31-year old righty swinging RF/3B Jose Bautista finished 3rd in the voting for the A.L. MVP Award in 2011. He played in 149 games for the Blue Jays last year and he was 155 for 513 (.302 avg, 1.056 OPS) with 105 runs scored, 43 homers, 103 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. Bautista also walked a stunning 132 times last year as teams were terrified to pitch to him. He has now played in 885 games in his first 8 years in the majors and he is 721 of 2,836 (.254 avg, .843 OPS) with 455 runs scored, 156 homers, 438 RBIs and 32 stolen bases. Bautista seems to just get better for the Blue Jays, so don’t be surprised if he eventually wins an MVP in the near future.

27-year old lefty starting pitcher Ricky Romero has finished 10th in the voting for the A.L. Cy Young Award in 2011. Romero pitched in 32 games (all starts) for the Blue Jays last year and he was 15-11 with a 2.92 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. He has now pitched in 93 games (all starts) for the Blue Jays in his first three years with the team and he is 42-29 with a 3.60 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. Romero is going to start getting votes every year for the Cy Young Award as he keeps getting better.

30-year old righty swinging OF/3B Jose Bautista finished 4th in the voting for the A.L. MVP Award. Bautista played in 161 games for the Blue Jays last season and he was 148 of 569 (.260 avg, .995 OPS) with 109 runs scored, 54 homers, 124 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. He has now played in 736 games in his first 7 years and he was 566 of 2,323 (.244 avg, .794 OPS) with 350 runs scored, 113 homers, 335 RBIs and 23 stolen bases. The Blue Jays are hoping that Bautista is a late bloomer and that last season wasn’t a mirage.

Cito Gaston finished 5th in the voting for the A.L. Manager of the Year Award. He led the Blue Jays to a 85-77 (52.5%) record in the rough and tumble A.L. East. In any other division in baseball, I think the Blue Jays would have been a playoff team. Gaston managed the Blue Jays for 12 seasons in which he was 894-837 (51.6%) during the regular season and he was 18-16 (52.9%) in the post season. Gaston led the Blue Jays to World Series Championships in 1992+1993. I hope he enjoys a long and healthy retirement.

3B/OF Jose Bautista, OF Vernon Wells and C John Buck will be heading to the All-Star Game. Bautista has played in 82 games for the Blue Jays this year and he is 67 of 284 (.236 avg, .891 OPS) with 50 runs scored, 21 homers, 52 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Bautista is having a career year and because of that he will be making his first All-Star appearance. Vernon Wells will be making his third All-Star appearance. Wells has played in 81 games for the Jays this season and he is 84 of 307 (.274 avg, .872 OPS) with 45 runs scored, 19 homers, 48 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. John Buck will be replacing the injured Victor Martinez on the All-Star team. Buck has played in 67 games for the Blue Jays so far this season and he is 60 of 219 (.274 avg, .821 OPS) with 26 runs scored, 13 homers and 40 RBIs. This will be Buck’s first All-Star Game.