Moving Day Odds and Ends
Some items from the Mattick today:
–Vernon Wells spoke with us scribes and said he’s hoping to be back in a couple weeks. He doesn’t feel the injury is as bad as last year and feels that his experience a year ago can help him rebound quicker. He and Gaston make it sound like this hammy is always going to be a risk from now on.
–Mike Maroth threw off the mound in a bullpen session and felt good before and after. So that surgery he needs? A no go for now.
–Ryan talked with me today some about last season and how great it’s been to not have to worry about getting healthy right now. He called his performance at times last year “ugly” and said he was pretty much pitching without a slider all season long. Early reports from pitching coach Brad Arnsberg are that Bo’s slider is “tight”, his command is good and he’s stronger than he was last year. Great news for Toronto.
–Cito’s tentative lineup for Wednesday’s opener: Joe Inglett, 3B, Aaron Hill, 2B, Alex Rios, RF, Kevin Millar, 1B, Adam Lind, DH, Rod Barajas, C, Travis Snider, LF, Buck Coats, CF, John McDonald, SS. Pitching: Brett Cecil, Ricky Romero, B.J. Ryan, Brian Burres, Rick Bauer. … Coming for the Yankees: Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano and [drumroll] Alex Rodriguez. On the mound for the Bombers: Brett Tomko, Kei Igawa and some other dudes.
–Cito said today that he plans on getting Adam Loewen plenty of playing time this spring: “I want him to play quite a bit. He’s a kid that looks good swinging. I spoke to him this year and told him that I was going to try to play him as much as i can. I’ve got him down mostly outfield. He needs some at-bats to get back to seeing the ball and swinging the bat.”
–Gaston doesn’t have a specific number of ABs in mind, but said Jose Bautista is very much in the plans this season. Said he wants to get him action in the outfield, at third and first base, as the DH and even at short. Gaston also doesn’t mind that Bautista is playing in the WBC with the D.R., even though he figured to get more ABs and innings with Wells out.
–Scott Richmond is skedded to start Thursday and Matt Clement on Friday. Brad Mills is slated to follow Clement, while Ken Takahashi is down to follow Richmond.
OPINION TIME: With the recent news about Wells, and after watching Rios man center field for two prolonged stretches last season, I’m thinking a change in the outfield alignment might be in order soon. If Wells’ injury is indeed going to be a constant risk, he might benefit from moving to left, or at least seeing more time as the DH. I absolutely loved Rios in center and Snider has been billed more as a right fielder than a left fielder. So, for the long run, would it not make sense to put Wells in left, Rios in center and Snider in right? The Jays have invested a lot of money in Wells and Rios and, along with Snider, these three outfielders are a major part of the organizations future. Just saying
~JB
Major League Bastian 
I like your idea of moving Rios to centre and putting Wells in left , he can share time with Lind . I wonder if the turf at Roger’s centre will aggravate Wells’ condition . I was actually hoping Wells played in the WBC , last time he did he had a great season for the Jays , missing his usual slow start .
I hope they get all their injuries over with in spring training . I know injuries are part of the game but the last few years the Jays have had more than their fair share .
If you move wells out of CF i think RF is the first corner position you put him at. His defence will still be good enough for that position, more range and probably better arm than Snider. But if his injuries are the reason he cant play, then DH is where he is going to have to hit. His contract is too big for him to be sitting injured. At least have his bat in the lineup if your paying that much for him.
It’s a shame that Wells can’t seem to stay healthy anymore. Since it appears that it’ll only take him 2 weeks to recover I say give him an extra one just to make sure. I think left or right field would be what’s best for Wells, as has already been mentioned. Rios has obviously shown that he can play centre so the loss (if any) in defensive ability likely will not even be noticed. I don’t know Snider well enough yet to be able to tell if he can handle right field as well as left.
That two weeks from Wells reminds me of another time he rushed back only to have a more serious injury as a result. I hope they give him the extra week or two.
I like the idea of Wells in LF as well, RH is Sniders normal position, so it makes sense to put Wells in left.
This is exactly why I didn’t want a dedicated DH and I took a lot of heat here for stating that. All 4 of these guys can be rotated through the DH spot, with Wells getting more than his share at that spot. If we had signed some old guy for DH then 1 of the 4 of these potent bats would be out of the lineup everytime the DH played.
JB
So if the rating is measured by page views, I guess that means we just have to hit the site and blog without signing in-is that the case or do we need to sign in. Let us know, were all motivated to get you to number uno.
JB, you are spot on with the idea of moving Wells. Since the first time I saw Rios in the minor leagues, I’ve thought he looked “center field” even with his stellar performance in right. The injuries in Wells’ history make it hard to get too excited about a full season of production and he is critical to our success this year, so protect him a little. The idea of rotating four outfielders through the DH spot also has merit. It seems too early to relegate Lind to the DH spot and if somebody does go down, Millar seems a great addition. Man, I’m ready to get started!!!
It would be great to be there and watch Cecil take on the Yanks.
Good luck laddy.