Jason Parks of Baseball Prospectus has released his Mid-Season Top 50 Prospects List (subscription required).

There are two Blue Jays on the list, I'm sure you can guess who they are.

Aaron Sanchez is number 24 on the list, moving up from #32 on the pre-season listing. This is what Parks said about him:

Prospect Trajectory: Up; a healthy Sanchez has one of the highest upsides of any arm in the minors; potential to be top pitching prospect if everything clicks.

Major League ETA: 2015

Roberto Osuna gets the 43rd spot, he wasn't on the pre-season top 101 list.

Prospect Trajectory: Holding steady; was underrated on offseason list; Osuna is a mature arm despite being only 18 years old, and the production should keep him in his current prospect range; lack of projection and a high maintenance body could prevent him from jumping into the rarified air of the top tier of arms in the minors.

Major League ETA: 2016

There are some former Jays on the list too.

Noah Syndergaard is #23

Prospect Trajectory: Up; has the combination of size and stuff to continue to climb the prospect ranks; a strong second half could propel him into top 10 discussion this offseason.

Travis d'Arnaud #28:

Prospect Trajectory: Down; can't stay healthy; has dual threat potential at premium position; hard to project 2014 status because of current injury.

Jake Marisnick #40:

Prospect Trajectory: Up; when healthy, is a well rounded talent that can play up the middle and provide offensive value; lacks elite upside but could climb the list with a strong second half.

I'm a fan of Marisnick, but I'm thinking that Syndergaard is the one we are going to regret losing.

Jose Bautista is a fairly complex guy. He is the biggest breakout story of his era, the face of his franchise and an enemy of umpires everywhere. Bautista has a borderline abusive swing and a gun for a right arm. There are plenty of superlatives to describe the man and mystique that surrounds him, but ultimately he is a baseball player to be analyzed like any other. On the surface, Jose seems to be having more or less the type of season one would expect. He has a slash line of .250/.345/.481, which has been significantly depressed by a slumping last two weeks where he has hit .149/.200/.289. Before this slump he was right in line with the sort of work he did last year, if not his unbelievable 2011 season. Bautista has a fWAR of 2.7 which is good for 24^th in the major leagues and tops on the Blue Jays. However, behind those numbers, as always, are more numbers. Bautista is someone who has radically changed throughout his career but right now he is undergoing a much smaller less perceptible change. If you are willing to take a bit of a trip down the statistical rabbit hole with me, it seems that something is afoot with the Blue Jays slugger.

I got started thinking about what Jose Bautista was doing differently today when it came across my desk that Jose was leading the Blue Jays in grounding into double plays this year. For the record, it did not come across my desk in the sense that I have a job where people are constantly delivering me facts about the Blue Jays. I would love to have that job, however it would manifest itself, but that's beside the point. The point is that this piece of information didn't really make sense to me. Not only does Bautista have respectable wheels but I'd always thought of him as a pretty pure fly ball hitter. I decided to look into some batted ball data to see if Jose was putting the ball on the ground more often. I only took data since Jose's breakout in 2010 because he was a totally different player before that point. This is what I found:

There is a trend towards more ground balls and fewer fly balls from 2010 to 2012, but the results are far more extreme in 2013 so far. In 2013 Jose Bautista has not been a fly ball hitter at all. He has hit more line drives, which is generally a positive, but Jose's game is power and he needs to hit more fly balls to demonstrate that power. Below is a chart showing how his power numbers have been affected by this change:

I will very willingly admit that the home run column of this chart is unfair because of the limited plate appearances in 2012 and 2013. I just added it because no self respecting chart has only three columns. This data could simply be demonstrating a natural again curve for Bautista as these are his age 29-32 seasons. However, I think the ground balls are more to blame for Bautista's declining power numbers.

In the first chart we see that Bautista's HR/FB rate is only slightly below his best years, indicating to me that he still has the strength and bat speed to hit fly balls out of the yard but simply isn't hitting as many fly balls as before. This looks sort of like a far less extreme case of what happened to Brett Lawrie. Lawrie came up and dominated in 2011 and since then has not come close to repeating his performance due largely to heavy ground ball tendencies. Bautista's drop off is much less significant but there is no doubt that he is hitting more ground balls and that it is affecting his power.

It might seem that I am being slightly nitpicky here. By all reasonable standards Bautista is having a really good season. As mentioned before, his fWAR of 2.7 is one of the best numbers in the big leagues. However, that WAR number is inflated by the kind of defense (24 UZR /150 compared to a career -5.4 UZR/150) that it seems unlikely he magically learned at age 32. Defense peaks early and Bautista's excellent defensive numbers probably amount to no more than statistical noise within a small sample size. I am catching him in the middle of a slump which makes things look worse but I think that the trends in his batted ball data are noteworthy and cause for at least a modicum of concern. Jose Bautista has the ability to be the engine that drives an excellent offense, especially out of the #2 hole in the lineup, but he's got to get back to putting the ball in the air.

Sportsnet's Arash Madani was the first to report that the Blue Jays have optioned Munenori Kawasaki to the Buffalo Bisons of the AAA International League and will be activating Jose Reyes from the 60-day disabled list, a move that was announced right after the Blue Jays' loss to the Tampa Bay Rays Tuesday night.

Munenori Kawasaki has been sent down - the corresponding move for Jose Reyes's call-up tomorrow. Don't shoot the messenger, #Bluejays fans.

— Arash Madani (@ArashMadani) June 26, 2013

To make room on the 40-man roster, Ramon Ortiz was transferred to the 60-day DL from the 15-day DL, as reported by Mike Wilner on Twitter.

In a little over two months with the club, Kawasaki had become one of the most popular players in Toronto. His fun-loving and goofy personality shone a bright light on the club that had started so horribly. He did much better than most people expected, although still not well enough to warrant a big league roster spot. He was hitting .225/.337/.325 with a .300 wOBA and 86 wRC+ when he was optioned, having earned 0.8 fWAR in 60 games played.

Since Kawasaki still had options remaining, the Blue Jays do not risk losing him to other teams via waiver claims unlike Emilio Bonifacio, Juan Perez, and Dustin McGowan.

This may come as sad news to many Jays fans (including me). I loved his contribution to the team on and off the field. I loved his energy. I loved his love for baseball, of the way he seems so happy playing the game. That's why I started the whole "#WriteInKawasaki" campaign. But then I knew, that this was the best move to make for the Blue Jays, one that prevents (or at least delays) the loss of potentially valuable assets. Just remember: should any middle infielder falter, Kawasaki will likely get recalled to the big club. Meanwhile, he can sell some tickets and merchandise for the Buffalo Bisons. If you live in the southern Ontario area, you can easily get down to see him up close in a game in Buffalo. And by the time rosters expand in September, you just might see ol' #66 back on the carpet of the Rogers Centre.

It's not like the players are happy about this either. According to Shi Davidi, manager John Gibbons made sure to gather all the players together to announce the move to allow everyone to give their hugs and good lucks to Kawasaki. Tonight's starter Mark Buehrle has been in the game for a while, but told John Lott that he does not remember any team gathering for the announcement of a move like this, and that he was very special to his teammates. He was special to all of us too.

