Leaving Las Vegas? Not Likely

By chance last night, we noticed that Kyle Drabek would get the call to start the Las Vegas 51's game versus the Sacramento River Cats. Given the perpetual fixation on the future among Jays fans these days, we dialed up the game to see what the young pitcher had to offer should he merit a September call-up.

It took about 15 minutes to realize that Kyle Drabek probably isn't getting that call.

Drabek had an okay first inning, giving up a homer to Oakland farmhand Chris Carter. It seemed at some times as though he wasn't getting calls at the top of the zone, but we can't remember a pitcher who has excelled by living up there for any amount of time.

By the second frame, though, Drabek's delivery began to unravel, as he looked to be exerting a lot of extra effort throwing across his body. A soft single was followed by a walk, then a botched 3-6-1 double play in which Adeiny Hechavarria threw high and Drabek hit the ground after reaching to make the catch.

From there on, it was a scene from which you wanted to avert your eyes. Another soft single, then three consecutive walks with Drabek's delivery becoming increasingly erratic and almost random from pitch to pitch. He uncorked a wild pitch. His limbs flew about on each delivery like a shaken sock monkey.

The third inning started with a tough play to Hechavarria, who rushed a throw on what would be ruled a single. Once again, Drabek looked frazzled, loading the bases so that they could be cleared by Quadruple-A infielder Wes Timmins (who?) with one swing of the bat. Escaping the inning was modest achievement.

Drabek's final line: 3.0 IP, 8 hits, 9 runs (all earned), 4 BBs, 4 Ks, with a wild pitch and two homers. Frankly, Drabek was outpitched by teammate Jason Lane, a 1B/DH, who came in to toss two shutout innings with just one hit.

None of this is to write off Drabek. As we noted on our Twitter feed throughout the outing, he may be at the end of his physical rope at this point in the season. (Though that doesn't explain the track record of bad outings throughout his Triple-A assignment.)

In the end, we were left wondering if Drabek is just too gassed to maintain a consistent delivery, or if he's never developed that skill. Moreover, we'd be shocked if the Jays were to call on his services next week after the rosters expand, unless it were to get him more face time with the pitching coaches in Toronto.

Too Much Glove Love for Adeiny?
As mentioned above, Hechavarria did not overwhelm us in the way that he has others with his defense. (And believe us when we tell you that we were open to be wowed.) The allegedly slick-fielding Cuban made three bad throws and dropped an easy grounder, scuttling what should have been an easy double play.

Granted, this is our first opportunity to watch him on something other than YouTube clips, so you can apply a shiny, yellow "Small Sample Size" warning sticker on this observation. And we'd also note that his reactions off the bat look pretty great, which makes us think that he'll get to plenty of balls. We just hope he works on setting his feet a bit better on throws over his full season in Triple-A next year.

One last observation on Hechavarria: He plays bigger than his body. He may look small and wiry, but he's by no means a scrappy, slap-hitter. Imagine having Otis Nixon taking cuts like Edgar Martinez, and you might have something close to Adeiny.

Twisting Roads Through the Minors
We liked the cut of his jib, and we knew Manny Mayorson's name rang a bell for us, so we looked him up mid-game. Turns out, he's been with the Jays's system for most of the past 11 years, making his professional debut as a 17 year-old in 2000 with the now-defunct Medicine Hat Blue Jays. Among Mayorson's teammates that year was an 18 year-old Dustin McGowan, who scuffled to a 6.48 ERA and 2.04 WHIP.

Along the way, Mayorson made stops in Auburn, Charleston, Dunedin and New Hampshire in the Jays system, before spending a year and change in the Marlins' system. He returned to the Jays in 2009, and has played the past two seasons in Vegas. With the ability to play around the infield and OBPs of .362 and .370 over the past two Triple-A seasons, we wouldn't mind seeing Mayorson get a shot at cracking the big leagues to play the Mike McCoy role next year. (Maybe that's overly sentimental. Still.)

