(Source: Yardbarker.com)

If the Jays headed into Monday’s game against Houston looking at their starters and wondering who was going to be the ace, as well as who might fit into the 5th starter role, they got some pretty decent answers during the game. The Astros couldn’t muster much against the 4 Jays pitchers who threw in the game, and it all began with a gem of a performance by Ricky Romero. His stuff was consistent, was down in the zone, and it was downright filthy. Romero was quoted after the game as saying “It felt good to get through three innings and I’m a groundball machine all of a sudden.” The credit for the fact that he got 7 groundouts during the game and no pop outs can go directly to an awesome sinker that refused to allow hitters to get underneath it. He apparently took on Doc’s off season work regimen and is getting the payoff now. Hopefully he can pass on the same to Chad Jenkins and Kyle Drabek in order to continue the Doc legacy. If this start is any indication to how well Ricky will do this season, Jays fans are in for a treat.Ex-pitching coach Brad Arnsberg said of Romero “It’s a god-blessed arm and a tremendous work ethic and just a tremendous kid.” It bodes well for our search for a #1 starter for 2010. Take the reins Ricky, they’re all yours!

As for the #5 role, I have to say that thus far I am very impressed with Dana Eveland, who has done nothing but throw strikes. He also threw3 innings yesterday and actually outperformed Ricky in terms of hits allowed, allowing only 1 and strike out 2 while not allowing any walks. In my opinion, should Eveland continue to roll as he has, there’s no way that the Jays can slot Brian Tallet in ahead of him. I’m not sure when the Jays will need their 5th starter for the first time, but Eveland certainly could solidify the rotation with performances like this.

The only walk allowed in the game was by given up by rookie Chad Jenkins, who also allowed Houston’s only run over his 2 innings. He is also impressing this spring and has shown poise and polish beyond his years and experience, but will definitely begin the year in the lower end of the minors. From what I’ve seen so far, it’s likely that he could reach AA by the end of 2010 and make the Jays at some point in 2011. He’s that talented.

Zach Stewart finished the game off with good inning, allowing 1 hit, no walks, and striking out one. The interesting part where Stewart is concerned is that the Jays haven’t stretched him out at all. He pitched 1 inning twice, indicating that they may either way for his to stretch out in AAA, or that they are in fact going to keep him in the pen. With the number of starters competing for rotation spot, which could push guys like Brett Cecil down to AAA, I don’t blame them one bit. Stewart has the ability to become a closer if they keep him in the pen, and with the Cubs apparently knocking on the door for Jason Frasor’s services, he could be required in the Jays pen very soon. We’ll see if they do give him some 2 inning blocks soon, if not, this could be one reliever to watch!

The Jays made it 5 in a row, and although when you take a peak at the scoreboard you wonder where all of the offense went, you have to look at the fact that the Jays got 14 hits to know that the offense continued their hot streak. Lyle Overbay, Brian Dopirak, John McDonald, and Jorge Padilla all got 2 hits a piece and JP Arencibia continued t show his awesome power with his 3rd HR of the spring. I still say he’s extremely under rated at this point and will definitely have an impact for the Jays in 2010. I own him in all of my fantasy leagues for exactly this reason. He has 20+ HR potential as a rookie, who knows how much thereafter. John Buck should definitely be looking over his shoulder, as he’ll need to hit in order to keep the Jays from calling JP up, especially if Shaun Marcum likes to throw as much as he does to Jose Molina, which could make Buck expendable before the deadline. Whatever the case, the Jays made it 59 hits in their last 4 games and are definitely on a roll.

The Jays have the day off on Tuesday. If you’re like me, you’ll be glued to the Washington vs Detroit game in order to watch Stephen Strasburg pitch. The Jays take on the Phillies for the second time this spring on Wednesday.

Quick Jays hits:

• Ex-Jay Alex Rios hit his first HR of the spring. Kenny Williams, the White Sox GM, said recently that he doesn’t think Rios will hit a ton of HRs, but that he does believe he can steal 30+ bases. I hope so Kenny, because you’re paying through the nose for those 30+ SBs. Enjoy!
• The Cubs looking into Jason Frasor bodes well for a trade, but it’s unknown what Jason’s value is or what the expected returns are from the Jays brass. Alex Anthopolous has completed more complicated deals than this, which makes me think a deal can get done. My personal feeling is that the Jays want to expand the deal in order to acquire Starlin Castro, while the Cubs are saying no way. The Jays may be able to nab Hak-Ju Lee in my opinion and may be just as well off for it. He’s 6-2, 170 lbs, hit .330 in Boise with 2 HRs and 25 SBs in 2009. He has big upside and could be ready by 2012.

