Trampus — King of Waffles
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Just arrived at Chain of Lakes Park here in the terribly named Winter Haven. On the way here, Wilner and I stopped off at a Waffle House to get some breakfast. Our waiter’s name? Trampus. I can’t make this stuff up.
At least I ran four miles this a.m., so I don’t feel so bad about eating at the House. Wilner insists we stop there every year on the way to Winter Haven, so I guess this makes it our last installment of the pseudo-annual event. The Tribe is skipping out on Florida in favor of Arizona for Spring Training next year.
Today’s lineups:
TORONTO (5-9) at CLEVELAND (6-8-1)
at 1:05 p.m. ET at Chain of Lakes Park
BLUE JAYS
Reed Johnson, RF
Gregg Zaun, DH
Joe Inglett, 2B
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Adam Lind, LF
John McDonald, SS
Buck Coats, CF
Hector Luna, 3B
Sal Fasano, C
PITCHING: RHP Shaun Marcum
INDIANS
Josh Barfield, 2B
David Dellucci, LF
Travis Hafner, DH
Victor Martinez, C
Casey Blake, 1B
Ben Francisco, RF
Jamey Carroll, SS
Danny Sandoval, 3B
Jason Tyner, CF
PITCHING: RHP Fausto Carmona
More later…internet connection permitting. It’s reeeaaaal shaky here.
Major League Bastian 
Heres the way I see the Blue Jays starting pitching and how I think they should break camp.
1st – Roy Halladay….enough said.
2nd – Burnett, we know is only going to give us 26-28 starts. So why not have someone like Parrish, who has already been stretched out and can do five innings start every fifth game for him or something, you know, to kinda give him an extra week off here or there.
3rd – Marcum and Mcgowan should only both pitch 150-160 innings, just because they are young, and marcum is coming off an injury, even though it was minor. They could be spelled, or brought out early, early in the season, by Brian Wolfe or Brian Tallet.
fourth – Litsch can be included with that group abovem except he will have fewer innings.
This is why I think the pitching lineup should look like this
Starting 5 are obvious then
Parrish (to spell AJ and pitch some long relief)
Wolfe (same reason)
Tallet (because hes death against righties)
Downs (who just rocks)
League (7 and 8th inning man)
Accardo and Ryan (who have gotta split closing duties especially in the early going)
This is how i see the pitching staff and how i think it should be coached.
Cheers
One more week and the jays will start to show us what they are made of,The roster should be cut down to where the reg.players will play everyday.
Dave what about Frasor????
I hope parish pitches okay today.
And now for the good news gsumner will be backkkk.
Hey, Any chance Lind bumps ahead of both Reed and Stewart to steal the left field platoon spot?
I’m pretty sure Lind’s out of the picture this season, unless there’s a big trade or a bunch of injuries. I think the Jays want him to get consistent at bats in AAA, while if he was with the big club there’s a good chance he’d be on the bench a bunch.
Also, it wouldn’t make much sense to have a lefty-lefty platoon of Stairs and Lind.
As for the bullpen, I’m also wondering where Randy Wells fits in. He’s a Rule 5 pickup, so if he doesn’t make the team, the Jays have to sell him back to the Cubs at half price.
Seems like he’s done a decent job this spring, but the pen’s getting pretty crowded, even if Ryan starts the year on the DL.
My biggest problem with Jason Frasor is that he always seems to be able to pitch well when there is no pressure on him. In high pressure situations he can pretty much be relied on to give up a home run, or at least a double. This is just me, but i dont really like Frasor at all.
Also, one of the reasons i talked about Tallet and Wolfe is because they can eat up two or three innings in mid relief. Frasor cant do this, he get hit too hard.
Hem is right about Randy Wells, on both accounts, its too bad we didnt have him last year, what with Ohka and Zambrano, but this year it looks like we might have to send him back. I dont think he was very expensive, was he?
Maybe theres no need for concern but is anyone at all wondering why Rios is having a terrible spring training. He should be right up there with Hill. What up.
Dave: If a team takes a player in the Rule 5 draft, it’ll cost them $50,000. If the player doesn’t stick with the big league club, the team has to offer the player back to the original club for half of the 50 grand.
So, if Wells doesn’t make the cut, the Cubs can get him back for $25,000. All in all, that kind of money is peanuts to guys like Ted Rogers….
I really don’t think it’s time to hit the panic button about Rios. A lot of big name players have pretty lousy or mediocre springs — it is, after all, just a time to warm up and work on new stuff.
Jordan,
You survived the “Awful House, very impressed. The other night you went to P.F. Chang’s, talking about total opposites, Chang’s and the “Awful House”, lol….
PF Chang’s was glorious. Waffle House? Not so much. But that was all Wilner’s call. What can ya do?
~JB
Is nobody concerned about the fact that we are in last place in the standings? Everybody else is playing with non-starting day lineups, so that is no excuse. Once again the teams that are suppose to be good are, and the Jays who hope to be good are not, at least not yet.
Chill pills, everyone. Spring stats and standings don’t matter. If the Jays are struggling deep into April and into May, start worrying. Don’t worry yet. The pitchers aren’t going as long as they will in the season and the regulars — those that make the trips — are only getting a handful of ABs and working on things as well. Wins and losses are a non-issue in Spring Training. It’s what’s accomplished in between the stats in the box score that matter.
~JB
Burt: I don’t think everyone is “where there supposed to be”. I mean, check out Boston: they’re 5-8 and only a game ahead of the Jays in the cellar. I’m also not too sure that Tampa (as good and young as they are) can maintain their current winning percentage of .750….