Jays swept by the Rangers and the record now stands at 24-24.

Quick recap and boxscores:

Game 1 – Rangers 14, Blue Jays 3 – Nelson Cruz has 8 RBIs, Brandon Morrow doesn’t last through the first inning.

Game 2 – Rangers 8, Blue Jays 7 – A late inning comeback is all for not as the Jays pen coughs up an extra inning lead.

Game 3 – Rangers 12, Blue Jays 6 – Kyle Drabek gives up 9 earned runs.

NEXT UP: A three game set at home versus the Baltimore Orioles.

The Toronto Blue Jays surely wouldn’t protest if the idea were proposed given their absolute abysmal performance against the Rays.  The Jays can lose every which way to Tampa Bay and that was shown clearly during this latest series in which they lost two of three.

The Blue Jays have now lost 11 consecutive series against Tampa, including a ridiculous 15th straight road series loss.

Toronto’s record is now 24-21 and they trail the AL East leading Baltimore Orioles by four full games.

Here are the quick recaps and boxscores for the series:

Game 1 – Jays 6, Rays 2 – Kyle Drabek struggled with command, finds a way to win.

Game 2 – Rays 8, Jays 5 – Slumping Carlos Pena homers, Drew Hutchison routed.

Game 3 – Rays 5, Jays 4 (11) - BJ Upton double sinks Jays in extra innings after furious rally.

UP NEXT: Off day (May 24, 2012) followed by a three game series in Texas against the Rangers, who are 27-18 thus far.

Hitters:

AAA (CF) Anthony Gose, 1-4, .263, BB (21)
AAA (SS) Adeiny Hechavarria, 3-5, .321, 2b (13), 3b (2)
AAA (RF) Moises Sierra, 1-4, 1 RBI, .271, 2b (7)
HiA (LF) Marcus Knecht, 1-4, .206; tough start
HiA (CF) Jake Marisnick, 1-4, .261
LoA (RF) Chris Hawkins, 2-5, 1 RBI, .313, SB (6)
LoA (C) Carlos Perez, 3-5, 2 RBI, .263, 2b (12), BB (15)

Pitchers:

AA (SP) Deck McGuire, 5 ip, 6 h, 4 er, 3 bb – 1 k, 6.80
HiA (SP) John Stilson, 5 ip, 1 h, 1 er, 2 bb – 6 k, 2.75; firing bullets
LoA (SP) Noah Syndergaard, 3.2 ip, 6 h, 6 er, 0 bb – 5 k, 3.34

AAA (CF) Anthony Gose, 2-4, 1 RBI, .264, 2b (7), BB (20); Rasmus can hear his footsteps.
AAA (C) Travis D’Arnaud, 1-4, .293
AAA (SS) Adeiny Hechavarria, 1-4, 1 RBI, .314, BB (17)
AAA (RF) Moises Sierra, 1-3, 2 RBI, .271, BB (17)
HiA (CF) Jake Marisnick, 2-4, .261

Pitchers:

MAJ (SP) Drew Hutchison, 4 ip, 7 h, 6 er, 0 bb – 3 k, 5.73; will need to have better efforts to stay in rotation.

Hitters:

AAA (1B) David Cooper, 2-3, 2 RBI, .308, HR (6), 2 BB (19)
AAA (C) Travis D’Arnaud, 1-5, 1 RBI, .294
AAA (CF) Anthony Gose, 2-4, .258, BB (19), 2 SB (16)
AAA (SS) Adeiny Hechavarria, 1-3, .315, BB (16), SB (6)
AAA (LF) Moises Sierra, 1-4, .270, BB (16)
HiA (LF) Marcus Knecht, 2-3, 4 RBI, .210, HR (7)
HiA (CF) Jake Marisnick, 2-3, .256, 2b (13), 2 BB (15)
LoA (RF) Chris Hawkins, 2-4, 1 RBI, .310

Pitchers:

HiA (SP) Asher Wojciechowski, 6 ip, 5 h, 0 er, 1 bb – 4 k, 5.53; bounces back from tough outing

My initial thought was why?  Does anyone think Vladdy is actually a worthy designated hitter?  He was awful last season, you don’t need to go further than his awful 0.0 WAR and 95 wRC+.  Yeah, that’s right a guy who was only used for his bat was actually 5% worse than league average. 

