Kuzul

As we head into the dog days of August, Jays fans are just now starting to get excited over the prospects of this team.

Usually around this time of year, it’s the lull in the schedule where teams usually just try and play out the string until September, but for the Jays, things look completely different.

The Jays are fighting game in and game out, and are 57-55 in 102 games this season. The team was expected to maybe win at most 75 games this season, so they are definitely ahead of expectations.

If the Jays had the ability to close out games with more ease, they could likely have seven-10 more wins than they do this season.

But with that said, the Jays are expected to fall out of contention soon as they remain 11.5 back in the wild card and 12.5 back in the AL East. Their playoff hopes are fading fast, but the future is brighter than ever.

A main component of the future made his debut last night. Brett Lawrie, a native of Langley, British Columbia, made his highly anticipated Blue Jays debut in fine fashion coming up with an RBI single in his first ever at-bat.

After a bout of “erroritis,” Lawrie calmed down a little and finished out the game strong, finishing 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Lawrie’s debut last night set the country a blaze as it’s likely the most publicized minor league debut in Jays history. Lawrie, who has drawn comparisons to Ian Kinsler and David Wright, didn’t look out of place last night at the plate.

So that begs the question, since the Jays are ahead of expectations and .500 plus this year, would the Jays contend if they had three more players to add to the fold? Obviously these players would have to be good players.

But on the other hand, are the Jays just too young and inexperienced to contend right now even if they had those three extra players to add to the depth of the squad?

We’ll dissect the two scenarios right now.

Three Players

In my opinion the Jays would be in a better position if they have a closer, starting pitcher (a No. 2 or No. 3) and a second basemen.

The Jays this offseason should be looking at improving their bullpen. The relief department is filled with quality arms.

Closers available include Heath Bell, Jonathan Papelbon, Jose Valverde, Ryan Madson and Jonathan Broxton, all of whom would be better options than Jon Rauch.

A few others have options attached to their deals and may opt out such as Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez who will likely want to leave Milwaukee due to being a set-up man behind John Axford.

So the free-agent cupboard is stocked heavily for Alex Anthopolous to really make an impact this offseason.

The Jays have been in talks with Houston over Wandy Rodriguez, and he would likely fit into the mold of that No. 2 or 3 starter this team needs; however, I just think he’ll get murdered by the AL East bats. Even Baltimore, the worst team in the AL, could destroy this guy.

The No. 2 or 3 pitcher in my opinion will come from within, as the free-agent class for pitchers is rather bare.

As for the second baseman, Aaron Hill is still find is a useful player; however, his swing needs serious work.

After a great silver slugger year where he hit 36 home runs 108 RBIs and averaged .286, Hill’s numbers have plummeted into the abyss as he’s only hit .215 in the two seasons since (August 6th) and hit 31 home runs in 882 at-bats.

 Hill has abandoned his quick, smooth stroke for a more loopy and long home run swing, thanks to the hitting coach Dwayne Murphy’s philosophy of sitting on your pitch and letting it rip. Hill’s best season came under Gene Tenace.

Adam Lind credited Tenace with his great offensive numbers in the month of July and August 2009, saying: “The thing is, a lot of people can teach you how to hit, but not a lot of people can teach you how to hit in the big leagues.”

Hill has been struggling, hitting only .232 this season, as is Travis Snider, who is now in AAA again. JP Arencibia will never be a high-average hitter, but he should still average around .245 to .260, but he’s at a .216 clip right now.

Rajai Davis hit .284 last season, this season he’s been relegated to fourth OF duties and is hitting .242.

The rant aside, only a scarce few have improved under Murphy (Bautista, Escobar, Molina) and the Jays might actually be better served finding a new hitting coach as opposed to adding another bat in the offseason. Build from within, I would like to say.

We’ve looked at the three players side and I decided that a closer is a must for this team, and a bonus would be a legit starting pitcher and second baseman. However, we could probably fill those two positions from within for a much cheaper price.

Three Years

The Jays are one of the youngest teams in the majors right now and some argue they are still two or three years away from contending because of their lack of experience, and the fact they have quality depth up and down the minor leagues.

