Meta tags:
description=Analyzing your Toronto Blue Jays;

Headings (most frequently used words):

jays, the, in, blue, off, season, target, seven, felipe, lopez, defense, of, ricky, nolasco, scutaro, worth, risk, for, happ, with, romero, travis, snider, still, cruz, comparing, hill, to, al, east, theo, epstein, offered, what, randy, ruiz, next, andruw, jones, umpire, strike, back, search, it, recent, entries, links,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (454), and (195), jays (118), for (101), with (85), his (76), blue (70), was (63), this (59), but (55), that (53), has (52), would (45), season (43), not (40), have (39), year (34), scutaro (32), rate (32), team (31), 2009 (29), #snider (28), hill (27), their (27), they (27), out (26), been (26), toronto (25), career (25), baseball (24), think (24), had (24), years (24), were (23), even (23), all (23), one (23), league (22), aaron (22), comments (21), are (21), more (21), any (21), ricciardi (21), just (20), you (20), very (20), off (19), halladay (19), best (19), like (18), romero (18), nolasco (18), lopez (18), into (18), posted (17), roy (17), red (17), over (17), ruiz (16), from (16), game (16), going (16), him (16), woba (16), than (16), solid (16), could (16), will (16), what (15), two (15), ball (15), take (15), also (15), uzr (15), who (15), million (15), first (14), back (14), most (14), major (14), time (14), babip (14), seasons (14), sox (14), well (14), get (13), worth (13), some (13), every (13), new (13), average (13), about (13), big (13), games (13), strike (12), next (12), happ (12), ricky (12), only (12), when (12), pitcher (12), can (12), overall (12), old (12), marco (12), fans (11), still (11), defense (11), plate (11), there (11), play (11), 2008 (11), few (11), war (11), travis (10), tagged (10), before (10), hit (10), shown (10), high (10), player (10), teams (10), top (10), pedroia (10), runs (10), bat (10), less (10), luck (10), make (10), right (9), love (9), having (9), line (9), above (9), trade (9), buchholz (9), fip (9), looked (9), impressive (9), man (9), players (9), era (9), randy (8), felipe (8), while (8), played (8), minor (8), future (8), forward (8), free (8), prospect (8), market (8), adam (8), sign (7), blog (7), umpires (7), which (7), them (7), balls (7), stats (7), good (7), september (7), let (7), power (7), aaa (7), ability (7), showed (7), leagues (7), come (7), brian (7), kid (7), offer (7), way (7), past (7), might (7), obp (7), dustin (7), better (7), look (7), value (7), should (7), where (7), name (6), already (6), add (6), numbers (6), don (6), took (6), real (6), field (6), taken (6), front (6), feel (6), say (6), bats (6), zone (6), bit (6), did (6), great (6), level (6), believe (6), again (6), drafted (6), fact (6), young (6), considered (6), patience (6), posting (6), relatively (6), after (6), roberts (6), cano (6), see (6), iso (6), made (6), other (6), left (6), nearly (6), many (6), basically (6), low (6), much (6), record (6), started (5), seven (5), mlb (5), umpire (5), epstein (5), cruz (5), target (5), fake (5), people (5), either (5), got (5), quite (5), call (5), around (5), through (5), base (5), 2010 (5), comparison (5), biggest (5), mark (5), fairly (5), guy (5), hrs (5), although (5), 2007 (5), slash (5), total (5), bard (5), clay (5), makes (5), being (5), its (5), control (5), last (5), know (5), serious (5), both (5), robinson (5), defence (5), 100 (5), want (5), rays (5), position (5), draft (5), poor (5), per (5), order (5), based (5), defensive (5), especially (5), money (5), wordpress (4), com (4), now (4), theo (4), offered (4), umps (4), act (4), williams (4), short (4), pitching (4), home (4), actual (4), behind (4), guys (4), win (4), innings (4), work (4), turning (4), rogers (4), centre (4), these (4), row (4), same (4), didn (4), pretty (4), nothing (4), unfortunately (4), current (4), expect (4), currently (4), batting (4), swing (4), range (4), rookie (4), wasn (4), success (4), least (4), finally (4), age (4), agent (4), nobody (4), 2004 (4), four (4), including (4), return (4), never (4), mind (4), pitchers (4), little (4), masterson (4), deal (4), huge (4), reason (4), unless (4), starting (4), extremely (4), hitter (4), hope (4), born (4), office (4), boston (4), consider (4), making (4), wanted (4), true (4), city (4), general (4), lack (4), each (4), category (4), avg (4), hits (4), show (4), 2006 (4), salary (4), dunn (4), things (4), too (4), showing (4), round (4), lind (4), adding (4), likely (4), coming (4), contract (4), price (4), october (4), approach (4), former (4), valuable (4), outs (4), actually (4), wells (4), billy (4), division (4), account (3), sports (3), times (3), fangraphs (3), andruw (3), jones (3), east (3), posts (3), fan (3), sort (3), stat (3), post (3), doesn (3), tonight (3), done (3), three (3), york (3), second (3), analyzing (3), something (3), our (3), version (3), hard (3), enough (3), 333 (3), far (3), hasn (3), discipline (3), department (3), outside (3), 350 (3), respectable (3), patient (3), hitters (3), late (3), early (3), promise (3), daniel (3), victor (3), martinez (3), cheap (3), bowden (3), company (3), included (3), must (3), michael (3), playing (3), include (3), article (3), increased (3), smart (3), addition (3), key (3), land (3), playoff (3), tidy (3), looks (3), lot (3), ips (3), among (3), starter (3), world (3), history (3), though (3), common (3), does (3), anything (3), without (3), command (3), talk (3), hole (3), given (3), close (3), sure (3), taking (3), ever (3), walk (3), table (3), jose (3), bright (3), may (3), absolutely (3), here (3), since (3), swinging (3), everything (3), contact (3), moneyball (3), hitting (3), phillies (3), brett (3), cecil (3), swings (3), suffered (3), long (3), gave (3), keep (3), whip (3), appears (3), mcdonald (3), certainly (3), move (3), earned (3), wins (3), pitches (3), improved (3), looking (3), ideal (3), steal (3), talent (3), 336 (3), lob (3), list (3), perfect (3), vernon (3), beane (3), central (3), james (3), improving (3), agents (3), signing (3), tenure (3), paul (3), aggressive (3), side (3), infield (3), your (3), site (2), required (2), manage (2), content (2), log (2), subscribed (2), subscribe (2), dish (2), jay (2), reference (2), comparing (2), risk (2), recent (2), search (2), older (2), pair (2), weighted (2), pass (2), farrell (2), masks (2), clear (2), bags (2), throws (2), pull (2), fun (2), says (2), thought (2), gonna (2), during (2), nationals (2), extra (2), president (2), hands (2), half (2), men (2), tim (2), wide (2), yankees (2), kick (2), recently (2), watch (2), lately (2), watching (2), strikes (2), foul (2), throw (2), seem (2), share (2), favourite (2), admit (2), called (2), tumps (2), yeah (2), seeing (2), minnesota (2), twins (2), wrong (2), opposed (2), valid (2), shape (2), jeff (2), sake (2), leader (2), yet (2), stands (2), small (2), sample (2), size (2), near (2), production (2), slightly (2), obviously (2), speed (2), propensity (2), clearly (2), organizations (2), cameo (2), promoted (2), put (2), 303 (2), shot (2), signed (2), july (2), non (2), apparently (2), paying (2), spanning (2), end (2), organization (2), philly (2), 383 (2), 2005 (2), traded (2), essentially (2), factor (2), trading (2), sense (2), landed (2), scott (2), felix (2), doubrant (2), lefty (2), nick (2), hagadone (2), seen (2), certain (2), wouldn (2), throwing (2), fastball (2), bullpen (2), crazy (2), offering (2), relief (2), ridiculous (2), results (2), pro (2), part (2), saw (2), equally (2), fair (2), ground (2), justin (2), system (2), course (2), 194 (2), advanced (2), wicked (2), night (2), build (2), championship (2), sharp (2), rank (2), missed (2), read (2), greatest (2), state (2), higher (2), ranked (2), beyond (2), media (2), under (2), according (2), reportedly (2), thread (2), away (2), spike (2), cito (2), gaston (2), plans (2), spot (2), improvement (2), defender (2), question (2), faithful (2), why (2), giving (2), such (2), plays (2), lefties (2), limit (2), 353 (2), 357 (2), unlucky (2), terms (2), brings (2), standard (2), how (2), compared (2), veteran (2), chase (2), utley (2), joba (2), sky (2), gone (2), brought (2), mention (2), none (2), handed (2), jason (2), bay (2), defensively (2), sits (2), try (2), convert (2), basemen (2), arm (2), whether (2), expectations (2), credit (2), caught (2), fire (2), 337 (2), marc (2), namely (2), place (2), 262 (2), rise (2), ranks (2), class (2), school (2), point (2), normally (2), led (2), pick (2), hyped (2), came (2), decent (2), david (2), reflection (2), option (2), suddenly (2), tulowitzki (2), decided (2), couple (2), righty (2), found (2), upon (2), john (2), pay (2), seems (2), roster (2), give (2), 320 (2), probably (2), easily (2), shows (2), prowess (2), previous (2), getting (2), helped (2), 354 (2), replacement (2), glove (2), qualified (2), available (2), chance (2), day (2), burnett (2), cost (2), marlins (2), eyes (2), strikeout (2), help (2), between (2), manager (2), overpaid (2), pat (2), gillick (2), riding (2), ryan (2), strength (2), schedule (2), toughest (2), almost (2), pythag (2), against (2), another (2), pythagorean (2), won (2), takes (2), gets (2), 3rd (2), 8th (2), 2003 (2), exciting (2), helm (2), undervalued (2), bang (2), shields (2), crawford (2), upton (2), supposed (2), stars (2), american (2), bonus (2), evan (2), longoria (2), voluntarily (2), phrase (2), brewers (2), turned (2), terrible (2), penny (2), godfrey (2), competing (2), choice (2), depodesta (2), budget (2), alex (2), anthopoulos (2), leadoff (2), switch (2), preferably (2), 1998 (2), design, website, email, write, comment, loading, collapse, bar, subscriptions, view, reader, report, privacy, yahoo, star, hardball, tao, stieb, keith, law, ghostrunner, drunk, bluebird, banter, hunter, factory, prospectus, links, entries, leading, wfur, umpiring, ratio, runaway, leaders, creative, gig, hey, muster, solely, because, enthusiasm, job, authentic, uniforms, brimmed, hats, official, shirts, stitched, sleeves, gray, slacks, clickers, track, count, brushes, pictured, dirt, saddled, hips, dig, follow, suit, appeal, undeniable, tent, beer, garden, across, street, ballpark, beers, pictures, explains, juiced, june, washington, stan, kasten, approaches, shake, compliment, scores, rush, inning, picture, faux, others, delight, cheering, heckling, calls, natives, joe, ferrell, bronx, bombers, unique, sometime, fiddle, easy, guilty, pleasure, screen, entertaining, section, break, boot, fiance, she, motions, versus, ace, mound, appreciate, story, desperate, need, positive, hang, hat, anointing, enjoy, ride, speaking, blair, wrote, flag, hugely, unsustainable, typo, monster, twice, moment, sink, frankly, 269, 363, 513, 375, weight, nowhere, draw, strong, conclusions, lucky, improvements, loves, fish, propped, gaudy, throughout, anomaly, 181, 3652, excluded, torrid, pace, aged, leaguer, authority, reluctance, levels, willing, handful, freakishly, kind, lousy, pre, cursor, glance, lead, hot, eight, suggested, deserved, courtesy, appearance, 355, 517, ripe, 1999, cincinnati, reds, 351, 440, 544, attention, toiled, 2001, those, compiled, 286, 368, 488, 400, then, 411, putting, 318, 591, suspended, violating, drug, prevention, program, contributor, kissed, goodbye, talented, rental, deserving, statue, untouchable, minors, stretch, breaker, depth, replace, richmond, tallet, fulltime, flame, role, alone, reported, shifted, durable, cleveland, indians, run, uniform, 112, induce, start, widely, crown, jewel, farm, hander, immediate, besides, written, lights, pawtucket, baa, starts, scout, wet, dream, velocity, array, secondary, offerings, change, adage, goes, fibre, memo, running, charity, catering, crush, borders, obsession, honestly, correct, stating, afford, botch, involving, arguably, storied, situated, mean, bob, elliot, writers, tell, absolute, passion, officials, fabrication, borderline, hate, fest, bus, sources, reading, grain, salt, surprising, shouldn, landslide, notice, flaws, notably, use, typically, held, thriving, marked, tor, bal, nyy, bos, categories, final, ranking, posed, advantage, answer, employ, exaggerated, shift, robbing, rangy, important, strikeouts, lacks, skills, 174, 327, 207, 369, 152, 359, 197, 367, overly, own, skill, set, 285, 322, 