SB Nation - Bryan Bullington

A Guide To Some Relevant Minor League Free Agents

Sam Page — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:00:27 -0000

In 2009, the Mets were bereft of minor league depth. It was painfully obvious looking at Buffalo's performance and it became a major issue when injuries struck. Despite what some claim, however, developing prospects is not the only way to build good farm systems. Often those fringe players that never quite breakthrough to the show are the most integral parts of a successful minor league team. So going off this list, here's some MiFA of interest:

RHP Phil Humber: I actually think Humber is a pretty bad pitcher, but need to mention him before everyone gets nostalgic. Humber was, of course, the former Mets top prospect out of Rice that was supposed to join Mike Pelfrey at the top of the Mets rotation eventually--that was, before he had Tommy John Surgery. Somehow included in the Johan Santana deal, Humber pitched really poorly for the Twins in AAA. The only real reason to bring him back would be a show of goodwill and sympathy from the Mets. Don't hold out hope for that lost potential.

IF/OF Wilson Betemit: The top-prospect-turned-super-sub Betemit probably has his best days behind him, even at age 28. He comes from the Mark DeRosa mold in that he has experience at virtually every position, but is good at none of them. And while he hasn't hit very well of late, his interesting blend of power and plate discipline and major-league track record could make him worth a flier at AAA. Personally, I might opt for better infield defense behind the Mets young developing pitchers, but few others on that list can claim being an average major league hitter over their career.

RHP Bryan Bullington: One of many infamous first round busts in the Pirate's recent draft history, this first-overall pick has some upside as a reliever. In 38 relief innings for Las Vegas last season, Bullington had a 43:7 K:BB ratio in 38.1 innings pitched. He also can be as a serviceable AAA starter, but any chance of him making the bigs is as a part of the bullpen. A good guy to have around.

LHP Brian Burres: A long-time Baltimore farm hand, Burres has the stuff to be a mid-rotation AAA guy and a #7 or 8 on an organizational depth chart. Sub-par control and a horrible 2008 with the Orioles will likely prevent him from ever earning another extended stay in the majors.

RHP R.A. Dickey:

Pros:

Went to my high school
throws the knuckleball
the only article I ever wrote for my high school newspaper was about him

Cons:

not as good as Tim Wakefield

Dickey is the rare pitcher who is seemingly improving with age. He started using the knuckleball full-time in 2007, a season in which he was the Pacific Coast League MVP. Last year he had modest success as a reliever with the Twins. Knuckleball pitchers are great because they can pitch a million innings without getting tired and because they throw the knuckleball.

3B/OF Joe Dillon: At age 33, Joe's showing some signs of decline, but with the way he's been jerked around between the majors and minors recently, I wonder whether it's genuine slowing down or just not getting settled in one place. He is one of those AAAA sluggers that makes minor league baseball fun to watch--three times in his minor league career he's had a 1000+ OPS. He's a pretty decent fielding thirdbaseman to boot. This year he was the "last man" on the Rays bench, and he could easily reprise that role with the Mets, or be big boost to the Bisons.

RHP Geoff Geary: Geary is a control-specialist reliever who has had some major league PT recently with the Astros and Phillies. He's not someone I want in the Mets bullpen, but Buffalo could use him.

OF Mitch Jones: .354, .320. Those two numbers are Mitch Jones' Isolated Power in the past two seasons. Sure, he played in a friendly home ballpark in Albuquerque, but a .651 SLG% travels. You could make an argument that Jones is better suited for a starting job on the Mets than Daniel Murphy or Jeff Francoeur.

LHP Royce Ring: Ya'll know Royce. Lefty with the funky motion. I'd take him back on a minor league deal, considering the state of the Mets' bullpen.

LHP Jon Switzer: He pitched pretty well for Buffalo out of the bullpen this year (3.85 tRA). He would be a solid re-sign.

1B Chris Shelton: Like a right-handed Chris Carter, Chris Shelton is another AAAA slugger the Bison's stagnant offense could certainly use. Last year with Tacoma, he OPSed .905 at age 29. With Chris Carter already here, however, he may be "blocked." And as you've probably suspected, I'd gladly platoon him with Murphy, Carter, or Ike Davis, if given the chance.

