Purcey shut down

We're probably a little late to the punch, but bluejays.com is reporting that Purcey has been shut down for the year. The reason is because he pitched 182 innings this year over various levels, and they don't want to ruin his future by having him throw so many innings in a season.

Generally with young pitching the rule is never to increase a pitcher's workload by more than 30 innings over their previous career high. Purcey only pitched 62 innings last year, but before that his career high for innings in a season was 140, back in 2006.

The Jays must be well aware of the fact that young pitchers should not throw more than 30 innings over their previous career high, which is why it's odd that Purcey was allowed to throw 182 innings this season. Unless I'm mistaken, the most he's ever thrown was the 140 in 06, which means that he shouldn't have thrown more than 170 this year over AAA/MLB.

Purcey hit 171 innings on Sept 7, when the Jays beat Garza and the Rays 1-0. At that point, I believe they were around 6-7 games out of a playoff spot. Purcey should have been shut down then, with his starts being given to Richmond or Parrish. Purcey's future with the Jays is more important than trying to push him in order to compete for a playoff spot.

I'm sure some of you are reading this, wondering why I'm making such a big deal about an extra 10 innings. But with so many young Blue Jay pitchers getting injured, it would have been wise to take a more cautious approach than to push Purcey over the 30 inning mark.

The article also makes a brief mention about McGowan, stating that:

The Jays will also be missing starter Dustin McGowan at the onset of next season. The right-hander had shoulder surgery earlier this year and may not be ready to return until at least May.

That might change between now and spring training, but if that's the case then May might be a best case scenario. Dusty is more likely to show up in June after a couple of tune up starts down in the minors.

Twitchy.

Purcey's on a roll

Don't look now, but Purcey's been dealing over his last 35 innings. With young pitchers (or in Purcey's case, rookie pitchers), you like to see signs of improvement as they spend more time in the majors. And since Purcey's been given an opportunity to pitch without fear of a demotion, he's taken full advantage of it.

Starting on August 8th against Cleveland, Purcey has gone 35 innings, with an ERA of 3.60 and a WHIP of 1.29. He's allowed 2 home runs in that time - a respectable total, especially considering on the season he's allowed 8 in 53 1/3 innings.

More importantly for Purcey is his control - it's the reason he was in the minor leagues for so long. Until 2007 in AA, Purcey's lowest BB/9 in the professional baseball was 4.48.

Over Purcey's last 35 innings, he's walked 12 batters, for a BB/9 of 3.0. That's not great, but it's not horrible either. Meanwhile, Purcey has struck out 40 in that timeframe, for a K/9 rate of 10.3. Over that timeframe, Purcey's K:BB has been an extremely impressive 3.4. Even AJ, who has a similar skillset in this regard (IE. trouble with walks and huge strikeout numbers) only has a 2.6 K:BB ratio this year.

Again, I realize it's an extremely small sample size, but it's nice to see that over this small stretch that Purcey has shown some improvement. He's not walking as many hitters as he did in his earlier call ups, and he's getting ahead of hitters and striking them out. If Purcey can keep the walks down and the K's up for the rest of the year, then I think he's a lock (barring a Free agent signing) to start next year in the rotation. And I'm really looking forward to see what the new and improved Purcey can do over a full season.

Twitchy.

Hats off to Bigfoot!

To borrow unashamedly from the Drunks shtick, that was one damn bonerific performance from the big left-hander tonight. A complete game, 92 pitch effort featuring ELEVEN strikeouts and ZERO walks!
Yeah, there was that one tiny mistake to Carlos Pena that cost him the 1-0 loss but still...

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMNN was the boy good tonight.

Gotta love the idea that there are a lot of these in his future.

Oh, and "Bigfoot"? It was mentioned during tonight's broadcast that Purcey wears a size 18 shoe, and since every ballplayer needs a cool nickname....

~WillRain

Lefty Matters

One of our side projects here--dating all the way back to spring training, before he started chucking beebees in AAA--was to sing the praises of, boost, encourage, etc. lefty starter David Purcey. Might we have a new beau? (More later).

Purcey got hung with the loss last night (despite posting his second quality start in his last 3 outings), but has been making visible progress at the big league level. Shutting down a raking lineup like the Rangers through 3 a week ago and the Tribe again last night is an accomplishment of sorts. Purcey's got the stuff to win at this level, and now some of the official responsibility for teaching him how to deal with big leaguers the second time through the lineup falls to BA Barajas and Brad Arnsberg (and unofficially, elder statesman Roy Halladay).

I make no bones about the fact that I've always prefered Purcey to Jesse Litsch, though I take no joy in the relative success of the former and minor setbacks of the latter. However it breaks next year, it is reassuring to know that there will be a real competition between relatively young, controllable and hopefully ERA+ neutral starters for the back 2 spots in the rotation in spring training.

[Other names to watch: Brian Wolfe, Davis Romero (quietly putting up a fantastic season for the Chiefs after missing all of 2007 to a torn labrum) and potentially Casey Janssen (see: Romero, Davis).]

Enter Ricky Romero, a bust at 23, the guy the Jays took over Troy Tulowitzki (he of the 76 OPS+ away from Coors Field), and the second blackest mark on JP's draft record after Russ Adams.

Expectations were naturally high for Romero, the 6th overall pick in the 2005 draft out of Cal State Fullerton who netted a record $2.4 million signing bonus (compared to $1.7 million for Snider in 2006, $1.44 million for Kevin Ahrens in 2007, both top Jays picks in successive years). He was very much part of JP's draft strategy of targeting college pitchers who could be expected to hit the bigs faster than their high school counterparts with higher ceilings. That strategy has more than a few detractors around these parts despite the success of Casey Janssen and Shaun Marcum.

