The Blue Jays have designated 28-year old righty reliever Merkin Valdez for assignment. Valdez pitched in 2 games (0 starts) for the Blue Jays this season and he was 0-0 with a 20.25 ERA and a 3.75 WHIP. He has now pitched in 69 games (1 start) in his major league career and he is 3-1 with a 5.53 ERA and a 1.73 WHIP. The Blue Jays won’t lose any sleep if some other team grabs Valdez off of waivers.

The Blue Jays were expecting good defense and random power out of Alex Gonzalez when they signed him over the winter as a free agent. The defense has been there so far and he is hitting better than even the Blue Jays’ brass thought he would. Gonzalez has played in 19 games for the Jays this season and he is 22 for 79 (.278 avg, .887 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 5 homers and 13 RBIs. He is swinging at everything right now (19 whiffs and only 2 walks) so don’t expect his batting average to stay as high as it is right now. Coming into this season Gonzalez had a .247 batting average with a .689 OPS and most of the reason his %’s were so low is because of his plate discipline. Still, he’s hitting the ball hard right now so unless pitchers start to adjust to what he is doing right now he might set new career highs in 2010 for the Jays. Coming into this season Gonzalez has career highs of 81 runs scored, 23 homers and 79 RBIs. The Jays have their fingers crossed that Gonzalez can keep hitting well and set some new career highs in 2010.

The Blue Jays have activated Aaron Hill of the 15-day disabled list for this weekend’s series against the Rays in Tampa. Hill has only played in 2 games for the Jays this season before he got hurt and he was 1 for 8 (.125 avg, .472 OPS). Mike McCoy and John McDonald did a decent job filling in for the Jays but they are glad that Hill is back in action. Hill played in 158 games last season and he was 195 of 682 (.286 avg, .829 OPS) with 103 runs scored, 36 homers, 108 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. The Blue Jays’ lineup has been struggling lately but getting Hill back will inject some juice to the top of the lineup.

The Blue Jays have placed lefty starting pitcher Brian Tallet on the 15-day disabled list with a case of left arm soreness. Tallet has started 3 games for the Jays this season and he is 1-1 with a 6.11 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP. Hopefully his forearm injury is the reason that he has given up 6 homers in only 17 2/3 innings this season. It will be interesting to see if Tallet gets his rotation spot back when he gets healthy or if he will be pitching out of the bullpen. The Blue Jays have recalled 23-year old lefty starter Brett Cecil from AAA to replace Tallet in the starting rotation. Cecil has started 2 games in AAA-ball this season and he is 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. He pitched in 18 games (17 starts) for the Blue Jays last season and he is 7-4 with a 5.30 ERA and a 1.65 WHIP. The Blue Jays hope that Cecil pitches well enough to stay in the rotation when Tallet gets healthy.

The Blue Jays have placed starting 3B Edwin Encarnacion on the 15-day disabled list with a sore right shoulder. He has played in 9 games this season for the Blue Jays and he is 7 for 32 (.219 avg, .677 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 1 homer, 5 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Jose Bautista will be the starter at 3B until Encarnacion returns to action. Bautista has played in 16 games for the Jays already this season and he is 12 for 58 (.207 avg, .778 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 3 homers, 11 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Bautista is showing good power so far this season and he is more than capable of handling the hot corner defensively. Newly acquired outfielder Fred Lewis will be taking over for Bautista in LF while Encarnacion is on the shelf. He has played in 5 games for the Jays this season and he is 3 for 16 (.188 avg, .590 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 RBI and 2 stolen bases. With Lewis & Bautista in the lineup the Jays have less power but more speed than if Encarnacion was in the starting lineup.