The Blue Jays have signed journeyman outfielder Chris Dickerson to a minor league contract, reports Sportsnet's Shi Davidi. The deal includes an invitation to major league spring training. The 32-year-old Dickerson played in 41 games for the Cleveland Indians last season posting a .224/.309/.327 batting line. He also played 65 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates triple-A affiliate.

Dickerson is a high-strikeout high-walk type of player with a career 10.1 BB% and 28.2 K%. He is a left-handed hitter who has a 101 wRC+ against right-handed pitching for his career, putting him right around the league average. Defensively, Dickerson has graded out well in the outfield with a career 15 UZR/150 and 16 DRS over 1552 innings. Though he has graded out well in centre field, he has primarily played the corner outfield spots.

The California-born Dickerson is a big guy, listed at 6'4/230 by FanGraphs. With Andy Dirks' health in question to start camp (Dirks is set to continue his injury rehab down at minor league camp this spring), Dickerson should provide outfield depth along with Ezequiel Carrera. If a starting outfielder is injured, I would expect that one of Dickerson or Carrera could form a platoon with Kevin Pillar.

This is a nice minor league pickup for the Blue Jays. The Jays continue to acquire strong defenders with an ability to take a walk. Outfield depth has been a bit of a concern for me, so adding another quality player to the mix certainly does not hurt. Dickerson could also strengthen the roster of the Buffalo Bisons if he does not make the major league team. An ability to play centre field always seems to be a good quality for a potential forth outfielder.

She plays soccer on a pitch, he pitches baseballs: Kara Lang and Ricky Romero are now engaged.

Congratulations, Ricky!

We haven't been able to say that much around these parts recently, but there is truly good news for Blue Jays left hander Ricky Romero. Tonight he got down on one knee and asked Canadian soccer player Kara Lang to marry him, and she agreed to his proposal, according to her post on Instagram.

I said yes!!! My heart is bursting!! I couldn't possibly love this man any more and now I get to marry him!

A photo posted by Kara Lang (@karaelise) on Feb 21, 2015 at 7:16pm PST

Lang, as a 15-year-old, was the star of Team Canada in the 2002 FIFA U-19 World Championships as well as a beautiful goal in the semi-final game of the 2003 Women's World Cup. I, as a 15-year-old, had a pretty big crush on her in high school. Lang would go on to play in various other international tournament for Canada, including the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Romero, as a 26-year-old, had a stellar year for the Blue Jays and was named to the American League All-Star team in 2011. He began to date Lang about a year after that All-Star appearance.

Both Romero and Lang have battled knee injuries that have affected their careers. Both of them working to come back to form, with Romero aiming for a return to the major leagues and Lang aiming to play in front of her home crowd in the 2015 World Cup.

I'd like to wish both of them all the best on, and off, the field.

Hat tip to Josh Gold-Smith for alerting me to the story.

Since the end of January, there have been a few changes to the Blue Jays' player numbers assignment, according to a very low-resolution photo posted by BlueJays.com's Gregor Chisholm. Since the Jays don't place players' surnames on the spring training jersey, study this chart well if you plan to catch some spring games this year.

Notes

• What numbers will Danny Valencia and Chris Colabello be truly wearing? We won't know for sure until they report. The Blue Jays' website back at the end of January listed them both as wearing #15. Then I got an email from the Jays' PR department saying that the website was in error and that Valencia is going to wear #15 with Colabello wearing #23. Right now, on BlueJays.com's roster page (as of the time of publishing at least), Valencia is listed as #15 and Colabello isn't even listed as an non-roster invitee (NRI). However, Chisholm's tweet shows that Colabello is indeed invited to spring training, but he is shown wearing #15 while Valencia is listed as #23! Madness!
• Ricky Romero's old #24 is now unassigned again. NRI Jake Fox was assigned that number and has since been shifted to Dustin McGowan's old #29 (update: it looks like McGowan will be signing with the Dodgers). Romero is still rehabbing his knee, so he will be reporting to minor league camp (his knee worked pretty well last night).
• The newly acquired Chris Dickerson takes over #33 from Andy Dirks, who will also be rehabbing in minor league camp.
• Devon Travis cedes his #9 to Ramon Santiago (veteran's privilege) in favour of #77.
• Jayson Aquino, who was acquired in a trade for Tyler Ybarra (update: his daughter is doing well), slots in at #78. If he wears that number in the regular season, he would have the second-highest uniform number of any Blue Jays player. The highest was #88, worn by Rene Gonzales (Gonzales' favourite number was 8 but took #88 after joining the Orioles, probably because he didn't want to be beaten up by Cal Ripken).

Sortable Spring Training Uniform Numbers

Long-time, and oft-injured, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dustin McGowan is signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers, reports Dodgers.com's Ken Gurnick in a Sunday afternoon tweet.

Expect the Dodgers to sign free-agent reliever Dustin McGowan, who is at Camelback Ranch-Glendale. The club has not confirmed an agreement.

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) February 22, 2015

McGowan had spent 15 years in the Blue Jays organization, since being drafted in the supplementary round of the 2000 draft, four picks after Adam Wainwright. The Blue Jays go the supplementary pick as compensation for the loss of Graeme Lloyd, which connected McGowan all the way back to Rogers Clemens on the Blue Jays Roster Tree Route Map.

He has been in the Blue Jays organization for so long that five of the minor league clubs he's played on (Medicine Hat, Auburn, Charleston, New Haven, Syracuse) are no longer Blue Jays affiliates.

McGowan was a 23-year-old when he was called up from double-A to make his major league debut in a start against the Rangers. He allowed a run and three walks, but he struck out six and gave up just two hits.

His battle with various injuries have been well documented but I just want to put his career transactions here just to show just how many times he found himself on the disabled list (table from Pro Sports Transactions):

And despite it all he managed to make it all the way back to the major leagues twice, missing the entire 2009, 2010, and 2012 seasons. Before 2014 he told me in an interview that he has set a goal of playing all season, and hey, he achieved that goal. (One of my favourite parts of that interview was when he said that he never got depressed over all his injuries because he was awarded with the privilege of watching his daughter grow up.)

My best Dustin McGowan memory came in September 2011 when McGowan was making his first big league appearance since mid-2008. The Red Sox already laid a drubbing against the Blue Jays by the time he was called in from the bullpen but the remaining fans at the Rogers Centre gave him a huge standing ovation as he came in and when he was taken out of the game.

Best of luck in Los Angeles, Dustin, Toronto will miss you.

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Dodgers continue to stockpile pitchers with checkered injury histories, with the latest addition possibly Dustin McGowan, who is reportedly close to a deal with the team, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. McGowan was seen in the Dodgers' clubhouse on Sunday at Camelback Ranch.

McGowan, who turns 33 in March, was 5-3 with a 4.17 ERA in 53 games for the Blue Jays in 2014, including eight starts, with 61 strikeouts and 33 walks in 82 innings. He had better results in relief, with a 3.35 ERA and 20.5-percent strikeout rate, compared to 5.08 and 14.0 percent as a starter.

He also allowed 13 home runs in only 82 innings, one home run shy of his career, set in 2007 when as a starter he allowed 14 home runs in 169⅔ innings.

Last year was a healthy season for McGowan, which made it an outlier for the right-hander; 2014 marked the first year without a disabled list stint since 2007.

McGowan, who had Tommy John surgery as a minor leaguer in 2004, has dealt mostly with shoulder injuries in the majors. Surgeries to repair a frayed labrum and a torn rotator cuff, with right meniscus surgery and plantar fasciitis in his right foot mixed in, combined to wipe out nearly four years of his career. From 2009-2012, McGowan only pitched in 2011, and even then it was for a total of 56 innings in the majors and minors.

He then followed that up by missing 60 games on the DL with right shoulder soreness to start 2013, and later that season missed a month with a strained right oblique.

McGowan made $1.5 million last year the Toronto. The Blue Jays on Nov. 1 declined his $4 million club option for 2015, instead paying McGowan a $500,000 buyout. Should McGowan sign a major league deal with the Dodgers, the club can place new pitcher Brandon Beachy on the 60-day disabled list to make room on the 40-man roster, as Beachy isn't expected back until midseason at the earliest.

Missing from the Blue Jays' first official workout today was closer apparent Brett Cecil, who has been "throwing up all over the place", according to a rather graphic manager John Gibbons (via Barry Davis).

Cecil, who probably ate something bad and is experiencing food poisoning, has had more than a fair share of kitchen incidents that have caused him to miss baseball. In 2010 he cut his thumb while slicing chicken breasts and 2011 he got hurt his finger again as he was cleaning a blender.

Catching Situation

While Josh Thole was shown playing catch with R.A. Dickey yesterday and catching Dickey's bullpens today, Gibbons will be giving Russell Martin opportunities to receive the knuckleball this spring.

Gibbons says from here on out you'll see Martin catching Dickey's pens. They will give him every chance to learn to catch it. #BlueJays

— Barry Davis (@SNBarryDavis) February 23, 2015

Dioner Navarro is obviously still unhappy with his situation, and is looking for a new home where he can play everyday (although I don't know if he'll find somewhere in the majors other than perhaps with the Diamondbacks and Rangers). In fact, he asked the Blue Jays for a trade the day they signed Russell Martin. Navarro says he didn't know what went wrong in 2014 that caused Toronto to look at Martin, so Gideon Turk responded:

Dioner Navarro doesn’t understand what went wrong last season. Example A: http://t.co/AfjDjK7UHv Example B: http://t.co/WAywCFmcqX

— Gideon Turk (@gideonturk) February 23, 2015

In other news, John Gibbons told Shi Davidi that Edwin Encarnacion will be his first baseman this year, with the designated hitter role rotating between a combination of Justin Smoak, Dioner Navarro, Danny Valencia, as well as Encarnacion on occasion. Also, check back in mid-March to see if a decision has been made on Aaron Sanchez's role, as that's the time Gibbons has set for the club to decide on it.

In other other news, Munenori Kawasaki has arrived in camp and is wearing a Japanese-style headband that says "神風", or transliterated, "kamikaze".

Look who made it to Dunedin this morning. #bluejayspic.twitter.com/EOFjtdJMuL

— Barry Davis (@SNBarryDavis) February 23, 2015

Perhaps I am over-sensitive, but with so much bad historical baggage behind that word, I don't think it is the wisest thing to wear.

The people have spoken, and they want an excuse to watch videos of home runs.

Generally speaking, sequels tend to be worse than originals, but they do have one advantage: the ability to keep exposition to a minimum.

If you pick up a copy of Taken 2, you already know that someone is going to go missing and you have an idea of the very particular set of skills you can expect Liam Neeson to demonstrate. As a result, that film doesn't take very long to set up. For the record, Taken 2 did not leverage this advantage into an excellent final product and wound up with a score of 21% on Rotten Tomatoes, but that's neither here nor here.

If you read my piece last Friday on Edwin Encarnacion you have idea what's about to happen here. However, for those who missed it and can't take hyperlink hints, the idea is that one of the great joys of baseball is watching impressive home runs and I thought I would take a stab at quantifying which round trippers are most worthy of your attention.

The statistic I came up with, AAI, equally weights four factors: speed off the bat, distance, opposing pitcher quality, and the number of parks the home run would leave. A score of 100 in any of these categories indicates the home run was the best one a player hit, and any score below that is relative to the high-water mark. For now the metric is only designed to judge a player against himself in order to see which of his home runs are the most impressive.

Today's subject is Jose Bautista. The reasons for this are fairly obvious as he is a prolific provider of the long ball and he's not known for wall-scrapers. So, without further ado, here are Bautista's most astounding shots of 2014:

Bronze Medal

Date: July 2nd

Opposing Pitcher: Wily Peralta

Count: 3-1

Men on Base: None

Game Result: Blue Jays 7, Brewers 4

There are a couple of things about this particular home run that stand out. Firstly, the ESPN Home Run Tracker seems to believe there is one ballpark that it would not leave, which seems like it has to be an error with this shot measuring at 434 feet. If you feel like bumping up that AAI to 383 in your head I'm ok with it.

Also it's worth noting that this was hit off a 98 mph fastball. In a 3-1 count Bautista was likely sitting on a fastball and he clobbered one that had elite velocity. Peralta fastball gives him a larger margin for error than other pitchers, but you can't sneak one past Joey Bats.

Lastly, Bautista really took some time to admire this one, as he is wont to do.

There are plenty of differing opinions on Bautista's attitude, but I'm of the opinion that he has every right to appreciate his own artistry.

