The trade deadline was somewhat quiet this year around baseball, but all the contenders in the American League East made at least one move to improve their teams as they enter the final two months of the season. Here's how the AL East standings look as of the morning of August 1st:

The Red Sox and Rays are in a tussle on top of the AL East for the division crown. The Rays' tremendous 21-5 July vaulted them to contention for the title and also gave them a solid lead for the Wild Card. The Cleveland Indians' recent seven-game winning streak helped them pass the Orioles for a slim lead on the second Wild Card spot, so the Fightin' Showalters have yet another team to surpass in their hopes for a second straight playoff berth. The Texas Rangers are tied with the O's at half a game behind the second Wild Card, and the Yankees sit a few games back of them, as well. The Blue Jays are playing baseball, or so I hear.

So with the race as tight as it is, how did the Yankees and their rivals fare at the deadline?

Red Sox

Boston has one of the best offenses in the league thanks to their .272/.344/.438 triple slash. All three stats rank among the top three in the AL, and they lead the league with 248 doubles and 83 stolen bases. Their starting pitching has been above-average, but they sustained a tough blow when Clay Buchholz and his 41 ERA- went down with a neck and shoulder injury. A trip to Dr. Andrews fortunately did not end in surgery, but he's still only throwing from flat ground and is not close to returning to the rotation. John Lackey is likely pitching above his actual abilities, and both Ryan Dempster and Jon Lester have been just mediocre in the rotation with a league-average ERA-, so GM Ben Cherington sought pitching help at the deadline.

It took until July 30th, but the Red Sox landed the biggest pitching arm on the market in Chicago White Sox starter Jake Peavy. To do so, they sent away BABIP-crazy rookie shortstop Jose Iglesias to the Detroit Tigers and three A-ball minor leaguers to the White Sox. Boston sold high on Iglesias, who was starting to cool down in July, and they can replace him with the likes of Stephen Drew, Brock Holt, and perhaps 20-year-old top prospect Xander Bogaerts. Boston also acquired righty reliever Brayan Villareal from the Tigers, who has struggled this year, but pitched to a 53 ERA- in 50 games last year. He might be able to help the bullpen, but the focus of trade is obviously on Peavy.

The former Padres ace and 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner has been dogged by all kinds of injuries since 2008 and has only made 30 starts in a season once since that '07 season. 2012 was a comeback year for Peavy though, as he was named an All-Star, pitched 219 innings to a 79 ERA- and 87 FIP-, and ended with 4.4 fWAR. A fractured ribcage had him on the DL earlier this year, and in 13 starts, he has regressed to a 101 ERA- and 98 FIP-, roughly Lester and Dempster's numbers. Peavy still has terrific control though; his 1.9 BB/9 would rank him seventh in the league if he had enough innings to qualify. Park factors will also likely help his season, as he's moving from one of the easier places for righties to homer to one of the more difficult parks. Thus, his 1.6 HR/9 should regress to his career norm of 1.0.

Although Peavy's numbers this year are not overwhelming, he should improve in Boston, and if healthy, he provides rotation stability for minimal prospect cost. The "if healthy" is a dangerous clause with Peavy, but the cost was worth the risk. Even if they don't get Buchholz back, a playoff rotation of Peavy/Lackey/Doubront/Lester inspires more confidence than Lackey/Doubront/Lester/Dempster.

Rays

Yes, the Rays were active at the Trade Deadline! Believe it!

Well, they were active in a tentative sense of the word. They acquired an injured pitcher. On July 29th, the White Sox sent All-Star righty reliever Jesse Crain to the Rays in a complicated deal. Chicago's return will be either a player to be named later or cash considerations, and if Ken Rosenthal is correct, then it will not be contingent on Crain's performance with Rays as originally rumored.

The bullpen has been a weakness for the Rays this year, as Fernando Rodney's crash to Earth has brought the team's bullpen ERA- to 97, 10th in the league. Lefty Alex Torres has been nothing short of phenomenal, allowing an unreal one run in 33 innings (0.27 ERA) with a 10.9 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9, but even with Joel Peralta's 77 ERA-, the group has been mediocre outside of his performance. In fact, their bullpen ERA outside of Torres is 4.28, higher than all AL teams except the Mariners and Astros. They needed more than one stalwart, and they got him for a very low cost.

Crain has basically been a righthanded Torres this year, allowing just three earned runs in 36 2/3 innings for the White Sox, striking out 11.3 per nine innings with a 2.7 BB/9. He's already been worth 2.0 fWAR out of the bullpen, and his peak ERA- since 2010 is 73; the man is consistent. He could be huge for the Rays, but his health is in question right now. He strained his shoulder on June 29th to land on the DL, and he has not been able to throw a bullpen session yet. It's unclear when exactly he will return, but since the Rays got him for such a small cost, it's hard to criticize the move by GM Andrew Friedman. With a pitching staff that was due to get better and the league's most productive position players by fWAR, the Rays are in a good position to make a run for the title anyway, even if Crain can't return.

Orioles

It's a new era for Birdland, as a team that was consistently a seller for 15 years is now a buyer. Like Boston, Baltimore's offense has been mostly good, so they sought to improve their pitching staff in July since several of their surprising pitching assets from last year have come down to Earth in 2013. Chris Tillman, Miguel Gonzalez, Jason Hammel, and Wei-Yin Chen all had ERA-s below 100 last year, but all except Chen have taken a big step backward. The bullpen that had a league-best 72 ERA- last year now has an 89 ERA-. So in July, the Orioles made three moves for pitching:

1) July 2: Traded disappointing prospect Jake Arrieta and former shutdown reliever Pedro Strop (broken by the Yankees last year) to the Cubs for starter Scott Feldman and minor leaguer Steve Clevenger.

2) July 23: Traded Baseball America's #4 preseason Orioles prospect, A-ball infielder Nick Delmonico, to the Brewers for reliever Francisco Rodriguez.

3) July 31: Traded Baseball America's #6 preseason Orioles prospect, Triple-A outfielder L.J. Hoes, 19-year-old A-ball starter Josh Hader, and a 2014 round A competitive balance pick to the Astros for starter Bud Norris.

The Orioles added some arms to their pitching staff at the cost of a pair of washed-up prospects and a pair of promising Top 10 prospects (in addition to Hader, who has a 2.45 ERA in 113 2/3 minor league innings). They were definitely moves by GM Dan Duquette to gamble some future assets on this current squad in contention. It's hard to blame him for wanting to improve a team that is undoubtedly going to be in the heat of the playoff race come September, but those were some tough prospects to give up for a couple league-average starters and a veteran reliever who didn't sign this year until mid-April.

Feldman has been up-and-down in his five starts since the trade last month. He had pitched to an 89 ERA- in 15 starts with the Cubs, but so far, that has not translated to the AL. Remember, this is the same guy who had a 117 ERA- in over 120 innings last year the AL with the Rangers. It's far from certain that he will get much better with the Orioles. "K-Rod" recaptured his dominant form in half a season with the Brew Crew, pitching to a 1.09 ERA with 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings. It's been a long time since he was in his prime with the Angels as their closer, even though he's only 31. (Weird.) As previously mentioned, he was such a question mark in the off-season that he was not signed until mid-April, and he as an unsightly 110 ERA- pitcher last year in Milwaukee. Nonetheless, if he can step into the role Strop excelled in last year, then he can certainly be an asset to the O's bullpen. 2012 was the first truly bad season of K-Rod's career anyway, so perhaps it was just a blip on the radar. If not though, the Orioles just forfeited a very nice prospect for an inconsistent reliever who has never been good at limiting walks.

The biggest piece acquired was Norris, a 28-year-old starter in his fifth season with the lowly Astros. Houston took advantage of a weak starting pitching market after Peavy to make Norris a hot commodity since he is only in his first year of arbitration. At the moment though, Norris is merely a league-average pitcher. He had a 100 ERA- in 2011 which ballooned to 119 last year before returning to normal in 21 starts this year.

Yesterday, Tanya pointed out that Norris has struggled in open-air stadiums this year; he has a 6.31 ERA in seven open-air starts against a 2.99 ERA in 14 starts at retractable roof stadiums like his old home in Houston, Minute Maid Park. This park factor is not just a small sample size 2013 thing though--in 58 career games in open-air, he has a 5.04 ERA. He will have to improve that with his home games now at Camden Yards. The fact that lefties have a higher propensity to homer at Camden Yards compared to Minute Maid Park doesn't help the righty Norris much either.

Nonetheless, Norris will likely help the Orioles at least a little bit. Mark Brown at Camden Chat nicely summed it up:

[Norris] is just about league average, and in that sense it will represent a significant improvement over Jason Hammel... Is this a blockbuster trade? Let's be real: Norris is not a blockbuster piece to acquire. However, neither Hader nor Hoes were top pieces to give up, and Norris should be a very real upgrade to one of the biggest areas of weakness for the Orioles. The starting rotation should be stronger with him than it was without him, and for Dan Duquette, that was enough to make the trade.

Yankees

Much has been made around these parts about the Yankees' woes on offense, most notably from the right side of the plate. By the end of play on July 25th, the Yankees' righthanded hitters ranked as the worst righty offense of all time by Baseball Prospectus's True Average stat. Overall, the offense was also the fourth-worst Yankee offense by True Average since 1950, barely trailing the '68 team for third. They needed some kind of boost, even a small one. They got that boost by reacquiring an old friend.

Yankees acquire Alfonso Soriano from Cubs

Alfonso Soriano returns to the Bronx.

On July 26th, they traded High-A pitcher Corey Black to the Cubs for 1999-2003 Yankee Alfonso Soriano, a veteran with flaws, but one whose righthanded power potential was badly needed. Soriano has a roughly league-average 101 wRC+ this year, and against lefties, he is hitting .285/.319/.515 with nine doubles and seven homers, numbers not far off from his career triple slash of .275/.345/.517 against them. Soriano is never going to be a guy who walks very much, but that's the least of the Yankees' problems right now against southpaws. Soriano's return complemented by that of lefty masher Derek Jeter and home run threat Curtis Granderson should jolt the Yankees' offense, which is basically on life support.

The Yankees could have done more at the deadline to improve their offense, but there truly did not appear to be much out there. GM Brian Cashman described it as "an offensive offense" market, and it's hard to debate that considering the fact that Soriano was probably the biggest bat moved around the deadline. Selling teams seemed to be asking for too much for their flawed hitters, from Michael Young to Marlon Byrd. The Yankees will need their returning injured players to at least get their offense to around league-average. If they can at least do that, then the team can continue its unlikely run at a playoff spot. At just a few games off the Wild Card, they are far from out of it.

Blue Jays

Original image: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

Well, that didn't work. Anyone up for some Timmy Ho's? Wonder how the Leafs are looking this year...

More from Pinstriped Bible:

• MLB Trade Deadline 2013: Winners and Losers
• MLB Trade Deadline 2013: The Yankees' terrible timing
• Buck Showalter: A-Rod ban would help Yankees
• Making a change at Yankees catcher in search of offense
• Baby Bomber Recap 7/31/13: Curtis Granderson reaches base three times in rehab game

This year, Blue Jays did not make any trades in advance of the non-waiver trade deadline of July 31. Since the establishment of July 31 as the trade deadline in the 1986 Major League Baseball Basic Agreement, the Blue Jays have made at least a single trade in all except for seven seasons: 1988, 1994, 1996, 2001, 2007, 2008, and 2013. Actually, in 1988, the Blue Jays did not make a single trade.

July Trades in Blue Jays History

Data from the 2013 Toronto Blue Jays Official Guide

Blue Jays 2 Angels 8

I drove a long way to watch that crappy game, sat in LA Freeway traffic (and sat and sat) and then the game was over by the 3rd inning.

Anyway, Josh Johnson was absolutely awful again. I didn't see any soft contact off him, and very few swings and misses. He was terrible. If he was a horse we'd shoot him. As it is I'd give his starts to Juan Perez. Juan at least pitched 2.2 scoreless innings. Josh, well he got 7 outs, which means 7 hard hit balls that found a glove or that a Jay fielder made a nice play on. He gave up 10 hits, 7 runs, 6 earned, 2 walks, with 1 strikeout. I don't remember the strikeouts. Someone on the Angels must have owed him money and settled up by striking out.

On the good news side, we had our first look at Sergio Santos. He pitched 2 innings (surprised me that they would have him go two his first time back. He gave up a run, off a triple (Colby ran a long way to come up just short of catching) and a sac fly. He did look quite good, throwing strikes. Seemed to top out at 93, if the stadium radar can be trusted.

Other notes:

• J.P. Arencibia has to start throwing like a man, i.e. standing up to make the throw to second. Twice he tried to throw from his knees, twice the throw was awful, once he was saved by Maicer Izturis, the other time his throw went into center, costing us a base and a run. Give the throwing from your knees thing up, JP.
• Melky Cabrera looked awful in left and was pulled in the third inning (and has since gone on the DL. Not only was he slow, but one time, when he did finally get to a ball, he dropped it at at the top of his throwing motion. At least he gave the Angels fans something to laugh about.
• What is it with crappy throws from the outfield. Jose Bautista over threw both third and home this game. Colby Rasmus threw well wide of the plate (yet again) and threw to third, well late to get the base runner and allowing the batter to go to second. Throw to the right base!
• On offense we got out runs on a Adam Lind walk, a Colby double and a sac fly from Izturis.
• The only batters to look at all like they were interested in the game were Colby (2 for 4 with a double), Brett Lawrie (2 for 3), Lind (1 for 3 and a walk) and Edwin Encarnacion (1 for 4). The rest looked like they couldn't get the game over quick enough.

Jays of the Day, no one. Honorary mention to Perez and Rasmus.

Suckage: Josh (-383) and I'm giving one to JP (0 for 3 and two bad throw) and Bautista (0 for 4 and 2 bad throws).

Once again, we have a game where the errors and dumb plays seem to outnumber the hits and good plays. I know they say you can't fire 25 players, but soon they have to let the players know that this sort of play is unacceptable. Gibby....you really gotta do something.

A few of the Blue Jays' 2013 draft picks are already playing in the minor leagues. For second round pick Clinton Hollon, the first few innings have been positive: five innings, five strikeouts, one walk, one hit and no runs given up. However, for some others the early going has been a lot tougher. Evan Smith (4th rounder): 5 walks in 6 2/3 innings. Conner Greene: 11 walks in 14 2/3 innings. And the worst introduction to professional baseball goes to Jake Brentz (11th rounder, overslot bonus) with 3 walks and a hit given up in his debut, and no outs recorded. These guys are only just starting, so hopefully they'll get better. Tyler Gonzales didn't though: he has given up 11 runs in 9 1/3 innings, with 10 walks. Matthew Smoral? An even more stunning 17 walks in 11 1/3 innings. And then from 2011 there's Daniel Norris, who, with 37 walks in 61 2/3 innings, can't stop walking hitters either.

This strikes me as odd, considering that the ability to throw strikes at high velocity with the fastball was supposed to be something the Blue Jays were looking for in pitchers. Let's compare their high school pitching draft picks from the past three years (2010-2012) with those of some other teams who had a lot of extra picks, like the Rays, Cardinals and Padres.

Note: "control problems" defined as more than 0.5 walks per innings (so more than 4.5 BB/9).

Although I fully expected the Jays to be horrible at finding pitchers who can throw strikes, this little bit of research here indicates that they've actually been quite good at it, despite drafting a lot more high school pitchers than other teams. Now, a pitcher does need to do more than just throw strikes to be successful, but the Jays may (small sample, obviously) genuinely have a scouting staff that is better able to tell whether a pitcher will have trouble throwing strikes. Perhaps it's just the high-profile cases of Daniel Norris, Matt Smoral and Tyler Gonzales (all picks in the first two rounds) that gave some of us (or just me?) the impression that command problems were an organizational thing. Certainly the fact that Aaron Sanchez walked 4 and gave up 5 runs in less than an inning his last time out, which raised his ERA to 3.93, did not help.

So where do Matt Smoral and Tyler Gonzales go from here? Well, it's a long way from not getting Gulf Coast league rookies out to getting big league hitters out. I do get that Blue Jays staff, fans and writers/bloggers will try to stay positive and say things like "it's early" and so on. But the fact is that the odds are stacked against these guys. The odds were already stacked against these guys, as high school pitchers rarely succeed. Now their odds have gotten even worse. If Smoral does in fact start throwing strikes I'll be happy, but you certainly can't count on it at this point. Similar story for Daniel Norris, although he is at least improving somewhat.

In other discouraging news: D.J. Davis this week went 0-for-3 with 3 Ks (the hattrick), then got a golden sombrero the next day (4 Ks), and yesterday he upgraded to the platinum sombrero of five Ks. At least Mitch Nay (4 doubles, homer) had a good week, and Canadians Tom Robson and Shane Dawson had good debuts with the (Vancouver) Canadians.

Tommy Hanson takes on Todd Redmond today in another 10:00pm for Blue Jays fans in the Eastern Time Zone. Hanson, a 26-year-old righty, came up with the Braves in 2009 and was very good in his first year finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting (behind J.A. Happ). Another two successful years with a mid-3.00 ERA appeared to have solidified Hanson as a Braves starter for years to come. Then in 2012 he was pretty bad and his peripherals didn't signal that better days were ahead for Hanson as his home run rate was on an upward swing and he was leaking velocity.

In the offseason the Braves decided to cut bait with what looked to be injured goods and got Jordan Walden back in return. The Braves questionable decision looks to have been a smart decision as Hanson has been hurt and equally as bad as he was in 2012. A 5.15 ERA and a 4.60 FIP in 11 starts combined with a 1.40 HR/9 have illuminated the "true" Tommy Hanson. His velocity has been back in the 90's after coming back from injury, which is far cry from his rookie mid-90's velocity, but better than his Mark Buehrle-esque mid-80's at points in recent years. This a great article looking at his mechanical changes with some cool GIFs.

Tommy Hanson is a fastball, slider, and curveball pitcher and has become even more susceptible to fly-balls than he was when he broke into the league. Only 35.7% of balls in play are ground balls this season for Hanson, while the number was still only 40.2% in his debut season. His curveball is probably his go-to breaking pitch and Hanson has a high tendency to throw the pitch when ahead in the count, although at points this year Hanson his thrown his slider in starts more than any of his other pitches:

You can see that Hanson's slider and curveball both look similar in movement, but the curve continues to drop more steeply:

Left-handed hitters have always hit Hanson better so here's my lineup that won't look anything the Blue Jays' lineup card:

1. Reyes SS
2. Rasmus CF
3. Bautista RF
4. Lind DH
5. Encarnacion 1B
6. Izturis 2B
7. Davis LF
8. Thole C
9. Lawrie 3B

For the "Find the Link" today:

Find the link between Tommy Hanson and that one scumbag Brewers player.

Enjoy the game. Hopefully Toronto doesn't make everyone go to bed by the third inning.

During his last start we were debating what the Jays should do with Josh Johnson, then came last night's start, which was even worse.

I don't know what I'd do if I was Alex Anthopoulos. There doesn't seem to be an easy fix. He's throwing hard enough. His pitches seem good enough that he should be doing better, but everyone seems to be making good contact with everything he throws. I'm sure that Pete Walker and Pat Hentgen have gone through enough video of his to see if there is a simple 'let's have him move his hand two inches this way' solution.

The team is 3-12 in his starts, they can't have that next year if they want to contend. I'd like to think he can't be this bad next year, but then I said the same about Ricky Romero.

So what would you do if you were Alex:

• Give him a qualifying offer after the season, knowing that he would be sure to take it? You'd have to hope he improves. I would hate to be paying him the same money that I'm paying Jose Bautista.
• Offer him an extension for less that the qualifying amount, say $8-10 million and maybe an option or two, figuring that he doesn't want to go into free agency with this season behind him. Again you would be hoping for improvement.
• Let him be a free agent, say good bye, no compensation.