160, 288, 294, 175, 297, 164, 319, 324, 185, employed, exception, diamond, bahston, orioles, ben, zobrist, historically, tend, enjoyed, double, doubt, continue, output, fly, normalize, fine, struggles, lustre, mystical, fantasy, known, provide, regardless, iron, kinks, loved, minute, comparisons, pouring, bud, walks, absurd, clip, became, rejoice, similarities, assuming, increase, reed, johnson, hidden, jury, lunch, bucket, nickname, smoothly, heads, struggling, miserably, sent, down, lost, sulk, whine, las, vegas, dominated, 431, 663, awareness, aided, 395, nitpicking, mid, august, abs, staggering, yikes, hulet, points, ascending, fashion, warts, brief, totally, 345, zero, 344, 386, 516, 399, 461, 366, 279, 557, 403, meteoric, 118, lansing, continued, flash, 313, 377, 525, 457, 393, flags, raised, optimal, ish, argue, 200, professional, directly, premier, arms, san, fran, compensatory, stages, rarity, conscientious, wasted, justifying, destroyed, 325, 412, 567, chamberlain, lincecum, captures, imagination, hopefully, intoxicating, allure, fresh, faced, youngster, proverbial, juices, flowing, firmly, synonymous, word, lacking, america, named, labelled, miss, invested, emotionally, disappointed, becomes, stache, worry, proposed, offers, talks, refined, develop, pack, debuted, rzepczynski, purcey, 256, 323, harder, mph, generates, misses, gives, rotation, club, april, vigour, honour, belonged, southpaw, always, forever, linked, colorado, rockies, tulo, passed, selection, accounts, board, gms, surprise, choose, cal, fullerton, standout, phenomenal, inconsistency, bounced, light, seemed, turn, faith, warranted, troy, attempt, insiders, favourites, names, insisted, reports, integral, piece, potential, myself, asking, surface, shiny, further, review, sans, kyle, drabek, philadelphia, jersey, mvp, johnny, mac, closing, clone, intangibles, spread, wow, type, ballplayer, caution, decision, bucks, direction, books, appear, house, replacements, horizon, apologies, supporters, playable, standards, regresses, ways, 265, 384, investment, needed, secure, services, buyer, beware, wise, minded, shortstop, hopes, jack, wilson, dollars, premium, pays, receive, continues, offensively, maintain, happy, issue, fluke, turns, 308, marks, groundballs, winning, recipe, publicized, braves, information, legendary, albeit, tony, fernandez, yunel, escobar, bartlett, means, rating, 143, markedly, heady, fielder, tendency, errors, barely, giles, deadly, combination, thrust, national, spotlight, crucial, eclipsing, appearances, 592, 680, 282, 379, 409, combining, hurts, poll, payroll, legit, backup, ala, pressure, heart, perceived, shed, entering, lucrative, sensitive, strictly, hearsay, stud, phone, florida, sticks, sore, thumb, listed, entirely, slider, split, finger, thrown, struck, batters, dominant, quick, demotion, 284, opening, strangest, highest, discrepancies, useless, fielding, independent, difference, miserable, wish, thinking, attempting, stupid, case, felt, plain, insanity, maybe, rough, whose, peripheral, majors, tough, decisions, upcoming, deciding, doing, series, weeks, months, looming, realistically, sorry, pujols, acquire, stinks, fired, returns, disciple, blame, factors, building, sighted, judgemental, problems, issues, handicaps, magically, contender, seriously, misplaced, irresponsible, cole, hamels, howard, jimmy, rollins, 130, spend, annually, berth, isn, richest, celebrated, praised, perennial, contenders, consistently, suppress, thing, address, bad, formula, invented, bill, estimate, number, scored, allowed, meaning, tops, testament, plan, expectation, incredible, 28th, 4th, 6th, 25th, become, focus, sabermetrics, metrics, measuring, dewan, revamping, mistake, astutely, recognized, bigger, buck, spent, until, stamp, staff, replacing, expensive, mostly, core, weakness, super, athletic, specimens, cupboard, bare, pushing, shoulders, eyed, straight, trying, spots, aren, millions, guaranteed, load, bargain, example, tampa, carl, niemann, developed, drafts, showcased, rising, talents, argument, stable, knocking, doors, ready, cheaply, various, positions, push, incumbents, stay, tip, useable, bait, competitive, braun, unreal, 