LHP R.J. Swindle: Of all the pitchers I've talked about so far, Swindle is easily the most desirable. He'll be just 26 next season and has fantastic minor league peripherals 9.0 K/9, 1.8 BB/9. He's got forgettable stuff: a low 80s fastball and curveball that is basically an eephus, but he's always put up great numbers and killed lefties. Chad Bradford II?

RHP Joe Nelson: The Rays signed Joe for $1MM after a fantastic '08 with the Marlins. He proved a bad investment with horrible command, but might be served well by a return to the NL East. The Mets were reportedly interested in him as a Major League piece last year, and at the very least would be a great AAA option.

C Guillermo Quiroz: A former top-50 prospect, Quiroz has evolved into a minor league catcher with a sterling defensive reputation, good pop, and poor on-base skills. Basically, he's Omir Santos. I am not even sure Omir Santos is even better than him. In fact, Omir Santos was the Orioles' AAA catcher when Quiroz was their Major League backup. That says more about how poor and ill-equipped for a starting gig Santos is, than how good Quiroz is. But if you're going to entrust Omir Santos with a roster spot, might as well keep his clone as a backup in AAA.

Jeff Salazar, Bryan Bullington Become Free Agents

Charlie — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:16:22 -0000

More photos » by Keith Srakocic - AP

8 months ago: Pittsburgh Pirates' Jeff Salazar, right, steals second before the tag of Cincinnati Reds' shortstop Adam Rosales in the bottom of the ninth inning of the spring training baseball game in Bradenton, Fla., Monday, March 30, 2009. Salazar went on to score the game winning run on a hit bit Jason Jaramillo in the Pirates 3-2 win. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

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Since we're at the point in the year where there's nothing to care about except little things, here's some news: a bunch of guys just became minor league free agents. The only Pirate on the list is Jeff Salazar, who went 1-for-23 for the Bucs this year. Salazar probably needed to hit better this season to have much of a shot at a real major-league career, which is too bad; he has an .826 career minor league OPS (albeit in some pretty hospitable hitting environments, like Tucson and Colorado Springs), and it's a shame he never got more of a shot. Most guys who stick as fourth outfielders begin their careers as starters, like Brandon Moss this year; guys like Salazar who have the skillset but are never lucky enough to be confused for starters usually don't make it.

Also on the list of minor league free agents are former Pirate #1-overall picks Kris Benson and Bryan Bullington. Bullington actually pitched very well for the Jays' Class AAA affiliate in Las Vegas, but he didn't make an appearance there after June. The list also includes Chris Duffy, Chris Shelton, and Craig Stansberry.

Other vaguely interesting names on the list: Phil Humber (third overall pick by the Mets in 2004, acquired by Twins in the Johan Santana trade, stalled in the high minors), IF Wilson Betemit (former top Braves prospect, still not that old, bad season in the White Sox organization but versatile and potentially still useful), RP Javier Lopez (again, a terrible season, but he's one year removed from being one of the majors' more effective relievers), RP Greg Aquino (consistently good minor league numbers; certainly a better option than the Denny Bautistas of the world), RP Vinnie Chulk (ditto), RP Jon Switzer (same), RP Joe Nelson (actually a totally decent MLB pitcher for the Rays last year, and a terrific one for the Marlins in 2008), and lefty SP Travis Blackley (former top Mariners prospect finally seems to be pitching with better control in his late 20s and still hasn't been used exclusively as a reliever, where he might find his niche).

Nothing big here, but I'd be mildly psyched to see the Bucs sign Blackley, in particular.

Thanks to WTM.

Thinking Moneyball About The Houston Rockets Draft

R.J. Anderson — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:00:26 -0000

More photos » by Stephen Dunn - Getty Images

The match-up that made Moneyball in the NBA cool.

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I was a stupid baseball fan in 2002. The extent of my baseball draft knowledge extended to the first few picks overall, maybe a local college player or two, and whoever else the television broadcast and newspapers covered over the next few days. Keep in mind, this is about two years before I discovered Baseball Prospectus' annuals, so to say my baseball opinion was amateur is more than fair.

