2011 Blue Jays Season Thread

[NoCupsIn40Years]

Fire Dwayne Murphy. He's ruined two former opposite field hitters in Hill and Lind. He's destroyed Snider's confidence and I fear for the other prospects in the system.

[Machiavelli]

7 runs so far on Weaver, with a mediocre lineup. Nice.

[Caged Great]

The players that are the most important to get signed are: Beede, Comer, Norris, Chin, Suarez, Garza, Wiper, Prigitano, and Lopes. (Bold are the more important ones, the others are still good, but not quite as good)

Important guys signed - Smith, Dean, Biggs

Pitcher

Tyler Beede - 1st round - (High School)
Kevin Comer - 1st Supplemental round - (High School)
Daniel Norris - 2nd round - (High School)
Nicolas Wiper - 14th round - (High School)
Aaron Nola - 22nd round - (High School)
Jerrick Suiter - 35th round - (High School)
Jake Eliopoulos - 43rd round - (No School)
Charlie Lamar - 49th round - (High School)

Anthony Chin - 5th round - (High School) - Not Signing
Andrew Suarez - 9th round - (High School) - Not Signing
Aaron Garza - 10th round - (High School) - Not Signing
Cody Glen - 15th round - (High School) - Not Signing
Luke Weaver - 19th round - (High School) - Not Signing
Joel Seddon - 20th round - (High School) - Not Signing
Chris Cox - 39th round - Not Signing

1B

Richard Prigatano - 16th round - (High School)
John Coy - 45th round - (College)

SS

Christian Lopes - 7th round - (High School)
K'Shawn Smith - 23rd round - (College)
Austin Nola - 31st round - (College)

3B

Austin Davis - 47th round - (High School)

Outfielders

John Norwood - 12th round - (College)
Jacob Wakamatsu - 48th round - (High School)

Signed

Anderson (OF - 1st Round), Smith (OF - 1st round), Musgrove (RHP - 1st round), Gabryszwski (RHP - 2nd round),
Stilson (RHP - 3rd Round), Robson (RHP - 4th round), Descalfini (RHP - 6th round), Biggs (RHP - 8th round),
Burns (SS - 11th round),Dean (3B - 13th round), Dragmire (RHP - 17th round), Berti (2B - 18th round),
Mooney (SS - 21st round), Rollins (LHP - 24th round), Arce (1B 25th round), Atkinson (SS - 26th round),
Lovelace (OF - 27th round), Vega-Rosado (SS - 28th round), Cole (RHP - 29th round), Patterson (1B - 30th round),
Pillar (OF - 32nd round), Champlin (RHP - 33rd Round), Munoz (C - 34th round), Sikula (RHP - 36th round),
Williams (RHP - 37th round), Taylor (RF - 38th round),Baligod (OF - 40th round), Barrett (SS - 41st round),
Davis (LHP - 42nd round) , Broussard (RHP - 44th round), Farrel (RHP - 46th round), Brown (RHP - 50th round)

[nik-]

nice, I tune in just in time to see the back to backs from Thames and Bautista.

[Machiavelli]

Encarnacion gets the walk-off hit. Option = picked up??

[nik-]

great game!

[NoCupsIn40Years]

Did you guys hear that noise? It's the sound of Encarnacions option being picked up for next year.

[NoCupsIn40Years]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

4th round pick, Canadian RHP Thomas Robson was signed a couple days ago.

Today, 3rd round pick John Stilson has signed for 500K. Stilson was supposed to be a 1st round calibre player, but he got hurt (it's minor) and slid. Great upside pick there.

There should be a lot more tomorrow as the deadline is monday, and usually most of the ridiculously overslot picks get announced during that time.

