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Blue Jays Podcast (VIDEO): One Week to Go!

By Shaun Doyle

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This week’s episode of Jays’ Nest featured a look at all of the stories that have come out of Blue Jays Spring Training and how the roster is shaping up for the 2015 season, which starts in a week. some of the topics we covered included the bullpen issues, roster moves, positional battles and the starting rotation.

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Firstly, we looked at the idea of limiting pitchers to pitch counts. More specifically, we talked about the Blue Jays shifting their focus away from specific limitations for young pitchers. the perfect example of this is Drew Hutchison.

Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto Blue Jays /

Toronto Blue Jays

2014 being his first full season after having

Tommy John

surgery, the club obviously wanted to closely monitor his progress. However, rather than stick to a strict percentage based increase, they chose to take a more individualized approach. This will be their method moving forward. Eric Elliott does a nice job of outlining this philosophical change

HERE

.

We moved on to discuss the bullpen and how it looks much different now than it did just days prior to Steve Delabar being optioned and Kyle Drabek being claimed on waivers. At the end of the day, we get the sense that the 2015 Toronto Blue Jays are going to be a bit more bold in their attempt to win the division. It feels like gone are the days of sticking with a player in the hopes they’ll figure it out. Instead, we get the sense that this version of the team is willing to risk losing players like Drabek to put their best team on the field.

As such, we wondered how the starting rotation will look in the opening series in New York and which combinations would work best. We debated a few scenarios that would give them the best chances of winning right out of the gate.

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How the rotation is set up will be very important as the Blue Jays work their way through the first month of the season as they face division rivals 19 out of 23 games.

Our discussion also may have broached the subject (and rumor) of GM, Alex Anthopoulos scouting Phillies closer, Jonathan Papelbon. This turned into quite the debate amongst our panel. On the one hand, we have concerns about his intense personality. We have even more concerns with the cost of obtaining him. Whether it is giving up prospects or taking on the remaining huge financial commitment, the Blue Jays will have to pay up big time to obtain Papelbon. However, if this team is serious about winning now, they could make a splash and bring in the 35-40 saves that Papelbon will bring. We wondered if it were smarter to do so now as opposed to the trade deadline.

There was so much more in our discussion including the bench we would bring north and the options for playing first base. As well, listeners will actually learn something from our discussion. On Sunday, I tweeted something that struck me as…just awesome.

With catcher, Russell Martin calling Hutchison a “supple leopard”, Michael Wray went looking to find out what it means. Initially, it sounds just like an odd sort of compliment. Upon investigation, Wray found that there may be more behind it. Turns out there is a New York Times Bestseller entitled “Becoming a Supple Leopard” which is a book dedicated to preventing injuries and getting the most out of your athletic performance. Hmmm……

Anyway, we hope you enjoy this episode of Jays’ Nest. Feel free to leave your comments below. Stay Tuned next week for our 2015 Opening Day episode!

AUDIO:


Jays’ Nest- Jays Journal- Podcast about Toronto Blue Jays – Jays’ Nest #12- One Week ’til Opening Day

VIDEO: