Keith Law posted his mock draft today.  He had the Jays selecting Dylan Covey, prep righthander from California.  He noted:  

The Blue Jays are suddenly open for business in the high school arm market, and they're in on Karsten Whitson, Covey and Aaron Sanchez, but I think Michael Choice may trump them all if he reaches here. It sounds as though the Jays won't be in on McGuire even if he falls.

So Keith thinks as I do that they are looking at a top college bat or a high school arm.  This matches organizational need with the talent available at #11.

And something happened while I was gone?

You return from the weekend to find that the team's 6-7-8-9 hitters have SLGs of 545, 570, 563, and 745. I'm wondering if Gaston is going to reshuffle the deck a little bit.

Speaking of power hitters, guess who's leading the Mets in home runs?

Yep. Rod Barajas.

Well, yes, but this year, leading the Mets in homers is like leading the Detroit Lions in rushing yards or the New Jersey Nets in rebounding or somesuch ...

Didn't see the game, but (a) Brett Cecil receiving a break from the hit gods, and (b) Joe Saunders being worn out by the Blue Jays? Beautiful.

If the Indians or A's don't pick Michael Choice, he's probably going to fall to the Jays. I'm getting a Michael Taylor with more raw power vibe from Choice. He's the best power hitting college hitter available in the draft but will probably have to shift to RF once he gets to the minors. If the Jays are able to get him, there's a chance he will be with the big club within 2-3 years. Outside of Wallace, the Jays don't have any other big time power hitting prospects so Choice would fit a need with the club.

Guess what? The Jays are now 1/2 a game out of the playoffs after Victoria Day weekend, 1 1/2 up on Boston, 4th best record in the AL.

2 more in LA then 3 at home vs Baltimore before reality will probably set in (3 vs Tampa, 3 vs NYY, 3 more in Tampa). Lets enjoy it while it lasts!

Fangraphs analyses the Jays offense here.  New information to me:

As a whole, Toronto’s hitters have chased 31.1 percent of pitches thrown outside of the strike zone. That’s the highest mark in the AL and is well north of the 27.6 percent major league average in 2010.

The Jays also lead the league in cuts taken on in-zone pitches, letting it rip 68.5 percent of the time a pitcher puts one over the plate (63.6 percent MLB average this season).

Taking such an aggressive approach, the Jays have the highest first pitch strike percentage in the AL — they have put the ball in play on the first pitch or gotten behind in the count 0-and-1 60.7 percent of the time (58.1 percent MLB average).

 

Well, yes, but this year, leading the Mets in homers is like leading the Detroit Lions in rushing yards

Totally uncalled for!  You're not only dissing B.A. Barajas but you're mocking the only NFL team that can claim to have infinitely improved last season, going from 0 to 2 wins.  Plus, they've never lost a Super Bowl!!  :D

Meantime, ESPN Insider has an article about Jose Bautista.  Subscribers can check it out right here.

The Jays might have to rethink how they rehab pitchers.  Tonight Tallet is being rocked in Round Rock.  He has given up eight runs in 1.1 innings, so far.

In the last week or so Jesse Litsch and Marc Rzepczynski have also been hit around in AAA.

You figure it's not a good idea to add insult to injury?:)

It seems like the Jays' triple A franchise, whether it be in Las Vegas or Syracuse, has had a losing record for the last 20 years running.

Is there data on pitch selection from LV or has anyone seen Zep/Litsch rehab? If their pitch selection is being driven by the rehab then any poor results should be ignored, until they get back to their normal pattern of pitching.

As has been mentioned on this board before, it'd probably be best to have the arms that are ticketed for the bigs at NH, avoiding LV altogether.

Litsch didn't have a bad game - he just ran out of gas in the seventh and was left in too long (maybe a pitch count thing?)