Tagged: Jose Bautista
Jays @ Tigers pregame
So Mrs. Bastian had the single greatest dream of all-time last night. Had me laughing so hard this morning. In it, she dreamt that I had developed, at 26 years old, a horrible case of Tourettes Syndrome — not the best disorder to have in my position.
In the dream, us reporters were in the middle of an interview with Roy Halladay and while we were trying to ask questions, I kept blurting things out randomly, disrupting everything. Halladay stops and says he can’t deal with this and walks away, and I promptly lose my job.
Flash forward, The Wife and I had moved back to Chicago and she came home to find me sitting in front of my computer — in some new editorial position now so I could work from home with my disease — spewing expletives as I read through stories.
My wife comes over and asks, “Is this the Tourretts, or are you just angry?”
“I’m just mad!”
Thus ended the best dream ever. Us scribes things a “Tourettes Reporter” skit on SNL would make for great comedy.
On the way to Lakeland today, Mike Wilner of the Fan and his fam and I stopped for breakfast at Waffle House — a rite of spring. Last year, we had a waiter named Trampus, who I dubbed “Trampus — King of Waffles.” Today, our waitress, missing quite a few teeth, thanked me for not having her repeat my menu choices, because “Biscuits is a real hard word to say.”
True story.
As for pregame notes? Well, Justin Jackson is on the trip and manager Cito Gaston was gushing over him this morning. Jackson is considered the shortstop of the future and he’s here for the game today. Gaston also talked a lot about Jose Bautista, who is back from the WBC and starting in center field.
Bautista said he has played center for the past seven years in winter ball in the DR, so it’s nothing new for him. What will be new is manning short, something Cito wants to have him and Joe Inglett try this spring. More on Bautista on bluejays.com later on.
Don’t forget, you can follow my in-game updates at www.twitter.com/mlbastian
Today’s lineup:
BLUE JAYS
Russ Adams, DH
Aaron Hill, 2B
Adam Lind, LF
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Jason Lane, RF
Jose Bautista, CF
Brad Emaus, 3B
Raul Chavez, C
John McDonald, SS
Casey Janssen, P
Mike Maroth, P
TIGERS
Brandon Inge, 3B
Placido Polanco, 2B
Gary Sheffield, DH
Jeff Larish, 1B
Gerald Laird, C
Ryan Raburn, CF
Timo Perez, LF
Alexis Gomez, RF
Adam Everett, SS
Dontrelle Willis, P
~JB
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
Decisions, decisions
Continued to break down the looming roster decisions with manager Cito Gaston today and he provided a little more insight into what he’s thinking at this point. Of course, with five weeks left, anything and everything is subject to change. That injury bug doesn’t care about the plans.
As for the bullpen, which I find a more interesting race this spring than the rotation, Gaston said that his four lefties — B.J. Ryan, Scott Downs, Brian Tallet and Jesse Carlson — are all considered “locks” at this point. He added that some pitchers will have to beat out Jeremy Accardo for a job, so he’s the front-runner among the righties. Everyone else? Time to show something.
Last week, GM J.P. Ricciardi said he could see a scenario in which Travis Snider started the season at Triple-A. Today, Cito said Snider would have to play “real bad” not to be on the Jays’ Opening Day roster. As for the bench, which probably won’t have room for all of Kevin Millar, Jose Bautista, John McDonald and Joe Inglett, Cito said he has a tough decision ahead.
Someone made a comment on one of my stories recently about the fact that I always say there are only two openings in the rotation, when it’s been reported elsewhere that there are three jobs up for grabs. My reason for continuing to say that there are only a pair of vacancies?
“I would think there’s two spots. That’s what I think. Two spots open. I think Purcey pitched well enough to be one of the three guys that we have right now — unless he absolutely pitches himself off the club.”
Thanks, Cito.
