I think Sturtze is about the equal of Loaiza. His peripheral numbers don't point at his ERA being a whole lot better than last season though...unless he somehow ups his strikeouts and/or lowers his walks compared to the last two seasons. The problem with Sturtze is that he's probably overpaid; he got $1 million and a guaranteed roster spot while some pitchers in comparable situations got only minor league deals. But then such is the risk of jumping into the free agent market early on; a million at the time seemed like OK value compared to the $5+ million Loaiza made and the $3+ million Parris made last year.

I'm hoping for both Hendrickson and Miller to make the rotation; again I'm not certain of Miller's situation with options remaining but I hope the Jays don't put themselves in danger of losing him to waivers if they try to send him down. The Jays could then decide which of Bowles, Coco, or File was most expendable and designate them for assignment in order to bring in Kershner or Wiggins as the second lefty. Probably Wiggins since there's a chance that Kershner himself could be a starting candidate either now or down the line.

Nice article, well-researched and containing apposite mentions of important concepts such as sample size.

Personally, I predict a comeback season from Sturtze. If he hurls over 200 IP, I have confidence that his ERA should be quite close to league-average, which I'm sure is exactly what JP et al. are hoping for.

Apparently Tim Kurkijan doesn't feel strongly about the Jays. He lumped them in as tied for the 5th worst team in baseball.

What Tim Kurkijan doesn't know about baseball could fill a whole set of encyclopedias. I'm amazed how some of these guys get to keep their jobs.

Well he designated them as among the teams with no chance of making the playoffs, which barring a small miracle is probably true. It does seem odd to say a .500 club as among the worst teams in the game though.

From espnmag.com, here is Kurkjian's aptly-titled "Worst of the Worst" list. The Rangers and Cubs have worse chances than the Blue Jays, so why didn't he make it an eight-way "tie" for fifth?

Here's a concise article from the New Haven Register about the exciting group of players that will be coached by (future big league manager) Marty Pevey this year.
As many here at Batter's Box have said before me, that AA will be incredibly exciting to follow this year...so much so that they'll have to rename historic Yale Field.... Pevey's Playhouse!

By the way, Chris Buckley (Jays' Scouting Director) provided a worthwhile interview with MLB Radio (and it can be found on the official Blue Jays website).

I listened to the interview, and there really isn't anything new in there, He talks about Rios, Gross, Griffin, Negron and a couple of others. Most interesting was the comparison of Rios and Negron. However, I learned how to pronounce some of the names. For example Chad Pleiness was pronounced by Scott as Ply-ness, while I always thought it was Plein-ness.

Dick Scott is the Director of Player Development.

The interview is a great listen. True, there aren't any huge revelations but how often do we get to hear detailed discussion of Jays prospects? The message that did come across loud and clear though, is that the prospects the Jays have are much better than can be told by simply looking at the stats...which I admit I all too often do. Statistical analysis will tell you that the Jays' have a pretty good group of prospects but can't tell you about Rios' BP power or Negron's mental errors or that John Wesley really does have a pretty lively arm and it wasn't just a lucky 29 innings. It would be easy to say that he's not the most objective source of info but it is more information than I'm usually privy to and I'll take whatever I can get.

Great site, btw. Can I get on the newsletter mailing list? Hello again, Dave. You might remember me from asbtbj as Senor Steve.