--The Jays activated two of their injured players -- 2B Aaron Hill and RHP Casey Janssen -- moving them off the 60-day disabled list. They also released RHP Jean Machi, who was 2-8 with a 4.65 ERA in 21 games at Class AA New Hampshire.
Hill, who did not play a game after a collision on May 29 left him with post-concussion syndrome, has been cleared to proceed with his normal offseason activities. Hill has been riding the stationary bike and has undertaken light weight training. --RHP Kelvin Jimenez was claimed off the Jays' roster by the Chicago White Sox. The Jays had claimed Jimenez off waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals on Nov. 3.
--The ailing world economy and in the Jays' case, the falling Canadian dollar against its U.S. counterpart, will no doubt hamper general manager J.P. Ricciardi in his dealings this offseason. In no way will the Jays' payroll budget be an increase over 2008, when it was roughly $98 million. "It's just the reality of what's going on," Ricciardi said. "We don't want to get involved with a contract that might be something that handicaps us down the road."
--If the Jays aren't able to re-sign RHP A.J. Burnett, they won't jump into the free agent pool to try to replace him with an A-type free agent starter. "I don't think there's anything out there that we can get involved in at this point that makes any sense to us," GM J.P. Ricciardi said.
--The Blue Jays set their 40-man roster by adding RHP Robert Ray and LHP Luis Perez from their minor league system. INF Luis Sanchez was outrighted to Class AAA Las Vegas, and LHP Les Walrond was removed from the roster, as his contract will be purchased by a Japanese club.
BY THE NUMBERS: 8-2, 2.86 -- RHP A.J. Burnett's record and ERA after the All-Star break. In that time (94 1/3 innings) Burnett also had 105 strikeouts against 29 walks.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I realize that a lot of people have gone through it and they're paying attention to these head injuries a lot more now than they did in the past. So now, when I look back on it, I thank J.P. (Ricciardi) and those guys really for not trying to push me to get back in there." -- 2B Aaron Hill, on his recovery process from post-concussion syndrome.