Also taking an odd path through the Jays system is backup catcher Luis Hurtado, who entered the game to give Ryan Budde a break. The 22 year-old Venezuelan has now caught for Low-A Vancouver and Lansing, High-A Dunedin as well as the Triple-A 51's, but has played a grand total of 12 games across all four levels. Where it gets weird though is that Hurtado played a total of just five games last year (at Low-A Auburn), and just 13 games across three levels the preceding year. Is Hurtado an emergency option who is brought out only when all other receivers are indisposed? There must be a story to this.

A Quick Thought on the Big Club
To bookend the post, we'd underscore Ricky Romero's grace under pressure tonight. Though he fell behind 2-0 after two batters, we loved how Romero continued to pitch aggressively and throw strikes while maintaining his composure.

Though his last few outings have not been as stellar as much of the past month, we've been impressed by Romero's ability to hang in through some tough innings and continue to pitch calmly and with purpose. While his emotions seem to get taken out on his cap and glove or on the dugout upholstery in between innings, his delivery remains solid and steady, even when he doesn't seem to have his best stuff.

The whole discussion of who is an "Ace" is a little tiresome, but we're definitely getting accustomed to having Romero's turn come up when the Blue Jays need a win. (Now if only he could do this against the Red Sox...)

West Coast road trip blues

Not a great morning in the house (mom's basement) of the Ack today. Ignoring the feeling of my throat being on fire, the sensation of a spike being driven into my sinuses, and a mild draught beer hangover (boo fucking hoo, right?), there was snow falling as I dragged my carcass out of bed. On May 9th. Snow. Awesome.

Oh, and our beloved Jays handed a game to Billy Beane's Oakland A's last night, stranding 10 runners in the process and unable to overcome the A's five-run 2nd. Ironically, the bright spot for the Jays was the man who shit all over that 2nd inning, Scott Richmond. Call me crazy, but I thought he showed the poise of a ten year vet by bouncing back and shutting the door the rest of the way.

No matter, a Jays win this afternoon behind Brian Tallet's moustache and a beyond-the-recommended dosage of cold medication should snap me out of this funk, right? No? Fuck off then. Er, I mean, go Jays.

Last-minute minor league news and notes
Admitting the mailed-in nature of the post, some minor league takes for you:

Lansing - after a slow start to the season, 19-year old burner Kenny Wilson has found his singles stroke (not like that, perv) and is currently riding a 6-game hit streak, during which he's amassed 11 hits, 6 steals - and perhaps most importantly, only 3 K's. Keep your eye on this kid.

Dunedin - Ricky Romero got slapped around in his first rehab start, to the tune of 6 runs over 4 innings pitched, but he only walked one batter and rang up five K's. I'm not concerned. Get well soon, Ricardo.

New Hampshire - Brian Dopirak put up a PlayStation line with his 5 for 6, 2 HR, 8 RBI effort in last night's annihilation of Connecticut. At 25 years old, Dopirak needs to make a move soon, but his stats line thus far in AA is cartoonish. Also, breakout prospect Brad Emaus continues to rake.

'Vegas - let's just not discuss David Purcey's start last night. It's for the best. Um, get well soon, Ricky.

That's what Travis Snider thinks of your small ball

When it comes time to actually take the wrecking ball to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, someone might consider giving Travis Snider a call.

Snider, who a day earlier was asked to square around and bunt over runners in an 8-4 loss to the Clevelanders, crushed two mammoth blasts into the far reaches of the aging stadium, leading the Jays to an 8-6 victory over the Twins. So the moral of the story, once again, is that small ball sucks.

(Take that, Juan Pierre Fan Club!)

When Snider was asked to give himself up to help move Rod Barajas' big slow butt up 90 feet, we turned to the father-in-law and said that we hoped that this is the last time we had to see nonsense like that. And while we mind don't that Magical Baseball Sage Cito Gaston has decided to take a slow route with Snider and make him earn his Major League bona fides, we're pleased as punch that The Great Big Giant Pasty White Hope^TM has already begun to make the case for a spot further up the lineup and a green light at the plate.

Where's Tomo Ohka these days?
As if the Jays didn't have enough worry over the state of their rotation, Jesse Litsch walked off the mound with "tightness" in his elbow. Given what happened with Shaun Marcum after his bout with elbow tightness last year, we're more than a little worried about what the Jays will have to do if Litsch is going to miss significant time.