There are still 26 days left before opening day and lots can happen before then. But the more I see the Jays play, the more I like what I see for 2010.

Ricky Romero takes to the mound this afternoon against Houston and will try to make it 5 wins in a row for the Jays. The team has come out of the gates strong and as anyone who plays sports will tell you, winning is always fun, even if it is spring training. The important points from yesterday’s 8-5 win over the Tigers are as follows:

• Vernon Wells continued his strong start with his first HR of the spring, and is now hitting .600 after 5 games;
• Jose Bautista has done better, hitting .636 from his new home at the top of the lineup, and went 1 for 3 with his 2nd HR of the spring coming off Jeremy Bonderman to lead off the game;
• Randy Ruiz created some seperation between him and Brian Dopirak by crushing a grand slam off of Bonderman and is now hitting .615 on the spring;
• Reserve OF candidates Chris Lubanski and Jeremy Reed doubled and Mike McCoy went 1 for 1 but was caught stealing by Rabelo;
• The Jays managed 13 hits on the day, which gives them a total of 45 hits over the last 3 games. Talk about starting out with the hot bats!
• Brian Tallet, who could be the leading candidate for the 5th spot in the rotation according to this Jordan Bastien piece, struggled during his 2 innings of work. He allowed 4 ER through 4 hits and 2 walks. He still got the win however, and the pen candidates really shut the door behind him, allowing only 1 ER over 7 innings with only 5 hits allowed and no walks. The pen does look great so far!
• If Travis Snider continues to slump at the bottom of the lineup, I have a feeling he’ll be heading to Las Vegas. I’m not sure why he’s struggling so much, but with Jeremy Reed and Chris Lubanski lurking for his spot and with Snider still having options, he needs to get the bat going if he wants to keep his job. Besides, Randy Ruiz is proving all of the power the Jays wanted out of Snider, so if they play Adam Lind in LF they can fit Ruiz in at DH, which gives them a more potent lineup for 2010. Obviously, having an effective Snider is much more important, but he needs to learn to hit to his abilities first. I didn’t think this could or would happen before the spring started, but it’s definitely looking more likely now.

For those who are interested in watching hyped up players and seeing if they are as good as the hype, are you ever in for a treat over the next 2 days! First, we get to watch Aroldis Chapman take to the mound versus Kansas City in the late afternoon today. He will be followed by Stephen Strasburg, who is scheduled to take to the mound Tuesday against Detroit. Both pitchers are worth the look and should be fun to watch when they arrive in 2010, whether it happens at the beginning or middle of the season. It’s pretty rare that the league has two pitchers of this caliber making their starts. Let’s just say I’m glad they’re in the NL and that the Jays won’t have to face them for years to come!

Injuries are starting to pile up league wide which could get the ball rolling for trades. Angel Guzman, a RP with the Cubs they were counting on to set Carlos Marmol up, has gone down this spring and heightens the chances of a deal between them and the Jays. They’ve been interested in Jason Frasor for quite a while. Another team may be on the lookout for a RP however, as Joe Nathan has just been taken to get an MRI on his elbow. Minnesota has some internal options to take a spot in their pen, such as Anthony Slama who has dominated in the minor leagues or Rob Delaney, nut they could be on the lookout for more established and experienced names. When you consider the money they’ve spent to be competitive this season, from just $65 million in 2009 to over $93 million in 2010, you know they’re serious about winning and will deal if they have to in order to plug some early holes. It may be that Nathan will be fine, but Alex may have another trade partner here.

Other players who have gone down to injury across the league include C Russell Martin (to be replaced internally by AJ Hill and Brad Ausmus), and 3B Alex Gordon in Kansas City (to be replaced by Alberto Callaspo).