Let's have a poll

After a not so good outing tonight, Todd Redmond has been optioned back down to Buffalo according to multiple Blue Jays' sources:

#Bluejays option Redmond. Corresponding move to come

— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) August 3, 2013

Redmond went 3.2 innings against the Angels tonight, giving up 7 hits and 3 earned runs although he had 5 strikeouts. You would have to think another starter will be coming up to take his place. Place your bets on Ricky Romero, Sean Nolin, or Marcus Stroman along with the possibility that Kyle Drabek is ready to rejoin the big squad after a year away from the team:

In New Hampshire 5-2 win Kyle Drabek 4IP, 1H, 1R(1ER), 1BB and 3Ks. A.J. Jimenez 1-4, 1R, 1RBI and 1SB. #BlueJays

— Blue Jays Prospects (@BJaysProspects) August 3, 2013

In a perfect world Drabek would get a couple more starts to allow for him to be fully stretched out when he comes back to Toronto, but stranger things have happened.

UPDATE: Forget all that, it's Brad Lincoln coming up to the Blue Jays:

Blue Jays to recall RHP Brad Lincoln tomorrow for Aug 3

— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) August 3, 2013

Lincoln was in Toronto for a month and a bit earlier this year pitching to a 4.15 ERA in 13 games.

More to come tomorrow morning.

Blue Jays 5 Angels 7

Gibby does the odd thing that bugs me. For example. Steve Delabar's in for the eighth, with the one run lead, and he gives up a double and a triple (Jose Bautista came close to making a great catch on the triple) and it's pretty clear he isn't the 'All-Star reliever' that struck out the side on 9 pitches the other day. Gibby doesn't get another reliever up throwing until after the go ahead home run and after the walk that followed that. No one started moving in the pen, until the middle of the strike out of Hamilton that finally got us the second out of the inning.

Anyway, a few days after striking out the side on 9 pitches, Delabar almost gave up the cycle in an inning, he was just short the single (he gave up a walk in it's place. Delabar has been so good that we should allow him the odd bad game, but we have won so rarely that this hurt.

Todd Redmond toughed out 3.2 innings. He gave up a lot of hits (7) but no runs until the fourth inning, when he was running on flumes. Aaron Loup continued the magic act, giving up 4 hits but just 1 run in 2.1 innings. We had our first look at Neil Wagner, since his recall, he pitched a quick, clean, 7th inning, getting two fly outs and 1 strike out.

On offense, we had 8 hits and 5 walks, but 3 of our base runners erased themselves by getting caught stealing. Emilio Bonifacio, Jose Reyes (I thought he was safe, but then I was a fair distance from second base) and Edwin Encarnacion (I don't know why he was running) were all caught stealing.

Bonifacio and Brett Lawrie each had 2 hits, nice to see them coming around with the bats, finally. Jose Reyes hit a 2-run homer (to tied the back up in the 6th). The only Jay not to either get a hit or a walk was Josh Thole, who did hit a hard line drive, but right at the 2nd baseman.

The big defensive moment of the game came in the 4th when Jose Bautista hit a high drive to left that J.B. Shuck made a great catch on, leaping over the wall. I figured the umpires would have to review the play but they didn't. I'm not totally convinced he didn't drop and pick up the ball, when he was hidden by the fence, but it was an amazing catch.

The Jays got a run on a Angels error, with Colby on 3rd and Lawrie on first, Angels starter Tommy Hanson, tried to pick off Colby, then third baseman Chris Nelson threw wild to first trying to get Brett.Colby scored, Brett was thrown out going for second, a good trade off at the time. Nice to see other teams make dumb mistakes.

The Angels get a lot more fans out than the A's and have a beautiful park. I'll admit few of their 'fans' seem to watch the game. They seemed most interested in the wave. The pair behind me spent most of the game marveling that the Angels used to have a 'Salmon' and now they have a 'Trout', 'isn't that amazing'. Yes it's great, talk about something else ok?

We sat in a nice area, that had a menu and a waiter, a very civilized way to watch a game, someone else runs to get your beer and. in my case, a California roll for you.

They did have a great fireworks display after the game. It almost made up for the rally monkey videos. Almost.

Jays of the day: Reyes (.197 WPA) and Wagner (.104).

Suckage: Delabar (-.643), Redmond (-.262) and Thole (-.113).

One of my favorite parts of going to California is eating Mexican Restaurants. You might be surprised but there isn't a lot of great Mexican places in Calgary. We had a really good meal at one close to our hotel today and they made Guaqumole right at our table.

Good morning prospect watchers. Here is an approximate schedule of where things stand around here.

***Remaining Top 20 Pre-Season organization reviews: Toronto Blue Jays, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins, San Francisco Giants, and Milwaukee Brewers. That is the order in which I intend to write them although that isn't set in stone and could be changed by current events or the whims of my emotions. My goal is to have all of them finished by next Friday.

***Prospect Retrospectives in the work queue: Jeff Kent, C.J. Wilson, Chris Davis, LaTroy Hawkins. All of these were by request, but exact order I write them is undetermined. You can request others if you like.

***Upcoming Prospect of the Day pool: Marcus Semien is set for Monday, Chad Bettis for Tuesday, Drake Britton, Engel Beltre, Victor Black, Michael Choice are all line. Order may get moved around depending on current events.

***Yesterday's Minor League Ball Gameday thread.

***There were several key promotions yesterday. The Pittsburgh Pirates promoted right-hander Jameson Taillon.
Now assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis, he had a 3.67 ERA in 110 innings for Double-A Altoona with a 106/36 K/BB with 112 hits allowed. He has pitched very well in eight of his last nine starts. The lone exception was a bad outing on July 13, when he gave up 10 runs in 3.1 innings on 13 hits. Without that one bad game, he would have a 2.94 ERA. The promotion is deserved and I expect he will continue to pitch well in Triple-A.

***The Boston Red Soxpromoted right-handerAnthony Ranaudo to Triple-A Pawtucket. He had a 2.95 ERA with a 106/40 K/BB in 110 innings for Double-A Portland, re-establishing himself as a top prospect after a mediocre 2011 and an injury-plagued 2012.This promotion is also well-deserved, and a good showing in August will put him on course for a major league trial in 2014 or perhaps even this September.

***Ripple effect in the Colorado Rockies system, as Jonathan Gray's promotion to Modesto kicks Eddie Butler upstairs to the Double-A Texas League and the Tulsa Drillers. The 2012 supplemental first round pick out of Radford has thrived in A-ball, posting a combined 2.07 ERA with a 118/46 K/BB in 122 innings combined between Modesto in the California League and Asheville in the South Atlantic League. He's allowed just 83 hits and a 2.27 GO/AO ratio. Again, the promotion is deserved.

***Melotticus has a good fanpost up with a list of National League prospect sleepers.

***According to Prospect Insider, Mariners lefty Danny Hultzen is unlikely to pitch in real games again this year as he deals with shoulder problems. The good news is that the pain has subsided, but the Mariners are being cautious with him as he focuses on building up his arm strength and making some mechanical tweaks.

