Blue Jays Report - June 26th, 2002

LATEST TEAM INFO

Road Trip

The Jays are now winding up the longest road trip of the season with a three game series in Tampa Bay. For some Blue Jays and fans this has felt like the longest road trip of our lives. Before the return of Chris Carpenter in the second game of the Arizona series, the Jays were 1-6 having been outscored 18 to 35 by the Expos, Dodgers and D-backs. That one win? You guessed it, Roy Halladay, he shut down the Dodgers allowing just 4 hits and one unearned run for his second complete game of the season.

But things are looking up, Chris Carpenter returned from the DL, hopefully this time for good and led the team to a 6-3 win over the DiamondBacks. What made the win so important for the Jays was that it led right into Roy Halladay's next start. Roy didn't have his best stuff, but it was good enough to pick up the win. The Jays scored 9 runs that game, merely a little practice for their next game on Tuesday in Tampa Bay.

With Esteban Loiaza on the mound, the Jays exploded with four runs in the first inning and two more in the second. They went on to score 20 runs on 19 hits, the most runs since 1978. The bad news is Loiaza only went 3.1 innings allowing seven earned runs.

Loaiza's poor outing gave Raul Mondesi a bit of repreive from the ire of manager Carlos Tosca. Raul was benched after showing up late to a pre-game meeting, Tosca couldn't speak to Raul after the game as he had Loaiza to deal with. Much to the Blue Jays' chagrin, Mondesi instead decided to talk to the media. Raul's words were scathing and unfortunate as Mondesi took the opportunity to lambaste Carlos Tosca claiming the rookie manager is unqualified, unfair and drunk with power. A bad scene that GM, JP Riccardi, is going to have to do something about sooner rather than later.

The Jays have Steve Parris on the mound tonight against Tanyon Sturtze. Since coming back from shoulder surgery earlier this month, Parris has lost a little velocity but his curve ball is breaking hard and he's already got 4 ks tonight. Another good sign for the Blue Jays.

Healthy Rotation

The Blue Jays starting rotation is finally starting to look like it was supposed to back in March. With Roy Halladay, Chris Carpenter, Esteban Loaiza and Steve Parris getting regular starts. Luke Prokopec is the fifth starter when he's healthy but Pete Walker or Justin Miller should take those starts in the meantime. It seems like the offense appreciates having a little more confidence in their starters. Young guys like Hinske and Wells were really pushing too hard thinking they had to be heroes and pick up the slack from their rookie hurler buddies. Last week has seen a resurgence in both Hinske and Wells who are making contact and scoring runs like they are supposed to.

LOCAL PERSPECTIVE

Toronto fans know they have to take what they can get from this team in rebuild mode. Last night's thorough thumping of the Devil Rays was fun to watch as long as you turned the channel while the Rays were at bat, they did get 11 runs off Blue Jay pitching. But the truth is, we have long had to endure watching overpaid players underperform. It is only now becoming evident what a poor job Gord Ash did as GM of this team. Delgado and Mondesi represent 40% of the payroll, we aren't the Yankees and those kinds of numbers are ridiculous. This is a team who was deeply in need of a GM who could evaluate talent and that's what we got in the form of JP Riccardi, a former scout with the Oakland A's.

This season is a real roller coaster as we all knew it would be. But this is the first time in awhile that Canadian baseball fans can really be optomistic about the next couple of years. Vernon Wells is begining to show why he's been touted as a five tool player for the last few years in the minors. Eric Hinske is already looking like a lock for rookie of the year, especially now that he seems to be fouling off or taking those breaking balls down and away from left handed pitchers. Even a couple of weeks ago he was missing those pitches by a foot, now he's extending his at bats and making the pitchers come to him.

JP Riccardi is giving us alot to look forward to and that is something Jays' fans haven't had since the good old days of Pat Gillick. There are lots of little things that need to be done and one big one. That big one is Raul Mondesi. He doesn't fit in Toronto anymore, and I'm not sure he ever did. Gord Ash gave him a huge contract and it's looking more and more like the Jays are going to have to take a bath just to get rid of him. But as last night's 20 runs WITHOUT Mondesi shows, he's expendable and it will be better to pay some of Mondesi's paycheck than pay all of Mondesi's paycheck.

RUMOR MILL

Well, I started the biggest rumor last night when Mondesi was inexplicably held out of the lineup, I thought they had made a deal and that's why they pulled him at the last minute pending an announcement. I later learned of the tardiness soap opera and put that rumor to rest. But another correspondent mentioned that Riccardi's assistant is scouting the Yankee's minor league system. The Yanks have talked about Cruz and probably need someone a little more consistent than Mondesi. But either could fill the the right field vacany in the Bronx.

Loiaza has been on the block for awhile, but his 9+ ERA for June is going to make it tough on JP, he has flashes of brilliance sometimes, but somehow doesn't have the mental or physical makeup to keep it up.

The Jays need young arms and have too many outfielders, make up your own rumors if you like, but something will happen before the trade deadline. Riccardi has been told that only Hinske, Lopez and Wells are untouchable, the rest of the team is on the block.

INJURIES

Luke Prokopec is the only Blue Jay of consequence on the DL right now. He has tendinitis in his pitching elbow and isn't expected back until after the all star break.

ON THE FARM

The two guys I get the most questions about from the Blue Jays farm system are C Josh Phelps and 2B Orlando Hudson. Both look like stars of the future for the Blue Jays. Phelps is currently stuck behind Wilson, Fletcher and Huckaby. The Jays are probably more concerned with helping their young pitchers along with experienced catchers than they are about bringing Phelps into a platoon situation. One can only assume that Huckaby is being showcased since he is getting more playing time than the other two catchers. Fletcher isn't seeing much action at all, I can't explain that move, one would think it is Fletch who they would like to trade given his salary and decreased production over the last couple of years. At any rate, one or two of these guys will have to go before Phelps gets anykind of regular playing time in the bigs.

Hudson is also stuck behind Joe Lawrence and Chris Woodward. Hudson may still be suffering for speaking a little to lightly of JP Riccardi in spring training. But more likely they want him to develop more, perhaps even as trade bait. Hudson is going to the futures All Star game and that's going to be tough for JP to ignore. Joe Lawrence is being touted as the second baseman of the future, and Chris Woodward can play 3B, SS or 2B. It's tough to tell what the plan is for any of these guys, but we should see Phelps and Hudson at sometime this year, don't ask me when though.

QUICK VIEW

ADD: OF Vernon Wells he has been working hard with batting coach Mike Barnett and the results are starting to show. He's an FA in many leagues. Wells has 5 homers in the last dozen odd games.

DROP: SP Esteban Loaiza - I saw his name pop up in the Yahoo Buzz Index after he came off the DL and won back to back starts in Seattle and Oakland, the latter being a complete game shutout against the A's. But playing with Loaiza is like playing with fire. How many pitchers can get 20 runs of support and not get the win?

HOLD: 3B Eric Hinske - He got off to a blazing start, hitting for average in April and for power in May. He started June stuck somewhere in between, but he's now starting to get back in the groove. Even against lefties, he has been able to hold his own and hit the ball the other way when need be. He's taking his walks and hitting homers when the pitch is there. If you are still stashing him on your bench, hold on to him, even if you only start him against righties.

TRADE: OF Jose Cruz Jr. - If word hasn't got out in your league about his career high 6 RBIs last night, see if you can grab him cheap. He too has been working hard with Mike Barnett and he is making much better choices. He has sped up his hands and is able to get around on pitches much faster and with more power. As his confidence builds, you'll see him run more on the base paths too.