Romero did not fare particularly well at New Hampshire this year, posting a 4.96 ERA, a 1.59 WHIP with 55 BB and 78 Ks in 121.2 IP in his third crack at AA. He had ratcheted it up of late, but probably got a promotion to AAA mostly because someone had to fill the spots vacated by Dave Purcey and Scott Richmond and 21-year-old wunderkind Brett Cecil had already been bumped up. We need a guy, you're a guy who's supposed to have potential, let's dance.

Romero has risen to the challenge (in defiance of everyone who called him a bust?), putting up 3 good starts so far for the Chiefs, including an excellent one last night. Quick recap: 7 IP, 2 ER, 5 hits, 3 BB and 10 Ks in a winning effort.

Given all of the shuffling around him, it seems a given that Romero will start out next year in AAA at age 24, just like college righties Marcum and Janssen before him. He needs to lower his walk rate, but something might have clicked with the young lefty. Is it conceivable that he makes his big league debut next year? Certainly. Will he excel? I wouldn't take that bet. Are we pulling for him? Hells yeah.

And some people are still calling Wilner to ask how Gustavo Chacin is doing...

-- Johnny Was

On the Road again...

Be thankful that's not a pic of Willie Nelson.

A couple of player movement issues of which to make note. The Ginger Flash takes his slumping abilities to Syracuse to see if he can work out the bugs that have led him to give up 15 runs in his last 12 2/3 IP and a 6.12 ERA since the first of June.

Promoted into his slot is the much anticipated David Purcey, who JP says they are going to take an "extended look at." It's a move that system watchers have been longing for and excitement 'round these parts is high.

Some may ask "Why not Parrish?"

Several reasons - First: to send down Parrish now is to put him through waivers, which is unwise until we know the status of McGowan and Burnett; Second, Litsch gets a pressure free environment to work out the kinks (maybe with the help of Mel Queen?) and third, we need to know if Parrish can pitch at this level too. Looking at the schedule, I hope that the Jays bump Parrish from Friday to Saturday, in so doing they can assure that he, not Purcey, falls on the off-day July 31.

In another bit of happy news, the Manchester correspondent over at Batters' Box reports that after tonight's game Brian Jeroloman got the word to pack his gear for a promotion to the "Trips". No word yet on the corresponding demotion, but my guess is that it's Eric Kratz. This is exceedingly good news because it lets JPA catch every day (which a guy with a middling defensive game needs) and it lets Jeroloman test his hot bat and marvelous batting eye against AAA pitching.

This effectively signals the end of the Thigpen era as a Jays catching prospect, he'll be traded, moved to another position, or become an organizational soldier until he's a six year minor league FA. It also is a clue that Robinson Diaz is probably not ready to go back behind the plate regularly and won't be for a while. Alternately, maybe JP knows he's got a deal cooking for a major league catcher and Diaz is going to come straight to the bigs when that happens.

In either case, Robby better recognize he's on the clock. His window of opportunity to establish himself before Jeroloman and Arencibia are ready for the majors grows increasingly more narrow.

Finally, not a player movement note but still of interest - Ricky Romero put his seventh consecutive good start and now has a sub 4 ERA in that span. Could it be he's turned the corner? We can certainly hope.

~WillRain

Farm Report: All-Star Game Edition

As we wait for real baseball to resume once again, some good news from the system:

* Dave Purcey, the sole Chiefs rep at the AAA All-Star Game last night, got the start for the International League and responded by chucking 2 perfect innings against the best of the Pacific Coast League. (Mark Saccomanno? Any relation to Bob from NYC?) The IL lost, though I doubt that anyone really cares.

Big Dave didn't allow a hit, K'd 3, walked none, and demonstrated major league command of his arsenal. I'd figure he'll be starting on Tuesday against the O's at Camden Yards in a nice, low pressure return to the bigs. We at The Southpaw have sole bragging rights if he does make something of himself (and alternatively, would quietly drop the matter entirely if he doesn't).

* The Fisher Cats are in the midst of a crappy season collectively as a team, but that matters less to us here than the fact that they do have some fast-rising (star?) talent in the making. The hosts of the 2008 Northeast Delta Dental Eastern League All-Star Game (no shit, that's what it's actually called; no word if players wear ads for "Fly Emirates" on their jerseys) had 4 of their own men see action in the AA showcase: Travis Snider, Kiwi Scott Campbell, Brian Jeroloman, and closer Zach Dials. Jeroloman had a hit and scored a run in his lone AB, Campbell went 1 for 2 leading off, Snider went 0 for 2, and Dials picked up a hold despite allowing a run in his only inning of work. The Eastern League won 5-3.

Best of all though, Snider channelled the spirit of Josh Hamilton to wow the fans during the homerun derby (though he actually won the thing). Plagarizing liberally from theUnion Leader:

Snider flicked a switch that began an electric night. The kid bashed homers onto the train tracks beyond right field and pulled a Roy Hobbs with a shot into the bulbs atop the light tower.

As a heavy favorite in his home park, Snider barely advanced out of the first round as six sluggers took their hacks. In later rounds, including a couple tie-breakers, he sent vapor trails over the right-field wall. The 5-foot-11, 245-pounder had the benefit of his own batting practice pitcher, Ken Joyce, who fed The Franchise a diet of waist-high fastballs.

