Who's hot and who's not for the Baltimore Orioles from April 21 - 27

Pitchers
Zach Britton		Didn't allow a run over his first six appearances, then went three straight this week with a run or more allowed.  Border between down and middling this week, however, because only 2 runs were earned thanks to some poor defense.
Wei-Yin Chen		He sure loves to give up hits, but seems to work out of the jams.  Chen was a two start pitcher this week and allowed 13 hits, 5 earned runs, and 5 walks over 12 innings.  He also struck out 11 hitters (season-high 6 in Saturday's game).
Miguel Gonzalez		Bad defense is killer - Migo was a victim not only of defensive miscues, but a struggling offense on Sunday.  He was saddled with the loss, although he gave up 3 earned runs over 6 innings.
Tommy Hunter		Slash line against LHB:  .250/.286/.421.....RHB:  .400/.438/.600.  Cripes.
Ubaldo Jimenez		Still searching for that first win as an Oriole.  His biggest issue on Friday was again command, as he walked four hitters and threw only 61 of his 104 pitches for strikes.
Brian Matusz		He's not really being used properly by Buck (21 lefties faced, 19 righties faced), but he's not really that effective against either right now.
T.J. McFarland		Lived on the edge with walks in one game, hits in another, but generally effective.
Evan Meek		Glorious start, but it's all fallen apart.  His last few outings have been absolutely terrible.  Not really sure the defense is helping out much, but he's leaving a lot of pitches in hittable parts of the strike zone.
Bud Norris		Even though hampered by a hamstring issue, Norris was once again pretty solid, holding the Blue Jays to 3 runs over 6 innings.  He walked only 1 batter and had just 86 pitches before leaving with the injury.
Darren O'Day		Not generating nearly the effectiveness he has in the past.  Two innings this week and he allowed 5 hits and an earned run (which came off of a home run).
Josh Stinson		He could be DFA fodder once Patton is activated.
Chris Tillman		An offensive explosion got him a win, but Tillman had a rough week.  Well, rough inning, really.  Under 6 IP, 9 hits and 7 earned runs.  He allowed 3 home runs in the game.  C'mon, #stafface!
Ryan Webb		Had some difficulty locating pitches yesterday, but he had a fairly solid week including a 3K appearance against Boston on Monday.
Catchers
Steve Clevenger		With Steve Pearce, DFA'd, Clevenger takes the reigns as the leader of #teamsteve.  If he keeps going with his current performance, it'd be really great to give Wieters extra DH/days off to keep him fresh.  Clevenger went 3-10 in limited playing time (2 doubles and a walk).
Matt Wieters		Spent part of the week DTD with a forearm strain/tightness, but it didn't seem to affect his performance, at least at the plate.  Wieters tacked on seven hits in 18 trips, including 2 doubles and a homer.  That said, he's still struggling to hit from the right side of the plate.
Infielders
Ryan Flaherty		Best part of his week was that he took four walks, but when he actually had to swing the bat, things went south.  Flaherty is currently hitting just .188 with a .502 OPS.
J.J. Hardy		Missed some time due to a hamstring strain, but returned early in the week and struggled at the plate.  Nagging injuries are likely an issue right now, but he's put up just a .548 OPS this season.
Steve Lombardozzi		Almost zero pop in his bat, but he has been getting on base when he does play.  With Weeks up, he might face additional competition for playing time.  Multi-hit games certainly won't hurt his cause though!
Jonathan Schoop		Does he remain in the lineup with Machado's return looming?
Jemile Weeks		Weeks was off to a pretty good start at Norfolk and continued that in his first weekend at the MLB level.  Three hits in 8 trips, including one triple, although he was pretty close to getting picked off yesterday.
Outfielders
Nelson Cruz		What kind of missile was that?  Oh, look!  Jokes!
Adam Jones		Spotty week, both on defense and at the plate.  Just 5-31 at the plate, including 9 strikeouts (no walks).  I'd really like to see him asked to play deeper in CF, as well.
David Lough		O's web gem of the week, but beyond that, Lough struggled.  Sub-par week at the plate, but he was decent defensively.
Nick Markakis		Apparently he's the 1B with Davis on the DL.  Inexperience at the position aside, Nicky had a truly Markakis-ian week of 10-28 (.357) which including only one extra-base hit.  He did raise his OPS to .720 thanks to 5 walks, though!
Delmon Young		It's possible he spends some extra time on the bench with Davis out, as Markakis is playing first and Young would be the lone defensive replacement for the OF.
Disabled/Inactive List
Chris Davis		The O's say he's likely to miss more than the minimum 15 days.  Ruh roh.
Manny Machado		On a rehab assignment with Frederick.  Allegedly, he was pretty good.
Nolan Reimold		Still no timetable for a return to real baseball activities.
Troy Patton	SSPD	Eligible to come off of the suspended list on Wednesday.

The Yankees expressed interest in Cuban defector Daniel Carbonell and now he's a free agent

Recently defected Cuban outfielder Daniel Carbonell has been declared a free agent after establishing residency in Mexico. He played for Camaguey in the Cuban National Series from the 2009-10 season through '12-13. Carbonell was suspended in August before defecting a few months later in October. While residing in Mexico he hosted a workout last month for at least 15 major league teams, the Yankees being among them.

The 6-foot-3, 23-year-old is known for his all-around speed and athleticism as well as his power and strong throwing arm. In his Cuban career he hit .287/.359/.398, showing the ability to hit for average and get on base. While his total numbers don't necessary back up the claim of a power hitter, his power numbers did gradually improved year after year.

From his showcase video (you can watch the raw video here), it's easy to see that he's strong, well built, very fast, and has a great arm. He actually looks more like a running back than a baseball player. He has a simple and powerful swing, at least when hitting batting practice.

In this video, his legs are bent and he seems to hold his arms out in front, instead of behind him. He then has to pull them back as he prepares for the pitch and ends up with a slightly longer swing. While neither videos are necessarily in-game depictions of his play, the changes (?) in his stance from December 2013 (second video) to February 2013 (first video) are interesting to see.

Given his age, overall athleticism, and country of origin, it's easy to try comparing Daniel Carbonell with Yasiel Puig. However, it's important to keep expectations in check for two reasons:

1) At the same age, Puig has now been a starter in the majors for two seasons.

2) Puig tore up Cuban baseball before defecting, while Carbonell has not.

This, of course, doesn't mean he can't be good in his own right.

Carbonell might actually be the last international free agent of his kind as MLB has decided to change the rules surrounding Cuban defectors for the 2013-2014 signing period that begins in July. In years past, Cuban defectors were eligible for free agency as long as they were 23 years old and had three seasons of experience in Cuba's Serie Nacional. Now, under the new rules, they will need to have five seasons in order to qualify. While Carbonell started playing at the age of 18, he would no longer qualify under the new rules.

That means future players who don't meet those criteria will have their signing bonus count against their team's international bonus pool.This is obviously another move to discourage teams from signing all the talent they can and, while nothing is imminent, this new rule is another step closer to an international draft.

Carbonell will still fit under the old rules because he has already been declared a free agent. If the Yankees are interested, they'll be able to sign him without being penalized. If reports from the offseason are true and the Yankees do plan to spend big on international free agents to supplement their lack of first-round picks in the 2014 MLB Draft, Carbonell could be the perfect target.

In my opinion, the Yankees should definitely go after him. He seems to have a lot of raw physical skills and talent. There doesn't seem to be a lot of hype surrounding him at the moment, and only one other team, the Blue Jays, are known to be interested. Things could certainly heat up, but the Yankees should take advantage of the market and sign him. It's no sure thing (what is in baseball?), but while most of the talent the Yankees plan on signing is going to be 16 years old, Carbonell could theoretically be the face of their spending spree and will be ready for the majors much sooner than it will take the rest of the kids they sign.

Well, here is one I don't understand, at least at the moment, but the Blue Jays have chosen now to option Ryan Goins to Buffalo. No corresponding move has been announced, they say there will announce it tomorrow.

Goins is hitting .150/.203/.217 with 1 home run, 1 RBI, 4 walks and 13 strikeouts.

I'd imagine it will be Munenori Kawasaki making a return to Toronto.

Goins isn't hitting, but he was playing pretty decent defense, but I guess there is no one good enough defensively to carry a .150 average. He really hasn't been improving, he hit .167/.231/.417 the last week but the jump in Slugging was all on the one home run.

I will miss his defense. I imagine Jonathan Diaz and Munenori will be sharing time at second base. I wonder how long that will last. They aren't exactly terrific offensive players either. Maybe we can hope there is a trade coming. Or Stephen Drew?

I forgot to mention, someone will have to be removed from the 40-man to make room for Getz, wanna make your bet?

So the headline should have been Goins going, getting Getz, but since it isn't official yet....

Shi Davidi is reporting:

The Toronto Blue Jays will add second baseman Chris Getz to the roster Tuesday, according to multiple sources, after the club optioned Ryan Goins to triple-A Buffalo on Monday night.

Shi wouldn't lie to us.

Getz is hitting .309/.382/.338 with 6 stolen bases in 18 Bisons games. He has 2 doubles, 8 walks and 11 strikeouts. He also looked good in spring training, it seemed like he was hitting the ball hard every time up. He hit .258/.303/.355 this spring but looked better than those numbers. His defense will be a step down from Goins, but he won't be as much of an automatic out. And he has some speed.

I'd get your Getz uniform really quickly, these call ups tend not to cause lasting results. But I'm going to hope the best for Getz, I was kind of cheering for him this spring.

Recapping the 2013 performances from the AL East from our Community Mock Draft.

We begin our run through the American League by starting on the East coast and working or way West.

Check out the NL East, NL Central, and NL West and be sure to come back soon for the rest of the American League.

Baltimore Orioles -

Toonces the Driving Cat

Boston Red Sox -

DominicanDandy

New York Yankees -

cookiedabookie

Tampa Bay Rays -

raysman1

Toronto Blue Jays -

4dizzle

Injured players get better, better players get injured, one former-future star loses his mind, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Injury rehab takes center stage in the latest edition of Mark Sheldon's notebook for Reds.com, which, I suppose, is better than the breaking-injury editions he's had to cover for most of the Spring.  The best news, as was noted by Weezy Cheese in today's Farmer's Only, is that Skip Schumaker has rubbed some dirt on his once-bum shoulder and returned to baseballing at AAA Louisville; the sort-of good news involves Mat Latos, who hasn't hit any additional setbacks since the last setback that followed the setback before that and the original bone-chip removal that started his offseason from hell, and that's got him on target to possibly be back with the Reds by the end of the month; and the sort-of kind-of good news details how Jack Hannahan - whose offseason surgery was apparently kept secret to everyone, for some reason - may or may not be healthy enough to start hitting again in May.  Also included in Sheldon's roundup is a blurb on the strike-zone prowess of Joey Votto, who apparently has collected all of his 2014 hits off pitches in the zone.  He will never not amaze me.