106, rbis, sbs, 500k, eligible, arbitration, raise, buying, certainty, agreement, max, raked, coals, celebrating, streets, franchise, upped, commitment, salaries, climbing, sour, bobby, abreu, wolf, crystal, foreseen, economic, opinion, circumstance, competitors, destination, excuses, handicap, overcome, buzz, excitement, championships, destitute, really, caused, problem, spending, forced, open, cheque, book, entice, cubs, kansas, royals, officially, atlanta, thrashers, detroit, lions, portland, trailblazers, destinations, passing, judgement, wants, tomo, ohka, gil, meche, ted, lilly, sold, notion, comes, roped, erik, hinske, hooked, trust, anybody, otherwise, flat, lying, slick, tawking, bostonite, chose, author, exactly, gord, ash, specifically, hand, leave, situation, aka, traditional, logical, compete, nose, respected, oakland, lewis, ricciard, signings, nice, pendency, exemplified, internal, candidates, cards, model, resigning, pickups, bring, scooter, beside, plethora, starters, abysmal, loss, rolen, obvious, improve, refocused, foreseeable, stellar, ask, counting, continuing, offensive, strategy, outstanding, unreasonable, assume, similar, later, switches, recapture, exploits, astute, diamondbacks, 310, 427, 356, drove, breaks, 360, accounting, commodity, along, reasonable, possibly, thrive, fast, eleven, sometimes, successful, occasionally, accomplish, third, remember, middle, prospects, amateur, skip,

Text of the page (random words):
nts to stay in tip top shape or be useable trade bait to round out a competitive roster did i mention they come cheap ryan braun was one of the top hitters and best overall players in the game last year giving the brewers unreal production 37 hrs 106 rbis and 14 sbs and had a salary of 500k teams control the players they draft for many years before they are eligible for arbitration and a raise and most teams are buying out these years for even more cost certainty think evan longoria 9 year total agreement at a max of 44 million american born players might not want to sign with the blue jays but they certainly aren t above getting drafted by them and taking the millions in guaranteed signing bonus so this is the ideal time to strike and load up on young talent and control it for 7 8 years at a bargain price the best example of this is the tampa bay rays carl crawford bj upton james shields evan longoria david price jeff niemann to name just a few stars all drafted signed and developed by the team ricciardi s drafts have shown a bit more promise lately as the team has showcased a few rising talents this season the jays core looks better adam lind aaron hill travis snider ricky romero and brett cecil is decent but nothing compared to the rays list and obviously the biggest weakness ricciardi has shown over his 7 years at the helm of the jays where is the james shields taken in the 16 th round where are the super athletic specimens in crawford and upton in short the cupboard is a bit bare and it has been for quite a few years there is nobody pushing our supposed stars nobody has to look over their shoulders and see a bright eyed kid coming straight at them trying to take their spots defense has become a new focus in the world of sabermetrics with many new exciting metrics measuring a players worth in the field dewan s uzr and i think the blue jays front office was right at the top of the list in terms of teams that were revamping the way teams looked at defense the jays were one of the top defensive teams in the game nearly every season jp ricciardi was at the helm and i don t think it was by mistake ricciardi and company astutely recognized that defense was being undervalued and he could get a bigger bang for his buck if he spent more money improving team defense until this year when the team clearly gave up and in 2003 before jp put his stamp on the team with this he would also be improving his pitching staff without actually replacing any of his pitchers with expensive and mostly overpaid free agents year after year year 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 