The Blue Jays have a club option on 33-year old righty swinging catcher Michael Barrett and I would be shocked if they picked it up. He only played in 7 games for the Jays last season and he was 3 for 18 (.167 avg, .544 OPS) with 3 runs scored and 1 RBI. Barrett has had a solid career in the majors playing in 1,054 games in which he is 925 for 3,512 (.263 avg, .742 OPS) with 398 runs scored, 98 homers and 424 RBIs. Barrett will likely have to accept a minor league contract to continue his major league career in 2010.

UPDATE: The Blue Jays have designated Michael Barrett for assignment.

27-year old righty swinging 2B Aaron Hill has won the American League Comeback Player of the Year Award. He missed most of last season due to a severe concussion and the Blue Jays were very concerned about him as this kind of injury is the same kind that ended ex-Jay Corie Koskie’s major league career. Hill played in only 55 games for the Blue Jays last season and he was 54 for 205 (.263 avg, .685 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 2 homers, 20 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Hill responded well to treatment for his concussion over the winter and he came into spring training focused to have his best year ever and that’s exactly what he did. Hill played in 158 games for the Blue Jays this season and he was 195 for 682 (.286 avg, .829 OPS) with 103 runs scored, 36 homers, 108 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. Hill was one of the very few bright spots on the Blue Jays this season.

The Blue Jays have fired GM J.P. Ricciardi and he will be replaced by Alex Anthopoulos. Ricciardi came to the Blue Jays from the A’s where he learned the “Moneyball” way of doing things. Too bad that it doesn’t work when you are in the same division with the Yankees and Red Sox. With the money the Blue Jays allowed Ricciardi to spend they sure didn’t get much bang for the buck. The final straw was likely at the trade deadline when a lot of teams were calling about Roy Halladay but no deal was made.