So that’s Doc Halladay, Jesse Litsch, Purcey, and a pair of front-runners in Casey Janssen and Scott Richmond. Behind them, Toronto will take a good, hard look at prospects Brett Cecil, Brad Mills and Ricky Romero. Other candidates include Matt Clement, Brian Burress, Ken Takahashi, Mike Maroth and … I think I got ’em all.
One team insider told me the prospects might be ahead of Clement and the others on the depth chart at the moment. It’s also more likely that Janssen and Richmond make the club, barring injury or poor showings, and the Jays ease the youngsters into the rotation as the season moves along. Moving Janssen to the ‘pen during the year to clear a spot for another starter is also a possibility.
Got some stories to write. Later…
~JB
Maroth update
Not really great news on Mike Maroth, but not necessarily bad news, either. Despite “something” showing up in the MRI exam, as GM J.P. Ricciardi worded so eloquently, the lefty has decided to try to pitch through the discomfort.
“There’s something in there,” Ricciardi said. “He might have some damage in there that requires surgery, but he thinks he can fight through it. That’s really his call.
The Jays signed Maroth to a Minor League deal over the winter with the hope that he could compete for a spot in the rotation, or at least add deptch behind the big league staff. Maroth is making his way back from left shoulder surgery as well.
That’s it for now. I’m all hopped up on Red Bull and hoping the clouds don’t start sending the rain. It’s a bit dreary here today weather wise. I’m planning on sitting down with Aaron Hill a tad later to talk about his comeback from that nasty concussion.
Stay tuned…
JOINING THE CLUB: We can all welcome the Globe’s Robby MacLeod to Twitter. You can find him on there at www.twitter.com/Sportshack. He’s still building his page, but he joined the new super cool trend this morning. As a reminder, I’m on there at /MLBastian.
NEW ARRIVAL: Jose Bautista showed up to camp today, leaving 3B Scott Rolen as the only no show so far. Rolen lives in Bradenton, so he’s probably using these last days to spend more time with the fam. Why commute before you’re required to? Manager Cito Gaston said he’s not worried about Rolen at all.
UPDATE: Looks like Maroth’s injury might be a bit more serious. One Jays insider described the situation as “bleak” and it’s believed that the injury is a torn meniscus in his left knee, which would require at least 4-6 weeks of recovery if he had surgery. Gaston stated the obvious, saying this puts Maroth way behind in the race for a rotation job. Maroth was a long shot to begin with. No one seems to know what caused the injury.
~JB
Where is everyone?
Funny, there’s only two beat reporters here at the Mattick today. Apparently, there’s something going on over at Legends Field in Tampa. I wonder what that could be? Something about some dude named Rodriguez?
I wouldn’t know. I cover the Blue Jays.
Slow day here at camp, though Marco Scutaro arrived, leaving only Jose Bautista, Scott Rolen and Lyle Overbay as the absent position players from the big league team. Kevin Millar arrived yesterday and we chatted with him today. Check bluejays.com a bit later for a story on that.
I’ll also be posting some photos a bit later from Day 1 at camp yesterday. I was having some computer issues and wasn’t able to post them until now. Also just sat down with Cito, and discussed a few things with him.
When asked if Bautista and Millar could both make the roster, Gaston said that’s a possibility, adding that it depends on how many pitchers the team decides to head north with. He said the Jays might consider going with one less pitcher at the very beginning of the season.
Adam Lind made fun of my graying hair today, and told me I was getting old. Nice, since he and I are pretty much the same age. I asked him if I should dye my hair Dennis the Menace yellow like he’s got going on right now. Not really in a position to make fun of someone’s hair, Lindy.
And Travis Snider told me I was a crazy person for running two marathons over the winter. “I don’t think I ran 26 miles all offseason,” he said. Maybe not, but Snider has shown up to camp a bit trimmer and looking like he’s in great shape. He said he’s dropped about 8-10 pounds.
More later.
