Marcum's road to recovery complete

After missing the entire 2009 campaign following Tommy John Surgery on his injured right elbow, Shaun Marcum's long road back to recovery came full circle Saturday. The 28 year old hurler was finally back in his element, facing major league hitters for the first time in 536 days. Marcum hardly skipped a beat, putting together two solid innings against the Yankees, striking out a pair without allowing a hit.

The long 18 month rehab was a grueling process that took its toll on Marcum. After labouring through 2 innings in a mid September contest in '08, the righty presumably was set to miss the entire '09 season. A sense of optimism, however within the organization prompted the team to set a timeline for a return in early August. After going through a rehab stint in the minors, Marcum thought he'd be toeing the rubber for the first time in 11 months, but suffered back spasms in an outing with the Jays AAA farm team in Las Vegas, setting his progress back. Then in August came the birth of his second son, so the Blue Jays brass decided to sit Marcum down for the entire season as a precaution.

After going 21-13 with a 3.77 ERA primarily as a starter for the Jays from '07-08, Marcum, the longest tenured starter with the club, is a leading candidate to be pencilled in as the opening day starter provided he stay healthy. That would be the ultimate capper on the long road back for Shaun Marcum.

Welcome back to Toronto Blue Jays Way!

Yes I know, it has been FAR too long since I last wrote on this Toronto Blue Jays Way blog. For that I am ashamed, truly. It was just so difficult to write about the team knowing that the baseball season was still far away from starting up again. It was basically depressing to know that there would be no ball for such a long time. However, that has all changed when the calendar turned to March because the Blue Jays Spring Training has begun!

I will be blogging throughout the Blue Birds exhibition schedule with thoughts, opinions and observations regarding the team, and of course carrying on to when the games really matter, starting April 5th in Texas. Already there are plenty of topics to discuss, from the job Alex Anthopoulos has done since being named the Jays General Manager, whether or not Jose Bautista can be the next Marco Scutaro, and also which young pitchers should be in the Jays rotation to start the 2010 campaign.

So welcome back to Toronto Blue Jays Way! I certainly hope to bring even more content and information to my loyal readers for the upcoming season!

Ricciardi fired by Blue Jays

J.P. Ricciardi's tumultuous tenure as the Toronto Blue Jays General Manager has mercilessly to a close after eight mediocre seasons produced exactly zero post season berths. Boasting upon his arrival that his "five year plan" would make the Blue Birds contenders in the ultra competitive American League East didn't quite turn out according to plan, as Toronto found itself with four seasons of winning ball and four campaigns below the .500 mark.

Ricciardi is most remembered for verbally attacking then Reds outfielder Adam Dunn, suggesting he didn't "love" the game and wasn't a team player, for his lies attempting to cover up closer B.J. Ryan's injuries and for his mockery at this past year's trading deadline that saw him dangle ace Roy Halladay as trade bait, only to pull out of a prospective deal. Ricciardi also hamstrung the team by giving out sizable contracts to the likes of Corey Koskie, B.J. Ryan, Frank Thomas, Alex Rios and Vernon Wells, players who were either past their prime or never quite lived up to the billing as a superstar.

Despite the few good moves engineered by the 50 year old Ricciardi, like drafting Aaron Hill, Adam Lind, Ricky Romero and Travis Snider, and the acquisition of Marco Scutaro, Jeremy Accardo and prospects Zack Stewart and Josh Roenicke via trade, there were too many holes to overcome the Yankees and Red Sox every season. There were a few factors out of his control, most notably lack of money to throw at upper echelon free agents, but there was also bad personnel evaluation, like selecting Russ Adams with his first pick as G.M. of the team in the 2002 draft.

Ultimately, J.P. left the Jays with pieces to build around (Hill, Lind, Snider, Romero and Brett Cecil), so the latter part of his tenure with the club has led to some positive results. Unfortunately for Ricciardi and his "five year plan", it took him far too long to develop young stars on a ball club that is starving to reach the level of success, or even to get remotely close, of the Jays '92 and '93 World Series teams.

Ricciardi was living on borrowed time in Toronto, and it was certainly long overdue that he was handed a pink slip. Alex Anthopoulos, Ricciardi's right hand man, will take over the team for now, but that could be short lived with rumours persisting that there will be a permanent team President and discussion that former Blue Jays G.M. Pat Gillick could be handed the keys to the franchise once again.

Jays players want Cito Gaston fired

With three games to go in a Blue Jays season that will result in the 16th straight year without making the playoffs, it's inevitable there will some bad blood and controversy that will surface as players and management attempt to shift the blame for another poor year onto someone else. However, news that iconic Manager Cito Gaston has lost the entire team and the players are preparing a mutiny in hopes he'll be fired certainly raises more eyebrows than the typical finger pointing for a bad season.