The Jays are blessed with a great deal of starting pitching depth down in the minors with as many as possibly 10 or more major league caliber starters.

Deck McGuire looks to be a horse, Henderson Alvarez is looking dominant with his 95 mph-plus fastball and Nestor Molina is mowing down the competition.

Justin Nicolino is a man amongst boys in the Northwest League. Noah Syndergaard looks to be the real deal as well.

Asher Wojciechowski is struggling somewhat in Dunedin, but the organization still has high hopes for him, as well as Aaron Sanchez, another one of those projectable high school arms the Jays drafted last season.

Chad Jenkins, Drew Hutchinson, Adonys Cardona, PJ Walters, Mitchell Taylor and Joel Carreno are looking pretty great as well down in the minors.

The Jays have also only signed four of their top 25 drafted players from the 2011 draft. The Jays could add Tyler Beede, Daniel Norris, Kevin Comer, John Stilson and Tom Robson to the fold as well.

The highest rated Jays prospect whom I nearly forgot about, Kyle Drabek, has struggled with his control this year and was demoted to AAA earlier this season.

He hasn’t made it back and has continued to struggle down in Las Vegas. When he figures it all out again, he’s that quality arm the Jays are searching for.

Most of these guys I would say are two or three years away from a chance at making in to the show. McGuire, Drabek and Alvarez are likely the closest to making an impact right now.

The Jays infield isn’t littered with prospects, but there are some good ones that may be worth the wait.

SS Adeiny Hechavarria has huge amount of upside as he projects more like an Edgar Renteria or Alcides Escobar types of shortstops. He’ll likely not hit for average, but he does have a gold glove caliber glove and some speed.

Dickie Thon, Chris Hawkins, Mike McDade, David Cooper, Kellen Sweeney and Jorge Vega-Rosado look to be serviceable MLB players down the line.

To add to that, the Jays might have the best stocked catching prospects in the minors as Travis D’Arnaud is looking like a top-five prospect in AA. Carlos Perez is having a down year, but may have even more upside in some scouts opinions. AJ Jimenez and Santiago Nessy are looking good as well.

Lastly we look out to the outfield and that’s where the Jays will obviously need to make moves. Already having long-term options in center and right, the Jays really don’t have a lot of need for outfielders at the MLB level; however the team is stocked nicely in the outfield.

Jake Marisnick is having a sick year down in Lansing, as he’s projecting more and more like Hunter Pence by the day.

Anthony Gose is striking out a ton in AA; however he’s already at 50 steals this season and looks to finish with a .250 plus average. His arm out in center is very strong and looks to be a part of the future.

The other three heads of the monster in Lansing, Marcus Knecht, Mike Crouse and Markus Brisker, are all making good strides down in Michigan.

Eric Arce is displaying some power down the GCL and Moises Sierra is showing a good bat and a strong arm down in New Hampshire.

As you can tell, the Jays are well-stocked in the minor league system.

Should the Jays continue to rebuild and wait the three years, or should they look to add those necessary missing pieces and make a run next year when the playoff format should likely change?

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For three years running, San Diego closer Heath Bell has been the subject of trade discussions and rumors and the trade deadline.

Yet, Bell still remains a Padre despite this season being the time when everyone was positively sure he was on the move, most notably to either Texas or St. Louis.

The deadline is nearly a week in the past but that doesn’t officially mean the flame-throwing reliever is necessarily staying the rest of the season in San Diego, but that could only come to fruition if the Padres choose to place him on waivers, a move which seems unlikely given the team’s reluctance to accept trade offers in exchange.

Here are the most notable reasons why Padre fans can expect to see Bell in a Friars uniform not just for the remainder of this season, but into the future.

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Last night, the Philadelphia Phillies made a big yet somewhat expected splash when they received All-Star right fielder Hunter Pence and $1 million from the Houston Astros in exchange for four minor-league players, including their top two prospects—starting pitcher Jarred Cosart and first baseman/outfielder Jonathan Singleton.

