A New League—a Toronto Blue Jays Franchise

[JoeyKirby]

[JoeyKirby]

The first month of regular season baseball for the 2012 MLB baseball season is now over and with that it is now time to take an in depth look at the Blue Jays and their affiliate teams to see how everyone has performed in April.

Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays jumped off to a great start early on in April as they won seven games right out of the gate. They have lost a few games here or there but they still have a 16-7 record, which puts them second place in the AL East, and just half a game behind the AL East leading Tampa Bay Rays.

Toronto's success so far this year stems from a very solid mix of good offense and good pitching. In the league Toronto is 6th in batting average (.267), and 7th in on-base percentage (.337). Toronto's offense has been lead in most part by right fielder Giancarlo Stanton who has the highest Runs Created on the team at 21.72.

On the other side of the ball, Toronto is 9th in the league in ERA (3.37) and 21st in fielding percentage (.985). Through one month of play Toronto's pitching staff has been lead by starters Stephen Strasburg (3-0, 2.45 ERA), Madison Bumgarner (3-1, 1.21 ERA), Zach Britton (2-1, 1.30 ERA), and reliever Kenley Jansen (9 IP, 1.00 ERA, 10.0 K/9).

2012 Toronto Blue Jays Stats - Hitting
NAME	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG
Jose Tabata	67	15	23	6	0	0	5	16	13	7	0	.343	.459	.433
Giancarlo Stanton	81	14	26	5	1	7	20	11	26	0	0	.321	.398	.667
Jason Heyward	53	5	17	4	0	2	15	4	11	0	0	.321	.362	.509
Dee Gordon	53	7	14	4	0	2	8	3	13	3	1	.264	.316	.453
Brett Lawrie	78	5	20	4	0	0	12	9	14	3	0	.256	.326	.308
Elvis Andrus	87	9	22	5	1	0	7	3	13	2	1	.253	.278	.333
Justin Smoak	95	10	24	7	0	2	8	7	26	0	0	.253	.301	.389
Josh Thole	24	3	6	2	0	0	4	2	1	0	0	.250	.296	.333
Devin Mesoraco	61	6	15	2	0	1	8	8	11	0	0	.246	.333	.328
Dayan Viciedo	49	4	12	1	0	2	4	5	13	0	0	.245	.315	.388
Anthony Rizzo	48	12	11	3	0	1	5	6	8	0	1	.229	.315	.354
Eduardo Nunez	48	7	11	0	1	0	0	8	9	6	0	.229	.351	.271
Lorenzo Cain	51	5	11	1	2	1	6	5	14	0	1	.216	.286	.373

2012 Toronto Blue Jays Stats - Pitching
NAME	GP	GS	W	L	SV	QS	HLD	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	ERA
Madison Bumgarner	5	5	3	1	0	5	0	37.1	28	5	3	7	32	0.94	1.21
Stephen Strasburg	5	5	3	0	0	4	0	33.0	27	9	2	9	40	1.09	2.45
Zach Britton	4	4	2	1	0	3	0	27.2	21	4	2	7	15	1.01	1.30
Rubby De La Rosa	5	5	2	1	0	2	0	26.0	31	15	2	12	27	1.65	5.19
Danny Duffy	4	4	1	2	0	2	0	20.2	23	14	2	6	19	1.40	6.10
Hector Noesi	8	0	1	1	0	0	1	15.2	14	10	3	3	14	1.09	5.74
Jeremy Jeffress	8	0	2	0	0	0	1	9.2	6	2	1	3	9	0.93	1.86
Kenley Jansen	8	0	0	0	2	0	3	9.0	6	1	0	1	10	0.78	1.00
Aaron Crow	10	0	0	0	0	0	4	8.2	9	6	2	3	10	1.38	6.23
Tim Collins	8	0	1	1	1	0	1	8.0	10	6	0	5	4	1.88	6.75
Jake McGee	7	0	0	0	0	0	1	7.0	4	5	0	7	4	1.57	6.43
Aroldis Chapman	7	0	1	0	5	0	0	5.2	6	1	1	0	5	1.06	1.59

Las Vegas 51's
The Las Vegas 51's also got off to a great start in April as they currently have a 15-10 record which puts them atop their division, and one and a half games above the second place Tucson Padres.

Las Vegas has won ball games mostly by strong starting pitching and some very timely offense. Las Vegas' offense currently places 13th in the league for batting average (.265), 15th for on-base percentage (.320), and 18th for slugging percentage (.370). 25 year old 3B/1B Josh Bell has been the main catalyst on offense so far for the 51's this year as he has a line of .338/.378/.571 going into May to go along with 3 homers and 9 RBI's.

On the defensive side of the ball, Las Vegas places 11th in Triple-A for ERA (3.13), and 28th for fielding percentage (.971). The 51's three, four and five options in the rotation in Charlie Furbush (2-1, 2.87 ERA), Joel Carreno (3-1, 2.73 ERA), and Barry Enright (3-0, 1.99 ERA) have been fantastic so far for them and deserve lots of praise. In the bullpen, Marty Brown's most reliable arms have to be either Jose Ceda (13.2 IP, 1.98 ERA, 5.92 K/9), or closer Edgmer Escalona (8.2 IP, 3.12 ERA, 8.31 K/9).

2012 Las Vegas 51's Stats - Hitting
NAME	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG
Ben Revere	73	10	26	3	1	0	9	7	4	12	5	.356	.427	.425
Manny Pina	29	7	10	2	0	0	1	2	5	0	0	.345	.375	.414
Josh Bell	77	8	26	3	3	3	9	5	15	1	0	.338	.378	.571
Everth Cabrera	54	4	17	3	0	1	6	5	10	6	1	.315	.373	.426
Dave Sappelt	56	6	17	2	0	0	6	4	12	1	1	.304	.344	.339
Tony Cruz	61	5	17	2	0	0	5	4	7	0	1	.279	.323	.311
Jordan Pacheco	54	8	15	1	1	2	7	3	12	0	0	.278	.316	.444
Josh Harrison	73	8	18	5	1	2	10	0	5	0	1	.247	.240	.425
Brandon Snyder	94	7	22	3	0	1	8	6	23	0	1	.234	.282	.298
Taylor Green	58	3	13	3	0	1	4	7	10	0	0	.224	.308	.328
Michael Brantley	69	4	15	2	0	0	8	4	8	4	0	.217	.257	.246
Collin Cowgill	70	9	13	1	1	3	6	6	14	1	0	.186	.256	.357
Luis Valbuena	62	8	11	2	1	0	6	13	10	1	0	.177	.325	.242

2012 Las Vegas 51's Stats - Pitching
NAME	GP	GS	W	L	SV	QS	HLD	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	ERA
Barry Enright	5	5	3	0	0	5	0	31.2	24	7	1	7	20	0.98	1.99
Charlie Furbush	5	5	2	1	0	3	0	31.1	32	10	1	6	21	1.21	2.87
Joel Carreno	5	5	3	1	0	4	0	29.2	20	9	4	6	31	0.88	2.73
Alejandro Sanabia	5	5	2	2	0	4	0	27.2	32	12	2	8	24	1.45	3.90
Jeanmar Gomez	5	5	2	2	0	1	0	27.0	37	13	1	5	16	1.56	4.33
Aneury Rodriguez	12	0	0	3	2	0	3	13.2	12	8	1	6	11	1.32	5.27
Jose Ceda	10	0	0	0	0	0	3	13.2	9	3	1	6	9	1.10	1.98
Bryan Augenstein	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	13.2	13	3	0	1	6	1.02	1.98
Michael Bowden	10	0	0	1	0	0	3	10.2	9	5	2	6	17	1.41	4.22
Jordan Norberto	9	0	1	0	0	0	2	9.1	10	3	1	2	7	1.29	2.89
Edgmer Escalona	10	0	0	0	9	0	0	8.2	6	3	0	3	8	1.04	3.12
Brad Brach	8	0	1	0	1	0	2	7.0	7	2	0	3	6	1.43	2.57

New Hampshire Fisher Cats
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats are easily the more exciting affiliate team to watch so far in the Toronto Blue Jays minor league system as they currently sit atop the Eastern League's Eastern division with a record of 18 wins and 6 losses. The Fisher Cats are three and a half games up on the second place Binghampton Mets at the start of the month.

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats have got off to such a hot start thanks to great pitching and some very solid pitching. The Fisher Cats are currently 3rd in Double-A for runs scored at (111), behind just the Erie SeaWolves (114), and the Montgomery Biscuits (117), this puts the Fisher Cats at 4.62 runs per game through one month of play. The F-Cats have had three main offensive catalysts so far through one month and they are: leadoff hitter Alexi Amarista (22.29 RC), Juan Francisco (17.29 RC), and Fernando Martinez (17.09 RC).