Silver Medal

Date: September 22nd

Opposing Pitcher: Tom Wilhelmsen

Count: 0-0

Men on Base: None

Game Result: Blue Jays 14, Mariners 4

This home run likely looks slightly more underwhelming than the AAI suggests, but that's largely due to shoddy camera work. The camera focuses on the 100 level seats throughout the shot giving us the impression it's a normal home run, only adjusting up when the ball is about to hit the facing. As a result, we miss out on the arc of the bomb and don't get as good an idea of the distance on a ball that traveled 437 feet.

That being said, working a camera is not as easy as it looks and we're here to celebrate Bautista, not evaluate the broadcast. This was a heck of a home run off a pitcher who excels at quieting right-handed bats in Wilhelmsen.

Gold Medal

Date: August 30th

Opposing Pitcher: Michael Pineda

Count: 0-2

Men on Base: One

Game Result: Blue Jays 2, Yankees 0

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's not where Pineda wanted to leave an 0-2 slider.

What makes this home run special is how fast it got out of the park. The ball was travelling at 115.5 mph off the bat, almost two mph faster than Bautista's second-fastest shot. He also gets bonus points for driving in the only two runs of the ballgame with that swing.

If you prefer a towering fly ball this wasn't the home run for you, but it was an absolute laser beam off a very good pitcher and that's what earns it gold medal status.

Now, one issue with doing this exercise with Jose Bautista is that his home runs don't have a lot of diversity, as shown by the Baseball Savant Heatmap below.

So, in order to show you something other than Bautista pulling the ball a mile, here is his least impressive home run of 2014 by AAI:

35th-Place Medal

Date: September 20th

Opposing Pitcher: Chase Whitley

Count: 3-1

Men on Base: None

Game Result: Blue Jays 6, Yankees 3

Classic cheap Yankee Stadium home run. It's nice to see the Blue Jays get one of those for once, but an underwhelming display by Bautista.

That concludes your tour of Jose Bautista's home runs in 2014, next up is major offseason acquisition Josh Donaldson.

The Toronto Blue Jays like to hit the ball in the air, both for home runs and easy outs.

Flying high above the stadium's view, a pop-up is the anti-home run. Like a long ball can momentarily catch the attention of fans, beer salesman, and players alike, a pop-up can briefly disengage its spectators, the fate of landing in a catcher's or first baseman's glove of no real interest.

In a city used to long home runs that hit glass-faced restaurants, foul poles, and empty outfield seats, infield flies, the batted balls that reach for the Rogers Centre roof, are also a common sight. More common than many probably realize.

The Toronto Blue Jays hit the highest percentage of infield flies in baseball last season. In fact, looking over the past eight seasons, dating back to 2007, they have frustrated fans with more pop-ups than any other team. Interesting, considering how often a fly ball off the bat of Jose Bautista or Edwin Encarnacion turns into a home run. It's feast or famine north of the border: the Blue Jays have the third highest HR/FB rate in baseball over the past two seasons, and the most pop-ups.

Infield flies and home runs are two very different things. An infield fly is usually the result of hitting the baseball on the absolute worst part of the bat, inside on the hands, with a stinging sensation, both from the pitched baseball and the reverberation of the bat from slamming it to the dirt in frustration. It would seem logical to presume that teams who hit a lot of infield flies don't hit as many home runs.

Looking at the data, the relationship between IFFB% and HR/FB rate is not as strong as you would think. There is little correlation between the two. It seems that pitchers who produce a lot of pop-ups, or players who hit many, do so without impacting their respective home run rates.

While balls that tower over the infield may not correlate to ones destined for reaching the outfield wall, there must be some reason why the Blue Jays are hitting in such a feast or fathom fashion.

Let's take a look at the biggest pop-up offenders over the past season, and see if we can find a pattern.

Of the eleven highest infield fly producers in 2014, three of them, predictably, were Blue Jays. If we look at their respective HR/FB rates, there is no obvious pattern; both Bautista and Encarnacion hit lots of home runs relative to their fly balls (along with Chris Carter), while Jose Reyes, and many others atop the list, don't offer much power at all.

If not power, are there other things that these pop-up hitters share in common?

As one would guess, there are batter traits that cause infield flies. Based on research by Jeff Zimmerman, we know that a hitter is more likely to hit a fly ball on pitches that don't break downward (think cutters and four-seam fastballs). We also know that pitch location matters; pitches up and in are most often shot straight into the air.

Let's look at our list of IFFB% leaders from 2014 in terms of pitch type and pitch location. Where does each player rank in terms of percentage of pitches that turn into pop-ups?

*Pitch Type Rk is based on the top pop-up hitters on cutters and four-seam fastballs. Pitch Location Rk looks at both righties and lefties (and switch-hitters) to find their relative pop-up percentage on pitches up and in.

In terms of pitch location, sure enough, the hitters who turn the most cutters and four-seam fastballs into pop-ups are the top IFFB% in baseball. For pitch location, the relationship isn't quite as strong. There are several batters who on pitches near their bat handle, shoulder, or jaw hit a lot of pop-ups, but aren't frequent pop-up hitters overall. Of course, this isn't testing for a true statistical relationship, but it gives us an idea for the top infield fly hitters.

For the Blue Jays, Edwin Encarnacion is the biggest rule follower. He turns cutters, four-seam fastballs, and jammed pitches into sky-high infield flies.

A pop-up is perhaps the least glamorous batted ball in baseball. Good thing the Toronto Blue Jays mix things up. While they may lead baseball in having the opposing catcher call off his pitcher to make an easy out, they also frequently force the catcher to ask the umpire for a new ball after a home run. A balance that Blue Jay fans can live with.

. . .

All statistics courtesy of FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.

Jeffrey Bellone is an editor and featured writer at Beyond The Box Score. He can also be found writing about the Mets at Amazin' Avenue and Mets Merized Online. He writes about New York sports at Over the Whitestone. You can follow and interact with him on Twitter @OverWhitestone.

The Rays underwent plenty of changes this offseason. But don't be fooled, their pitching remains a huge advantage.

A lot changed for the Tampa Bay Rays this offseason. Long-time general manager Andrew Friedman left for greener pastures in Los Angeles. Manager Joe Maddon, long the face of the organization, departed for the Cubs soon thereafter. With David Price traded away last July, the Rays suddenly found themselves without three of the main reasons for their sustained success over the last several years.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox and Blue Jays spent much of the winter loading up for 2015, spending gobs of money in free agency and adding proven veteran talent. Given how the offseason went, most eyes are fixed firmly on Boston and Toronto (as well as the reigning AL East champs in Baltimore, and of course the Yankees) with spring training underway.

