Brett Cecil: Injured Jays reliever might be available should Jays make it to World Series
KANSAS CITY— When Blue Jays reliever Brett Cecil suffered a freak torn calf muscle in Game 2 of the team’s division series against the Texas Rangers, the initial prognosis was that his season was over.
The 29-year-old lefty, the team’s longest tenured pitcher who had been arguably baseball’s best reliever in the second half of the season, broke down and cried when he heard his first career playoff was ending so abruptly. He vowed then to cheer his “ass off.”
But now, it seems, he has a different goal. There he was on Friday, his left calf heavily wrapped, throwing at full strength on flat ground with the rest of the Jays’ relief corps. It appears as if a return in time for the World Series, if the Jays advance that far, isn’t out of the question.
“That’s what they’re saying, if we’re lucky enough to move on,” manager John Gibbons said Saturday. “There’s an outside chance, anyway. He’s walking around better than anybody expected, so they’re going to keep him throwing.”
Without Cecil, the Jays have only Aaron Loup on the left side in the bullpen. The lack of options for Gibbons is particularly disadvantageous in the post-season when pitcher-batter matchups become all the more important.
There is no timeline yet for Cecil, who suffered the injury after picking off the Rangers’ Mike Napoli and nabbing him in a rundown, but Gibbons said they will keep his arm strong while the calf heals.
It’s still a long-shot, but it’s no longer impossible.
“It’d be a Stroman-esque type story,” Gibbons said, referring to the Jays’ righty who returned in September after what was believed to be a season-ending ACL injury. “It’s shocking to me, too.”
Cecil, who this season broke Tom Henke’s franchise record for the longest scoreless streak by a Toronto reliever, last allowed an earned run on June 21.