On the other side of the ball, the Fisher Cats have held the opposition to just 71 runs through 24 games, this is good for second in all of Double-A as they trail the first place Tennessee Smokies (56 runs against) by a bit. New Hampshire has also played rock solid defense so far as they lead Double-A with a .989 fielding percentage. The Fisher Cats stand outs so far on the mound have to be Cody Scarpetta (3-1, 3.31 ERA) and Chris Schwinden (4-0, 1.15), the bullpen has proven to be dynamite so far though as they collectively have an ERA of just 2.04.

2012 New Hampshire Fisher Cats Stats - Hitting
NAME	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG
Alexi Amarista	76	17	31	7	2	2	11	8	12	0	1	.408	.464	.632
Martin Maldonado	69	10	23	3	0	0	7	10	11	0	1	.333	.418	.377
Luis Durango	49	9	15	4	1	3	7	6	8	1	1	.306	.382	.612
Fernando Martinez	80	8	24	6	1	5	12	8	8	0	1	.300	.364	.587
Juan Francisco	94	14	28	10	1	3	12	8	19	2	0	.298	.346	.521
Ryan Adams	86	7	23	4	2	0	11	6	13	2	1	.267	.323	.360
Conor Gillaspie	75	14	20	3	0	3	10	8	11	1	0	.267	.345	.427
Brandon Laird	82	9	20	3	0	1	14	3	8	1	0	.244	.276	.317
Trayvon Robinson	78	10	19	8	0	4	13	7	14	0	0	.244	.306	.500
Pete Kozma	21	4	5	2	0	1	3	3	3	1	0	.238	.333	.476
Hector Sanchez	33	0	7	1	0	0	4	3	10	0	0	.212	.278	.242
J.B. Shuck	74	5	14	1	0	1	4	7	15	0	1	.189	.256	.243
James Darnell	40	4	4	0	0	0	2	6	11	1	0	.100	.217	.100

2012 New Hampshire Fisher Cats Stats - Pitching
NAME	GP	GS	W	L	SV	QS	HLD	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	ERA
Cody Scarpetta	5	5	3	1	0	2	0	32.2	33	12	1	10	31	1.32	3.31
Chris Schwinden	5	5	4	0	0	5	0	31.1	30	4	0	8	19	1.21	1.15
Liam Hendriks	5	5	2	1	0	3	0	29.1	34	11	1	9	15	1.47	3.38
Trevor Bell	4	4	2	1	0	4	0	24.0	27	9	3	1	32	1.17	3.38
Junichi Tazawa	4	3	1	1	0	1	0	20.1	24	9	3	4	9	1.38	3.98
Brayan Villarreal	12	0	0	1	0	0	4	14.0	9	1	0	4	17	0.93	0.64
Jeff Locke	2	2	1	0	0	2	0	13.1	14	4	0	2	11	1.20	2.70
Hector Santiago	9	0	1	0	1	0	3	13.0	10	5	2	1	12	0.85	3.46
Dan Cortes	10	0	3	0	0	0	2	11.1	10	1	1	0	8	0.88	0.79
Rafael Dolis	11	0	0	0	0	0	8	10.1	12	2	2	3	12	1.45	1.74
Zach Putnam	9	0	1	0	1	0	3	10.0	10	0	0	2	10	1.20	0.00
Maikel Cleto	10	0	0	0	7	0	3	7.1	6	3	0	1	6	0.95	3.68

[Deuce2223]

Really like the layout, easy to follow and read. Have to admit though I am not a big fan of fantasy drafts. Your team looks rock solid from top to bottom with guys in AAA that should be on MLB rosters, I just feel like that would take away from seeing young guy's developing which is the most fun part for me.

Anyways good luck. Will be following along.

[JoeyKirby]

Thanks Deuce, appreciate the feedback! Yeah I figured that'd be the main complaint that I'd get would be about the rosters and how there are household names on it from the big league team going all the way down to Double-A. I'm okay with that though, I took a good amount of time figuring out how I drafted so I'll just stick with them. Thanks again for following!

[JoeyKirby]

The Toronto Blue Jays get back to their winning ways at the start of this week as they follow up their two of three loses to Seattle with a three game sweep over the Texas Rangers. Toronto took the first two games 11-8 and 12-5 as they just overpowered the Rangers with their offense. Today was a little bit of a different story as they just barely eek out a 2-1 win.

23 year-old lefty Danny Duffy (2-2, 4.88 ERA) started for the Blue Jays in this one and had one of the better starts of his season and likely career. Duffy went seven strong innings, allowing one run on six hits and he also struck out nine Rangers batters. The one mistake in Duffy's outing was a home run from Stephen Drew on an 0-2 pitch which was left in way too good of a location for the Rangers shortstop.

Aaron Crow followed him with a scoreless inning in which he recorded two strikeouts. Aroldis Chapman came on for the save and he also pitched a scoreless inning, while ringing up two.

Toronto's bats collected just seven hits in this one but they had eleven base runners in the game total, thanks to five walks in the game (two coming from Giancarlo Stanton). Jose Tabata continues to thrive in the lead off spot as he went one for three with a double, a walk, and he absolutely robbed Hideki Matsui of double when he scaled the wall in center to make a great catch. Brett Lawrie went one for four and also had a double. Dee Gordon and Justin Smoak were the lone hitters with a multi-hit game in this one, Gordon also swiped a bag.

Toronto will now head to Los Angeles, California for a four game set against the Los Angeles Angels. Toronto's expected starters are Strasburg, Bumgarner, De La Rosa, and Zach Britton will pitch in the finale.

[JoeyKirby]

[JoeyKirby]

General Manager Alex Anthopoulos of the Toronto Blue Jays and General Manager Dave Dombrowski of the Detroit Tigers have officially come to terms on a deal that will send Blue Jays infielder Luis Valbuena and cash considerations to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for infielder Logan Forsythe.

From the Blue Jays perspective, they acquire a very versatile 25 year-old infielder in Logan Forsythe. Forsythe maintains a very patient approach at the plate, hits the ball well to all fields, and can field at least average to plus at every position in the infield except for catcher. Logan has a batting line of .100/.100/.100 in just 10 at bats so far this year as a utility man for the Tigers, though he holds a .286/.416/.423 line through his time in the minor leagues.

From the Tigers perspective in the deal, Dombrowski is acquiring a 26 year-old versatile left handed hitting infielder in Luis Valbuena. Much like Forsythe, Valbuena has a very patient approach at the plate and is more than willing to take a walk, he also doesn't strike out much either. Valbuena hits right handed pitchers well but can have his fair share of struggles against tough lefties, he's easily a plus runner, and doesn't field too bad either. Thus far in the Triple-A season, Valbuena is mired in a lengthened slump as he has a .217/.345/.275 line with the 51's, however he's a .283/.361/.439 hitter throughout his career in minor league baseball. It has been said that Dombrowski will also receive a more than respectable sum of cash in the deal as well.

"We're very excited to acquire a player with a skill set that Logan Forsythe has, he plays the game very hard and fits our player profile very well, he hits, gets on base a lot, can run a little, and can play multiple positions well," said Anthopoulos. "Though Forsythe's playing time so far this year has come as a utility player with the Tigers, this is not how we plan on using him as we'll likely be sending him down to the minors to get every day at bats with the 51's, though we'll be keeping a close eye on him while he's down there."

[JoeyKirby]

Alex Anthopoulos has quickly reloaded and pulled the trigger again as he just recently announced that he and San Francisco Giants general manager Brian Sabean have agreed on a deal that will send Blue Jays minor league infielder Jordan Pacheco and cash considerations to the Giants in exchange for infielder Brandon Crawford.

The Giants are acquiring a 26 year-old infielder in Jordan Pacheco who can play catcher and both corner infield positions. Pacheco displays good power in his bat to go along with a low strike out rate and a very patient approach at the plate which leads to lots of free passes. Pacheco has had a solid start to his year with the 51's so far as he is batting .284/.314/.433 with 2 homers and 7 runs batted in. Pacheco has a track record of good hitting against left handed pitching in his professional career and could make for a good platoon partner with Giants first basemen Luke Scott.

The Blue Jays are acquiring a 25 year-old left handed hitting shortstop in Brandon Crawford. Crawford is known for his strong defense as he can make almost any play imaginable, he displays good instincts, range, and a very good throwing arm. At the plate, there are all kinds of questions about Crawfords swing and whether he will be able to hit enough to be an every day big league shortstop. Crawford has started off very well for the Fresno Grizzlies in the Pacific Coast League as he currently has a line of .299/.396/.584 in just under 80 at bats with 6 homers and 18 runs batted in.

"Though there are lots of questions about Brandon's bat, but nonetheless we are very glad to be picking him up in this deal as he has a terrific glove and is very good middle infield insurance in Triple-A for the time being," Anthopoulos explained. "I think the deal works out for both teams, we're giving them a very versatile player who has something to prove and can help them out immediately, and they're giving us a guy who plays a very strong defensive game and has a floor projection of being a great bench player, everybody wins."