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.

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Jays sign DeRosa, Make me look Good...

The best feeling in the world is being right. AA fulfilled my wish/prediction of signing Mark DeRosa to be the 25th man on this 2013 team by agreeing to a 1 year MLB contract worth $750K, with an Anthoption for 2014 at the same value. Sam Dyson was DFA'd to make room for DeRosa on the 40-man. My words on DeRosa from January 10th...

Lastly, Mark DeRosa. He is the best of the 2(in my opinion). At 37, he is getting up in there in years, and has stated that he isn't certain what his future holds for him(although he has also stated he'd prefer to re-sign with the Nats). Throughout his career he has been on base against lefties over 36% of the time, and, in 2012, that number was close to 33%, not so bad for a bench player. He can do everything a utility infielder needs to do, and, once John Gibbons gets fed up with Adam Lind's inability to hit a southpaw, he can be a nice platoon partner with him. He can play basically every position on the diamond(nobody said he can do it well), so defense isn't much of a problem with him either. I like him.
After starting with 15 possible names, I've narrowed it down to 2 players who are a fit for the Blue Jays' 25th roster spot(of course, there are minor league free agents and players signed to teams that I didnt look at). AA said what he wanted, and after that whole process, Mark DeRosa makes the most sense as the utility infielder/platoon partner for Adam Lind in my opinion. 

Basically, Mark DeRosa will play very few games in 2013.He's the 25th man  for a reason. he is a good bat to platoon with Lind if needed, and, theoretically, Gibbons can even play Melky Cabrera in center versus lefties, with DeRosa playing left. This would allow Colby Rasmus to avoid lefties, something he needs to do almost as much as Adam Lind does.

Honestly, for the 25th man, he's great. If he truly is a great "clubhouse guy", who cares how he hits? I know I don't, and I'd gladly pay to see him against lefties rather than Lind or Rasmus. Marginal victories are worth a lot, and DeRosa might just be the guy who gets us some.

The Jays are going to play meaningful games in September, do you actually care if the 25th roster spot is occupied by Mark DeRosa? The answer should be no.

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Interpreting the Ninja: 25th Man Style

Alex has many nicknames...

The Jays are contenders. The Jays have 24 men on their roster(projected). The Jays need a 25th man.

After the R.A Dickey press conference on Tuesday, Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos spoke to the media about some team related things, and one of them, was the state of the 25th man on the roster. I'll let MLBTR do the quoting.

The Blue Jays are looking at ways of adding a right-handed bench player capable of playing multiple infield positions. That said, they’re considering leaving the spot open because players will inevitably become available toward the end of Spring Training when teams need roster space and out of options players get traded.

So, I decided I'll look into the remaining "right handed bench players capable of playing multiple positions" on the free agent market. Using the MLBTR database, I came up with 15 infielders (not catchers) left on the market. Then, I took away the player likely to retire(Scott Rolen), and all first baseman who don't play other infield positions(Carlos Lee, and Juan Rivera). The list is now down to 12. To narrow it down even more, lets take away all infielders who only play one position(infield position). This eliminates another 4 candidates (Jason Bartlett, Alex Gonzalez, Freddy Sanchez, and Bill Hall), bringing our total down to 8. 

The remaining candidates that fit AA's criteria are Ronny Cedeno, Alberto Gonzalez, Yuniesky Betancourt, Ryan Theriot, Ryan Raburn, Brandon Inge, Mark DeRosa, and Miguel Cairo. The problem with some of those free agents is that they will cost money, money that the Jays don't have apparently. AA has stressed that they are past their budget, and signing a FA to a major league contract isn't likely to happen. So, we can also eliminate players who are likely going to receive a major league contract. Out of those 8, I could only say that I'm confident that Brandon Inge will get a major league contract, which I'm not even certain will happen because of his terrible 2012 that was filled with injuries, and not performance. So, let's just remain at 8. Now, lets analyze the remaining players, and see which could be fits for the Jays.

AA wants a right hander for the simple reason that they usually can hit lefties, something that Adam Lind struggles mightily at. So, lets get rid of Ronny Cedeno, Alberto Gonzalez, Yuniesky Betancourt, Brandon Inge and Ryan Raburn because they possess the same talent (or lack their of) as Lind. That leaves us with 3 players: Theriot, Cairo and DeRosa. Cairo is 38 and had a horrible year last season, so lets knock him away as well. Down to 2.

Ryan Theriot is a 33 year old second baseman from Louisiana that also plays shortstop and could roam left field if needed. He spent 2012 with the Giants putting up decent numbers offensively,and his defensive numbers were way off his career average, so there might be some reason to worry that his defensive is falling from how it used to be(league average). His speed is nothing special, although he would be a nice 2nd pinch runner off the bench behind Rajai Davis. Definitely a good option for the final spot.

Is DeRosa the best fit as 25th man?

Lastly, Mark DeRosa. He is the best of the 2(in my opinion). At 37, he is getting up in there in years, and has stated that he isn't certain what his future holds for him(although he has also stated he'd prefer to re-sign with the Nats). Throughout his career he has been on base against lefties over 36% of the time, and, in 2012, that number was close to 33%, not so bad for a bench player. He can do everything a utility infielder needs to do, and, once John Gibbons gets fed up with Adam Lind's inability to hit a southpaw, he can be a nice platoon partner with him. He can play basically every position on the diamond(nobody said he can do it well), so defense isn't much of a problem with him either. I like him.

After starting with 15 possible names, I've narrowed it down to 2 players who are a fit for the Blue Jays' 25th roster spot(of course, there are minor league free agents and players signed to teams that I didnt look at). AA said what he wanted, and after that whole process, Mark DeRosa makes the most sense as the utility infielder/platoon partner for Adam Lind in my opinion. He would likely only require a minor league deal(although it will likely have to be incentive laden), and fits the exact criteria laid down by the Ninja himself.

Have a different name in mind? Let me know your opinions below in the comments section!

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