Quick Jays Quirps: 1-Mar-10

Well, here we are in March, just having watched the closing of the Olympic games in Vancouver and Canada’s gutsy win over the U.S., and all certainly anxious to finally get some game action going – even if it is pre-season caliber stuff. You can see the first game countdown on the Jays site, and it’s listed as just over 2 days.  Here are some things that are going on in the Jays world:

• John Buck, who caught Zach Greinke last season, says he’s anxious to help mold our young pitchers. If it has nearly the same effect on them as it did on Zach – by all means, have at it! Cito’s quote “That’s one reason we got Buck,”  Cito said, “We heard he’s great with young pitchers.”
• Chad Jenkins looks very impressive so far and is getting rave reviews about his control and makeup. Hopefully he’ll be ready to make an impact in 2011.
• The more he throws without pain, the better for Dustin McGowan who threw to hitters for the first time since undergoing surgery and admitted to being a little nervous and refused to throw inside (making the hitters a lot more comfortable in the process I’m sure). It’s looking more and more like the Jays will be forced to start him in the pen or on the DL to avoid having to make him pitch too many innings early and to make sure they don’t lose him in the waiver process since he has no options remaining.
• MLBastien confirms what we’ve been hearing all week, the weather in Florida has just been awful, as it usually is this time of year. It’s not the warmest place to be in February – hence why others move to Arizona, for warmer weather and less rain!
• The Tao of Stieb gives us a lot of thoughts, which I entirely agree with, and adds a funny bit about watching Kevin Youkilis workout.
• Found an October post on Baseball America’s site (with free access) about some changes the Jays made to the scouting department in early October. It helps clear up a bit of who was let go and adds some information around the “non-signed” draft picks.

That’s about it for now! Hopefully once the games get going we’ll have more ammunition for Jays fans to savor, and I’m still waiting with two Cuban cigars in hand for the Jays to land the big 1B and SS prospects they’re targeting!