It begs the question: Is there anything left out there on the scrap heap of starting pitchers? Because off the top of our head, we can't think of anyone who would do much better than just setting up a tee at home plate.

Also, doesn't this lend a bit of credence to Keith Law's notion that Brad Arnsberg, while being a wizard of a pitching coach, is also murder on young arms?

Around the Minors
The Las Vegas 51s' affiliation with the Blue Jays is off to an inauspicious start, with the Triple-A club going 0-4 out of the gate. If you've got trouble with your blood pressure, we don't suggest looking at the team's pitching stats to start the season, because there are some gaudy ERAs after the first series in the thin air of Colorado Springs. For the first time in Tao of Stieb history, allow us to use the following caveat: "The PCL is a hitters league."

On the plus side, 1B Randy Ruiz drove in eight in the first series, with 14 total bases and an OPS of 1.268, while Voodoo Joe Inglett is rocking a 1.000 OPS.

In New Hampshire, the Fisher Cats are off to a 3-2 start, with Springtime hero Brad Emaus driving in eight to start the season.

In Dunedin, the Advanced-A Jays are 1-3 to start. Diminutive reliever Tim Collins - a prospect discovered by J.P. Ricciardi's dad on the fields of Worcester, Mass., has stood out so far, striking out seven batters in four and a third innings while walking none and giving up a single hit.

Thanks to the Ack
While some in the comments figured that the Ack spent too much time in the comments of the Drunk Jays Fans, we tip our cap to our colleague for coming in and holding the fort in an extra long relief outing over the holidays. Great job Ack...now go and put some ice on those blogging fingers, because we'll need you back soon.

Guess who's back?

It's perpetual Jays farmhand and alleged PES user Howie Clark, who was signed as a minor league free agent by the Jays according to Baseball America.

(And now, we pause so that future anonymous commenters can begin losing their shit over the fact that the Jays signed Howie Clark and not Manny Ramirez. Annnnnnnnd...there. That should do it.)

Clark may well have another opportunity to discern the difference between an Alex Rodriguez squeal and Johnny Mac calling him off an infield fly. Then again, if Howie sees action at the Major League level at any point this season, the Jays are going to have bigger problems than A-Rod's poor sportsmanship.

Welcome back, Howie! We barely knew you were gone!

Gibby's off the dole

It didn't take long for John Gibbons to get back on his feet again. MLB.com reports that Gibby's been tapped to be the bench coach next year for the Kansas City Royals.

And we say: good for him and good for them. The Royals have an interesting core of young talent, and we think that Gibbons will do well as a sounding board for Royals skipper Trey Hillman. Or if nothing else, it will give Gibbons a place where he can wear a windbreaker, slump on a bench, and spit tobacco juice all summer long. (And we're sure that Missus Gibbons is grateful that he'll have someplace other than their backyard to indulge in this behaviour.)

The Future Depends on Chad
Since we're talking coaching staffs (for lack of anything else Jays-related to talk about) let's discuss the Jays' roving minor league hitting instructor.

The Canadian Press is cutting and pasting from a Jays news release reporting that the Jays have signed former prospect Chad Mottola to serve in that role for the coming season. He takes the spot vacated by miracle worker Dwayne Murphy, who set the Jays back on the right track after being summoned by El Cito to clean up the mess made by Gary Denbo.

Mottola strikes us as an ideal hire in this position. A one-time first-round selection of the Cincinnati Reds, Mottola was a quadruple-A player who was always a good performer in the minors, but who never quite had the tools to play in the big leagues. Mottola was the 2000 International League MVP with Syracuse, and has a couple of cups of coffee with the Blue Jays, including 16 ABs in 2006.

Two Playoff Thoughts, For Whatever They Are Worth

Thought #1: So that Rafael Furcal is some good offensively, huh?
Thought #2: So that Rafael Furcal is kinda awful defensively, huh?

