Meet the new guy

DAVID COOPER/TORONTO STAR

Clubhouse chemistry? Looking good so far.

Montreal roots everywhere

Heading south on I-75 to visit Red Sox training camp in Fort Myers, this morning, I relaized I needed gas and a coffee. Given the choice of gas stations, seeing that I was going to see the Bosox, I searched out the Citgo station in honour of that humongous sign that can be seen in every TV shot of the Green Monster.

Hey, I figured that for all the years I've been looking at that flashing landmark, I should finally give them $34.33 worth of my business. By the way, when refueling I always try and stop on 33 cents, because that was Larry Walker's uniform number and has become my lucky number as well. Of course, the way my luck's been going, maybe I'll change that.

Hey, it's still hockey season

Dunedin, Fla.

There's no mistaking Matt Stairs as a true Canadian-born major league baseball player.

He's turning 40 on Feb. 27 and when you place him beside one of his more statuesque Blue Jays teammates you might not guess they play on the same team. But Stairs, a native of Fredericton, New Brunswick, certainly brings all the flavour of Canada's greatest sports passion when he arrives in spring training here as he did this morning.

Stairs' hockey team – he's an assistant coach with John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, Maine, during the off-season – advanced to the playoffs after finishing with a 14-5-1 record. It’s the school's first time in the final four.

Blue Jays mail bag

Richard Griffin answers your Blue Jays questions.

Q: Hello Richard,

I was wondering if you think Jeremy Accardo can be a successful set-up man or do you think it takes the added pressure of finishing off a game to get the best out of him?

Rob MacKay, Calgary

A: Actually, I think that Accardo’s best role would be as a setup man, so as soon as B.J. Ryan is healthy enough to go back-to-back games, which won’t be in April, then Accardo should become the primary setup man, with Scott Downs. No, Accardo is not one of those classic guys who needs the adrenaline rush of a save situation. He’s not wired that way and is more of a laid back guy where the situation doesn’t matter. But of Ryan can’t go or has a setback, then, at least, Accardo has a one-year track record of doing the job.

Spring training photos

DAVID COOPER/TORONTO STAR

Breaking news from Blue Jays camp: Dustin McGowan still rocking the chops.

Trip to Boss Heaven for Pettitte hell

The trip across the causeway this morning from the the condo occupied by Team Star in Clearwater was not nearly as exciting as the one going the other way last Monday upon landing in Florida. Today, I was headed for Steinbrenner Field, the little bit of Boss heaven formerly known as Legends Field. A steaming hot cup of gas station coffee and a Granny Smith apple was my breakfast on the go. The windows were rolled down, the traffic was light on Presidents Day (apparently their equivalent of Family Day) and I had Navajo and the Freak Show cranked up on WILD-FM the local hip-hop station. Oh for a pair of Apple Bottom jeans and boots with the fur.

Arrived in the press box to find no seats available to set up shop. But like LaDainian, I don't need much daylight before I make my move. There was a small sliver of countertop in the third row between two Japanese journalists. I kept my feet moving, tucked my laptop under my arm and headed for the open formica. It's not really as much of a victory as it sounds, because ever since the arrival of the first wave of Japanese media with outfielder Hideki Matsui (the earlier Japanese players didn't draw as much interest) the Yankee PR staff has created a third and fourth row for the Asian overflow. The catch is that both these rows are behind the elevated press box seats, meaning you can't see the field. It makes covering Grapefruit League games especially difficult.

At 9:30 a.m. a throng of writers, radio and TV folks headed for the Yankee clubhouse to hang out and talk to each other -- and an occasional Yankee getting dressed for the 10:15 start of workouts. The great thing about the Yankee clubhouse is the veterans have learned to shut out the hubbub and chatter from the media, which today numbered about 40 strong. Compare that to the Jays clubhouse where if there are six media members at once in the clubhouse on a workout day it's a throng. At 10:15, the Yankees PR man strolled through the clubhouse and advised that all media had to vacate the premises for a team meeting. Likely it was to do with advice on how to handle questions from the media horde regarding Pettitte and Roger Clemens. But, it was not a useless exercise in covering spring training. Far from it. There is a lot of information exchanged by media members covering different teams. For instance, I learned that the O's my be even worse than they look on paper. Oh, really? That could be gruesome. Anyway, it was out of the clubhouse to the tunnel with everyone else, with the Pettitte conference still four hours away.