Despite the ridiculous comment made by Phillies GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. earlier this season that the Phillies “would not make a major move this year” at the trade deadline, Amaro has gotten the job done again for the Phillies.

This is the third major move he’s made at the trade deadline in as many years as the Phillies general manager—two years ago, he traded four prospects to the Cleveland Indians for Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco, and last year he traded pitcher J.A. Happ and two prospects to the Astros for Roy Oswalt. This year, he got the Phillies the right-handed bat they needed since Jayson Werth signed his mega-deal with the Washington Nationals. And us Phillies fans are happy about that.

However, just because Amaro has made this big trade with Houston doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s done for the year. While most reports indicate that he’s done dealing for the year—he’s even stated that he’s “very comfortable with the ballclub“—but as we’ve come to know with Ruben Amaro (as mentioned above), most things he says should be taken with a grain of salt.

The Phillies are now the team to beat in the National League. With a major league-best 66-39 record, not only are they the team to beat in the NL, but they very well could be in all of baseball.

Sure, the San Francisco Giants just got New York Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran in a trade, who was arguably the best all-around bat on the trade market this year, but he’s only with the team for the remainder of the season. And with the Phillies’ acquisition of Pence, he’s not only with the team this year, but also the next and the year after that.

In short, the Phillies have basically one-upped the Giants.

But does that mean the Phillies will stop here?

Earlier in the season, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel asked for both a right-handed bat and a relief pitcher. While Ruben Amaro has granted one of those two wishes (and the more important one as well), could he potentially look to get a deal done for a bullpen arm?

In the past when Ruben Amaro has made his trade deadline splashes, he has stood pat for the last few days following his deals. But could this year be a change to his status quo?

Prior to the completion of the Pence trade, Amaro had released a list of his top three priority players to acquire at the deadline this year. That list, from top to least priority, was Pence, White Sox right fielder Carlos Quentin and Padres setup man Mike Adams. Now that the Phillies have Pence, Quentin isn’t needed anymore, so Adams technically becomes the Phillies’ top priority should they continue to pursue other players. But will Adams be theirs for the taking?

As we’ve already covered, the Phillies have traded their top two prospects, Cosart and Singleton. Due to their departures, the Phillies’ new top prospect is starting pitcher Brody Colvin. If the Phillies, or any team for that matter, wants Adams, then they would most likely have to part with at least one top prospect. Should the Phillies pursue Adams, could Colvin be that prospect?

Even if the Phillies decide not to go the Adams route, they could trade for a smaller-market reliever like Chad Qualls of the Padres or Jon Rauch of the Blue Jays. It could be very interesting to see which reliever the Phillies get if they choose to go hunting for one.

And while the Phillies’ other primary target is a bullpen arm, they are also supposedly looking for a power bat off the bench. They inquired about Jason Giambi of the Rockies prior to his injury and they even asked the Minnesota Twins about the availability of their former first baseman Jim Thome, who is just four home runs away from reaching the 600 home run milestone for his career. Wouldn’t it be something if he did it in a Phillies uniform?

Yes, the Phillies have done something special in acquiring Hunter Pence. They’ve got the right-handed bat they have coveted and they’ll have it for two and a half years. But there’s still one lingering question: with just over 24 hours before the trade deadline (as of 1:35 p.m. EDT), will the Phillies make another move?

Only time will tell.

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Whenever true baseball fans discuss the San Diego Padres, they attribute many things to the team from America’s Finest City.

It could be the fact that they have never won the World Series. It could be their ballpark and how its mere size could host the entire Wild Animal Park. Some people will eagerly point to Tony Gwynn, Mr. Padre himself. Cynics will recall the old brown uniforms and how the Friars couldn’t have looked more ridiculous in hot pink or if they all took the field in San Diego Chicken costumes.

One thing that has not been connected to the Padres has been that disease that befalls many franchises at some point, which is an overwhelming need for a closer.

In fact, you’d have to hire an archaeologist to dig for any evidence that the Padres were ever in need of one. 

