So, I assume Amar is going to be in Dunedin? I suppose this makes sense condsidering his age.

There was a list of players released that appeared on the site last week, and Amar was one of those.

Ah, now I see. A little surprising. I was looking forward to seeing how he would've done this year.

I am puzzled by the decision to push young prospects who have struggled, like Kenny Wilson.  Wilson just turned 19, and struck out 60 times in 51 games in the GCL last year.  With 5 years to play with, I cannot see the downside of sending him to extended and then to Auburn.

I find Eiland being promoted quite surprising, 80k's in 74 games with 37bb and add a truly dismal stint in the Hawaii winter league to cap it all off.

So, I assume Amar is going to be in Dunedin? I suppose this makes sense condsidering his age.

According to BA, Amar was cut.

I have a feeling we'll find out a LOT of the older prospects in the upper levels have been cut.

Here's the way I'd grouped the SP - no more than six to a level -

AAA: Cecil, Mills, D.Ro, Clement, Bullington, Murphy
AA: Ray, Miller, Rodriguez, Polanco, Mcgee
HiA: Ginley, Zep, Perez, Starner, Collins (<pen maybe?)
LoA: Liebel, Magnuson, Bell, Cerrano

NONE of those LoA starters are on that Lansing roster and that makes me thing that guys like Polonco and Mcgee - to say nothing of Wade Miller - might be on the chopping block.

Also, guys that had been talked about as starters - Collins, Bell, Starner - may yet find themselves in the 'pen.

I'm very excited about the Jays' minor league teams.  It will be fun to follow them this year since it seems like there's a number of legitimate prospects at every level.  It looks like the Jays finally have a strong minor league system again, top to bottom, and with the announcement that they'll go over slot in the draft I think the team could be very good in 2011 and beyond once Rolen, Overbay and Ryan are off the books and if they trade Halladay they should make taking Wells' contract part of the deal.  That's probably easier said than done of course. 

The only concern I have is the lack of high ceiling starting pitching.  Are there any Halladay, Carpenter, Escobar, or McGowan type arms in that group?  Ricciardi's refusal to draft high school pitchers early may end up hurting them.

timpinder - All I can say is DITTO - I especially think that the ability to use Halladay to move Wells' contract is key to the jays having the financial flexability to

compete in the coming years. 

Marc Rzepczynski is skipping Dunedin and going straight to AA.  He pitched well last season but that is a big jump for him

Rzepczynski should have been in Dunedin for most of last season.  I think he's where he should be now.

I agree with Pistol.

It is a bit strange to quickly promote struggling high-schoolers and to slowly promote collegians who are doing well.

I found the Fisher Cats roster online from a press release:

Starters:

Rzepczynski

Reider Gonzales

Luis Perez

Fabio Castro (never saw that coming)

Randy Boone (beginning season on the DL)

 

Relievers:

Dials

Boyd

Stidfole

Adrian Martin

Polanco

Rommie Lewis

Nate Starner

 

Infielders:

Dopriak

Cooper

Emaus

Guitierrez

Jonathan Diaz

Luis Sanchez

 

Outfielders:

Nick Gorneault

Sean Shoffit

Adam Calderone

Todd Donovan

Cody Hearther (starting on DL)

Catchers:

Jeroloman

Kyle Phillips

 

The New Hampshire roster raises more questions, such as:

Where are Robert Ray, Brandon Magee and Kenny Rodriguez?  I assume Ray is in Las Vegas, maybe in a bullpen role.  Magee and K-Rod are not in AA or high A so have they been released?

Who will start in AAA?  We have Mills, Cecil, Ray, Davis Romero, Matt Clement, and Bill Murphy.

What happened to Ryan Patterson, Eric Neilsen and Aaron Mathews?  The AAA roster should have Jason Lane, Buck Coats, Russ Adams and Howie Clark.  There is not room for all three of these guys in AAA.

 

After his fine performance in spring training, where he didn't look out of place at all, and after his strong season in Dunedin last year, I hope Brad Emaus gets pushed up to AAA within a month or two.   To clear a place for him, Scott Campbell should be focusing on learning how to play 3B, and Joe Inglett should be restored to the major league team.

Gerry, I'm pretty sure Kenny Rodriguez has been released. I thought I remember his name being amongst the cuts announced earlier this week. However, I don't recall seeing Magee or any of the other names you wondered about.

Patterson and Neilsen have both been released.  Someone on another board is friends with Patterson and was relayed the news directly from him.

Gerry, I'm pretty sure Kenny Rodriguez has been released. I thought I remember his name being amongst the cuts announced earlier this week.


That was Edward Rodriguez. Here's the list direct from BA:

RHP Rick Bauer, RHP Mike MacDonald, RHP Dan Miller, RHP Jay Monti, RHP Seth Overbey, RHP Edward Rodriguez, RHP Orlando Roman, LHP Daryl Harang, LHP Brian Letko, LHP Mike Maroth, LHP Ken Takahashi, LHP A.J. Wideman, C Joel Collins, 1B Adam Amar, 1B Chip Cannon, SS Marcos Cabral, OF Jacob Butler, OF Chris Demons, OF Wayne Lydon, OF Cory Patton


Unless you are speaking of some other source?

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Kevin+Gray's+On+Baseball%3A+Fisher+Cats+a+great+bargain+--+but+a+winner+would+be+cool%2C+too&articleId=671bf0bd-2de0-4913-abdb-05fb5ac181a5

FISHER TRACKS: Many Fisher alums have said goodbye to New Hampshire for good. Released by the Jays at the end of spring training were: Jacob Butler, Chip Cannon, Mike MacDonald, Eric Nielsen, Ryan Patterson, Andrew Pinckney, Seth Overbey, Orlando Roman and Daryl Harang. Patterson and Nielsen were among the last cuts.

