Spring loaded? Far from it: Jays field nobodies in Florida
The Toronto Blue Jays are less than four weeks away from opening day. Whether their Day 1 lineup takes the field as a unit before then remains to be seen.
This is an odd spring for the Jays. Last March, even coming off their first playoff appearance in a couple decades, there were a host of questions about the makeup of the team. There was the Aaron Sanchez conundrum, with management still insisting he might end up in the bullpen even as he was the best starter all spring. That decision was the one from which all others flowed, and once the Jays put him in the starting rotation, the rest of the bullpen took shape.
This year, coming off a second playoff run last season, there is less uncertainty. They mostly know the roster that they intend to bring north, with just a few spare parts to determine. It’s just that they don’t know when they will get that roster together.
Devon Travis would lead off and play second base, with Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and new DH Kendrys Morales hitting behind him, then Russell Martin and Troy Tulowitzki in some combination, and the last three spots in the order would be filled by Kevin Pillar and whomever happens to be playing first base and left field on a given day: some combination of Ezequiel Carrera, Justin Smoak, Steve Pearce and Melvin Upton Jr.
Toronto manager John Gibbons called it a “thick” lineup the other day, which is baseball-ese for having a lot of good hitters. But at present, it is looking a little thin. The Blue Jays departed for Sarasota on Wednesday morning to play what would be a 6-4 loss to the Baltimore Orioles with a roster full of whodats. Ryan Goins led off and Joe Biagini threw a couple of innings. The starter was Mat Latos, who is expected to be in the bullpen come April. He gave up five earned runs in two innings of work.
Then it was a whole pile of prospects and journeymen, including Jon Berti, Dwight Smith Jr., Richard Urena and Mike Ohlman, all of whom I have confirmed are actual baseball players and not made-up names for the purposes of filling out a lineup card.
There were some slightly more familiar names playing Wednesday: Cuban prospect Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and outfielder Darrell Ceciliani, who played 13 games with the big club in 2016. Emphasis on the “slightly” in the preceding sentence.
That the Blue Jays would not bother sending many regulars on a jaunt down the highway to Sarasota is not unusual for a one-off in the spring, but Gibbons suggested it could become something of a pattern.
Travis, dealing with a knee injury, is now hitting but some time away from playing in the field. Donaldson, who hit in the cage Wednesday and said he feels healthy enough to play, will likely not see game action until next week at the earliest.
The manager said that as they work their way into game shape, those players could be held out of Grapefruit League action and used in minor-league spring games, which are unofficial and casual to the point of allowing a manager to reset his batting order every inning. Donaldson, for example, could lead off for five straight innings at the minor-league complex rather than go through the limited work of a major-league game. The same approach could be applied to Pearce, who is also hitting but not fielding so far this spring, and Morales, who is healthy but will be the full-time DH, so there’s less reason to have him taking at-bats from the big club in the limited window for Gibbons to examine other players.
There’s also a contingent of Jays that has departed for the World Baseball Classic. Bautista is one of the thumpers in the Dominican Republic lineup and Martin is a coach for Team Canada, in a manner of speaking: He had hoped to play for the Canadians in the tournament before insurance issues scotched that plan, so mostly it seems he’s hanging out with them, which is nice — good Canadian boy. Marcus Stroman will pitch for the United States and Roberto Osuna for Mexico, while both J.A. Happ (United States) and Marco Estrada (Mexico) are listed as potential additions in the later rounds of the tournament.
All of the above means that, for at least the next couple of weeks, the version of the Blue Jays that Gibbons trots out is likely to remain exceedingly unfamiliar, which only really matters if you are in Florida and planning to buy tickets to see them.
Martin already has experience catching every member of the starting rotation, so there’s no learning curve there. And baseball isn’t hockey or basketball, where teams have to learn systems and play as a cohesive unit. The middle infielders have to get comfortable with each other, but Travis and Goins were out taking throws and making the turn at second base on Tuesday under the Florida sun.
Gibbons will get the band back together eventually. Until then, if you come to Dunedin, consider buying a program — you’ll need it.