TAKING STOCK OF THE JAYS

You can hear it already: "Classic Blue Jays."

Take three of four off the Evil Empire on the weekend (could have easily been a sweep), then start out this jaunt out the west coast by dropping a rather desultory 7-3 decision to the Seattle Mariners. Simply put: This one stunk.

Casey Janssen simply didn't have it, issuing successive walks in the bottom of the second, when the Jays fell behind 4-0. Other than some continued hot hitting by the likes of Reed Johnson and Lyle Overbay, and two homers from Eric Hinske (making it four in three games since Shea Hillenbrand was shipped to San Fran), there wasn't a whole lot to see.

Still, little to worry about for Jays fans to since Roy Halladay is throwing tonight. It is looking like next year might be The Season; the Jays would only need slight upgrades (either by getting new guys or getting more out of their current personnel) at most spots.

The solid areas are the corner infield (Overbay and Troy Glaus, provided his back and knees hold up), centre-field (Vernon Wells, who may be in a contract year) and the front end of the starting rotation and the late-inning pitchers (Justin Speier, Scott Schoeneweis, B.J. Ryan, and potentially Jeremy Accardo).

Catching needs to be upgraded, they need a real shortstop -- Aaron Hill belongs at second base, Russ Adams is the odd man out and John MacDonald will never hit much. Then there's the outfield.

Can the Jays get by next year if they trade Frank Catalanotto for pitching help and count on Reed Johnson and Alex Rios can be productive over a full season as the everyday corner outfielders?

Rios, of course, tore up the AL for two months, then cooled in June before getting the staph infection that's kept him out for the past few weeks. (He just made a rehab start last night in Triple-A).

Then there's Johnson, who's going to be trying to make the leap from likeable character actor to leading man (or everyday leadoff hitter). He has a 970 OPS this year in part-time play and has reached base in all but three of the games he's started. Even more interestingly, considering he's a platoon player, he's hit right-handers better than lefties this season.

Potentially, the Jays could go with Rios, Johnson and Eric Hinske as the quasi-DH who plays in the field when needed.

Just keep an eye on Johnson the rest of the year; if his stats don't tail off too much over the last nine weeks, it's going to be hard to justify not giving him a chance to play every day. In the short term, don't get caught up in debating whether or not it's best to sit Rios down for a few games when he is able to play again. Hinske is so right now, but that can't last.

That's all for now. Talk again later today. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.