In my CD player: Pearl Jam — Vitalogy, because this is my favorite rock album of all-time. Now, don’t mistake me here. I won’t claim this to be the best rock album of all-time — just MY personal fave. Vitalogy was my first rock casette tape when I was a kid and it was what launched my love for rock, especially ’90s grunge. This album never gets old.
Flight of the Conchords: Watched it last night and enjoyed it thoroughly. Season 2 has been up and down so far, but the fifth episode was one of the better ones of this season.
Last night: Went out and completely embarrassed myself in a round of billiards with the Star’s Rich Griffin. We were playing best of five, and I looked good from the get go. Down to one ball plus the eight in Game 1, and Griff had five left on the table. He went on a run and I never took another shot. Game 2, I was down to the eight ball and Griff had four on the table still. Another run, another loss. From there, my confidence went through the floor and Griff destroyed me. Terrible. Just terrible.
~JB
Reporting Day
Back at the ol’ MLB.com condo here after spending the morning over at the Mattick for Toronto’s reporting day for pitchers and catchers. The reporting date is kind of overblown, if you ask me. All this day means is players have to be in Florida — not at camp.
The real action will start on Monday, when all of the invited pitchers and catchers are required to be in camp for the first official workout. There’s plenty of them around already, including Mr. Halladay (pictured right). That photo is from the AP wire — nice shot. I’ll probably begin toting my camera to camp beginning on Monday. So keep checking back here for photos from around camp.
It was a pretty chill day today. Only three reporters and a few new faces around for the Jays. Ken Takahashi made his first appearance, as did GM J.P. Ricciardi and team prez Paul Beeston. I also saw Rod Barajas briefly before heading out to watch some of the pitchers work through drills.
I talked to Shaun Marcum today after he was done playing a light round of catch with one of the Jays’ trainers. Marcum is throwing every other day right now and has been throwing since shortly after the Super Bowl. Seeing him and Dustin McGowan walking around is a constant reminder of what Toronto is missing, and the competition it’s created this spring.
From our short meeting with J.P. today, we learned that the team isn’t going to pencil Travis Snider into the Opening Day lineup just yet. Ricciardi said he could definitely envision a scenario in which the Jays feel Snider could benefit from more seasoning at Triple-A. That’s one reason for the Millar signing, to help build a contingency plan.
If Snider begins the year at Triple-A, Adam Lind would be the starting left fielder and both Kevin Millar and Jose Bautista would likely make the team as well. With Snider and Lind in the fold, it’s not clear whether the club would carry both Millar and Bautista, or if someone like Joe Inglett might be at risk.
As for any more spring additions:
“We’ll see if there’s anybody out there that we match up with in a trade,” Ricciardi said. “I don’t foresee it, because obviously the No. 1 thing we’d want to get is some kind of pitching and I just don’t see that being in excess out there.”
Discussing the rotation, Ricciardi said he’s looking forward to seeing how the battle for the two vacancies plays out, with a mix of prospects, reclamation projects and holdovers vying for jobs. He did say that, on paper, the top five right now are Halladay (no kidding), Jesse Litsch, David Purcey, Casey Janssen and Scott Richmond.
As for Scott Downs being considered as a starter? No more. Said Ricciardi: “His heart’s not in it. He doesn’t want to do it, so we’re probably better off keeping him at a comfort level.” I say that’s a smart move, because Downs is a big reason why Toronto’s bullpen is as strong as it is right now.
FUNNY EXCHANGE OF THE DAY:
Bench coach Brian Butterfield: “Hi, Scotty.”
Scott Richmond, walking to the bullpen: “Hey.”
Butterfield: “Hey? I haven’t seen you all winter and all I get is ‘Hey’?”
Richmond (laughing): “How are you doing today Butter?”
(a few minutes later, Brandon League walks by)
Butterfield: “Hi, Leaguer.”
League: “Hey.”
(Butter laughs and throws his arms in the air)
Major League Bastian 