Thoughts From Spring Training: Day 1

The jerk sitting all by himself...

The Boston Red Sox beat the Blue Jays 4-2 today in John Farrell's return to Toronto, or Dunedin I guess. I was at the game today, my first of three this spring training, and, as expected, it was awesome. My seats are 4 or 5 rows up right behind home plate, so I'm able to see the strike zone beautifully. Some thoughts and pictures from today's game...

 On R.A Dickey...

Dickey, JPA, and Pete Walker before the game.

Dickey was pretty obviously just getting a feel for his knuckler today, sitting at 73-74 MPH on it, and maxing out at 75 MPH. Those readings are from the stadium radar gun, so they might be a couple ticks off. It didn't have as much movement as it will have during the regular season, which was the primary reason he got hit hard a few times today. The knuckeball was left up a couple times, and Red Sox batters took advantage. Towards the end of his outing, he threw one pitch around 58 MPH if I remember correctly, and got the batter(Pedro Ciraco) to roll over it into a double play. That particular pitch had a ton of movement on it, and it was great to see. The results might not have been great, but for his first spring outing, Dickey showed great signs today.

On JPA...
He looked pretty solid behind the plate catching Dickey. Only had one passed ball in his 2 innings, so not so bad. He won't be catching Dickey once the regular season comes, but practice can't hurt him. Of course today's knuckle ball is easier to catch than the ones that should be coming in Dickey's upcoming starts because it didn't move so much.

On the Dominican Four...
Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista, and Edwin Encarnacion represent the best top 4 hitters in baseball, and boy did they look good today.

        Reyes looked comfortable at the plate, hitting a hard ground ball that got through the hole between short and third, and before that, hustling and scoring from first on Melky's third inning double. His base running was phenomenal, something we didn't see a whole lot of last year thanks to Mr. Farrell.

Bautista's super high leg kick.

        Melky had two solid hits, both of them doubles, and even more important than that, he seemed to wait for the pitches he wanted. Other's were chasing pitches, but he was able to wait for his pitch, and drive it...Twice. His defense was also solid, as he made a great throw to hold a runner at second.

         Joey Bats almost hit another home run today, smoking a ball to straight away centre field, before it was run down at around the 390 mark. Those line drives are great to see from him. His eye was also in mid-season form, something we can always count on from Jose.

         Edwin did hit one out of the park today, like really far out of the park. As soon as it hit the bat the entire stadium knew it was gone, and everybody erupted into applause. EE was chasing a bit early on, but was able to stay back on some pitches, which led to his monster shot to left field.

On Josh Johnson....

JJ looked really good today, changing speeds and keeping hitters off balance. There was a moment where he started a hitter of with a 92 MPH fastball(likely a bit more because of the radar guns), then dropped a 75 MPH curve on him(which he is said to be working on), and then followed that up with some more heat. The hitter was absolutely fooled, and if JJ can keep on changing speeds and locations like he did today, he is going to end up being the best pitcher on this staff by years end. He was awesome today.

On Sean Nolin and John Stilson...

Nolin about to release one of his many
impressive pitches on the day.

Nolin was the guy who impressed me the most today, even though his stat line doesn't show it. He was painting corners with ease, and aside from a few mistakes which will happen in spring training, he looked great, It's no wonder AA loves him so much. I wouldn't be surprised if he hopped right over J.A Happ on the depth chart by the All-Star break. He's got great stuff. Mid-rotation guy for sure.

Stilson looked good, not great, just good. He had semi-good command of his stuff, but that lack of a true third pitch is going to put him in the bullpen in the near future. Could make for a great late inning guy. He definitely has the confidence and cockiness for a big leaguer :)

On Mark DeRosa...
Okay. I know I sort of love DeRosa because I predicted his signing and all, but once again today, he hit lefties, without his bones breaking. Gibbons will take notice to this. He'll end up being Lind's platoon partner if he doesn't get injured. He has always been a good lefty hitter, and it'll be nice for him to make a solid contribution to this team.

And some more pictures...

