Jays axe Wolfe; call up Hayhurst

The Blue Jays finally put reliever Brian Wolfe out of his misery, sending him down to AAA Las Vegas following a pair of horrific outings. In 7 games, he gave up 13 hits, 7 runs in just 8.1 innings of work, allowing three long balls. The numbers are somewhat skewed the pitiful final two appearances, where he gave up 3 runs in each contest, including a blown save in Baltimore

One man's loss is another man's gain. The Jays have brought 28 year righty Dirk Hayhurst into the fold, presumably for mop up duty and potentially as a long reliever. The Jays claimed Hayhurst off waivers from the Padres in October, and he will attempt to show the clubs brass they didn't make a mistake. His numbers with San Diego in '08 and with AAA Las Vegas this year are not something to write home about. With the Padres, he had a disgusting 9.72 ERA, and in Las Vegas this season his ERA was 5.11.

There could be a glimmer of hope, however. Manager Cito Gaston was extremely impressed with Hayhurst in Spring Training, where he displayed great control. In 8 solid innings, Hayhurst allowed just 1 run, issuing no walks. Gaston wanted to bring him north with the big club, but an issue with his contract prohibited him from making the jump to Toronto until May 15th.

Now that he's here, the question is, will he be another Brian Wolfe? Or the guy he was in spring training? My money is on the former.

Janssen struggles against Halos; will bounce back

Casey Janssen struggled mightily against the Angels Wednesday, getting tagged for 5 runs in just four innings. The development wasn't a complete surprise, because in his two previous starts in Atlanta and against Boston, he laboured also, getting away with potential disaster outings in both starts. In the three starts combined, Janssen has allowed 11 runs, 26 hits in just 17 innings for an ugly 5.82 ERA.

I don't believe Janssen is on a short leash with the team. He will be given every opportunity to work through his early funk, and I finally expect him to do so. Let's put everything in perspective. He missed the entire 2008 campaign with a torn labrum, then had shoulder troubles that caused him to miss the first month and a half of '09. He hasn't started a game since 2006, so there will be a transition for him to adapt to his role.

We know this; Janssen can flat out pitch. In 70 games as the reliever in 2007, the former 4th round pick went 2-3 with an ERA of 2.35 and had 24 holds. And in his first 9 starts as a rookie in 2006, he was extremely effective, notching a 5-3 record with a stout 3.07 ERA.

Bottom line, he's an important pitcher on this staff, and we can expect him to get it straightened out.

It's just Halladay being Halladay

What a phenomenal performance by Roy Halladay against the Angels on Tuesday! The best pitcher in baseball displayed why he's such an incredible workhorse, willing his team to victory on the strength of a new career milestone.

It's just Halladay being Halladay.

For a guy who is supposed to be a "ground ball" pitcher, he sure isn't producing like one, entering the game 5th in the American League in strikeouts. He wound up with a new career high of 14 punch outs in this contest, doing so in a whopping 133 pitches, notching a complete game victory! He is such an incredible specimen that he can gear back and dominate like he did tonight. Despite the fact he was working on a high pitch count late in the game, there was absolutely no way he was being taken out of this contest.

Doc cruised through the first 6 innings, after being handed a comfy 6-0 lead. Game over right? Wrong. Halladay uncharacteristically scuffled, loaded the bases after 2 singles and a walk, then proceeded to allow a run to score on another base rap and a wild pitch. The Angels followed with two sacrifice flies to trim the lead to just 2. Could the Jays lose after huge leads in consecutive starts by Halladay? Not on his watch. 6 of the final 7 outs came via the strike out, including all three outs in the 9th inning, as Halladay lifted his win total to a Major League Baseball best total of 9 games.

It's just Halladay being Halladay.

Travis Snider update

The Blue Jays prized prospect Travis Snider was sent down to AAA Las Vegas two weeks ago to fix the long and loopy swing he developed in his first full campaign at the major league level. After a scintillating spring training, and a strong first 9 games to start April, in which he had 3 home runs and 9 RBI, he scuffled mightily at the plate.

The club was hesitant to continue having Snider with the team, given the slate of interleague games they play in June, and because he wasn't playing every day, sitting against left handed pitching. The thinking was that the 21 year old Snider would benefit from regular action with Las Vegas, gain that confidence back, and learn to trust his swing again.

The early results haven't been all that promising with Las Vegas. In a small sampling of just 8 games, the powerful lefty has been anything but that, batting a pedestrian .258, with zero home runs and 2 RBI. His other Achilles heel, the strike out, hasn't exactly improved just yet, with him striking out in just under 30% of his at bats (10 in 31 plate appearances)

There's no reason to push the panic button yet because the kid will be something special. The Jays haven't indicated how long it'll take him for Snider to return to the Blue Birds, but it's entirely possible that if he continues to struggle, it might be a while.

Could Purcey return to the rotation?

After David Purcey was sent down to AAA following his miserable control issues in the first month of the Jays season, it seemed like it might be a very very long time until he came back north of the border. With the Jays having quite a few young hurlers waiting to burst though to make it to the starting rotation, and after Purcey's horrendous first couple starts with AAA Las Vegas, it seemed plausible that he might be passed over in the clubs future plans.

However, the big southpaw has found his game down in the minors and might just be putting himself back on Toronto's radar should Ricky Romero continue to struggle. In 5 of the 6 starts since the demotion, Purcey hasn't allowed more than 2 earned runs, while his shortest outing in that span was 5.1 innings, posting a solid 3.50 ERA overall. If you throw out his horrendous second start, in which he gave up 8 earned runs in 2.1 innings, that ERA would be sparkling.

Purcey has the tools to be an effective major league starter. He displayed that last year, and occasionally this season. If he should continue his strong play, and limit his walks (20 in 36 innings pitched), he could find himself back with the Jays sooner rather than later.

Romero struggling since return from DL

What a disappointing return from the disabled list for Ricky Romero. After looking so good in his first three career big league starts, where he silenced his critics that labeled him a bust, he has struggled mightily since coming back for his oblique injury.

Prior to going on the shelf, Romero was 2-0 with an ERA of 1.71. In his two starts since returning to the starting five, he is 0-2, surrendering 10 runs on 19 hits, including a whopping five homers in just 9.1 innings of work against Baltimore and Boston. Romero has struggled with his command, too often falling behind in counts and has subsequently been susceptible to the long ball.

I would expect the club will allow him to have one more start to work through his mechanics. Should he falter, a trip to AAA Las Vegas likely would be in the offing, with David Purcey, Brett Cecil, Brad Mills or Fabio Castro candidates to replace him in the rotation. Romero must prove his sensational start was not an aberration, rather that his two poor outings were instead.

League thriving in set-up role

I've always defended my boy Brandon League to the throngs of Jays fans that claim that he's garbage. In fact, at the start of the season I predicted he would eventually fill the closer's role if B.J. Ryan struggled. Unfortunately for League, he also had a rough start to the campaign, seemingly losing the trust of the club.

A couple of days ago, I thought that Manager Cito Gaston had no confidence in the fireballer because he didn't go to him to lock down the contest in extra innings in Baltimore, instead electing to turn to Brian Wolfe. Therefore, I proclaimed that logically speaking, Jason Frasor should be the set up man for Toronto, because he's been fantastic so far.

Clearly, Gaston does in fact have a lot of faith in League because he's inserted him in the 8th inning of the first two games of the Boston series. League didn't disappoint, retiring all 3 hitters he faced in both contests. He was provided sorely needed relief at the back end of the bullpen, mixing in his great fastball with a phenomenal splitter.

If he keeps this up, he might just make the transition to closer within a couple of years. He most definitely has great potential to be the stopped of the future, and not so distant present.