Great job Kawasaki!! You will be back soon we're going to miss you

— Edwin Encarnacion (@Encadwin) June 26, 2013

Kawasaki, reached for comments after learning of his demotion, gave some quite poignant quotes:

"It's not as if I've died. I'm still a baseball player; it's just that tomorrow the field will be different." (via Brendan Kennedy)

"This one strange Japanese guy to come here and be accepted the way I have has really been an unbelievable experience." (via Shi Davidi)

As expected, righty Ramon Ortiz has been moved from the 15- to the 60-day disabled list, which removes him from the limits of the 40-man roster. Ortiz suffered from a strained right elbow after a pitch on June 2 against the Padres, and like Reyes, was removed from the field in tears. The earliest he can return to the mound for the Blue Jays will be August 2.

It's important to keep in mind that these two moves were made in order for the Blue Jays to bring a beloved All-Star shortstop back onto the team. Jose Reyes is a Blue Jay, guys.

Tampa Bay Rays 5, Toronto Blue Jays 1

Let’s get this out of the way first: Evan Longoria’s glove is criminal and should not be legal on an MLB diamond. Hot Evan had a couple of nice picks at the hot corner, a diving stab, and made the game-ending double play, which was anything but, look routine. Go away, Longoria. Go away.

Mooregasm…
With that said, the Blue Jays probably weren’t going to win this game on merit anyway, as the bats went cold against a wild-but-deadly Matt Moore. Joe Maddon gave Moore plenty of leash, working through some control problems to throw six innings and 120 pitches, finishing with 11 strikeouts, six walks and just four hits allowed.

The broadcasters hammered home early in the game the need for the Jays to be patient in the early going, since Moore throws the league’s lowest rate of first-pitch strikes, However, consider the following:

*Moore still throws first-pitch strikes 52% of the time. *He throws a first-pitch fastball 48% of the time. *He throws a first-pitch fastball for a strike 37% of the time. *Players tend to do well against first pitch offerings and probably swing too infrequently as is.

But the Jays went ultra-cautious and passive, swinging at the first pitch just twice through five innings, not getting more aggressive until the sixth. Their first-pitch profile is as follows, with the total number of each and the number through five innings in parentheses:

Total PA: 28 (23)
1st Pitch Swing: 6 (2)
1st Pitch Take: 22 (21)
1st Pitch Hit: 1 (1)
1st Pitch Out: 1 (1)
1st Pitch Foul: 2 (0)
1st Pitch Whiff: 2 (0)
1st Pitch Called Strike: 8 (8)
1st Pitch Ball: 14 (13)

So the Jays put a first pitch in play just twice, went 0-1 12 times and went 1-0 14 times. I suppose that’s decent considering it’s an advantage more than 50% of the time, but I’m not sure it was enough of a difference for the team to go up with a clear goal of not swinging early.

I should note that I have no idea if they were told to do that – it’s speculation based on some of the strikes they laid off. And it’s generally a smart idea to exploit a pitcher’s weakness. But they didn’t seem to adjust until Moore had gotten in a dominant groove.

On Lind…
Adam Lind was a Moore victim three times and had a tailor made double play turned into a fielder’s choice in his non-Moore at bat. Lind looked a lot like 2011-12 Adam Lind for one night only, lacking the discipline that has refined his approach this year. In the past two seasons, high heat was Lind’s kryptonite as he swung on 56 of 85 "hard" offerings above the strikezone. Moore got him to reach for a couple of those and reach low out of the zone on a couple others.

It actually led me to a curious and somewhat worrisome finding – pitcher’s have thrown Lind almost NO high and hard pitches this year. That was the book on him previously and teams have gotten away from it, perhaps because that’s a risky place to miss against a hot hitter. It will be interesting to see if he sees more of those offerings moving forward and if he can lay off.

On Buehrle…
Mark Buehrle looked old and punchless tonight, much like he did earlier in the year. He labored through five innings, walking four and being BABIP’d to death with eight hits, striking out just two and surrendering four runs.

The changeup was the only pitch Buerhle had working, coaxing six whiffs to just one for the rest of his pitches combined. This continues a season long trend of him only being able to fool batters with the change.

Buehrle is who he is, so I shouldn’t nit pick, I suppose, but if he’s going to be mediocre I at least expect him to give the team six innings. Tonight, he didn’t have it.

And the rest…
*How about that weather, yeah? The thunder and rain was audible on the Jays broadcast, even mercifully knocking out the Sportsnet feed for a bit in the bottom of the sixth. Alas, it came back. Sigh.

*Brett Cecils’ reign of dominance is over, as he allowed a hit for the first time in 40 batters and a run for the first time in 20 innings. Quite good, that guy.

*Jose Molina’s slide to avoid J.P. Arencibia’s tag at home plate in the fourth inning was the greatest cannonball in recorded human history. He was safe, by the way, though with the number of borderline calls you think the Jays could have gotten one to fall their way.

*Arencibia had a rough game. Although he walked on four pitches once, he also struck out twice (yawn), did a poor job framing, allowed a double steal without making a throw, and failed to block a ball in the dirt that allowed a runner to move up, taking away a double play threat with Molina batting.

*It was the last we’ll see of Munenori Kawasaki for some time, as he was optioned to Buffalo to make room for Jose Reyes after the game.

Follow @BlakeMurphyODC

When Colby Rasmus came to the Blue Jays almost two years ago he came with a great deal of fanfare and weighty expectations. He was struggling somewhat at the time, but he had produced a .276/.361/.498 slash line the previous year at the age of 23 so Blue Jays fans had reason to be confident he would flourish in Toronto. Unfortunately, Colby Rasmus has not replicated the success of his 2010 season since joining the Jays and has produced a .221/.285/.408 line in his tenure with the team. Rasmus turns 27 this year and has to show the ability to be a solid starter in 2013 if he wants to be the Blue Jays centre fielder for the foreseeable future. Fortunately for him, he is doing just that. Going into last night's game Colby was sitting on a .242/.319/.467 line and a 2.2 fWAR, good for 9^th among MLB CF's right between Dexter Fowler and Adam Jones. He has been excellent in the field, but more importantly he has begun to regain his 2010 form with the bat. Although he isn't where he was three years ago, there are some indicators that he's closer than he looks.

The current complaint about Colby usually revolves around his strikeouts, and while a K% of 33% is a tough number to swallow it has been coming down steadily since he put up an insane 41.6% strikeout rate in April. It should also be noted that in 2010 Rasmus had a 27.7% K rate, far higher than the 22.1% and 23.8% rates he would post in his subsequent down years. It would be foolish to say that Rasmus is better the more he strikes out, but he has succeeded in the past while striking out a great deal. In fact, his 2013 ISO of .225 is almost identical to his 2010 ISO of .222 so perhaps Rasmus is more effective when he is striking out more because it is indicative that he is swinging for the fences and demonstrating his impressive power. It's unlikely a coincidence that Rasmus has had his highest K% and highest ISO numbers in the years he has been the most effective offensively.

Other than similar strikeout and power numbers, other linkages between Rasmus's 2010 and 2013 seasons can be made when looking at the batted ball data below:

There are two main factors in play here. The first is how Rasmus has done a much better job of keeping the ball in the air during his two strong seasons. This season Colby's ground ball and fly ball rates are virtually identical to his 2010 numbers. Additionally, he seemed to have had serious problems with his pop-up rates during the 2011 and 2012 down years. This year he has that problem under control, although he's still far from Joey Votto in that area.