The 2002 draft was special. The Pittsburgh Pirates were the only team choosing ahead of my Devil Rays, and somehow, for whatever reason, they decided to choose Bryan Bullington. This allowed the Rays to select B.J. Upton. A high school shortstop who some compared to Derek Jeter, filling my naïve heart with glee. Surprisingly, this post isn't all about Upton, like many of my others are. Nope, this was also the infamous Moneyball draft.

Oh no, I'm not going to write about the players involved or anything else beaten over the head a million different times. Nope. I do want to compare my feeling of intrigue from last night's NBA draft to spectators of the A's draft though.

Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey is a sabermetrician. For that reason alone, I pay attention to what his team does. Basketball sabermetrics intrigue me, even if I'm not immersed in the topic like with baseball. So last night, I flip the draft on in the early moments of round two, and I leave it on as I do some writing for other sites.

Then I hear it, again and again. "I have a trade to announce, the Houston Rockets have acquired ‘x', pick ‘y' for cash considerations and a future second round pick."

I swear it seemed to happen every other pick.

Around the time of the NFL draft I recall reading a post, perhaps by Sky himself, about the value of second round draft picks. The money spent on first round picks was more excessive than the talent differentials. Naturally, the New England Patriots were the team trading into the second round willingly and often while others scrambled to get into round one. The Patriots have discovered that second round picks are undervalued much in the way the A's found that draft picks were undervalued.

Connecting the dots from this point on isn't difficult.

I don't know the answer to this question, and honestly I probably won't spend the time researching it for myself, but I do wonder out loud: how valuable are second round draft picks in the NBA? Speaking from my knowledge, albeit limited, I know that second round picks do not carry the price-tag or guaranteed contract of their first round brethren. I also know that acquiring a second round pick requires only an open checkbook, at most.

Left without a first and second round pick to begin the night, the Rockets traded into the second round three times. The players themselves aren't too relevant, the process is. What the Rockets did was essentially buy three lottery tickets. They secured potentially useful players for cash, which as far as I know will not count against their salary cap figure, and for a ‘future second round pick'. Considering the price of a second round pick seems minimal, why do I have the feeling trading a future one isn't a big loss?

I have the feeling Morey may know something the rest of the league doesn't know.

Yet.

I'm Standing on a Bridge In a Town Where I Lived As a Kid: Blue Jays System Minor League Report

hugo — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:27:03 -0000

Hi everyone. It's been a little while, I figured we should use the off-day to take a look at how the minor-league affiliates, and, more importantly, the young Jay-to-be hopefuls, are doing.

Las Vegas:

Travis Snider is still out of action with a shoulder injury and isn't set to start swinging a bat again until July. David Dellucci has been quiet for the 51s, hitting just .250/.242/.344, with three doubles over 33 plate appearances. Michael Barrett recently returned to AAA (he's only played 2 games there). J.P. Arencibia has been ice-cold recently -- after a hot May, he is hitting only .200/.235/.262 in June. He does have 19 doubles and 8 home runs on the season but things aren't going well at the moment at all. Randy Ruiz has always put up big minor-league numbers and this season is no exception - he has 41 extra base hits (including 15 home runs) already this season and a .972 OPS.

On the mound, the 51s rotation has taken a hit with Brad Mills and Brett Cecil both up at the big club. Fabio Castro has slowed down after a hot start at AAA - he's now sporting just a 30/26 K/BB ratio over 63 2/3 innings, though he still has a nice 3.11 ERA and a winning record. David Purcey has two successful starts in a row and his walk rate continues to recede to respectable levels. Bryan Bullington is putting up pretty good numbers in the bullpen, with over a strikeout per inning and a 35/6 K/BB ratio.

New Hampshire:

Scott Campbell is back from injury and working his way up the minors - In 25 plate appearances at AA, he's hitting a Campbell-esque .300/.440/.400 with as many walks (5) as strikeouts and has yet to make an error, playing 2nd and 3rd. I imagine he'll be back with Las Vegas soon. Brian Dopirak continues to rake -- he's hitting .307/.369/.580 on the season and is even better than that so far in June (1.020 OPS) with 39 extra-base hits (16 HRs) already. He could be ready to move up, but Randy Ruiz and Brett Harper are entrenched at AAA at the 1st base and DH spots. Other than those two, there's not much offense to speak of - catcher Brian Jeroloman's bat (.706 OPS) remains cold, and second baseman Brad Emaus, who looked so good for the Jays in spring training, has really fallen off, hitting just .127/.182/.197 in June.