uzr 34 20 1 30 8 37 3 46 9 37 9 60 rank 25th 8th 6th 4th 3rd 3rd 28th another thing i wanted to address was the blue jays incredible bad luck on the field over the past few years especially when you factor their pythagorean record pythagorean expectation is a formula invented by bill james to estimate how many games a baseball team should have won based on the number of runs they scored and allowed this takes out luck meaning the jays might have had an even better 2008 if they had a bit of luck go their way they gave up 3 7 runs per game easily tops in the game which was a true testament to their pitching and defense game plan something that never gets much credit year 2008 2007 2006 actual record 86 76 83 79 87 75 pythag record 92 70 86 76 86 76 fact is the blue jays were a top 5 team in 2008 based on pythag record runs for and against ability to suppress runs team defense lack of overall luck strength of schedule and the toughest division in sports i didn t include 2009 but for reference sake the jays should have 8 more wins than they actually do even this season with any luck the jays should have earned a playoff berth over one of the past 3 4 seasons this isn t even taking into account the strength of schedule and playing in the toughest richest and best division in all of sports i can t help but think if the jays were in the al central jays 23 15 vs the central this year jp ricciardi might have been celebrated or praised as i am almost certain the jays would be perennial playoff contenders in almost any other division especially the al central a division no team seems to want to win consistently jp ricciardi was not a perfect gm far from it but i think to place all the blame on one man and not take into account the many factors that go into building a championship baseball team is extremely short sighted and judgemental the next gm will have the same problems issues and handicaps that the former gm had and for all the talk of pat gillick riding into toronto and magically turning the team into a contender are seriously misplaced and even irresponsible unless he is riding in with cole hamels chase utley ryan howard jimmy rollins and the 130 million they spend annually 4 comments tagged billy beane disciple defense jp and billy jp ricciardi moneyball pat gillick returns to jays ricciardi finally let go ricciardi fired uzr vernon wells stinks wells overpaid blue jays off season target ricky nolasco posted on october 2 2009 9 comments ricky nolasco the blue jays have a lot of decisions to make in the upcoming off season from a new team president to a likely new general manager and even deciding whether or not to keep the team s greatest player of all time in roy halladay i am going to be doing a series of posts in the new few weeks and months as the looming off season is nearly upon us with players realistically sorry pujols is just not an option i feel the blue jays would be smart to acquire the first player on my off season wish list is sp ricky nolasco i know what you are thinking the first player the blue jays should be attempting to land is a pitcher coming off a 13 9 5 06 era season i must be crazy or stupid well you just helped my case if you felt it would be just plain insanity to even consider a guy like nolasco maybe this is the perfect time to strike for a guy who appears to have had a rough year but whose peripheral stats were nearly as good as any pitcher in the majors and a man who suffered from some extremely tough luck in 2009 ricky nolasco who will be 27 years old on opening day in 2010 just had one of the strangest seasons a pitcher has had in a long time nolasco had the highest era 5 06 for any pitcher in history with a 1 25 whip and one of the biggest discrepancies between his era a relatively useless stat and his fip fielding independent pitching nolasco led all qualified starting pitchers in the major leagues with a 1 71 difference between his era 5 06 and his fip 3 35 as he suffered from absolutely miserable luck this season namely a 336 babip and very low 61 lob nolasco fip era k 9 k bb hr 9 gb babip lob 2009 3 35 5 06 9 5 4 4 1 12 