Know Your Role + Jays@Phils pregame
Stopped by Dunedin Stadium this morning for batting practice. The Jays hold BP at home on days they play the Phillies in nearby Clearwater. And glad I did roll over there, because one of the best moments of the spring occurred.
Roy Halladay headed over to the snack cart and reached into the bucket of gum to grab a few pieces. As he walked away, Doc accidentally dumped the entire bucket and its hundreds of Double Bubble pieces all over the ground. Without as much as a flinch, Doc kept walking and left the mess in front of the clubhouse exit.
Not 10 seconds later, rook Travis Snider heads over and gets on hands and knees and begins picking up all the gum, completely knowing his role. As he was reaching under the cart to retrieve every last piece, Doc walked by and had the biggest grin you’ve ever seen the guy have.
“You’re all over it, Snider,” Halladay said with a laugh as he headed out to the field.
“It’s a good start to the day,” said Snider to the group of us reporters standing there enjoying the whole scene. “I got Doc on my side.”
Classic stuff.
Rod Barajas is back in camp after Mexico was bounced from the World Baseball Classic. Alex Rios should be around tomorrow or the next day now that Puerto Rico is out as well. USA! USA! USA!
Barajas had great things to say about the tournament and also about youngster Brad Mills. When asked if he was surprised to see Mill sill in camp, Barajas offered this:
“Absolutely not. I caught his first bullpen on accident. I’m looking through the line of pitchers and I’m trying to find the guys that I think are going to be challenging fo that spot and I hadn’t heard Mills’ name yet. But everybody had somebody else and I saw him and I’m like, ‘All right, I’ll take this little lefty.’ I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn’t expecting that out of him. So, the next time he threw a bullpen, I wanted to catch him again and his stuff was right there. It was unbelievable.”
Scott Downs threw in a Minor League intrasquad game today and center fielder Vernon Wells got some more ABs in that game as well. Wells is hoping to get into a Grapefruit League game this weekend. Said Cito: “Hopefully, we can start the season with him in center field. That’d be great.”
Don’t forget, you can follow my in-game updates at www.twitter.com/mlbastian
Today’s lineup:
BLUE JAYS
Russ Adams, LF
Jose Bautista, SS
Jason Lane, CF
Kevin Millar, 1B
Scott Rolen, 3B
Travis Snider, RF
Michael Barrett, C
Brad Emaus, 2B
Jesse Litsch, P
PHILLIES
Chase Utley, 2B
Miguel Cairo, SS
Greg Dobbs, RF
Jayson Werth, CF
Matt Stairs, LF
Pedro Feliz, 3B
Chris Coste, 1B
Ronny Paulino, C
J.A. Happ, P
~JB
Major League Bastian 
I am really surprised Halliday didn’t pick up the gum himself, thought Roy liked to finish stuff he started.. Got to like Snider’s attitude though, just trying to fit in.
Let’s hope Adams keeps playing well and someone picks him up. I like Cito keeps playing Emaus, to see what the kids got, so far so good, I’d say.
Nice to see Bautista at short; it would be a huge help to the lineup if he can manage the position. If he comes close to handling it, I’d say play him there. It’d be damn nice having a short stop capable of hitting 20-25 hr’s per year. Great idea, Cito, I hope it works out.
Funny story with Snider and Doc, glad to see they are able to have some fun together.
Also nice to see Stairs in the Phills line up, hope he gets some playing time this year with them.
Haha, love the Travis Snider bit. Classic indeed! So how is Jason Lane doing for you guys? I could go look up the spring stats, but they’re not made the easiest to find, and they don’t always tell the whole story anyway. He’s still an old favorite of mine from his Astros days.
http://ledzeb99.mlblogs.com
Lane in 37AB’s: .351ba/.359OBP/.757slg. 4 hr’s, 2-2b’s, 7 rbi’s.
His problem though, is we have Wells, Rios, Lind and Snider so he will likely go to AAA.
Nice blog.
Next year Starters:
Halladay
Marcum
McGowan
Litsch
Purcey
Mills
Cecil
Romero
Janessen
Richmond
Well no one except Doc is an ace there so we need Doc to be there.
OTher than Doc which 5 do you take?
do you go with the young talent in Cecil Mills Purcey and Romero
or do you go with proven startrs that gave us the best rotation last year in McGowan Marcum Litsch….and then 1 other starter who does best in Spring Training.
How do you go about this?
Its a good problem to have though..
I say we trade away some of the quality guys, just one or maybe two of them from
Litsch
Janessen
Richmond
or even Purcey/Mcgowan/Marcum
I think if thats the case then we can trade like McGowan and another minor leagues for a solid 1st baseman, which would save us money and allow us to sign halladay. or do you think David Cooper will be ready?
if thats the case then trade for a 3B, and if Emaus is ready then trade for ****.
Boy isn’t this a good problem to have?
I think keeping all this access pitching would be a bad idea,if they are no use to us then trade them for somone who is because each pitcher who I mentioned is a solid 3-5 guy.
but the trade we make will have to be a good one, and I dont trust JP with it.
Rios played well in that Puerto Rico/USA game last night. What a game btw! Hopefully the WBC will have him in playing form early. Everyone talks about the negatives of the WBC. Sure, players geting injured in the WBC it is a big negative. However, no one mentions the positives? Rios is now probably coming into this season stronger than ever, having faced high quality pitching and competing at high level. I’m predicting a quick start for him! This is all based on seeing him play the other night, so I could be wrong.
http://homerfoodandhistory.mlblogs.com/
Blue Jays sign Netherlands closer Leon Boyd to a minor league contract.
You get the impression that Snider is a real quality person. He was so impressive during his stay in Syracuse last year. Doc is Doc – simply the best!
The Boyd signing is interesting. Impressive numbers but against what quality competiton? Can never have enough pitching at any rate.
Good point on Rios, after his participation in 2006 he was arguably the best hitter in the American Leauge for the first half of the season. I think alot of people are expecting big things from him this year.
The Jays are having a great ST. Let’s hope they can keep it up in the regular season. It will be interesting to see who will break camp with them.
With Cito as the manager breaking camp with 11 pitchers can’t hurt because he handles his pitchers so well, and that will leave room for one more position player.
I noticed the Jays have uploaded their new players pictures to the MLB website. Does anyone know where to see all of them?
How would you guys feel if the Jays took a shot on Shawn Hill whom was made available today ? He’s injured often but given that he’ll likely come cheap why not ?