Toronto Blue Jays

Some of you might be too young to remember the name Epy Guerrero but without him you would never have known George Bell, Tony Fernandez, Alfredo Griffin, Juan Guzman, and Carlos Delgado as Blue Jay—just to name a few. Epifanio Obdulio "Epy" Guerrero died today at 71 and he goes to his grave as possibly the most prolific baseball scout of all time, almost single-handedly opening up the Latin market that is today the one of the epicenters of the world’s best baseball talent. Throughout the Latin world as the Super Scout he has signed more players than anyone in baseball history and should be largely credited with building the rosters anchored by Dominican talent that led to Toronto finishing above .500 for from 1983 through 1993 and winning two World Series titles on the way. Guerrero also started the Dominican Republic's first baseball academy back in 1973. Some of Guerrero’s career highlights with the Jays include recommending that the Blue Jays acquire George Bell, Manny Lee, and Kelly Gruber through the Rule 5 Draft, converting Pat Borders from a third baseman to a catcher in the Dominican Winter League, and putting his seal of approval on the "The Trade" that brought the Blue Jays their first Hall of Famer: Robbie Alomar. Epy often found and signed players others might have overlooked, like finding Junior Felix at a track event and signing him. He saw talent in a very young Tony Fernandez even though he walked with a limp due to a knee problem. Guerrero paid for an operation to fix Tony’s limp and then signed him up. Thanks for that one Epy! During the Gord Ash era, Epy excitedly extolled the virtues of a young Dominican pitcher that he urged Ash to sign. Instead of taking his word for it, Ash sent Mel Queen to evaluate the pitcher. Not impressed, Queen overruled Guerrero and the Blue Jays missed out on signing someone named Pedro Martinez. Guerrero was briefly a field coach for the Blue Jays as well. It makes me wonder why such a prolific scout and talent evaluator with his kind of successful track record was never ticketed to a position like assistant general manager. Why wasn’t Epy ceded with a more appropriately successful career path in this organization? Epy is survived by his wife and their five sons, all of whom are now working in professional baseball.

St. Louis is getting its kicks as it rises to No. 1 in the Power Rankings. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Toronto Blue Jays News

Sounds like we’ll get the rare treat of back-to-back big league debuts for a couple of impressive young pitchers– one, albeit, far more heralded than the other– at the Rogers Centre this week, as it appears that Kevin Gausman’s debut tonight for the Orioles will be followed tomorrow by Sean Nolin’s first taste of the big leagues for the Jays. As early as last night word was getting out that Nolin had been scratched from his start today for New Hampshire. In fact, Nolin himself admitted he’d been bumped to Friday: @bigfourinsider friday — Sean Nolin (@Sean_Nolin) May 23, 2013 Friday was to be Marcus Stroman’s next start for the Fisher Cats, but he was pushed back as well. “New Hampshire now listing Nolin for Friday and Stroman Saturday meaning #bluejays can delay making Fri. start decision until later,” tweeted Richard Griffin this morning. He added, however, that there’s a decent reason to think Nolin may be getting the call– that is, beyond the fact that nominal fifth starter Stephen Chadwick Jenkins hasn’t pitched since May 12th: Why might #bluejays choose LH Sean Nolin over RH Chad Jenkins Friday? O;s splits vs. LH-starters .243Avg .697OPS vs. RHS .277Avg .795OPS — Richard Griffin (@RGriffinStar) May 23, 2013 Eventually, though there has still been no official word from the club, because a roster spot would need to be created to add Nolin, Shi Davidi went ahead and tweeted that the left-handers big league debut on Friday is “expected,” and followed it up with a piece on Nolin for Sportsnet. So… who is Sean Nolin? Back in December, after Baseball Prospectus released their Jays top ten for 2013, I passed this along: Nolin is just ten starts behind where Henderson Alvarez was when he first got the call to the Majors– at 88 innings deep into his New Hampshire career, a whopping number compared to Hutchison’s 31.2 over six starts at the level– so it’s not entirely crazy to believe that he could be the club’s real sixth starter. Parks sees him as close, suggesting that “Nolin looks to be on the fast-track, and if he performs well at the Double-A level, he could reach the majors at some point during the season. Some sources think his arsenal is on the way up, especially if the slider develops into a consistent plus offering.” We’re told that his stuff “doesn’t need major grade jumps” to compete at the highest level, and while he lacks a “high-end out pitch,” he spent 2012 “maturing with each start at the High-A level,” and has the look of a number three starter– and a close one at that. Nolin got a late start on the Fisher Cats season due to injury, but he’s certainly looked good enough for Double-A, striking out 16 and walking five in 15.1 innings over three starts, allowing just two earned runs. Scarily, though, he’d have had even less Double-A experience than Hutchison, if he really is on his way up. Marc Hulet of FanGraphs wrote about having watch Nolin’s May 12th start earlier this week, and by his eyes, the pitcher still seemed to be a bit rusty from his injury layoff. “His full windup lacked fluidity in the first inning but got better as the game went on,” he wrote. “Early on, the left-handed pitcher struggled with his fastball command and the opposing hitters were having some really good hacks on his offerings. He was also not throwing his curveball for strikes on a consistent basis. The good news is that those issues should be correctable.” He adds that, as the mechanical issues improved over the course of the game, so did the command issues. Another negative, though, was the fact that “Nolin doesn’t do himself any favors with his delivery because he ends his follow-through in a very poor fielding position and I watched two catchable bouncers get past him.” And he concluded by explaining that he’d “have to rate Nolin as a future No. 4 starter. He doesn’t look ready fo

