Beattie Join(t)s Jays

Your Toronto Blue Jays added former GM of the Expos and Orioles Jim Beattie to the front office mix. Beattie was hired as a pro scout and joins the beefed up scouting department under Boy Wonder. We now have 69 scouts working on finding the best talent available in baseball. That figure is more than double what we had last season. Some significant drafts made by Beattie during his watch with the Expos:

• Milton Bradley in the second round (40th overall) of the 1996 amateur draft
• Brandon Phillips in the second round (57th overall) of the 1999 amateur draft
• Grady Sizemore in the third round (75th overall) of the 2000 amateur draft
• Cliff Lee in the forth round (105th overall) of the 2000 amateur draft
• Jason Bay in the 22nd round (645 overall) of the 2000 amateur draft

And with the Orioles:

• Nick Markakis in the first round (7th overall) of the 2003 amateur draft

Beattie also drafted recent minor league free agent signing Wade Townsend 8th overall in 2004. Guess you can't win em all. I think it's great that our rookie GM is surrounding himself with some experienced baseball guys.  I hope this will help speed up the steep learning curve he is no doubt facing.