But if you squint closely, things haven't changed much at all in Tampa Bay. Sure, the Rays now have a new brain trust in place, with Matt Silverman taking over as GM and Kevin Cash their new manager. However, the one attribute that has always driven the club's success -- even beyond the shrewd management of Friedman and Maddon's free-wheeling leadership style -- was their abundance of young pitching.

That hasn't changed.

Indeed, the Rays enter 2015 with four young starters who have all experienced success in MLB, and a fifth in Matt Moore who was once baseball's most highly regarded prospect before undergoing Tommy John surgery last spring. That's much more pitching depth than either the Red Sox or Jays can boast.

Tampa Bay's strong rotation begins with Alex Cobb, one of MLB's most underrated starters. Cobb has quietly been one of the AL's best pitchers the past two seasons, posting a 2.82 ERA since the beginning of 2013. That mark is better than the likes of Yu Darvish, Max Scherzer and Jon Lester.

In Chris Archer, the Rays have one of the liveliest young arms in the game and someone who has shown good stuff and the ability to use it successfully. Archer threw a career-high 194⅔ innings in 2014, averaging more than 94 mph on his fastball and posting a 21.1 percent strikeout rate. If he stays healthy, Archer has all the ingredients to become one of the AL's best starters.

Beyond Cobb and Archer, Tampa Bay also has youngsters Jake Odorizzi and Drew Smyly, both of whom the club acquired via trade. Odorizzi flourished in 2014 after initial struggles in MLB, using his fastball more aggressively up in the zone to pick up extra strikeouts and set up his offspeed pitches. The 24-year-old finished the season with a 4.13 ERA, but showed huge improvements as the season went on, compiling a 3.67 ERA and .651 OPS against in 20 starts from June 1 on.

Smyly impressed upon arriving in Tampa Bay as part of the return for Price. Previously relegated to a bullpen role in Detroit, Smyly finished the 2014 campaign on a tear in the Rays' rotation, allowing just nine runs in seven starts during August and September. Much like Odorizzi, Smyly found huge success by using his fastball up in the zone, something Tampa Bay has long preached to its pitchers.

Given the organization's track record of developing young arms, all the youthful talent currently in Tampa Bay's rotation points to a bright future.

But the Rays shouldn't be overlooked in the present, either. Their AL East rivals again have bigger payrolls and higher expectations, but Tampa Bay likely has the best starting rotation in the division. Moreover, with the acquisition of catcher Rene Rivera this winter, the club will again have an elite pitch-framer to help out its staff. If the Rays can limit runs like they have in the past, a bounce-back season from Evan Longoria might just be all they need to contend for a playoff spot.

In many ways, the Rays find themselves in a familiar place, despite all the upheaval. Few expect them to keep up with their richer competitors, and they'll be able to mold and nurture a young core away from the prying eyes of media scrutiny. Esteemed pitching coach Jim Hickey is still around, and even with Friedman's departure, the Rays boast one of the game's smartest front offices.

It's not your typical formula for baseball success, but the Rays aren't your typical organization. That fact has served them well in recent years. Why will 2015 be any different?

We've posted our Blue Jays 40-man top prospect list, but we wanted to take a quick look at some guys that didn't make the list, but that we are still kind of interested in. In my case, these aren't players that I think should be on the list (I'm pretty happy with our choices) but are guys that could jump on the list if they have a good year or ones that I'm just interested in.

So in no particular order, here are a handful of minor leaguers that have my attention but missed the list:

Griffin Murphy: Griffin was on some of our previous lists, he was #38 in 2013, number #36 in 2012 and #33 in 2010. He was a second round pick in the 2010 draft, but hasn't shown all that much since. He was put into the bullpen early in his minor league career, which isn't exactly a sign of confidence from the organization. Last year he started the season in Lansing, as the Lugnuts closer, posting a 2.00 ERA in 36 innings, with 16 saves, 8 walks and 47 strikeouts. Moved up to Dunedin, things didn't go as well, he had a 6.00 ERA in 21 innings, walking 15 with 15 strikeouts. He has just turned 24 and really isn't a prospect, but then lefties that can throw mid-90's always have a chance to make it as a LOOGY.

Jesus Tinoco: Tinoco was #37 on our list in 2013. He's a right-handed pitcher that the Jays signed out of Venezuelan, back in 2011. He played in Bluefield last year, with a 4.95 ERA in 13 games, 12 starts. In 56.1 innings, he had 20 walks and 47 strikeouts. He is 19, again throws hard, has to learn to find the strike zone more often, but he's still young and can get to 95 with the fast ball, so, you know a good season could him on the list again.

L.B. Dantzler: Dantzler was 16th on our list last year and fell right off it this year. Why? Well, because in 2013 he had a .502 slugging average, playing for the GCL Jays and Vancouver, this year he had a .361 slugging average. For a guy that really doesn't have a defensive position, he has to slug or he's not prospect. He was drafted in the 14th round of the 2013 draft out of the University of South Carolina, he was older when drafted, so he's already 23, if he's going to show the power we expected/hoped for, he's going to have to do it soon.

Jeremy Gabryszwski: Jeremy was our 2nd round pick in 2011. He was #32 on our list in 2012, #26 in 2013 and #31 in 2014. Woodman663 knighted him 'King Scrabble the Third'. He's a big right-hander (6'4") who can hit mid-90's  and yet he doesn't strike anyone out. We kept thinking that, sooner or later, the strikeouts with come, but they haven't. Last year he struck out 91 in 141 innings at Lansing. He's still only 21 and he doesn't walk many, just 21 (1.3 per 9 innings) in Lansing. Despite the lack of strikeouts, he has a 3.51 ERA in 57 minor league games, 52 starts. He doesn't walk many, just 39, in 279 minor league innings and gets tonnes of ground balls. He's still just 21.

Ryan Schimpf/Jon Berti: Not prospects, Ryan is 26, Jon 25. Ryan hit .270/.370/.616 with 15 home runs, in 50 games, at New Hampshire, before being moved up to Buffalo, where he hit .189/.290/.358 with 9 home runs in 67 games, playing mostly second base, with a few games in the corner outfield spots and at third. 24 home runs is pretty good, especially for a middle infield in 117 games. Jon hit .270/.323/.373 in 136 games as a Fisher Cat. He also stole 40 bases. Jon played mostly second base too, with 30 games in left and 18 at third.  Either one could become a utility infielder/injury fill in and likely not be too terrible.

