According to Jordan Bastian minutes ago, the Jays have finalized their pitching by sending Cecil and Roenicke to AAA which leaves a bullpen of Frasor, Gregg, Downs, Camp, Valdez, Janssen, Accardo and a rotation of Marcum, Romero, Morrow, Tallet, Eveland. Thank goodness Cito and company finally saw the light with Eveland who deserved to make this team. Demoting Cecil was a surprise to me as I predicted he would make the rotation, Tallet would move to the pen and Accardo would be optioned. The Jays always have the option of making this change at a later date anyway as things seldom remain static in baseball and strong springs often give way to reality once the season starts. The position players have been settled for a couple of days with Buck, Molina, Oberbay, Ruiz, Hill, Gonzalez, Encarnacion, Lind, Wells, Bautista, McCoy, McDonald, Snider.
I like the pitching and believe the blue birds will surprise a lot of people by winning many games by shutting down their lineups. To compete, the Jays require one or more of Wells, Oberbay, Encarnacion to have a comeback year as Lind and Hill can’t be expected to duplicate last year’s stats. A breakout year by Travis Snider would be a welcome bonus.
The depth of our pitching will be a strength this year, with capable replacements in case of injury. I do however, expect a trade or trades by summer and some of our pitching depth will dissipate to take advantage of opportunities to acquire high level talent. Accardo may have made the team to be showcased, and teams such as the Diamondbacks, Mets, and Phillies could soon be interested in Eveland or Tallet for their rotations. Frasor and Downs being pending free agent status smacks of trade potential as has been widely reported. The same can be said of Oberbay who the Jays will move at the drop of a hat given a reasonable opportunity to dump his salary and make space for Dopirak or Wallace.
It’s going to be a fluid year with lots of changes, but look for this team to knock some of the top teams for a loop with their unexpected competitiveness.
William Bruyea
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