The Jays are third in the AL in OBP but only tenth in slugging.  Wells and Thomas have three home runs each, Aaron Hill has two, the rest of the team have one or none.  Mat Stairs has one extra base hit, a home run;  Lyle Overbay has three.

The bullpen is now 1-5, Jeremy Accardo has three losses, last season he had four, total.

I must say that in watching Purcey last night, I got a very powerful "Al Leiter" vibe. There are some obvious similarities - lefthanders with above average velocity, quality breaking balls , and some difficulty locating the strike zone. Sadly, Leiter isn't among Purcey's top 20 comparables in PECOTA.  I like the Camp move, too. I haven't heard anywhere if Wolfe is really hurt, or if this is just a 15-day "shove aside".

"A slow start is part of the game," Thomas said. "I'm not the only ... hitter in the game with a slow start. I repeatedly hit the ball on the nose the last seven or eight games. I'm just not having any luck right now, but I've hit the ball hard. That's all you can do in this game, is hit the ball hard. That's basically all I can control. Sooner or later they find holes and they fall. But to beat myself up over it? No, I'm not going to do that. I did my job."

Well, here we go. This was what we all feared when we saw that the last year of his contract was tied to plate appearances. Benching Thomas for now is absolutely the right move. Forget about the batting average, he's slugging .333. He hasn't done his job. I have great respect for him, but really, the team can't wait. Halladay has completely given his body for the team and they haven't managed a playoff appearance for him yet - that's ridiculous, and taking two months to "get going" in the third straight year isn't acceptable.

And Lind's got to come up. I don't know where you play him, but I don't care - he's making a mockery of the IL.

• Thomas will be very, very unhappy on the bench so a trade (with cash) or release is on the way
• Lind will be coming up (Inglett is good and all but is no left fielder nor is Scutaro) and we very well could see Stewart released by mid-summer
• Purcey looks good, if wild while AJ not so much thus could be on the train out of town to try to find some help elsewhere

DHing Stairs instead of Thomas against RHP is the right move.  I feel for Thomas, but Gibbons has to do what's best for the team.  Thomas hasn't hit RHP well since 2006, and he looks terrible now.  He's always had a funky swing, and it looks like time has finally caught up with him.  My guess is that Lind's promotion is imminent.  If Stairs is the DH against righties, Lind likely takes over in LF with Stewart getting the odd start against tought left-handers.  Time will tell, though.

TGFBJ!!

Yeah... thank god for BJ. Even if he can only pitch every other day he's desperately needed with the scuffling that's going on in the Jays pen.

Wilner's blog had some interesting bits:

- Adam Lind missed the last two games with a stiff neck, but it's "not a long-term issue".

- Lind is going to be "up very soon to play left field", with Stewart falling into a platoon situation.

- Wilner suggests that Thomas' tenure with the Jays is almost over, and that the end may come soon.

Even Wilner concedes that the Jays can't afford to have very poor production from their DH for another 4-6 weeks, and he recognizes the impact of that $10 million vesting option.  My guess is Lind will be up as soon as he's healthy and has a tune-up game in Syracuse.  There's no point in bringing him up until at least Monday, since the Jays are facing a lefty, Robertson, tomorrow.  I imagine Stewart and Stairs will platoon at DH (because of wonky hips and groins), with Lind playing almost every day.  If Stewart doesn't pan out, it shouldn't be too hard for the Jays to find a lefty killing platoon partner for Stairs.

 http://blog.rogersbroadcasting.com/mikewilner/2008/04/19/no-bloggage-this-weekend/

In terms of a baseball decision, this is a bad one. Frank Thomas, if given a full year of playing time, would likely be this team's best hitter. But with money being the bottomline for the Toronto Blue Jays, and not winning, this move makes complete sense. It’s a profit venture to Rogers, and there’s simply no way out of that. If the Jays release Frank Thomas, and do not sign Barry Bonds, they do not have the lineup to compete with the other AL contenders, and will be wasting the great pitching they should get this year. It’s incredibly disappointing to see what’s happening right now, especially for Frank, who's been such a nice guy so far in his time as a Jay.
One thing is definitely for sure, the Jays lineup will be far weaker without him over the next few months.

"The Thomas benching is ridiculous imo. The Jays lineup is worse without him no doubt. Replacing Thomas with Shannon Stewart / Joe Inglett is not gonna make your team any better. If Lind comes up, then it at least makes a little sense. But I'd still bench Overbay over Thomas any day."

You really hate Overbay, don't you? :)

Well, the combination of his contract and performace means that he's untradable.  No one is going to trade for him with the vesting option kicking in with about 50% playing time.

And Thomas wouldn't be complaining about the conspiracy against him if he thought that he was worth $10 million to someone next year.  He clearly knows he's not.  If I'm not mistaken Thomas was someone who regularly complained about his contract in Chicago, no?

On the other side of things putting in a very reachable vesting option was pretty silly of Ricciardi.  He's either a poor negiotiator or a bad evaluator (or both).  I mean, who would ever guess DH who can't run might fall off the cliff as he reaches 40?

It seems obvious to everyone that Lind needs to be in the lineup.  I assume Inglett gets sent down initially, but it'll be interesting to see what the move is when Rolen comes back.

Some good points made by posters. It is not a good bet at all (particularly with next year's vesting salary guarantee) that Thomas at age 40 is a second-half breakout man. He sure doesn't look like it at the plate. Nor is he tradeable at all with the vesting guarantee.

But however bad Thomas is, doesn't make Lind anymore than what he is. Last year he struggled as his playing time increased and major league pitchers k'd him with letter-high fastballs. His obp ended up around .278. Also, his splits vs. AAA lefties this year are pretty bad, so he can't be considered as a starter, at this point at least, vs. major league lefties.

I think at this point, the wise course for JP would be:

1. Keep Thomas as a DH vs. lefties, at least for a while. Send down Inglett and call up LInd to play left vs. righties while Stairs DH's against them. Thomas won't like that, but that's not all that important right now. He wants to be released to pull in 2 salaries this year, and there's no obligation at all to oblige him.

2. Look for someone who's a better platoon partner with Lind than Shannon Stewart. Obviously Reed Johnson comes to mind, but that's spilt milk now. Johnson left because of the strong possibility that one or both of Thomas and Stairs would tank and Ricciardi figured Stewart was a better bet vs. righties in that situation. I'm not as sanguine as others about the ease of finding someone like that (there's sure no one in the minors, but that's another story), but that's what I'd look for.

3. Don't act out of panic or a fear that everyone on the team is going to freak out if Thomas has a temper tantrum. There's no point in simply cutting Thomas at this point just so he can collect two salaries and to avoid a bit of clubhouse controversy.

Well Frank has been released:

tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=234740&lid=headline&lpos=topStory_main

Scottt, I am referring to the players WPA (win probability added) scores that appear at fangraphs.com. What it measures is the players "clutchness" or lack thereof. You have quite a good point; however, WPA looks at the game differently than the box score. That is why I am tracking it this year to see what happens.