Casey Lawrence: Not a prospect but he's had a pretty good minor league career for player that went undrafted. He's 27 now. Last year he pitched in 26 games, making 22 starts, for New Hampshire, with a 3.69 ERA. In 151 innings, he walked 29 and struck out 93. I've enjoyed watching him move up our minor league system. I'd like to see him get a spot start in the majors one day.

If you missed any of the posts of our list, here are some links:

2015: 1-5 | 6-10 |11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40

2014: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40

And MjwW had a look at some older prospects here.

A look at trade patterns in MLB including when pitchers are most likely to be traded.

Each season, MLB teams complete in the neighborhood of 10,000 transactions. Some are mundane, like Jesse Chavez changing his number to 22 this offseason, while others, like being designated for assignment, have a huge impact on a player and his family. Today I'll talk about one of the most exciting type of transactions for fans: MLB player trades.

Before I dive into the trade patterns of the past five years, I'll clarify a few things. For the purpose of this analysis, I’ve defined each season as beginning in October of the previous year. That means that the 2014 trading season began on October 1, 2013 and ran through to the end of September 2014. I’ve done this so that each player traded has the chance to impact the MLB season of the team to which he is traded that season, even if he may not qualify for a playoff roster.

Over the past five seasons, the pattern of trades has remained remarkably consistent, despite changes in both the structure of the playoffs and the way free agent draft pick compensation is distributed. Each year, 40-45% of trades will occur during the offseason. Of these, most occur in December and early January. Ever wonder what it’s like to wake up on New Year’s Day (perhaps you’ve been over served) to find out you have to move to another country for work? You could always ask Jason Frasor, who was traded from the White Sox to the Blue Jays on January 1, 2012.

Not surprisingly, the non-waiver trade deadline makes July the busiest month for trades each season. In the past five seasons, there have never been fewer than 27 trades in July, and most come in the latter half of the month. Players can be traded after this deadline, but the waiver process makes things more complicated. August is the next busiest month as GMs make a push to add players that are eligible for their playoff roster.

Despite an increase in the number of trades over the past few years, the total number of players changing teams has fluctuated as has the percentage of trades including players who saw time in the major leagues that season. These players may have played for the team they were traded from, traded to, or both; however, fWAR represents the wins above replacement accrued by MLB players traded during that entire season, not just for the team that they’re traded to. Some players are traded more than once. Johns Buck and McDonald are examples of players who were traded three times in a single trading season. In these cases, I’ve counted their fWAR each time they were dealt.

While most of the players traded each season are not household names, there are usually a couple of blockbuster deals each year. This offseason, we’ve already seen A.J. Preller trade for what could be a dozen wins. In 2010, Cliff Lee (7.0 fWAR) was acquired by Jack Zduriencik in December only to be flipped to Jon Daniels' Rangers that July. That same season, Ruben Amaro Jr. traded for the Roys Halladay (6.1 fWAR) and Oswalt (4.3 fWAR). In fact, every season, at least one player traded has accumulated at least 5 fWAR. However, the percentage of fWAR of all traded players belonging to pitchers fluctuated from a high of 73% in 2010 (again, Cliff Lee x2 and the Roys) to 39% in 2011.

What about in-season trades? With pitchers snapping their UCLs left and right, does attrition rule the mound and force contending GMs to focus on acquiring pitchers? Typically, the 25-man roster is made up of 48% pitchers (5 SP + 7 RP), which lines up closely to the percentage of all players traded who pitch. It’s not conclusive that GMs whose teams are contending are dealing for pitchers; pitchers are traded at close to their proportional representation on an MLB roster both during the year as a whole and the season.

Now, it’s your turn. Is there anything you’ve always wanted to know about MLB trades but were too afraid to ask? I’ve built a crude database of trade details that I’ve pulled from MLB Trade Rumors and MLB.com, so don’t be shy and ask them here!

. . .

All statistics courtesy of FanGraphs, MLB Trade Rumors and MLB.com .

Matt Jackson is a contributor to Beyond the Box Score. You can also read his work at Banished to the Pen. Follow him on Twitter at @jacksontaigu.

Because you can't do a series on beautiful home runs without the bringer of rain.

The fact that the Toronto Blue Jays have acquired Josh Donaldson is very much old news at this point. Excellent news, but old news.

Every angle about what he can add to this franchise has been covered, perhaps except for one: the beauty of his home runs. Donaldson might not have quite the same raw power as Jose Bautista or Edwin Encarnacion, but he has deposited 55 home runs over fences across North America in the last two seasons and has done so with flare.

Not only does the so-called "bringer of rain" hit some monster shots, unlike his teammates he is not a dead pull hitter and has home run power to all fields. The Baseball Savant Heatmap below shows where his long balls went in 2014:

As a result of his prolific power, home run variety, and the fact his aesthetic might be novel to some Blue Jays fans Donaldson was the obvious choice for the third part of what is likely a trilogy quantifying the impressiveness of home runs.

In case you've missed either of the previous articles, the following briefly explains the way I will be measuring Donaldson's best home runs of 2014 from yesterday's post on Jose Bautista:

The statistic I came up with, AAI, equally weights four factors: speed off the bat, distance, opposing pitcher quality, and the number of parks the home run would leave. A score of 100 in any of these categories indicates the home run was the best one a player hit, and any score below that is relative to the high-water mark. For now the metric is only designed to judge a player against himself in order to see which of his home runs are the most impressive.

So, let's get started with Donaldson's home run that should instill the third most awe in the viewing public.

Bronze Medal

Date: September 21st

Opposing Pitcher: Miguel Gonzalez

Count: 1-0

Men on Base: One

Game Result: Athletics 8, Phillies 6

Not only was this a no-doubter it was a walk-off as well. Donaldson gets bonus points for demonstrating solid bat flip game here, although he isn't in the Puig stratosphere just yet. One thing that'shard to see by watching this video once is just how high this ball hits the facing in left-centre field.

Silver Medal

Date: May 16th

Opposing Pitcher: Zach McAllister

Count: 3-2

Men on Base: Two

Game Result: Athletics 11, Indians 1

This home run has a slightly different look to it. It's actually Donaldson's highest long ball of the season, but it also has very good velocity off the bat. While the distance of 411 isn't that extraordinary, hit right down the line it looks like a mile.

Factoring in McAllister's solid performance against right-handed hitters and yet another bat flip it's hard to ask for more. Luckily there is more in the form of Donaldson's most impressive round tripper of the season.