"I was finally able to relax and let it fly. Good things happens when you don't think and just hit," Snider said. "I've got give a lot of credit to Kenny. We've been working on this together for a couple weeks..."

Snider, Toronto's No. 1 prospect, homered four straight times in the second round and finished with 10 dingers. In the finals, which took place in the middle of the second inning "a terrific format for fans"-- Snider toppled the league's leading home run hitter, 7-6.

"The young legend keeps growing," Fisher Cats manager Gary Cathcart said. "He understood that whole scenario, how it was going to unfold being the hometown guy. It took him a couple rounds to get going, but it was almost like he started doing it because he knew he was going to do it. He's just one of those guys. Think about it. Three years from now, he'll have five years of pro ball, and he'll be in the big leagues at 23."

Yes, indeed.

The Jays resume action tomorrow night, when they try to piss in the Rays Corn Flakes down at the Trop. I have gone on record saying that I'm not against the Rays for the rest of this year when they're playing everyone else; after all, if they do win a playoff berth that means one of the Yankees or Bosox doesn't get to see any October ball this year. I'm just saying is all.

-- Johnny Was

McGowan to the d/l

According to foxsports.com, McGowan's been put on the 15 day d/l with Brian Wolfe being recalled. This is terrible news, but the one hope I have is that McGowan's injury problems are the reasons for his struggles. He's been a big disappointment this year, and it'd be easier to accept his issues if it was related to his shoulder. Hopefully it's nothing major, but it doesn't say in the report what the results of the MRI are.

John Parrish is the 'winner' of McGowan's injury as he'll likely stay on with both Marcum & McGowan on the d/l. Edit: TSN says that Tallet will start the final game of the Yankee series.

Twitchy.

They picked the wrong Southpaw...

With Shaun Marcum on the d/l, the Jays have decided to recall John Parrish to pitch in Marcum's absence. I speak for all of us here at The Southpaw when I say that we would have rather seen Purcey get another shot, but such is life.

The article mentions a reliever will get sent down - in my opinion, it'll be one of Frasor or League. Wolfe would be a surprising choice, although he'd be the guy I recommend. I've never been a big fan of his, and I'll join the "what have you done for me lately" train and bash Wolfe all the way down to AAA.

Odds are Brandon League (who has yet to throw a pitch since being recalled) will be sent down. Why he hasn't pitched even an inning of mop up (when Frasor has even warmed up in the bullpen!) is shocking to me. What's the point of wasting his service time if you refuse to use him?

Parrish is an odd choice - he has no options left, so he can't be sent down without being picked off waivers. So here are the possibilities of what could happen with Parrish:

A) Sticks in the bullpen
B) Sticks in the rotation due to an AJ trade or another injury (Marcum doesn't recover as quickly as was thought)
C) Is traded after a good AAA year and a couple of good spot starts
D) Is sent back to AAA and either claimed or unclaimed (my bet on claimed)

Again, the issue with bringing up Parrish for a short-term injury is you can't send him back down to AAA without risking losing him. For short-term stuff, Purcey is the right guy to bring up. If there is a long-term injury, than yeah, Parrish makes more sense. But for a short-term injury? Doesn't seem like the right move to me.

Twitchy.

The Unsung Heroes

We seem to say far too little on this blog about minors leaguers in the Jays system. And when we do it's usually David Purcey or Adam Lind or Travis Snider. But there are other fine performances going on in the Jays system - delivered by guys who are not only not in the Big Three, but are often the sort of guys that Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus and the like can't be arsed to pay any attention to.

but if Shawn Marcum has taught us anything, it's that you don't have to make the top 150 prospect list to have bona fide major league ability. so her are a few names the causal fan might not recognize, but who stand a chance of making some big league noise one day:

Davis Romero (LHP) - Who is he? He's a slender (5' 10" 160#) lefty who's having a remarkable comeback from torn labium surgery (corrected per feedback comment).

Usually expectations for the first year after surgery are very tempered, and labium surjery is even less predictable than TJ, but DR is defying that convention. The 25 year old LHP is starting in AAA and has a solid ERA of 3.86 and 30 K's in his 26 innings of work as a starter. what's more, if you take away one disastrous start, that ERA falls all the way to 1.52 in his other seven appearances. And his line is perfectly reflective of the rest of his minor league career. While he's starting with Syracuse, he doesn't go deep into games and he probably doesn't have the stamina to start in the majors (though he did average 6 IP per start in AA in 2006) but if his minor league performance is any indication, you can look for a ton of high quality set-up innings in a blue Jays uniform sometime relatively soon.
One thing that is sometimes discussed among Jays' fans is the potential of trading Brian Tallett at some point, given the emergence of Jessie Carlson. Well, whether or not Carlson proves to be a long term keeper, Davis Romero is the guy who's going to someday make Tallet trade bait.

Brandon League (RHP) - Included here simply because he's no longer a rookie and thus kind of "off the radar" in terms of prospect discussions. He's got a 15:2 K:BB ratio in his last 13 IP in AAA and seems to have gotten his issue under control, yet the major league pen is so crowded there's no way for him to get reps in the majors. Interestingly, in 4 of his last six appearances he pitched 3 innings and pitched them well. The speculation has started in JaysLand that perhaps he's being stretched out for a return to the rotation. I could get enthused about him either way, I just don't want to see him wasted in middle relief....and I'd prefer that when he became a prominent major leaguer, as he's likely to do, it be in a Jays uniform.