On the mound, Marc Rzepczynski has been good all season, but has really turned it up in June, where he's 1-0 with a 0.45 ERA over his 3 starts and, still better, a 21/7 K/BB ratio over 20 innings. His season totals are similarly excellent (2.93 ERA, 88/36 K/BB ratio over 76 2/3 innings and an excellent groundball ratio) despite being extremely hit-unlucky. It's been a very successful half-season for Zep. Reidier Gonzalez and Luis Perez have also done a nice job out of New Hampshire's rotation.

Dunedin:

Dunedin's outfield has been excellent all season, and all three: centrefielder Darrin Mastroianni, leftfielder Eric Thames, and rightfielder Moises Sierra, were all named to the Florida State League North Division all star team. Mastroianni has a .325/.390/.426 line, with 32 steals, while Thames and Sierra have similar overall lines - both showing good power for young hitters and hitting well recently. The trio of early 2007 draftee infielders -- John Tolisano, Justin Jackson, and Kevin Ahrens, have done less well. That said, Tolisano is having a nice June (.311/.328/.475) with an extra-base hit every 10 at-bats so far. Jackson has also been better this month -- not as good as he was in May upon returning from his injury, but OPSing a respectable .726 in June and striking out much less (just 11 times in 56 plate appearances this month). Ahrens, though, has been just as cold (.588 OPS in June v. .576 over the season). Adam Loewen is still waiting for things to click (.584 OPS this season) and is still waiting for his first home run.

On the pitching side - 2008 draftee Andy Liebel's 2-8 record is misleading - Liebel has a very nice 65/20 K/BB ratio over his 77 1/3 innings and a steady 1.33 WHIP. He's been especially strong in June and is having a fine first full pro season. Kenny Rodriguez (5-2, 1.99 ERA, 48/21 K/BB ratio over 54 1/3 IP, 1.12 Whip) is also having a fine season in the rotation, while Trystan Magnuson, Daniel Farquar, and Tim Collins are pitching very well out of the bullpen -- Collins has a ridiculous 57 Ks in 37 1/3 innings, and isn't walking many (14) to do it. Farquar (23/11 K/BB ratio over 17 relief innings for a 0.53 ERA) and Collins joined the aforementioned trio of outfielders and infielder Raul Barron on the all-star team.

Lansing:

Outfielder Johermyn Chavez had a bit of a May dropoff after a very hot April, but has picked things up a bit in June - with 5 home runs already this month. On the season, he has 12 home runs, 11 doubles, and 5 triples, serious power for a 20-year old hitter in the tough-on-hitters Midwest League. His overall line is .266/.331/.500. He's learning how to take a walk too - he has 21 walks in 265 plate appearances this season after drawing just 25 in 427 plate appearances last season. Shortstop Ty Pastornicky hasn't figured out Midwest League pitching yet (.261/.339/.312) but he can draw a walk and he's been all over the bases (31/40 in steal attempts).

On the mound, Charles Huggins was so good (1.57 ERA) he was called up to Dunedin. Chase Lirette, who recovered from shoulder surgery about halfway through the season last year, is old for the level but off to a very good start (1.87 ERA, 24/8 K/BB ratio) so he could move up soon as well.

Auburn:

The season has only just started for the Doubledays. Some players on the team who have already seen action with whom you might be familiar are 2008 draftee Marcus Brisker (OF), 2007 draftee Eric Eiland (CF), and 2009 draftees Lance Durham (son of Leon, also a first baseman) and Jonathan Fernandez (son of Tony, also a shorstop)

Burres Gets Hit So Hard It Knocks Him Back to the Minors, Jays Lose

Tom Dakers — Fri, 01 May 2009 01:14:45 -0000

More photos » by ED ZURGA - AP

Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Brian Burres (14) walks and asks directions to Vegas, while the rest of the team tries to figure out who thought it was a good idea to call him up in the first place. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

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Jays 6 Royals 8

How come the only people that thought using Brian Burres as a starter was a good idea worked for the Jays? The good news is that Burres and Bryan Bullington were sent back to the Minors after the game. Maybe there is a God, or at least intelligent life in the Jay's front office.

