The Blue Jays have placed 36-year old righty swinging infielder John McDonald on the 15-day disabled list due to a strained right hamstring. McDonald has played in 36 games for the Blue Jays so far this year and he is 20 for 105 (.190 avg, .547 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 2 homers, 11 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Blue Jays have recalled 30-year old righty swinging infielder Mike McCoy to replace McDonald on the active roster. McCoy played in 22 games earlier this year for the Blue Jays and he was 10 for 46 (.217 avg, .570 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 1 homer, 2 RBIs and 2 stolen bases.

Jose Bautista has been in a zone all year for the Blue Jays. He has played in 42 games for the Blue Jays so far this year and he is 51 for 149 (.342 avg, 1.277 OPS) with 39 runs scored, 19 homers, 32 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. This May, Bautista has played in 18 games in which he is 21 for 67 (.313 avg, 1.230 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 10 homers, 17 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He has only whiffed 14 times so far this month (42 times on the year), so he is really locked and loaded. If the guys in front of Bautista starting getting on base more, I don’t think pitchers will challenge him near as much.

30-year old lefty reliever Jesse Carlson had surgery earlier today for a torn left rotator cuff. He will miss the rest of the 2011 season. Carlson didn’t pitch at all for the Jays in either the majors or the minors this year. Carlson has pitched in 162 games (0 starts) for the Blue Jays in his first three years with the team and he is 8-8 with 3 saves, a 3.63 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. He has only given up 121 hits in his 141 1/3 innings for the Blue Jays so far in his career. The Blue Jays hope that Carlson has a complete recovery because he’s a solid reliever.

Righty closer Tom Henke was downright nasty as the closer for the Blue Jays. He pitched in 446 games (0 starts) in his 8 years with Toronto and he was 29-29 with 217 saves, a 2.48 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP. The amazing thing about Henke is that he only made it to the All-Star team one time with the Jays. To me, his best year came in 1989 for the Jays. He pitched in 64 games (0 starts) for the Blue Jays in 1989 and he was 8-3 with 20 saves, a 1.92 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP. He only gave up 66 hits and 25 walks while whiffing 116 batters in only 89 innings in 1989. Henke and Duane Ward made games essentially 7 innings for the opposition.

The Blue Jays have dealt 26-year old switch-hitting infielder Niuman Romero to the Phillies for cash considerations. Romero played in 8 games in AAA-ball for the Blue Jays this year and he was 4 for 25 (.160 avg, .382 OPS) with 1 run scored and 2 RBIs. The Blue Jays are loaded in the infield, so they essentially did Romero a favor while getting some cold, hard cash for him.