"I don't know why I was standing there," said one veteran New York columnist. "I guess in case Pettitte walked in."

That's actually one of the great realities of being a beat writer for the Yankees. It's so competitive that if you weren't there and he did walk in, you would have hell to pay with your editors. Some good reporters have been burned out by the flames of that competition. In terms of comparison to current reality shows, covering the Yanks would be as exciting as Surreal World while covering the Royals, at the other end of the beat-writing spectrum, would be like Blind Date.

Anyway, no regrets. I always have a good experience coming over the causeway for this annual pre-Grapefruit League pilgrimage. I had scheduled myself to make this trip today, anyway, so when the upcoming Pettitte mea culpa popped up, it just decided my column.

Richard Griffin

I'll take Zaun plus the points

What a day ... and camp hasn't officially started yet. First there was the news of the e-mail Q&A in the Post this morning with Gregg Zaun giving his side of how on earth he ended up in the Mitchell Report. Seems he lost a basketball bet with Jason Grimsley and ended up paying him off with a $500 cheque that he did not take the time to put Grimsley's name on. Zaun say that someone else put Kirk Radomski's name on the Pay To line and a photocopy of it ended up in the Report. Yikes. That's as good an explanation as any for an industry that really doesn't want to dig too deep and likely takes Zaun off of Commissioner Selig's radar screen. At first, this morning, Zaun said he was done with talking about the Mitchell Report and would not do any interviews. Then later in the day he changed his mind and spoke about it. He seems quite discombobulated by the whole thing.

The key Zaun phrase from his Post Q&A was "I have never violated MLB drug policy or failed any drug tests." Vague enough? The key Zaun phrase from his later group de-briefing was "Maybe people come away and think that maybe there’s a possibility this could have happened. That’s the way I remember it happening." At least he broke his silence, but there are still questions and he has now, officially closed that door on any more answers.

Later on in the afternoon, GM J.P. Ricciardi stiffened when he heard about Sal Fasano's version of him signing with the Jays this year only because JP assured him he would be the backup catcher. Now, with Rod Barajas on the scene and Curtis Thigpen and Robinson Diaz at Triple-A, Fasano may be wanting his release. J.P. said he would talk to Fasano one-on-one and straighten it out. It may be the end for Fasano as a Jay, which is probably best for him, anyway.

Guys that showed up today included the Vegas connection of Frank Thomas and Reed Johnson, as well as A.J. Burnett and pitching coach Brad Arnsberg. Ricciardi said that Diaz has had some sort of problems with his papers (that used to be called "visa problems") and will not be here on time. He wasn't sure about Gustavo Chacin's arrival. He may be later if he's behind the wheel. Tomorrow is the first official day of Jays baseball for 2008. What a week it's been. My son Patrick's 15th birthday on Monday, the Clemens train wreck on Wednesday, Valentine's Day on Thursday, the Opening of Camp on Saturday and Family Day on Monday coming. You know, it's funny. I've never been home for Family Day.

Richard Griffin 

Gibbons '08 scrum debut

Happy Valentine's Day. Like a rock star headlining a live show, John Gibbons sauntered into the press room at the Englebert Complex about an hour later than scheduled...which is interesting since he really had nothing to do today and never was in uniform. But one guesses that his thought process is that you might as well make the unwashed scribes wait on Day 1 of camp with over seven months to go in the season. You don't want to spoil them. By the dog days of August, there's even some days where he doesn't appear at all. And who can blame him? We don't mind, unless, of course, we're on deadline. But that's the great thing about spring training. No early deadlines at the paper, no snow on the ground, no ice except in your drinks.