Gold Medal

Date: May 25th

Opposing Pitcher: Dustin McGowan

Count: 3-2

Men on Base: None

Game Result: Blue Jays 3, Athletics 1

Perhaps this 448 foot behemoth will serve as a preview of what we can expect to see from Donaldson in 2015 at Rogers Centre. The drive is impressive because of its distance and speed off the bat, but that fact it's to right-centre field makes it truly astounding.

Donaldson's ability to crush the ball to all fields is what makes him a special power hitter. He may have modeled his swing off of Bautista, but he's not a clone and brings a different element to the table.

It would be lovely to leave on that high note, but tradition dictates a demonstration of Donaldson's least impressive home run and I dare not break with a custom that has origins as ancient as last Friday.

29th-Place Medal

Date: July 14th

Opposing Pitcher: Tim Hudson

Count: 0-0

Men on Base: One

Game Result: Athletics 6, Giants 1

Donaldson appears to almost mishit this ball and yet it still travels over the wall. That's a testament to his strength, but that type of hit is not easy to replicate. Although San Francisco is a difficult place to hit in general, it has the perfect short right-field porch to accommodate an unspectacular fly ball like the one hit here.

That concludes an examination of Josh Donaldson's home run quality last season.

Next up: Something completely different.

I didn't want to write about the latest Craig Zaun stuff. For one, I think I talk about Zaun too much. And I thought that Andrew Stoeten did a great job saying how stupid his comments were. Add in that, in the story, as told by Zaun, he's clearly the victim of some pretty lousy treatment and I don't really want to beat on a victim.

Then, Keith Obermann went off on him (I'll embed the You Tube video below and, after that, (and likely after Cal Ripken yelled at him for awhile) Zaun tried to back away from his own comments on Brady and Walker's show this morning: "What was meant as a funny & positive story blew up in my face". Hmmm, Zaun says that Ripken and teammates stripped him, tied him with tape, spreadeagled on a trainer's table and poured ice into his shorts. I'm not exactly sure what the 'funny & positive' part of that story was, unless it also turned out to be a scene in 50 Shades of Grey and we could laugh at the irony.

Zaun also told a hilarious story about how demigod Cal once, on a flight, invited him to the back of the plane and then physically beat him for, you guessed it, going to the back of the plane. And there was this:

"If I had a dollar for every time Ripken worked me over physically, I'd be a wealthy guy."

Now I wonder, if Ripken figured Zaun deserved a beating for doing what Cal told him to do, and thought stripping him and taping him to a table was just punishment for being a mouthy rookie, what would Ripken do to Zaun for breaking the 'code of silence', telling everyone about what went on behind the scenes between rookies and veterans. I figure that's why Zaun was back peddling from the story, because Ripken was on his way to lay another beating on him. If I'm Zaun, I'm taking a long vacation somewhere far far away so that Cal couldn't find me.

It does remind me of the line 'daily beatings will continue until morale improves'.

Ripken is smart enough to say 'hey this never happened':

"I talked to him because he's a friend of mine. I consider him a good friend," Ripken told MASN's Roch Kubatko. "I don't know how it got all out of whack. He apologized and said he used the wrong words. There was no abuse, there was no hazing. It doesn't do anything for team unity. He knows that and everybody who knows me knows that."

Cal is smart enough to know that, despite Zaun thinking this was just a cute story, that it makes Cal look like a creep (at best). And, as much as Gregg was telling this story to show how hazing makes the team better, Cal says "It doesn't do anything for team unity". Of course it doesn't. It is stupid to suggest it would. All it does is give people, who figure they have a little power over others, a chance to enjoy a little sadistic pleasure.

Brady Anderson echoed what Ripken said:

"I never did that to anyone," Anderson said. "I don't believe in rookie hazing or status based on tenure and that nonsense. Hated it then and wouldn't put up with it as a rookie, and certainly didn't carry on a tradition I thought was absurd.

"I didn't do it and wouldn't allow it done to me. I've always felt that it's hard enough to feel comfortable as a rookie and a veteran's job was to include them and make them feel a part of the team. We want them to perform and help us win games and I never understood how being dismissive of them or dressing them up in silly costumes was a logical path to that desired outcome."

I'm with him on the silly costume thing. What that does to help a team I'll never know. I would think that instead of trying to make rookies second class teammates, it would be better for team unity to make them part of the team instead of making them separate from the team.

Anyway....

As much as Zaun tells us that putting rookies in their place makes for a better team, that Orioles team wasn't all that good. Even with Ripken beating on people. And, even with the veteran presence of Zaun, his Blue Jays team weren't any more successful than our current Blue Jays. It]'s pretty tough to see what value this had.

For me the veteran hazing stuff is just away for people that feel they have power over someone to use that power. And, most often, it seems that people who have power tend to use it in less than optimum ways. If we believe Zaun's story (I think he might have exaggerated parts of it, but I figure it was basically true) Cal decided he had power over Gregg and he used that power to abuse him.

Now, Zaun doesn't say that Ripken did this to other rookies, though it is implied. Maybe it was more that Cal took a bit of a dislike to Gregg. Not that I'm wanting to insult Zaunie, but he does have a pretty strong personality, I'm sure that he has rubbed some people the wrong way. Cal maybe figured that Gregg needed be taken down a notch or two, not all rookies. Maybe it had less to do with him being a rookie than him being Zaun.

I get guys being guys. I get that when you put a bunch of guys in a enclosed space that they won't always treat each other well. I'm old enough to believe that some 'old school' stuff is the right way to go about things. I think good-natured teasing to influence someone's behavior, sometimes even a little less good-natured teasing. Or outright saying 'hey you are messing up' is a good thing. I do believe in a giving a little respect to one's elders in any activity.

But I totally don't believe that "working" someone over "physically" is ever the right thing to do. I don't believe rookies should be seen and not heard. Yeah there are some right ways to do things, but I don't think there should be fun police out there to beat on people that break unwritten rules.

I think that some in baseball should grow up. They should learn you don't bean a player, or start a fight, if he breaks some imagined rule. Or, you know, strip a guy and tie him to a trainer's table if he is a little yappy. Thank god, as Zaun says, behavior like he discribed doesn't happen anymore.

I also wonder what Zaun would say about someone else telling a story of how they were treated as a rookie. Clearly it is the breaking of some unwritten rule. I mean Dirk Hayhurst had enough trouble with teammates for telling his stories, but at least Dirk had the sense to change names, to protect people. Zaun wasn't even smart enough to do that. And telling this story about a universally loved Hall of Fame player......I can't imagine that isn't breaking some sort of rule.