Colby Rasmus has not blossomed into the All-Star player that many Blue Jays fans imagined and in all likelihood he never will. That being said, his 2013 season has been a good one that ought to be appreciated despite his flaws. 242/.319/467 isn't identical to his 2010 line but that line was bolstered by a .354 BABIP that Rasmus is unlikely to repeat. The important thing is that Rasmus is looking good offensively and defensively and doing some of the things that made him successful earlier in his career. If Colby can keep the ball off the ground and stay away from the pop ups he will be productive with the bat, and he's proven to be a solid CF with the glove. Put simply, he's a good player and probably, an underappreciated one. Blue Jays fans marveled at the 2010 version of Rasmus but we are basically seeing that guy minus a little luck on balls in play. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the flow.

I'm feeling a little crappy tonight, and it's got nothing to do with the Cubs performance on the field. Although that doesn't help much.

• It's no use in denying that the Cardinals are a good team. But as Tom Verducci notes, one of the reasons for their quality comes from an unexpected source: second baseman Matt Carpenter. Verducci also lists other players who are having improbable all-star seasons.
• Jay Jaffe also puts together a complete lineup of under-the-radar potential all-stars.
• And David Schoenfield puts together his list of unsung all-stars. There must have been a memo about this topic this week that I missed. And Matt Carpenter is on all three lists.
• Another unexpected star is Russell Martin, who, according to CBSSports.com's Mike Axisa, is the best free agent pickup from this past off-season.
• Adam Rubin thinks Matt Harveyshould start the All-Star Game for the National League. I don't see why not.
• The trade winds are blowing, and the Marlins are "aggressively" trying to tradeRicky Nolasco.
• The Braves want a relief pitcher, but they have no interest in Carlos Marmol. They would like James Russell, but my guess is the Cubs aren't interested in trading him.
• The Philliesneed to admit the inevitable and start rebuilding, writes Jay Jaffe. Trading Jonathan Papelbon should be the first step.
• I really don't want to list this one because it's so stupid, but everyone will be talking about it because it's about the Yankees. YankeesGM Brian Cashman blew up when he was told that Alex Rodriguez had talked about his rehab schedule on Twitter. Told him to shut up. Dropped an F-Bomb. Welcome back to the Bronx Zoo.
• With all the failures and injuries to their high-priced stars this season, Johnette Howard of ESPNNewYork.com thinks it is more likely now than ever that the Yankees re-sign Robinson Cano. She doesn't necessarily think this is a good thing for the Yankees.
• The pennant race in the AL East this year has the potential to be one of the greatest of all time. Every team is at least at .500 at the moment.
• Rays manager Joe Maddon never thought the Blue Jays were out of the race.
• Orioles pitcher Dylan Bundyis off to see Dr. James Andrews. Never a good thing.
• Angels pitcher Jason Vargas had surgery to remove a blood clot.
• Tim Brown thinks the Giants-Dodgers rivalry has lost some luster with both teams struggling.
• The Red Soxsent third baseman Will Middlebrooks to the minors.Jose Iglesias is their new third baseman, for now.
• Jurickson Profar is still in the majors, but he's not playing much. He needs more work before he can play the outfield.
• The Mariners have recalled Dustin Ackley from the minors. He doesn't need any more work before he can play the outfield, and that's the plan.
• The Marlins think shortstop Adeiny Hechavarriais playing superior defense, even if the numbers say otherwise. I'm going to offer my opinion that you shouldn't base any opinion on only 61 games of defensive stats, so I'll go with the Marlins, for now. It's also nice to talk about the Marlins dealing with something other than their attendance, their injuries, their trade rumors or how lousy they are.
• DiamondbacksCEO Derrick Hall has a global vision for the game, which is why Arizona is going to be one of the teams opening the season in Australia next year.
• Corey Hart is frustrated that his rehabilitation has dragged on and on. Now apparently he's hurt his left knee as he tries to rehabilitate his right one.
• The month that George Brett gave being the Royals hitting coach is almost up. The numbers show he he's been a wash. Some players have gotten better while others got worse.
• Finally, Rick Peterson, who now works as the Orioles Director of Pitching Development, has revealed what he believes to be baseball's magic number: 39. That's the number of hitters that a winning team wants to get to the plate. If your number three hitter comes to the plate five times, you have better than a 50% chance of winning. Conversely, you want to make sure the opposing team doesn't let their number three hitter come to the plate for a fifth time.

And tomorrow will be a better day than yesterday, Buster. I hope I won't be lying on the couch all day like today.

Thomas Caesar Candiotti

Starting Pitcher, 1986-1991, 1999

Height: 6'3" Weight: 205 lbs

Throws: Right

How Acquired (1): Free Agent, December 12, 1985

Left Via (1): Traded with Turner Ward to the Toronto Blue Jays for Mark Whiten, Glenallen Hill and Denis Boucher. June 27, 1991

How Acquired (2): Free Agent, June 29, 1999

Left Via (2): Released, August 2 1999

Tom Candiotti was never named to an All-Star team, despite being on of the ten best pitchers in his league five or six teams, a fitting lack of recognition for a man who pitched almost 3,000 innings in the big leagues after not even being drafted.

Candiotti was born and raised in the Bay Area of northern California, where he attended St. Mary's College. During his four years there, he set school records for single-season and career wins and ERA that stand to this day, but no team thought him worthy of even a late-round pick. Instead, Candiotti found himself playing for the Victoria Mussels, an independent team in the Northwest League. He posted a 2.44 ERA in 70 innings and that winter the Kansas City Royals signed him to a minor league deal.

Candiotti had success for K.C.'s Double-A team in 1980, was chosen by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 1980 Rule 5 draft, and had success for their Double-A team in 1981, but then blew out his elbow. It seemed possible that this would be a career-ending injury, but he became one of the first people to undergo a relatively new type of operation. Candiotti missed the entire 1982 season, but returned in 1983, having success in Triple-A, and on August 8th of that year, he became just the second player ever to pitch in the Major Leagues after having "Tommy John surgery." Coincidentally, in Tom's second career start, the opposing starting pitcher was none other than Tommy John. Candiotti pitched a complete game shutout.

Despite such an impressive beginning, Candiotti had only moderate success with Milwaukee. He spent more time in the minors than with the big league club during 1984 and didn't play in the Majors at all in 1985. At the end of that season, Milwaukee released him. Something else had happened in 1985 too though: Tom began working on a new pitch. Explained Cleveland Indians Vice President Joe Klein, after the team signed him that December, "The fascination with Candiotti is that he now throws a knuckleball."

Candiotti had success in the Puerto Rican Winter League that off-season, leading all pitchers in strikeouts, and won a spot in the Indians rotation. Few players have had as impressive a debut season for the Tribe as Candiotti did that year. He led the team in innings, strikeouts, and ERA. He also threw 3 shutouts that year, including a 3-hit gem against Baltimore in which he struck out 10, and led the American League with 17 complete games.

Tom was the Tribe's Opening Day starter in 1987. His numbers were not as impressive as in the year before, due in large part to a dreadful first half. He rebounded after the All-Star break, with a strong run highlighted by a 1-hit shutout of the Yankees, and managed to lead the team in innings, strikeouts, and ERA again, earning himself another Opening Day nod for 1988. He put up a 3.28 ERA in '88, the best of his career to that point. A mild shoulder injury caused him to miss three weeks in August, but he returned to post an ERA of 2.25 over nine starts following his absence.

Candiotti was again the team's best pitcher in 1989, with an ERA of 3.10. He had the second-best home run rate of any starting pitcher in the AL that season too. Avoiding the long ball had been an important part of his success throughout his years in Cleveland, in 1989 he gave up just 10 in 206 innings. By WAR (Baseball-Refrence or Fangraphs' calculation, take your pick), Candiotti was one of the ten best pitchers in the American League for the third time in four seasons that year, yet few outside of Cleveland seemed to take notice.