There was Rollie Fingers featuring his handlebar mustache, Goose Gossage with his Fu Manchu, Craig Lefferts and his mad dash from the bullpen, Cy Young award winner Mark Davis, cigarette smoking Rod Beck, Trevor Hoffman and Hell’s Bells and finally, Hoffman’s direct descendant, “Blow me away” Heath Bell.

Whatever the baseball fan may or may not list concerning the woes of the San Diego Padres, an issue with the closer has never been one of them. It’s a mechanism that’s been as automatic as the sun setting in the West or tourists flocking to Pacific Beach. Although I will not bother with the stats here, there is little doubt that San Diego ranks near the top for converted save opportunities over its history.

Enter Heath Bell, heir apparent to legend and all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman.

Now in his fifth year with the Padres, Bell needed to wait until the tender age of 31 and Trevor Hoffman’s virtual dismissal from the Padres to flex his muscle and pump his mid-90s heat past baffled hitters in late innings. Through it all, Heath Bell never complained, raining numerous accolades on his now retired predecessor.

When his chance finally arrived in 2009, Heath Bell ran with it.

He is the direct opposite of Trevor: Whereas Bell throws a heavy fastball, Hoffman’s would have had trouble cracking a windshield. Hoffman’s out pitch would be the change-up, no doubt his ticket to Cooperstown when five years will have passed. Bell gets batters with heat or his curve. Fans marveled at Hoffman’s physique, whereas Bell at times resembles a float at Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.

What both players do have in common is a 41-game save streak, tops in franchise history.

Bell’s streak came to an end last night at Petco, courtesy of a two-run throwing error by third baseman Chase Headley, who threw away Heath Bell’s shot at history.

If there is one thing that might trump Heath Bell’s ability, then it is his character. The undisputed leader of the Padres’ bullpen (dubbed the “Penitentiary”), Bell showed a tremendous amount of class following the game, citing the two batters he’d walked earlier in the inning as the key for the streak buster rather than Headley’s obvious spike of the baseball.

It’s hard not to root for a guy like Heath Bell.

A San Diego county native, Bell ironically made his debut against the Padres, pitching two innings with three strikeouts for the New York Mets in 2004, seven years after he’d been drafted. In 2006, he would get his big break when the Mets traded him to the Padres where he would become their setup man in the eighth inning before Hoffman would close games out.

As guys like Adrian Gonzalez and Ozzie Smith before him can attest, being a star in San Diego ultimately has the predictability of what happens to a target when Seal Team Six breaks into your house.

With Heath Bell making a whopping $7.5 million this season, his continued employment in San Diego beyond the season is as likely as the city of San Diego purchasing snowplows for weather related emergencies.

No matter which way the ball bounces, San Diego is fortunate to have a player like Heath Bell; a leader, a tremendous athlete and a class act.

The city will certainly be a worse place without him.  

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The opening month of the season is a time for optimism around baseball, as everyone is still in the running at that point. Still, there are clearly teams that will not be in that position for long, and they need to look ahead to what moves they may make at mid season to strength their team moving forward.

There are a number of intriguing options who may find themselves on the trade block sooner rather than later, with no name larger than Prince Fielder, who has been at the center of trade rumors for what seems like years now.

So here is an update on eight of the top potential trade targets and where they are likely to end up if an when they become available this season.

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Padres All Star closer Heath Bell is the latest Padre to step to the edge of the contract precipice, looking down at the Padres future meager wage offerings and hearing the call of the Yankees or the Red Sox and their monetary sirens song.

This is what is wrong with the sport and in some waysm all sports in the 21st century. There is no longer any semblance of a level playing field when it comes to the buying and selling of players.

Your team is either a have or a have not, there is no in between. If in fact a team is lucky enough to develop or sign a player who takes off, reality soon rears its head, in the form of a trade for prospects, or an eventual huge free agent contract from one of the elite money teams. No where is this syndrome more pronounced than in Major League Baseball, where the name of the game is Gawd Bless Cave 23, and to blazes with everybody else….

The best us Padre fans can hope for is to see a few good prospects in their early years, acquired in a never ending round robin of development and trade, trade and development.