Former Jay Lyle Overbay in the Boston on-deck circle.

Reyes stretching before the game.

Lawrie about to swing and miss.

I hope you enjoyed. Probably won't be posting again tomorrow night, but I'll try.

You can follow me on twitter, @gideonturk. To connect with the site, Follow us on Twitter, and Like us on Facebook.

Will Josh Johnson become Toronto's new “King”?

 I would like to start by saying Hello to everyone. My name is Jordan Hostick and this is my first article that I'm posting for Blue Jays Plus. You can Follow me on twitter @Jordanhostick16 and I hope that everyone enjoys my articles.

      So as most of you know during the off-season this year the Blue Jays made some major shakeups to their roster including acquiring Mark Buehrle, Jose Reyes, Emilio Bonifacio and finally Josh Johnson in a trade with the Miami Marlins. The reason why I mention Josh Johnson's name last is because he's my main focus for this piece as he could become a Free-Agent at the end of this season. Last week, Felix Hernandez signed a massive 7 year, 175 Million dollar extension with the Seattle Mariners. Which brings me to my question - With this new mega-deal between Felix Hernandez and the Mariners, what does it mean for contract talks with Johnson during or after this season?

      Over the past couple of years Alex Anthopolous has been the kind of General Manager to, if he wants to retain someone for the future, he signs them during the season rather than after. Just look at what he did with Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Ricky Romero during the past 2 years. The 5 year, $65 Million contract to Bautista still being the biggest contract that Anthopolous has handed out. While Anthopolous has re-signed them during the season(Bautista was right before spring training) rather than waiting around until after the season where they could just get up and say that they are going to test free agency, it is still unknown whether or not a contract will be in the works for Johnson. While I can see Anthopolous working out a new contract with Johnson, I don't believe that he is worth the kind of money that Felix is going to be making. Not to take a shot at him because I have not seen him pitch yet in a Blue Jays uniform, but other than last year he has had somewhat of a career riddled with injuries. His Fastball Velocity has also dropped from 94.9 MPH in 2010 to 92.8 MPH last year as reported by Fangraphs.com.

      While there were these issues and they came with him when the Blue Jays acquired Johnson back in November, he is still poised to do pretty well for himself in his next contract whether it be in a contract extension with the Blue Jays or whether he does decide to test free agency next fall. If he were to test free agency he could potentially have quite a bit of competition on the market with the likes of Tim Lincecum, Matt Garza, Gavin Floyd,and former Blue Jay Roy Halladay possibly becoming free agents following the upcoming season.

      All in all I believe that we will be seeing Johnson in a Blue Jays uniform for quite a few years to come but the only concern is the money, I believe that he will end up getting a Ricky Romero type of contract where he makes around $30 - $40 million over the next five years. The question is, if he does end up having an amazing year for the Jays next season do you take a gamble and give him a Cliff Lee type contract where he makes $120 – $130 million over 5-7 years? With that I want to know what your opinion on what kind of contract Johnson deserves. Whether he will sign during the season for a Ricky Romero type contract or if he waits until the off-season, would the Jays would give him a Cliff Lee type contract if he does well?

Trade Reaction:AA is Still Awesome

The big 3 that the Jays acquired yesterday, from
right to left:JJ,Reyes, and Buehrle

In case you were having doubts, Alex Anthopolous is still a top 5 GM in the MLB. You all know by now, but if you don't, the Jays and Marlins made a trade that is bigger than the one that brought Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar to Toronto in 1990.It was:

To Toronto:
Josh Johnson
Mark Buehrle
Jose Reyes
John Buck
Emilio Bonifacio
$8.5 Million

To Miami:
Henderson Alvarez
Yunel Escobar
Adeiny Hechavarria
Justin Nicolino
Jake Marisnick
Anthony Desclafini
Jeff Mathis

Yup. If not for Jeffrey Loria being a cheap skate(see this article written by our own Ewan Ross in July for more details), this trade would not have been done. But, because Loria ruined baseball in Montreal, and scammed the city of Miami out of $500 million, the Jays got lucky! So...On to some trade analysis? Why not?