He had another strong season in 1990, placing second in just about every significant pitching category for the Tribe and on 1991 he got off to a tremendous start, allowing 2 runs or fewer in 13 of his first 15 starts. His ERA through June 23 sat at 2.24. Four days later he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for a package centered around up-and-coming outfielders Mark Whiten and Glenallen Hill.

While both those players were seen as potential stars (Whiten especially), Indians President Hank Peters admitted that the deal was made for financial reasons. Candiotti was due to hit free agency following the season and had declined a 3-year, $7.2 million contract. The Indians considered that a generous offer, as it would have made him the highest paid player in franchise history (for the record, he was right to turn the deal down, as he eventually inked a 4-year, $15.5 million deal with the Dodgers instead).

Candiotti continued his fantastic season, ending the year with a 2.65 ERA in 238 innings. His not being named an All-Star that season, or receiving any points in the AL Cy Young balloting is a shame (a shame that can be explained, like most overlooked pitching seasons, by a relatively low number of wins). He had 7.1 WAR that year, enough to compete for the league lead. Since 1991, the highest WAR by a non-All Star pitcher is 6.4. Candiotti did at least get to experience the playoffs for the first time, starting Games 1 and 5 of the ALCS for Toronto.

He was a very good pitcher again in 1992 and 1993 (with the Dodgers). By the end of '93 he was 36 years old though, and in 1994 he finally began to decline, serving as a roughly league average pitcher for three more years with L.A. and then one with the Oakland Athletics (1998). In June of 1999, Oakland released him. Two weeks later, he was signed by the Indians. He appeared in 7 games, starting just 2. He allowed 5 runs in each of his final two appearances, neither of which last even two full innings. He was released on August 2 and after making a brief attempt to land a job the following spring, he announced his retirement before the start of the 2000 season.

Following his playing career, Candiotti became a broadcaster, working first for ESPN and the Blue Jays, and now in his 8th season as the radio analyst for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He also became an avid bowler, with a 200+ average and a perfect game on his resume. In 2007 he was inducted to the Professional Bowling Hall of Fame's celebrity wing, the sort of recognition he never really received in baseball. His career WAR of 42.5 is the highest by any pitcher since the creation of the All-Star Game in 1933 never named to the team. Let there be no doubt though, Candiotti was a great pitcher.

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com

American League Leader

• WAR Pitchers: 4th, 1991 (7.1); 6th, 1988 (5.7); 7th, 1986 (4.9); 9th, 1989 (4.7)
• ERA: 2nd, 1991 (2.65); 10th, 1986 (3.57); 10th, 1989 (3.10)
• Wins: 9th, 1986 (16); 10th, 1990 (15)
• WHIP: 8th, 1989 (1.180); 8th, 1991 (1.155)
• Hits/9 IP: 9th, 1991 (7.639)
• Bases on Balls/9 IP: 8th, 1990 (2.451); 10th, 1988 (2.202); 10th, 1989 (2.403)
• Innings: 6th, 1986 (252.1); 7th, 1991 (238.0)
• Strikeouts: 8th, 1991 (167)
• Games Started: 7th, 1986 (34); 7th, 1991 (34)
• Complete Games: 1st, 1986 (17); 6th, 1988 (11)
• Shutouts: 4th, 1986 (3); 9th, 1987 (2)
• Strikeouts/Bases on Balls: 8th, 1990 (2.327); 9th, 1988 (2.585)
• Home Runs/9 IP: 1st, 1991 (0.454); 2nd, 1989 (0.437); 3rd, 1986 (0.642); 10th, 1988 (0.623)
• Wild Pitches: 2nd, 1999-13; 4th, 1987-13; 6th, 1986-12; 7th, 1991-11
• ERA+: 2nd, 1991 (159); 9th, 1989 (128)
• Range Factor/Game P: 1st, 1989 (2.23); 2nd, 1986 (1.89); 2nd, 1990 (1.90); 5th, 1988 (1.71)

Cleveland Indians Career Leader

• 19th WAR Pitchers (21.9)
• 41st ERA (3.62)
• 26th Wins (73)
• 32nd WHIP (1.291)
• 36th Hits/9 IP (8.643)
• 39th Bases on Balls/9 IP (2.973)
• t-24th Strikeouts/9 IP (5.722)
• 24th Innings Pitched (1201.2)
• 20th Strikeouts (764)
• 19th Games Started (174)
• 40th Complete Games (45)
• t-40th Shutouts (7)
• 18th Home Runs (103)
• t-23rd Strikeouts/Bases on Balls (1.924)
• 4th Wild Pitches (53)
• t-23rd Hit By Pitch (31)
• t-22nd ERA+ (115)
• 21st Win Probability Added (5.8)

Cleveland Indians Season Leader

• t-50th Pitching WAR (5.7, 1988)
• t-36th ERA (2.24, 1991)
• 24th WHIP (1.071, 1991)
• t-46th Strikeouts (167, 1986)
• t-20th Home Runs (28, 1987)
• t-42nd Bases on Balls (106, 1986)
• 22nd Strikeouts/Bases on Balls (3.071, 1991)
• t-8th Losses (18, 1987)
• t-14th Wild Pitches (13, 1987)
• t-24th Wild Pitches (12, 1986)
• t-50th Wild Pitches (9, 1990)
• 5th ERA+ (187, 1991)

Sources:

Baseball-Reference
The Sporting News (multiple issues from 1983-1991)
Cleveland Plain Dealer (May 30, 2007)
Wikipedia

It would be a good guessing game to to see who could come up with the name of the Blue Jays prospect that is going to the Sirius XM All-Star Futures game, but since it is out there on the internet, we might as well just say it.

A.J. Jimenez is the lone Blue Jay prospect going to the game. Jimenez has a .451/.444/.588 batting line in 12 games with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. He started the year on the DL and then played 9 games with Dunedin, where he hit .429/.448/.643 before being moved up. I wonder how long it will be before he gets promoted to Buffalo. Since he is on our 40-man roster, I'd think he'll be a September call up.

Former Jay prospect Noah Syndergaard is one of the Mets' two named to the team. None of the players we sent to Miami or Houston made the cut.

Congratulations A.J.

Clay Buchholz faced another setback yesterday, and may not be making another start until after the All-Star break. It's not great timing considering Jon Lester's recent performance. (Evan Drellich; Masslive.com)

Ryan Dempster continues to do Ryan Dempster things, and it is very important for the team going forward. (Alex Speier; WEEI.com)

Hunter Golden takes a deeper look into the demotion of Will Middlebrooks. (Hunter Golden; Fire Brand of the AL)

A big reason for Middlebrooks being sent to Pawtucket was the surprising offense from Jose Iglesias, whose big nights are becoming quite common. (Michael Silverman; Boston Herald)

With trade season approaching, it's very possible that Ricky Nolasco will be the best starting pitcher on the market this season. (Jeff Sullivan; Fangraphs)

For all of the success the Red Sox have had in 2013, Brian MacPherson details one thing that could hold them back. (Brian MacPherson; Providence Journal)

The Blue Jays have been on fire as of late, and have put themselves back in the AL East race. RA Dickey being back to his old ways would not bode well for the rest of the division. (Rob Neyer; Baseball Nation)

Read more Red Sox:

• MLB All-Star Game 2013: Two Red Sox prospects named to Futures Game
• Farrell: Red Sox "better team" with Jose Iglesias at third base
• The Kevin Youkilis trade, one year later
• Shane Victorino providing value in multiple ways
• Ryan Dempster: The model of stability

Dickey was special and Reyes was present, what more could you ask for?