"It was tough. Some of these guys have been in the organization and worked their way up. We just feel like maybe in Ryan's case, a different organization might be good for him. We don't have any issues with any of those guys. We just made different choices," Scott said.

 

The team has control over the pitcher's for the same amount of time (the rule was only changed recently), so the team probably already knows what they have in the college pitchers. However, they need to know sooner what the HS players have, so they need to get them some tougher competition quickly (just my idea).

Brent, college players have to be added to the 40-man roster after four minor league seasons, high school players after five years... so there is still the extra year between the two... It was previously three and four years. The only time it's the same is for minor league free agency which is after six full seasons.

WillRain, I couldn't remember the source when I posted my comment, so that's why I didn't link it. I think you're probably correct and I was thinking of the other Rodriguez. Good spot.

Bastian says Matt Clement has decided to retire.  That opens up a spot for Robert Ray, Davis Romero, Marty McLeary or Brandon Magee to start.

Final rosters have been released.....

Notable players starting the season on the DL include:

Robert Ray, Davis Romero, Mark Sobolewski and Brandon Fahey

Las Vegas Roster:

PITCHERS (12)

Accardo, Jeremy
Bayliss, Jonah
Beam, TJ
Bullington, Bryan
Burres, Brian
Cecil, Brett
Hayhurst, Dirk
Miller, Wade
Mills, Brad
Murphy, Bill
Stidfole, Sean
Wolfe, Brian

Arencibia, JP
Chavez, Raul

Campbell, Scott
Clark, Howie
Harper, Brett
Inglett, Joe
Ruiz, Randy
Sanchez, Angel

Adams, Russ
Coats, Buck
Lane, Jason
Mathews, Aaron

Dunedin Roster

Beck, Chad
Bell, Bobby
Buckwalter, Ross
Collins, Tim
Estanga, Edgar
Farina, Alan
Farquhar, Daniel
Ginley, Kyle
Liebel, Andrew
Magee, Brandon
Magnuson, Trystan
Page, Ryan
Walden, Marcus

Jaspe, Jon
Liuzza, Matt
Quintana, Al

Ahrens, Kevin
Barron, Raul
Gonzalez, Jesus
Jackson, Justin
Rodriguez, Manny
Tolisano, John

Baksh, Jon
Emanuele, Chris
Loewen, Adam
Mastroianni, Darin
Sierra, Moises
Thames, Eric

It looks like Ryan Patterson and Eric Neilsen did get released.  But it is the pitching side that has seen the most changes.  Brandon Magee has gone back to Dunedin, Joel Carreno and Castillo Perez are not shown, presumably released.  Ryan Page makes the big jump to high A. 

The pitching results will be interesting this season as the Jays have aggressively promoted some pitchers.

Some surprising information here. Thanks Gerry!

Anyone know where Eric Eiland is? Has he been held back in extended spring training, or injured? A lot of pitchers were left off rosters, including Cody Crowell, K-Rod, Joel Correno, Joe Wice, Robert Leffler and 2008 draftees Evan Crawford and Danny Farquhar. Anyone have any information on them?

Farquhar is on the Dunedin list. Liebel at Dunedin should be interesting to watch!

Cody Crowell and Eic Eiland are in extended spring training.  Crowell is not listed as injured but if a player was injured during spring training and couldn't get ready for the season they might go to extended to get ready.

The Las Vegas environment figures to be hell on pitchers.  The desert air and poor defence is a nasty combination, and if pitchers survive with confidence intact, they are surely ready. 

So, if you see Brett Cecil with an ERA of 4.5 after 10 starts, don't worry.

Personally, if it were my organization, I would make sure that I had a decent defence in Las Vegas, at least down the middle of the diamond.

This weeks Baseball America transactions log has the following releases for the jays:

Released: RHP Matt Bush, RHP Jimmy Dougher, 2B Kevin Melillo, 3B Andrew Pinckney, OF Eric Nielsen, OF Ryan Patterson

In former farmhand news, ex-Blue Jays minor leaguer (and briefly major leaguer) Ryan Robers has made the Arizona Diamondbacks roster.

This weeks Baseball America transactions log has the following releases for the jays:

Released: RHP Matt Bush, RHP Jimmy Dougher, 2B Kevin Melillo, 3B Andrew Pinckney, OF Eric Nielsen, OF Ryan Patterson

Poor Matt Bush.

Some observations:

Too many 1B/DH types in Lansing and only one in Dunedin - one assumes one of those six OF will spend a lot of time DHing? Or will they play Loewen at 1B?

Stidfole was listed on both NH and LV

Do we suppose that Dopirak will get the DH at bats in NH?

Names I noticed unaccounted for:

Kenny Rodriguez
Joel Cerrano
Joe Wice
Conner Falkenbach
Chad Blackwell
Ray Gonzaalez
David Shinske - Rule 5 draft
Shigeki Naguchi

I'd be surprised if any of the first three were cut but maybe so.

Stidfole was on New Hampshire but I suspect he was promoted when Clement retired.  Shinskie is now on the NH roster.

And Gonzalez is also on NH

Inow have confirmation that Kenny Rodriguez, Joel Carreno and Castillo Perez have been delayed in getting to the US due to visa issues.  Hopefully they will get back into the US soon.  Conor Falkenbach retired and Joe Wice is on the restricted list.

Bush was cut for violating a rule.  I don't think he needs our sympathies.

Yeah, Bush hung himself.  Here's the story:

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/03/padres-bush-trouble-again-blue-jays-released153340/?padres