Draft Day!

The English language lacks nouns, adjectives and gerunds strong enough to express my frustration at watching Mike Mussina absolutely handcuff the Jays last night. The psychological effect of beating one of the weaker links in the Yankees rotation would've been big: a win would've both guaranteed a winning roadtrip and it would've kept the Yankees under .500 at least until we left town.

Does that mean anything in the grand scheme of things? Probably not, but still. Like a selfish lover, the Jays let me down once again. Where is my sobbing emoticon?

The Oracle says that Aaron Hill will STILL be out of the lineup today and may or may not be DL'd this weekend. Eckstein!

We've got some getaway day action at 1 this afternoon featuring Yankees ace CM Wang and our very own enigmatic Dustin McGowan. Dusty has been bad on the road this year and bad against the Yankees through his career. The ESPN supercomputer (4-1 since I started consulting it) basically reckons we've got no hope this afternoon. I'll have the game on TV, the draft window open on my laptop and there's very little prospect of me actually getting any work done today.

The Rays have announced that they'll take SS Tim Beckham as the first overall pick, a move no doubt in part motivated by Buster Posey's demands for a $12 million signing bonus. Good for them. The Sun indicates that the Reds will take Canucker Brett Lawrie 7th if he falls to them, which means we'll have to hope that Brett Wallace slides down to the Jays at 17.

Will we match up with the Braves for a trade this summer? They desperatly need bullpen help with John Smoltz lost for the season and we're well stocked in that department. That's why Armando Benitez is here, slowly but surely re-establishing his value.

What would you say if I told you that "not many starting pitchers throw even four different pitches at least 9-10% of the time and the Blue Jays have three of them." Further confirmation of something you already knew: we've got an exceptional rotation.

-- J0hnny Was

The Roundup

The Amateur Draft kicks off this week and it would be remiss of me not to pass along some thoughts on that topic. The Jays choose 17th, our only pick in the first round. None of those delicious supplemental rounders like last year, sadly.

For the historically minded, here's what we've got back from our first overall pick over the years. It's interesting to note just how crappy pretty much all of Pat Gillick's first rounders were through the '80s. Ed Sprague and John Cerutti (RIP) were the best of the bunch? Blehhh. The '90s were a great decade, producing 6 bona fide stars from Shawn Green to Alex Rios, and it's too early to tell for the 2000s.

As for this year's draft in general, Keith Law writes:

This year's crop better resembles 2004's low-upside college-centric first round... The draft's top tier of talent is deepest in an unsexy area -- college corner infielders. That category of player has typically yielded high returns -- from past names like Mark Teixeira, Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro to more recent picks including Gordon, Zimmerman, Braun and Nick Swisher -- but doesn't fit the standard first-round profile of players who offer a wide set of plus tools or pitchers with big fastballs and good breaking balls.

(Sorry to those of you who didn't get a chance to read the article in full before it was put behind the ESPN insider wall.)

Brett Wallace, a slugging 3B/1B from Arizona State University, is the guy the Jays are rumoured to be pining for, but it seems unlikely he'll still be on the board by the time they pick. Many are speculating that Godfrey is putting pressure on JP to take Canucker Brett Lawrie (C/3B), and when Godfrey wants something done (like signing V-Dub to a ridiculous extension, not signing Barry Bonds), it usually happens.

Here's the MiLB scouting profile on Lawrie:

Focus Area	Comments
Hitting Ability:	He's got tremendous hand strength and a quick bat, but he's a little pull conscious and with an open stance, he gives away too much of the outer part of the plate.
Power:	His best tool is his plus, plus raw power, though it's mostly to the pull side now.
Running Speed:	He's an average runner, maybe a tick above at times.
Base running:	He's a good baserunner who runs better underway.
Arm Strength:	He's got a plus arm which plays average in games.
Fielding:	He's got strong hands and quick feet, but his catching skills are rudimentary.
Range:	He has the athleticsm and quickness, but needs to work on blocking balls and shifting.
Physical Description:	Lawrie is an athletic player who might have the right build and frame to be a quick backstop.
Medical Update:	Healthy.
Strengths:	Plus, plus raw power, generated by strong hands and bat speed.
Weaknesses:	His lack of a true position. Catching might be the best bet, but he's behind due to lack of experience.
Summary:	Scouting Canadian players can sometimes be difficult because of the lack of opportunity to see them. But scouts know all about Lawrie and his plus power potential, something he's been able to show off while playing for the Langley Blaze in British Columbia. What they don't know is where he can play, though he's shown the tools -- raw though they may be -- to handle being a catcher. It may take a while, but putting that bat behind the plate could one day make him a premium player.

