J.P. To The Rescue!!! (Baseball America Top 10 Jays Prospects)

This article was published by Baseball America back on November 14, 2008 but I think its an interesting read for all Jays' fans. It provides an in-depth look at the future of our team.

According to BA's Matt Eddy, here are our top 10 prospects:

1. Travis Snider, of
2. J.P. Arencibia, c
3. Brett Cecil, lhp
4. Justin Jackson, ss
5. David Cooper, 1b
6. Kevin Ahrens, 3b
7. Brad Mills, lhp
8. Ricky Romero, lhp
9. Marc Rzepczynski, lhp
10. Brad Emaus, 2b/3b

Now the last 2 guys, I have never heard of and I think Ricky Romero got a bit of a gift even being named to this list. (He can thank his outstanding collegiate career and his #6 overall pick in the 2005 draft... Troy Tulowitzki would have been nice huh?)

Snider is a given, but a guy that truly excites me is J.P. Arencibia. After enduring countless years of Gregg Zaun's mediocre contributions, the thought of developing a solid young catcher should drive all Jays fans nuts!! Here's the book on Arencibia courtesy of http://www.scoutingbook.com/:

"A big, strong right-handed hitter from Florida, Arencibia is a catcher of the offensive variety, though he does have a strong throwing arm to go along with his bat. He's also got a great personality for leadership and should be able to handle a pitching staff if he can stay behind the plate. While at-bat, he's a dead pull slugger with plus power. He just needs to learn a little plate discipline to stop big-league pitchers from picking him apart before he can get his bat into play."



Arencibia was also recently invited to MLB's Rookie Career Development Program. Check out this video for Arencibia's thoughts on the experience.

Maybe this J.P. is the saviour the Blue Jays have been waiting for!! We look forward to seeing him behind the plate at Rogers Centre in the not too distant future.

Offseason Hot Stove

HA!

The only thing on the Blue Jays Offseason Stove is a week old half eaten can of baked beans. What's that putrid smell you ask? No, it's not the remnants of the beans wreaking havoc with your bowels, its the foul stench of losing your #2 starter, and saviour, A.J. Burnett to everyone's favourite nemesis, the NEW YORK YANKEES!

Well thank god Allan James was New York's prize addition this offseason. Phew!! Wait... what's that? Sabathia too?? FOR HOW MUCH?! Son of a b*#@^!! Well at least they weren't able to improve their offence. Ok, enough with the drama. We all know the Yankees wheeled to acquire Nick Swisher from the Chisox and blew both the Angels and the Red Sox away by signing 1B Mark Teixeira to a ludicrous contract extension, to fill the emotional and physical void left by Jason Giambi (another Yankees signing that drove baseball fans absolutely nuts). Am I the only one who finds it slightly ironic that it was Oakland of all teams who landed Giambi after the Yankees showed him the door?

Anyway, back to the Jays.. the hell with the Yankees. What have my prized blue birds accomplished this offseason? To be honest the only thing of any importance was the tragic passing of team owner Ted Rogers on December 2nd. As a Ryerson graduate of the Ted Rogers School of Management, I have deep respect for the man for his contributions in the community and to the Toronto Blue Jays. He will be sorely missed. Does anyone besides me think that Ted would have allowed J.P. to reallocate the money saved on Burnett to lure in the best possible free agent acquisition the Jays could have made? How does a leadoff hitter sound. Oh wait, what about a shortstop who actually knows how to hit? Or how about an excellent base stealer? OR, how about we solve all three of those problems with one name?

Rafael Furcal.

'Nuff said.

Sorry Michael Barrett. No disrespect Matt Clement. Mike Maroth? Raul Chavez? Who?? Are any of you gonna help this team in any way??