Besides, unless there's a specific issue at training camp, regarding an injury, someone who's late to report, someone who labels the Jays clubhouse a country club, like Shea Hillenbrand two years ago or something else unusual, these informal sessions with the manager in the early afternoon usually devolve into free-form discussion combining sports and politics and life itsownself that are worth a few laughs with a few notable one-liners thrown in.

Today's baseball wisdom from the manager included the fact that B.J. Ryan is the key to a lot of things on the pitching staff. Gibby prefers Casey Janssen in the bullpen, but others in the front office (i.e. J.P. Ricciardi) would like to see him in the rotation -- only, of course, if B.J. is ready on Opening Day. Janssen will begin the Grapefruit League sked as a starter, because it's easier to reign a pitcher back in as the spring winds down rather than stretch him out. And Gibbons is insistent that he will go with 12 pitchers even if his rotation is heallthy and ready to go six-plus innings in April.

Gibby believes this is the deepest, most talented Jays team he has had. He may play Marco Scutaro some at first base as well as in the outfield, which would make him a super-sub something they tried and failed to accomplish with Ryan Roberts a year ago. Scuitaro pretty much filled that same role in Oakland.

I mentioned earlier the Hillenbrand "country club" crisis from a couple of springs ago. It's funny how back then Gibby took exception to that criticism from his designated hitter, but when informed today of Roy Hallladay's two-day-old comments that at times last season in the clubhouse he didn't feel there was a sense of urgency, the skipper just shrugged and said that maybe he was right. I guess it's really not that surprising considering the difference in respect the two players had within the clubhouse and the front office.

Other baseball notes from today  included the absence from camp of the three new key players, Scott Rolen, Eckstein and catcher Rod Barajas. Of course, they don't need to be here, because the pitchers and catchers are on the field for the first time officially on Saturday afternoon following morning medicals. A little later, I'll have some leftover thoughts about Roger Clemens and the Congressional hearings. I'm sure that after yesterday's performance by the Rocket, he and Debbie are having a wonderful Valentine's Day dinner. Or not.

Richard Griffin

Blue Jays mail bag

Baseball Columnist Richard Griffin kicks off spring training - and a new Blue Jays blog - by dipping into his mail bag. Click here to submit a question for Rich and he'll answer a selection in this space every Wednesday.

Q: Richard, Heading into camp, what’s the best batting order you think the Jays might go with? And would they benefit with a mixture of lefties and righties at the plate?

Cam C., Toronto

A: The Jays would definitely benefit from more lefthanded batters in the lineup, but they are what they are. Against righthanded pitchers they would probably go with:

David Eckstein
Lyle Overbay
Alex Rios
Vernon Wells
Frank Thomas
Scott Rolen
Matt Stairs
Aaron Hill
Gregg Zaun

Against lefthanded starters, they might try:

Eckstein
Reed Johnson
Rios
Wells
Thomas
Rolen
Hill
Overbay
Rod Barajas

The lineup weaknesses are in the task of finding a legitimate second place batter for the lineup, in finding enough lefthanded bats and in not having the lead-footed Thomas clog the bases by placing him in the top four of the batting order.

Q: Richard, love your work! As a lifelong, diehard baseball and Jays’ fan I have a question about the team in general. What is their identity? Where is this Blue Jay way? The Yankees have the pinstripes and a leader in Derek Jeter. I think J.P. and his marketing managers need to start by returning to pitching and defence (the first we had, the latter we traded away to Arizona) and go back to being the BLUE Jays.

The Devil Rays have smartened up and realized that black is a football colour. J.P. needs to model his franchise after winners, not a statistical method that requires juiced up players and the ability to win in the playoffs. But then again, we can't make ‘em anyways. Long live the black and teal and silver Jays!