JAYS LINKS

Dickey throws complete-game shutout vs. Rays - Sportsnet.ca
"R.A. Dickey was dominant, throwing a complete-game two-hit shutout, while Adam Lind and Edwin Encarnacion both homered to give the Jays a 3-0 win in Jose Reyes' return to the lineup vs. the Rays."

R.A. Dickey’s Encouraging Velocity Spike | FanGraphs Baseball
Velocity isn't everything, but this sure looks like good news

Gibbons: Kawasaki demotion no ordinary move - Sportsnet.ca
"The circumstances surrounding Munenori Kawasaki's demotion were anything but ordinary, and manager John Gibbons says there was "something different" about Tuesday's roster move."

Blue Jays’ Bautista, Encarnacion and Cecil potential all-stars: Griffin | Toronto Star
"Every team must be represented at the all-star game. For the Jays, these three are their candidates."

This week in Jays merch: the Munenori Kawasaki shirts | Drunk Jays Fans | Blogs | theScore.com
This stuff is must have.

AL EAST LINKS

Alex Rodriguez responds to Brian Cashman's expletive-laden directive - SBNation.com
"The Yankees GM had no qualms telling A-Rod to "shut the f--k up" on Tuesday. Rodriguez's response was a bit more PR-friendly."

Red Sox ace Clay Buchholz to undergo MRI - Over the Monster
"Don't panic yet -- the Sox just want to be thorough."

Mark Teixeira to undergo season-ending surgery - SBNation.com
"After dealing with issues for over three months, Teixeira is headed for wrist surgery."

Orioles Injury News: Dylan Bundy to get Tommy John surgery Thursday - Camden Chat
"Top Orioles pitching prospect Dylan Bundy will have to get Tommy John surgery after all."

Currently historic: Machado madness
"Manny Machado takes it to the bank. Also, Cabrera, Davis, and Votto create chaos."

THE REST OF THE BASEBALL UNIVERSE

So It’s Ricky Nolasco You’re After | FanGraphs Baseball
I think the Blue Jays have just about enough Marlins starters.

Matt Carpenter's improbable path to becoming an All-Star talent - MLB - Tom Verducci - SI.com

"Matt Carpenter's journey: Tracking the Cardinals' second baseman's unlikely path to becoming an All-Star-caliber talent."

MLB 2013 Futures Game rosters announced - SBNation.com

"Baseball reveals the participants in the annual prospects showcase."

The Astros’ Best Position Player | FanGraphs Baseball

I know a team that could (and by that I mean should) be in the market for a catcher....

Pirates' Russell Martin among the best free agent signings of '13 so far - CBSSports.com
"The Pirates have not had much luck with major-league free agents in recent years, but Russell Martin has been a great pickup this year." He would have looked nice as a Jay... I'm just very high on any JPA alternative today.

NON-BASEBALL LINK OF THE DAY

Wimbledon rules orange shoes out but not colored undies | Reuters
Rules are rules....

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders:L 3-5, W 6-3 vs. Syracuse Chiefs

Game One:

CF Corey Patterson 1-4, 2 RBI, K
C JR Murphy 0-4, K, pickoff
RF Fernando Martinez 1-3, 2B - batting .344/.436/.563 in nine games with SWB
2B Brent Lillibridge 1-2, RBI, BB, SB, put out
1B Dan Johnson 0-3, K
DH Randy Ruiz 1-3, K - batting .238 since being acquired by NYY
LF Thomas Neal 2-3
3B Addison Maruszak 2-3, E5 - fielding error, fourth of the season
SS Walter Ibarra 0-3, K

David Huff 5.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R/3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K - three groundouts, five flyouts
Matt Daley 0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, K - allowed one home run

Both teams traded equal runs in the first and second innings, but the Chiefs tacked on two more runs in the fifth and sixth innings to give them the win.

Game Two:

3B Brent Lillibridge 0-4
CF Cody Grice 0-4, 2 K
RF Fernando Martinez 1-3, HR, RBI, BB, K - first homer with SWB this season
LF Thomas Neal 1-4 - batting .341 in Triple-A this season
DH Dan Johnson 2-3, 2B, HR, 2 RBI - ninth homer this season
1B Randy Ruiz 2-3, HR, RBI - third homer with SWB this season
2B Casey Stevenson 1-2, HR, 2 RBI - third homer with SWB this season
SS Walter Ibarra 2-3, K
C Bobby Wilson 1-3

Chris Bootcheck 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, pickoff - six groundouts, three flyouts
Dellin Betances 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K - 19 of 30 pitches for strikes

Four home runs in one game will generally go a long way toward a win, and the quartet of dingers helped the RailRiders split the doubleheader and pick up their 36th win of the season. Caleb Cotham starts for SWB tonight at 7:00 pm.

Double-A Trenton Thunder:W 8-2 vs. Erie SeaWolves

CF Ramon Flores 0-2, RBI, 3 BB
2B Jose Pirela 0-3, 2 BB
RF Tyler Austin 1-5 - batting .273 this season
DH Kyle Roller 1-4, 2 RBI
SS Carmen Angelini 2-3, 2B, BB - batting .227 since his promotion
1B Andrew Clark 3-3, 2B, 3 RBI, BB
LF Shane Brown 0-2, BB, HBP
C Jeff Farnham 0-3, BB, K, E2 - fielding error, second of the season
3B Francisco Rosario 1-4, 2 RBI

Nik Turley 5.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, 2 WP - two groundouts, two flyouts
Danny Burawa 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Cesar Cabral 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Turley racked up nine strikeouts on the day he was named to the Eastern League All-Star Game, and picked up his seventh win of the season thanks in part to a big four-run inning from the Thunder offense. Zach Nuding gets the start for Trenton today at 6:35 pm.

High-A Tampa Yankees: Postponed for rain

Tampa will play two games against the Cubs tonight with the first starting at 5:00 pm.

Low-A Charleston RiverDogs:L 5-7 vs. Greenville Drive

CF Jake Cave 1-5, 2B, 2 K - batting .263 this season
SS Cito Culver 2-3, SB, CS
1B Greg Bird 3-4, 2B, HR, 5 RBI - seventh homer of the season
DH Dante Bichette Jr. 0-4
2B Angelo Gumbs 0-3, BB, K, SB
LF Danny Oh 0-3, BB - batting .302 this season
RF Aaron Gates 0-4, K
C Wes Wilson 1-4
3B Jose Rosario 1-4, K

Vicente (Jose) Campos 4 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K - four groundouts, two flyouts
Brett Gerritse 3.2 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, WP, HB
Derek Varnadore 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB

Charleston led 5-3 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, but Gerritse continued to implode by allowing two consecutive two-run innings in the seventh and eighth innings, which sent the RiverDogs to their 33rd loss of the season. Luis Niebla starts against the Hickory Crawdads tonight at 7:05 pm at The Joe.

