Janssen’s readiness clouds closer situation
DUNEDIN, FLA.— For one brief, shining moment on Saturday morning before the Blue Jays’ 10-5 loss to the Atlanta Braves, manager John Gibbons had answered the riddle of the bullpen closer.
But two hours later, the picture got cloudy once again. Both candidates remain viable options.
Casey Janssen and Sergio Santos pitched back to back on Friday against the Red Sox and each excelled. Janssen threw just 11 pitches for his three outs, with two strikeouts. Santos walked his first batter then struck out the side. For Janssen, it was his first outing in a major-league game this spring and, a day later, Gibbons remained enthusiastic.
“Yeah, I don’t see why not,” Gibbons said when asked if Janssen could head north with the club. “He’s good to go with no setbacks. I thought he looked pretty good. We just don’t want to pitch him too much down here. If he’s not ready, if we don’t think he’s ready, he won’t start (with us).”
When asked directly if Janssen would be his closer, Gibbons said yes. But in a classic case of Alphonse and Gaston — “You take it; no, you take it; no, I insist” — Santos had graciously conceded the ninth-inning saviour role to Janssen, while last year’s closer insisted the team would be in good hands with Santos as closer.
“In my heart of hearts I wanted to come in and become closer,” Santos said at a time he thought the closer’s role had been awarded to Janssen. “With that not happening, I’m OK with it, because the long-term goal, the main goal, the most important goal was to be ready to pitch. And I’ve done that. I feel like I’ve put myself in a good position. I’m feeling great. I’m excited for the season to start.”
However, on the other side of the Jays clubhouse, Janssen was being informed by his manager that he had been given the closing nod. Turns out he was a sore winner. Turns out some day-after malaise in his throwing arm was giving him pause.
“You have to choose your words wisely, but yes, I feel soreness,” Janssen said of the way he woke up Saturday. “Everyone has some soreness. It doesn’t mean that it’s uncommon, that the trainers are in panic mode about it. It’s just that I increased my activity level, increased my intensity. I pitched three times in six days, so there’s a little bit of a workload there. I’ve tested it out a little bit.
“Not to beat a dead horse, but honestly, we’re taking it outing by outing, day by day. You put (another appearance) up on the (bulletin) board and if it doesn’t happen, it raises red flags. Like I said, the plan is — there’s really no plan. Monday is the next one, then kind of go from there.” Janssen was supportive of Santos as the closer if it turns out he has to stay in Florida when the Jays head north or even if he feels he’s not ready to pitch the ninth inning on two of three days. “I don’t think we’re reinventing the wheel,” Janssen said. “At the same time, we probably had to evaluate what happened and why. You don’t want to hang (a pitch) and cost your team. Sergio’s throwing the ball really well and he’s done it before. We have all the confidence in the world in him if it doesn’t work out (for me) April 2 and I don’t think we’ll miss a beat.” Clearly, the Jays’ manager had not been informed of the latest update regarding Janssen’s soreness the morning after his first official outing. It’s understandable he wasn’t because Gibbons and his coaches had spent the first part of the day at an awards ceremony for minor-leaguers and staff at the Mattick Centre. The Jays’ closer situation is back in limbo, waiting for at least the next appearance for Janssen and the scheduled backto-back outings for Santos on Sunday and Monday. “I’m working towards (opening day) and I think that’s everybody’s hope,” Janssen said. “At the same time, I want to be good. I want to be hitting on all my pitches. If it’s the first outing, a runner on sec- ond, I need to hit on that pitch and not be still trying to figure it out and potentially cost our team a loss. I’ve got to be honest with myself. I’m hoping, but to say today that April 2 — we’ll see how it goes Monday. It’s not doubt, I just don’t want to give false hope.” Significant questions continue to surround the identity of the ninthinning guy. Caveats concerning Janssen? He described needing more time than usual to warm up on Friday. He spoke of the same degree of soreness he usually has in early March, except this is late March. He spoke of the time between Friday and Monday as perhaps not being enough to bounce back. He spoke of his personal preference for being cautious.
The surest sign the Jays are being as cautious as the man himself will come if Janssen’s Monday appearance is shifted to minor-league camp. That will allow the team to disable him if they feel he’s not ready and to backdate the DL in order to minimize his time away.
“If I’m 100 per cent then I believe in my abilities and I think I’ll be in a good place,” Janssen said. “If I’m not, I feel like the faster I get there, the better it will be in the long run. I don’t want to pick at something for three months when I could eliminate it in 10 days.”
There’s a lot more spring road to travel before the Jays discover the April 2 answer to the riddle.