Anyway the game....I don't really want to talk about it....but Burres was awful for the 2 innings plus he was out there for, giving up 5 hits, 6 runs, 4 earned and a walk to bring his ERA to a wonderful 14.21. Isn't there some baseball saying about an ERA bigger than your shoe size being bad luck? Bullington wasn't much better in relief. League and Carlson did well over the last 3 innings but by then it was a little late.

Offensively? Well we did get back into the game late and likely would have done better but we hit into 6 (!) double plays. 6 double plays! One each by 6 different players. Tying a league record. The scary part is we could have done worse. We hit into a double play in each of the first 4 innings.

There were some good offensive performances, like someone in the game thread said 'you need lots of base runners to have 6 double plays. We took 6 walks and had 11 hits, including a leadoff homer by Marco Scutaro and a 2 run shot by Adam Lind. Everyone in the lineup got on base at least twice except Jose Bautista who got on once.

Jay of the Day is Adam Lind (.095 WPA). Honorable mention to Kevin Millar and Scoot for that leadoff homer. How many of you guessed that Marco Scutaro and Aaron Hill would be tied for the team lead in homers at the end of April. Put down your hands, you liars. Suckage Jays? Let's all say it together Brian Burres (-.395 WPA, please, please JP, I don't care what happens from here on out, do not call this man up again), Jose Bautista (-.168) and Hill (.101) get Hinskes.

Beyond that, I'm sorry, I know Cito is like everyone's favorite manager, and I'll admit he is growing on me, but his idea that we can't pinch hit is an idiot idea. Think about this, 8th inning, the team has worked their way back from down by 6 to where they have a runner on and the tying run at the plate. Bautista up, ok, you want to give Rolen the whole day off, let him bat against the righty. I don't like it but ok. But after he strikes out, Raul Chavez is up.

Chavez is a good defensive catcher, but he hits, well he hits like Johnny Mac. On our bench is Lyle Overbay, and he is swinging the bat so well of late. 99 managers out of 100 would pinch hit there. In fact likely 100 out of 100, unless the 100th is our Cito. But Cito is still posing for that statue that they are going to put outside of Skydome. I really really don't understand how you can be philosophically opposed to pinch hitting and be a manager in the majors. It doesn't make sense to me. You won't do it because it might hurt Raul Chavez's feelings? Chavez knows he isn't here because of his bat.

Anyway, let's not get too upset by one loss, because if anyone told you we'd be 15-9 at the end of April you'd have been happy. Currently we are half a game behind the Red Sox for first but the Sox are down 6-0 to the Rays at the moment (Beckett looks terrible), so odds are we will be going into May tied for first. I thought we were optimistic here at BBB but I thought we might start slow and build as the season went on. But this is terrific.

Better news, we won't have to suffer thru another Brian Burres start. I'm sure street cleaners outside Hugo's office building are happy too, he won't be making the big jump. Not sure who the Jays are bringing up, but it can't get no worse than Burres has been. You'd have to think Accardo will come up for Bullington.

Everything Hits at Once: White Sox 10, Jays 2

hugo — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 03:04:04 -0000

Well, it's never a good matchup when you've got your 9th or 10th best starter facing the other team's ace, and it didn't work out so well for our heroes today.

We hated the idea of Brian Burres starting today's game, and it turned out to be for good reason. Burres was bad, giving up 7 hits and 4 walks over 4 1/3 innings. He generally looked like he lacked the stuff to get major-league hitters out and knew it, so he was afraid to pitch inside or challenge good hitters. It was a poor performance and not one, in my opinion, that justifies another major-leagues start. He did manage to make it to the 5th inning just having given up 2 runs, but his luck ran out that inning and things went south.

The White Sox scored 6 runs that inning, 4 of them coming on a grand slam by Alexei Ramirez off Shawn Camp, who had the unenviable task of coming in with the bases loaded and trying to minimize the damage. Brandon League and Brian Bullington pitched scoreless innings at least.

Offensively, the Jays managed two runs in the 2nd inning of Sox starter Mark Buerhle but that was it. Marco Scutaro had a decent day at the plate with a single, a walk, and a sacrifice fly, as did Jose Bautista (rbi single, walk), Aaron Hill, and Kevin Millar. But the Jays managed no extra base hits. No Jays of the Day today, though Burres takes home the Towers and Camp the Batista.

