Oh how the mighty have fallen. I know it is Tuesday and Monday did not provide a lot of marquee games but to lead off SportsCenter with a PRESEASON Football game? I mean, there must be something more important going on than PRESEASON Football? ESPN even brought in one of their talking head "analyzers" for some hard hitting conversion about PRESEASON Football. Couldn't they talk about the big game played between the Giants and Atlanta. Or, you could mention the fact the Astros won again and have started to make a charge towards the playoffs. Talk about the huge week and a half coming up for Boston, Oakland, Texas and Anaheim as they all play one another. But no, PRESEASON Football is the choice as the most important sports event of the past 24-hours.

The slow demise of the "World Wide Leader in Sports" is truly troubling. The weird part is. Nobody seems to notice?? If you agree of disagree drop me a line as I'd love to talk about this some more.

I'm back after a short break. It was a tough weekend as on Friday I was at the Jets-Giants preseason game. Saturday was a wedding and Sunday was golf. Gotta take in the nice weather while it's still here. Anyway, back to more important things.

A couple of big starts for two minor leaguers on Saturday. First, Gustavo Chacin won his second game for Syracuse posting a nice little line: 6 2/3 IP, 8 SO, 2 BB, 1 ER, 9 H. A few two many hits but pretty good for only his 2nd start at AAA. I wasn't a big fan of this guy but he's been pretty good of late. He put up good numbers in AA but not as great as you might think. Putting asside his gaudy 15-2 record he posted the following: 2.96 ERA, 136 2/3 IP, 108 H, 103 SO and 46 BB. The ERA isn't too bad and the hit number is pretty good but he's striking out only .79 hitters per 9 and has a good but not great 2.24 K/BB ratio. Realistically, I'd say he shaping up to be a #3 or #4 starter. Not the end of the world though.

The start that got me really excited happened for New Hampshire. Where Francisco Rosario went 7 innings without giving up a hit, struck out 8 and only walked 2. Rosario was one of the Jays best pitching prospects until he blew out his elbow and had to have Tommy John surgery. He's been up and down as he's come back this year but this is a great sign. I wouldn't mind seeing him pitch in the Arizona Fall League (Scarry I know. This is where he below his elbow out) to get some more innings under his bealt. He could be a guy who really comes on for the Jays next year the way David Bush has this year.

BlueJay.com is reporting Russ Adams, Guillermo Quiroz and Eric Crozier will be called up in September when rosters expand. I couldn't agree with the selection more and look forward to see the three play in September. They are all expected to play a big roll for the Jays next year.

Adams- He was the first round pick (14th overall) of the 2002 amateur draft and the first player drafted by JP Ricciardi. He's played well in every stop of his minor league career and is off to a .283/.349/.408 start with Syracuse. Adams profiles as a very solid SS but I don't see him turning into a star. He will probably hit in the .280's when he settles in with a high on-base percentage and not a lot of power. He's probably an ideal leadoff/2nd hitter if things fall into place for him. Defensively I'd say he's about average. There was a lot of talk of moving him to 2nd base at one time but that talk seems to have quieted down recently. I had a chance to see him play a bunch last year when the Jays AA team was in New Hampshire and I think he could play Short at the big league level every day. He would be consistent (few errors) but not spectacular (good but not great range) player. I believe there's a pretty good chance he'll get a lot of starts at SS for the rest of the year. In 2005 I expect him to make the big league club and split time with a veteran, like Chris Gomez, until he gets his feet wet.

Quiroz- Guillermo is another player I had a chance to see a lot last year. I really like this guy. Like Alex Rios, Quiroz had a breakout year (.282/.372/.518) in 2003 for AA New Hampshire. This year he has not put up the same numbers but he's been battling injuries for the most of the year. To date, at Syracuse he's hitting .234/.317/.429. He's hit 8 HR's and 19 2B's in 231 AB's. In terms of hitting, he's leaps and bounds in front of Kevin Cash. Defensively he looks real good as well. He's got a good, if not very great, throwing arm and he blocks the ball well. I don't think he profiles as a gold glover but he's not a guy like Josh Phelps who needed to be moved from behind the dish. Outlook. It will be interesting to see the way the Jays catching problem sorts itself out. Right now, they've got 4 capable catchers on their roster. Quiroz, Greg Zaun, Cash and Greg Myers. Myers has been injured all year and I expect him to either retire or sign somewhere else for 2005. Personally, I'd like to see the Jays bring Zaun back and use him in a quasi-platoon with Quiroz. They both can hit and are both pretty good defensively. I think mixing and matching them in 2005 with an eye towards giving the full time job to Quiroz in 2006 is the way to go. I think by 2006-2007 Quiroz will develop into an All Star caliber catcher. That leaves us with Cash. I'd like to see what kind of bounty he could bring back in a trade in the off season. He's proven two things to me this year. One, he can catch. He's got a strong arm, calls a good game and blocks the ball well. Two, he can't hit. Let me say that again. He can't hit. Currently, he's at .194/.254/.300 for the year in 170 AB's. For his career, you can probably mark him down for about .250/.310/.370 and that's a little optimistic. He does have some power,r so I think he'll hit some HR's but he will never hit for a high average or get on-base very often. But, I think he'll have a long career as a backup catcher. A trade to a team in need of a young catcher is something I could see happening. Depending on how things go with Joe Mauer's knee, a trade to the Twins could be a possibility.

Crozier- The third member of our rumored promotion crew is Eric Crozier. Crozier is of course the player the Jays picked up when they dealt Josh Phelps to the Indians. So far this year Crozier has been impressive. He hitting .294/.378/.541 for Akron (AA) and Syracuse. He's also got 21 HR's and 27 2B's. If he proves he can handle big league pitching I'm betting he gets a shot at being next years full time DH. If not, I think we can look to see Frank Catalanatto come back to DH and play a little OF while the Jays will probably pickup a right-handed 1B. As long as he shows some competence I think he'll make the team at the very least as a spot starter, left-handed bat off of the bench.

So there you have it. Come September if anyone else gets the call I'll profile them as well.

Still playing with the template for this bad boy. I've added comments which I'm not too hot on and I've added a feature where you can email an article to someone. I'm not a big fan of "Comments" but we'll see how it goes.

Wells update. According to the official site of the Blue Jays Vernon is going to stay sidelined for a while as he lets his calf injury heal. He did hurt the same calf as last time but apparently this time it is in a different spot. For now Reed Johnson will continue to man CF.

I didn't mention it on Monday as I didn't have much information but as I'm sure some of you noticed Vernon Wells didn't come out for the 9th inning. Replays showed in the 8th he came up lame running to first base. Latest information I have (via ESPN game summary) is he aggravated the previous calf injury which caused him to miss 24 games earlier in the season.

I'm a little concerned as he did not play CF last night. We'll have to see if he is able to go tonight. If not, I'm sure we'll get some more information as that will be an indicator of something a little more serious. If I get word on his condition I'll let you know. Also, if you happen to hear anything please drop me a line.

Wow, did I just get an entertaining email. The Blue Jays nominees for the Hank Aaron award, which is given annually to the best overall offensive performer in the AL and NL, are Carlos Delgado, Vernon Wells and (drumroll please) Reed Johnson! Reed Johnson? Now, I like Johnson. I think he's a solid player who has been a fine contributed to the team. But, if he is one of your leading offensive players. You know your offence is in trouble.

(Having a heck of a time trying to get anything published right now.)

Heck of a game pitched by Ted Lilly last night. Complete game shutout, 3 hitter. 13 SO and only 2 BB. He had the best curve of anyone I've seen pitch this year. Every pitch he threw setup the next. He'd throw a curve for strike 1, a high fastball at the letters for strike 2 and a changeup on the outside corner for strike three. Masterful. I can't remember the last time I saw so many hitters swing and miss fastballs at the letters in one game.

I'll say this again. Halladay, Lilly, Batista, Bush, Towers and an offence will be fantastic next year. We've got the starting pitching in place. On the offensive side, give me a SS and a 1B/DH type and I'm happy.

The Jays enter an extremely tough part of their schedule as they now play Boston for three, New York for four, Seattle for three (pheww, a team without a winning record), Oakland for three, Anaheim for three and then Texas for three. It will be very interesting to see how these games turn out as the Jays offense is just starting to wake-up a little. Delgado and Hinske have been coming around of late. Because of the Jays record, these teams will be expecting/needing wins as they are all (except Seattle) in the playoff picture. It's will be a great time to evaluate the talent level for next year. Mr. Gross, Mr. Rios and Mr. Bush, time to make a statement.

On Sunday the Blue Jays put OF/DH Frank Catalanotto on the 15-day disabled list and recalled left-handed reliever Dave Maurer from Syracuse. It's being reported the move will end the Cat's season as he's going to have surgery (ouch!) on his troublesome groin.

It's too bad Cat's season is over as I do think he is one of the better hitters in the game. The guy has an Ichiro like ability to get on-base via the hit. I've enjoyed watching him hit over the past couple of years and I hope we bring him back next year. Hopefully, having the surgery now will mean he's ready to go at 100% next year. I haven't heard an exact date for the surgery but I'll let everyone know when I do.

I like the idea of bringing Maurer up from 'Cuse. He's got a 3.50 ERA in 41 games and 61.2 innings. He's SO 61 and walked 26. He is a little homer happy as he's given up 6 of these in his 61.2 innings. Kershner has been getting hammered and I'm sick of Nakamura's inconstancy so in that regard I think it's a good call. Plus, DH/OF AB's can now be rotated between Reed Johnson and Gabe Gross. At least until September when we'll most likely see Eric Crozier get the call. He's the guy we got from Cleveland in the Josh Phelps trade. I'd like to see what his .294/.381/.546 line would do for the big club.

One more thing on the Cat. At this point, I do hope we can bring him back. I think he's a good, relatively cheap bat who can help us next year. Of course, you never know who will be cut loose in the off-season and what someone like Crozier (who's a lefty hitter as well) might do. I bet we could find Cat 500 AB's next year between LF, RF, DH and 1B (Why not? Gomez has played there a couple of times).

There is not such thing as too much pitching. With that in mind it's good to see David Purcey, the Jays first pick this year, make his debut. Purcey pitched on Sunday for the Auburn Doubledays of the New York-Penn League (Short Season Class A) and went 3 innings giving up 2 ER's on 4 hits. He also K'd 4 and didn't walk anyone. I'll keep an eye on him as the year comes to a conclusion.

I'm a little ashamed of myself for not going back and finishing up my thoughts on Selig's extension but I did stumble upon an article which does a better job than I could ever do in summarizing my thoughts. I don't necessarily think the Wild Card is the worst thing in the world but other than that, it is spot on. I fear for the game.

Now that the Jays game isn't on I find myself perusing through a couple of minor league stats. Random thoughts:

• SS, Raul Tablado (4th round 2000, Southridge HS, Miami) is hitting .311/.361/.618 with 21 HR's for single A Dunedin. He is playing in a hitters park (1049 park factor) but that's still pretty good.
• Speaking of the 2000 draft. Can't say it worked out very well for the Jays. Other than Dustin McGowen, we didn't get any impact players. And who knows what kind of career McGowen will have as he blew his elbow out this year and had Tommy John surgery. First rounder Miguel Negron hasn't turned out too be much.
• Thomas Mastny has thrown up a pretty good line for the Charlestown Alley Cats in the South Atlantic League. Thus far: 8-3, 2.27, 123 SO, 37 BB, 135 IP, 113 H. Pretty good SO/BB ratio and less hits than IP. Not too shabby.

Grrrrrr. Never mind. Because Fox is showing the Giants and the Mets I'm blacked out of the Jays game. I do this to myself all the time. I get excited to watch a game and I forget about the damn blackout rules. Though, watching the greatest player ever isn't a bad conciliation prize.

14 Runs! 14 Runs!! 14 Runs!!! For the first time since July 8th (10-8 win) when we beat the juggernaut that is the Seattle Mariners the Jays scored a double-digit number of runs. Mr. Rios went 2-6 with a double and Gabe Gross went 0-2 but with 3 walks. That's tasty. Thus far Gross and Rios have not set the world on fire but at the same time they have not sucked. Rios thus far is at .292/.334/.405 while Gross is at .235/.366/.382. Gross' walk rate is very encouraging. Let's keep throwing them out there every day to get them ready for 2005. I really like Reed Johnson but at this point the Jays need to figure out if these two guys can handle full time duty next year.

Speaking of next year. One of the guys I'd like to see the Jays pursue to play first base next year is Erubiel Durzao. He's hitting .325/.393/.533 this year and will be a free agent at the end of the season. His on-base skills would be nice to see in the lineup every day. The A's have a backlog of good young 1B/DH types at AAA and will probably let him walk.

That's all for now. Time to dial into MLBTV to watch David Bush do his thing against the O's. Go Jays!

I had a great little rant about this going until Blogger swallowed my post and refused to spit it up. I'll have to redo it at some point. Anyway, for those of you who haven't heard, Bud Selig will be back sticking around for three more year.

I'm starting to get aggravated. Does anyone have any idea what the heck is wrong with Eric Hinske? This has been bothering me for a while now but I can't take it any more. There is just no way this guy should be hitting as poorly as he has. There has to be some kind of injury or personal problem going on because he's just not the player he should be. Before I rant to much though, lets back up a couple years shall we.

It's now November of 2002 and Eric Hinske has just put his hands on the AL Rookie of the Year trophy. He had a line of .279/.365/.481, hit 24 HR's, 38 2B's, walked 77 times and even stole 13 bases. He seemed to pretty much do it all. Though, he did struggle at 3B. No big deal though, everyone would be OK with that if he continued hitting like he did. To most, it looked like Eric Hinske was going to be a long term solution at 3rd. A solution the Jays haven't had since Kelly Gruber (still one of the better mullets ever).

It's now the spring of 2003 and Eric Hinske is hitting just .232 with very little power to start the season. Turns out he has a broken bone in his hand and he hits the DL on May 24th. Hinske returns to the Jays about a month later and finishes the season with a line of .243/.329/.437. All of his numbers are down across the board. His walk rate goes from 1 every 7.35 AB's to 1 every 7.61 AB's. His K rate increases from 4.10 to 4.32. But, there is one very positive stat. Hinske hit 45 2B's that year?! That was good for 13th in baseball, just 6 behind Albert Pujols. In about 150 fewer AB's!! Armed with this knowledge, one could figure the HR numbers would come back this year as the broken hand probably just hampered his swing. Or, was the decrease in walk rate and the increase in SO rate a signal for struggles to come? We'll have to wait and see. But, an increase in HR's and a decrease in 2B's is what I expected for 2004.

2004. First the positives. Hinske has been healthy all year, when just about every other Jay regular has been hurt. He has also been more "solid" at 3B as he's only committed 4 errors vs the 22 he committed last year. Now the negative. Both his zone rating (20th out of 20) and range factor (18th out of 20) have stayed at the same extremely low levels of 2002 and 2003. Through 113 games and 426 AB's, Hinske is hitting .251/.314/.373 with only 10 HR's. Now it gets troubling. Like I said above, Hinske hit 45 2B's in 449 AB's in 2003. Well, in 2004 he's hit 18! 18 in 426 AB's! He's got 9 hits this month and they're all singles! Not good. Want more you say? His walk rate has gone from 7.61 to an alarming 11.03. So not only is he showing less power but he's also not walking. Whhhhyyyyy????!!!! (said in my best Nancy Kerrigan voice) Stictly from a fans point of view, I've seen him take a lot, I mean, a lot of "weak hack's" this year. It doesn't look like he's trying to drive the ball. He's more waiving at it than anything else. Is this an injury? Lack of confidence? Or, is he just not as good as we thought? Though it bothers me to say this, I'm starting to think he may not be as good as we may have thought.

2005. Well, we'll just have to see. 2004 has been terribly disappointing. Hinske's salary is going to start increasing over the next couple of years based on the 5-year contract he signed and if he doesn't start to hit he could find himself elsewhere. Ricciardi soured on Josh Phelps pretty quickly and if Hinske doesn't watch it, the same may happen to him. Third base is a position of power, and right now, Eric Hinske is hitting like a middle infielder from the 80's.

The Hardball Times has a nice article on the Jays and the recent trade of Josh Phelps as well as the firing of Carlos Tosca. If you have a chance check it out. It's well put.

The latest on the managerial search (Sacramento Bee, Oakland Tribune) has the Blue Jays focusing on Bob Green who is the current A's bullpen coach. I think it is still way to early to take any of the rumors seriously as most of the potential candidates, whoever they may be, are still under contract with their current club. I'm sure the Jays already have a list but we won't get an idea of who's on it until after the World Series.

It will be interesting to see who JP picks and how they turn out. Thus far, none of the new age (Yes I know this is the typical spot most writers would insert "Moneyball." But I refuse to put a label on any of these guys. I'm sick and tired of everything in baseball either being with Moneyball or against it. In my opinion both sides have lost sight of the goal and it's turned into a pissing match.) GM's have been very happy with their selections. There are complaints out of Oakland about Ken Macha, as well as Terry Francona in Boston and we all know what happened to Carlos Tosca.

My early inclination is that it will be a Major League guy. Not in the sense of digging up some old school baseball guy who's managed several teams before but in the sense the pick will have more experience running a big league club at the Major League level. An older guy who's a bench coach on a winning team is my guess. Bud Black wouldn't be a bad call. He's the current pitching coach for the Angels. We'll see.

Good news out of the Eastern League as former top pitching prospect Francisco Rosario pitched 6 innings giving up 3 ER's on 6 hits. The best news is the 10 K's and ZERO walks. This was one of the top pitching prospects the Jays had until he blew his elbow out in an Arizona Fall League game a year ago. He'll play a big roll for next year's team.

In a sign that does not bode well for next year's payroll the Blue Jays attendance on a per game basis is down around 2,000 fans a game to a current average of 20,538. This is good for 29th in baseball. Last year with the SARS scare and all the Jays still managed to draw a better but not great 22,215. The Jays still have 3 games against the Red Sox and 7 games against the Yankees at home which will help these figures but it looks like after a nice improvement from 2002 to 2003 attendance will slide this year. Once Delgado's contract is off the books it will be interesting to see where Rogers sets the salary for next year. 2004 was supposed to be a year the Jays took a step forward and brought in some more fans but we all know the way things have turned out. An expansion of the budget plus the removal of Delgado's salary is going to give JP a lot of room to work with in 2005. I'll start to look at some of the players the Jays may bring in next year as this year comes to a close.

Couple random thoughts from last nights game:

• Good to see Justin Miller back in the starting rotation. He had good movement on his sinker but he just didn't have control of all of his pitches. He's been out since May so that will come back.
• Kevin Cash is a solid catcher. Calls a good game, blocks the ball well and has a great arm (That throw in the 7th was nasty. Quick feet and he just throws a seed. Nasty. He's going to have a long career as a 2nd string/defensive catcher). But. . . he can't hit his way out of a wet paper bag. He looks absolutely clueless up there. Sabathia was just chucking the ball by him.
• Why am I so pumped about Alex Rios? Just watch a couple of his at bats. He understands the strike zone. He swings at hitters pitches and takes pitchers pitches. He's never had a high walk rate in the minors but man he has good AB's for a young kid. Good example? Try his AB in the 7th where he took three relatively close pitches to go to 3-0. Took a get me over fastball for strike one. Then just missed another fat fastball for strike 2. Fouled off another couple close pitches and then took an outside curve for a walk. Cash would never have an AB like this.
• Speaking of good AB's. The Indians have great AB's. They make pitchers work and hit hitters pitches. That's what most people miss when they criticize "Moneyball." It's not about standing at the place with the bat on your shoulder waiting for a walk. It's about hitting strikes and not chasing pitches outside the zone. Just watch Edgar Martinez in Seattle. He'll go down 0-2, take three close pitches for balls. And then hit a 3-2 fastball for a double. That's hitting.
• I'm not quite as high on Kevin Frederick as I was last week. He's still got some real good stuff but I'm starting to worry that all his pitches are the same speed. It's as if every pitch is between 85 and 90 MPH. I'm very interested to watch him pitch for the rest of the year.
• I didn't realize Sabathia was such a headcase. The guy did a lot of walking around on the mound and a lot of cursing and swearing. He's got talent though.
• How the heck did Justin Speier only have a 4.05 ERA at Coors field last year??? 66K's and only 23BB?? How did that happen??!! He's awful this year.
• Finally. Is it just me or are Orlando Hudson's pants about 5 sizes too big?

For those of you who were wondering where Jason Arnold has been he's popped up in the Florida State League pitching for single-A Dunedin. He's been bothered by shoulder pain and is rehabbing. He threw three innings yesterday giving up 3ER's on 7 hits. Though he didn't walk anyone and he K'd 3. I'll keep an eye on his situation and will keep you up to date as to how he's doing. Good to hear he's out on the mound again though.

Hell of a job by David Bush last night. The kid went 7 innings giving up 8 hits and more important, struck out 7 and walked none. Remember, this was done against the best offense in the bigs. It's hard to get excited about a Blue Jay loss but a showing like this is extremely exciting. Halladay - Lilly - Batista - Bush is starting to look real good next year.

Minor League update: New Blue Jay Eric Crozier went 2-3 with a walk and an RBI for Syracuse. He's now 4-10 with 1HR, 1 2B and two walks. Pretty good start. Some of you have made reference to Phelps potential salary next year as a reason for the trade. That's probably true as he's eligible for arbitration and could be due a large increase in his salary. But, according to ESPN.com he's only making $344,000 this year and as bad as he's been I don't see him getting anything more than maybe $800,000, $1 million at the most. Knowing his minor league power numbers, I really don't think and additional $450K is much of a risk. The guy has power. I like Crozier but I think JP gave up on Phelps too early.

In New Hampshire, Aaron Hill continues his torrid hitting by going 2-2 with a walk last night. On the season he's now up to .283/.360/.394. He's not showing much for power but the average and ability to get on base is there. Combine his stats with the numbers for Russ Adams .274/.349/.385 and the Jays will have two middle infielders who can get on base at the top of their lineup for the next few years.

Speaking of Russ Adams. We can expect to see him get called up in September and for him to play a roll at SS next year. I think we'll see Chris Woodward get non-tendered and Chris Gomez will probably be brought back in to split some time with Adams until he's ready to take over the position every day. He's not going to be a star but I think he can be a good piece to the puzzle.

Thank you Josh Towers. After being hammered in the first three games of the series the Blue Jays came back strong last night to beat the Yankees 5-4. Josh Towers who's been great as a 4th/5th starter for us this year threw 7 innings of 5 hit ball giving up only 2ER's in the process. Jason Frasor made things a little interesting in the 9th but he finally did slam the door on the victory. Congratulations to Gabe Gross who went 2-4 and hit his first Major League HR last night. It really could be a plus for the Jays if they're able to get Gross, Alex Rios and David Bush established this year.

The boys now head to Cleveland to battle the tribe. I mentioned this before but the Indians can rake. Check out how this offense ranks in ALL of baseball: Average-2nd, Hits-2nd, Runs-1st, OBP-1st, SLG-9th, BB-6th. Talk about getting it done with the stick. On the other hand though, their pitching has been horrendous. They rank at the bottom of the league in just about ever category. If this team develops a couple of pitchers over the next 1-2 year and makes a nice move in the free agent market they could be back to the powerhouse we all remember. Mark Shapiro has done a really nice job with this club.

As some may have expected, the Toronto Blue Jays fired manager Carlos Tosca after Sunday's loss to the Yankees. To some this may have come as a surprise but to me I thought it was more of a question of when, not if. JP hinted at this at the beginning of the year when he said he wasn't sure if Tosca would be the right fit for the team when they were ready to compete. He was brought in to teach the younger kids and for the most part a lot of the younger guys have grown up.

For any of you who watched this weekend's games against the Yankees this may come as a welcome move as the Jays really did play awful. You'd think a bunch of guys (only Hinske, Wells, Batista, Lilly, Halladay and Lightenberg! are signed beyond this year) who are playing for a contract next year would play with a little more zest in front of a sold out crowd in NY. Guess not.

I really doubt John Gibbons is the answer as he will probably just captain the ship until the end of the year. This begs the question as to who is next in line to take over? The conversation won't turn serious until the off-season when replacements are more readily available. My guess, it will be someone with a little more experience as an in-game manager and someone with a more disciplinarian style. We shall have to see.

For now, we'll just have to sit back and hope the Jays can put together a solid seven or so weeks and JP can figure out who's going to contribute and who's not next year. It's good to see both Alex Rios and Gabe Gross up in the big show getting at bats. Why not get them broken-in this year in a less stressful situation.

More on this tomorrow but Carlos Tosca was fired as manager today. Watching most of the action against the Yankees this weekend I can't say I'm surprised. He's been replaced by John Gibbons who was the first base coach. No word yet on who will replace Gibbons at first base.

The way tonight is going I hope my company covers carpal tunnel. Anyway, just caught word the Jays have traded Josh Phelps to the Indians for Eric Crozier who is a 26 year old 1B/OF type who hits from the lefthand side. More on him in a minute. My first reaction is wow, I really thought Phelps could have turned into something. He has Adam Dunn written all over him. I don't like this deal though. Phelps is hitting .188/.252/.290 vs RP and .321/.370/.633 vs LP so far this year which is not good. But, he has hit .272/.348/.518 vs RP and .297/.372/.450 vs LP for his career. He is still only 26 and isn't making much so I think it is a little early to give up on him. Why not wait until he gets hot and deal him for maximum value? He hasn't been in the lineup consistently in months. I just don't think you deal young power hitters who are making more or less the major league minimum. Delgado is clearly gone at the end of the year so who knows what the plan is at 1B. Though there will be a lot of people on the market I'm sure.

Onto Crozier. I don't like the deal because I don't think the Jays should have given up on Phelps so early but it does look like Crozier is a solid power guy who might just be a lefty version of Phelps. So far this year he's hit .294/.372/.568. He's got 20HR's and SO/BB ratio of 67-36. Early reports have him heading to Syracuse for now and might get a call in September. We'll see. Looks like the boy can hit though.

Last part to this deal is the Jays have called up Gabe Gross to replace Josh Phelps roster spot. He's hit the tar out of the ball lately in Syracuse so it's time to see what he's got. He's been dealing with a shoulder issue all year so I don't think we'll see him in the OF but we'll have to see. I'll be keeping a close eye on Gross and Crozier.

Back by popular demand (popular demand? Didn't you just start this site?) it's Tyler Haskins' game log!! Today's game is being played by the Evil Empire and the Jays. I've got a fridge full of Harp's and I'm ready to go. Today's game is brought to you by the Yankee propaganda engine - the YES network.

7:40- Got home a little late and all I missed was 7 runs and and two HR's. From what I've caught the Cat and Alex Rios got a couple of hits and Carlos hit the first pitch he saw into the RF stands. Looks like Matsui hit a 3-run shot and John Flaherty hit an RBI single for the Yankees.

7:43- Let's see if the Jays can answer back and score a couple off of Vazquez. Zaun bounces out to 2B. Man, I really thought we'd be able to deal this guy. He's been good and he's cheap. He's exactly the type of guy a contender should want. "Cough. . . Dodgers. . . Cough"

7:50- The dreamiest guy in NY Derek Jeter. Hell of a bunt by Jeter and a solid play by Hinske. Hinske's really gotten a lot better at 3B this year. Forget the improved error numbers (only 3 thus far). He's just played the position better. By the way, Jeter is not right. His hand is bothering him (last I heard he's got a broken bone in there somewhere) and I'll think we see him bunt a lot more for the rest of the season.

7:53- Ahhh. Pizza is here. Pizza. Beer. Baseball. Life is good.

7:55- Arod. I still can't believe this guy is playing 3B. Wow, heck of a play by Gomez. He's played a solid SS as we're waiting for Russ Adams to get up here.

7:58- And just as their contract demands the YES broadcast team talks about how often a guy (Gomez) makes a great play and then leads off the next inning like there's some kind of relationship between the two events. There are some cliche's baseball could do with out.

8:01- We're in the top of the third and Michael Kay hasn't trashed Moneyball. This must be a record. Give him another inning or two.

8:05- Matsui HR's. Really, this guy is having a much better season this year and last year he got all the hype. Double by Bernie. Great throw by Rios. Almost turned a double into an out and would have it Gomez would have held onto the ball. Kid can throw a seed out there.

8:08- Ground ball to 2B by Olerud. Here comes the productive out speech. "Olerud is such a great veteran. He just knows what to do in that situation." Ummm, how about he just got released by the last place Mariners and can't hit anymore.

8:10- This is wrong. Douglas is getting teed off on and Flaherty is bunting in the 3rd inning for a run. Wrong. Torre may deal with NY well but he isn't that great of an in-game manager.

8:11- Ridiculous!!!! Douglas just got tossed for hitting a guy in the shin with two strikes when he's been trying to give himself up. That might be the worst call I've ever seen!!! This guy should be fired. Thanks blue, because of you I've now got to clean the pizza off my wall as just wiped it across the room. I've been married a month and my wife is looking like she's about ready to divorce me.

8:17- It's nice to see Justin Miller back with the uniform on. We need him back throwing well.

8:18- I'm still angry. How do you toss a guy in a situation like that. Grrrrr!!!

8:23- Yup, wrist is killing Jeter. Good call T. At this pace the game may end Sunday morning.

8:26- Great. I'm 0-2. Someone want to tell my why Hinske just didn't step on 3rd. (Getting angry over here!)

8:28- Single for Matsui and 2 runs score. 10-3 Yanks (Drinking heavily now. "Honey, where do we keep the vodka?")

8:37- Hinske K's. I know he's been hitting better of late but I'm just not sure what to make of this guy. The guy hit 45 doubles last year in 449 AB's. I really thought he'd turn some of those into HR's this year. He OBP is down as well. Not a good sign.

8:39- Hell of a play by Hudson as he ranged to his right and threw out Olerud (never mind the fact that Olerud would lose a race to a stop sign). His hitting is extremely frustrating but he's flashed some good leather this year. Strike that. He's been good with the leather since he came up.

8:42- "Lord, grant me this one come back victory and I'll never ask for another. See, it's been a tough season for the Jays and all my friends are Yankee fans. That's a tough combination. A men."

8:49- Why is Chis Gomez leading off? Honestly, Tosca has some crazy lineup shenanigans (Tonight's Aflac trivia question. "I swear to God, I'll pistol wip the next guy that says shenanigans" What movie? Answer later tonight.) going on right now.

8:55- Hinske is playing a better 3B. But, he still throws the ball to first like he's scared out of his tree he's going to throw it away.

8:56- Honestly, Sheffield has one of the most violent swings in the league. I don't know how he doesn't throw his back out or drop a kidney or something. Regardless of the fact that he's a Yankee, he is one of my favorite players to watch hit though. Those hands are lightning quick.

9:00- Just hammered it. Another 2 hit game. I love Rios. I haven't been this impressed with a Blue Jay rookie since Juan Guzman came up. (Geez, I hope I didn't just jinx him.)

9:06- Nice, Kevin Frederick. . . Nasty slider. I think he'll be part of a real power bullpen for the Jays next year. I really like this guy.

9:10- Dude is dealing. He just made ARod and Matsui look pretty bad and popped out Bernie on a nice 3-1 pitch.

9:15- That was quick. Jays just went down 1-2-3 on 6 pitches. Bubba Crosby takes over in RF. I'm sure the rest of the scrubs for both teams aren't far behind.

9:27- Rios couldn't have played that double to RF any better. The throw to Hudson was perfect and Hudson's throw to home was perfect. Well done boys. Hit's for average, good arm, speed, WILL hit for power. Is there anything this kid can't do?

9:32- You know, Vazquez has looked good but not great. I live in south west CT and see lots of Yankee games but I haven't seen the dominant Vazquez that pitched in Montreal. Not sure what his deal is but he just hasn't been quiet as dominant.

9:36- I'm really disappointed with the way Speier has pitched. Had a good K/BB (66-23 in '03) ratio and a good ERA (4.05) in Colorado last year and I thought he'd be an asset to the pen this year. His stuff still looks pretty good but the numbers aren't there. I know it's a blowout but he's dealing right now. I'd like to see JP bring him back next year to see if he's a more positive contributor. With a 4.71ERA it shouldn't be too hard to bring him back relatively cheaply.

9:43- CJ Nitkowski. If you're a Yankee fan it must be nice to see any lefty on the mound but Felix Heredia.

9:46- Wait a minute. Since Douglas got tossed, shouldn't Nitkowski get tossed for hitting Hinske? Isn't that the rule?

9:48- Trivia answer: Super Troopers. Maybe the best comedy movie ever created.

9:49- Wow, just looked this up. Hinske is hitting .276/.331/.379 vs. lefties and .255/.324/.400 against righties this year. That is a lot better against lefties than I would have ever thought.

9:50- Reed Johnson grounds into a DP to end it. Wow, talk about a crappy game from a Jay perspective. Good game by Rios and some pretty good bullpen work but other than that, not good.

ESPN's front page article this morning is about the songs players listen too before they step into the batters box. Does anyone really care about this stuff? Would you really watch a game to see what song Jeff Conine plays when he hits? Is it just me or does ESPN wish it were MTV? Seriously, could they produce another segment on sports and music? We're in the middle of a pennet race, the Olympics start in 1 week, the NFL football camps are in full swing and ESPN's front page story is what? The downward spiral ESPN has taken over the past couple of years is truly troubling.

Wow, talk about getting smoked. Towers didn't have it last night and the hard hitting Tribe handed his hat too him. Not surprised to see them go off like this though. They do lead the bigs in runs scored for a reason. I didn't see him pitch but Kevin Frederick got hammered as well. All in all, it was a bad day at the park. That'll happen.

On the positive side of things the Jays did have 11 hits as Hinske, Wells, Catalanotto and Dave Berg! each collected a pair. I'm telling you, unless I'm missing something about an injury Berg has to be on the block. That is three starts in a row.

In the minor's, Chris Baker had a nice day for New Hampshire (AA) as he threw 6 innings giving up 2ER and 3H while striking out and impressive 8 batters. The Fisher Cats beat Bowie 3-2. In Syracuse (AAA) SS Russ Adams continued his hot hitting ways as he went 2-5 and catcher Guillermo Quiroz went 1-3 with a walk and a HR. Adams is now hitting .287 with a strikeout to walk ratio of 43-38. I say let Woodward walk, bring back Chris Gomez and let them share the duty until Adams proves he's ready to take over the position full time.