So much for our road trip to Buffalo

It seemed like such a great idea: the Jays move their Triple A farm team to Buffalo, and baseball fans from all around the Golden Horseshoe could take the short treacherous car ride to see the team's future prospects just across the Peace Bridge. Win-win.

There's just one small problem: The Mets, who are apparently ready to move their shit out of New Orleans and settle in the Paris of Western New York.

Syracuse was in an all-fired rush to sever ties after a 31-year relationship with the Blue Jays because of their extended run of futility. (We're sure that this is somehow J.P. Ricciardi's fault.) Now, the denizens of Onondoga County may now have the pleasure of dealing with the Washington Nationals or the Florida Marlins. Have fun with that.

In spite of Chuck Schumer's song and dance to get the Mets' top affiliate in Syracuse, it looks as though the Mets have decided that the culture shock of moving their prospects from a two-bit one-horse town to the Big Apple could have lasting and palpable affects on the team's prospects.

If not Buffalo, where?
The unfortunate thing about this turn of events for the Jays is that the other cities left open in this game of Minor League Musical Chairs are primarily Pacific Coast League teams. They are:

New Orleans Zephyrs: Had their final series wiped out by Hurricane Ike. And thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers, their home town will likely end up submerged again soon.

Albuquerque Isotopes: That Simpsons joke will be funny for about two more minutes.

Las Vegas 51's: Well, at least we'd know that Bob McCown will be up to speed on the progress of the Jays prospects. The only option with direct flights to Toronto.

We're not crazy about any of those options, and god help us, we'd probably rather go back to Syracuse. Of course, the PCL is an offensive league, so maybe we can get extra excited about some of the future Jays when they start cranking out dingers in the high and dry air of Colorado Springs or Salt Lake.

Of awe-inspiring comebacks and yawn-inducing callups

Comeback kids
For most of this season, a 5-1 deficit in the early innings of a Jays game meant either walking away and getting on with your day/evening, or sticking it out and watching the Jays roll over and play dead.

But in recent weeks, this team has shown the ability to continue to chip away at the lead and swipe it away in the late innings, as exemplified by last night's 7-5 win over the Twins. Maybe it's the warm dry air that's helping some warning track shots turn into home runs, or maybe Cito really does have some sort of mystical effect on this team.

Whatever the case, and no matter how strange this might seem, the team that we the faithful are watching now looks to us like the sort of team that can actually play in a pennant race. They're nine games over .500 since Cito's arrival, so just extrapolate that over a full season. (We know it doesn't really work that way...get off of our cloud.)

There are plenty of people who have been campaigning to blow this whole team to smithereens, from the front office to the field. Watching them hang tough over the past month against the teams ahead of them in the AL standings , we wonder if a tweak or two to the roster wouldn't be enough to put them over the top.

Callups? You call those callups?
Maybe we're paying a little penance for the Jays' having called up The Great Big Giant Pasty White Hope^TM Travis Snider last week, but the callups added to the expanded September rosters yesterday were a little underwhelming and a lot familiar. We were hoping for the future of the franchise to get the call, and instead, we get a bunch of familiar faces. Shaun Marcum, Brian Wolfe, Scott Richmond? Welcome back, fellas. Curtis Thigpen? It's been a while. Brevin Mencherson? Did you guys even leave?

A minor note
Goodbye Syracuse (and good riddance for that matter). Hello Buffalo?

Hey Ricky!

After exhausting you with the War & Peace-length essay Friday morning, I hadn't really planned on dropping another post until Sunday (who am I, Ken Burns?). That was, until something caught my eye during my nightly review of the Jays minor league affiliate boxscores over on milb.com.

(No, really. I do this every night. Six teams, from Rookie League to AAA. You call it obsessive, I call it "staying on top of things". Leave me alone.)

The day after I put myself out there with Ricky Romero, he drops this pitching line for the 'Cuse:

7 IP, 5H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 10 SO

Grab a ticket, friends. Lots of room left on the train.

And since we're here....
You probably already know about Travis Snider's promotion to AAA (um, let's ignore the 3 K's tonight), but how about this year's first round selection, David Cooper, receiving his second promotion since being drafted? Scouts attached the trendy catchphrase "advanced bat" to him coming out of the draft, but this is ridiculous.