Short Season-A Staten Island Yankees:W 7-3 (10 innings) vs. Hudson Valley Renegades

2B Derek Toadvine 3-5, CS - batting .355 to start his season
LF Michael O'Neill 1-4, 2 K, HBP
CF Brandon Thomas 2-5, 2B, HR, 5 RBI, K - first professional home run
RF Yeicok Calderon 1-5, K, OF assist
3B Kale Sumner 0-5, 2 K
1B Bubba Jones 1-4, 2B, E3 - fielding error, third of the season
SS John Murphy 0-1
DH Daniel Lopez 2-3, RBI, BB
C Trent Garrison 0-4 - batting .077 to start the season

Cale Coshow 2.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, BB, K, HB - four groundouts, two flyouts
David Palladino 3.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
Sam Agnew-Wieland 2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, HB - two groundouts, one flyout
Andy Beresford 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB
Tyler Webb 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, BB, K - 0 ER allowed so far this season

The Yankees and Renegades were tied at three through nine innings, sending the game to a tenth inning where Staten Island put up a four-spot behind a run scored on a wild pitch and a three-run homer by Brandon Thomas. Staten Island takes on Hudson Valley again tonight at 7:00 pm.

Notes from the Gulf Coast League:

GCL Yankees 1 lost 0-10 to the GCL Blue Jays. Adonis Garcia was 0-4 with a strikeout, Austin Aune and Ty Afenir were both 0-3 with two strikeouts a piece. Gosuke Katoh singled to bring his average to .353 to begin his professional career. Jordan Barnes was 3-3. The team collectively played some pretty poor defense with Aune, Katoh, Kevin Corneluis and Christopher Breen all committing errors in the game. Chaz Hebert started for the Yankees and allowed five runs, three of them earned, in three innings of work.

Despite picking up 14 hits, GCL Yankees 2 were defeated by the GCL Astros in extra innings. Third baseman Renzo Martini went 4-5 to bring his average to begin the season to .348. Dalton Smith picked up two singles and right fielder Jorge Alcantara doubled and drove in three runs. Joseph Maher started for the Yankees, going four innings and giving up one run while striking out two batters.

Jon Lester takes on Chien-Ming Wang tonight as two pitchers going in different directions face off. The first two preview of Lester are here and here. On May 10th Lester faced the Blue Jays and dominated them going 9 innings in a 1 hit shutout. Since that game though, in 8 appearances he's allowed 35 earned runs in 47.2 innings (6.61 ERA) and hitters are getting on base nearly 40% of the time against him. The Red Sox think he's picked up a mechanical problem although trusting John Farrell to know what's going on is probably a bad idea.

The usage of his cutter has gone down a fair bit since early May and that might be part of the problem

Chien-Ming Wang

A quick point on Chien-Ming Wang that I noticed while going through his pitch/FX page. This year he's thrown 23 changeups (8.36%) and hitters have swung at 10 of them. Of those 10 swings, 7 of them have been whiffs, which could be slightly telling besides the obvious small sample size. A possible reason for all these swings and misses could be the movement on his changeup compared to his sinker.

As you can see, Wang's changeup has movement that looks very similar to that of his sinker, but is averaging 12 MPH less so far this season. A possibility for the success of his changeup is that hitters could think they read the sinker coming, but it is actually the changeup causing them to swing early and whiff on the pitch. This two pitch combination could be key going forward for Wang to keep having successful outings.

We Said What?

That's your response?

Criticize the guy who dares to call out these jokers.
Fine. If I’m in charge, then Anthopoulis has been fired. He blew all that money.
Fire Gibbons. Cut Izturis. Trade Rasmus for a middle infield prospect. Bring up Gose and start him in CF. Bring up Thole and hit Arencibia every day at either catcher or DH. Bat Bautista 7th.

Is that enough? This is the worst team in baseball, everything goes.

Good thing we didn't do that.

My hopeful lineup for tonight is:

1. Reyes SS
2. Bautista RF
3. Encarnacion 1B
4. Cabrera DH
5. Rasmus CF
6. Davis LF
7. DeRosa 3B
8. Arencibia C
9. Izturis 2B

For fans of up arrows, this is the one for you. The Blue Jays went 11-2, over the two weeks we are covering.

Per a release from the Buffalo Bisons Sportsnet Radio 590 The FAN will be airing eight Buffalo Bisons games for the remainder of the 2013 International League season. The first game they will be simulcasting will be on July 1 for a 7:15 Bisons game against the Charlotte Knights. Each broadcast will feature "The Voice of the Bisons" Ben Wagner (whom we interviewed here and here) as well as his partner Duke McGuire, and Pat Malacaro.

Of course, you could listen to all Bisons games for free online already (at Bisons.com), but this is a good sign that Sportsnet feels there is enough interest in baseball--minor league baseball no less--to pick up the rights to eight games over the air. I know that ever since the affiliation was formalized between them and the Blue Jays, the Bisons were working to get some broadcasts up here in Toronto. Toronto never broadcast any Las Vegas 51s games; however I'm unsure whether Syracuse Chiefs games were ever broadcast north of the border.

This sounds like a great opportunity for them to draw more visitors down to Coca-Cola Field, especially with the expected rehab appearances by Brett Lawrie and Brandon Morrow.

Broadcast Games

• Monday, July 1 (7:15 p.m.) Bisons at Charlotte Knights (Chicago White Sox)
• Saturday, July 6 (7:05 p.m.) Bisons vs. Syracuse Chiefs (Washington Nationals)
• Thursday, July 11 (7:05 p.m.) Bisons at Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies)
• Thursday, July 18 (7:05 p.m.) Bisons vs. Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit Tigers)
• Saturday, July 20 (7:05 p.m.) Bisons vs. Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit Tigers)
• Saturday, July 27 (7:00 p.m.) Bisons at Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit Tigers)
• Monday, Aug. 19 (7:05 p.m.) Bisons at Pawtucket Red Sox (Boston Red Sox)
• Saturday, Aug. 31 (7:05 p.m.) Bisons at Rochester Red Wings (Minnesota Twins)

Blue Jays in Mandarin / 藍鳥普通話現場直播

Tonight's major league game between the Blue Jays and the Red Sox will be broadcast in Mandarin Chinese on Roger's OMNI.2 station as Taiwanese pitcher Chien-Ming Wang will be on the hill. This will be the first live Chinese broadcast of a Major League Baseball game in Canada.

In the video (0:40) you can see and hear Wei Lee, the Mandarin play-by-play announcer. Lee will be joined by former Taiwanese baseball player Robert Wu as the analyst. So if you aren't in the mood for Buck and Pat, maybe you'll like Wei and Robert better.

The Jays went 11-2 over the past two week, the pitching was great, but the bats weren't bad either. Well, some of them weren't.....

Blue Jays 4 Red Sox 7

Chien-Ming Wang had a good first inning.

I should just stop there.

That second inning was awful. I'm totally against pitching around someone in the first inning with no one on. But Wang (I don't know why we can't just spell it Wong) seemed not to want to pitch to David Ortiz. So Ortiz is walked, and Wang still can't find the strike zone for Mike Carp. Two walks. Wang doesn't have the stuff to get away with walking the first 2 batters in an inning. Daniel Nava singled off the Monster. 1-0. Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a line drive up the middle. 2-0. Stephan Drew hit a fly ball to right field that Jose Bautista totally misjudged. It should have been an error, but it was ruled a hit. 3-0. Jose Iglesias ground ball single. 4-0. Jacoby Ellsbury ground ball single. 5-0. Shane Victorino ground ball, but this one's a double play. Yay. Dustin Pedroia home run. 7-0.

And that was it for Red Sox scoring. It was more than enough.