Basically he shouldn’t have even been in the big leagues – last year.  His slash line was 290/317/416 in a whopping 590 PAs, he had 13 HRs, a pathetic 2.9 BB%, .126 ISO, .318 woBA and again a 0.0 WAR.  The Orioles are sure struggling without him right?

They can’t get better production from almost anyone else in their system?  Keep Yan Gomes, call up David Cooper, hell bring back Brad Fullmer, any of them would probably out produce a well past his prime Vlad Guerrero.  ZIPS projects 284/316/429, which I feel is generous after seeing his hacks down in the minor leagues today (via television).

I don’t see how Vladimir Guerrero is better than any of our current DH options, because he isn’t.

Hitters:

AAA (DH) David Cooper, 1-3, .301, BB (17)
AAA (C) Travis D’Arnaud, 2-4, 1 RBI, .297, 2b (11)
AAA (CF) Anthony Gose, 1-3, .253, 2b (6)
AAA (SS) Adeiny Hechavarria, 2-4, 1 RBI, .315
HiA (CF) Jake Marisnick, 2-5, 1 RBI, .249
LoA (LF) Chris Hawkins, 2-4, .305
LoA (C) Carlos Perez, 1-3, 1 RBI, .250, HR (2), BB (14)

Pitchers:

LoA (SP) Justin Nicolino, 4 ip, 2 h, 0 er, 0 bb – 3 k, 1.16
LoA (SP) Aaron Sanchez, 4 ip, 1 h, 0 er, 1 bb – 5 k, 0.58; what a season

Bonus:

AA (TEX) Jurickson Profar, 0-3, .291, BB (16); saw 29-game hit streak end

LoA (BAL) Dylan Bundy, 5 ip, 1 h, 0 er, 0 bb – 4 k, 0.00.

Bundy now has 30 ip, 5 h, 0 er, 2 bb – 40 k

Here are the boxscores and quick recaps:

Game 1 – Blue Jays 8, Yankees 1 – Blue Jays hit 4 homeruns, Drabek solid.

Game 2 – Blue Jays 4, Yankees 1 – Bautista and Arencibia hit homeruns, Hutchison pitches a solid game.

The Blue Jays lost both games of the midweek series, here are the boxscores and quick recaps.

Game 1 – Rays 7, Blue Jays 1 - Jeff Niemann left game after one inning, but Jays bats dead.

Game 2 – Rays 4, Blue Jays 3 – Brett Lawrie gets ejected, Jays probably could have won this close game.

A few months from now, when the season ends and players file for free agency, teams, agents and players will navigate a new system for determining free agent compensation. Here’s a brief primer on compensation under the sport’s new collective bargaining agreement:

• Type A and Type B designations have been eliminated. Instead, teams will have to make players a qualifying offer to be eligible for draft pick compensation. 
• The qualifying offer, which will be determined by averaging the top 125 player salaries from the previous year, is expected to fall in the $12-13MM range for the coming offseason. All qualifying offers are for the same duration (one year) and the same amount ($12-13MM). 
• Teams will have until five days after the World Series to make qualifying offers and the players will have seven days to accept.
• Once a team makes a qualifying offer, the player has two choices: he can accept the one-year deal or decline in it search of other offers. If he declines the offer and signs elsewhere, his new team will have to surrender a top draft pick to his former team. 
• Teams that sign free agents who turned down qualifying offers will surrender their first round picks. However, the first ten selections in the draft are protected. Teams with protected picks will surrender their second-highest selections. The player’s former team will receive an additional selection at the end of the first round. 
• If teams don’t make a qualifying offer, the player can sign uninhibited.
• Only players who have been with their clubs for the entire season will be eligible for compensation.