In his 3 minor league stops through Auburn-Lansing-Dunedin, Cooper is raking at a clip of .347 - 4 HR - 40 RBI through his first 47 games as a pro. You might think the 4 taters look low, but give the kid a little time and some of the 21 doubles he's hit so far (oh, did I mention those? In 47 games?) will start clearing the fence.

Call this a continuation of the "Reasons for optimism...." post. Don't even get me started on the potential of some of the kids down in Lansing.

The Farm Fresh Report

After an ugly series like the one that just finished against Oakland, it's time to cast our eyes to the next generation of Jays, if only to keep ourselves from doing something rash. Like tossing ourselves out the window. (Then again, since we are like all bloggers and writing this from our parents' basement, throwing defenestrating ourselves out and up onto street level isn't a very effective way to deal with our frustrations.)

First, allow us to introduce the experts
You may have seen this posted elsewhere, but we'd be remiss if we didn't tip our retro caps to Dave Rouleau and Marc Hulet for the bang-up job that they are doing with their new electronic magazine Behind the Dish. Blogging for shits and giggles is fun, but the BTD dudes are doing an excellent job of taking on real reportage on the Blue Jays' farm system. You can find the first two issues here, and they are worth your time, especially as we try to determine who is going to get the call to salvage our hopes and dreams for a playoff season. We highly recommend it.

Adam Lind makes his case
Obviously, these are early days, but Adam Lind is flat out raking in the first week-plus of the season. With two homers, nine RsBI and a gaudy 1.259 OPS over the first eight games of the season, one has to wonder how long the Jays can keep him in the 'Cuse.

David Purcey might be a good pitcher
Making the case that he should be the first hurler to get the call when the inevitable pitching staff DL stint arrives, David Purcey has been stellar through his first two starts in Triple-A. In 12 innings, he's struck out 14 (against four walks), allowed two earned runs (for a 1.50 ERA) and is rocking a 1.00 WHIP.

On the other hand
There's that other left hander, Ricky Romero. Sigh. Yeah, sure, it was one bad game at Double-A, but still. Sigh.

Travis Snider can still hit
Three doubles and two homers (and a stolen base!) so far for our Great White Hope.

How are things on the farm?

• Syracuse: 3-5, taking on Rochester and Buffalo next week.
• New Hampshire: 0-6 (yikes), taking on Connecticut and New Britain.
• Dunedin: 6-2 (first place in their division!), taking on Tampa and Clearwater.
• Lansing: 6-1 (first place in their division too!), taking on Cedar Rapids and Burlington.
  

Lansing Roadtrip!!! Go Nuts!

Sure, there's been plenty of malarkey about the Blue Jays' top farm team setting up shop in Ottawa. Meanwhile, back here on planet Earth, the team has re-upped with their minor-league affiliate in New Hampshire for four years, and signed two-year agreements in Auburn (the Doubledays of the Single-A NY-Penn League) and Lansing (the Lugnuts of the Single-A Midwest League).

We know SFA about Lansing aside from the fact that Magic Johnson was born there, and that it's home to Michigan State University, but the ballpark looks like a great place to spend a summer night. We were going to suggest a road trip to the see the Jays of the Future this year, but Lansing's just about 100 miles further into Michigan than we would dare venture.

We're way too soft and would be too much of an easy target to last more than 15 minutes west of Flint.

Happy Freaking Hangover! Welcome to 2008!

Ouch. Is it 2008 already? Maybe it was the Chicken Bone shots (Fireball and chocolate syrup...ganongy!), but we're having a hard time coming to grips with the transition into the New Year. You'll hve to excuse us if we sign our posts with 2007 for the next few days.

No news is...well, it's no news
While it's been a while since the last post, we have been combing around looking for something resembling news to comment on. Mostly, we're seeing a ton of year in review stories (yawn), pontification on Mitchell (blergh) and news about Canseco's sequel (ugh). We just can't get that interested.