More from Minor League Ball:

• San Diego Padres Top 20 2013 PRE-SEASON Prospects in Review
• Minor League Ball Gameday, August 2
• Rockies minor league pitchers Michael Mason and Jesse Meaux arrested
• New York Mets Top 20 PRE-SEASON Prospects in Review
• Prospect Retrospective: Marco Scutaro
• Prospects from the biggest deadline trades of 2012
• Minor League Ball Gameday, August 1
• Manny Ramirez experiment may be nearing the end
• Houston Astros Top 20 2013 PRE-SEASON Prospects in Review
• Chicago Cubs Top 20 2013 PRE-SEASON Prospects in Review
• Quiroli releases 20 best MiLBers to follow on Twitter list
• Minor League Ball Gameday, July 31

One of the biggest shocks coming out to spring training back in late March was the Marlins decision to give pitching prospect Jose Fernandez a starting rotation spot. Many, included me, felt the Marlins were rushing their prize pitching prospect, and the move seemed to run counter to the offseason bail trade they made with the Blue Jays. I remember thinking that the Marlins front office probably just wanted to create some excitement amongst their fan base after dealing away some of the stars of their team.

He has made just 21 starts thus far in 2013, and maybe he will be the next Mark the Bird Fydrich and become the next one year wonder, but with the way Jose Fernandez is pitching right now, one can make the case that he is one of the best starters in the game. Yes. He is an ace, at the young age of 21 year old.

Fernandez just turned 21 on July 31st, but he is a fantasy ace that fantasy owners need to pay more attention to. On Friday night, Fernandez completely dominated the Indians lineup, allowing just 3 hits, a walk and striking out 14. He is the first pitcher since Randy Johnson (2004) to strike out 13 or more batters in two consecutive games, and the first rookie to do it since Kerry Wood did it in 1998.

Thus far in 2013, Fernandez has made 21 starts, going 8-5 with a 2.54 ERA, 2.80 FIP, a 3.08 xFIP, a 1.01 WHIP, and a 138-43 strikeout to walk rate in 127.2 innings. I like to see how many times a starter has given up two runs or less in 7 innings or more, and Fernandez has accomplished that feat 9 times in his 21 starts so far. Looking at all of his starts, he has given up two runs or less in 16 of his 21 starts, and 3 runs or less in 18 of his 21 starts. Quite amazing for a 21 year old starter.

His 2.54 ERA and 2.80 FIP ranks eighth amongst qualified starters, per FanGraphs. He strikes out just under 10.0 batters per nine innings (9.73), while walking just over 3.0 batters per nine. When he is not striking out batters, he keeps the ball on the ground at a 45% clip. Fernandez throws plenty of strikes, as his 62.3% first pitch strike rate indicates.

The fantasy writers here at Fake Teams recently released our consensus starting pitcher rankings, and Fernandez ranked #43 overall. Looking back now, I would easily rank him in my top 30-35 starters, and I could make a case that he should be in the top 20 right now. In addition, there are a few starters who are ranked above Fernandez due to their name value, who Fernandez has outperformed in 2013, including Justin Verlander, Matt Cain and C.C. Sabathia. But that is an article for another day.

The Marlins have place their star pitcher on an inning limit, somewhere between 150-170 innings, and based on the fact that he averages just over six innings per starts, he has about 4-7 more starts before he is shut down for the season.

Fernandez's recent dominance has firmly placed him in the National League Rookie of the Year talk, assuming he continues to pitch this well. Other candidates for NL ROY include Mets ace Matt Harvey and Cardinals starter Shelby Miller. All three have been outstanding this season, so the race is really too close to call at this point.

Heading into the offseason, I am sure you will read plenty of articles on the season Fernandez is having, which will push him up starting pitcher rankings. Some of those you may find here at Fake Teams, as I am on board with the talent he possesses and could see him in the Top 20 starting pitcher rankings this offseason.

For me, he is the youngest ace in baseball. No question about it. Earlier this season, Rays manager Joe Maddon stated that Fernandez is the best young starter he has ever seen. That is saying a lot. Others have compared him to Felix Hernandez. Yes, King Felix. Do the Marlins have a King Jose now?

More from Fake Teams:

• Waiver Wire: 10 Under 10%
• Roto Roundup: Shelby Miller, Brandon Belt, and Jose Fernandez
• Streamer Report: Weekend Streamers
• Fake Teams Podcast Episode 22: A Little Too Comfortable
• Roto Roundup: Yu Darvish, Justin Masterson, Jason Heyward and Others
• Pedro Alvarez: Elite Power Hitter

The Los Angeles Dodgers have requested unconditional release waivers on left-handed pitcher Ted Lilly, according to a source. The 37-year old was designated for assignment on July 25th, and will be free to sign with any team once the 48-hour waiver period has passed.

Lilly is currently drawing interest from a few clubs and hopes to sign on Monday or Tuesday at the latest, according to the source. He is looking to join a contender, which means that the weak starting pitching market at the trade deadline should help him find a job soon. He is willing to either start or relieve, and will accept a minor league assignment in order to prove himself to his new team.

In five starts on the season, Lilly is 0-2 with a 5.09 ERA, 7.0 K/9, and 3.9 BB/9. In fifteen major league seasons with the Expos (1999), Yankees (2000-2002), Athletics (2002-2003), Blue Jays (2004-2006), Cubs (2007-2010) and Dodgers (2010-2013), Lilly has posted a 130-113 record with a 4.14 ERA, 7.6 K/9, and 3.0 BB/9. He is in the final year of the 3-year, $33 million extension he signed with the Dodgers before the 2011 season, and will hit the open market this winter.

Kole Alan Calhoun - RF

Michael Nelson Trout - CF

Joshua Holt Hamilton - LF

Howard Joseph Kendrick III - 2B

Mark Daniel Trumbo - 1B

Erick Johan Aybar - SS

Christopher Lars Nelson - 3B

Jack Burdett Shuck III - DH

Hyun Choi Conger - C

Jered David Weaver - P

While J.B. Shuck didn't do this again, the Angels still powered through the Blue Jays in tonight's game. The Halos got to work early against Esmil Rogers when Mark Trumbo, Erick Aybar, and Chris Nelson all earned an RBI in the first inning. Then in the fifth inning Kole Calhoun launched the ball into the seats for the second straight game. Good to see someone picking up after Josh Hamilton's lack of a quick home run pace. Also in the fifth inning, an error by Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia allowed three more runs to score.

Jered Weaver continued to show he has plenty of stamina and pitched 7.2 innings and gave up just three runs. Brett Lawrie powered a home run beyond the wall and Edwin Encarnacion lined the ball into the outfield, which allowed Jose Bautista to score. Arencibia attempted to redeem his error with an RBI but that wasn't enough to knockdown the Angels. Dane De La Rosa came on in relief and held it down for one more out. And out in the ninth was Kevin Jepsen.

That's all, folks. Tomorrow's game is at 12:35pm and the Halos look to complete the four game sweep over the Jays. Will they do it? On the hill is Mark Buerhle while C.J. Wilson takes to the mound for the home team.