Josh Johnson- JJ has long been coveted by Blue Jays fans. I can remember having countless conversations on twitter last off-season and in July about acquiring JJ from the Marlins, and it really just seemed like a forgone conclusion that it was going to happen. The Jays and Marlins matched up so well  as trade partners, and Johnson fits in perfectly with this team. In just 9 starts in 2011, he had a WAR of 2.8, so you can see how good he is. After missing most of 2011 due to injuries, he came back in 2012, and was pretty good. He pitched to a 3.40 FIP, and his velocity was basically the same on all of his pitches as it was pre-surgery, so there isn't such a big reason to be concerned about his health. He also pitched over 190 innings, so he seems to be durable once again. Josh is only under contract for 2013, so an extension seems to be something AA would like to get done. It is going to be fun watching this 2-time all-star pitch, whether that is Opening day, or game #2, we will get to witness a great pitcher, one who was considered one of the 7 or 8 aces in the MLB before having surgery.

Mark Buehrle- Workhorse. That is what Buehrle is, and that is what he hopefully will remain. Mark has pitched over 200 innings every year since 2001, and has only posted a WAR less than 2 once since then. He provides the Jays with something they haven't had in a while, and will look great in that number 3 spot for Toronto. His contract is pretty bad because he was a FA, and you always over pay in free agency, but, that doesn't seem to be a problem anymore with this new less cheap version of Rogers.

Add those famous dreads, and Reyes will look
awesome wearing the blue and white!

Jose Reyes- Remember Shannon Stewart(not the 2008 version). He is the last true lead off hitter the Jays have had. Jose Reyes, is, now, a true lead off hitter. When he is healthy, Reyes is the best offensive shortstop in the game(because Tulo is never healthy). We saw that in 2011, and we've seen that many times before. He is going to get on base a lot(.342 career), and will steal close to 40 bases yearly. The only problem with Reyes is that he tears his hamstring when signing an autograph(exaggeration), and playing on the turf at the Skydome will not help him at all! Hopefully the Beest can fulfill his impossible goal of putting grass in the dome. His contract is also pretty bad, but he's amazing, so you can't complain. Reyes batting first is going to be a sight to see. When Jose Bautista hits a home run driving in Jose Reyes, the Jose-Jose-Jose-Jose chants will be deafening in Toronto. That alone will make his contract worth it.

John Buck- There is no question that Buck was the "thrown in" in this deal, but he might be turn out to be a lot more significant than just a throw in. The re-acquisition of Buck allows AA to trade one of JP Arencibia,Travis d'Arnaud, or Buck himself. AA can get another starter, which could be very useful because right now the Jays have no depth in their rotation, or can trade on of them(package with a reliever most likely) for a left fielder. A trade of JPA and Casey Janssen to Texas for David Murphy seems fair, and Murphy would be a perfect fit.

Emilio Bonafacio- Where will Emilio play? That's the big question right now as he can play second base, and the outfield. I'd slot the speedy Bonafacio in the 2 spot in the lineup, playing left field. I personally think with our offense, we can live with Maicer Izturis playing everyday, and trading JPA for a pitcher would bring us more value than a left fielder might. Bonafacio provides a switch hitting hitter who will steal 50+ bases if he plays everyday. Runs won't be hard to come by in 2013 for the Jays, but with 1 injury to the staff, the team could lose its pitching.

There is undoubtedly a lot of risk in this trade. This trade could make the Blue Jays a dynasty, or cripple them for years to come because of the amount of questionable salary taken on. This is the biggest trade in franchise history, but, don't be worried. The odds of this trade not working out for us are much lower than the odds that it succeeds.

Be happy. Enjoy the fact that AA just stole 4 all-stars from the Marlins for a few prospects who are nothing more than prospects, and a few major leaguers who have a lot of question marks. You could worry that this might fail miserably in February, but for now, enjoy!

What do you think about this franchise changing trade? Let us know in the comments section below!


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