The Blue Jays Thread. - Page 4 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

ricoFlame · 03-25-2007, 01:00 PM

Okha looked steady today.

Saint Troy · 03-25-2007, 04:25 PM

League was sent down today, as he can't get his fastball out of the mid 80's, which is a massive drop in velocity. League apparently didn't throw a pitch for eight weeks over the winter and lifted a ton of weights which has buggered his release. Makes you wonder what in the sweet hell the Jays conditioning staff gave him for an offseason program, or was he dumb enough to do this on his own?

Cerebral · 03-25-2007, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saint Troy

League was sent down today, as he can't get his fastball out of the mid 80's, which is a massive drop in velocity. League apparently didn't throw a pitch for eight weeks over the winter and lifted a ton of weights which has buggered his release. Makes you wonder what in the sweet hell the Jays conditioning staff gave him for an offseason program, or was he dumb enough to do this on his own?

That's absolutely craptastic news, I was banking on League stepping in and filling Speier's role in the lineup. He was dynamite down the stretch last season and he was finally looking like a potentially stellar reliever who could set things up for Ryan in the 9th.

Bleh, that likely means Frasor will be doing set-up duty this season and I'm not nearly as confident in him as I was with League.

Jiggy_12 · 03-25-2007, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saint Troy

League was sent down today, as he can't get his fastball out of the mid 80's, which is a massive drop in velocity. League apparently didn't throw a pitch for eight weeks over the winter and lifted a ton of weights which has buggered his release. Makes you wonder what in the sweet hell the Jays conditioning staff gave him for an offseason program, or was he dumb enough to do this on his own?

Jesus, League was brushing the high 90's last year. Hopefully this is just temporary and he can turn it around.

Cerebral · 03-25-2007, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jiggy_12

Jesus, League was brushing the high 90's last year. Hopefully this is just temporary and he can turn it around.

A lot of people are wondering if he might have a slight muscle tear that is hindering his progress (I believe Blair reported on this in a recent article). This is really devestating news for the Jays though, League was probably Toronto's best reliever down the stretch besides Ryan and he was set to have a huge role in the bull-pen this season. Perhaps one of Towers or Zambrano (or both for that matter!) end up in the bull-pen now.

ricoFlame · 03-25-2007, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cerebral

This is really devestating news for the Jays though, League was probably Toronto's best reliever down the stretch besides Ryan and he was set to have a huge role in the bull-pen this season.

True, when he had movement on that fastball he looked really, really good. hopefully there is some sort of solution to this problem for league...serious talent there.

kipperfan · 03-25-2007, 06:36 PM

Yikes that really sucks. League has become one of my favourite Jays young guys over the past few years, and at the end of last season he looked amazing. Hell, he hit triple digits on the gun a few times in game situations IIRC, to go from that to mid 80's MPH is a HUGE dropoff. I cannot see any amount of weight lifting of time off throwing doing that to his stuff, I would think Blair is right and there is some sort of injury, and a tear would make sense. Arggghh thats sucks if true.

RedHot25 · 03-25-2007, 06:37 PM

Actually, I would be interested in seeing Towers in the bullpen. Not really sure why, just a complete hunch/guess. It just kind of seems like something that could potentially work....long relief, or the guy you put in say the 6th and 7th innings.

Cerebral · 03-25-2007, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedHot25

Actually, I would be interested in seeing Towers in the bullpen. Not really sure why, just a complete hunch/guess. It just kind of seems like something that could potentially work....long relief, or the guy you put in say the 6th and 7th innings.

He apparently looked pretty good down in Syracuse as a reliever and it's always nice to have a guy in the pen who can come in and throw some strikes. Considering the fact that League is down in AAA, I wouldn't be against seeing the Jays use Zambrano in a set-up role to start the season (which would keep him from pitching too many innings) and Towers as a long reliever.

ricoFlame · 03-25-2007, 06:50 PM

I wish that sal fasano was good enough to make the team...best moustache in the entire league, hands down.

Cerebral · 03-25-2007, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricoFlame

I wish that sal fasano was good enough to make the team...best moustache in the entire league, hands down.

He'll always have a future in the porn industry if he gets stuck down in the minors.

JiriHrdina · 03-26-2007, 04:22 PM

Got this from Bluejayway. ERAs of the pitching staff so far:
Zambrano 1.98
Janssen 2.31
Halladay 2.40
Ohka 2.84
Towers 3.20
Downs 3.38
Frasor 3.52
Rosario 3.86
Burnett 4.35
Marcum 4.85

Thomson: 7.27
Accardo: 5.87
Chacin: 5.93
Tallet: 9.00
Ryan: 9.00* (back injury, should be ready for opening day)
League: DNP

So a few dissapointments obviously the biggest one being League. But overall very encouraging.

flambers · 03-26-2007, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Got this from Bluejayway. ERAs of the pitching staff so far:
Zambrano 1.98
Janssen 2.31
Halladay 2.40
Ohka 2.84
Towers 3.20
Downs 3.38
Frasor 3.52
Rosario 3.86
Burnett 4.35
Marcum 4.85

Thomson: 7.27
Accardo: 5.87
Chacin: 5.93
Tallet: 9.00
Ryan: 9.00* (back injury, should be ready for opening day)
League: DNP

So a few dissapointments obviously the biggest one being League. But overall very encouraging.