Speaking of Reds notebooks, C. Trent Rosecrans put one together yesterday evening, and while it has similar notes regarding the rehab progresses of Schumaker and Hannahan, respectively, there is also some follow-up with manager Bryan Price regarding the replay fiasco that got him ejected from Sunday's game against the Atlanta Braves.  As much as the commissioner and MLB itself want replay to be a non-issue, that's just not going to be the case.  It's going to be an evolving issue as the league, the managers, and the umpires in charge become more experienced with the process, and it's obvious that Price plans to be on the vocal side efforting for continued improvement of the system.  If that means better camera footage, better communication, and - most importantly - actually getting the calls right, then I'm pro-Price-being-pro-replay-evolution.

Remember former Chicago Cubs super-prospect Felix Pie?  Barely?  Despite being ranked among the Top 100 prospects in the minor leagues by Baseball America prior to five consecutive seasons, Pie's career as a major leaguer never really took off, and now he's plying his trade in South Korea's KBO League.  Cubs fans will tell you that it was Dusty Baker's fault that Pie never turned into a great MLB player, every other person who has ever watched a baseball game will tell you that it was the Chicago Cubs fault that he never blossomed, but after watching this video of him calling time to come in from the OF to yell at his pitcher for being ineffective, I think it's pretty clear that Felix Pie likely played a pretty damn big role in why Felix Pie never lived up to his lofty prospect status.  That's some 80 grade crazy, though.

Bryce Harper has a torn ligament in his thumb, and his surgery and DL-stint adds another high-profile MLB player to the now-extensive list of those on the shelf.  I know that injuries happen every year to every team and that there are always stars involved, but for some reason it seems as if 2014 has been an even more extraordinary year for it.  The list of players that have missed at least a couple of games due to injury/ailment is a veritable who's who of the league, as guys like Kershaw, Kemp, Puig, Hanley, Crawford, Hamilton, Beltre, Trumbo, Corbin, Harrison, Latos, Chapman, Cargo, Cuddyer, Moore, Hellickson, Mesoraco, Iglesias, Machado, Davis, Hardy, Segura, Braun*, Hamels, Minor, Medlen, Sale, Zimmerman, and now Harper have each been banged up to varying degrees before the end of the month of April.  I'm sure there are a handful of other stars I overlooked, too, like the 8% of the over-35 club of the New York Yankees who have missed time...though that might actually be more than one handful.  It has been a skosh ridiculous.

And some quickies, sans commentary...

Steve Mancuso broke down Brandon Phillips' early season scuffles at Redleg Nation.

In the wake of the Dominican-heavy lineup fielded by the Toronto Blue Jays the other day, Cliff Corcoran compiled his All-Time team of players from the Dominican Republic.

Eno Sarris recounted the Great Yankee Stadium Ice Cream Riot of 2009 at The Hardball Times.

More from Red Reporter

Follow @redreporterFollow @SBNationMLB

• Farmers Only: Dragons and Blaze Take First Place
• Reds vs. Cubs vs. Rain, Game 1: Previews and Predictions
• Organizational Injury Report - 4/28/14 Injuries Strike Prospects
• Farmers Only Weekend Harvest: Oh, Ben Lively, You So Fine.
• Offense Spoils Another Cueto Gem. ATL 1, CIN 0.

Ray highlights some starting pitcher options that you should consider streaming on Wednesday, including Drew Hutchison, Nathan Eovaldi and Robbie Ross.

The Streamer Report provides you with daily startng pitcher streaming selections for owners who prefer to stream starting pitchers on a daily basis. This report identifies starting pitchers who are owned in less than 50% of ESPN leagues, and who either has a decent track record vs their opponent, has pitched well of late, or has a decent matchup.

Wednesday's Streamers

Nathan Eovaldi, Marlins vs Braves

Eovaldi's ownership percentage is up to 25%, so his early season performance is finally getting noticed. Eovaldi has given up just one earned run in his three career starts vs the Braves with a 21-6 strikeout to walk rate in 21 innings. He should continue his dominance of the strikeout prone Braves on Wednesday night.

Robbie Ross, Rangers vs A's

Ross is available in about 90% of leagues right now, and he faces the A's at home on Wednesday night. Ross has pitched well in four of his five starts this season, pitching to a 2.45 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in 29.1 innings of work.

Drew Hutchison, Blue Jays vs Royals

Hutchison is owned in less than 5% of leagues right now, but he has quietly pitched very well over his last few starts. Over his last two starts, he has given up four earned runs in 11.1 innings, but has K'd 18 and walked just one in those two starts. He has given up two runs or less in four of his five starts this season, and he looks to continue that trend on Wednesday night in the pitcher-friendly Kaufman Park.

Weekly Streamer Performance

I will be providing a status of how my picks have performed over the course of the season, and below you can find how my picks fared this week. Week 5 started out poorly, but the streaming picks have performed well over the last two days.

Finally it is official, the Jays are going to release Mickey Storey to make room on the roster for Chris Getz.

Storey made 4 appearances in for Buffalo, this season. In 3.1 innings he allowed 7 hits, 4 earned, 5 walks with just 2 strikeouts.  There was even a hit batter and a balk in those 3.1 innings. Last year he was much much better. He had a 2.56 ERA in 59.2 innings, 16 walks and 70 strikeouts. I wonder what's different this year for the guy. He also got in 4 innings with the Jays last year.

I'm surprised it is a straight release, but maybe that's what Storey wanted. He's 28, he'll likely find work somewhere.

Getz and Jonathan Diaz will be our second base platoon, though Getz has had very even splits over his 6 year MLB career. Against RHP he has hit .246/.309/.307 and against lefties it's .269/.315/.317.