There has been lots of Jays stuff coming out of MLB’s Fan Cave so far this season, thanks in no small part, I’m sure, to Jays fan April Whitzman (aka @Alleycat17), who is one of the select group imprisoned taking part in it this season. Case in point? This gem of Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion dropping bombs on the driving range at Manhattan’s Chelsea Piers. Check it out after the jump… Clip via MLB Fan Cave.

Courtesy of YahooThere are 25 men on a Major League roster. 25 men working as one cohesive unit. In any pre or post-game interview, most baseball players will tell you that it takes 25 guys to win a game. One man alone cannot single-handedly win a baseball game.They must have forgotten about Joey Bats.Jose Bautista did in fact single-handedly win yesterday's game for the Blue Jays. He was on base five times, collected four hits, and drove in all four Blue Jays runs. He also provided the game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth and the go-ahead run in extra innings.As noted by @Minor_Leaguer, Jose Bautista's Win Probability Added in that game was 1.053, so in essence he really did win that game all on his own for the Blue Jays. Sure, Mark Buehrle turned in a strong effort, but without Bautista it could have been a 4-0 game.In fact, that impressive offensive output by Jose Bautista ranks as the highest WPA game for one batter in Blue Jays history (hat tip once again to @Minor_Leaguer). Statistically speaking, that was the single greatest game of Bautista's career.I think my favourite part about Bautista's game-winning hit was that he swung at a pitch outside the zone that he basically had no business swinging at, and yet poked it into right field. And Evan Longoria did the very same to the Blue Jays in this series.Not to mention, the Rays had the shift on Jose Bautista and were expecting him to pull the ball to left. Instead, Bautista beat the shift and managed to hit it to the opposite field for just his third hit of the season into right field. Just like Evan Longoria has become a thorn in the side of Blue Jays pitchers, perhaps Jose Bautista has unofficially been deemed as the thorn in the side of the Tampa Bay Rays pitching staff. Bautista really has been the definition of clutch for the Blue Jays, as seven of his 11 home runs have come in the sixth inning or later. If the Blue Jays are trailing, one can always count on Joey Bats for some late-inning heroics.It's games like last night's that really makes one appreciate Jose Bautista. With the team struggling as of late, the plethora of injuries and just the overall bad luck of the Blue Jays, the contributions of Joey Bats have been somewhat overshadowed. While it is great to watch Jose Bautista as the Blue Jays one man wrecking crew, games like last night remind me of the offense-starved squads from 2011 and 2012 in which Bautista excelled, but many of his teammates did not.One of the most promising things about this Blue Jays team going into Opening Day was how the starting lineup finally looked to be balanced. No longer would it be just Bautista and Encarnacion out on an island; they finally had a supporting cast to balance out the lineup.But due to a combination of injuries and lack of offense from certain players, the Blue Jays two best hitters are once again driving in the lion's share of the runs on this team.However, for all the shortcomings in this Blue Jays lineup, Jose Bautista is truly a one of a kind talent that should not be taken for granted. If this team is going to be successful, it's going to have to rely heavily on Joey Bats.There are many players on the Blue Jays roster to be concerned about, but Jose Bautista has proven that he's the last player anybody should have doubts about. He continues to be the one man wrecking crew ... but hopefully some of that will rub off on his teammates.

