The record’s wrecked, but Jays are figuring things out
If you are the type of fan who wants to fret about the fact the Toronto Blue Jays won just five of their first 16 Grapefruit League games, let me just say one thing: stop.
Manager John Gibbons has spent the past few weeks fielding a lineup that is a vague facsimile of the one he will use in April. By number of at-bats, the mostused hitters have been Darrell Ceciliani, Anthony Alford, Jake Elmore and Rowdy Tellez. Among likely major league regulars, only Kevin Pillar and Justin Smoak have as many as 20 at-bats.
Gibbons is, simply, not trying to win games, so the win-loss record is irrelevant. The latest was a 5-4 defeat to the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday.
That’s not to say that some meaning can’t be derived from what has taken place so far. Halfway through March, here are five early take-aways:
1
Bautista seems a little cranky After a dismal 2016 season that saw his free agency value crater, Bautista says he is healthy again for the first time in a long time. He had an OPS of 1.674 in six games with the Jays, and has an OPS of 1.261 in three World Baseball Classic games, with three combined home runs and 11 RBIs.
“Jose was smokin’ down here in these games,” Gibbons said. He’s on a mission. He always is, but he’s definitely on a mission now.” 2
Morales isn’t — but he can hit The new DH is a tidy nine for 19 for a .474 batting average with a couple of homers after signing a three-year US$33-million contract early in the off-season that helped squeeze Edwin Encarnacion out of the picture. Blue Jays veterans, while going out of their way to say how much they miss their parrot-toting friend, are also excited about having Morales’ bat on their side. One Toronto pitcher predicted that the large Cuban, moving from Kansas City’s large park to the hitter-friendly Rogers Centre, would have a monster year. “How do we replace Edwin?” he said, looking over at the batting cage as Morales was hammering line drives. “Right there.”
3
Spring MVP: George Poulis
The Jays’ head trainer has been a busy man in Dunedin, dealing with injuries to Devon Travis and Josh Donaldson. Donaldson strained his calf as spring training opened, and the medical staff has taken a cautious approach to his recovery. If these games mattered, the 2015 AL MVP probably would be playing tomorrow, but instead he is finally seeing action in a minor-league game in Clearwater, where he’s expected to bat but not field (or run). Minor-league spring games are weird that way: you can play as much or as little as you like. Donaldson has taken regular batting practice and gone through fielding drills at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium, so there’s no reason to think he will miss any time when the real games begin. Travis’ recovery from a bone bruise, related to the knee injury he suffered in the playoffs last year, was going slowly but has taken a positive turn recently. The second baseman and presumptive leadoff hitter has been taking batting practice for a while and is frequently seen having worked himself into a lather working out and running in the outfield. Gibbons had pronounced him behind schedule early last week, but Travis is also going to get some minor league at-bats in, which suggests he could be ready for opening day. Toronto is keeping both players out of Grapefruit League action for now, at least in part because it gives them disabled list flexibility — they could backdate a DL appearance for either guy, but if they play in an official game the clock would reset.
4
Good seats still available in the Toronto bullpen
Last year’s wobbly start was in large part due to relief-pitching struggles, with relievers like Brett Cecil and Drew Storen contributing to 16 bullpen losses by mid-June, or more than the entire starting rotation had accumulated by that point. This season there are a lot of new faces, but after Roberto Osuna, Jason Grilli and Joe Biagini, there are a lot of roles still unsettled. J.P. Howell figures to be the primary left-hander, though he was dinged for a couple runs in his only spring appearance so far. Sidearmer Joe Smith seems likely to be in there somewhere, as does Danny Barnes. Mat Latos was thought to be a bullpen candidate, but he has given up seven hits and five walks in just eight innings, and is understandably not happy about it. Blue Jays management has some other arms from which to choose, and might console itself by hoping the assorted long relievers aren’t needed much.
5
It’s a fixer-upper
One doesn’t have to travel far in Florida to find a spring-training home that is more attractive than what the Blue Jays have in Dunedin. The team and local government plan to improve both the stadium and the team’s training facility, which it needs to do if it wants to have anything close to the nearby high-end facilities of clubs like Philadelphia and Detroit. I’m not saying a tiki bar in the outfield is the only thing that Florida Auto Exchange Stadium needs, but it couldn’t hurt.