The Ryan Goins-less Blue Jays march into Kansas City tonight to start a three-game series with the 12-12 Royals. Taking the mound tonight is left-hander Jason Vargas going up against the Jays starter/player-who-pitches-the-first-four-innings in Dustin McGowan. The Royals are actually pretty fun to watch this year and have a lot of exciting young talent, including the amazing RHP Yordano Ventura who we get to see on Thursday. The young team still hasn't put all the pieces together, but they're definitely a squad to watch going forward in the AL Central:

via ESPN Depth Charts

Who's Hot, Who's Not

Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer has had a hot start to the year hitting .295 with an OBP of .356. The left-handed hitter has 13 hits in his last 10 games as well as three walks, although he has yet to hit a home run this season. The Kansas City team as a whole has struggled through a pretty large power outage to start the 2014 season, with the team only having 10 home runs in total compared to Toronto's 30 dingers.

Mike Moustakas has definitely been not hot to start the season, currently sitting at a .159 average with a lowly .213 OBP. Surprisingly, four of the Royals ten home runs have come off the bat of the struggling third baseman, but that hasn't been enough to propel him above replacement level as of yet.

As mentioned earlier, the pitcher this evening is left-handed Jason Vargas who is the rare fastball-changeup pitcher. He's been dominant this year after joining the team on a four-year $32 million deal in free agency. In five starts he has an ERA of 1.54 and a FIP of 3.94 thanks to a .229 BABIP and a 91.2% LOB.

His high-80's fastball sets up his deceptive changeup against hitters on both sides of the plate, allowing him to succeed with far from electric stuff. Blue Jays sluggers Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion actually struggle against changeups so this might not be the best matchup in the world as they usually are sitting on the fastball. You can see how Vargas' changeup has solid arm-side run as well:

If GIFS are more your thing:

via www.fangraphs.com

Hopeful Lineup

The time to call Stephen Drew may be fast approaching.

1. Jose Reyes SS
2. Melky Cabrera LF
3. Jose Bautista RF
4. Edwin Encarnacion 1B
5. Juan Francisco DH
6. Dioner Navarro C
7. Colby Rasmus CF
8. Brett Lawrie 3B
9. Jonathan Diaz 2B

Find The Link

Find the link between Jason Vargas and the current Cincinnati Reds closer.

Two pretty exciting ball clubs on display tonight from Kauffman Stadium, so enjoy the game.

Colby Rasmus is off to an ugly start in 2014, but it's almost a mirror image of last year's April.

To say Colby Rasmus has not been an impact player so far for the Blue Jays in 2014 would be an overly kind euphemism for saying that he's been awful.

The 27-year-old centre fielder has put together a .188/.242/.388 line going into tonight's action, which has resulted in a -0.1 WAR from the guy who led the team in WAR last season with 4.8.

Given that the season is just starting, there are plenty of rational reasons to be optimistic about a Rasmus rebound, but the problem is that when Colby is off he looks completely and utterly lost at the plate. Fans can't help but wonder if he'll get so far off-track that he'll never make his way back to being an offensive threat. After all, in both of his best seasons he relied on BABIP numbers above .350 and an approach at the plate that results in almost three times as many strikeouts as walks always raises red flags.

However, before we get too far down the rabbit hole worrying about Rasmus, we need only to think back to this time last year. On April 22nd 2013 Jeff Sullivan wrote this excellent piece on the Jays centre fielder about his crazy low contact rate and how his production was liable to dip.

What happened instead was that Rasmus started making contact with more pitches as the season went on and kept producing at an elite level. Now, it's impossible to say with 100% certainty that Rasmus will right the ship because he's done it before, but it is interesting how similar his Aprils in 2013 and 2014 are.

It is unfair to always attribute BABIP fluctuations to pure luck, but it's interesting that BABIP is really the only thing that made Rasmus's production better last April. Looking at his counting stats he has the same number of home runs (4) and doubles (5) in 2014 as 2013. He is merely four singles short of matching last year's numbers.

That situation reminds me a lot of Bull Durham's wisdom about the difference between hitting .250 and .300. Colby is just missing that one single a week. Examining Rasmus's plate discipline numbers, numbers that stabilize faster and tend to be more meaningful this time of year, the argument could definitely be made that he was actually in a worse place last April.

Once again the numbers are very similar. However, he was chasing and whiffing a bit more this time last year.

It is important to reiterate that just because Rasmus recovered from a very similar funk last year that is no guarantee he will do it again. That being said, it is comforting to known we are not in uncharted waters with Colby.

This Blue Jays team hasn't quite put it together yet in 2014, and one of the reasons is starting in centre field. However, if this year is anything like the last, Colby Rasmus should be just fine.

He's got a lot of money riding on it.

Oh, by the way, game only happens if the weather cooperates, just so you know. Also, Machado or bust!

Many of us remember the great Pirates run of 2013.  However, the current team hasn't inspired much with a 10-16 record.  Their hitting has been dreadful with a .221/.296/.351 team line and their pitching has had their ups and downs.  Their slumping lineup may be what Tillman just needed after throwing a first bad start of the year last time out against the Blue Jays - a start in which he allowed 7 ER's in 5.2 IP.

Pitchers

Chris Tillman, Baltimore Orioles

Some of Tillman's numbers so far mirror his past - the ERA/FIP/xFIP line of 3.38/4.37/4.13 so far in 2014 is similar to 3.71/4.42/3.88 of last year (okay, it's better this year but you get the idea) looking at the other numbers, it's clear why - he still strikes out hitters in a decent clip (7.59 K/9), doesn't walk too much but not exactly a Maddux (2.53 BB/9) and is still a flyball pitcher that allows homers once in awhile.

Charlie Morton, Pittsburgh Pirates

The renowned Halladay imitator, Morton is not a guy who will blow hitters away with strikeout stuff or surprise'em with pinpoint control but if he can induce some grounders.  Last year, he induced a 62.9% groundball rate, which is, um, pretty high.  When he's healthy, is a mid-to-late-3.00 FIP-type solid #3~4 starter so I think his number will improve as the season goes on (4.35ERA/4.64FIP in 5 starts).  Morton has faced the Orioles back in 2011 and only lasted two innings with 7 runs allowed.  Obviously a small sample size but kinda fun to see that the current Orioles players that had faced the righty have a combined 1.294 OPS against.

In terms of pitching matchup, the Orioles have the edge and in terms of lineup... I'd say the birds have it as well.  As I mentioned before, Pirates lineup is not exactly bringing it (85 wRC+ as a team, that's bad) and none of the hitters have really stood out besides the reigning NL MVP Andrew McCutchen (160 wRC+).

At this moment, the Pirates lineup has been posted but the Orioles haven't because weather. So, we'll see if the game even happens.  The word is that, if the game happens, Machado will be in the lineup (!!!). Keep your fingers crossed, y'all.

In the meantime, here's the Pirates lineup posted in case the weather cooperates.

Jose Tabata - RF

Ike Davis - 1B

Andrew McCutchen - CF

Pedro Alvarez - 3B

Gaby Sanchez - DH

Neil Walker - 2B

Starling Marte - LF

Tony Sanchez - C

Jody Mercer - SS

Charlie Morton - RHP

A look at Toronto Blue Jays prospect Marcus Stroman, who may be approaching a major league call-up in the coming weeks.

Marcus Stroman is a man on a mission. Listed at 5'9"--generously, he will be one of shortest pitchers in the MLB once he gets the call. A closer at Duke, he was drafted 22nd overall by the Blue Jays in 2012. Most evaluators assumed he'd end up at the back-end of the bullpen. Since going pro, however, Stroman's done everything in his power to prove he has the necessary ingredients to stick in a major league rotation. Now, two years later, he isn't merely knocking on the big league door, but sprinting at it full steam ahead with a battering ram. His repertoire is deep and he's incredibly polished. The Blue Jays may have clued us in on their intentions when they pushed Stroman's latest start back to today--April 29-- to mirror the schedule of struggling 5th starter Dustin McGowan. In 4 starts --20.2 innings-- Stroman is the owner of a 2.18 ERA and a 26/6 K/BB. I watched Stroman's April 21st start vs. the Pawtucket Red Sox, which was informative for multiple reasons (a) the PawSox had both legit prospects and major leaguers in the lineup that night, including Shane Victorino and Will Middlebrooks on rehab and top 50 prospect Garin Cecchini; (b) He didn't have his best stuff, but for both proxy and intrigue, it was fun to see him face a talented lineup without a full bag of tricks.

Still, he was plenty good:

Fastball:

Stroman throws a four-seam fastball that sits in the low to mid 90's (92-96). Against Pawtucket, he hit 99 MPH on the stadium gun--could have been a misreading or an outlier. The pitch is relatively straight, and it flattens out when left up in the zone--his diminutiveness requires he keep it down. He throws a ton of strikes, and locates to either side of the dish. Against the PawSox, Stroman had excellent horizontal command, although he consistently left the fastball in the middle and upper thirds of the zone. It was encouraging to see him hold velocity, as he hit 95 on the pitch below, which was in the 5th inning. He wasn't hit as hard as to 10 hits in the box-score suggest (no homers), but big league hitters tee off on the type of flat cheese he left up in the zone. He attacks hitters aggressively and gets into favorable pitching counts with regularity that allow him to unleash the ghastly slider.

Grade: A-

Slider:

The slider is Stroman's out pitch, and he uses it liberally. In BP's "best tools" series this offseason, the venerable BP prospect staff tabbed Stroman's slider as the second best in the minors, behind only Jonathan Gray. It has two-plane break, and sits in the mid 80's. It's shape is similar to a curveball and given it's hammer-ish break, it reminds of a Jose Fernandezdefector or Sonny Gray hook. It breaks extremely late, invoking descriptors like "lethal bite" and "true wipeout". I"m excited to see what path the Canadians pave in nicknaming the dreadful thing.

Grade: A-

Cutter:

Like the Slider, Stroman's cutter is marked by its late movement. He throws it in the 91-93 range, keeping hitters off the fastball. In his April 16th start v. Scranton, I saw him bury it in on the hands to lefties for swinging strikes on multiple occasions.

Grade: A-

Change Up:

Stroman's Change up is a work in progress-- like most young pitchers. However, it's encouraging that according to scouts it currently flashes plus (B/B+). Since he doesn't throw them in spades, and radar gun readings aren't available on most minor league feeds, it was difficult to pinpoint a good change up; here's one I found on April 16th that went for a single.

Grade: B-

Mechanics/Makeup/Outlook:

Stroman uses his athletic frame to generate a lot of power from his lower half, allowing him to hold his velocity deep into games. He over-rotates at times, trying to get some extra oomph on his pitches-- you see this when a right-handed pitcher falls off towards first base. It's a compact delivery without a ton of moving parts, and I expect him to have no trouble repeating it in the future. He could have an elite command profile when it's all said and done. He works briskly and fields his position extremely well, which should help his cause on the mound. What won't help his cause is pitching in the AL East. As we saw last year with fellow über prospect Kevin Gausman, the AL East can be a rude awakening for a young (or old for that matter) pitcher. Also, Rogers Centre doesn't exactly suppress runs, so expect a period of adjustment-- read: he could have outings where he gives up runs in bunches. Stroman's profile reminds me a lot of Sonny Gray. Like Gray, he's a fierce competitor and makes up in demeanor what he lacks in physical size. His command is likely better than Gray, but because his run environment is going to be brutal his ERA upside isn't sky high. I see him settling in as starter who strikes out nearly a batter per inning with an excellent WHIP and an ERA in the mid 3.00's, a potential top 20-30 starter.