Scott Campbell (2B) - The 23 year old native of New Zealand has been one of the biggest surprises in the Jays system. Drafted 300th overall (in the 10th round) by the Jays in 2006, he was bounced from low A ball (where he was good but not great) in 2006 to AA in 2007 and he's been ripping up the Eastern League all season. The kid is an on-base machine (.401 at the moment) with a high average (.338) and middling power for his position. He needs some defensive versatility to have a future with the Jays, since he's behind Aaron Hill, but if 2B is his only position, he'll still be a valuable trade chip soon if this level of performance holds into AAA. i think given that there's nothing impressive blocking him, he might get the promotion in mid-summer.

Ryan Patterson (OF) - Having an up and down season, shows flashes and then fades. Might be "the next Reed Johnson" someday but doesn't have the reputation for balls-out play that Reed does.

Brett Cecil (LHP) - actually, this guy is a high profile guy who most people put up in the top Five prospects for the Jays but perhaps you have been asleep since we haven't said much about him here (and I assume you get all your Jays news from The Southpaw, right? I said am I right?) Well, anyway, this kid, who was a supplemental first rounder for the jays just last year) is 21 and in AA and has a 3.18 ERA. He's reeled off 3 straight starts of 4.2IP and allowed only three ER in those 14 innings. He's still not going deep into games - the Jays say that will change as the season wears on - but unless he hits a roadblock, this kid will likely finish the season in AAA and come to camp next spring with an outside chance of making the majors. He could be a reliever in the bigs right now, but the Jays will keep him starting as long as he shows promise there.

Brian Dopirak (1B/DH) - maybe this guy was signed for organizational filler but at some point you have to take notice. The former Cubs Minor League Player of the year (who hit 38 doubles and 39 homers in Lansing when it was a Cubs affiliate) saw his power drop markedly in the two succeeding seasons. Signed as a minor league free agent, the 24 year old is having a fine, though not quite as powerful, campaign in Dunedin He's on a pace to top 40 doubles and 20 homers but more importantly for his future, he's sporting a robust .425 OPS this year. Whatever the teams original intent, as soon as Snider can play the field again, he needs to get kicked up to AA and see if he can maintain.

Kyle Ginley (RHP) - You gotta love THIS guy! In nine starts on two levels, the little noticed 17th round draft pick in 2006 has only posted an ERA of 1.35 and he's striking out almost a batter per inning and only given up two home runs. The 21 year old has been slightly more prone to the walk at High A than at Low A but has otherwise been just as good. Nathan Staner (RHP) -

Nathan Staner (LHP) - He's 24 and in Lansing so he's too old for the competition. He needs to be jumped up to AA to see what he really has to offer, but with that caveat, - boy he's ripping up low A ball. 45K in 40 innings, a 1.67 ERA, only eight walks and one home run allowed. LH pitchers tend to run a bit behind on development anyway. So you can't write him off, but I'm impatient for the Jays to really test this guy.

Cody Crowell (LHP) - I think I'm the only one out there talking about this guy. sometimes I do pick up on a nice line and brag on a guy who never turns out....usually something I didn't know about him that the organization did, but this guy certainly has impressive numbers. The 22 year old lefty has a 1.59 ERA at low-A Lansing and an incredible 29 K's in 17 IP.

Edger Estranga (LHP) - another 22 year old lefty reliever, he sports a 0.73 ERA and a solid K rate. Both these young men need promotions to a more challenging level.

Marc Rzepczynski (LHP) - This guy got some notice last year, then opened the season on the DL. He has two starts at Lansing now and has seemed to pick right up, He bears watching.


Justin Jackson (SS) - He's been in an awful slump since coming back from a stint in the DL but he clearly had his stroke working in April (he had a .941 OPS in the first month of the season). The 19 year old evokes visions of Tony Fernandez physically and is said to be a similarly talented defender and possesor of "tools." it would be a very good thing if he came as fast as Fernandez did, and had a similar career. Because it's so easy to compare him to Fernandez - one of my very favorite All time Jays, I can't help but be the number one cheerleader for Justin Jackson.
If he succeeds to the level of his abilities, he's going to do a whole lot to repaid JP's drafting image.

Eric Eiland (OF) - The 19 year old left handed hitter is just getting his start in Low A ball after being held back in extended spring training, but the guy who's said to have more Tools than Tim Taylor is off to a blazing start in a small sample (4 games). Keep your eye on this one.

Johermyn Chavez (OF) - The one guy listed here without an impressive stat line to talk about, the 19 year old Venezualan still bears watching. He had an encouraging April but is currently 7 for 50 in May.

So, halfway through the first half, here's one man's informal Dandy Dozen ranking of the Jays most promising minor leaguers:

1. Travis Snider
2. David Purcey
3. Brett Cecil
4. Adam Lind
5. Brandon League
6. Justin Jackson
7. Eric Eiland
8. Kevin Ahrens
9. Davis Romero
10. Scott Campbell
11. J.P. Arenchiba
12. Kyle Ginley


~ WillRain

Dave Purcey, un bon mec

Coming off his most dominant start of the year, Big Dave Purcey was pretty good but not great against the Pawtuckets in Syracuse this afternoon. As a Bosox affiliate, one assumes that the Patriots or whatever they actually call Pawtucket players have been drilled in the art of driving up pitch counts because it was mission accomplished in that department. One suspects that this sort of patient lineup will give the walk-prone Big D more trouble than most through his pro career.

