams, playing at the same time.  You could develop a sore neck from swivelling around to check out something on another field.

Friday at minor league camp saw Henderson Alvarez starting for Dunedin and Gustavo Pierre hitting a home run.  The Jays also started laying out their rosters and Chad Jenkins goes to Lansing and Zach Stewart to New Hampshire.

Thursday saw the AAA and AA teams playing at home again.  There was a Jesse Litsch sighting.  And Tim Collins looked good.

I am in Dunedin and I spent the day at the minor league complex.  The teams for the regular season have not yet been selected but I did see two games at the same time.  In the morning all four diamonds were busy with workouts and batting practice.  In the afternoon the AAA and AA teams played the Phillies.

Baseball America reports that former Orioles and Rays first round pick Wade "Pete" Townsend has agreed to a minor league contract with Toronto and so has organizational soldier Howie Clark.

Dig that sound and shake it around you're mine , mine , mine

MLB.com released its Top 50 list of the best minor league prospects and two members of the Jays not only made the top 50 but the top 17.  See, I'll never lead you astray!

On Monday we looked at the Blue Jays 2004 prospects.  Today we will look at the 2004 prospects for the rest of the major leagues to see where, on the top 30 lists, major leaguers come from.

I recently came upon my old prospect guides and I thought it might be interesting to look back six years to see where  the Blue Jay prospects were rated.  Given the current uninspiring reviews of our farm system it might give us some hope that a lower rated prospect can make the jump to become a major league regular.

Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus are in agreement about who the top two prospects are in the Blue Jays system.  BP has released its list of the Top 11 Jays up and comers and if that's not enough, they take things four steps further.  A tip of the 1999 Jays Batting Practice cap to Bauxite jdog for the heads-up.

The Toronto Blue Jays have signed four players to minor league deals.  Jordan Bastian from bluejays.com says the team has inked left-handed pitcher Willie Collazo, infielder Jesus Merchan and outfielders Jorge Padilla and Chris "The Big" Lubanski.  Two of the four have played in the major leagues.