willing to spend should be well down your

TORONTO - Forgive Max Pentecost if his attentions divided this weekend. The Blue Jays second pick in the first round (11th overall) is competing in this weekends NCAA super regional for his school, Kennesaw State, against the Louisville Cardinals. All the while, he could be days or weeks away from signing a multi-million dollar contract to turn professional and enter Torontos organization. Pentecosts Owls were down a game in a best-of-three heading into action on Saturday night. Hes got business to take care of first but with a draft slot value at just under $2.9-million, the potential is there to strike it rich. Still, when you hear him speak in his southern drawl, its a reminder that the 21-year-old, like everyone his age, is in many ways still a kid. "I cant wait to get out there and go play," said Pentecost. "Theres going to be one day where Im going to have to clean out my locker and putter around home just because my parents had to move me out of my apartment while we were coming to the super regionals." Selected in the seventh round of the 2011 draft by the Texas Rangers, Pentecost chose not to sign when the Rangers included a 90-day clause in the contract offer, a shield against a recurring injury he suffered in high school. In Pentecosts sophomore year at Winder-Barrow High School near Atlanta, he suffered a stress fracture of his olecranon, which is the bony point of the elbow. He was prescribed rest and rehabilitation. It didnt work and the injury recurred during his junior year. Another season of rest and rehab didnt work and Pentecost suffered the injury a third time in his senior year. He had surgery, two screws were implanted, and there hasnt been an issue since. "I looked at it as I can go to college, work on a degree and if anything I can show them I can play three or four years without the injury recurring," said Pentecost. "I can play healthy and thankfully I was blessed enough to have a good career and improve my stock." His faith in himself has been rewarded. Pentecost has improved as a hitter in each of his three years at Kennesaw State, working a slash line of .423/.483/.631 this season. "I feel that Im more of a hit for average, Im more of a gap to gap, line drive kind of guy," said Pentecost. "I have power but Im not known as a power hitter. You know, it just kind of happens. I feel like I have pretty decent speed for baserunning, for stealing bags. I usually have a pretty good approach, hit offspeed well."Growing up in Georgia, Pentecost admitted he doesnt know much about the city of Toronto. He joked about his time in the Cape Cod League, the collegiate summer circuit in Massachusetts, where he picked up French-language radio stations beaming out of Quebec. It was his time in "The Cape," as its known, when he hit .346/.424/.538 with seven home runs for the Bourne Braves, that Pentecost feels he made his name. "I think thats the only reason I am where I am today," said Pentecost. "Going up there, nobody really knew who I was or had never even heard of Kennesaw State. So going up there I felt like I was really going to have to prove myself and prove my game just to prove who I am. I made a lot of changes to my game, really played hard, enjoyed it. The overall experience was, I mean, it was just a blast." Pentecost cites Jason Kendall and, more recently, Buster Posey as players hes looked up to. He considers himself a versatile athlete; if the catching thing doesnt work out, he could play a corner infield position or in the outfield. First things first, Pentecosts got a game to win on Saturday night. Hell worry about becoming a millionaire later, although getting the draft out of the way will help him relax. "Its a huge weight off my shoulders," he said. SANTOS UPDATE Sergio Santos will throw a bullpen session in Toronto on Sunday. If all goes well, hell report to Single-A Dunedin on Monday. The plan, Santos says, is to throw an inning each on Tuesday and Thursday. Hes hopeful of being activated off the disabled list late next week and of meeting the team in Baltimore. Sam Shields Jersey .Kraft says Goodell realized before seeing a video showing Baltimore running back Ray Rice striking his then fiance that domestic violence was very serious for society in general. Aqib Talib Rams Jersey . 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Ramik Wilson Jersey . -- Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf has been suspended two games for his hit from behind on Kevan Miller of the Bruins.As Major League Baseballs regular season winds down, theres considerable focus here on what the Toronto Blue Jays spent (or didnt spend) on players heading into this season, what they apparently wouldnt spend in-season and what theyll be willing to commit going into 2015. And theyre all reasonable questions since ownership was working under a self-imposed salary cap, otherwise known as a budget. The issue may be more that the Blue Jays were unwilling to budge from that amount in the face of such obvious needs as starting pitching and second base help. There are a lot of major league teams that spent similarly or significantly less than the Blue Jays and put together better lineups. The relationship between spending in baseball and success is much less straight-forward than, if you spend it, it will come. It of course being the post-season. This season, the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox had the second, third and fourth-highest opening day payrolls in baseball, at $202, $180, and $162 million respectively. And as of today, those teams sit 14, 21, and 26 games respectively out of first place within their divisions. In the case of the Red Sox and Phillies, both teams will finish in last place this season. Thats $544 million spent on players to finish a combined 61 games out of first place. Which isnt to suggest that spending in baseball doesnt affect overall performance. Of the six division leaders in baseball right now, only the Cardinals and Orioles are in first place without outtspending all of their division rivals based on opening day payrolls.dddddddddddd. But among the four wild card teams in place now - Kansas City, Oakland, Pittsburgh and San Francisco rank 19th, 25th, 27th and seventh. That tells you that baseballs intent to make the post-season accessible to teams that couldnt spend their way to the top of a division is working. Its just not working for the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays shouldnt necessarily to be prepared to spend more going into next season. Its just that pointing to payroll as the reason why this team has missed the post-season for more than two decades is shortsighted and misses the bigger issue with this team, which is the ability identify and develop major league talent and sign players to contracts that provide the best return on investment. The Blue Jays opened this season with a payroll $21 million more than the St. Louis Cardinals, $25 million more than the Orioles, $40 million more than Kansas City, $49 million more than Oakland and $64 million more than Pittburgh. All of those teams are currently in a playoff position. The Washington Nationals - with the best record in the National League and a 16-game lead in the NL East, have done so with a payroll just over $2 million more than the Blue Jays. The bottom line is this: focusing on payroll in fact obstructs the flaws in how this team has been built. So if youre a fan fed up with the Blue Jays mediocrity, what this team is willing to spend should be well down your list of concerns. Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '