Stephen Drew ramping up rehab work

Those who drafted Drew hoping he would return quickly from his ghastly ankle injury a year ago have been sorely disappointed. But they're not the only ones; managing general partner Ken Kendrick also spoke poorly of Drew's slow recovery.

In all fairness, Drew had played at least 150 games in three of his four full seasons in the bigs before suffering his injury in July of last season. Regardless, he's scheduled to play in three straight rehab games with Triple-A Reno, a stretch that started Thursday. He played in his first rehab contest last Thursday. In his four rehab games (16 at-bats), he has four hits, one triple, a home run and two RBIs.

Drew's fractured ankle was quite extensive; he had three screws placed in his leg and he also tore ligaments. He's a slow healer, so it's not a surprise his recovery has been stretched out. From all reports, however, he's moving around great, as evidenced by his exceptional defense.

Even when he was healthy, though, he was frequently a disappointment. He never amassed many stolen bases before he fractured his ankle, so there isn't much hope there. His struggles against left-handed pitchers make him a mediocre BA commodity, at best.

His position lends value to his name more so than anything else. If you're hurting at the position, you should be thinking about stashing him while you still have the opportunity. The Snakes will likely ease him in initially, and Kirk Gibson indicated he may have a hard time mixing him in with Willie Bloomquist and John McDonald - they've filled in admirably in Drew's absence.

Blue Jays put Kyle Drabek on DL

The Toronto Blue Jays lost another starter to the disabled list Friday, placing Drabek there after he was diagnosed with an ulnar collateral ligament sprain in his right elbow. Brett Cecil is being recalled from Class AAA Las Vegas.

The good news is that a second TJS is out of the question for Drabek. He's not too concerned with this new ailment. His walk rate was improved in the first month, but his command has since deserted him. Drabek owns identical K/9 and BB/9 numbers this season (5.93). A drop in fly balls allowed shows he could be on his way to getting back to being the ground-ball pitcher he was in the minors, but the command needs to improve steadily for significant strides to be made.

Cecil, 26 in July, has accrued 65 starts for Toronto over the last three seasons. He was bumped from the rotation last April after four rocky appearances. This year, he went 3-2 with a 3.38 ERA in nine starts with Double-A New Hampshire and tossed 6 2/3 scoreless frames with Las Vegas earlier this week.

He has moderate strikeout upside, but his fly-ball tendencies and struggles against righties don't bode well at the team's hitter-friendly home digs. Cecil has the experience starting in the bigs, though, so he could stick around longer if Brandon Morrow (strained oblique) or Drabek encounters a setback.