The Jays will put their series win streak (as well as their non-consecutive loss streak) on the line tomorrow afternoon. Roy Halladay will pitch for the Jays, while Jose Contreras will hurl for the Pale Hose.

In other bad and potentially really bad news, Jesse Litsch, who was ahead of schedule, had pain throwing last night and will be examined by he-who-must-not-be-named on Monday. The Jays are saying that it's precautionary only, but keep your fingers crossed.

5th Series Win in a Row to Start the Season!

Tom Dakers — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 03:30:20 -0000

More photos » by Frank Gunn - AP

Toronto Blue Jays' Alex Rios, right, is congratulated by teammate Aaron Hill after hitting a two-run home run. Now that you see how it's done Alex, let's keep doing it.(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)

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Rangers 2 Jays 5

You know, this season is so much more fun than last year. I know we are going to go thru bad stretches and losing two of our starting pitchers in the first month seems like a bad omen but right now this is so much fun.

We've had such good luck with the starting pitchers. Tonight Scott Richmond had his second really good start in a row.Hugo and I were saying before the season that we thought Richmond could do a good job as a 5th starter, but it is nice to see him do it. Today he got us 6 innings, 2 earned runs both on solo homers, 2 walks and 8 strikeouts. If you got to give up a couple of homers in a game, solo shots are the way to go.

Our bullpen as terrific again. League, Carlson, Camp and Downs pitched the last 3 innings only allowing 1 hit and striking out 5. Downs got his first save of the season. Yeah I wish Cito would give Downs the night off when we are up by three but I am trying to keep from letting little things Cito does bother me. Trying. Downs has appeared in 9 of our 17 games. He does seem to have a rubber arm but why test his limits?

Offensively home runs won it for us. Happily the most ragged on players (well other than BJ Ryan) hit the homers. Wells and Overbay each hit solo shots and Rios hit a 2 run homer. Vernon's home run moved him past Jesse Barfield into 4th all-time in homers for the Jays. Rolen came thru with a single with 2 out in the 8th to drive in our 5th run.

We did have some 0fers today. Scutaro, Lind, Barajas and Snider, but Moonraker and Lind each took a walk, Scutaro hit the ball hard a couple of times and Big Rod hit 2 homers yesterday so he is allowed an ofer today.

Jays of the Day are Richmond (.167 WPA), Rios (.134) and Overbay (.110). Honorable mention Wells and League. Suckage Jay was Scutaro (-.112) getting the Hinske award.

Tomorrow the Jays are in Chicago to play the White Sox. Jessef has a preview of the pitching match ups here. I'd feel sorry for him because, for the second time in a row, after he has writen a great post on the match ups in up coming series teams change starters on him. I would feel sorry for him, but his brother has threatened to fire him if it happens again.

In other Jay news Bryan Bullington has been called up from Vegas to fill BJ Ryan's roster spot. Apparently Brian Burres will be called up Saturday to take Ricky Romero's start. I was hoping Dirk Hayhurst would get a callup but no such luck yet.

And in case you forgot. We are 12-5, in first place in the AL East, 2 games up on the Yankees and the Red Sox. Enjoy.

Game Recap Rays and Jays

Tom Dakers — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:44:10 -0000

Jays 4 Rays 11

Well, it was getting boring talking about our great pitching. So today we get to talk about bad pitching. Matt Clement pitched 4 innings 2 doubles, walked 3, struck out 2 and gave up 2 runs. The 3 walks worry me more than the hits, it suggests to me that he was afraid to throw across the plate, he didn't trust his stuff. Brian Wolfe was terrible, getting only 1 out, giving up 3 hits, a walk and gave up 5 runs, 4 earned. You'd have to think he isn't going to make the team. Bryan Bullington pitched 1.2 innings, gave up 3 hits, 3 runs only 1 earned, 1 walk. Bill Murphy pitched the final 2 innings, gave up a solo homer, a walk and struck out 2.

Offensively Curtis Thigpen hit a homer. Moonraker (Travis Snider) went 1 for 4, the 1 being a 2 run double. Russ Adams was 1 for 1 with a double. Angel Sanchez, Ryan Patterson, Joe Inglett and Brian Dopirak each had a single.