It looked a little somethin' like this:

Syracuse
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Purcey (L, 3-2)	6.0	5	2	2	3	6	1	1.85
Nelson, B	0.1	1	2	2	1	0	0	5.40
Gosling	0.2	4	2	2	1	0	0	2.82
MacDonald	2.0	3	0	0	1	2	0	6.39

In taking the loss, Purcey allowed 5 hits, 3 walks and 2 Earned Runs over 6 innings. He threw 63 of 107 pitches for strikes, a definite step back from his last start, but did once again induce more groundouts (7) than flyouts (5), which is his key to succeeding as a major leaguer in a hitter friendly park like the Rogers Centre. He also uncorked a wild pitch and surrendered a solo home run to AAAAer Jeff Bailey.

The Syracuses ultimately lost this one, 6-2.

Jesse "the Body" Litsch seems to have taken that stern tongue-lashing from his skipper to heart and has put up back to back quality starts. His job is secure, which is good, but there's no reason not to root for for both young men because injury replacement starts are an inevitability and you will see Purcey in a Jays uni again at some point this summer.

Incidentally, what could happen with four ace starters, an acceptable 5th, a lockdown bullpen and a middling offense?

-- Johnny Was

Dave Purcey, Bâtard Magnifique

Dave Purcey rebounded from his worst start of the year (6 IP, 2 ER, yes, I am aware that he was still very good) with a Halladay-esque performance against the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs, the worst team in the International League by leaps and bounds.

Purcey went 8 strong, allowing only 2 hits and no runs earned or otherwise. The most encouraging sign was that he walked only one while striking out 9. He threw 72 of 100 pitches for strikes and induced 10 groundouts to 5 fly ball outs. Everything about this outing was delicious.

The Chiefs won 1-0, pushing one across in the 9th to make a winner of Big D.

Regardless of where you stand on Jesse Litsch as the fifth starter--and I do think he's adequate in that role no matter how much I rip on him--Purcey is auditioning nicely for the rotation spot that's soon to be vacated by AJ Burnett.

Like Job, poor Doc was made to suffer once again tonight. I'm really in no mood to listen to Wilner after his third straight complete game loss because I don't feel like hearing rationalizations about how much more baseball there is left to play this season.

I'm inconsolabe and need to pour myself a whisky.

-- Johnny Was

Purcey, New York. 72°F, partly cloudy.

Resident favourite Big Dave Purcey was good but not great in his first outing back with the bus-riders in Syracuse. It looked like this:

Syracuse
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Purcey (L, 2-1)	6.0	5	3	2	4	9	1	2.16

The D behind Big D was less than stellar, leading to an unearned run. Ironically neither of Syracuse's 2 errors was made by Russ Adams. In going 6 complete, Purcey threw 63 of 104 pitches for strikes, induced 3 groundouts and 6 flyouts, striking out 9 and walking 4 (against a patient Bosox affiliate). He surrendered a solo homer to George Kottaras.

This is pretty much typical Purcey: lots of Ks, a few more walks than you'd like to see and not to many hits.

If Gibby railed against Litsch last night because he doesn't have "stuff", the club might as well send him down to Syracuse to work on his sinker, just as our friend Jon Hale suggests. If Gibby was railing against Litsch because he wasn't throwing strikes, he's not going to be happy with Purcey, either. Pick your poison. They'll probably continue to go with Litsch until he pitches his way into a demotion, and the Vegas odds on that aren't long.

Adam Lind went 0 for 4, dropping his average to .355. He clearly needs to bring it back up to Ted Williams 1941 territory before earning a call to the big club. Rios is sick, too, but whatever.

The Syracuses lost the game 3-1, ending a nifty little 8-game winning streak.

As I write this the Jays are trying not to lose to the Rays again, but are finding that to be a mean task as they are fielding a team that is 5/9ths declining veterans, raw rookies and career minor league utility men.

Rando notes from the 8th inning:

* Robinzon Diaz made his ML debut, making outs of the first pitch of his first two ABs. Since he was DHing, he must've had time for a talk with Denbo between innings because in his third trip he took 3 straight pitches, 2 balls and a strike, fouled three more off, then hit an easy grounder to short. His PPA skyrocketed from 1 to 3! That's ML patience. Rance "likes his approach", even though it doesn't necessarily fit with the Denbo system. I don't really know what to think about him yet.

* Barajas played first for Overbay tonight, which fits with the strategy of "resting" one of the team's few productive to semi-productive bats in favour of roster filler. I thought it would've been Hill, but I guess he can take tomorrow night off for J-Mac as the Rays look to complete the 3-game sweep.

* Stairs socked a pair of dingers, and hit two deep fly ball for good measure, earning big cheers from a "home" crowd that doesn't appear to be paying much attention to anything on the field. He's probably the most feared hitter in the lineup now.

* That 5th inning ralley was something: Inglett single, SB, SB, runner on 3rd with none out. Eckstein K, Stew hits an easy infield fly, and Hill grounds out. I told Jay K. earlier I figured Doc would take another CG loss tonight, and it's sure looking like that'll be the case.

* Looking forward to listening to JaysTalk as I watch the D-backs with the mute button on. There have been several managerial moves over the past three games that were clearly indefensible, so it'll be interesting to see how Wilner does crowd control.

-- Johnny Was

The Roundup

The Roundup comes late today because it's my last day of work and I had to power mark my way to the bottom of a pile of first year undergrad history exams this morning.

Did you know that many Germans had "anti-semantic" views in the 1930s?

Where you aware that "Hitler gave aids to General Franco" during the Spanish Civil War?

In addition to being history's greatest monster, he apparently also found the time to be patient zero of the HIV/AIDS scourge that would explode three decades after he shot himself in the Fuhrerbunker.

And it is with a not-so-heavy heart that I retire from my post as graduate teaching assistant at an undisclosed Ontario university. Thanks for the memories, kids.