If Zaun hadn't framed this as a 'this is what should be done to rookies' I'd feel sorry for the guy.

Adam Lind continues to be the gift that keeps giving, at least to us bloggers. We discussed his interview with Bob Elliott this morning. This afternoon there is a piece in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about Lind where he appears to suggest there is a problem with the Blue Jays doctors.

He takes two separate shots at the Jays doctors/training staff:

"I had a back (injury), which had been the problem for four years," he said. "I'm on a constant cycle of trying to stay one step ahead of that. Then I had a broken foot and continued to play on it. I don't know if they really tried to find it."

Insert your own socialized medicine joke here.

There were some suggestion at the time that it took too long to find the break. I don't know, maybe there is a point there. Maybe the Jays should take a look at what they do with injured players and see if things can be improved. You would think their training staff should be able to tell if a player has a broken bone in his foot.

And then:"I feel great," said the 6-foot-2, 195-pound Lind, a career .273 hitter. "Getting away from Toronto kind of allowed me to pick my physical therapists and doctors I wanted to work with over the off-season, and I think it was a nice change just to get a different set of eyes on me.

"I took a more comprehensive approach and tried to use my body as a whole and not just treat my back. There's reasons why my back would hurt, and I think we started to discover some of those reasons and have made my body better as a whole instead of just trying to treat my disc issue."

I don't really buy this one. I can't believe that the Jays would be telling him not to workout his whole body.

He also suggested his back will be better playing on natural grass compared to the turf at Rogers Centre, which makes some sense. And there is a quote from Brewers manager that Lind will bat against lefties, until proves he can't, which he proved long ago.

In other news, Josh Hamilton is "meeting with MLB" about a disciplinary matter. It isn't PED's:

Asked a baseball executive if Hamilton’s discipline was for PEDs. His response: "Worse." The executive declined to elaborate.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 25, 2015

It doesn't sound good.

And speaking of former Jays, want a Butterfield bobblehead?

Yeah, I still hate seeing him in that uniform.

Nick Ashbourne's posts about the best homers from Edwin Encarnacion (link), Jose Bautista (link), and Josh Donaldson (link), has got me thinking about dingers. So this week's Sporcle quiz will ask you to name all the Blue Jays who have hit 35 or more home runs in a single season. This shouldn't be too hard. If you can't get an answer, use your mouse to click the next box to skip ahead.

Show off your score in the comments below. When discussing possible answers be sure to black them out with the "Spoiler Text" function (click the rightmost icon between "Message" and the text box in the comments, or hit Ctrl-F when typing). All comments with an answer without the spoiler box will be hidden by a moderator.

Previous Thursday Morning Sporcle games:

• Blue Jays 40-Man Roster on July 15, 2014
• Canadian Blue Jays
• Name the Blue Jays' Johnsons
• Latest Blue Jays Complete Game Shutouts
• Top 10 Blue Jays Prospects for 2010
• 2013 Blue Jays Team Picture (Bonus: 2013 Bisons Team Picture)

Spring time optimism hadn't event gotten time to grow stale before realism took it, put it in a toaster, turned the dial to 11 and left it to burn up into a black lump.

Michael Saunders is hurt again, Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos told the media in his briefing on Thursday morning. The Canadian outfielder, who was acquired from the Mariners this offseason in a trade for J.A. Happ, has torn a meniscus in a knee and is not even going to be back by Canada Day.

#BlueJays say Michael Saunders tore meniscus in knee. Out to all star break

— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) February 26, 2015

I guess the positive here is that the Blue Jays medical staff found and diagnosed the problem right away.

At the end of the day it is not all that surprising to find that Saunders is hurt, as he has never played through a full season unscathed. In the past he has missed time with a shoulder sprain, shoulder inflammation, and an oblique strain. I just would've thought that he'd get injured on the turf in Montreal or at Rogers Centre, rather than in spring training. But I guess the Blue Jays play on crappy facilities there too, as Saunders got hurt stepping on a friggin' sprinkler shagging friggin' fly balls.

Michael Saunders stepped on soft spot around underground sprinkler on outfield grass while shagging flies yesterday. Left knee buckled.

— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) February 26, 2015

Freak accident? I think we can call it that. But it is a freak accident that is 100% preventable with proper facilities management. Because of that, the Blue Jays have lost their starting left fielder a bat in their lineup for 80-plus games in a year. But hey, now the front office will go and check on the conditions of the field their multi-million players play on. Now!

AA says they will check condition of field at the Mattick complex. Over the years players have spoken about a crater in Ctr. #bluejays

— Barry Davis (@SNBarryDavis) February 26, 2015

All is not lost, the season is not over before it begins, but damn it was a horrible thing to read right after breakfast.

Saunders says he never had a knee injury before but heard a pop and knew right away it was serious. #bluejayspic.twitter.com/7UBYIRqnkS

— Barry Davis (@SNBarryDavis) February 26, 2015

In terms of outfield depth, it looks like Kevin Pillar's chances to make the team has just increased as someone who can handle all three outfield positions. Chris Dickerson, Ezequiel Carrera, and Caleb Gindl are all options as either the left fielder or the fourth outfielder and they will battle Pillar for those two spots unless another outfielder is acquired.Perhaps the Jays won't getting a reliever out of Dioner Navarro after all.

UPDATE

LOL this franchise.

Not sure how close this is to where Saunders got injured but this is in LF at the #bluejays training complex pic.twitter.com/bjMVUiA1xL

— Barry Davis (@SNBarryDavis) February 26, 2015

Looks like a fresh grave, alright.

UPDATE 2

According to Gregor Chisholm, Andy Dirks will be back to doing "baseball activities" in a week or so. As a lefty, he could slot in well to replace Saunders temporarily if he is healthy and can hit at all.

Dirks will start baseball activities in 7-10 days. He could join Major League camp later this spring and enter the mix. #BlueJays

— Gregor Chisholm (@gregorMLB) February 26, 2015

UPDATE 3

Dirks unlike to be ready by opening day, but Danny Valencia can play some left! I guess left field is really where they stick people who can run a little and throw a little.

Gibbons named Valencia as a guy who will see some time in LF this spring. He doesn't expect Dirks will be ready for opening day. #BlueJays

— Barry Davis (@SNBarryDavis) February 26, 2015

The Blue Jays Will Be Fine In Left Field

The Michael Saunders injury hurts. He was so excited to be a Blue Jay and I couldn't wait to watch him play. The fact that he will miss half of the season due to a fluke event is incredibly frustrating. On a positive note, the Blue Jays should be fine in left field even without him.

