Bautista on a mission this year
Toronto Blue Jays spring training takeaways
POSTMEDIA NETWORK
DUNEDIN — If you are the type of fan who wants to fret about the fact that the Toronto Blue Jays won just five of their first 16 Grapefruit League games, let me just say one thing: Stop.
John Gibbons has spent the past few weeks fielding a lineup that is a vague facsimile of the one he will use in April. It is the Toronto Blue Jays*. By number of at-bats, the most-used 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.
That’s not to say that some meaning can’t be derived from what has taken place so far. Halfway through March, here are some early takeaways:
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 RBI.
“Jose was smokin’ down here in these games,” Gibbons said. He’s on mission. He always is, but he’s definitely on a mission now.”
The new DH is a tidy 9-for19 (.474) with a couple of homers after signing a three-year, $33-million contract early in the offseason that ended up squeezing 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 hitterfriendly Rogers Centre, would have a monster year. “How do we replace Edwin?,” he said, looking over at the batting cage as Morales was striping line drives. “Right there.”
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 would probably 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). Minorleague spring games are weird that way: You can play as much or as little as you like. Donaldson has been taking regular batting practice and go 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’s 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 minorleague at-bats in, which suggests he could be ready for Opening Day. Toronto is also keeping both players out of Grapefruit League action for now at least in part because it gives them disabled list flexibility — they could back-date a DL appearance for either guy, but if they play in an official game the clock would reset.
Last year’s wobbly start was in large part due 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 lefthander, 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. Management has some other arms from which to choose, and might console itself by hoping that the assorted long relievers aren’t needed much.
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.