(Somewhat-related note: if you're in your early to mid 20s and find yourself backpacking through Germany, it's a pretty good kick if you ask your English mate Andy to ask a random Berliner--in fluent German--if he knows the way to the Fuhrerbunker...)

On to more sundry baseball matters...

Dave Purcey is, of course, starting tonight and that makes me feel warm and fuzzy where I pee. We've been championing the young-ish Southpaw pretty much since we started operations here in February, though I admit to feeling more than a bit of trepidation considering the fearsome Tigers lineup he'll be facing in his debut. Regardless of the outcome, we still love you Big D. And if all does go well, you'll find yourself deafened by the sound of congradulatory back-slapping on our part. Not that we contributed in any way, really, but for some reason it feels like credit should be due.

(Seriously Tao of Stieb, you backed a three-legged pony when you threw your support behind Buck Coats.)

File this under outrageous: an outstanding effort tonight from Purcey and continued Gustavo Chacinery from Jesse "the Body" Litsch over the next few weeks and don't be shocked if the two get swapped on the organizational depth chart (I almost wrote "depth charge"; time to step away from the military history, weirdo...). That means Purcey as 5th starter and the other guy riding the bus in upstate New York. Litsch, incidentally, will not appear in this Tigers series which is pretty lucky for him since he'd likely end up wearing his ass for a hat by the end of the afternoon if he did face them.

How old is Kenny Rogers? So fucking old that he's actually logged innings at the Ex! He's also dominant in the Rogers Centre/Skydome (11-4, 3.32 ERA in 86.2 innings). Since we've lost every game started by a lefty this year (the games that were supposed to be gimmes) and The Roaster has the aforementioned track record in TO, I'm going to make this one my Jimmy the Greek can't miss victory of the night.

Matchups for the series are:

Roaster- Purcey
Bonderman-McGowan
Robertson-Burnett
Armando Gallaraga (who?)-Marcum

A split would be regarded by many (including me) as a small triumph of sorts. Game previews here, as always.

ELSEWHERE:

* The Rays are now starting to take some lumps, too. Carlos Pena is day-to-day with some hammy issues, joining drunken UFC Champ Al Reyes, Matt Garza and Scott Kazmir in the infirmary.

* Bizzaro! The Rays lock Evan Longoria up for 6-9 years even though he's only been up for a week or two. Eric Hinske's locker can't be too far away, but apparently The Dude's spotty track record didn't disuade Rays brass from making such a risky move.

-- Johnny Was

Come on Down

Our favourite Southpaw, David Purcey, has been called up for a relief job, and a potential start for Friday. as reported by Roto:

Blue Jays recalled LHP David Purcey from Triple-A Syracuse.

Purcey will be available out of the pen tonight, but the Jays are hoping to go without using him, allowing them to start him in Friday's game. A.J. Burnett is going to need to be pushed back after working in relief left night.

Update: Brian Wolfe on the 15 day d/l as per Roto.

Twitchy.

The Roundup

At last check there's no word yet whether AJ Burnett injured himself after last night's unscheduled inning of relief, but rest assured, he will hit the DL soon enough and everyone can start complaining about how wrong it was for Gibby to bring him into the game last night. Do your best to tune those voices out.

When Ron Washington pulled an injured Hank Blalock in the 10th to insert his backup catcher, Adam Melhuse, at third, the Jays brought runners to the corners with one out. Melhuse has played a grand total of 15 games at the hot corner in his 8-year big league career, so Gibby called on Joe Inglett to lay down the squeeze to bring in the winning run, a brilliant call designed to take advantage of a glaring defensive weakness on the opposing team.

Damned if Inglett didn't foul the attempt off, then ground into an inning-ending double play on the next pitch. That folks, was a demonstration of both managerial competence and your TSN Turning Point.

(Ironically, earlier in the evening mlb.com posted an article praising Inglett's early contribution to the team. Thanks Bastian, prick! We alllllll know J-Mac would've got that bunt down, but he was already out of the game. I'm already composing an email to Griffin.)

What happens when you have 20 minutes to crank out copy and you're dead tired and possibly a little bit drunk after watching a five-hour game in an empty ballpark? Lines like this:

On Wednesday, the Rangers lost a three-run eighth-inning lead, made another critical error and left the whole populace of the Yukon Territories stranded on the bases. And yet, they won by playing Toronto to a stalemate until it was the Blue Jays who collapsed in the 14th inning of a 7-5 win at the echo chamber formerly known as SkyDome.

A hat tip to you, Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News.

I do admit that we here are more than a little bit excited at the prospect of seeing Big Dave Purcey make his major league debut on Friday should AJ's start be pushed back as Rotoworld suggests. Burnett was visibily pissed off to have to come into the game (and ultimately take the L) a day after throwing a side session and less than 48 hours from his next scheduled start, so it's probably not a bad idea to push him back a day. Purcey was scheduled to go Friday night anyway...

The right-listing Tigers (who have scored 30 runs in their last 3 games) will be a trial by fire for the young-ish southpaw, but I'd rather let him give it a go at them than see AJ totally phone it in.

Did I mention that I'm terrified of the outcome of that Tigers series?

And once Adam Lind gets recalled as an injury replacement for Shannon Stewart Phase 1 of Operation Overlord will have been completed.

Rando notes from Blair:

* Randy David Wells was indeed sent back to the Cubs.

* Scotty Rolen will be playing in simulated games in Dunedin by the weekend. He won't be reactivated until he's 100% ready to go.

And go check out the new "Behind the ish" if you haven't already.

