Jose Bautista

There have been many rumours swirling about the Blue Jays, suggesting who they might be moving before the July 31st trade deadline.  Names like Scott Downs, Jose Bautista, John Buck, and Kevin Gregg are all being mentioned as possible trade chips.  The rumour mill on ESPN even suggests that they might be buyers.  So what are Jays fans supposed to draw from all of this?

The San Francisco Giants enter the last week before the Major League Baseball trade deadline three games behind the San Diego Padres in the National League West. The Giants have so far won on the heels of their tremendous starting rotation, but there are other pieces needed if the Giants are to return to the postseason. Those pieces? Bats.

Change is in the air here in Toronto.  It seems that most of the city's sports teams are in the midst of an overhaul.  The Raptors are transitioning into the new era without Chris Bosh.  Brian Burke continues his push with the Maple Leafs in hopes that they can make the playoffs, acquiring Kris Versteeg and Colby Armstrong this offseason. 

Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos also continues to put his impressive stamp on the Toronto Blue Jays.

In a Major League season full of surprises, 2010 has brought on a handful of unexpected producers during the first half of the season.

Whether it has been the utter dominance of young pitchers, or the outburst of power from the big bats, there are veterans bouncing back, and many potential stars in the making.

Between some of baseball's younger generation and some of the old, a wide variety of players have stood out on an unexpected level.

On the other hand, some of the early surprises of 2010 could be just a brief flash of stardom rather than more permanent dominance.

On Sunday afternoon the Blue Jays finally got a bit of good news after a few weeks of utter despair.

Outfielders Vernon Wells and Jose Bautista were odds on favorites to make the American League All-Star team and did so, but to everyone's surprise, catcher John Buck was also named to the team as a replacement for injured Red Sox catcher Victor Martinez. This is Buck's first ever all-star selection.

All three made it as reserves.

As we approach the middle of the season and the All-Star break, I thought it would be a good idea to see how our position players stack up against the rest of the league.

To be eligible for the batting average and on-base percentage category, a player must have 175 at-bats or more up to this point in the season.

These days fantasy baseball is loaded with crazy stats for everything you could possibly think of, from hits to Linear Weights Run Value . Some of them are completely worthless to most of us, and to be honest, if you have to go to something like Ultimate Zone Rating to decide between two players, you can probably just flip a coin.

Right on the heels of Jose Bautista's 20 home runs is Vernon Wells with 18. Going into Sunday afternoon's game, the two men had nearly identical OPSs of .900 (Bautista) and .898 (Wells).

Wells' slugging percentage is actually .020 points higher than Bautista's, but the latter walks more, and has a .022 higher OBP.

Bautista has 47 and 49 runs and RBIs respectively. Wells' totals are 43 and 45. The difference between the two mens' offensive values is a statistical tie.

Fans of Jose Bautista's former team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, would laugh at the idea. (Except for yours truly.)

But the former "tail-ender" now leads the Toronto Blue Jays in four out of five offensive categories, according to ESPN.