Indeed, Gaston, in his second go round with the team he guided to two World Series titles in the early 90's, has lost the respect of his players, leading to the players wanting him axed. Vernon Wells, the supposed "star" of the team has virtually confirmed that, saying "Obviously there are issues", the soft spoken Aaron Hill mentioned "I think everybody pretty much feels the same for the most part," and first basemen Lyle Overbay chimed in with "We've got to get it straightened out, either way."

The players apparently don't like Gaston's hands off approach to managing ball games, feel there is a lack of communication with their locker room and there are some veterans unhappy about playing time and constant criticism. Those players are likely Overbay, who saw a reduction in playing time that saw him platooning at first base with Kevin Millar earlier in the season, the underachieving Wells, who has drawn the ire of his manager and perhaps Jeremy Accardo, who has been effective, posting a very solid 2.38 ERA but has found himself bouncing up and down from AAA Las Vegas to the big club.

Regardless, if the successor to interim president Paul Beeston is named in the off-season, there might be a major shakeup that could see G.M. J.P. Ricciardi cut loose along with Gaston and several other members of the coaching staff. Despite the reports of clubhouse turmoil, Gaston will continue to dodge bullets from fans, as they continue to shower praise upon him (justified or not), because of the great times he had in his first stint with the team.

Adam Lind soars high for Jays

There have been few bright spots for the Blue Jays in their otherwise disappointing season, but Adam Lind is not one of them. The hitter the Jays envisioned would become a force in the middle of the batting order has arrived this season in a big way.

Lind has been rock solid, putting together a remarkably consistent season despite little protection behind him in the batting order. His RBI totals, broken down by month, show that he has been productive throughout the year, with 20, 18, 14, 18, 19, and to date in September 25 RBI's.

He's also had contests where he completely stood out as a dynamic offense force. He busted out of the gate quickly in the season opener, driving in 6 runs. In Texas last month he did two better, racking up 8 runs batted in, falling just 1 RBI shy of matching a franchise record for runs batted in for one game. The last series at the Rogers Centre this year against Seattle, Lind smoked the game tying homer in the 8th frame, and then in extra innings, cranked another blast for a walk off victory. And in his last contest, Lind went deep 3 times against Boston.

That gives Lind a .305 average, 35 home runs and 114 RBI on the campaign. Lind has arrived. Now if only the Jays could surround him (and Aaron Hill) with more talent the Blue Birds could be singing again.

Johnny Mac is the man!

Is anyone else loving the fact that John McDonald is proving his worth to the Blue Jays now that he's finally getting some playing time? This guy is incredible with the glove, which we already knew, but he also displayed a bit of pop in his bat Monday against the Orioles.

You knew it the moment the ball left the bat. McDonald had gotten a hold of one, cranking the ball over the left field bleachers for his third home run of the season. What a ball player. It's astounding how easy it is to love watching this guy play, and on the contrary, how hard it is to watch someone like Vernon Wells day in and day out.

He's moved around in the infield when called upon this season also, manning shortstop, and occasionally filling in at third base and second, not to mention spot duty in left field, all the while without complaining despite the fact he's had just 23 starts on the campaign.

Johnny Mac is phenomenal!

Purcey shining since September call up

David Purcey has proven that he can be a very effective pitcher at the major league level the past two seasons. In 2008, he put together two brilliant starts against the eventual American League champion Tampa Bay Rays, allowing a solitary run in 16 innings of work. Unfortunately, he has not been able to be consistent enough, which saw him go from the number three starter in the Jays rotation at the start of the campaign to AAA Las Vegas for the remainder of the season before his recent call up.

If Purcey can string together more starts like he did Monday against Baltimore, he might just be a dark horse candidate for a spot in the rotation in 2010. In 7.2 innings of work, the big left hander struck out four batters, scattering four hits while allowing just one run, picking up his first win in the major leagues in over a year.

In fact, if not for Jason Frasor blowing a three run lead against Detroit in Purcey's last start, the 2004 first round pick would have won that game also. In his two starts since being recalled, Purcey has surrendered just 3 earned runs in 13 innings, a far cry from his five starts in April, which saw him cough up 20 runs in just under 26 innings. Purcey has excellent "stuff", perhaps the best in the Blue Jays system, but has been unable to locate his pitches very well in his brief career, constantly showing susceptibility to the base on ball (55 free passes in 104 innings) The Jays can only hope he builds off his impressive performances since being summoned from AAA to fulfill his potential.

If he can pitch like he did against Baltimore and Detroit, replicating the success against Tampa Bay last year, that shouldn't be a problem.