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Bautista Moves Up to # 2 On the Top Five Outfielder List of 2010

homerunheyer — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:53:05 +0000

Only two out of the top five outfielders from June 23 have returned this time around. The three newcomers to the list are all having their best seasons in their career. Will they remain on the top five list by the end of the season? Only time will tell.

2. Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays: Bautista is still surprising everyone this season. Back on June 23 he was considered the third best outfielder and I predicted that he would eventually fall off the list. So far Bautista is proving me wrong. Bautista actually moved up one spot to number two and is still leading the league in home runs with 32. Along with his 32 home runs, Bautista has 82 RBI’s, which is good for fourth best in baseball. Bautista’s average is still low, he is only batting .260. The Blue Jays will take Bautista’s low average as long as he continues to drive in runs. Bautista did not get traded at the deadline like everyone expected since the Blue Jays are out of contention. That doesn’t mean he still can’t move this season, the waiver wire is still open until August 31. Bautista should be on the move, a team like the Padres may be interested to bolster their stagnant offense.

Click here to read the full article – By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

Gonzalez Barely Remains on Top Five List of the Best Shortstops of 2010

homerunheyer — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:11:18 +0000

Four out of the top five shortstops have remained on the list since early June. Out of the four players that have remained, three of them have moved in the standings. There is a new number one, read on to see who it is!

5. Alex Gonzalez, Blue Jays: Gonzalez is the only player to remain on the list in the same spot as in mid June. He barely made the list both times because of his low average. Luckily, he makes up for that average with his power, which is why he still is on the list. Gonzalez’s average fell 10 points since early June and is now at .259. Gonzalez only added four home runs and 12 RBI’s in a month and a half. If the shortstop position wasn’t so weak, Gonzalez would not even be considered as a top five player. His 17 home runs lead all of the shortstops in baseball. I couldn’t leave the home run leader for shortstops out of the top five. The Blue Jays season is pretty much over, Even though the Blue Jays are three games over .500, they are in the toughest division in baseball and that leaves them at 12.5 games out of first place. The Blue Jays always start off strong and then the big three (Yankees, Rays, Red Sox) take over and everyone forgets about them. The problem is the Blue Jays have a lot of guys like Gonzalez that just hit for power and not average. It’s alright to have a few guys like that on a team, but the Blue Jays whole team is like that.

Click here to read the full article – By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

Buck Makes #2 Best Catcher of 2010

homerunheyer — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:26:12 +0000

Only two catchers’ from the June top five list have remained into July. One of them moved up to number one and the other is almost off the list falling to number five. The three new entries come as a little bit of a surprise since one of them is just filling in for an injured starter. I’m sure by next month this list will change once again.

2. John Buck, Toronto Blue Jays: After spending his whole career on the Kansas City Royals, Buck found new life catching for the Blue Jays this season. The Blue Jays players are all having better than average numbers this season, but it still isn’t enough to surpass the Yankees, Red Sox, or Rays. Buck has all things going for him this season, he has a high average for a catcher at .285 and high production numbers again for a catcher with 13 home runs and 45 RBI’s. Only Buck and the number one catcher coming up excel in all three of these categories.

Click here to read the full article – By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

Vernon Wells May Be A Sleeper Pick in the 2010 Home Run Derby

homerunheyer — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:58:30 +0000

The 25th annual Homer Run Derby is taking place in Angels Stadium in Anaheim. Last year Prince Fielder took home the derby trophy. This year Fielder will not be back to defend his title. There will be five new derby contestants this year, it is time for a fresh young batch of players to liven things up a bit. Here are my predictions for how everyone will do tonight, starting from least favorite.

6. Vernon Wells, Toronto Blue Jays: Wells is having somewhat of a bounce-back year power wise. Wells is another player who is generally not considered a power hitter, actually most of the participants aren’t really aren’t considered power hitters. Wells has never hit more than 33 home runs and that came way back in 2003. This season Wells has 19 home runs and is on pace to have the most home runs in his career for one season. With a slugging percentage of .524 Wells will hit some home runs in this derby, but not enough. As another right-handed batter in Anaheim I say Wells will hit around six home runs. Watch out though! There is usually a sleeper in these derbies. From 2003-2005 sleepers have won the home run derby- Garret Anderson, Miguel Tejada, and Bobby Abreu. In 2006-2007 sleepers made it to the finals, but lost- David Wright, Alex Rios. Wells may be one of the sleepers in this home run derby.

Click here to read the full article – By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

Jose Bautista Makes #3 of the Best Outfielders of 2010

homerunheyer — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:29:13 +0000

There is an abundance of outfielders so far this season that are putting up huge numbers for their teams. Out of 20 hopefuls I narrowed the list down to five. Out of all the positions, outfielders are definitetly putting up the best stats this year.

3. Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays: What is in the water in Canada these days? The Blue Jays are hitting home runs like its no ones business these days. There are five players on the Jays that have double digit home runs already this season. Bautista leads them all, not just on his team, but for all of baseball. Bautista is hitting for a terribly low average of .232, but his production is through the roof with 20 home runs and 49 RBI’s. Bautista was always known to be a second rate player always hitting for a low average and low production. The average stayed the same this year, but the power is through the roof! How does this happen? Bautista’s previous season high in home runs was 16 back in 2006 and the most RBI’s for one season was only 63 in 2007. Out of the 56 hits Bautista has this year 20 of them are home runs, which is a little more than 1/3 of his hits.
I don’t know what it is, but the Blue Jays may have found a way around the league’s drug testing policy. No one would have predicted Bautista to be leading the league in home runs. Most people didn’t even know who this guy was until now. With this miraculous jump in power the Blue Jays are staying in the hunt in the toughest division in baseball.

Click here to read the full article – By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

Alex Gonzalez Makes #5 of the Best Shortstops of 2010

homerunheyer — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:57:18 +0000

Only one of the big three shortstops remain, Derek Jeter. Nomar Garciapara retired this year and Alex Rodriguez moved over to third base when he came to the Yankees. Now when people ask who the premier shortstops are? They struggle to get two or three names out. I somehow came up with the top five shortstops of 2010, it was a struggle, but here they are.

5. Alex Gonzalez, Toronto Blue Jays: Gonzalez is putting up solid power numbers for Toronto this year, hitting 13 home runs and driving in 38 RBI’s. Since Gonzalez is only hitting .269, he barely made it into the top five on the list. If Gonzalez raises his average up another 20 points, he may be able to get to number one on this list. The Blue Jays always seem to start off strong ever year. They are currently in fourth place, but they are six games over .500. If they were in any other division they would either be in second or third place. Unfortunately most of the Blue Jays team is like Gonzalez, low average, high power production. The Jays are leading the league in home runs, but since they all have low averages a lot of the home runs are solo shots.
Gonzalez throughout his career was never known to hit for power or average. Gonzalez only had one good year actually in 2004 when he hit 23 home runs and 79 RBI’s which isn’t even that great. This year he is set to break all his career records if he keeps up at this pace.

Click here to find out the rest – By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

Jays option Roenicke; Tallet to be activated Tuesday

GameSetMatch — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:39:33 +0000

The Toronto Blue Jays optioned reliever Josh Roenicke to triple-A Las Vegas on Monday night and will activate lefty Brian Tallet to start Tuesday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Roenicke is 1-0 in nine games with 4.97 earned-run average, but his 11 walks in 12 2-3 innings were a concern.

“We want him to go back and work on his control a little bit,” manager Cito Gaston said after a 3-2 win over the Rays. “He’s probably the hardest throwing right-hander out of that bullpen right now, but he does have control problems at times.”

Click here to read the full article – By The Canadian Press of http://slam.canoe.ca

It’s all going Wells

GameSetMatch — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:29:40 +0000

What a revelation for Vernon Wells.

After being booed for two seasons by the Blue Jays faithful, the club’s centre fielder now knows what he has to do to win the fans’ love back.

Which is … flirt with the American League batting title and rewrite the Major League record book for home runs and RBI.

Discovering the cure for most major diseases wouldn’t hurt either.

Who knew it could be that easy?

Prior to Monday night’s home opener, Wells was hitting .350 with four homers and seven RBI in six games, which put him on pace this season for 108 homers and 189 RBI.

And when he was introduced before his first at-bat at the Rogers Centre, he was cheered.

And when he smashed a homer to deep centre field, with Adam Lind on board, to give Toronto a 6-4 lead, he was cheered even louder.

So it’s simple, really.

Put together the greatest season ever by a major leaguer, and all is forgiven.

Unfortunately, it’s unlikely Wells will continue his now-116 home run, 208 RBI pace.

Click here to read the full article – By STEVE BUFFERY of http://www.ottawasun.com

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Jays’ GM willing to give teams time to talk contract with Halladay before making trade

GameSetMatch — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:57:21 +0000

In an apparent departure from his predecessor, Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos will give teams interested in trading for ace right-hander Roy Halladay a window to discuss a contract extension with the pitcher.

The Blue Jays’ Web site reports Anthopoulos would allow teams to talk to Halladay about an extension if it means the interested team will improve its trade offer. Halladay is signed through next season.

Former GM J.P. Ricciardi opposed the idea of a contract window when he was shopping Halladay last summer.

Click here to read the full article – By of sportingnews.com

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Angry Jays turn on manager Gaston: Reports

rsanrel — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:30:17 +0000

Players speak off the record against manager Cito Gatson

The Toronto Blue Jays are about to end a disappointing season on a very sour note. Players are fed up with Cito Gaston and ready to make it known they do not want the manager to return next season, according to two published reports this morning.

“It’s nearly a mutiny right now,” one source said in a report published at Foxsports.com. “He has lost the entire team.”

According to a story by The Canadian Press, players have spoken about the situation over the past few weeks, but only if their names were not used. CP reports some players wanted to speak to senior team officials first – and to avoid the news leaking while the team was playing home.

The Blue Jays begin their final series of the season tonight in Baltimore.

One player told CP there was simply “constant negativity” coming from the manager’s office. Another noted that Gaston once said “there aren’t any good players in here.”

Gaston’s in-game decision making has also been a target of criticism this season, as it was during first tenure as Jays manager from 1989-97.

One player was asked by CP how many others felt the same way, he replied: “Just about everyone.”

Click here to read the full article – By Star Staff of TheStar.com

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