Random notes:
- Awhile back we talked about who the Jays were sending to the Arizona Fall League. Not surprisingly there has been some changes. Sean Nolan, Tyler Ybarra and A.J. Jimenez aren't going. Jimenez is injured. Dealing in are Drew Hutchison and Derrick Chung, our catcher at Dunedin, who is also on twitter at @therealthing6. They join Aaron Sanchez, Marcus Stroman, Andy Burns and Kenny Wilson. Glad to see Drew is going to get some more innings in, we are likely to need him next year.
- I read a bit this morning about how Colby Rasmus wasn't a very good player, that he getting lucky (.357 BABIP) and that he had no speed. Some of it is turn, Colby likely won't keep that BABIP up, but then, as long as he keeps hitting the ball hard, he'll likely keep a pretty good BABIP. And yeah, he strikes out more than you would like. The 'no speed' thing is just silly. He goes first to third as well as anyone, anyone watching can see his speed in the outfield. Just because a guy doesn't steal doesn't mean he's slow. If he keeps hitting a home run every 19.6 at bats, I'm ok with him not stealing. The post didn't mention that he has a 4.4 WAR in roughly two thirds of a season. I get that Cardinal fans don't like the guy, but he's a pretty decent baseball player. I'd like to see the Jays offer him a contract extension.
- Speaking of contract extensions, isn't it time the Jays gave one to Brett Lawrie? I'd like to think that Brett's going to be around for a long time, why don't we make it official?
- I still think the Jays should have looked to trade him, but I love watching Casey Janssen pitch.
- If Mark Buehrle can manage to get through 5.2 innings, in his last couple of starts, we'll have two starters over 200 innings for the first time since 2008, when Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett did it. Of course, that year Jesse Litsch threw 176 innings and Shawn Marcum 151. Number 3 in innings pitched this year is Esmil Rogers at 131 and no one else is above 100.
- Not really Blue Jays related, but John Sickels has a post that takes us back in time and tells us the 13 he had rated as better prospects than Vladimir Guerrero, back in 1996. It is a pretty good list of players.
- A sneak peak at today's line up:
Tonight's @BlueJays lineup vs the @Yankees : Reyes-SS Davis-RF Lawrie-3B Lind-1B Rasmus-CF Sierra-DH Goins-2B Arencibia-C Gose-LF Happ-P
— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) September 18, 2013