Another win by the Jays last night 7-6 as they've taken the first two games of the series against the Indians. Tonight we have the red hot Josh Towers going up against Jake Westbrook who's pitched well for the Tribe this year. Towers has gone 7+ innings in his last three starts, never giving up more than two runs per start. His control has been good as well has he's struck out 11 to just one walk over this time. Keep in mind though, two of those starts were against Tampa Bay. Tonight should be a good test as the Indians lead the bigs in runs scored going into this series.

Apparently I've upset Dave Berg as last night he went out there trying to make me look bad and had a 3-4 night. If he gets the occasional start that's one thing but back-to-back starts tells me someone is looking at him in a trade. I have not heard if he's passed through waivers yet but I'll be keeping an eye out for the list. His flexibility could make him valuable to a contender. I'd love to see him shipped off to a contender.

Greg Zaun homered and walked last night. Paul DePosta, are you watching? He's a perfect fit for Dodger blue. Send us a low level pitching prospect and he's yours.

Alex Rios had another couple of hits last night. That's his 13th game with two or more hits since July 1st. He also hit his 17th double of season last night. Remember, doubles at a young age are usually indicative of a power surge later on. He's going to have his ups and downs similar to what Vernon Wells went through when he came up but he is showing all the ability to be a solid ballplayer.

Impressive win by the Jays last night. Lilly goes 7, gives up 1 ER and strikes out 4 while Chulk and Frasor come into the game in the 8th and 9th and close the door. A couple of walks by Frasor is not good but it was a win just the same. Once again, another nice start by Ted Lilly.

On the hitting side of things, the new middle of the order produced the offense. Rios went 2-4 with a run scored, Delgado went 2-4 with an RBI and Vernon Wells went 1-3 with a HR and 3 RBI. Rios just doesn't stop hitting. Phelps also hit a HR as well. I'd love nothing more than for him to find his stroke. He's got more power potential than anyone on this team. He absolutely punished the ball in the minor leagues. If he can just turn it around he's my choice to man 1st next year.

Finally, is there any more useless a player in the bigs than Dave Berg? I mean JP must have been possessed by Chuck LaMar the day he signed him to a 2 year deal. Talk about a brain cramp. Especially when the team has Howie Clark and Simon Pond to choose from down in Syracuse. Veteran utility guys don't warrant 2-year deals. At least he'll be tossed aside after this year.

Posting has been a little sporadic as I had a little incident at home with a keyboard and a glass of water. . . the water won. But, I'm hooked up with one of those wireless mouse/keyboard combinations and life is much better. Anyway.

Lot's happened this weekend and I wanted to comment on a couple of the moves. Being I live in Connecticut and the Sox/Yankee rivalry is heated 24/7 I thought I'd start with the Sox/Cubs/Expos trade. It has been really interesting to hear the reaction about this trade. People really don't care about what Montreal did (they actually did pretty good), everyone loves the Cubs deal but the Sox on the other hand has been a mixed bag. There are those who are sick of Nomar's attitude and are glad to see him go and there are those who recognize Orlando Cabrera is not the player Nomar is. It has also become pretty clear that Nomar was not going to re-sign at the end of the season. I don't think many people believed his comments after the trade when he said he was shocked and hoping to spend the rest of his career in Boston. Knowing this, it looks like Theo Epstein the GM for Boston caved into an unhappy Nomar and made a trade that does not help the Sox short-term but does help some long-term. The defensive argument is garbage. With less than half the season left, the marginal gain for Cabrera over Nomar is minimal if at all. Nomar has always been a good defensive SS, as has Cabrera. Nomar is coming back from an injury and probably would have been fine after the rust wore off. This trade was not made for defense. If Theo was that worried about defense he could have put Pokey (currently on the DL) at SS. Also at play was Theo dumping Nomar now and getting something in return, because unless Cabrera is a total disaster, he'll probably sign in Boston longterm. To me, I make this deal if I get Matt Clement, as a starter is what the Sox really need. Then, I sign Cabrera in the offseason after Nomar walks. By the looks of it Theo didn't want to deal with a long drawn out negotiation. That's too bad. He just hurt himself and the team short term. From a Cubs perspective there's not much to say. They made a hell of a deal. They replace an absolute awful offensive SS with a premier player in Nomar. Costing them a couple of prospects but that doesn't matter as much when your team is built to win now. The Expos did good as well As they got a good defensive replacement for Cabrera in Gonzalez who will walk at the end of the year. As well as two solid prospects who could help in the near future.

No, I didn't forget Doug Mientkiewicz was technically a part of this trade. But honestly, he was only a part of the deal to make it look like the Sox got two starting players for Nomar. If a team agreed to eat his salary the Twins were practically giving him away. The Sox did this and gave up a prospect. I have no idea why the Sox need another guy to fight for playing time with, Kapler, Nixon (though he could be done for the season), Ortiz, McCarty, Millar and Dave Roberts who they picked up from LA. 6-7 guys for 3 spots. I thought McCarty was the no bat all glove guy at 1B?

Moving a little west. Great deal for Cashman and the Yank's. What the heck was Kenny Williams thinking? I'm not saying Esteban Loaiza is a great pitcher or anything. He's come way back to earth from last years fluke season. But, Kenny took over the contract from the Yank's. That's ridiculous. Maybe I do this deal if the Yankees are paying for it but that's about it. Family or no family. Contreras isn't that good of a pitcher. He's a two pitch (splitter, fastball) pitcher and that won't get it done. I could see him turning into an excellent setup man one day but that's a lot of money to pay a guy pitching the 7th or 8th inning. Well done by Cashman. Get's payroll relief and a more consistent pitcher. If the Yankees can't turn him around what makes the White Sox think they can?