Three Jays made errors Scott Campbell, Joe Inglett and Dopirak had one each.

Doc starts tomorrow against the Pirates tomorrow.

In other new, it looks like Dustin McGowan might not be back as early as we hoped. His recovery has been slowed by some 'soreness'.

Toronto indicated that McGowan might be ready to return to the rotation by May, but the team has since changed its stance, noting that his recovery might last deep into the season.

Ricky Romero and Jesse Litsch are to pitch 4 innings each in a Minor League spring game on Friday, because of all the pitchers in camp the Jays are using minor league games to get everyone work. Apparently BJ Ryan had a 6 pitch inning of work in one on Monday.

And I'm not the only one unhappy wiht Ernie Whitt's managing, Jeff Blair takes a run at it.

Game Recap for Spring Game 5, Jays Beat Rays

Tom Dakers — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 01:16:15 -0000

Jays won 6-3 running their spring record to 3-2. I would say the record doesn't matter, but the Jays have spent the off-season hearing how bad they would be, so getting a little confidence could go a long ways. Or let's go with that cause they won today.

The good? Jesse Litsch threw 2 shutout innings with just a hit and a walk given up with one strikeout. Bryan Bullington had 2 shutout innings too, though he gave up 2 hits and 2 walks. Reid Santos and Dirk Hayhurst each pitched a shutout inning with a strikeout. Dirk got the save and he hasn't given up a run yet this spring. If we weren't so stacked in the bullpen I'd think was building himself a chance at making the team.

Offensively a lot of the young guys looked good: Sean Shoffit went 1 for 2 and drove in 2, Scott Campbell was 1 for 2, Brian Dopirak was 1 for 1 with a run and a RBI, Jason Lane was 1 for 3 and has a .455 average this spring (I'm growing more hopeful by the day), David Cooper got his first hit of the spring and Scott Rolen went 1 for 2.

The bad? Ken Takahashi was hit hard, until he strained his calf making a nice play on a suicide squeeze. Brian Wolfe gave up a couple of hits, a walk and a run in his 1.1 innings of work. With a lot of candidates for the bullpen he's going to have some better outings to make the team. Russ Adams went 0 for 3. Adam Lind was 0 for 2 though he took a walk, which was nice to see since he walk all of 16 times last year, but he still doesn't have a hit this spring.

Tomorrow Ricky Romero starts for the Jays. He didn't look great in the Jay's first spring game. The game is on MLB.com Gameday Audio. I keep hoping Sportsnet will show us a game but not yet anyway.

Game Recap, Jays Beat Phillies

Tom Dakers — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:38:14 -0000

One of the things baseball people say about spring training when the pitchers do well is that early on pitchers are ahead of the batters. When the batters do well they say early on the batters are ahead of the pitchers. Today we hit some and pitched well.

Scott Richmond pitched 2 innings of no hit ball with 3 strikeouts. A nice start of the spring for Richmond who will be going off to pitch for Team Canada now. Bryan Bullington and Fabio Castro each gave up a run in the two innings they each pitched, Bullington struck out 4 but gave up 2 hits and 2 walks. Bill Murphy got the win with a perfect inning and Luis Perez and Reid Santos each pitched a scoreless inning to close out the game.

Offensively Moonraker (Travis Snider) and Jason Lane went back-to-back in the 5th and Scott Campbell hit a 3 run double in the 8th. Adam Loewen singled and drove in a run in his 1 at bat. So the offense looked better than yesterday, though the starters didn't do too much. Scutaro and Inglett were 0 for 3. Barrett and David Cooper were 0 for 2 and JP Arencibia was 0 for 4 as DH.

I'm glad Lane hit one out, I'd rather he made the team than the ancient Kevin Millar not that either of them will be of great help to the team. Lane is 32, Millar 37. I guess that isn't that big of a difference, I just see Lane as more useful defensively and figure them to be wash offensively.

Tomorrow the Jays play the Tigers, a game that again will only be on Gameday audio. Matt Clement will make the start for the Jays.

Poll

Would you rather see Kevin Millar or Jason Lane make the team out of spring training?

Kevin Millar

26 votes

Jason Lane

20 votes

Neither, they are both useless

17 votes

63 votes | Poll has closed