I am going to look at a few players who the Padres should be interested in dealing Bell for, if in fact they deal him at all. Padre fans are very vocal when it comes to the closer role here in San Diego.

All Time Saves leader Trevor Hoffman was retained past his prime as a nod to the power of Padre fans wishes. Bell hopefully will be retained,  since Padre fans deserve at least that much.

As in our power closer, as Padre tradition demands… 

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Baseball fans rejoice; Spring Training started yesterday and the regular season is just a month and a half away.

With the season rapidly approaching, the closer situation of each team is becoming clearer. As one of the most important roles on a baseball team, a closer can be the difference between a good team and a championship one.

Interested to see which teams have shaky and stable closer situations? Read on.

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San Diego was picked to finish dead in 2010 last by every major writer and scribe in the world, including myself. Just goes to show ya that the game is more than stats. The Padres were nothing short of amazing last year, nearly winning the N.L. West.

Pitching wise, this was one of San Diego’s best seasons, with Mat Latos and  Clayton Richard leading the way. Combined with the best bullpen in baseball most of the season, and the slam the door shut policy of closer Heath Bell, the Padres took the Giants right to the wall before conceding the division.  

Even though the Padres have lost 3 of the starters from last years rotation, namely Jon Garland, Kevin Correia and Chris Young, San Diego still looks strong,  adding  former Cincinnati Red and SDSU alum Aaron Harang to a young and hard throwing staff.

What follows is a reasonable extrapolation of what I feel will be the players who break camp and hit the show come the end of March.

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I hate to look ahead and into the future, but it’s looking like the 2012 free agency period may be an important one for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Many of the main cogs of the franchise will be over to the age of 35 or close to it.  The window isn’t exactly opened all the way.

Not only do some of the Phillies prospects have to prosper down the line, Amaro is going to have to make some tough decisions.  Who does he want to re-sign or sign during this time frame.  Philadelphia’s farm system is ranked in the top five by the way.

I think there’s two focal points that Amaro will target, a power hitting right handed outfielder, and arms in the back of the bullpen.

Here’s ten guys I can see Amaro targeting after the 2011 season….

ALSO CHECK OUT

Power Ranking the Starting First Basemen

Power Ranking the Starting Second Basemen

Power Ranking the Starting Shortstops

Power Ranking the Starting Third Basemen

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As fantasy baseball drafts quickly approach, I thought it would be helpful to provide a quick reference cheat sheet for closers. Remember, don’t take a closer too early as there is value to be had late in drafts.

NL East

The Atlanta Braves have yet to officially announce a replacement for the recently retired Billy Wagner, however we believe that Fredi Gonzalez will give Craig Kimbrel the reigns as the team’s new closer. 

The only other NL East team with a possible closer carousel is Washington, where second year player Drew Storen will likely start the season as the team’s closer. Tyler Clippard or Sean Burnet would likely replace Storen if the youngster runs into trouble.

NL West

The two safest and most valuable closers to own from the NL West are Brian Wilson and Heath Bell. Both players are coming off excellent campaigns in 2010 in which they each represented their respective team in the All-Star Game.

Newly acquired J.J. Putz will likely begin 2011 as the Diamondbacks closer, while Jonathan Broxton will continue in his role as the closer for the Dodgers. Broxton was temporarily replaced by Hong-Chih Kuo last season after some sub-par performances, which is something that Broxton owners should be aware of this spring.

NL Central

The top closer to own from the NL Central is Carlos Marmol, as he is a near-lock for 30-plus saves and has an impressive career K/9 ratio of 11.9. 

The Pirates have yet to announce their closer for 2011, however the smart money is on Joel Hanrahan. 

Keep an eye on both Aroldis Chapman and Kyle McClellan this season, as both players are young fireballers and the heir apparent to the starting closer.

Ryan Franklin was less than spectacular in 2010, posting a pedestrian 3.46 ERA with only 29 saves. Despite posting 40 saves last year, Cordero had a near 4.00 ERA and may lose the starting job to the fan-favorite Chapman.

This article was originally published on www.kramericasports.com, the home of free fantasy news, rankings and advice.

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