Reaching all the way to Guam for anything resembling news
Pacific News Daily has brief on John Hattig, the corpulent Jays farmhand who in 2006 became the first player from Guam to get the call to the bigs. As you would expect, the hometown press is nicey-nice about why Hattig spent the year in Syracuse, and why he was removed from the 40 man roster. We, on the other hand, can tell you that from seeing Hattig play seven or eight times this year that he's fat, slow, and swings at just about anything thrown between first and third and the earth and the stars, and is a lousy fielder at either first or third. Still, you gotta root for the guy, don't you?

Great off-season blogging

• Tip of la casquette to the Fan 590's Mike Wilner, who shrugged off the MSG headache and dug into the mailbag on Christmas Day. Wilner, as ever, gave rational, thoughtful responses to questions...we're looking forward to seeing his blog in the mix in 2008, even if he does have a bit of a man-crush on John McDonald.
• The Drunk Jays Fans shamed us into getting off our fat duff with two monumental posts over the holidays. We're talking two posts of Brattainian length, covering a full breadth of topics, from the Doors to drunken meandering on empty Christmas streets. We laughed, we cried.

Wii Baseball News
While we spent a good part of the holidays getting our ass handed to us at Wii Sports by blog co-conspirator Shortwaveboy, we managed to avoid any nastiness like you see below.



(Thanks to Home Run Derby for the video)

Happy New Year!

Random thoughts on a shakey video of Travis Snider

Someone's got their ReggieVision Handicam down at the Arizona Fall League, documenting the prospects with a cinematographic skill that can onle be described as "Zapruderesque" . Among them was this one of Travis Snider cranking out a double.




The Good: Didja hear the beautiful sound of the crack of the bat? Niiiiiice.

The Bad: Not that we want to ponder this for too long...but doesn't Snider's body look a bit "Hinske-esque"?

Snider is one of the few players in the AFL who hasn't played above the single-A level, and he's still ripping it up. In 21 games, he's rocking a 1.025 OPS with five doubles, four homers and 11 RsBI. (And a .342 AVG, for those of you who are into that sort of thing.)

He's still only 20 (which is a few years younger than most of the top prospect in 'zona), but his performance bodes well for a possible 2009 appearance with the Jays. (Maybe...)

Other Futuer Blue Jays in the AFL

• Sergio Santos has 4 HRs and 14 RsBI along with an .823 OPS, and is playing a lot of third. In case the Jays should need new body at the hot corner sometime soon. Just sayin'.
• David Purcey's got a wicked 1.59 ERA in five starts and 17 innings. He's struck out 17 and walked 8.
• Ricky Romero's been pitching primarily in relief, and has a 4.22 ERA in 10-plus innings. He got off to a rocky start, but hasn't allowed a run in his last 7 innings of work, spanning four appearances.
  

Minor League Musical Chairs

There’s some chatter coming from Syracuse (specifically, the Post-Standard’s Matt Michael) that they’ve had enough of their affiliation with the Blue Jays, and their tradition of losing AAA teams. Moreover, they are salivating at the possibility of hooking up with the Mets for the 2009 season.

The Jays’ two-year deal with Syracuse expires after next season, and there will be a brief window in September when MLB teams and minor league cities can renegotiate their affiliation agreements. While many clubs have maintained their affiliations for decades, there has been a significantly higher degree of turnover in these agreements as of late. In 2007 alone, the Phillies, Yankees, and Mets all severed ties with their longtime AAA cities (Scranton, Columbus and Norfolk, respectively).

According the Post-Standard’s report, cities in play for 2009 may include Columbus (Washington), Buffalo (Cleveland), New Orleans (Mets), Rochester (Minnesota), Indianapolis (Pittsburgh), and Syracuse.

Obviously, the best fit out of those cities for the Jays would be Buffalo, but given the long-term success that the Bisons have had in that market, they might not want to hitch their wagons to a franchise which has produced 22 losing AAA seasons over their 30 year history.

If the music stops and the Jays are stuck with New Orleans in 2009, it would be nothing short of disastrous. A move to the Pacific Coast League would leave Jays prospects without exposure to their chief rivals’ prospects, and the expense and inconvenience of shipping players back and forth between New Hampshire, New Orleans and Toronto would be significant.

