The Blue Jays have released 28-year old lefty reliever Mike Hinckley. Hinckley pitched in 23 games (0 starts) in AA+AAA-ball this year and he was 1-0 with a 5.68 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. He has pitched in 28 games (0 starts) in parts of two years in the majors and he is 0-0 with a 1.93 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. With such a dearth of lefty relievers in the majors, Hinckley will likely hook on with another team soon.

24-year old lefty swinging outfielder Travis Snider had a rough start to the season with the Blue Jays. He played in 25 games for the Blue Jays this year and he was 16 for 87 (.184 avg, .540 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 1 homer, 12 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Snider was then sent to AAA. Instead of moping around, Snider has taken advantage of his new situation. Snider has played in 46 games in AAA-ball so far this year and he is 61 for 188 (.324 avg, .864 OPS) with 35 runs scored, 2 homers, 27 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. The most impressive thing to me is that he has only whiffed 32 times in the minors. Snider could get his way back to the Blue Jays in July.

The Blue Jays were thinking that 31-year old lefty swinging Corey Patterson might be able to fill a role similar to the one Fred Lewis had with them last season. But he has been much more than that for the Blue Jays. Patterson has played in 71 games for the Blue Jays so far this year and he is 73 for 278 (.263 avg, .699 OPS) with 40 runs scored, 6 homers, 31 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. He has had a rough time in June though. Patterson has played in 25 games so far in June and he is 19 for 94 (.202 avg, .530 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 2 homers, 5 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Patterson better get his act back together soon as Travis Snider is playing well in AAA.

Lefty swinging Lloyd Moseby was one of the better all-around CF in Blue Jays’ history. His best season with the bat came back in 1983. Moseby played in 151 games in 1983 for the Blue Jays and he was 170 for 539 (.315 avg, .875 OPS) with 104 runs scored, 18 homers, 81 RBIs and 27 stolen bases. Moseby won the Silver Slugger Award (his only one) and he finished 14th in the MVP voting that year. Moseby played in 1,392 games in his 10 years with the Blue Jays and he was 1,319 for 5,124 (.257 avg, .748 OPS) with 768 runs scored, 149 homers, 651 RBIs and 255 stolen bases. Moseby is still the Blue Jays’ all-time leader in stolen bases with 255 of them. He is also #4 in games played (1,392), #4 in hits (1,319), #3 in runs scored (768), #4 in doubles (242), #2 in triples (60), #6 in homers (149), #5 in RBIs (651) and #2 in walks (547) in Blue Jays’ history. Despite the solid numbers that Moseby consistently put up, he only made it to 1 All-Star Game representing the Blue Jays.

26-year old lefty starting pitcher Ricky Romero is on fire for the Toronto Blue Jays right now. In his last 8 starts, Romero is 4-3 with a 2.28 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. He has now started 15 games for the Blue Jays this year and he is 6-7 with a 2.98 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. Romero has only given up 87 hits in his first 102 2/3 innings this year for the Jays. He has also whiffed 91 batters while walking 36 so far this year. If Romero could just tighten up his control a little bit, he would really be a dominating pitcher. Romero just needs to trust his stuff and attack the strikezone.