There were two major sporting events in the western hemisphere Saturday night: UFC 163 down in Rio de Janeiro and the Wing, Cheese, Celery Race in Buffalo. I think that just like the preliminary fights at UFC, no one really cared about the baseball game that happened around the race. But since this is still technically a baseball blog, I have to recap it after the race recap.

WCC Race

Coca-Cola Field celebrated Celery Bobblehead Night this evening, giving away a Celery bobblehead to the first 3,000 fans. Having examined one myself, I have to say that it is more of a bobbletorso than a bobblehead, as Celery really doesn't have a neck. Celery is a beloved mascot in Buffalo, despite her not winning a single WCC Race. The race was built up through the whole game with video sequences showing what Celery has been doing the past week. In a dream sequence, Celery actually won the race.

The race started, as always, in right-centre field going clockwise. Atomic Wing took a large lead at he beginning, but then Celery caught up and was in the lead around the turn, down the foul line. Celery still had a large lead past the right field bullpen, but the evil bully Carrot hopped into the race and tried to tackle her. Fortunately, the three other mascots in the race (Atomic Wing, Bleu Cheese, and Chicken Wing) protected Celery by pushing Carrot down and beating him up. They were cheering on as Celery ran unimpeded to the finish line, but then out of nowhere this happened:

Courtesy goldandorsmith.com, used with permission.

Chicken Wing just pretended to help Celery then, when she let her guard down, did the two-handed push to knock her down by the first base coach's box, exploiting her high centre of gravity. Chicken Wing then coasted to the finish with a stolen win. The dirty move of all dirty moves. Chicken Wing will not be winning a sportsmanship award anytime soon. Celery may not have won, but at least she would be able to sleep at night (and dream of winning).

Game Recap

Unlike their major league brethren, the Buffalo Bisons are in the thick of an International League playoff race. Coming in to the game they were 1.5 games behind the Pawtucket Red Sox for the Wild Card spot (and 3.5 back of Rochester for the North Division lead). They only play divisional games from now until the end of the season, so the upcoming stretch of games are huge for the club.

In game one of the four-game series against the PawSox, the Bisons sent out their best and most consistent starter Thad Weber, who definitely should be looked at as a potential fill-in starter with the Blue Jays. The PawSox countered with knuckleballer Charlie Haeger.

Buffalo, who was no-hit Friday night until Anthony Gose broke it up with a single down to the last strike of the game, got out of the gate quickly. Mike McCoy scored on a Mauro Gomez double to the wall in the bottom of the first. Unfortunately the Bisons seemed baffled by the knuckleball the next four innings, not collecting another hit until a couple of back-to-back singles in the sixth.

Thad Weber had another good start. He got Pawtucket 1-2-3 in the first, but got into some trouble in the second, loading the bases until he struck out catcher Alberto Rosario on three pitches to end the threat. That inning, Anthony Gose used his speed to catch a Drew Sutton fly, ranging far into right-centre. Weber's toughest inning was the top of the fourth. After the first out, the PawSox recorded four straight hits--two singles and two doubles--to score two runs to give Pawtucket the lead. The second single was a great example of a lucky hit. With the runner at first going on the pitch, second baseman Jim Negrych went to cover second, and Ronald Bermudez popped one up right to the place where Negrych had just vacated. Right after that, Jeremy Hazelbaker hit a double, tried to stretch it to three bases before being gunned down at third on a 9-4-5 putout led by a great throw by right fielder Mike McCoy. He looked surprisingly good out there tonight.

Weber finished the night throwing seven innings, giving up eight hits and two earned runs. He struck out seven PawSox and walked just one, lowering his ERA to 2.64. He has been solid since his return to Buffalo.

In the bottom of the sixth, Jim Negrych walked and Mauro Gomez, who is definitely not the speed type, legged out an infield single when the ball hit off of Haeger's foot. Clint Robinson followed up with a clean single into right, loading the bases for Andy LaRoche. Haeger threw a first-pitch knuckleball to LaRoche, who watched it sail past catcher Rosario for a passed ball and allowing Negrych to score to tie the game 2-2. Kevin Pillar was announced as a pinch hitter for Ryan Goins after LaRoche flew out, but he flew out to leave Bisons on second and third.

However, that effort by Gomez may have aggravated an injury. Manager Marty Brown explained after the game that Gomez did experience some pain on his side and that's why he was pinch hit for later in the game. It is a recurring problem, and Brown said that he is "worried" about his home run leader's status for the next few games.

Mickey Storey came in to replace Weber in the eighth and got the PawSox 1-2-3, and came out to start the ninth hoping to get the two-inning save. Unfortunately, leadoff hitter Justin Henry reached base on a bad error by first baseman Clint Robinson, allowing a ball hit right at him to go through the five-hole and into right field. I had been to a handful of games here in Buffalo and have seen some poor defensive plays at first by Mauro Gomez, Luis Jimenez, and now Clint Robinson. The next batter, Ronald Bermudez hit a sharp grounder to McCoy, who came in from right to play short. who threw it a little wide to Negrych at second for him to turn it into a double play. Bermudez then reached third on a single before Storey was lifted for John Stilson.

Stilson got the first batter to ground out, but it scored the PawSox's go-ahead run. He was able to get out of the inning without further trouble thanks to a great play by third baseman Andy LaRoche to keep a liner from going into left field and saving a run. But the damage was done, and the Bisons headed to the bottom of the ninth down 3-2.

The home team made two quick outs, and the game was in the hands of Kevin Pillar, the wunderkind from the 32nd round pick. Pillar worked a great, eight-pitch at bat to draw the walk. He almost ended the game, however, when Pawtucket right fielder Alex Hassan made a valiant but unsuccessful effort to catch a foul ball around the Bisons' bullpen. Ricardo Nanita, just activated from the DL, doubled to the gap off Jose Conteras to score Pillar from first and tied the game, and the Coca-Cola Field crowd went wild.

Next up was light-hitting catcher Mike Nickeas, hitting .161/.241/.217 coming into the game. After whiffing twice to start the at bat, Conteras threw a wild pitch in the dirt, allowing Nanita to reach third. On the sixth pitch, Conteras hung a ball to the fat part of the plate, and Nickeas turned on it and crushed it beyond the left field wall for the game-winning two-run homer. The crowd and the team went wild. It was great to see the entire Bisons squad--including Munenori Kawasaki--rush onto the field to greet Nickeas at home, then drenched him with yellow Gatorade.

Mike Nickeas was clearly the hero of the night, erasing the bad taste in the fans' mouths left by Celery's tragic loss. Clint Robinson owes him a steak for erasing his error in the top of the ninth. That homer was Nickeas' first of the year, and it came on the one-year anniversary of his last one, hit for the Bisons when they were affiliated with the Mets.

"We all love Mike," Marty Brown said after the game, "everyone roots for him," because of his offensive struggles this year. Then Brown went on to praise the catcher's work ethic, working extra hours with the hitting coach in the cage, and saying that he had been swinging the bat much better lately.