38 336 61 2008 3 77 3 52 7 9 4 4 1 19 38 284 76 as you can see that 5 06 era sticks out like a sore thumb when you look at all of the other stats listed on the above table as does the 336 babip and 61 lob rate all things considered nolasco was actually a better pitcher in 2009 as he took his strikeout game to an entirely new level with a 9 5 k 9 with the help of his wicked slider which was worth 12 2 runs per 100 pitches and an improved split finger offering worth 5 6 runs per 100 pitches thrown nolasco recently struck out 9 batters in a row one strikeout away from the record and has been fairly dominant since his return to the major leagues after a quick demotion the florida marlins are reportedly already looking to shed salary and nolasco will be entering his lucrative contract years in the near future and the blue jays have what any cost sensitive teams want cheap young talent i am not sure what it would take to get the deal done but if the jays offered brett cecil and a young bat it might be enough but that is strictly hearsay likely the marlins know what they have in nolasco and the young stud righty is anything but available in their eyes but it has to be worth a phone call or two if the blue jays are serious about adding payroll in 2010 and want to keep roy halladay adding a legit 2 starter to backup roy halladay ala the much missed a j burnett would be the first move i would make before looking at adding a veteran bat to take pressure off aaron hill and adam lind in the heart of the toronto order if the perceived value of ricky nolasco is low this would seem like the ideal time to try and pull off a steal take our poll 9 comments tagged 9 strike outs in a row aj burnett blue jays nolasco strike outs nolasco strikes out 9 in a row nolasco unlucky in 2009 ricky nolasco roy halladay strike outs scutaro worth the risk for the jays posted on september 28 2009 7 comments marco scutaro marco scutaro has been the most valuable blue jays position players this season combining a solid glove at ss with his improved bat to post a 4 3 war aaron hill is a close second with a 3 9 war and while adam lind has been the best overall hitter his relatively poor defence and work as a dh lf hurts his overall war value 3 1 scutaro has a career high in nearly every major category as well as a 354 woba impressive for a ss as he has been given a chance to play every day for the blue jays this season eclipsing his former high in plate appearances of 592 in 2008 with 680 this season the biggest reason for scutaro s improved slash line 282 379 409 is his increased patience at the plate posting a career best 13 6 bb and career low o swing of 12 4 career mark of 14 5 in fact scutaro is barely swinging at anything this season showing a brian giles like approach to batting with an overall swing of just 34 7 career 40 3 mark while making contact with over 93 of pitches he swings at a deadly combination that has thrust marco scutaro into the national spotlight for the first time in his career and just in time for a crucial contract year for marco sample size means everything scutaro last season had an impressive 7 6 uzr rating in 56 games at ss but it appears this year the extra games and innings have given a more true reflection of scutaro s defensive prowess as his uzr sits at 0 5 for 2009 in 143 games career uzr at ss is 8 8 that is still a very solid defensive season but also shows he is not quite as valuable as he looked after about 80 games this season when his uzr was markedly higher i think it s fair to say scutaro is a solid defender at ss with less range than average but a very heady fielder who makes up for any lack of range with the tendency to make very few errors scutaro has been worth 4 3 wins above replacement war and has been worth nearly 20 million in value to the blue jays this season with his great work with the bat and solid work with the glove for the season he currently ranks 5 among all qualified ss in war just behind rays ss jason bartlett 4 8 and just above the much publicized braves ss yunel escobar 3 8 although war information was not available when this