5 Thoughts on the Toronto Blue Jays - Less than a week to Opening Day! Roster is taking shape

We are now only a handful of sleeps until the start of the MLB season where our very own Toronto Blue Jays will kick off their season against the forever hated Tampa Bay Rays!  I really hate the Rays.....I know a lot of people hate the Red Sox and the Yankees, dont get me wrong I hate them too, but I hate the Rays just as much....Well I also hate the Orioles too............ Ok, I pretty much just hate every other team in the AL East!

5 thoughts on the Blue Jays

1.  Well today saw John Gibbons come out and proclaim Aaron Sanchez as a part of the Toronto Blue Jays 5 Man starting rotation.  I will say this....I was positive that they were going to put him in the Bullpen....Yes I want him in the the starting rotation....The best thing for the Toronto Blue Jays as a whole is for him to be in the starting rotation long term given the package the Sanchez brings to the table, but I really thought the team was going to look at the situation the team is in right now and put him into the Bullpen and create probably the best bullpen in the AL East.  With that said looks like there will be an innings limit on him with the intent of Sanchez moving to the bullpen when he hits his magical number, which could still give the Jays that killer Bullpen down the stretch (and fingers crossed) into the playoffs!

2.  Edwin was back at it in a minor league game today!  This is nice.  He went 1-3 with a BB and his one hit was a HR... Didn't walk the parrot however.. I think the saying is "If Edwin hits a Home Run and know one is there to see it does the Parrot walk?"  I'll see myself out.......

I'm all seriousness...I can't see him being ready for opening day on Sunday given he'l have only had about 25 AB prior to the season and none of them against Major League pitchers.  If he is in the MLB line-up on Sunday I see it about 7 - 10 games before we see the EE we expect.

3.  Word is out via the the final few decisions on the Blue Jays roster will be coming down on Tuesday.  Here is what I'm thinking.... 4th outfielder will be Ezequiel Carrera (Can plan all OF positions, Gibby likes him and he has no options left), Last reliever will be Pat Venditte (think Loup will end up on the DL and they need another LHP) and the Closer will go to Drew Storen (Osuna being able to pitch more than 1 inning makes him a better set-up guy to me).

4.  The Blue Jays picked up Jesus Montero off of waivers today!  Yeah that Jesus Montero.....The former Yankees overrate top prospect who was traded for Michael Pineda.  So....I guess they'll put him back through waivers with the hope that he gets passed through and he can play in Buffalo? I don't even know where he plays...Does he play 1st, DH or God forbid catch?  I don't know... he's not very good....that I do know.

5.  The Toronto Blue Jays will be making their 3rd trip up north to Montreal this Friday and Saturday for their 2 final pre-season games.  I'm a little disappointed in myself for not going again this year.  From everything I've seen/heard/read it seems like an awesome time and something that baseball fans in Canada who haven't got the chance to see a game in MTL should do.....Maybe next year..

5 Thoughts on the Toronto Blue Jays - God Damn Spring Training Really Drags On Edition

After another lengthy stretch since i've been able to find some more time to talk about a whole bunch of nonsense that i've talked through  in my own head that I now believe that it deserves to be written down so others can read them.....

Anyways...5 Thoughts on The Blue Jays...

1. Much of the talk all spring training has obviously surrounded the contract situations of both Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion.  Numbers have been flying around and it looks like to me that neither one of these two will end up back with the Blue Jays next year and to be honest I think i've already come to grips with it.....I look at it this way...Most talks on the Jays front seem to want to keep the contracts for both these guys around the 2 -3 year mark, which would fall in line as to when JD would be set to become a FA again....Would you rather have a 33 year old Josh Donaldson or a 38 year old Jose Bautista or a 36 year old Edwin Encarnacion?  or.....Would you rather have $$$ around to keep guys like say a Marcus Stroman in a Blue Jays Uniform?  Let's face it with Big contracts for Russell Martin and Tulo for the next number of years this team is going to have to manage their budgetary dollars wisely and if you were to add two more big dollar contracts to that mix you really limit your opptions going forward.

I see this as a watershed moment for this organization however.  Let's face it the Toronto Blue Jays are going to turn into a developmental organization.  This organization is going to focus on drafting and developing it's own players which isn't a bad thing....It's actually a good thing.  That is how sustainable franchises are built and the great thing about this is that The Toronto Blue Jays are going to  be one of those franchises that will actually have the money to keep it's only talent after they have been developed properly. This won't be the Rays Folks, no need to worry on that front.

All the workings of Shapiro changing this organization for the better!

2. Not since Ricky Romero was destined for the 5th man rotation spot out of the 2013 Blue Jays spring training season as the 5th man in the rotation been such a hot topic!   So I think it's fair to say that if you can't remotely pick up a subtle hints that have been dropped lately you should expect the rotation to be as follows (baring injury) Stroman, Dickey, Happ, Estrada, Floyd.  With both Chavez and Sanchez in the Bullpen and Huntchison in AAA.  Now I will say this....I really think Sanchez should be starting (I even picked him up in one of my fantasy leagues with the hopes he would be a late round sleeper), but with the way both Floyd has shown what he could potentially be and how important a shut down bullpen is I think It just makes too much sense to have Sanchez in the Bullpen to complement probably the deepest pen in the AL East if he in fact ends up there....Cecil, Storen, Sanchez & Osuna is scary...FU Yankee's

3. Looks like Kevin Pillar is going to be leading off for the Blue Jays  to start the year!  I guess I can say i'm a little indifferent to it all.  I like Pillar and everything, but for me I would rather have seen Saunders hit in the leadoff spot.  I will say this about Pillar, what makes me think he could succeed in the role is that we've all been witness to what he is able to accomplish if he puts his efforts towards something.  If he puts half the effort he does to becoming a more disciplined hitter as he did for becoming an elite Major League Centre fielders he should become extremely serviceable in that leadoff position.

4. Am I the only one who is actually seeing quite the interesting Bullpen upon us?  For real....About midway through the off season I was looking at the bullpen and thinking EWWWW, but if you look at it now...It's utterly stellar and there is actually going to be a number of quality arms left off.

Here is how I see it looking on April 3rd.

Osuna
Storen
Sanchez
Cecil
Chavez
Biagini
Schultz
Venditte

Not ideal to carry the 8 guys, but I imagine there may be a sneaky sneak waiver play with someone in the 1st part of the year.

5. Pat Hentgen may be my favorite Ex-Blue Jay right now.  This guy is one of the most interesting guys to listen to talk about the Jays.  He really seems to have a great handle to the pitchers in the organization and really does a great job of explaining things to the every man listening on the other end.

Take a listen to the link below of a recent interview with Hentgen about the pitchers in the org and his role with the club!

http://www.sportsnet.ca/590/jeff-blair-show/pat-hentgen-battle-blue-jays-fifth-rotation-spot/

I really hope this new organization sees the true value in him and make sure that he is a part of the Blue Jays for a long time!