The Blue Jays had given 30-year old righty swinging CF Vernon Wells a huge long term contract just a couple of years ago and he appeared to be going through the motions this season. Wells has played in 146 games for the Blue Jays this season and he is 153 for 579 (.264 avg, .722 OPS) with 80 runs scored, 14 homers, 62 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. He has now played in 1,224 games with the Blue Jays in his career and he is 1,357 for 4,829 (.281 avg, .801 OPS) with 706 runs scored, 191 homers, 721 RBIs and 84 stolen bases. The Blue Jays need Wells to play like he used to next season because his salary is going to eat up a lot of the cash the Jays can spend on payroll.

38-year old 1B/DH Kevin Millar looks like he’s nearing the end of his major league career. He has played in 63 games this season for the Blue Jays and he is 47 for 205 (.229 avg, .686 OPS) with 26 runs scored, 6 homers and 27 RBIs. It’s too bad that Lyle Overbay doesn’t hit better against lefties because it’s hard to watch Millar bat sometimes as he has lost a lot of his bat speed.

The Blue Jays are 47-48 heading into the All-Star Break which has them in 4th place in the American League East, 9 games behind the Red Sox in the division. The Blue Jays are behind 8.5 games in the Wild Card Race. It appears that the Blue Jays may be closer to trading some players and trying again next season. Part of the reason for that is the major injuries to Vernon Wells, Aaron Hill and Shannon Stewart on the offensive side of the ball. Also, Alex Rios isn’t playing up to his ability (.285 avg, 4 homers, 39 RBIs) and it has made the offense almost non-existant on the Blue Jays. Not all has been lost however as Joe Inglett has come out of nowhere to be the leader in batting average (.301) on the Blue Jays filling in for Aaron Hill.

Dustin McGowan and Shaun Marcum are proving that last season was not a fluke. While baseball writers keep blabbing about Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes, Caly Buchholz and John Lester all McGowan and Marcum keep doing is win baseball games. Both of them have great stuff and they will earn respect very soon. McGowan has started 4 games this season and he is 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. He also has whiffed 17 batters in 24 innings. Shaun Marcum has started 3 games for the Jays this season and he is 2-0 with a 2.61 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP. Marcum has already whiffed 20 batters in 20.2 innings. With the starting rotation the Blue Jays have they will likely compete for the American League East Crown. They are currently in third place in the A.L. East with a 10-9 record, 2.5 games behind the Red Sox.

2B Aaron Hill is rewarding the Blue Jays faith in him as he is off to an outstanding start to the 2008 season. The Jays locked him up in the off-season to a pretty nice long term contract. Hill has played in 19 games this season and he is 24 for 74 (.324 avg, .864 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 2 homers, 13 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. The Blue Jays have moved Hill up to the #2 spot in the order and he will be perfect for the job.