I don’t care if it’s spring training, or if the majority of the players are lackadaisical about their play, these guys are competitors and none of them like to get shown up at any time. However, this is exactly what the young Jays have done to the Phillies and Yankees, the last 2 championship teams, in the last 2 days. Yesterday’s game was especially impressive, since the Jays pitchers (Shaun Marcum, Zech Zinicola, Melkin Valdez, and Steven Register) 3 hit the tough Yankee lineup until the 6th inning, and only allowed 6 hits overall.  Shaun Marcum’s outing is reassuring and he showed great poise on the mound. The lone harsh point for the Jays pitchers was when Zechry Zinicola beaned Francisco Cervelli in the head.

Cervelli left under his own power, but is definitely concussed for the second time in two years. He got a bat to the head in 2009. I heard a story on Home Plate XM Radio that had CC Sabathia offer to pay the entire bonus to Francisco Cervelli (over 365,000 each) because some of the players had issues with giving him a full world series bonus portion. For those who don’t know, the world series winning team gets to decide who gets a portion (players, managers, trainers, ect..) and Yanks Go Yard have the information about this year’s cut here. You have to be pretty greedy to want to leave a player’s name off the list when you’re making millions and you know how much this money can mean to younger and utility players. For some, it more than doubles your salary. I am now officially a much bigger CC fan than I already was. Good for him, and I hope it taught the younger NYY guys a lesson in ethics. Anyway, all that to say that I’m glad Cervelli got the money he did because he may need it if he keeps being concussed. Many great careers have been shattered by concussions, still, I hope he feels good by the end of the week and keeps playing (even if he does play for the evil empire, lol).

Jordan Bastien has the full reaction to Cervelli’s beaning by Zinicola here.  Quick fact added in that post by Bastien before game highlights: Molina was AJ Burnett’s favorite target and the only catcher he would through to in ‘09.  Well, he certainly got Shaun Marcum’s vote,  since he felt great about Jose Molina’s catching skills and mentioned how great he will be with the young staff. Molina himself made a great stride towards staying on with the Jays (although you have to believe that if Marcum endorses you to stay, you’re pretty well staying), by adding:

“I can’t wait to catch all of them. I hope I can do that. The guys I’ve already caught, they’ve been awesome. They have good arms and they want to learn. They come up to me a lot and ask different questions and I’m really happy to answer them.”

What great and encouraging news on all fronts. Any time players communicate well and trust opinions as this indicates, it makes everything cohesive and gets the game flowing the right way. Great stuff. I was vocal about not needing another defensive catcher with Raul Chavez onboard, but the more I read up on Molina, the more I like his presence on the Jays. I should have known there was a reason to the move made by Alex “The Great” Anthopolous. lol. If JP Arencibia keeps swinging a hot bat this spring and gets off to a hot start in AAA, could Alex decide to deal John Buck who is on a 1 year deal and keep Molina instead? He’d surely make a great teacher for JP. Just a thought.

As for the hitters, well, they’re all fired. Why? Because they’re all using up their hits in spring training!! lol. They look outstanding top-to-bottom thus far. AJ Burnett was definitely not on his game, but even if this equals a hard batting practice, it definitely boosted the confidence of the Jays hitters who got a whopping 18 hits off Yankees pitchers. Here are the highlights:

• Adam Lind smoked his first off Albaladejo;
• JP Arencibia hit his 2nd HR in 2 days, this one off Brackman;
• My man Mike McCoy got a hit and a walk in his 2 ABs, but did have an error as well;
• Jose Bautista is proving he really wants the job at the top of the lineup. He got 2 more hits in his three ABs including a double (his 3rd of the spring) off of AJ Burnett;
• Vernon Wells, who notoriously starts slowly, went 3 for 3 and is showing that his health may be the real issue behind his ‘09 slump. Let’s hope so, because the Jays could be harder to beat with a strong VW;
• Young Travis Snider got a double, which should help relieve his slow start, although he’s still not seeing any time above the #7 spot in the lineup….yet;
• The entire lineup looked strong overall and no decisions have been made clearer for Cito Gaston and Jays management yet. Of course it’s too early to talk about that, but by this time next week the Jays should be sending some of the younger guys down to allow for more playing time for the veterans, so it shouldn’t be too long before we start to see what Cito has in mind for the lineup overall.