Who will be the Toronto Blue Jays' starting pitcher this Friday against the Orioles? Nobody outside of the organization does. As John Gibbons said, the candidate is "top secret." Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star went to do some snooping and found a piece of note on Gibbons' desk that may provide a clue: A piece of paper on Gibby's desk lists the starting pitchers for the next few games. For Friday it reads, "Jenkins?" — Brendan Kennedy (@BKennedyStar) May 21, 2013 Certainly, there is this mystery because the club has not announced anyone as the starter as of yet, even though Chad Jenkins, who started and pitched well on May 12, is well-rested and could start tomorrow. Even as of yesterday, the Jays were prepared to use him out of the bullpen had Mark Buehrle needed to leave early. A possible candidate to start is Sean Nolin, who is currently on the roster for the AA New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Marc Hulet wrote about him three days ago on FanGraphs. He has made three starts with the Cats since he returned from the disabled list and pitched very well, throwing two outings where he went six innings giving up no runs on four hits, even reaching 98 pitches in his start back on Saturday. Counting days, his scheduled start should have been today, but last night he revealed on Twitter that he had been pushed back to Friday: @bigfourinsider friday — Sean Nolin (@Sean_Nolin) May 23, 2013 It's very interesting that the official word is that he was pushed back to Friday because he needed "extra rest" even though he is "physically fine". It's too bad that he won't be coming up tonight to face the Orioles' AA callup Kevin Gausman. Should Nolin be the one to be called up, he will need to be added to the 40-man roster, which means that someone must be removed. I would think the leading candidate would be Ramon Ortiz. So, who do you think will start for the blue birds on Friday night? And how do you think this would affect Nolin's development? UPDATE A sort of confirmation but not really from Shi Davidi: Sean Nolin, scratched from start at double-A New Hampshire today, expected to start for #BlueJays on Friday vs #Orioles. — Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) May 23, 2013 Poll Who will start for the Blue Jays on Friday? Chad Jenkins Sean Nolin Ramon Ortiz Marcus Stroman Mike McCoy Someone else 101 votes | Results

  From May 21: It was an interesting roster move made by the Blue Jays on Monday in time for the Victoria Day game against the Rays, promoting struggling centre-fielder Anthony Gose as an extra bench player to fill in late innings defensively for the hobbled Melky Cabrera in left field and, perhaps, as a pinch-running threat off the bench. Interesting because even Gose himself was shocked at the move. Suspicions are that the Gose move may be short-lived, with Rajai Davis soon ready to return from the disabled list. However, the stint, no matter how brief, was not a bad thing for the 22-year-old speedster in terms of clearing his head of hitting woes at Triple-A Buffalo, reuniting him briefly with hitting coach Chad Mottola who was with him at Triple-A Las Vegas in 2012 and spring training this year. “It’s like a fresh start,” Gose said. “You wake up and it’s like a new scenery, everything’s new, you-start-from-scratch type deal. It’s one of those things that kind of erases everything, start fresh, deep breath, let’s go. That’s over, it’s done, let’s move on, we’re here, let’s play and be ready to go.” At the end of the Jays’ season last year, Gose, following a dramatic September improvement at the major-league level, must have, deep in his heart, considered that he had an opportunity in 2013 to take the next step and play in the majors. Then the Jays went out and signed Melky Cabrera to a two-year deal and with Davis already on board as the fourth outfielder and with the versatility of Emilio Bonifacio, that door quickly slammed in the face of the confident California native. The body blows continued. On Day 1 of camp, the GM Alex Anthopoulos and manager John Gibbons told Gose emphatically that he would be Buffalo bound, barring injuries. After the Jays obtained Gose from the Astros in July of ’09, they suggested publicly that he needed probably another 1,500 plate appearances before he was truly prepared to play in the major leagues. Gose is close to that total, sitting on 1,362 minor-league PAs in the Jays’ system. He’s very close, but Anthopoulos has emphasized all along that when he finally arrives, it’s not to sit on the bench. He will play. This is not that time. Gose needs to understand, but it’s tough for someone that has not suffered failure very often. “I knew this year because of everything that had taken place, that there wasn’t a spot for me, I didn’t do enough last year,” Gose admitted. “I wasn’t just going to double-jump Triple-A (in 2012). I was going to go there. When I left (last) season, I thought I probably had a chance to compete, then obviously things happened. There was not a spot. I obviously didn’t do enough.” It was a good thing on a personal basis on Monday for Gose to not only get in the game defensively, with a four-run lead in the eighth, but also to draw his first at-bat as the inning stayed alive with a Mune Kawasaki triple. Even a short fly ball to left field by Gose did not curb his enthusiasm. “I think that setting in there today, getting that at-bat it was like Opening Day again for me,” Gose said. “Somewhere new, like a fresh start. It was really good for me. It was like something different, something new, let’s pick it back up and let’s go. We’ve got good crowds in Buffalo, but obviously everybody knows there’s nothing like being in the big leagues.” If this indeed turns into a short term move for Gose, which is likely, it may pay off for him and the organization simply in being able to press that reset button to a staggering season. THE WEEK THAT WAS From the Giants to the Rays: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. After crushing the World Series champion Giants in consecutive interleague games on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Jays travelled on another off-day Thursday to New York, where they looked weak and

