2013-02-24

Blue Jays Swap Prospect For Phils' Expendable Hurler

Art Charles- photo by Joe Wombough
With a surplus of righty relievers and one in particular that has been on the outs in recent months, the Phillies made a trade on Saturday, to acquire a power hitting minor league first baseman Art Charles from the Toronto Blue Jays.

In the deal, the Phils sent 27-year-old pitcher Michael Schwimer to Toronto.  Schwimer, a 14th round draft choice by the Phillies in 2008 out of the University of Virginia, has a 3-2 record with a 4.62 ERA in 47 big league contests while striking out 52 and walking 23 in 48 2/3 innings pitched.

Charles, a 6-foot-6 225-pounder, was a 20th round draft choice by Toronto out of Bakersfield College in 2010.  Last season, splitting time between the Class A Vancouver Canadians of the Northwest League and the Rookie level Bluefield Blue Jays of the Appalachian League, the California native batted .236 with 11 home runs and 34 RBI in 64 games.

The 22-year-old is likely to begin the 2013 season with Class A Lakewood and could be a serious offensive threat there, in the South Atlantic League. 

Schwimer has had a rocky relationship with the Phillies, dating back to last August, when the team demoted him to the minors, while Schwimer insisted he was injured and should have been placed on the disabled list at that time.  The variance in pay, which totals tens of thousands of dollars, which Schwimer missed out during that time, is likely something that the Phillies have not heard the last of even after sending the 6-foot-8 240-pounder away to nearby Dunedin, where the Blue Jays hold their spring training.

With a large collection of young right-handed relievers such as Phillippe Aumont, Justin De Fratus, Mike Stutes, B.J. Rosenberg, Tyler Cloyd, Jonathan Pettibone and Ethan Martin in camp, Schwimer became expendable for the Phillies.

The Blue Jays and Phils are scheduled to face off six times over the next five weeks, or so, in spring exhibition contests.

__________

Click here to check out an interview I did with Schwimer during his time with Triple-A Lehigh Valley a couple years back, prior to making his big league debut.

And click here to read last year's prospect review on Schwimer, which had him ranked as the Phils' 13th best prospect at the time.

2013-02-13

And We're Off!


This year the field is jam packed with VIP's including a MLB Fan Cave top 30 finalist, blogger extraordinaire and all around solid guy The Blue Jay Hunter, our defending champion - known in these parts as Mr. Defending Champion Sir - Jason Martinez and the man with his finger directly on the pulse of your Toronto Blue Jays Gregor Chisholm.

A little over a month ago we asked the world one simple question, who will make the opening day roster April 2nd against the Cleveland Indians? In the case of a tie we also asked, what will the Blue Jays spring training record in 2013 be?

As always there is one single ballot that gets chosen more than any other.

The Favorite:

Jose Reyes
Melky Cabrera
Jose Bautista
Edwin Encarnacion
Brett Lawrie
Adam Lind
J.P. Arencibia
Colby Rasmus
Maicer Izturis
Emilio Bonifacio
Rajai Davis
Mark DeRosa
Henry Blanco
R.A. Dickey
Brandon Morrow
Mark Buehrle
Josh Johnson
Ricky Romero
Casey Janssen
Sergio Santos
Darren Oliver
Steve Delabar
Esmil Rogers
Brett Cecil
Jeremy Jeffress

Of the twenty-three ballots submitted nine looked like this. So if this is your Toronto Blue Jays opening day roster and based on almost half of the worthy competitors saying it will be so it seems likely, then whoever is destined to be crowned champion will have to rely on the tiebreaker for their chance at glory. Interestingly (thank God) nobody picked the exact same spring training record which means - cross your fingers - there should be a sole winner. We will list them from most optimistic to not so most optimistic in terms of their tiebreakers.

Action Jackson
22-10

@gregorMLB 
18-14

@gideonturk
17-15

@AndyMc9293
16-16

@swannsky
15-17

Team Fightin' Clints
14-16

Mr. Defending Champion Sir
14-18

@trodge
12-18

@AHume92 
12-20

The one and only Jimmy Triggs has the same ballot as The Favorite with one little wrinkle in the bullpen which is a great place to be in the 25 Man Roster Challenge.