The highlight of the game, for me, was seeing Shaun Marcum pitch so strong through that Yankees lineup. Sure, Texeira was missing, but he went through Jeter, Granderson, Posada, ARod, Winn, and Gardner during this start and only allowed 1 walk while striking 2 out. That is extremely encouraging for a guy coming back from surgery and will go a long way to getting him confident on the mound.

So far we have: Ricky Romero strong start against the Tigers….check! Marc Rzepczynski strong start against the Tigers….check! Brandon Morrow strong start against the Phillies…..check! Shaun Marcum strong start…..check! If we can find the right #5 guy to support this front 4, someone like a healthy Dustin McGowan, Brian Tallet, or Dana Eveland, this staff could go a long way in 2010. We’ll have to see how they do as they stretch out, but for all of the analysts who call the doom and gloom of the Jays, I’d say – think again. This rotation is young, deep, and unquestionably hungry to show it has the skills to compete. I just feel sorry for the weaker teams of the AL and the NL teams in inter-league play, because the AL East is going to eat you all alive this season, mark my words! Add to that a very strong West and the top of the Central looking strong as well, and it’s a very interesting year indeed. Even if it is just Spring Training, the Jays are already turning heads and are showing their teeth to the big money clubs. It’s not going to be that easy to beat us boys, you’re going to have to earn it, and that’s the best the Jays fans can hope for this season: a gritty and fight-filled team that comes to play every day. I like it.

Here are some news and notes on Jays happenings:

• We know the Jays have done some due diligence on Cuban SS Adeiny Hechevarria, and now they are free to bid on him as he has been “unblocked” by the Office of Foreign Controlled Assets. There won’t be any more tryouts, apparently, and it is now time to “show him the money.” If the Jays don’t land this guy I’ll be very surprised.
• Apparently the other Cuban Jose Julio Ruiz, a 1B, wasn’t happy with the offers he was getting and wanted to re-create his market. So, he got himself a new agent and will likely need to showcase once more. The Jays have also done their due diligence on this player, but he doesn’t seem to “fit” as well as Adeiny into the Jays plans.
• Scott Richmond won’t be vying for a rotation spot until mid-May or June after going on the 60-day DL with a shoulder impingement. Yet another good reason for the Jays to add competition to the SP depth and it could allow them to start Dustin McGowan if he shows well this spring.
• There’s a ton of stuff to be happy about in Jays camp thus far. Brandon Morrow and Marc Rzepczynski both looked awesome in their first outings, Jose Bautista killed the Phils last night with 1HR and 2 doubles, and the Jays managed 14 runs that game.
• Speaking of Rzepczynski, Cito Gaston has stated that he’ll be in the rotation so long as he’s healthy and doesn’t implode between now and the beginning of the season. That makes 3 certain spots, along with Shaun Marcum and Ricky Romero. I’m about 80% certain Brandon Morrow will also make the rotation, making everyone else fight for one spot.
• Nice JP Arencibia article here from Jordan Bastien, well worth the read.

That’s all for this morning folks!

Well, it’s looking more and more like the Jays have already proven some of the thoughts I’ve posted here before. From using Mike McCoy in the leadoff spot to JP Arencibia having an outstanding year and Rzepczynski stepping up as a possible ace, the Jays are right along my line of thinking, which can be good or bad! The important part, however, is that these simple 3 items could go a long way to making the Jays competitive in 2010 as they would resolve the 2 biggest weaknesses of the lineup: speed at the top of the lineup, and power at the bottom.

McCoy got a hit, a walk, and a run in 3 ABs, while Arencibia smoked a shot for 2 RBIs and hit a sacrifice fly in one of his 3 ABs. Rzepczynski got through 2 solid innings, facing 7 hitters, allowing 1 walk, 1 hit, striking out 1. Drabek and R.Gonzalez followed him up with 2 rough innings each, but interestingly, Zach Jackson came through with 4 Ks during his 2 innings of work, allowing 1 ER due to one HR given up, but looking very solid in his first outing. The worst performance of the day went to Jarrett Hoffpauir, who may be putting too much pressure on his spring performance, since he missed a catch for his second error in 2 days and also was caught stealing. On the plus side for him, he was able to get a hit and a walk on the day.

Overall, the Jays offence was firing on all cylinders with 15 hits. Let’s hope that’s a sign of things to come and not just some spring training work!