Over at Batter's Box, a council of learned elder bloggers from around the major leagues came up with this mock draft that had the Jays selecting Tulane RHP Shooter Hunt (one of the top RHP in the draft), but take it with a grain of salt because Baseball America predicts that the Astros will take him 10th overall. Prospect guy John Sickels sees the Jays taking Lawrie.

Interestingly, none of the following Canadian stars were drafted highly: Russell Martin (17th round, 2002), Jason Bay (22nd round, 2000), and Justin Morneau (3rd round, 1999). Larry Walker and Matt Stairs were both signed as amateur free agents by the Expos back in the' 80s. Presumably Canada was considered Interzone territory like Mexico and the Dominican Republic back in those days and players from the Great White North were not included in the regular draft like their American confreres.

For your reading pleasure, here are Keith Law's Top 25 prospects:

Rank	Player	Pos.
1.	Tim Beckham	SS
2.	Buster Posey	C
3.	Justin Smoak	1B
4.	Eric Hosmer	1B
5.	Pedro Alvarez	3B
6.	Aaron Crow	RHP
7.	Brian Matusz	RHP
8.	Gordon Beckham	SS
9.	Brett Wallace	3B
10.	Gerrit Cole	RHP
11.	Kyle Skipworth	C
12.	Christian Friedrich	LHP
13.	Aaron Hicks	RF/RHP
14.	Yonder Alonso	1B
15.	Ethan Martin	RHP/3B
16.	Josh Fields	RHP
17.	Casey Kelly	SS/RHP
18.	Tim Melville	RHP
19.	Shooter Hunt	RHP
20.	Jason Castro	C
21.	Conor Gillaspie	3B
22.	Andrew Cashner	RHP
23.	Lance Lynn	RHP
24.	David Cooper	1B
25.	Reese Havens	SS

Down on the farm, more props for Kyle Ginley, the first 10 game winner in the minors. He's posted an identical 5-0 record at both Lansing and Dunedin with not unsexy peripherals, so a call up to AA can't be too far off. He doesn't seem to do anything exceptionally well, but good control, nice K numbers, good GB rates and limiting the long ball are all nice skills to have on your CV.

Minor scare: Travis Snider took a foul ball in the head while he was in the on-deck circle during yesterday's Fisher Cats game, but he appears to be fine.

ELSEWHERE:

* David Ortiz felt his left wrist "pop" in a 9th inning AB on Saturday night and is now day-to-day. That might make you a bit sad seeing as the Bosox are taking on the tamale hot TB Rays, now a shocking 13 games over .500. It just doesn't seem real.

-- Johnny Was

The Roundup

Breathe in. Breathe out. That's it.

In a victory so beautiful it simply could not be televised without running the risk of damaging your retinas, the Jays clobbered the A's 12-0. BA Barajas (3-4, 3 doubles, 3 RBI) was playing like a man who'd like a full-time job this year rather than next, Shannon Stewart socked a dinger, and Jesse Litsch carried on just as he did last time out against the Royals. The sole bit of bad news was that David Eckstein crashed into Aaron Hill (2-3), knocking him out of the game. Stop doing that to superior players, ass! Hill is listed as day-to-day; I'm guessing he won't play tonight and Scutaro, with whom Gibby is now smitten like a school girl, steps in there for him.

And Alex Rios somehow managed to go 0 for 6 and ground into 3! double plays. They're gonna have to invent a new kind of sombrero for that sort of ineptitude. Saving it up for the Angels, I hope.

Tonight it's McGowan vs. Jered "skid, brother of skid" Weaver in LAA past your past your bedtime. Nice Barry Melrose mullet, skid! Sorry, had to get that out of my system. ESPN.com's supercomputer says we've got a 50% chance of victory and Matt Stairs has a 19.2% chance of going deep. I like those odds...

Still, I think we all recognize that adding offense in left field will only help improve the Jays' prospects for success this year. MLBTR has compiled a list of guys who could be available. Aside from the usual suspects, you can add Raul Ibanez, Chris Duncan, Juan Rivera and a bunch of losers like Frank Catalanatto.. Pat Burrell? Hrumph.

Jeff Blair goes War and Peace in the Globe Baseball blog, which is cool and all. The highlights:

* The Jays have been playing coy on the June draft, but Godfrey is pushing hard for B.C.'s Brett Lawrie (3B/C) to sell the fans/ownership on a new Canuck angle. Blair doesn't like nationalism determining draft strategy, and I totally agree. Lawrie's a great-looking player and all, but it's unclear what position he'll end up playing long term. The Jays would like to select Brett Walace (1B/3B) with their first pick, but Keith Law doesn't see him dropping that far.

* Barajas will supplant Zaun as the team's no. 1 catcher.

ELSEWHERE:

* Jorge Posada is expected to rejoin the Yankees within a week or so; right after the Jays leave town.

* The Rays fall 5-1 to the Chisox.

-- Johnny Was