Ranking players on what they have done so far isn’t too much help for fantasy owners, is it? While it’s great to know what someone has done, what we care about more is where we think they are heading. While these rankings do take a players performance to date into account, where we think they are going is weighted much more into the equation. With that in mind, let’s take a look at our current Top 15 catchers (number in parenthesis is their final preseason ranking): 1) Paul Goldschmidt – Arizona Diamondbacks (7) Can he maintain his current 25.5% HR/FB? Probably not, though we all knew he had significantly more power than he showed last season (20 HR). With that coming out, coupled with his ability to ht .300 and steal bases (18 in 2012, 4 thus far in 2013) he is a complete player in the mold of Albert Pujols in his prime. Is anyone going to complain about that? He’s entrenching himself as one of the elite players in the game, let alone first baseman. 2) Joey Votto – Cincinnati Reds (1) We all know he can hit, the question had been if his power would come back.  After hitting his final 2012 HR on June 24 (he was out from 7/15 through 9/5) it was a fair concern.  He now has 7 HR on the season, however, to go along with 10 doubles and a triple.  It’s not quite as much power as we’d like to see, the problem is that he just isn’t putting the ball in the air enough (26.1% fly ball rate).  The HR/FB is there (19.4%) and there is a good chance that the power improves.  However, there is enough concern to keep him out of the top spot for now (but barely).  3) Prince Fielder – Detroit Tigers (3) It’s not a lock that he improves his average (.276 based on a 18.4% line drive rate), but he is on pace to one again hit over 30 HR and drive in well over 100 RBI. As teams try to avoid Letting Miguel Cabrera beating them, the opportunities for Fielder to produce are just going to continue to grow. 4) Albert Pujols – Los Angeles Angels (2) He’s off to another poor start, but it is hard to imagine things not getting better. While his strikeout rate is the highest it has been since 2001, it’s still just 13.9%. He’s had poor luck with a .259 BABIP. His power has been decent, but he should improve on a 12.3% HR/FB (19.0% for his career, 14.0% in 2012). Is he the same player he once was? Absolutely not, but he still has the ability to be a Top 5 option the rest of the way. 5) Anthony Rizzo – Chicago Cubs (8) The biggest concern with Rizzo was whether he was going to be able to maintain last seasons’s power (15 HR over 337 AB). Not only has he maintained it, but he has actually improved upon it with 10 HR over 176 AB. Even if his 20.0% HR/FB regresses a bit, he is proving that he can hit 30+ HR to go along with a solid average. Throw in his 4 SB (in 7 attempts, showing the Cubs will let him run) and he is quickly becoming one of the better options in the league. 6) Edwin Encarnacion – Toronto Blue Jays (10) The preseason concern was that he was going to start trying to swing for the fences, making him susceptible to a low batting average. He’s hitting .250, but it’s not due to his approach. His fly ball rate is actually down (49.5% to 44.1%) and his strikeout rate is similar (14.6% vs. 14.8%). The problem has been luck, with a .233 BABIP despite a 21.4% line drive rate. The average should rise and, with the power still being there, he is proving to be a very good option for, here on out. 7) Freddie Freeman – Atlanta Braves (9) Granted, he did miss time due to injury, but when he has played he has not taken the step many thought he would, at least on the surface. He is hitting the ball extremely hard (28.7% line drive rate) and has his strikeouts down (18.3% vs. 21.4% for his career). He’s also driving in plenty of runs (26 RBI in 127 AB). The problem? He hasn’t been hitting for enough power, with 2 HR courtesy of a 5.7% HR/FB. Since

