Questions from the Farm

My grandfather was a farmer.  Deep down I think he wasn’t that impressed in my lack of interest in the subject or my squeamishness towards animals in general.  He did love baseball though, an Expos fan if memory serves, so we were able to connect on that level.  My current obsession with the Jays farm system may, on some level, be a metaphor for the farming I didn’t care for as a child.  Or, I’m just an idiot, who is looking to create more work for himself by writing about seven teams rather than just the one.

These questions will focus on the baseball side of things, not how long do horses go before being re-shod, etc.  With a days worth of minor league games under our belt and day two getting under way, I already have questions.  This is going to be a long season:

What’s coming? (image courtesy of mlbprospectportal.com)

1) Dunedin, when is Aaron Sanchez going to get a start?  Hey, I love Jesse Hernandez as much as any other C’s fan, given his dominating start in the 2011 Northwest League clinching game three against Tri-City, but I’ve read enough expert opinions to know that he is probably a non-prospect right now.  And with Scott Copeland, a twenty-five year old minor league free agent, going tonight, it begs the question.  When do we get to see the the system’s number one prospect in action??!  I really hope he is not injured.

2) In Lansing, who will be piggy-backing with who?  Javier Avendano threw five excellent innings last night, and given he had a 108 innings pitched last year, it is reasonable to assume five will be his minimum if all goes well.  I wrote about who may piggy back with who back in December.  I predicted that Roberto Osuna or Daniel Norris may get the shorter side in an unequal split with Avendano.  Norris did relieve him last night, but only lasted an inning after getting lit up.  I am going to assume (always a mistake) that Norris was scheduled to go longer.  With Taylor Cole set to start tonight, will it be the same structure?  Cole going five before Osuna or maybe Alonzo Gonzales relieves?  Or, the ‘pen mops up today and Osuna/Gonzales are their own PB’ing tandem.  Then who gets starts four and five?  Tucker Donahue and Ben White??  Uh oh.

3) Anthony Gose in the two hole?  With Jose Reyes seemingly locked into the leadoff spot with the big team for the forseeable, is this the organization trying to find the right fit for Anthony?  With two different leadoff hitters for Buffalo in two games it’s not like they are playing someone there over Gose.

Anyone else have any questions through the first couple of days?  Whack em in the comments section and we’ll discuss when I put my feet up for the Jays dismantling of Farrel’s Sox.