Is Milledge a Fit in Toronto?

Alex Anthopoulos is known to acquire players who were once highly touted prospects even if their stock has dropped significantly.

He added players like Brandon Morrow, Yunel Escobar, Fred Lewis, John Buck etc. when they were already being viewed as players who were unable to live up to the hype that was laid upon them. These players were able to provide different levels of success for the Jays major league club in the 2009 season.

In fantasy baseball you might call these guys the "post-hype" sleepers, due to their widely perceived lack of value. Often times these players either haven't been given proper time, been mishandled, or have simply underperformed the lofty expectations that were heaped upon them while they were coming through their respective systems.

Fans and front offices alike are often unable to look past what these players can do well and gradually grow tired of expectations unmet that were maybe unrealistic in the first place.

Morrow is obviously the poster boy of what I am talking about, and if A.A. is able to search out a few more success stories he will be able to get useful players with the potential to be a lot better.

With all of that said, I was looking for a few of these types myself and I came across Lastings Milledge, who was once drafted 12th overall by the New York Mets out of a Florida high school. Milledge is still just 25 years old and has already played in three different organizations. In 2006, he was rated the 9th best prospect in the minors by Baseball America.

While he hasn't lived up to his billing as a perennial all-star outfielder, he has been able to consistently get playing time in both right and left (as well as center while he was in Washington), albeit on some awful teams. Those teams were likely playing him in the hopes of rekindling some of the talent that evaluators saw in him previously.

I am not sure if this move would work out as well as some others, especially with the arrival of Rajai Davis, but Milledge has shown the ability to hit lefties which the Blue Jays sorely lacked last year. With tough left-handers in the AL East such as David Price and Jon Lester (and maybe Cliff Lee) the Jays could use someone like him if for nothing other than a fourth outfielder.

Last year he hit lefties very well (.320/.414/.512, all of his four homers, and a 19/16 strikeout to walk ratio) and has throughout his major league career. He is a flawed player in many areas (baserunning, defensive fundamentals), but if you can look at what he does well then you can see the player that he is and not the player many thought he could be.

Drabek Debut?

Kyle Drabek is one of the more hyped pitching prospects to come from the Toronto system for quite some time and he may be in line for his major league debut. Double-A New Hampshire was eliminated in game three of the best of five series on Friday night after Drabek, as well as teammate Zach Stewart, pitched great, but received no run support.

In 2010, Drabek threw 162.0 innings as well as six innings in game one of the playoffs for a total of 168 innings. This came after he threw 158 in 2009 while spanning two levels of the Philadelphia phillies system. According to Alex Anthopoulos' plan with Brandon Morrow of 20% increases per season, Drabek still has some pitches in that gifted right arm.

Stewart is just past an added 20 per cent from his previous season and is being adjusted to a full-time starter so I wouldn't expect a call-up for him, but Drabek has around 28 innings remaining to reach 190 innings. The remaining innings could fit nicely into the remaining schedule for the Jays.

With 21 games remaining for the Jays he could get three or more starts if he were to be called to the bigs. On regular rest he could start the first game in the upcoming series opener at Baltimore on Monday (and that game is actually on all Sportsnet channels!).

I am not really sure if the audition would have any impact on Drabek's chances of breaking camp with the team next year, but it would be a nice reward for a pitcher who has pitched great at Double-A.

Romero is Squeezed

Come on, Dan Bellino

Ricky Romero was sent out for the start of the eighth inning with a high pitch count where he faced Johnny Damon to begin the inning. There were times throughout the day where Romero was visibly frustrated by the strike zone and Gameday backed up his point.

He tried his best and eventually did a good job to control his emotions towards the umpire, but the inconsistent strike zone may have cost him and his team the game because he eventually was forced out of the game after a 5-pitch walk.

Shawn Camp came in and could not strand the runner. Romero has had a frustrating year when it comes to great pitching performances in losses and no decisions.

Ususally it is his teammates that let him down, but his defence beind him played very well even though they could not score him many runs. Today it was the man behind the plate that didn't do his job. Robot umpires anyone?

Sleeper Prospect: Catcher Brian Jeroloman

One of the often forgotten prospects in the Jays' minor league system of late has been catcher Brian Jeroloman who has seemingly fallen behind the depth chart at the position. With J.P. Arencibia a level ahead of him in AAA and arrival of Travis d'Arnaud in the Halladay deal, it may be easy to forget about the guy who was always seen as the best defensive catcher in the system.

Jeroloman, 25, was drafted in the sixth round (180th overall) in the 2006 amateur draft. As a left-handed hitter he was known to work counts and draw his fair share of walks, but his calling card was his defence. These trends continued until last year when he seemed to struggle:

This year, however, he is leading the eastern league in OPS (1.005). This is heavily supported by an amazing .468 OBP, but he also finds himself seventh in the league with a .537 SLG.

Jeroloman has routinely found himself batting ninth in the Fisher Cats lineup where he gets on base for the top of the lineup and doesn't get a lot of opportunities to drive in runs.

While working deep into counts Jeroloman has been prone to the strikeout, but that is acceptable as long as he is laying off pitchers pitches and driving the one he is capable of hitting. 

