Blue Jays Journal

The Blue Jays sent some cash to the Cleveland Indians for infielders Luis Valbuena.  The Indians had designated him for assignment and the Jays were able to work out a deal for him rather then taking their chances on him getting through waivers.    The move now gives the Jays 40 men on their 40 man roster so they’re filled to capacity at the moment.

So far, Valbuena has been great in the minors but pretty bad at the plate in a big league uniform.  In Triple A, he hit .302 with some pop last season but in 229 major league games, he’s hit just .226.  At this point, we’re not quite sure how the Jays are going to use him but a potential power bat at second base is something that’s good to have no matter what.

Well, Jose Bautista was the best offensive player in baseball yet he still finished third in the AL MVP.  I can live with Justin Verlander winning the award (Bautista and Verlander were actually tied in WAR) but Jacoby Ellsbury finished just ahead of Bautista in the voting.  Some of this stuff is just absurd.  Someone gave Bautista a ninth place vote.  Then again, someone gave Ellsbury a tenth place vote and another person completely left Verlander off the ballot.

Last year Bautista came in fourth place despite hitting 54 home runs so I’m not surprised by the lackluster performance.  Still, until the voting gets under control (one Texas reporter gave Michael Young a first place vote and in 2007, when A-Rod was by far the best player, you had a couple of Detroit reporters giving Magglio Ordonez some first place votes) this crazy stuff is going to happen.