18-year old righty starting pitcher Roberto Osuna has a torn UCL in his right elbow.  He is going to try to heal up by resting, but chances are that he will need Tommy John surgery in the near future.  Osuna pitched in 5 games (all starts) in A-ball this year for the Jays and he was 1-2 with a 3.63 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP.  Osuna has now pitched in 30 games (16 starts) in his first three years in the minors and he is 3-3 with a 3.36 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP.  Osuna has only given up 72 hits and 30 walks while whiffing 92 batters in his first 85 2/3 innings in the minors, which is impressive.  Osuna came into this season as the Jays’ #4 prospect according to Baseball America.

20-year old lefty starting pitcher Daniel Norris has been awful so far this year in the minors for the Jays.  He has pitched in 7 games (6 starts) in A-ball so far this year and he is 0-3 with a 10.07 ERA and a 2.10 WHIP.  Norris has now pitched in 20 games (18 starts) in his first two years in the minors for the Jays and he is 2-7 with a 9.00 ERA and a 1.89 WHIP.  Norris has give up 92 hits and he has walked 31 batters while whiffing 59 of them in his first 65 innings as a professional pitcher.  He came into this season as the Jays’ #8 rated prospect according to Baseball America.  If he doesn’t get his act together soon, he might never get out of A-ball.

The Blue Jays have released 27-year old righty reliever Trystan Magnuson.  Magnuson pitched in 10 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball for the Jays this year and he was 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA and a 2.08 WHIP.  Magnuson pitched in 48 games (0 starts) in his two years in the minors for the Blue Jays and he was 1-6 with 5 saves, a 4.31 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP.  This is not much of a loss moving forward for the Blue Jays.

34-year old righty starting pitcher Claudio Vargas has been impressive so far this year in AAA-ball for the Blue Jays.  Vargas has pitched in 4 games (all starts) in AAA-ball for the Blue Jays so far this year and he is 3-0 with a 2.35 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP.  He has given up 21 hits and he has walked 11 batters in 23 innings while whiffing 17 batters so far in AAA-ball this year.  Vargas last pitched in the majors back in 2010 with the Milwaukee Brewers.  Vargas has pitched in 217 games (114 starts) in his first 8 years in the majors and he is 48-40 with 1 save, a 4.83 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP.  If Vargas keeps pitching like he is right now, he might get a shot with the Jays later on this season.

20-year old righty starting pitcher Aaron Sanchez came into this season as the Blue Jays’ #3 prospect according to Baseball America.  He has pitched in 2 games (both starts) in A-ball so far this year and he is 0-0 with a 2.70 ERA and a 0.60 WHIP.  Sanchez has now pitched in 51 games (39 starts) in his first four years in the minors and he is 11-11 with 1 save, a 3.31 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP.  The Blue Jays are going to take things slowly with Sanchez moving forward.

The Blue Jays have dealt a lot of good prospects the last couple of years to build a contending team.  They really only have two rookies that could help them in 2013:

Chad Jenkins:  25-year old righty starter/reliever Chad Jenkins comes into this season as the Blue Jays’ #18 prospect according to Baseball America.  Jenkins pitched in 13 games (3 starts) for the Blue Jays in his first taste of the majors in 2012 and he was 1-3 with a 4.50 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP.  Jenkins also pitched in 20 games (all starts) in AA-ball for the Jays last year and he was 5-9 with a 4.96 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP.  Jenkins has now pitched in 73 games (all starts) in his first three years in the minors and he is 21-31 with a 4.12 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP.

Sean Nolin:  23-year old lefty starting pitcher Sean Nolin comes into this season as the Blue Jays’ #19 prospect according to Baseball America.  Nolin pitched in 20 games (18 starts) in A+AA-ball last year and he was 10-0 with a 2.04 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP.  Nolin has now pitched in 52 games (46 starts) in his first three years in the minors and he is 14-6 with 1 save, a 3.04 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP.

The Blue Jays have demoted 28-year old lefty starting pitcher Ricky Romero to A-ball.  He pitched in 32 games (all starts) for the Jays last year and he was 9-14 with a 5.77 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP.  He has now pitched in 125 games (all starts) in his first four years with the Blue Jays and he is 51-43 with a 4.09 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP.  The Jays hope that Romero can turn things around in Dunedin and work his way back to Toronto.  He was beaten out for the #5 starting job by 30-year old lefty J.A. Happ.  Happ pitched in 28 games (24 starts) for the Jays and Astros last year and he was 10-11 with a 4.79 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP.  Happ has now pitched in 116 games (96 starts) in his first six years in the majors and he is 35-35 with a 4.19 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP.

26-year old righty reliever Alan Farina has been suspended for 50 games for his second positive test for a drug of abuse (Marijuana). He pitched in 24 games (0 starts) in A-ball last year for the Blue Jays and he was 1-2 with 1 save, a 5.18 ERA and a 1.73 WHIP. Farina has now pitched in 138 games (5 starts) in his first six years in the minors and he is 10-10 with 19 saves, a 3.50 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. This might be the final straw for Farina as far as the Blue Jays are concerned.

The Blue Jays have released 25-year old righty swinging 1B/OF Koby Clemens at his request so that he can sign with the Sugarland Skeeters and catch for his dad. Clemens played in 64 games in A+AA-ball for the Blue Jays this year and he was 47 of 191 (.246 avg, .800 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 8 homers, 24 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. He has now played in 795 games in his first 8 years in the minors and he is 716 of 2,717 (.264 avg, .816 OPS) with 402 runs scored, 103 homers, 457 RBIs and 38 stolen bases. This isn’t much of a loss for the Jays.

21-year old righty reliever Marcus Stroman has been suspended for 50 games for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. Stroman has pitched in 15 games (0 starts) in A+AA-ball for the Jays so far this year and he is 3-0 with a 3.26 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. He has given up 16 hits and 9 walked in 19 1/3 innings while whiffing 23 batters so far this year. This was Stroman’s first year in the minors, so this is going to set him back quite a bit in his development.