Team Jimmy Triggs
17-16
Out: Jeremy Jeffress
In: Brad Lincoln

The next most popular ballot to be submitted with five contestants selecting it only has one difference than The Favorite. That player is back up catcher Henry Blanco and his 41 year old knees/no bat/non guaranteed contract. These gritty competitors don't think that he will be coming north with the club in April. Let's take a look at Josh Thole's newest biggest supporters or as we will call it from now until the end of time:

The Josh Thole Camp

Jose Reyes
Melky Cabrera
Jose Bautista
Edwin Encarnacion
Brett Lawrie
Adam Lind
J.P. Arencibia
Colby Rasmus
Maicer Izturis
Emilio Bonifacio
Rajai Davis
Mark DeRosa
Josh Thole
R.A. Dickey
Brandon Morrow
Mark Buehrle
Josh Johnson
Ricky Romero
Casey Janssen
Sergio Santos
Darren Oliver
Steve Delabar
Esmil Rogers
Brett Cecil
Jeremy Jeffress 

The Human Rain Delay
20-10

#AprilMeansBaseball 
18-14

Jays Are My 2nd Favorite Team AKA my idiot Reds fan friend
18-13

@1BJW
16-16

Team Last Row 500's
12-20

The three next ballots are firmly in The Josh Thole Camp with only one difference in the bullpen.

Team Sweaty Bobandy
20-13
Out: Brett Cecil
In: Brad Lincoln

That would leave only Darren Oliver from the left side coming out of the pen.

@pumpedupjays
13-19
Out: Jeremy Jeffress
In: Brad Lincoln

A straight one for one swap of righthanders.

Fightin' BJ Hunters
18-14
Out: Jeremy Jeffress
In: Aaron Loup

Ian says the Blue Jays decide to go with three lefties out of the pen to start the year. Not a bad idea considering they play a not as lefty heavy hitting lineup as last year yet a still somewhat lefty heavy hitting lineup in the Tribe to open the season.

The next ballot is also in The Josh Thole Camp while having a two player difference, both in the bullpen.

Sudbury Blue Jays
20-12
Out: Jeremy Jeffress
Out: Esmil Rogers
In: Brad Lincoln
In: J.A. Happ

The remaining four ballots are one offs which truly bodes well for the people that selected them if something crazy happens at spring training this year. If a player that everyone picked - think Casey Janssen or Sergio Santos - can't answer the bell,then all bets are off who the favorite really is.

Because a few of them are so ridiculously outrageous they will be listed in their entirety, purely for your enjoyment. We will attempt to highlight the differences.

Ferocious Swans
14-18

Jose Reyes
Melky Cabrera
Jose Bautista
Edwin Encarnacion
Brett Lawrie
Adam Lind
J.P. Arencibia
Colby Rasmus
Maicer Izturis
Emilio Bonifacio
Rajai Davis
Mark DeRosa
Henry Blanco
R.A. Dickey
Brandon Morrow
Mark Buehrle
Ricky Romero
Casey Janssen
Sergio Santos
Darren Oliver
Steve Delabar
Esmil Rogers
Brett Cecil
Jeremy Jeffress
Brad Lincoln

This was the only ballot not to contain the name Josh Johnson. This was also the only ballot to include a brief explanation behind the rational of their thinking. Here is how that conversation went down.

Ferocious Swans: The Johnson omission is an injury, hate to see it but I want the picks to be different.

@1BJW: Love it! Very ballsy. I actually considered the same tactic except with Morrow and his "slow build up" issues he's had in previous camps.

Ferocious Swans: I couldn't decide between Johnson & Morrow actually! I hope we're wrong and they make 33 starts each.

Insightful stuff right there ladies and gentlemen. What we forgot to do was ask if that means Lincoln slides into the rotation or if that means the Blue Jays go with an 8 man pen to start the year. Hard to imagine they'd only break camp with 4 starters and also equally hard to imagine that Lincoln would get the gig before Happ. But hey, you have to take a chance to win at life sometimes.