former jays legendary ss played i would think scutaro s season is right in line with any of tony fernandez s best seasons albeit only for one year which brings us to the real issue is this season a fluke scutaro who turns 34 in october has never shown this ability to get on base before previous high in obp was 350 but has not been getting helped by the luck department babip 308 hr fb 5 5 both right around career marks although he has hit a lot less groundballs than in years past his 354 woba is well above his career mark of 320 but has scutaro found a winning recipe with his new more patient approach and what can we expect from him going forward scutaro was worth 20 million dollars to the jays in 2009 when we consider his war at a premium ss position and what the average teams pays for each win of war on the fa market of course scutaro will never in a million years receive a contract for 20 million i think he can easily expect a contract offer of 3 years and around 24 million 8 million year if he continues to play at his current rate offensively and shows he can at the very least maintain his defensive prowess at ss he would probably make a team very happy at that price but if he regresses back to his old ways with the bat career 320 woba 265 337 384 he might not be worth the 3 year investment likely over 20 million that will probably be needed to secure his services scutaro has earned a total of 40 9 million in value again based on war for his career and 20 million of that was earned in 2009 so buyer beware a team could be wise to sign a more defensively minded shortstop in hopes the market will be less for a defence first guy like jack wilson than a guy coming off a career year like marco scutaro if the jays can get him on the books for 5 6 million per year i think they would have to make that move as there doesn t appear to be any in house replacements on the horizon who would give you what even a less than 2009 version of marco scutaro could with apologies to all of the john mcdonald supporters but his career 262 woba is just not playable by any standards or salary in closing i love watching marco scutaro play and if there was a way to clone his intangibles and spread them to the other blue jays i d pay for it he seems to make one play every game that makes you say wow and he is certainly the type of ballplayer the blue jays should be adding to their roster year in and year out but at 34 i think a little caution must be in order before the blue jays or any other team make a decision to offer big bucks in his direction 7 comments tagged aaron hill adam lind big year john mcdonald johnny mac marco scutaro scutaro free agent scutaro mvp scutaro vs mcdonald scutaro with big 2009 jays happ y with romero posted on september 25 2009 5 comments ricky romero in the sharp red jersey in the blue jays attempt to trade roy halladay the philadelphia phillies were the team considered by most insiders to be the favourites to land the big righty and among the names the blue jays insisted be included was 27 year old lefty j a happ according to some reports the phillies would only include happ or kyle drabek but not both he was even considered by some the integral piece in any potential trade and i found myself asking the same question over and over why on the surface it appears happ is having a pretty solid season with a 10 4 record a shiny 2 77 era and a tidy 1 19 whip but upon further review happ wouldn t even be the best blue jays pitcher this year sans halladay that honour would have belonged to 25 year old rookie southpaw ricky romero romero will always be forever linked to colorado rockies ss troy tulowitzki as tulo was the man the jays apparently passed on in order to take romero the selection of romero by most accounts was a relatively off the board pick that took most gms by surprise when the jays decided to choose the cal state fullerton standout romero looked phenomenal in his first pro season posting a tidy 2 99 fip and a solid 9 4 k 9 in 58 1 ips in class a ball he showed some inconsistency over the next couple of years but he bounced back in 2008 after he was ...