The Blue Jays have placed lefty reliever Brian Tallet on the 15-day disabled list with a non displaced spiral fracture of his small right toe. Tallet has pitched in 37 games (0 starts) this season for the Blue Jays and he is 0-1 with a 3.03 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. Tallet has whiffed 34 batters in only 38.2 innings this season for the Jays. He would be missed on 99.9% of pitching staffs in the major leagues but the Blue Jays should be able to weather the storm because of their depth from that side of the bullpen. The Blue Jays have recalled 28-year old righty starting pitcher Scott Richmond to replace Tallet on the roster. Richmond has started 21 games in AA+AAA ball this season and he was 5-10 with a 4.29 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. It’s possible that Richmond’s stay will be a short one as they might use him for a spot start and then send him back to the minors.

25-year old Adam Lind appeared overmatched in his first 6 games of the season for the Blue Jays in which he was 1 for 19 (.053 avg) with 1 run scored. This earned him a trip to the minors but he didn’t pout as he got another chance with the Blue Jays and he has run with it. In his last 24 games for the Blue Jays, Lind is 31 for 85 (.365 avg) with 16 runs scored, 5 homers and 22 RBIs. Look for the Blue Jays to move Lind up in the order if he keeps hitting like he is right now as the Jays have had problems scoring thus wasting good pitching.

The Blue Jays have sent righty starting pitcher Jesse Litsch to AAA. Litsch has been pretty awful his last nine starts as he is 1-6 with a 6.12 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP. Still, with the Blue Jays likely out of contention for a playoff spot wouldn’t it have just been the smarter play to let Litsch keep pitching? After all, his season numbers don’t look too bad. Litsch has pitched in 20 games (19 starts) for the Blue Jays this season and he is 8-7 with a 4.46 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. The Blue Jays will replace Litsch in the starting rotation with 25-year old lefty starting pitcher David Purcey. Purcey appeared nervous in his first stint this season with the Blue Jays this year as he was 0-1 with a 11.05 ERA and a 2.45 WHIP in only 2 starts. Purcey walked 11 batters in only 7.1 innings with the Blue Jays earlier this season. Still, Purcey has good stuff and he will likely be effective in the big leagues if he just throws strikes. Purcey has started 19 games in AAA ball this season and he is 8-6 with a 2.69 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP. He has whiffed 121 batters while only allowing 97 hits in 117 innings in AAA this season.

The injuries to Dustin McGowan, Shaun Marcum and Jeremy Accardo have really hurt the Blue Jays this season. Marcum should be able to return soon from his injury but it remains to be seen if he will be as effective as he was before he was hurt. He is 5-4 with a 2.65 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP this year. He has been nearly unhittable allowing only 72 hits in 98.2 innings for the Blue Jays this season. Dustin McGowan will likely most of the rest of the season with a rotator cuff issue. He is 6-7 with a 4.37 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP this season. It appears that lefties John Parrish and Brian Tallet will be replacing McGowan and Marcum in the rotation and that’s likely a downgrade. Parrish has been effective in his first two starts with the Blue Jays as he is 1-0 with a 2.77 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. Tallet will start his first game next week in McGowan’s place and he is 0-1 with a 3.19 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. Losing Accardo for most of the season so far has hurt the bullpen a little bit as he is the best righty they have out there. He is 0-3 with 4 saves, a 6.57 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP this season but he’s much better than that. They need to get him healthy to help even out the bullpen which is heavily slanted to the left side.

The Blue Jays are 47-48 heading into the All-Star Break which has them in 4th place in the American League East, 9 games behind the Red Sox in the division. The Blue Jays are behind 8.5 games in the Wild Card Race. It appears that the Blue Jays may be closer to trading some players and trying again next season. Part of the reason for that is the major injuries to Vernon Wells, Aaron Hill and Shannon Stewart on the offensive side of the ball. Also, Alex Rios isn’t playing up to his ability (.285 avg, 4 homers, 39 RBIs) and it has made the offense almost non-existant on the Blue Jays. Not all has been lost however as Joe Inglett has come out of nowhere to be the leader in batting average (.301) on the Blue Jays filling in for Aaron Hill.