Then again, there is a AAA-level ballpark in a city with dozens of flights between it and Toronto that may well be vacant in 2009. Right Carl?

Playoff fever - AA style

While their parent clubs will be squaring off in Beantown, the AA affiliates of the Jays and Red Sox will face each other down in a one-game death match to get into the Eastern League's playoffs.

Why should this matter? We firmly believe that players who learn to win and compete in a playoff atmosphere in the minors will learn a lot from the experience.

While there are only a handful of the Fisher Cats that we can forsee as future Jays, the idea of having Ricky Romero, Tracy Thorpe or David Purcey pitching under that sort of pressure can only help with their personal development. If fifty percent of this game is half mental, then the hope is that they can learn to win in a pennant race and in the playoffs, and can bring that experience with them to the big club, sooner rather than later.

UPDATE: More Jays Minor League Playoff Mayhem!
We'd be remiss if we didn't note that the short season A ball Auburn Doubledays have already clinched their division title, and will be playing postseason games starting later this week, while the advanced A ball Lansing Lugnuts have clinched a playoff spot as well.

Dear Diary
Speaking of Romero, he was one of four players to have a player journal on MiLB.com this year. They're not exactly earth-shattering in terms of insight, but it is interesting to track Romero's thought process through this year's injuries and struggles. At just 22, Romero is the youngest player on the AA club, but he seems pretty well-adjusted. Hopefully, he'll be able to contribute within the next year or so at the major league level.

Welcome back to our good graces, Frank

Maybe sitting through those games in Tampa stirred something in Frank Thomas, who with two homers and four RsBI today, has so far driven in six runs in this series.

Johnny Mac added three RsBI his own self in Toronto's 9-5 win.

We're complete ecstatic about this, but we'd still like to see some production on the road for the rest of the season.

Meanwhile, down on the farm
Veteran minor-leaguer Jeremy Cummings looked lights out for the Chiefs in their 7-3 win over the Ottawa Lynx. since opting out of his AAA contract with the Twins, Cummings is 2-1 with a 2.64 ERA and 27 Ks versus 12 BBs. Of course, there is very little chance that we'll see him with the big club anytime soon, since he's likely been labeled a "AAAA"-type player.

Also impressive were Robinson Diaz, who looks as though he'll push Curtis Thigpen for the back-up job next year. Sergio Santos drove in two, but also made an error. He looks to us like a guy who may be more suited to play third or even a Jeff Kent-like second, but maybe that's just his height that is crossing us up.

Is this sadly weird, or weirdly sad?
Howie Clark got the DFA routine on Friday to make room for Hector Luna. Luna's never struck us as much more than a National League bench guy, but he is versatile, and may be worth the flyer. Still, we're hoping that Clark slips through waivers and sticks in the Jays' system.

Fun on the Farm...woo woo!

It's not that we're giving up on the big club's season. At least, not as much as some of the Jays players seem to have. (Zing!)

But with the Syracuse Chiefs pulling into the capital over this fine long weekend, we'll be taking in the full series. If only so that we can mercilessly heckle Russ Adams.

All kidding aside, this is (for once) an intriguing Chiefs club that will be coming to town, with several actual real live prospects in the lineup. With Royce Clayton's recent DFA (or is that PFO?), the Jays have promoted Sergio Santos to AAA just in time for the weekend series against the Lynx. Santos tore up the AA Eastern League this year (17 HRs, 55 RsBI, .814 OPS), so it will be intriguing to see what the future holds for the former first round pick of Arizona, who came to the Jays in the Troy Glaus deal.

Also, while we love Sal Fasano as much as the next dude, we're looking forward to seeing Robinson Diaz catch. Also a recent callup from AA, the 23 year-old Diaz is (excuse the trite phrase) the "catcher of the future" for the Jays, and has hit well for average thus far.

Finally, it is at least plausible that everybody's favorite chili racer, A.J. Burnett, will jet in on Monday for a rehab start. No word on if his wife will hop in a Town Car for one of her dozen or so contractually mandated limo rides to offer moral support.

Oh yeah: Halladay versus Millwood. Can we get a "woop woop".