Talk about scraping the plan. The Mets are currently 6 games below .500 and 9 games out of first. Yet, in the mind of management they have a chance to make the playoffs. . . huh? The deals they made are beyond ridiculous. They gave up a bunch of high-level prospects who could turn into good players or could be used to make trades down the road when the team is really ready to compete. All this talk of trading for and then signing Benson is nice but if you really wanted him why not sign him in the offseason? You won't give up Scott Kazmir for Alfonso Soriano but you'll give him up for. . . wait. . . drumroll please. . . Victor Zambrano? Rick Peterson better live up to his reputation. Great job Chuck LaMar (did I just say that??) and Dave Littlefield (did I just say that too??). Jim Duquette, you better get your boys into the playoffs.

The final big deal of the day went down between the Marlins, Dodgers and Arizona (actually, there was a separate deal with Arizona but I'm lumping the two all together). First, the Dodgers got Milton Bradley to move to leftfield allowing the Dodgers to trade some prospects to the Diamondbacks for Steve Finley and Brent Mayne. Then the Dodgers gave up fan favorite Paul Lo Duca, Juan Encarnacion and Guillermo Mota for Brad Penny, Hee Seop Choi and minor leaguer Bill Murphy. For the most part, fans seem to love the deal for the fish and hate the deal for the Dodgers. . . but I'm not sure why. The weird thing is, those that love it, don't love it because the Marlins solved the catching problem with a catcher who can hit for a high average or because they added a very good arm to their bullpen. They love it because Paul Lo Duca brought his chemistry set with him? All the coverage of this trade has focused on Lo Duca's chemistry. And how he's got a "winning attitude." Excuse me, but, what has he won? I'm sure he's a great guy but come on people. Haven't we taken this chemistry thing too far. If chemistry is so important, what happened to the Mariners this year? I've been told they've had great chemistry for years and this year they brought in a proven veteran and a great guy in Raul Ibanez and Mr. Sandfrog himself, Scott Spiezio. Who was a part of the World Champion Angels squad. Net, net. The Mariners were good before because they had good players. They are bad now because they don't have good players. Period. Back to the point. Short-term and possibly long-term the Dodgers did well in this trade. They picked up a young 1B hitting to the tune of 270/388/495 who will cost next to nothing for the next few years and a starting pitcher with a 3.15ERA and 105K's in 131.1IP. That's yummy. The one part that I feel I should at least mention is there are concerns about Penny's shoulder. But, I'm sure LA did their homework. Finally, this deal moves Shaun Green back to his natural position of RF. All in all. Not a bad job by LA. Florida, not so well. Aren't they supposed to be a small market team trying to conserve payroll? Why not hold onto Penny and Choi and make a minor trade for Toronto Catcher Greg Zaun? Doesn't that make the fish a better team as well?

I've worn myself out. As always if you have any thoughts or want me to cover one of the other trades drop me a line at BlueJayBanter@Hotmail.com.

Quick Note: Just heard Tampa's stud SS prospect BJ Upton got promoted to the big club. This guy has tore the cover off the ball in the Minor Leagues so it will be interesting to see what he can do in the big show. Too bad we missed out on seeing him play against the Jays. The last young SS Sweet Lou worked with turned out to be pretty good so we'll see what he can do with this guy.

Wow, talk about the wrong weekend to be away from your computer. Lots to talk about as what I thought was going to be a relatively quiet trading season heated up big time. Before I talk about all the other things that happened in MLB a couple of comments on the Jays this weekend.

Nothing doing on the transaction side and for the most part I'm OK with that. I would have liked to have seen Delgado dealt but it just wasn't going to happen as he did not want to waive his no trade clause. Not really sure why he wouldn't want to go to a contender, especially since JP is going to show him the door at the end of the season. But, I'm not one of the people who are going to trash a guy for not waiving his no trade. He wanted it in his contract for a reason and the Jays agreed. Would have liked to have seen Zaun dealt as he's been hot since he started playing and I thought he might have some value. We've got Cash up with the big club and Quiroz waiting in the wings of AAA. If he passes through waivers I think a deal to the Dodgers could still be possible

More on this trade later but one thing people have not talked about yet is the fact the main suitor for Delgado's services, the Dodgers, picked up a pretty darn good 1st basemen in Hee Seop Choi. He's young, cheap, good defensively and only looks like he'll get better with time. So where does that leave Delgado in the off season? We'll have to see how things shake out.

Congratulations to Alex Rios who hit his first career HR on Sunday. I'm telling you, this guy might be one heck of a special player. He's getting better with every at bat. He's had 2 hits in 4 of his last 6 games. What I don't like, is Tosca's decision to move him to the leadoff spot. I'd like to have him sit at the bottom of the order with less pressure. Let's not rush the kid. Though, I understand why Tosca's doing it. He's managing for his job next year and is willing to do just about anything to win games. I respect that. I just don't agree with it.

On the field it was a tough couple of games for the Jays as they lost both Saturday and Sunday to the D-Rays. All things considered, the pitching was pretty good. Once again the offense couldn't do their part. My boy David Bush got roughed up on Saturday and Sean Douglass gave up 4ER in 5 2/3. But, neither guy was expected to be a starter for the Jays this year so you have to take what you can. Dustin McGowan was supposed to be the young stud pitcher in Bush's spot and I don't think Douglass was expected to be anything more than a relief guy. It was encouraging to see the bullpen pitch so well though. Over the weekend their line was: 7 2/3 1ER 1H 8K 2BB. Not too bad.

The hot Ted Lilly goes tonight in Toronto against the Indians. It will be a good test for the pitching staff as the Indians have the #1 ranked offense (In terms of runs scored, not average) in baseball. Here is hoping for a sweep and another couple of jack-shots for Mr. Rios.