4-4 with 2 home runs, a walk and even a stolen base. That was Jose Bautista's night. All other Blue Jays managed a 3-30 with two walks and five strikeouts. Wow. JAYS LINKS Jose Bautista's big day helps Blue Jays down Tampa Bay Rays | Blue Jays | Sports | Toronto SunA recap of Bautista's fantastic evening. Jays' Johnson to make rehab start for Herd Saturday - Inside Pitch | The Buffalo News Josh Johnson works his way towards filling one of the two gaping holes in this rotation. J.P. Arencibia's Historically (Awful) Season - Jays Journal - A Toronto Blue Jays Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More "J.P. Arencibia is having a truly historic season. When will the Blue Jays faithful become fully aware of his general ineptness?" Q&A: Marcus Stroman, a Blue Jay Starts Over | FanGraphs Baseball There Jays aren't overflowing with quality prospects so it's good to see Stroman back on the mound. Top prospect Gausman to debut vs. Jays - Sportsnet.ca "The Orioles appear to be calling up one of their top pitching prospects to make his MLB debut in Toronto against the Blue Jays. Kevin Gausman will reportedly debut Thursday." Toronto could turn to prospect for Friday start | bluejays.com: News "The Blue Jays still haven't made their decision on who their starting pitcher will be on Friday, but it may be a fresh face." It might be fun to see Nolin or Stroman but I'm not sure it's wise. AL EAST LINKS Just who is the Orioles' Kevin Gausman? - SBNation.com "The pitching prospect will make his big-league debut on Thursday, so it's time for introductions." Minor Moves: Josh Horton, Austin Urban and Ronny Paulino - Camden Chat "Always one step ahead of the competition, that Dan Duquette. What was his "thing" last year? Backup catchers? Well, it appears that this year's model is the utility infielder." Will Jose Iglesias get another chance with the Red Sox? - Over the Monster"Once the heir apparent at shortsop, Jose Iglesias's path to the majors has gotten murkier and murkier. Will he even have a chance to find his way back?" Camden Yards: Setting a new standard in stadium construction - Pinstriped Bible"Believe it or not, the Orioles haven't always played at Camden Yards. It was one-of-a-kind when it opened in 1992. Just how big was its impact on baseball? THE REST OF THE BASEBALL UNIVERSE LINKS Marlins or Astros: Who's worse? - Baseball NationThis debate will go all the way to September. Vance Worley and Losing the Magic | FanGraphs BaseballRelying on batters to look at strikes can be a dicey proposition. Orioles' Manny Machado is not A-Rod (and that's a good thing) - CBSSports.com "In high school, Manny Machado seemed to want to be Alex Rodriguez. Now Machado is a 20-year-old star, and the best thing is, he's not A-Rod." Trust me, you would want him to be A-Rod if you were an Orioles fan... Classic Knobler if you are in for a laugh. (Not that Machado isn't sort of scary good) Andre Ethier is Now Eminently Available | FanGraphs Baseball Any takers? Indians closer lets the trolls win, shuts down Twitter account | MLB | Sports | National Post "Indians closer Chris Perez deactivated his Twitter account following two rough outings, and after receiving a slew of negative comments" Never let the trolls win. NON-BASEBALL LINK OF THE DAY BBC News - Venezuela aims to end toilet paper shortage"Venezuela's National Assembly backs plans to import 39 million rolls of toilet paper, in an effort to relieve a chronic shortage." This qualifies quite simply as "bad news".

TORONTO — Jose Bautista homered twice and drove in the winning run with a 10th-inning single, leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday.Bautista went 4 for 4 with a walk and four RBIs. Three other players had one hit, but that was it for Toronto's offense. Read more Jose Bautista news