"I was thrilled to death," Nickeas recalled about the feeling after hitting that ball, "[especially] knowing that they were playing in. That was great, I felt a lot of love from my teammates and the fans. That was awesome." Nickeas then revealed that it was his first walkoff homer ever, at any level, in his life.

The Bisons are now 58-55 and the PawSox drop to 59-55. The Bisons are in third place, 0.5 games behind Wild Card leader Pawtucket and 3.5 behind North-leading Rochester.

Blue Jays 3 Angels 4

Hi, I'm Tom, I've been a fan of a losing team for as long as I can remember. Yeah, there were some good years in the late 80s and early 90s, but, other than those few years, I've been a fan of losing Teams, man and boy, all my life. Like almost every year, I told myself that this season would be different. And, once again I was wrong.

I'm not doing a real recap today, alcohol is calling louder than normal tonight, so this is from my phone, at a bar half way between the ball park and the hotel.

Man, it was a sad game. Once again, we fall far behind in the first and it went downhill from there. Esmil Rogers gave up 3 runs off of 5 singles in the first. Then another 4 in the fifth. In total he allowed 10 hits, all singles accept for a solo homer by Kole Calhoun, 7 runs, only 5 earned, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts.

The 2 unearned runs were a gift to the Angels from former twitterer JP Arencibia who caught Colby Rasmus' throw to the plate well up the third base line, learn to aim Colby, and decided to throw well wide of second and drop into the outfield. JP if you want people to talk about the positive, stop the stupid stuff. Each of your last two starts you have thrown a ball into the outfield to cost us runs.

On the positive side, Brad Lincoln pitched 3 hitless innings. Brett Lawrie hit a home run. We only hit into 3 double plays. And no one went on the DL.

Time to drink.

According to numerous reports Melky Cabrera has been placed on revocable waivers. Cabrera is currently on the 15-day DL with knee problems and shame, but can still be traded after he clears waivers. Many teams could use an immobile left fielder such as the Braves or Red Sox. Speculation has hit a fever pitch about where he will end up when the dust settles.

TSN reporting that Melky Cabrera was put on waivers.. what am I missing? Are they just hoping someone picks up his contract? Seems fishy

— Brendan Lewis (@lateralus84) August 3, 2013

Agreed Brendan, something seems very fishy about this waiver placement. Little known fact about revocable waivers though is that you can take the player off of them if they're claimed, but that's not important. The elephant in the room is whether this is the waving of the white flag by Alex Anthopoulos that this free agent signing hasn't panned out and now he's trying to dump Cabrera's fairly affordable contract on an unsuspecting team.

Melky Cabrera could be the first of many players placed on waivers by the Blue Jays as they prepare for a August fire sale to restart the process of building this team from the ground up. You'd have to think the Blue Jays beat writers would hear whisperings of what players Toronto is trying to get rid of:

Melky Cabrera being placed on waivers is not newsworthy. Anthopoulos puts all players through waivers at this time of the year.

— Gregor Chisholm (@gregorMLB) August 2, 2013

Crap.

Just so everyone's clear, this waiver placement is not important as every single Blue Jays player will be placed on them to gauge the interest of the other teams in the league. If a trade can't be agreed on in August, it could always be picked up again in the off-season. None of the Blue Jays players will be lost to waivers as they will be revoked immediately.

Just when the season can't get any worse, All-Star reliever Steve Delabar has been placed on the 15-day disabled list due to shoulder inflammation:

Steve Delabar placed on DL with shoulder inflammation. #BlueJays will recall JA Happ to take his place

— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) August 4, 2013

Delabar has a 2.90 ERA in 46 games this season, but had a rough outing two days ago costing the Blue Jays a win against the Angels.

J.A. Happ comes back to Toronto after being out since May 7 after being hit in the head with a line drive and hurting his knee (which was actually the more serious injury). Happ wasn't pitching very good at the beginning of the season, having a 4.91 ERA in 7 starts before the injury in Tampa Bay. Hopefully he can get a fresh start after a few months off and help shore up the rotation problems.

Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos said pitchers Kyle Drabek and Drew Hutchison could each return in September from their Tommy John surgeries, according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.

Drabek had the second Tommy John surgery of his career last June and began to build his arm back up at Single-A Dunedin. He made eight appearances there and was promoted to Double-A New Hampshire in late July, where he's made one start so far. The 25-year-old righty was considered one of the top prospects in baseball while coming up through the Blue Jays' system, peaking as high as No. 25 on Baseball America's pre-2010 list. He has a 5.34 ERA in 167 major-league innings.

Hutchison made his debut with Toronto last April, but he was moved to the disabled list after 11 starts for an injury that eventually called for his Tommy John surgery in August. His on-field rehab has also begun, and he's currently pitching in Double-A New Hampshire after three appearances for Single-A Dunedin.

Anthopoulos also said prospects Sean Nolin and Marcus Stroman will be considered for September call-ups, Davidi said.

More from SB Nation:

• A-Rod to hear suspension Monday

• David Roth: On Alex Rodriguez, the performance artist

• Matt Garza was behaving badly on Twitter

• The anatomy of a one-pitch strikeout

• Making AL logos fan friendlier

FINAL SCORE IN ANAHEIM: Angels 5, Blue Jays 6

Just when you think the bottom has fallen out, the Angels show you the trap door and fall right into it.

C.J. Wilson had a 5-3 lead with one out in the eighth inning. he gave up two singles and gave way to the bullpen.

By the time the bottom of the inning had arrived, five pitchers had gotten two outs and allowed two runs.

Closer Ernesto Frieri got the final out of the eighth inning but that is not what they pay him to do. He allowed two men on to start the ninth and Dane De La Rosa brought them both in to pin him with the loss.

In the eleventh game in history where Mike Trout and Mark Trumbo each homered for the Angels, it was only the second time the team lost.

Oh and two errors by Chris Nelson, one in that critical eighth, as well as an error by Trumbo in that inning... well they basically helped to lose the game in a big way.

Mitigating circumstance: Umpire Brian Knight made an inexcusably terrible call on a rundown throw at 2B with an out in the ninth inning. It was as if he was helping to pay off a bookie debt. MLB should investigate his personal finances or get a three-year-old child to operate a replay system to overturn such obvious blown calls. The Angels might have won if that had been properly recorded as the second out. If that had happened to the Yankees or Red Sox you would be reading about it everywhere but it happened to the Angels so you will only read about it here.

Tim Donaghy is not the exception. What kind of jewelry does Brian Knight's wife/partner wear?

Continuing with our farm system review project, we move on to the Toronto Blue Jays. Remember, this is the PRE-SEASON LIST. This is not a new list. These are pre-season grades and rankings.

This list was originally published December 2, 2012 and was revised on January 15, 2013.