I am quite surprised to see Towers and Ohka pitch so well, as for dissappointments losing League is a big loss. As there is no clear setup man left on the Jays Roster. In my opinion the Relief Pitching is now the biggest area of weakness the Jays have.

I would think if League can not regain his form, JP is going to have to find another RP.

JiriHrdina · 03-26-2007, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flambers

I am quite surprised to see Towers and Ohka pitch so well, as for dissappointments losing League is a big loss. As there is no clear setup man left on the Jays Roster. In my opinion the Relief Pitching is now the biggest area of weakness the Jays have.

I would think if League can not regain his form, JP is going to have to find another RP.

Yeah the idea this season was not to overwork Ryan by putting him in so many 2 inning save situations. League was supposed to be that 8th inning guy to get the team to Ryan.

Now I'm not sure how that falls to. Frasor?

Sylvanfan · 03-26-2007, 04:36 PM

Yeah, wasn't the hope that Accardo and League would be the setup guys for the Jays in hopes of them being able to get the game down to 6 innings from the starters type of idea. Especially with the back end of the rotation not being that strong, you'd hope to get 6 innings allowing 3 or 4 runs and turn it over to the pen. A formula the Padres used quite effectively last year. Now that the 8th inning guy isn't there, someone else needs to step up.

Cerebral · 03-28-2007, 12:07 PM

Well, it sounds like Janssen and Zambrano will both make the team as relievers (at least according to a report on Scout) so that likely means the rotation will look like this:

Halladay
Burnett
Chachin
Ohka
Towers

I really don't mind the looks of that, Towers has bounced back with a stellar spring (it sounds like he has actually added a little velocity which would really help) and Ohka has been very impressive. Janssen is obviously a starting pitcher long-term but it's nice to have him up with the club and he will be able to fill in as a starter on occasion along with Downs which is always helpful.

Something I will be watching closely this season: Will one of Ohka, Zambrano or Towers outperform Lilly or Meche on the season? J.P. was willing to hand out $10 million+ to both those guys so I will be really curious to see if the cheap options he ended up going with beat them out. To be honest, I really wouldn't be surprised if Ohka and Meche end up having very similar seasons.

bluejays · 03-28-2007, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cerebral

Well, it sounds like Janssen and Zambrano will both make the team as relievers (at least according to a report on Scout) so that likely means the rotation will look like this:

Halladay
Burnett
Chachin
Ohka
Towers

I really don't mind the looks of that, Towers has bounced back with a stellar spring (it sounds like he has actually added a little velocity which would really help) and Ohka has been very impressive. Janssen is obviously a starting pitcher long-term but it's nice to have him up with the club and he will be able to fill in as a starter on occasion along with Downs which is always helpful.

Something I will be watching closely this season: Will one of Ohka, Zambrano or Towers outperform Lilly or Meche on the season? J.P. was willing to hand out $10 million+ to both those guys so I will be really curious to see if the cheap options he ended up going with beat them out. To be honest, I really wouldn't be surprised if Ohka and Meche end up having very similar seasons.

I'm really surprised at Towers' success. The starting pitching looks pretty good for the start of the season. I'm really concerned how they will maintain themselves as the season carries on. Just too much uncertainty with these group of guys. I don't want to sound negative, because everything is going great, but come August, I'm hoping JP has some ace up his sleeve (not counting on it), to bring in at least 1 proven SP.

flambers · 03-29-2007, 10:35 AM

Final cuts are expected to made today, should be interesting to see the who is released.

RedHot25 · 03-29-2007, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cerebral

Well, it sounds like Janssen and Zambrano will both make the team as relievers (at least according to a report on Scout) so that likely means the rotation will look like this:

Halladay
Burnett
Chachin
Ohka
Towers

Well Cerebral you were pretty close.

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/news_story/?ID=202020&hubname=mlb

Tomo Okha has been chosen as the Toronto Blue Jays' fourth starter, and the competition for the fifth spot could go down to the last day.

....

The final spot will go to either Victor Zambrano, who had his second Tommy John surgery last May while with the Mets, or Josh Towers.

Ricciardi said he didn't expect Zambrano would return so quickly.

....

John Thomson, originally in the mix for the final two spots in the rotation could start to season on the disabled list, Ricciardi said.

Pagal4321 · 03-29-2007, 01:24 PM

A little tidbit I picked up on another board....

Phils Make Offer for Rosario
From Ken Rosenthal's latest:

The Phillies are one of three clubs that have made trade offers for Blue Jays right-hander Francisco Rosario, who is out of minor-league options.

Rosario has very little major league experience, just 23 innings with Toronto last year, but put up some very good numbers in the International League before that and has had a very good spring in Dunedin.

Outside of inexperience and a checkered health history, Rosario has the type of stuff the Phillies could use in their bullpen right now. His fastball reaches 96 and misses bats, something even good pitchers in the Phillies pen don't do a lot.

It might be worth the low-level prospect the Jays would want.

Tom Goyne is the author of Balls, Sticks, & Stuff, a Phillies-centric site, and maintains the Phloggers' Pheeds page, a source for the latest commentary from around the "phlogosphere".