ELSEWHERE:

* The Bosox are more than a little bit banged up. Ailing now are Kevin Youkilis and Coco "I don't play no mo'" Crisp.

-- Johnny Was

Purcey Mastery, Troisieme Acte

Speaking of our resident favourite, Big Dave Purcey threw another gem against against the Rochesters on a brisk northern New York State Sunday afternoon.

The line:

Syracuse
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Purcey (W, 2-0)	7.0	4	2	2	2	7	0	1.89
Thorpe (S, 1)	2.0	0	0	0	1	4	0	3.60

Rochester
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Totten	3.0	4	2	1	0	3	0	6.00
Gomez, M	3.0	1	0	0	1	3	0	1.80
Barrett (L, 1-1)	2.0	1	1	1	0	2	0	2.70
Daigle	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	3.86

Purcey improved on his first two excellent starts this year in a couple of different ways. If he has shown weakness it's been in running up his pitch counts and allowing hitters to put too many balls in the air, but today he threw 67 0f 104 pitches for strikes and induced 6 ground outs to 8 flyouts. He's K-ing batters at an impressive rate, limiting walks, and keeping his hit total down, all of which bodes very, very well.

For the year, he's thrown 19 IP, notched 21 Ks, walked only 6, given up 12 hits and 4 earned runs for an ERA of 1.89. The general sexiness of these numbers cannot be overstated.

Also of note: Adam Lind went 1-4 with a double, a run and a pair of Ks. After a slow weekend at the dish his early average has fallen below .400 (to .366) and it's just tearing me up inside. His OPS remains in 1.000 territory, which is a nice bit of consolation. Will he be up with the big club this time next month? I wouldn't be shocked, especially if Stairs is still more or less limited to pinch-hitting duties.

And the Chiefs did win this one 3-2, if you're interested.

-- Johnny Was

Purcey Mastery, Part Deux

Resident favourite David Purcey followed up his gem in the Chiefs' season opener with another rock solid outing last night against the Indianapolises.

The pitching line looked like this:

Syracuse
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Purcey	6.0	6	3	2	2	7	0	1.50
Gosling (L, 0-1)	1.0	3	1	1	0	1	0	9.82
Carlson	2.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0.00

Purcey's K total was great and he kept the walks under control, pun intended, which is definitely a sign of progress. He threw 55 of 94 pitches for strikes, which is less than great, but he got through it in the end. And he had 8 fly outs to 3 ground outs, which is another unfortunate tendency. What do you want, perfection?

I'm going to jump to the conclusion that Purcey took it to heart when Brad Arnsberg told him in spring training to go down to AAA and prove himself as the ace of the staff. Each successful start leaves us a little bit less angsty about what we're gonna do when one of the Four Horsemen gets hurt. Seriously, I could have sworn that I heard Rod Black use that label for the Doc/AJ/McG/Marcum grouping during the Jays' TV broadcast last night and I think it's pretty cool. So, let me choke one back and say, good one, Roddy.

Also, Adam Lind drew an intentional walk and is hitting .400 so far. Draw your own conclusions.

Oh ya, I should probably note that the Chiefs ended up losing 4-3.

-- Johnny Was

Purcey Rocks in Chiefs' Opener

Local favourite and soon to be flavour of the month Dave Purcey put the camel clutch on hyped Reds prospect Homer Bailey and the Louisvilles in the Syracuse Chiefs' opener at home this afternoon.

It just looked so damn fine across the board for this strapping young-ish southpaw:

Syracuse
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Purcey (W, 1-0)	6.0	2	0	0	2	7	0	0.00

Louisville
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Bailey (L, 0-1)	7.0	5	1	1	1	2	1	1.29

Purcey, who has battled with control issues through his minor league career, threw 57 of 90 pitches for strikes, which is great. If there was one less than beautiful sidebar, it would perhaps be that be induced only two groundball outs to nine fly outs.

Adam Lind socked a dinger and journeyman Joe Inglett, who's not getting called up now seeing as Stairsy is playing in LF tonight, went 2 for 4 with a double and RBI. That was it for the scoring. Walk-hating catcher Robinzon Diaz, who some of you are in "like" with, went 2 for 3 (both singles). Russ Adams took his one-man suck show to RF, where he proceded to go 0 for 3 but did not make any errors.

And back in the bigs, McGowan-Hughes here is shaping up to be something special. Scrappy time! Eckstein just breaks up the no-no with a fly ball double to left!

-- Johnny Was

Morning Update

The optimist says, "we've got Jesse Litsh as a 5th starter" and the realist says "yes, we do, but who are the crucial 6-8 guys when injuries inevitably arrive?"

The waters became somewhat clearer yesterday with news Kyle Lohse is on the verge of signing with the Cardinals. JP says we never had the money to sign him anyway (a lousy $4 million? we're that hard up?), so this was an admittedly weak fantasy that existed only in the minds of blogosphere hacks like me.

Alan Ryan squeezes out some info from our fearless leader:

"We'll probably stretch (Brian) Wolfe out," Ricciardi said. "He could possibly be a starter. Kane Davis is going to get stretched a little. David Purcey, obviously, is a consideration, but not right now. Randy Wells is somewhat of a consideration."

Non-roster left-hander John Parrish might have fit the bill – he broke in as a starter with the Orioles – but Ricciardi said he is going too well out of the bullpen right now. "We're not that smart," he said with a laugh. "All of a sudden we make him a starter. ... We could screw the whole thing up."

Ok, ok, so we're going to get this done internally. We've got the warm bodies, they just have to be used creatively. And someone(s) will have to Step Up.