1) Aaron Sanchez, RHP, Grade B+: Borderline A-: 3.66 ERA in 71 innings for High-A Dunedin, 62/32 K/BB, 49 hits allowed, 2.30 GO/AO. Reports about his stuff remain very impressive, but performance is inconsistent due to command problems. Still young at 21.

2) Roberto Osuna, RHP, Grade B+: 5.53 ERA with 51/11 K/BB in 42 innings for Low-A Lansing before going down with elbow problems.

3) Marcus Stroman, RHP, Grade B: 2.96 ERA with 92/21 K/BB in 76 innings, 60 hits allowed for Double-A New Hampshire. He's been excellent; 24/4 K/BB in his last two starts.

4) Sean Nolin, LHP, Grade B: Strong performance all season for New Hampshire, 2.94 ERA with 86/23 K/BB in 80 innings, 73 hits. Got crushed in major league spot start, but more chances will come.

5) D.J. Davis, OF, Grade B-: Hitting .255/.348/.468 for Bluefield in the Appalachian League, 17 walks, 48 strikeouts in 141 at-bats. Showing more pop than expected, but strikes out a lot and is still learning to use his speed efficiently. High ceiling but long-term project.

6) Daniel Norris, LHP, Grade B-: 5.55 ERA with 70/37 K/BB in 62 innings for Lansing, 70 hits. Not as bad as last year and the talent is still there, but you never know when he'll blow up. He will remain in the picture due to his age (20) and raw ability but the range of potential outcomes is very wide.

7) Matt Smoral, LHP, Grade B-: Serious control problems, 18 walks in 12 innings in the Gulf Coast League. Not unexpected for a 6-8 high school pitcher who missed most of 2012 with a foot injury. Years away from helping.

8) A.J. Jimenez, C, Grade C+: Hitting .280/.328/.366 with 12 walks, 28 strikeouts in 164 at-bats in Double-A. Very skilled defensively, lacks power at this stage, age 23.

9) Santiago Nessy, C, Grade C+: Hitting .232/.297/.371 in 151 at-bats for Lansing, 11 walks, 36 strikeouts. Power, plate discipline, and defense have all been disappointing.

10) John Stilson, RHP, Grade C+: 1.87 ERA with 35/13 K/BB in 34 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. Good season, looks like he can help in major league bullpen soon.

11) Alberto Tirado, RHP, Grade C+: 1.72 ERA, 25/11 K/BB in 31 innings for Bluefield. 18-year-old Dominican throws hard and has a good changeup, working on command and breaking ball, high ceiling but a long way off.

12) Chase DeJong, RHP, Grade C+: 3.13 ERA with 34/4 K/BB in 32 innings for Bluefield, 38 hits. Second rounder from '12 draft showing excellent command, more polish than Tirado but physical ceiling is not as high.

13) Christian Lopes, 2B, Grade C+: Hitting .256/.310/.362 for Lansing, 29 walks, 63 strikeouts in 390 at-bats. I felt he was capable of better, still young enough at 20 to do so.

14) Adonys Cardona, RHP, Grade C+: 6.65 ERA, 24/10 K/BB in 22 innings, 34 hits for Bluefield, age 19. Intriguing 3.50 GO/AO. Another live arm that is a long way from helping.

15) Kevin Pillar, OF, Grade C+: Hitting .312/.368/.467 with 28 walks, 60 strikeouts in 468 at-bats between Double-A and Triple-A; 20 steals. 32nd round pick has outplayed numerous players with better physical tools. Age 24, worthy of a major league trial but it remains to be seen how much slack he'll get.

16) Mitch Nay, 3B, Grade C+: I like him; hitting .319/.393/.458 with 18 walks, 22 whiffs in 144 at-bats for Bluefield. Defense shows some promise as well, doesn't turn 20 until next month. Stock up.

17) Tyler Gonzales, RHP, Grade C+: Overmatched in the Gulf Coast League, 10.61 ERA, 7/10 K/BB in 9.1 innings. Throws hard but not living up to 2012 supplemental first round status at this point due to command.

18) Franklin Barreto, SS, Grade C+: Hitting .275/.328/.428 with 10 walks, 29 strikeouts in 138 at-bats in the Gulf Coast League. Rough on defense at this stage, but tools are here, just 17, holding his own with the bat.

19) Jeremy Gabryszwski, RHP, Grade C+: 2.25 ERA with 29/8 K/BB in 56 innings for Vancouver in the Northwest League, 44 hits. Throws strikes, pretty ERA, age 20, but the strikeout rate is quite low. Transition to full season ball next year will be illuminating.

20) Andy Burns, INF, Grade C: What I wrote pre-season: Potential sleeper prospect hit just .248 in Low-A, but he's got power, speed, some defensive ability, and decent overall tools, making him someone to watch in a system that is suddenly looking thinner. Results: He destroyed High-A (.327/.383/.524 in 248 at-bats) but hasn't been as good after moving up to Double-A (.208/.269/.383 in 154 AB). Still, this season has put him on the radar at least.


OTHERS: Anthony Alford, OF; Jacob Anderson, OF; Javier Avedano RHP; Danny Barnes, RHP; Ryan Borucki, LHP; Andy Burns, INF; Taylor Cole, RHP; Matthew Dean, 3B; Yeyfry Del Rosario, RHP; Jeremy Gabryszwski, RHP; Ryan Goins, INF; Chris Hawkins, OF; Chad Jenkins, RHP; Jairo Labourt, LHP; Deck McGuire, RHP; Griffin Murphy, LHP; Dalton Pompey, OF; Dwight Smith, OF.

The Blue Jays traded much of their farm system pre-season to make a pennant run but it hasn't worked, resulting in a 50-60 record, last place, 16 games back, and a farm system devoid of talent in the upper levels. Heavy recent investments in high school pitching and tools players over polish have yet to yield dividends, and most of the talent in the system is clustered among long-term projects at lower levels.

The best guy at the upper levels is Marcus Stroman, who should be ready for a major league trial next year. Sean Nolin and John Stilson are also capable of helping out the pitching staff, while Jimenez, Pillar, and Burns have shots as role players. Stroman is the only one of this group that I'd comfortably rate as an impact talent.

Infielder Shane Opitz, has had a good year in A-ball but I don't think he projects as a starter. Aaron Sanchez is promising but erratic and at least a year away. Outfielders Dwight Smith and Dalton Pompey have been the highlights of a very disappointing 48-62 team at Lansing in the Midwest League.

The short-season levels are more interesting. Both Vancouver and Bluefield are playing well and the Bluefield roster in particular has a lot of intrigue, with Nay, Davis, Dawel Lugo, and several live arms on the pitching staff. That's the Appy League, of course; even the best of those guys is several years away. The failure to sign first-round pick Phil Bickford rankles, but the Jays still brought in some high-ceiling guys in late rounds in lefty Jake Brentz and first baseman Rowdy Tellez.

Overall, the Jays knew their farm system would take a hit with all the trades. They've shown the ability to restock quickly, but the system currently doesn't rank among the elite in the game.