Idle thoughts for idle days

With an off-day yesterday, we kick back and ponder randomly on the Jays.

Dodging bullets: J.P. Ricciardi noted after Gil Meche blew off the Jays' $55 million offer that they had "dodged a bullet" (although Meche's 3.76 ERA might look nice in Toronto's rotation right now.) The real bullet the Jays dodged this offseason was the bizzarro signing-non-signing of Rod Barajas. Barajas is now getting paid $2.5 million by the Phillies to put up Ken Huckaby-type numbers (.209 AVG, 4 HRs, 9 RsBI). We wonder if Pat Gillick knows that Jason Phillips is available?

Is Carlos Delgado toast? Mets bloggers and media are scratching their heads over Carlos Delgado's anemic offensive performance this year (.755 OPS, 16 HRs, 54 RsBI). Newark Star Ledger baseball writer Rob Gebeloff asks flat out: Is Carlos Delgado Washed Up? Gebelhoff follows up by demonstrating that Delagado's production traditionally picks up in the second half. We're still rooting for King Carlos, but having caught a few games on WPIX this year, we note that his swing has gotten big again, as it was throughout much of his final year in Toronto. Then again, with a 1.040 OPS, August has been by far his most productive month of the season throughout his career.

Still on #1 in Dubious Power Rankings: Months after we noted the Jays' supremacy in the Rocky Mountain News' Readers' MLB rankings, our boys remain well ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates in first place. Way to go, fellas.