Sources:

Baseball Prospectus

Baseball America

MiLB.com

Blue Jays 7 Royals 10

The one part, of the 2014 Jays, that I didn't question was the bullpen. I was worried about the starting rotation (with good reason), I wondered if the offense would be any better than average (since we have almost no depth), but the bullpen would be just fine. We had so many good arms, we'd have good relievers in Buffalo. It was the one spot, I thought, that we could survive an injury or two.

Man was I wrong.

Tonight, 6 strong innings from Dustin McGowan ended up wasted. Well, 5 strong innings. He did have some troubles in the 2nd inning. He allowed a single and a walk, to start the inning. After a fly out, there was a 'wild pitch' (I would have called it a passed ball) that scored a run. Then another walk put runners on the corners. Alcides Escobar took off to steal second and Dioner Navarro threw into the outfield, to allow the runner from 3rd to score. Fortunately, Dustin got Jarrod Dyson to strikeout to end the inning. Two runs scored, one of the earned.

In all Dustin went 6 innings, 3 hits, 3 walks and 2 strikeouts. No many strikeouts, but then not many hard hit balls. He was helped out by a great throw from Jose Bautista, getting Nori Aoki trying to move up from second base on a flyout to right.

Gibby let Dustin go out to start the 7th (Dustin had a very quick 6th, just 13 pitches). And then pulled him after he allowed a leadoff double. Steve Delabar came in to give up a home run. Our 3 run lead was suddenly 1 run. He got 2 outs but then Jarrod Dyson bunted. Delabar fielded the ball then, instead of making the easy throw to first, decided to try to tag the speedy runner. And failed. Stupid move. But, Brett Cecil came in and got out of the inning, with us still up by a run.

The 8th is where it really fell apart. Cecil gave up 2 singles, before getting a ground out. Gibby brought Sergio Santos, with runners on the corners. A double, down the third base line, scored the runners and we were behind. A walk and another single and Santos was finished. and we were down by 2. Esmil Rogers follows, and gives up 2 more singles, 3 more runs score and well the game was over.

We did get a couple of runs in the 9th. on a Bautista walk and Edwin Encarnacion homer. Dioner Navarro came within a couple of inches of hitting his own homer.

We were ahead twice. Bautista homered in the first. That lead only lasted until Dustin gave up the two runs in the second. Then we scored our own 2 runs in the fifth. Jose Reyes doubled and Melky Cabrera tripled (both with the help of some bad defense from Nori Aoki in right field and a Jason Vargas wild pitch.

Two more runs in the 7th gave us our 3 run lead. Colby Rasmus doubled, Chris Getz bunted, Reyes singled and Melky Cabrera doubled.

Jay of the Day goes to Cabrera (.298 WPA, off a 2 for 5, double and triple) despite some poor defense in left.

Suckage: Santos (-.467, some bad luck, ground balls that missed fielders), Cecil (-.144), Delabar (-.114), Juan Francisco (-.109, 0 for 5, 3 k, not really his fault, he shouldn't be playing against lefties) and Getz (-.108, 0 for 3 with the bunt).

Even with the lousy game, the GameThread was great. 1682 comments. junior_felix_jr led us to, well defeat, but great effort Jr.

Royals do their best Ross Gload impersonation and explode in the seventh and eighth.

For six painfully terrible innings, the Royals had sunk many fans into existential quandary, contemplating the futility of the entire notion of sports fandom. The anemic offensive attack of the Royals had managed a scant two runs, and those runs were gifts from the visiting Blue Jays.

Both second-inning runs were made possible by a pair of Dioner Navarro gaffes in the second inning. The first came after Billy Butler tagged at second and advanced to third on a Salvador Perez fly ball to center field. The only person not shocked by this development must have been Billy Butler, though one must assume at least part of him thought that he would get thrown out trying to advance. With Mike Moustakas at the plate, Dustin McGowan threw a ball in the dirt that seemed easily blockable for Navarro. He didn't get down, the ball skittered away, and Butler scored on what was deemed a wild pitch but should have been blocked. After Moustakas walked and Alcides Escobar barely beat out the back end of a would-be double-play grounder, Navarro's errant throw to try to catch Alcides Escobar stealing second plated Alex Gordon--who had all the while been standing eagerly at third.

Now that's how you run the bases, son. Photo credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

Otherwise, Dustin McGowan--who, before facing that pitcher's panacea that is the Royals offense, had been struggling so mightily that the Blue Jays realigned top prospect Marcus Stroman's start in AAA - Buffalo to coincide with McGowan's for a quick replacement--held the Royals almost entirely in check through six innings in which he allowed two hits, three walks, and two runs, one of which was earned. Of course, he kicked off the seventh by giving up an Alex Gordon double that landed at the base of the warning track right between Jose Bautista and Colby Rasmus. The double meant the end of McGowan's night, and Steve Delabar made sure that Gordon's double would lead to a run charged to the starter when he grooved a fastball that Salvador Perez shot into the bullpen in left field.

That McGowan had his way with the Royals should be worrisome.

That the Royals had their way with the Blue Jays bullpen should alleviate at least some of the concern.