The players that are the most important to get signed are: Beede, Comer, Norris, Chin, Biggs, Suarez, Garza, Wiper, Prigitano, Lopes, Dean, and Smith. (Bold are the more important ones, the others are still good, but not quite as good)

Pitcher

Tyler Beede - 1st round - (High School)
Kevin Comer - 1st Supplemental round - (High School)
Daniel Norris - 2nd round - (High School)
John Stilson - 3rd round - Signed
Anthony Chin - 5th round - (High School)
Anthony DeSclafani - 6th round - ?
Mark Biggs - 8th round - (High School)
Andrew Suarez - 9th round - (High School)
Aaron Garza - 10th round - (High School)
Nicolas Wiper - 14th round - (High School)
Cody Glen - 15th round - (High School) - Apparently has committed to college, not going to sign
Brady Dragmire - 17th round - Signed
Luke Weaver - 19th round - (High School)
Joel Seddon - 20th round - (High School) - Turned down 1 million, likely not to sign
Aaron Nola - 22nd round - (High School)
Jerrick Suiter - 35th round - (High School)
Chris Cox - 39th round - Strange situation as he can hold out and then sign as a free agent with any team. Would take a lot to sign him.
Jake Eliopoulos - 43rd round - (No School)
Charlie Lamar - 49th round - (High School)

1B

Richard Prigatano - 16th round - (High School)
John Coy - 45th round - (College)

SS

Christian Lopes - 7th round - (High School)
K'Shawn Smith - 23rd round - (College)
Austin Nola - 31st round - (College)

3B

Austin Davis - 47th round - (High School)

Outfielders

Dwight Smith - 1st Supplemental round - (High School)
John Norwood - 12th round - (College)
Jacob Wakamatsu - 48th round - (High School)

Signed

Anderson (OF - 1st Round), Musgrove (RHP - 1st round), Gabryszwski (RHP - 2nd round), Stilson (RHP - 3rd Round),
Robson (RHP - 4th round), Burns (SS - 11th round), Dragmire (RHP - 17th round), Berti (2B - 18th round),
Mooney (SS - 21st round), Rollins (LHP - 24th round), Arce (1B 25th round), Atkinson (SS - 26th round),
Lovelace (OF - 27th round), Vega-Rosado (SS - 28th round), Cole (RHP - 29th round), Patterson (1B - 30th round),
Pillar (OF - 32nd round), Champlin (RHP - 33rd Round), Munoz (C - 34th round), Sikula (RHP - 36th round),
Williams (RHP - 37th round), Taylor (RF - 38th round),Baligod (OF - 40th round), Barrett (SS - 41st round),
Davis (LHP - 42nd round) , Broussard (RHP - 44th round), Farrel (RHP - 46th round), Brown (RHP - 50th round)

Unofficially Signed, but have dollar frameworks in place

Dean (3B - 13th round),

I'm hoping AA signs one of Beede or Norris, I doubt both will sign.

[Caged Great]

Descalfini and Biggs signed. edited above

[JustAnotherGuy]

Originally Posted by NoCupsIn40Years

Did you guys hear that noise? It's the sound of Encarnacions option being picked up for next year.

I admit it. I was wrong about him. Hopefully him playing DH was the magic ingredient that was missing. We shall see how things start next year. I am wanting him to carry on like he is playing now. I would rather be wrong.

[JustAnotherGuy]

Originally Posted by NoCupsIn40Years

I'm hoping AA signs one of Beede or Norris, I doubt both will sign.

Beede would be a fool if he doesn't sign. Take 2-3 million now or go to university and not be eligible for the draft until 2014? Yes, money is not the answer to everything but those are big numbers to walk away from. But that is my opinion he can do what ever he wants.

[Caged Great]

Jays signed Dwight Smith JR. 53rd overall pick. That was the pick we got for picking up Olivo and buying his option out.

[Cheese]

Grabbed this from BJays.com. Signings up to yesterday?

