Beginning Tuesday June 9th 2009 I had been exclusively covering the Blue Jays every move in regards to the 2009 MLB Draft, and today I thought I would get back to the present time, as the Jays have had a lot occur since than.

The Toronto Blue Jays had just won a series from Kansas City, and had taken a game from the Texas Rangers at home. The Jays went on to take two out of four games from Texas at home (keep in mind that one of those games was rained out).

The future was starting to look bright for the Jays as they strolled into their home turf, with a winning attitude, to battle a Florida Marlins team who has been less than impressive. Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay took the ball in game one against Florida, as the Jays looked to continue their winning ways.

Things could not have gone worse for the Jays.

Halladay went down in the 4th inning, with what has now been diagnosed as a groin muscle strain. Halladay is listed as day to day. Halladay will most likely miss numerous starts, and possibly the MLB All Star game, if the groin doe not heal quickly.

Roy Halladay is listed as day to day with a groin strain, how will the Jays play without him?

This was followed up by the Marlins beating the absolute crap out of us on our home turf.

The Jays lost the first game of the three game series 7-3, as Brandon League blew the lead and lost the game, by giving up a grand slam to the Marlins Cody Ross.

The Marlins took the second game 6-5, and trust me; this game was not as close as the scoreboard projected.

In the finale, the Marlins blew Brian Tallet and the Jays out of the water, by dismantling us 11-3.

Alex Rios looked like the only player playing with a purpose in the series (.583AVG, 2HR, 4RBI, 3SB, 2 runs scored, in the series) as he should be. Manager Cito Gaston moved Rios from the three hole in the Jays batting order to the six hole, to take some of the pressure off of Rios, and he is responding well.

Vernon Wells took over batting third in the batting order, up from his normal four spot. Wells has looked terrible at the plate all season (.238AVG, 5HR, 28RBI in 260AB) and should be hitting down in the order as well in my opinion, as Wells’ numbers clearly indicate he is not producing as a three or four hitter should.

Also, as my colleague Ian reported in an earlier column, Blue Jays starting pitcher Jesse Litsch will be gone until at least next season, as he is scheduled for Tommy John surgery.

With yesterday’s loss to the Marlins, the Jays dropped into a third place tie in the American League East with the Tampa Rays, and are currently sitting five games behind division leading Boston.

That’s enough of the negative, how about some positive Blue Jays news.

The Blue Jays have signed veteran outfielder David Dellucci.

Will the veteran presence of newly acquired David Dellucci help the Jays?

Dellucci was signed by the Blue Jays to a minor league contract on June 10th 2009. Dellucci is an under-rated favorite of mine and in my opinion is a risk free veteran signing, similar to that of Kevin Millar (who is currently in a slump, but has been a great addition to the Jays bench).

Dellucci provides a good veteran presence with some pop in his bat, and has played on numerous winning teams

Dellucci boasts career numbers of .258AVG, 101HR, 396 RBI in 2848AB in 13 big league seasons spent with Baltimore, Arizona, New York Yankees, Texas, Philadelphia and Cleveland.

Dellucci can add another left handed power bat to our line-up, as Adam Lind and Lyle Overbay just isn’t enough.

Yes, the Blue Jays have “Mighty” Joe Inglett who bats left handed, and is currently on our bench, but Inglett has not been hitting since being called up from Triple A Las Vegas.

Dellucci is currently assigned to Triple A Las Vegas, but expect Dellucci to move up to the Jays roster soon. This will most likely mean yet another demotion back to Triple A for Joe Inglett.

Some more positive news for the Jays is that of the twenty draft picks from the 2009 MLB Draft that we just locked into contracts, they are:

1. Egan Smith (Position: LHP, Round: 7)
2. Bryson Mamba (3B, 12)
3. Matthew Morgal (RHP, 13)
4. Lance Durham (1B, 14)
5. David Sever (RHP, 16)
6. Kevin Nolan (SS, 20)
7. Matt Fields (RHP, 22)
8. Brad Glenn (OF, 23)
9. Matt Nuzzo (SS, 24)
10. Sam Strickland (LHP, 25)
11. Lance Loftin (RHP, 26)
12. Brian Justice (RHP, 27)
13. Zach Anderson (RHP, 29)
14. John Murphy (C, 31)
15. Ryan Shopshire (RHP, 32)
16. Jonathan Fernandez (SS, 34) (The son of Toronto Blue Jays great Tony Fernandez)
17. Evan Teague (LHP, 35)
18. Alex Pepe (LHP, 36)
19. Shawn Griffith (RHP, 37)
20. Yudelmis Hernandez (1B, 38)

These twenty ball players will or have reported to Dunedin to begin their professional baseball careers. Will one of these twenty gentlemen be our next future star?

That’s a pretty exciting week for the Jays in both the positive and negative manner.

Let’s hope the Jays right the ship and get things turned around soon, as this writer still has a ton of faith in this year’s ball club.

Let’s go Blue Jays!