Once the Royals got to the bullpen, the combination of Steve Delabar, Brett Cecil, Sergio Santos, and Esmil Rogers allowed eight runs in their two innings of work. Perez drove in two more on a two-run double to plate the first runs of the eighth. Jarrod Dyson eventually singled in Perez. Norichika Aoki plated Escobar with a single and advanced to second on the throw. Infante singled in Dyson and Aoki. That's six runs in one inning. Apparently this is something that is possible. It might be easier if the Royals weren't trying to string together those runs with singles on grounders with eyes, but the runs scored today.

For his part, Royals' starter Jason Vargas was unimpressive. In 6.1 IP, he allowed five runs on ten hits, all of which were "earned," though two were thanks to a terrible fifth inning in right field for Aoki in which he had no "errors" but turned two balls hit over his head into unmitigated disasters, one a Jose Reyes "double" that glanced off his glove and the other a Melky Cabrera "triple" that he started in on and took a preposterous path to once he got a better read on the ball. Both plays were awful and when combined with his getting thrown out at third trying to advance on a ball hit to relatively shallow right made for a terrible night for Aoki, though it doesn't show up in the box score.

Louis Coleman did make things interesting in the ninth when he proffered a 79-mph hanger to Edwin Encarnacion that got rifled out to left. That cut the Royals lead to 10 - 7 with one gone in the ninth, but Coleman got the final two outs, and the Royals walked off the field victorious. It seems that the home run was punishment to redunion1940 and bob.forer for their brash and premature implementation of otter pics.

While Royals fans should be concerned that the Royals used their allotment of runs for the next two games in those two innings, it was nice to see them scored in a way that threw caution and pragmatism to the wind. Maybe it would be nice not to squander three games' worth of runs in one game, leaving everyone wondering if runs will ever be scored again in Kansas City when the Royals don't get to plate a guy for the rest of the series because they gorged themselves at the buffet today. But just this once, Royals fans get to go to sleep tonight with dreams of a team capable of scoring 10 runs. It'll be a short-lived sensation, sure, but a nice one.

The Blue Jays have an interesting choice to make, the next time through the rotation either Marcus Stroman or Dustin McGowan will start.

Stroman had a great start for Buffalo. Jeff Moore at Baseball Prospectus said this:

Pitcher of the Night: Marcus Stroman, RHP, Blue Jays (Buffalo, AAA): 6 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, 10 K.
If this is the swan song for Stroman's minor-league career, he went out with a bang. There has been speculation that Stroman could get the call this week to take the place of Dustin McGowan. After struggling this spring, he has his three plus pitches working, and the continued development of his changeup could give him a fourth.

I really think it is time for Stroman to be a major league starter. Our pitching has been terrible and we have someone in minors who could be good. Course, Stroman hasn't pitched in the 7th inning of a game yet this year (although I'm sure he could have pitched into the 7th last night, it seems like they wanted to keep him fresh for his next start). With how awful our bullpen has been, it would be nice to have guys that can get deeper into a game.

You saw Dustin McGowan. He pitched 6 innings plus a batter. He had his second highest game score of the season. Still had gave up 3 runs, 2 earned and brought his ERA down to 5.87.  He's not getting strikeouts, 5.9/ 9 innings so far. I don't know if it is time to give up on him as a starter, or maybe revisit the idea again next year. It does seem that he is better suited for relief at the moment.

Maybe it is because I haven't been enjoying the last few games, and I want something to look forward to, but I'd really like them to bring up Marcus.

Quite a pitching matchup in Kansas City tonight with Drew Hutchison going up against the incredible Yordano Ventura. The right-handed Dominican has burst onto the scene this year blowing people away with his 100 mph heat and nearly unhittable stuff. The 22-year-old signed with Kansas City in 2008 for only $28,000 and has worked his way up the system fairly fast to make his major league debut as a September call-up last season. In four starts this season, the 5'11' fireballer has allowed just five earned runs over 25.0 innings as well as 27 strikeouts (that's a 26.2% K%!). I haven't watched as much of Ventura as I would have liked, but it's been an absolute pleasure when I do get the chance.

Yordano Ventura throws HARD and his changeup sometimes comes in even faster than Mark Buehrle's fastball. His repertoire features a fastball, sinker, cutter alongside a curveball and changeup. He's basically the same pitcher against both left-handed and right-handed hitters, throwing his changeup 18% and 14% of the time respectively, getting 35.62% whiffs/swing with it. His fastballs don't differ in movement too much, but the velocity that they're thrown with makes up for the lack of deception:

via FanGraphs

It's probably a good time to look at some GIFs. (Just click on the links to watch them, so it doesn't kill mobile users)

Here's a 102 mph Ventura fastball that has no movement at all:

via cdn0.sbnation.com

Once you see a few of those fastballs it gets a little harder to time up his wicked changeup:

via baseballprof.baseballprofesso1.netdna-cdn.com

Rounding up his pitches is the nasty curveball:

via baseballprof.baseballprofesso1.netdna-cdn.com

Hopeful Lineup

1. Jose Reyes SS
2. Melky Cabrera LF
3. Jose Bautista RF
4. Edwin Encarnacion 1B
5. Juan Francisco DH
6. Dioner Navarro C
7. Colby Rasmus CF
8. Brett Lawrie 3B
9. Jonathan Diaz 2B

Find The Link

Blue Jays 2  Royals 4

That wasn't as frustrating as yesterday, but it wasn't fun.

The good news? X-rays were negative on Melky Cabrera's shin. One of the few times that the word negative is positive.

Drew Hutchison was pretty good. 7 innings, 5 hits, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts. The bad part was 4 earned runs. 2 of them on a double down the 3rd base line that Brett Lawrie would have made the play on, if he wasn't on the bench with a sore back. Drew seemed to pitch far to well to give up 4 runs.

