MVN - Most Valuable Network

Blue Jays Add Mench, Wilkerson; Lose Wells

On the same day that the Blue Jays tried to take some positive steps to bolster their offense, they lose arguably their most talented player for up to two months.

Before yesterday’s game in Cleveland, GM JP Ricciardi delivered on his promise of bringing in a new player from outside the organization and actually delivered with two former Rangers. Brad Wilkerson was signed as a free agent and will be paid the league minimum of $390,000 while Kevin Mench was acquired from Texas for cash considerations.

The Wilkerson pickup will likely prove immediate dividends as Vernon Wells has gone down for 6-8 weeks with a broken wrist. Alex Rios will take over in center, making Shannon Stewart and Wilkerson everyday players in Left and Right, respectively.

The Jays are hoping that the new players will infuse on offense that has quite frankly, lost a number of games for Toronto this season. They have received the best pitching in the majors over the past two weeks, and only have a position in the basement of the AL East to show for it. While Wilkerson and Mench are nowhere near their prime, they both have multiple 20 home run seasons under their belts and can provide depth for a team that constantly sees seasons wasted due to injuries.

While the injury to Vernon Wells looks to be quite costly, the inclusion of Wilkerson in the everyday lineup in rightfield will soften the blow. Who knows, maybe without Vernon’s disinterested scowl and his inability to justify his massive contract will spark this offense and the Jays will be able to string a few wins together.

The Jays also placed reliever Jeremy Accardo on the 15-day DL and the smart money says that the team will be relatively unaffected by his absence. Nothing against Accardo, but Jesse Carlson has proved to be a much more solid 8th inning option while BJ Ryan has been cleared to pitch on consecutive days. This leaves Accardo out in the cold.

The Jays dropped their first game to the Tribe 6-1 and face them again tonight as Dustin McGowan takes the hill against Aaron Laffey.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 10th, 2008 at 6:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.