1 21 Tyler Beede RHP Lawrence Academy, Groton, Mass. Mass.
1s 35 Jacob Anderson OF Chino (Calif.) HS Calif.
1s 46 Joe Musgrove RHP Grossmont HS, El Cajon, Calif. Calif. - $500,000
1s 53 Dwight Smith Jr. OF McIntosh (Ga.) HS Ga.
1s 57 Kevin Comer RHP Seneca HS, Tabernacle, N.J. N.J.
2 74 Daniel Norris LHP Science Hill HS, Johnson City, Tenn. Tenn.
2 78 Jeremy Gabryszwski RHP Crosby (Texas) HS Texas
3 108 John Stilson RHP Texas A&M Texas
4 139 Thomas Robson RHP Delta SS, Ladner, B.C. B.C.
5 169 Andrew Chin LHP Buckingham Browne & Nichols HS, Cambridge, Mass. Mass.
6 199 Anthony DeSclafani RHP Florida Fla.
7 229 Christian Lopes 2B Edison HS, Huntington Beach, Calif. Calif.
8 259 Mark Biggs RHP Warren East HS, Bowling Green, Ky. Ky.
9 289 Andrew Suarez LHP Columbus HS, Miami Fla.
10 319 Aaron Garza RHP Ball HS, Galveston, Texas Texas
11 349 Andy Burns SS Arizona Ariz.
12 379 John Norwood OF Seton Hall Prep, Orange, N.J. N.J.
13 409 Matt Dean 3B The Colony (Texas) HS Texas
14 439 Cole Wiper RHP Newport HS, Bellevue, Wash. Wash.
15 469 Cody Glenn LHP Westbury Chrisitan HS, Houston Texas
16 499 Richard Prigatano 1B St. Francis HS, Mountain View, Calif. Calif.
17 529 Brady Dragmire RHP Bradshaw Christian School, Sacramento Calif.
18 559 Jon Berti 2B Bowling Green State Ohio
19 589 Luke Weaver RHP DeLand (Fla.) HS Fla.
20 619 Joel Seddon RHP St. Clair (Mich.) HS Mich.
21 649 Peter Mooney SS South Carolina S.C.
22 679 Aaron Nola RHP Catholic HS, Baton Rouge, La. La.
23 709 K'Shawn Smith SS Indian River State (Fla.) JC Fla.
24 739 David Rollins LHP San Jacinto (Texas) JC Texas
25 769 Eric Arce 1B Tampa (No school) Fla.
26 799 Justin Atkinson SS North Surrey (B.C.) SS B.C. - $100,000
27 829 Derrick Loveless OF Solon (Iowa) HS Iowa
28 859 Vega-Rosado Jorge SS Miami-Dade CC Fla. - $200,000 (signing and amount not made official by BA yet. Speculation that it's imminent)
29 889 Taylor Cole RHP Brigham Young Utah
30 919 Kevin Patterson 1B Auburn Ala.
31 949 Austin Nola SS Louisiana State La.
32 979 Kevin Pillar OF Cal State Dominguez Hills Calif.
33 1009 Kramer Champlin RHP Arizona State Ariz.
34 1039 Luis Munoz C Northwestern State La.
35 1069 Jerrick Suiter RHP Valparaiso (Ind.) HS Ind.
36 1099 Andrew Sikula RHP Marshall W.Va.
37 1129 Leslie Williams RHP Northeastern Mass.
38 1159 Nico Taylor OF Northwood (Texas) Texas
39 1189 Chris Cox RHP Canisus N.Y.
40 1219 Nick Baligod OF Oral Roberts Okla.
41 1249 Cody Bartlett SS Washington State Wash.
42 1279 Shane Davis LHP Canisius N.Y.
43 1309 Jake Eliopoulos LHP Newmarket, Ont. (No school) Ontario
44 1339 Colby Broussard RHP Faulkner (Ala.) Ala.
45 1369 Johnny Coy 3B Wichita State Kan.
46 1399 Shane Farrell RHP Marshall W.Va.
47 1429 Austin Davis 3B Central Columbia HS, Bloomsburg, Pa. Pa.
48 1459 Jacob Wakamatsu OF Keller (Texas) HS Texas
49 1489 Charlie LaMar LHP Clearwater (Fla.) Central Catholic HS Fla.
50 1519 Eric Brown RHP British Columbia B.C.

[Trojan97]

So I was scrolling through the draft list and thought it was odd that Eric Arce (25th round pick) is listed as having no school. A quick google brought me this..

http://www.wftv.com/news/23105399/detail.html

"LAKELAND, Fla. -- He was one of the best baseball players ever to come out of Central Florida and he was expected to go to Florida State University and then the major league. But now, star Lakeland High School player Eric Arce has been arrested. Arce and his friend were caught by police kissing their girlfriends and WFTV learned they face felony charges because they had just turned 18 and their girlfriends were underage.