On our side, we had a lot of good at bats, we got Yordano Ventura out of the game after 5 innings. We had 7 hit and 6 walks in total. The problem was that we didn't have those good at bats with runners on base. Two guys, Colby Rasmus and Moises Sierra were 0 for 8 with 4 strikeouts, leaving 11 guys on base between them. Honestly, it is time for Sierra to go. And Colby...the calendar is about to turn, time to get hitting man.

The bit moment of the game, on offense, was in the 8th inning. Dioner Navarro and Juan Francisco started the inning off with singles. Then Colby and Moises struck out. Gibby should have put Jose Thole in to pinch hit for Sierra. Then after Chris Getz walked, Jose Reyes struck out on three pitches, without swinging the bat. Being fair to Jose, strike one was high and well above the strike zone. The call changed the at bat. But Reyes has to put up a battle there.

Edwin Encarnacion had a good day with the bat, 2 for 4, with a walk and a double. He gave us a chance in the 9th by getting on base with the double. His outs were hit hard too. Getz had a good game too, 2 for 3, double and a walk.

Jonathan Diaz (in the game for Melky, man we have a weak bench) cost us in the 7th. Getz doubled and Reyes walked. Diaz tried and failed to bunt them over and struck out. When  you don't hit you have to get the bunts down, not that it is easy with 98 mph fastballs coming at you.

Jays of the Day are Juan Francisco (.206 WPA, 1 for 2 with 2 walks), Getz (.200) and Edwin (.151).

Suckage: well, Hutchison had the number, -.255. Also Rasmus (-.232). Sierra (-.192), Reyes (-.164) and Navarro (-.117).

The GameThread was great fun. 1066 comments, pretty good considering the Raptors played and won, the NHL playoffs are on and, everyone's favorite spectator sport, Rob Ford was in the news too. Kraemer_17 lapped the pack with 183 comments. Great job in a losing cause.

Stroman could reach the majors as soon as next week.

The Blue Jays have aligned minor league pitcher Marcus Stroman's next outing with Dustin McGowan's next scheduled start for the major league team. Toronto manager John Gibbons reportedly prefers McGowan as a reliever, and if the change in schedule is any indication, Stroman will be promoted to Toronto sooner rather than later.

With McGowan and Stroman in sync, the Jays can keep their most MLB-ready pitching prospect queued up for the foreseeable future. Gibbons said McGowan will still pitch on Tuesday in Kansas City -- his next scheduled start -- according to Sportsnet's Shi Davidi.

McGowan, 32, has pitched 23 innings so far this year, posting a 5.87 ERA while striking out 15 and walking 10. He's had moderate success out of the bullpen in his career, most notably in 2013 when he pitched to a 2.45 ERA in 25⅔ innings. However, this season he's allowing nearly a half a baserunner more per inning than he did last year.

Stroman, 23, broke out last year at Double-A New Hampshire. In 20 starts, he put up a 3.30 ERA and struck out over 10 batters per nine innings. He's excelling again this season. In five starts for Triple-A Buffalo, Stroman has a 1.69 ERA and is whiffing more than 12 hitters per nine and has walked just seven in 26⅔ innings.

He's relatively small pitcher at 5'9", but that didn't keep him from being ranked at number 27 overall on Baseball Prospectus' preseason top 101 prospects list. He also drew a Tom Gordon comparison from FanGraphs' Marc Hulet.

Toronto is currently 12-15 and three-and-a-half games back in the AL East. Their rotation ranks tenth in the AL in starter ERA -- 23rd in baseball -- so they could use an impactful arm like Stroman's. If McGowan can return to his 2013 bullpen form, the Jays could kill two birds with one stone -- their bullpen ranks 13th in the AL with a 5.08 ERA as a unit.

In the not a surprise column, the Blue Jays have DFAed Moises Sierra. In more of a surprise, at least to me, they sent Jonathan Diaz to Buffalo. Up comes Anthony Gose and Steve Tolleson.

Gose comes up for the second time, he had 3 walks in 5 PA when he came up for the second game of the double header against the Twins. In Buffalo he was hitting .235/.350/.309 in 19 games.

Steve Tolleson was hitting .236/.356/.333 for the Bisons. I don't really understand the move, but I'm guessing the Jays feel he's a better choice at third base than Diaz, if Lawrie has to miss more games. At least that's my guess. Or, more likely, they feel he is a better pinch hitter for the games in NL when we are without the DH.

Jonathan Diaz hit .176/.282/.206 in 22 games, 41 PA. he did a good job with the glove and wasn't the total washout at the plate that Ryan Goins was, but we do have a couple of series using NL rules. Tolleson can pinch hit for the pitcher and you'd expect a better result than just leaving the pitcher in. Not so much with Diaz.

Moises Sierra? Well, it was time to give up on him. He was hitting .059/.086/.056 and looked totally lost at the plate. He likely could clear waivers.  I figured Darin Mastroianni might have been the choice to replace him, since Darin bats right-handed, but the team choose Gose.

Over at Minor League Ball, John Sickels has listed his Top 150 Prospect for 2014.

There are 5 Blue Jays on the list:

29) Aaron Sanchez, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays, Grade A-

45) Marcus Stroman, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays, Grade B+

92) Mitch Nay, 3B, Toronto Blue Jays, Grade B

98) Daniel Norris, LHP, Toronto Blue Jays, Grade B

127) Sean Nolin, LHP, Toronto Blue Jays, Grade B

And, of course some former Jays:

• Noah Syndergaard is 18th
• Travis d'Arnaud is 63rd
• Justin Nicolino 150th

Go take a look.