At one point this offseason, Andy Dirks seemed like the favourite to be the Blue Jays starting left fielder (editor's note: you think so? I figured Pillar). Dirks is expected to be cleared for baseball activities in the next couple of weeks and has been a solid MLB player when healthy. Chris Dickerson was also recently signed by the team and could make a decent platoon with Kevin Pillar. Both Dirks and Dickerson are strong defensively in left field and should provide the Blue Jays with a solid replacement (second editor note: we differ on the definition of solid).

There are also quite a few outfielders on the trade market. Both the Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres have a jammed outfield, while the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers. The supply of corner outfielders clearly outweighs the demand, which should drive the price down if Toronto decides to look for a trade.

Here is a quick run down of some possible trade options:

• David DeJesus: Strong numbers against right handed pitching with a knack of getting on base. Very strong defensive numbers in left field. Set to earn $5 million this year, with a $1 million buyout on next year's option. If the Rays will move him within the division, DeJesus could make a strong platoon with Kevin Pillar.
• Will Venable: Came very close to a 3 WAR season just one year ago. Has the ability to play all three outfield positions and could also make a nice platoon with Kevin Pillar. Will make $4.25 million in the final year of his current deal.
• Andre Ethier: Has crushed right handed pitching for his career and may soon be traded by the Dodgers. The Dodgers would have to pay a substantial amount of his salary to facilitate a trade.

The Blue Jays Should Be Interested In Carlos Quentin

After Tom posted his "Just Missed Out" list a few days ago, it's my turn to look at some players in the Blue Jays system that still excite me despite not cracking the Top 40 rankings. My list is a little bit of a combination between players who just missed out and recent draftees who didn't start their pro careers the way they would have hoped. These players are listed in no particular order.

Daniel Lietz: Lietz was drafted in the fifth round out of JUCO in Illinois in 2013 and signed under slot for $200,000. The 6'2" southpaw was mediocre with the GCL Blue Jays during the rest of 2013 and was assigned to Bluefield to start the 2014 season. After 13.1 innings there with a 10.1 K/9 he was sent to Vancouver as a 20-year-old and looked to forget where the strike zone was located. His previously stable walk rate jumped to 14.5 BB% in 33.0 innings with the Canadians. His stuff is considered pretty strong with a low-90's fastball coming out of school along with a slider, changeup, splitter, and curveball. The setback in Vancouver should be viewed as just that, with a lot of development time still ahead of the 20-year-old. He could start in Lansing this season, but it seems more likely that he's sent back to Vancouver to try and find success at that level before receiving the promotion to Low-A.

Matt Morgan: Morgan was drafted in the fourth round of the most recent draft as a catcher, but flew slightly under the radar thanks to another catcher (#5 prospect Max Pentecost) being drafted by the Blue Jays ahead of him. He signed for $300,000, which was a little bit below slot value which helped the Jays go over slot for Lane Thomas who was selected in the subsequent round. The newly-turned 19-year-old was selected out of high school in Alabama and scouts raved about his defensive ability before the draft. Unfortunately his first taste of pro ball in the GCL went poorly. Although strong defensive catchers can survive with a mediocre bat, Morgan hit .092/.188/.134 in 133 plate appearances striking out 42.1% of the ti-WAIT A MINUTE. He struck out nearly half the time?! Thankfully the 6'1" recently turned 19 and still has time to adjust to professional baseball, but unless he brings the strikeout rate by about oh...20%, he will struggle to stay in the team's plans much longer. He will likely being spending a little bit more time in Florida before he's given a chance to move up the ranks in Bluefield or Vancouver.

Timothy Locastro: Locastro doesn't receive much buzz as a prospect, but the 22-year-old second baseman has been a sturdy player in the Blue Jays system and could eventually end up as a dependable bench player down the road. In 67 games with Vancouver, Locastro hit .313/.407/.367 with 32 stolen bases on 36 attempts in 2014. The New Yorker is the classic scrappy infielder who works hard and doesn't have much flash in his game. The former shortstop looks to be set at second base going forward and should start popping into the back end of our annual prospect lists if he keeps up the steady play in Lansing and beyond.

Jorge Flores: Flores is another player that went to Hamilton High School in Chandler, Arizona (pop quiz: name the other two players in the Blue Jays system that went to the same school). The Mexican-native was drafted in the 19th round in 2012 and really didn't turn it on until this past season. Starting the season in Dunedin and then moving up to New Hampshire, Flores hit .298/.350/.350 while playing shortstop and second base, although his future with the Blue Jays seems to be second base. There's two small (no pun intended) problems with Flores though. He stands just 5'5" and weighs in at 160 pounds and he has a pretty consistent habit of striking out way more than he walks. His K-rate hangs in the 10% range, while his BB-rate is usually about half of that. It will be interesting to follow Flores going forward as he seems to have the odds stacked against him, although it hasn't slowed him down yet.

If you missed any of the posts of our list, here are some links:

2015: 1-5 | 6-10 |11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40

2014: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40

Also, MjwW had a look at some older prospects here and Tom posted his own just missed out piece a few days ago.

The Blue Jays signed former Cy Young award winner Johan Santana to a minor league deal today with hopes he can find some of his old form and health (or maybe they think he can play left field). The deal also includes an invitation to Spring Training giving the lefty the chance to win a job with a pitching staff that is looking pretty thin at the moment. The news broke a little bit ago and was overshadowed by llama chases (rightfully so) and David Clarkson trades.

#BlueJays sign LHP Johan Santana to minor league deal with spring invite.

— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) February 26, 2015

The 35-year-old last pitched in the majors in 2012 for the New York Mets and has faced a myriad of injury problems in years since. He signed with the Orioles last year but an achilles injury forced him out for the rest of the season derailing his comeback attempts. In 360 major leagues appearances Santana has a 3.20 ERA and 1988 strikeouts.

The Venezuelan is mainly a fastball, changeup, slider pitcher and certainly won't be blowing anyone away with his low-90's heater. The move is extremely low risk as very little is lost if it turns out that the veteran southpaw doesn't have anything left in the tank. It's unlikely he ends up in the rotation anytime soon but maybe he snags a bullpen role and rediscovers some magic left over from his time with the Mets. He most recently was pitching in the Venezuelan Winter League so he should come into camp in fairly good shape.