Team Hotbox
15-15

Jose Reyes
Melky Cabrera
Jose Bautista
Edwin Encarnacion
Brett Lawrie
Adam Lind
J.P. Arencibia
Colby Rasmus
Maicer Izturis
Emilio Bonifacio
Rajai Davis
Josh Thole
Henry Blanco
R.A. Dickey
Brandon Morrow
Mark Buehrle
Josh Johnson
Ricky Romero
Casey Janssen
Sergio Santos
Brad Lincoln
Steve Delabar
Esmil Rogers
Brett Cecil
J.A. Happ

This ballot obviously couldn't decide between Blanco or Thole so.....they just picked them both to make the team. Unconventional for sure but not completely out of the realm of possibility.

ALL IN 2013
23-7

Jose Reyes
Melky Cabrera
Jose Bautista
Edwin Encarnacion
Brett Lawrie
Adam Lind
J.P. Arencibia
Colby Rasmus
Maicer Izturis
Emilio Bonifacio
Henry Blanco
R.A. Dickey
Brandon Morrow
Mark Buehrle
Josh Johnson
Ricky Romero
Casey Janssen
Sergio Santos
Darren Oliver
Steve Delabar
Esmil Rogers
Brett Cecil
J.A. Happ
Aaron Loup
Brad Lincoln
Dustin McGowan
Luis Perez

Speaking of unconventional, how about a two man bench and an eleven man bullpen? Maybe the thinking was the Blue Jays will go with a 6 man rotation with Happ sliding in there and a ten man pen. Maybe there was no thinking at all.

Blue Jay Way a la Carolinas
20-12

Jose Reyes
Melky Cabrera
Jose Bautista
Edwin Encarnacion
Colby Rasmus
Brett Lawrie
Adam Lind
J.P. Arencibia
Emilio Bonifacio
Josh Thole
Maicer Izturis
Moises Sierra
Alex Gonzalez
R.A. Dickey
Josh Johnson
Mark Buehrle
Brandon Morrow
Ricky Romero
Casey Janssen
Steve Delabar
Justin Germano
Jeremy Jeffress
Jair Jurrjens
Esmil Rogers
J.A. Happ

This ballot takes the cake - by a mile - for most creative. No chance it's the winner whatsoever but thanks so much for playing nonetheless.

In Summary:

And with that the 4th Annual 25 Man Roster Challenge is a go for launch. Good luck to all that joined in on the fun this go around, may the best team win!

2013-02-05

Less Than One Week To Go.....




Not quite sure what hot women in bikinis racing on a horse track has to do with this post at all but someone really smart once told us to know your audience.

Please consider this your first and only friendly reminder that the deadline to get your ballot in for the 4th annual 25 Man Roster Challenge is rapidly approaching.

The rules are ridiculously simple. You must:

1) Submit a team name.

2) Submit a list of 25 players that you think will be on the Opening Day roster.

3) Do this before the deadline which is February 12th at the stroke of midnight.

That is all that stands between you and glory.

Once again the tiebreaker will be your Toronto Blue Jays spring training record. With the WBC going on this year, it adds a certain wrinkle to the thought process on that. All teams will be missing some of their key impact players for a few weeks of games and the Jays are not immune to this. We are thinking that the teams with the best minor league depth at the upper levels will fair best this spring training. Perhaps that should be taken into consideration. Or not.

Rest assured the tiebreaker will come into play again this year so please include it with your ballot. It is not a requirement and your ballot is valid without a tiebreaker but it really is in your best interest to provide one.

For a break down on all the prizes, a bit of strategy that we really don't feel the need to go over again and many more details click here.

If you wish to submit a ballot feel free to provide as much or as little explanation for your selections as you see fit. Please use the comments section on this post or you can send an email to 1bluejaysway(at)gmail.com if you want to keep your ballot private. If you have a blog and want to do up a post about this topic, just fire over the link and we will be sure to include it with your ballot.

Hope you join us and play!