I'm moving away from some of my initial alarm at our post-Casey starting depth situation. If we do indeed need an injury replacement in April, who's to say that we actually need one pitcher to fill the gap? If our 7th man continues to gather dust at the end of the bullpen, why not coordiate the efforts of a couple of arms that're capable of going 3 IP each? Something along the lines of a Tallet/Wolfe arrangement. Call it a "two-headed monster" if you to talk like JP. I think this could get us through a couple of turns in the rotation and buy a bit of time for other options (see: Dave Purcey) to present themselves. Just thinking aloud...

Wilner notes that Zaunnie's working well with new hitting coach Gary Denbo, who has had him open his stance up a bit to get a better look at the ball. The early results have been good. Shaun Marcum isn't having so much luck with his sinker, a pitch that got pounded repeatedly by the Tribe yesterday. Wilner figures he'll jettison it entirely if he doesn't get it working effectively his next time out. Bastian notes that Marcum wanted to incorporate the pitch so he would have a nice ground ball option a la Roy Halladay and was lit up yesterday simply because he went to this little work in progess again and again in counts where he'd normally use his deadly changeup. Everyone should be more like Doc, so Shaunnie is to be comended.

Adam Lind is showing some maturity. There was nothing wrong with him per se last year during his lacklustre callup, but his swing was "a mess" as he describes it. He took his first taste of failure and went back to square one in the offseason, rebuilding the sweet stroke that had us all salivating this time last year. Will likes to think he'll force his way back up around the time Shannon Stewart strains his hammy for the first time. I like to think that, too.

Lind, Curtis Thigpen, Robinson Diaz, Joe Inglett, and flavour of the month Buck Coats have all been sent down to Syracuse. I guess this means Jon from the Mockingbird doesn't have to eat a pound of raw chicken, which is good news for his lower intestine.

As if you already didn't know that Alex Rios is a million times cooler than you are, but he also has a remote controlled toy helicopter. And the affections of millions of fine young things from Mobile, Alabama to Yellowknife, NWT, but that's beside the point.

Armando Benitez is in a jolly mood at least. He makes $700g if he makes the team as a middle relief guy.

Team Canada's goin' to the Olympics in Red China! The Tao of Steib waxes ecstatic, we concur with their enthusiasm. Jeff Blair gives the lads a look in his commentary piece.

-- Johnny Was

Injuries to Starting Pitchers are Strictly Prohibited by Law!

Casey Janssen? Why, God? Why?

Hrm, well, hopefully somebody cleaned up on his 2008 Jays injury pool because it was unexpected to the extreme that he'd be the first victim of the "I" word.

Before we jump to any conclusions, it must be noted that we really don't know if this is anything serious or not just yet. Janssen smartly took the extreme precaution of raising the alarm at the the earliest possible instance, which is commendable since he did get himself temporarily in JP's dog house for concealing back woes in 2006. He's gone in for an MRI, which may well show that there's really nothing the matter with his throwing shoulder and this was all just normal aches and pains.

What we do know, however, is that this pretty much kills any hope of Janssen heading North as our fifth starter.

Since Janssen is a valued contributor to the club (unlike Victor Zambrano), this injury will have to be handled with kid gloves (unlike it was last year with Victor Zambrano). Even if he is pitching again before the end of spring training, there just won't be enough time for him to stretch out for starting duties by the end of the month. If he's healthy, he'll be back in the bully with the rest of BJ's Men, which means somebody like Wolfe or Tallet undeservedly gets bumped. That being the case, newly acquired shit-disturber Armando Benitez doesn't have a taco's chance of making the roster.

The upshot is that the starting job Janssen was highly likely to win has now pretty much been thrown into Jesse Litsch's lap. Gustavo Chacin threw two hot, stinky innings against the Yankees today and I think it's time for the final member of the Chacin Man Booster Club to turn off the lights on his way out. This is a one man race from here on out, provided there are no further injuries to the staff.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Litsch or anything, I just liked Janssen better. Waaaaay better. From the club's perspective it would've been preferable to hold Jesse back at Syracuse so he could gain experience; he has a mere two AAA starts under his belt and his major league peripherals show that he danced with the devil in 2007. It would also have been nice to have him ready as the first in line to come up as an injury replacement and, selfishly, to keep his service clock from ticking.

I think we all accept that everything has to go perfectly this year for the Jays to get a deep whiff of a playoff berth. If Janssen's not starting this year we're pretty much pooched when one of Doc/AJ/McG/Marcum gets hurt with Litsch already in the rotation unless everything comes together beautifully for big lefty Dave Purcey. Or less probably, Ricky Romero. I'm really pulling for Purcey. You can probably abandon all hope if Gus Chacin gets more than a handful of starts this year and you know we're dusted if you see any of Josh Banks before September.

Please don't throw tomatoes at me, but I think it might be a good idea to get something done with Kyle Lohse. He could be stashed in the pen if he's not needed as a starter. His ERA+ has been on the right side of 100 (just barely) two years out of rhe last three and a fair chunk of those innings came in hitters' parks in Cincy and Philly. And if everything turns out rosy by mid-season, it's pretty likely you could find someone to take his contract off the books and chuck in a low-value prospect. Apparently the Orioles expressed some interest last week, but that's been about it.

On a brighter note, we were quite pleased to receive shout outs from a couple of the big swingin' dicks of the Jays blogosphere, DJF and The Tao of Steib. We just take it one game at a time, always give 110% and try to get our uniforms dirty...

-- Johnny Was