The Province

Gibbons facing couple of roster moves

Jays play two last exhibition games in Montreal over weekend before Monday’s season-opener

- ROB LONGLEY rlongley@postmedia.com twitter.com/longleysun­sport

DUNEDIN, Fla. — Though he has a point, Marco Estrada was being a little too humble in his reaction to being named the Blue Jays opening day starter.

When asked what it meant to be handed the ball from pitching coach Pete Walker and manager John Gibbons for Monday’s contest in Baltimore, Estrada deferred to his four cohorts in the Jays starting rotation.

“It could have been any one of the other guys, that’s how deep we are,” Estrada said. “… It’s a huge honour.”

Though Estrada is right — there’s a case to be made for each of those who follow him — J.A. Happ, Marcus Stroman, Francisco Liriano and Aaron Sanchez — the right hander is getting the call on merit.

As is well noted by baseball observers, the Jays have one of the deepest starting staffs in the game. While many teams name their opening-day ace by the starter early in spring training, the Jays had a decision to make.

So they took their time, assessed the progress of the group as a whole and decided on Estrada.

“Back a little bit in history, it was always Roy Halladay in my time here,” Gibbons said. “Generally most teams are like that. But we’ve got confidence that all of them can pitch.”

Meanwhile, after battling back problems a year ago and though the season, Estrada said he’s feeling like “night and day” compared to what he did entering last season.

“It was a grind last year but I liked it because mentally I was prepared to go through it,” Estrada said.

Flying North

With Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to the Yankees, the Jays ended the Grapefruit League portion of spring training, with weekend games Friday night and Saturday afternoon contests in Montreal to end the exhibition­s.

There are still some decisions to be made before submitting the 25-man season-starting roster on Sunday, however, most notably in the bullpen.

Dominic Leone, Ryan Tepera and Mike Bolsinger all remain in the hunt for one remaining spot.

The other notable call to be made is in left field. With Steve Pearce showing he’s capable of playing the position, it’s unlikely that both Ezequiel Carrera and Melvin Upton will remain.

Meanwhile, as a whole, the Jays are just pleased to be done with sixplus weeks of spring training, especially after a final week that seemed to drag on.

“We’re excited to get going,” Gibbons said.

Take your pick with Pearce

With concerns about post-elbow surgery arm strength out of the way, Gibbons is ready to employ a versatile outlook for off-season acquisitio­n, Pearce.

On Tuesday in Clearwater, the former Oriole looked nimble in keying a 3-6-1 double-play while playing first and he’s also shown he’s comfortabl­e at first. In other words, Pearce comes as advertised — a versatile fielder who can hit.

Gibbons acknowledg­ed on Wednesday that he’d be comfortabl­e starting Pearce in the field, both at first base and in left.

Finger first

Aaron Sanchez gave the thumbs up on the mild blister he suffered on a finger of his throwing hand in a start on Monday night.

And any worries that it may keep Sanchez out of his first scheduled start on April 8 in Tampa were dismissed by Gibbons on Wednesday, though the team will potentiall­y alter his work up until then.

Originally scheduled to pitch a minor league game here this weekend, Gibbons said he might have a longer side session instead.

Closing time

After seeing him struggle at the WBC and having a rough go in his last outing here, the Jays say they saw what they needed out of closer Roberto Osuna on Wednesday.

Osuna unleashed an easy threeup, three-down inning in the sixth, inducing two easy fly balls and a strikeout of Aaron Judge.

“I thought he was good,” Gibbons said. “A couple of pitches were jumping for him.”

 ?? — THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES ?? Steve Pearce gives the Blue Jays some flexibilit­y with his ability to play left field and first base.
— THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Steve Pearce gives the Blue Jays some flexibilit­y with his ability to play left field and first base.

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