We got a couple of runs in the 5th off a Maicer Izturis double. And a couple more in the 8th, when Rajai Davis, Izturis and Emilio Bonifacio loaded the bases. It looked like we had a shot, for a moment, but a hard hit line drive from Jose Reyes was turned into a sac fly out. Jose Bautista soft ground out scored another run. And Edwin Encarnacion had a hard hit fly was caught.

No Jays of the Day today. Izturis led the way with a .082 WPA.

Suckage goes to Wang (-.350) and Edwin (-.097, 2 GBDP, a strikeout and a fly ball that wasn't quite hit far enough). I think we'll give one to Bautista too, he had a -.070, but that doesn't count the fly ball he misplayed in the 2nd.

Aaron Loup, Brett Cecil, Juan Perez and Steve Delabar 6.1 innings of scoreless ball. Perez deserves special mention for his 3 innings of perfect ball, with 3 strikeouts.

There was some kind of strange bullpen usage by Gibby. If this wasn't the game to use Dustin McGowan, I don't know when you would use him. Down by 3 in the 8th, and you use Delabar instead of him? Or if not McGowan, why not Neil Wagner.

And why not pull Melky Cabrera, down by 7? My legs hurt when I watch Melky run. On a cold wet night, why not give his legs a rest?

@KrisLoHomes came up with this on Twitter, when I suggested Melky would soon need a Sedway to patrol the outfield with. Update, I'm reminded it wasn't my idea first, @SebFromHawk suggested the idea 10 days ago.

via pbs.twimg.com

Jon Lester came out of the game in the 8th with some sort of injury. I haven't heard what it was.

Considering the 7 runs were scored in just the 2nd inning, the 806 comments, posted by 51 of us seems pretty good. Ryan H gritted out a win. Great work in a losing cause.

BREAKING: Munenori Kawasaki is returning to the #Bluejays. Melky Cabrera is going on the 15-day DL with left knee tendonitis. #Jays

— Arash Madani (@ArashMadani) June 28, 2013

It took about two days, but everyone's favourite Japanese shortstop is back in Toronto after banged-up Melky Cabrera went to the 15-day DL. Kawasaki played one game in Buffalo going 2-4 with a walk against the Gwinnett Braves.

Not sure why the Blue Jays are going with so many infielders, but hopefully they know what they're doing. There's currently only three natural outfielders on the roster meaning Rajai Davis is the new starting left fielder.

More to come.

I really went overboard with the links today, but there's a lot going on as we approach the All-Star Break and the trading deadline. So let's just get straight to the nonsense.

• Although Alex Rodriguez and Yankees GM Brian Cashman didn't exactly apologize to each other, they both admitted that they could have handled the events of the past week better. So that's all behind us and we can all move on, right?
• Not quite. Bill Maddon and Teri Thompson have an article in the New York Daily News that, anonymously quoting "sources close to the situation," says that A-Rod is rushing his recovery so he can retire before he's suspended. If he can demonstrate that he's physically unable to perform, he'd get to collect the entire amount left on his contract, whether he's playing or not. This is what happened with Albert Belle.
• Jay Jaffe thinks Maddon and Thompson's article is full of holes, and that Rodriguez would have to stay on the DL to collect his salary, where he'd still be subject to suspension. He's also dubious of their sourcing. I wish he'd have asked if the source was George Costanza. But in any case, Jaffe thinks the the Yankees still need Rodriguez and A-Rod still needs the Yankees. He also does a good job summarizing the whole mess.
• In any case, Wallace Matthews of ESPNNewYork.com says that in a conference call with team officials, Rodriguez said that he didn't know when he'd be able to return to the Yankees. So it doesn't sound like he's rushing back to beat a suspension.
• Finally, Jon Heyman says, about those eight million stories in the Naked City? They're all about A-Rod. And they're not going away anytime soon.
• In other Bronx Zoo news, Mark Teixeirais going to have season-ending wrist surgery.
• With Teixeira gone, Jay Jaffe thinks the Yankees are going to have to make a trade to replace him and runs down the candidates. One of his candidates is Paul Konerko, but Jon Heyman said that the White Soxwill trade anyone but Konerko and Chris Sale. Huh? I mean, Sale I understand. Maybe as a 10-5 player Konerko just isn't willing to go anywhere.
• Speaking of the White Sox, you will never be able to unsee this picture of Hawk Harrelson as the Hamburglar. Technically he's not trying to be the Hamburglar. It's just bad sixties fashion.
• Back to the Yankees, Derek Jeteris running again. No date for a rehab assignment has been set yet.
• The Blue Jays activated Jose Reyes from the DL, which meant fan and clubhouse favorite Munenori Kawasakihad to go down to the minors. USA Today provides a look back at why the Blue Jays loved having Kawasaki around.
• The five-team pennant race in the AL East is unprecedented, writes Paul White of USA Today. Except for the NL East in 1973. I guess the difference is that in the AL East, it's five good teams.
• Ken Rosenthal says the Phillies have big decisions to make about dumping their veteran players. Rosenthal thinks that the decision is complicated by the fact that the Phillies TV contract runs out after the 2015 season.
• Dave Cameron of FanGraphs has one trade that he thinks makes too much sense not to happen: Chase Utley to the Athletics. I'm not sure Ruben Amaro agrees.
• The Marlins are aggressively trying to tradeRicky Nolasco. The Dodgers are the favorites. On the other hand, they're not going to tradeGiancarlo Stanton, at least not this season.
• Albert Chen of SI.com says that while Yasiel Puig gets all the attention, his fellow Cuban Jose Fernandez has the same bright future ahead of him.
• Matt Kemp is adjusting to the reality that he's not the biggest star on the Dodgers anymore.
• The Red Sox strategy is to score early and score often. There's a plan, Theo.
• Ed Hodge pitched 100 innings for the 1984 Twins and never played in the majors again. But the Tigers think he's just now throwing his most important pitches, as the left-handed batting practice pitcher.Prince Fielder credits him with improving his hitting against lefties.
• Jose Valverdehas accepted an assignment to the minors.
• Angels GM Jerry DiPoto says the team will neither buy nor sell at the trade deadline.
• Troy Tulowitzki's injury rehab is proceeding nicely.
• Corey Hart, on the other hand, is likely out for the entire season.
• The Nationals are now struggling to earn the playoff spot that seemed like a foregone conclusion at the beginning of the season.
• Stephen Strasburg's only problem is that he's not getting enough run support, writes Matt Snyder of CBSSports.com.
• Ian Krolhelped to fix the Nationals bullpen. He's not to be confused with Ivan Kral, who helped to fix the Patti Smith Group. (And yes, I'm only including this link so I can make a Patti Smith Group reference.)
• DJ Gallo presents the ABCs of thePittsburgh Pirates.
• Former Phillies catcher Darren Daulton has two brain tumors.
• As you probably know if you watched the Cubs broadcast yesterday, it's been 20 years since the Racing Sausages came to Milwaukee. The Journal-Sentinel has a look back.
• Finally, the New York Times takes a look at Doc Edwards, who is now in his 57th year in baseball. At 76, he's still managing the independent San Angelo Colts. In 1975, he managed the Cubs' Double-A team in Midland, which included such players as Bruce Sutter, Mike Krukow, Dennis Lamp, Donnie Moore and Joe Wallis.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Because I won't be doing as many links as today.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders: Game suspended vs. Syracuse Chiefs

Brett Marshall pitches for the RailRiders today at 7:00 pm.

Double-A Trenton Thunder: Postponed for rain vs. Binghamton Mets

Zach Nuding gets the start for the Thunder tonight at 7:05 pm.

High-A Tampa Yankees: L 1-6, W 3-2 vs. Daytona Cubs

Game One:

SS Eduardo Nunez 0-2 - first rehab game
CF Mason Williams 1-3, K
DH Peter O'Brien 0-3, 2 K
C Gary Sanchez 0-3, K, PB - eighth of the season
LF Ben Gamel 1-3, K
RF Yeral Sanchez 1-3, 2 K
2B Rob Refsnyder 1-3, 2 K
1B Saxon Butler 1-3
3B Dan Fiorito 1-3, RBI, K

Dietrich Enns 3 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 3 K - two groundouts, four flyouts
Manny Barreda 3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Branden Pinder 0.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, HB
Taylor Garrison 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, K

The Yankees recently converted Enns into a starting pitcher after he had been a dominant force out of Charleston's bullpen this season. Enns ran into trouble in the third inning, giving up five runs. His offense only managed to score once, dropping game one of the doubleheader.

Game Two:

CF Mason Williams 0-3, BB - batting .254 this season
SS Dan Fiorito 0-3, BB, K
3B Peter O'Brien 1-4, HR, RBI, 2 K - second homer since his promotion
DH Gary Sanchez 2-3, RBI, K - batting .270/.325/.486 over his last 10 games
RF Yeral Sanchez 0-3, K
1B Saxon Butler 0-3, 3 K
C Tyson Blaser 0-2, BB, K
2B Jose Toussen 0-2, BB - batting .246 this season
LF Fu-Lin Kuo 0-3

Scottie Allen 8 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, BB, 7 K - six groundouts, seven flyouts

After trading runs in the first inning, the Yankees and Cubs needed extra innings to settle Game Two, but Tampa got a walk-off solo homer from O'Brien in the eighth inning to give them a win and a split of the doubleheader. Bryan Mitchell starts for Tampa tonight at 7:00 pm at George Steinbrenner Field.

Low-A Charleston RiverDogs:L 6-7 vs. Hickory Crawdads

SS Cito Culver 1-5, RBI, K, E6 (9) - 10 for his last 41 (.244)
2B Angelo Gumbs 1-5, 3B, RBI, K
1B Greg Bird 1-5, 2 K - batting .296 this season
3B Dante Bichette Jr. 1-4, HR, RBI, BB, K - fifth homer of the season
DH Reymond Nunez 2-3, 2B, RBI, 2 BB
LF Kelvin De Leon 1-4, BB
CF Jake Cave 2-4, 2B, RBI, OF assist
C Jackson Valera 1-4 - batting .364 with Charleston this season
RF Aaron Gates 0-4, K, OF assist

Luis Niebla 5 IP, 7 H, 4 R/3 ER, BB, 4 K, WP - one groundout, four flyouts
John Brebbia 2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, BB, 5 K
Phil Wetherell 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB

Charleston got out to a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning before coughing up the lead by allowing a three-run seventh to the Crawdads. A DBJ homer in the bottom of the ninth inning pulled them one run closer to tying the game again, but the rally fell short. Dan Camarena starts for the RiverDogs tonight at 7:05 pm.

Short Season-A Staten Island Yankees: L 8-10 (6.5 innings) vs. Hudson Valley Renegades

2B Derek Toadvine 0-3, BB, K, SB
LF Michael O'Neill 2-4, 2B, RBI, K, SB - batting .324 this season
CF Brandon Thomas 1-3, BB, 2 K, SB - fourth steal this season
DH Yeicok Calderon 1-3, RBI, K - batting .297 with SI
C Isaias Tejeda 2-3, RBI
SS John Murphy 1-3, RBI, E6 - fielding error, first of the season
RF Daniel Lopez 2-3, 2 RBI, K
1B Bubba Jones 1-3, RBI, E3 - missed catch, fourth error of the season
3B Hector Crespo 1-3, RBI - batting .294 this season

Giovanny Gallegos 3 IP, 8 H, 7 R/6 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, HB - five groundouts, zero flyouts
Andrew Benak 2 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Andury Acevedo 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
Charles Haslup 0.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB

The Renegades got out to a 4-0 lead before the Yankees ever came to bat, but Staten Island put themselves on top with a big six-run inning of their own in the third. Unfortunately, the pitchers gave it right back by allowing a five-run inning to Hudson Valley in the fourth inning before the game was called in the seventh due to rain. Staten Island takes on the Aberdeen Ironbirds tonight at 7:05 pm.

Notes from the Gulf Coast League:

GCL Yankees 1 beat the GCL Blue Jays 9-0 with three multi-run innings in their first four of the game. Tyler Wade picked up a single and worked two walks, Chris Breen had two singles, Kevin Cornelius singled and drove in a run in addition to walking twice. Jordan Barnes was 0-4 with a strikeout. Luis Severino, Daury Aquino, and Eric Ruth combined for the shutout.

GCL Yankees 2 rallied for two runs in the ninth inning to beat the GCL Astros 5-4 in first round pick Eric Jagielo's debut. Jagielo was 0-2 with a pair of strikeouts before he was removed from the game, likely to not push his newly-recovered hamstring too far on his first day back. Adonis Garcia singled in a run, Nathan Mikolas homered and drove in two in his only at-bat of the day, Renzo Martini was 0-3 with a strikeout, and Jorge Alcantara was 2-4 with a double. Alex Polanco pitched one inning, walking one and striking out another. Rich Mascheri picked up the two-inning save while racking up four strikeouts.

Red Sox rookie Allen Webster gets the start tonight against Josh Johnson at Fenway this evening. Webster is a 23-year-old right hander from North Carolina, who was drafted in the 18th round of the 2008 draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was traded to Boston in the blockbuster deal last summer:

Traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers with players to be named later, Ivan De Jesus and James Loney to the Boston Red Sox for Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, Nick Punto and cash. The Los Angeles Dodgers sent Rubby De La Rosa (October 4, 2012) and Jerry Sands (October 4, 2012) to the Boston Red Sox to complete the trade.

Yeah, that one.

Webster was a mid to high level prospect before being called up a couple times this year for spot starts. In three starts (in three different months) Webster has thrown 12 innings allowing 15 earned runs walking 6 and striking out 12. His best start was his first one which came all the way back on April 21st against Kansas City.

Webster throws the main five pitches (both four-seamer and sinker) mainly focusing on a mid 90's fastball mid 80's changeup combination with his slider as the main breaking pitch. His changeup has huge swing and miss potential (62.86% whiffs/swing in his three starts). As you can see his changeup resembles his sinker in terms of movement and his curveball looks to be similar to his slider with more horizontal run to it.

Here's a preview of what his mechanics and fastball look like from overthemonster.com

via assets.sbnation.com

Should Lind Play: YES

Since some people were saying this feature was discontinued too early, I'm bringing it back in a more compact form. On days like today against righties, there won't be much of a write up because it's clear Adam Lind will play today. Webster has the traditional splits in the minor leagues so far this season being tougher on righties although Lind will have to be ready for Webster's changeup as he throws it a lot against left handers.

My hopeful lineup for today:

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

This seven infielder business is not a good idea in my opinion. The bottom half of the lineup will always be a black hole of outs.

We Said What?

Solid rant 8/10.

For today's "Find the Link":

Find the link between Allen Webster and the pitcher whose team has gone 3-0 against the Blue Jays this year in his starts.

Hopefully the Blue Jays do their part to keep Webster's rough debut season continuing.