He has continued throwing out runners well at a 32% rate which could very well rise (he threw out 43% last year). 

If there is another concern it has to be his righty/lefty splits:

I am not sure how to check if left-handers have given him this much trouble in the past (+50% K rate in 2010), but he will have to improve against them if he wants to become an everyday catcher at the big league level.

Jeroloman is a catcher to keep an eye on in the minor leagues. I believe that he is a player that could reach the bigs quicker than Arencibia. John Buck is tearing up left-handed pitchers to this point and they could form a nice one-two punch in the future.

Sleeper Prospect: Reliever Alan Farina

The Jays drafted reliever Alan Farina from the University of Clemson with the 115th overall pick in the 2007 draft along with what was supposed to be one of the teams strongest drafts in years.

Farina was recently seen as a bit of a disappointment along with 3B Kevin Ahrens, SS Justin Jackson, 2B John Tolisano, and OF Eric Eiland. He was the lone top college pick to struggle in the minors while he saw Brett Cecil and J.P. Arencibia climb the ranks of the Toronto system. He and P Trystan Magnuson both underperformed, but Magnuson found his stride in the bullpen while Farina struggled to stay on the field for an extended period of time. 

Farina started the year in his home state with the Jays Class-A Advanced Dunedin team after pitching in 29 games for the Florida State League team in 2009. He struggled last year with injuries and pitching inconsistencies. 

This year Farina has shown the promise that encouraged Jays management when they drafted him. He appeared in his 15th game today while picking up his first save in an 8-5 Dunedin win. His number to date are spectacular:   

Those numbers though are a bit deceiving because he has been lights-out recently:

Farina is just another name to look forward to especially in the bullpen in the years to come.

Jays Sign Lind Long-Term

After recent articles came out talking about the organizations commitment to winning and spending money to do so, the Jays made a step in backing up their claims by signing a core member of the team to a big contract.

Winning baseball teams require support from the top and Alex Anthopoulos got the approval to sign LF/DH Adam Lind to a contract (4 years/ $18 million, plus options from 2014-2016) that works out like this:

This contract, along with the similar deal for 2B Aaron Hill, will go a long way in ensuring the club continues to retain its top talent. With the recent acquisition of Cuban Shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria (which hasn't yet been named official) and a ton of strong pitching the team looks to have the makings of a solid core to build their team around.

Lind, who is just 26, could potentially earn $38.5 million over seven years at which point he would still have the opportunity to get another decent contract. The great thing about this deal, and the Hill pact for that matter, is that the Jays have complete control after the initial part of the contract.

While looking for some popular opinions of the deal amongst the baseball community it was easy to see that the Jays have, seemingly, done well. Keith Law and Rob Neyer in particular have expressed their approval  of the deal which looks even better when you look at some of the contracts that have been given out in free agency.

For example as MLB Trade Rumors says in their post, "The 26-year-old Lind broke out in a big way last season, hitting .305/.370/.562 with 46 doubles and 35 homeruns. Even though he's mostly a leftfielder and designated hitter, Toronto appears to get a tremendous bargain here. For comparison's sake, Nick Markakis will earn $62.455MM for the same seven year chunk of his career."

Another good comparison in terms of outfield ability and recent contract (but not age) is Canadian Jason Bay who hit .267/.384/.537 with 29 doubles and 36 homers in 2009. The Mets gave Bay a 4 year/$66 million deal with an incentive based option at the tail end.

It was nice to hear that a few of his teammates were there to be with him at his press conference where he said, “It will mean a lot for my parents, for my future kids, just so they can do what they want, they can go to the schools that they want.” And, “They can breathe for the rest of their life.”

I would hope so.

Lind went on to thank his parents, "for making me," and on befalf of all Jays fans we would like to thank them as well.

2010 MLB Predictions

Before the first pitch is thrown on Sunday night in Boston I thought I would throw out some predictions.

AL East
1) Yankees
2) Red Sox (Wildcard)
3) Rays
4) Orioles
5) Blue Jays

AL Central
1) Twins
2) White Sox
3) Tigers
4) Indians
5) Royals

AL West
1) Angels
2) Mariners
3) Rangers
4) Athletics

NL East
1) Phillies
2) Braves (Wildcard)
3) Marlins
4) Mets
5) Nationals

NL Central
1) Cardinals
2) Brewers
3) Reds
4) Cubs
5) Astros
6) Pirates

NL West
1) Rockies
2) Dodgers
3) Diamondbacks
4) Giants
5) Padres

Playoffs
AL Champions - New York Yankees

NL Champions - St. Louis Cardinals

World Series Champions - St. Louis Cardinals

AL MVP
Mark Teixeira (with Miguel Cabrera as my darkhorse)

NL MVP
Albert Pujols (with Ryan Braun as my darkhorse)

AL Cy Young
C.C. Sabathia (with Jon Lester as my darkhorse)

NL Cy Young
Roy Halladay (with Tommy Hanson and Ubaldo Jimenez as my darkhorses)

AL Rookie of the Year
Brian Matusz (with Wade Davis as my sleeper)

NL Rookie of the Year
Jason Heyward (with Alcides Escobar as my sleeper)