According to an arrest report, Deputy David Clement saw a pickup truck on the side of the road, flashed his light inside and noticed the teens. Simmons was in the front seat with a 15-year-old girl and Arce was in the backseat with a 14-year-old.
Records show the girls' parents knew they were dating Arce and Simmons and their actions were consensual, but Florida law doesn't allow sexual contact between adults and minors."

Kind of a weird story. He appears to be a good prospect though..

"Eric Arce has had a bit of a whirlwind year, as he moved up to the Athens, Georgia area in the summer from Lakeland, only to move back again right before practices started for the spring season. Combined with Yordy Cabrera, Arce probably formed the most dangerous duo in all of high school baseball. Arce isn’t the biggest player you’ll see, but he’s built strongly through his core, though he has catcher speed, below-average overall. His major calling card is his plus bat, with both a plus future hit tool and plus raw power, which is surprising for his size. His bat speed is some of the best in the entire draft class, and he shouldn’t have many problems adjusting to pro pitching right off the bat. Behind the plate, Arce has solid tools, but he’s a bit of a raw receiver. He’ll need to work on blocking balls and handling plus stuff. However, he has an average to above-average arm, coupled with very quick feet, and he’s put up plus pop times at showcase events in the past. He had originally signed on to play at Georgia Tech, but after a bit of a snafu involving credits he committed to Florida State in the fall. He should go anywhere from rounds two to four and will be signable for the neighborhood of slot money."

******Upon further investigation, Arce was actually redrafted this year by the Jays and is currently mashing in the GCL. His stats look like this...273/.446/.633/.1079. In 128 AB's he has 4 2B's, 3 3B's, 12 HR's, 33 RBI's. 33 walks/39 strikeouts (wow). He's apparently slow as dirt but has raised his conditioning to where he's able to handle a corner outfield spot. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this kid as he progresses. He looks like a good one.*********

[Trojan97]

The beautiful thing about a freshly stocked farm system full of good young players is that AA is under little pressure to give in to the demands of the Beede family. You wanna take the millions and be part of one of the premier up and coming franchise in baseball? Great. If you wanna go play college ball and bang freshmen girls and take your chances in 2014, more power to you. We keep the pick anyways next year. No big deal either way.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by Trojan97

The beautiful thing about a freshly stocked farm system full of good young players is that AA is under little pressure to give in to the demands of the Beede family. You wanna take the millions and be part of one of the premier up and coming franchise in baseball? Great. If you wanna go play college ball and bang freshmen girls and take your chances in 2014, more power to you. We keep the pick anyways next year. No big deal either way.

I am still hoping this guy will be a last minute signing. I am sure AA will do everything possible.

[bluejays]

It's a bargaining tactic. I'm sure he'll sign, but as always, with high stakes negotiations, a deal will be reached last minute. Rarely kids are dumb enough to pass up that coin when the possibility of going for better coin is marginally better, though history shows there are those handful of greedy ones who gets butchered after they pass on it.

[Da_Chief]

@keithlaw
keithlaw
Toronto signs 13th round pick Matt Dean for $737,500. Potential first round bat after junior year but struggled last summer/this spring.

[Cheese]

Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus polled five people within the game this morning to figure out how many first-round picks might pass on signing today; according to Goldstein, three of the executives said that every player will sign, while two said that one player won't sign. Goldstein added that, of the executives who expect one player to pass on signing, neither thought that player would be Blue Jays first-round pick Tyler Beede.

Article on the last UFAs that havent signed.

and more on the top picks left to sign

Twenty-three of the 33 first-round picks of this year's draft awoke Monday unsigned, while 11 of 27 supplemental first-rounders haven't reached terms.
Teams have been told by the commissioner's office to not offer more than the specific signing bonuses it has outlined for each pick in the first five rounds.
The league also is trying to clamp down on the amount of bonus information announced so as to prevent players from using that of others as leverage in negotiations.

[Trojan97]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

@keithlaw
keithlaw
Toronto signs 13th round pick Matt Dean for $737,500. Potential first round bat after junior year but struggled last summer/this spring.

Good signing, tons of potential in this pick.