Dan Marshall, New York

A: A lot of your observations and frustrations are the same as many die-hard, old school Jays fans. Right now, Blue Jays Way is just a street address for the Rogers Centre. And for the past little while it’s been a cul-de-sac. In fact, if the Jays are going to win in the next two seasons, it will be with pitching and defence, both of which are already above average. The outfield D, with Vernon Wells and Alex Rios and the infield with Lyle Overbay at first, Aaron Hill at second, David Eckstein and John McDonald at short and Scott Rolen at third base is solid defensively. With Zaun starting most games, the task of controlling opponents’ running games is still a problem, but Zaun calls a good game for his pitchers and is more familiar with them than Barajas, who throws much better.

The Jays pitching can be very good if the breakthrough guys from a year ago continue to improve. But the black uniforms of the Blue Jays, that I agree with. However they seem to sell more of the club gear nationally because of it, which, of course, is the key.

Q: Since (Vernon) Wells and (Frank) Thomas were so slow out of the gate last season are they going to ride more of the buses in spring training?

Marcus Heinrichs, Toronto

A: Thomas last spring only played in one Grapefruit League road game and that was in Tampa vs. the Yankees and he drove his own car to that game, so, in fact the Big Hurt never took a bus last spring. He has promised over the winter that he will try and alter his preparation to include more road work, but that remains to be seen. As for Wells, a notoriously slow starter, he has made his fair share of trips in Florida over the years. The Jays are hoping that with his shoulder issues behind him that he will be quick out of the gate and have a productive first two months.

Q: First time, long time. Are the Jays serious about rushing B.J. Ryan back from Tommy John surgery in nine months? When they pulled this same stunt with (Victor) Zambrano last year I was skeptical but not really concerned because it was Zambrano. They have a lot of money tied up in Ryan, why are they rushing him back two months early?

Sheldon Klootwyk, Ottawa

A: That is a strong concern, but one that the Jays do not seem overly worried about. I agree with you, because history shows that 12 months post-Tommy John surgery is usually the proper rehab time prior to a return. They did rush Victor Zambrano last year, having him open the season in the major-league bullpen, pitching him sporadically in April and then thrusting him into the rotation at the end of the first month. He failed and now is gone.

After speaking with Ryan on Tuesday, he seems amped for the start of the season and claims that he has had no setbacks since starting to throw again. I agree that with the success Jeremy Accardo and Co. had last year and with B.J. having three years left on his contract, being conservative and careful with Ryan would be the best course of action. We will see if the Jays agree. It’s something to watch carefully during the spring.

Q: Rich, I was wondering your take on Adam Lind. Just last year he seemed the crown jewel of the organization's farm system, but now a year older, it seems, barring injury, he'll once again be down in Triple-A. Not only that, but with lefty hitting Matt Stairs signed for 2009 as well, there seems no place for the youngster at all.

With only LF as a viable playing position, do you think the Jays have pretty much abandoned grooming their own superstars for the foreseeable future? I mean, in regards to position players, the only successes over the last six years with Ricciardi's drafted players seem to be Aaron Hill and…well... Aaron Hill. That's pretty rough.

Nate Holmes, Toronto

A: When the Jays decided to re-sign Stairs, it certainly set Lind back in terms of his role in ’08. They feel that the defensive liabilities Stairs brings to the game are more than offset by the potent bat and the lefthanded threat he presents, as well as his strong, positive veteran influence in the clubhouse.

Lind, no Nuryev in the outfield himself, will not make the Opening Day roster if he is not going to play – or at least platoon. When Stairs departs the scene in two years, Lind might have a chance to play, although by that time, young Travis Snider will likely be ready to contribute. Of course, also by that time, Frank Thomas will be out of the picture as well, which leaves room for an extra bat.

I like Lind’s offensive development last season and was surprised that Stairs was re-upped.

You’re right about the limited success of Ricciardi’s draft selections, but on the pitching side, at least he’s had Shaun Marcum, Casey Janssen and Jesse Litsch.

Q: Richard, I've heard some complaints about some fans on how Curtis Thigpen will most likely be heading to Triple A Syracuse because of the recent Rod Barajas signing. But didn't the Jays use him last year mostly as a first baseman because they're not projecting him a catcher anymore because of his skills?

Paul Miller, Waterloo

A: Curtis Thigpen was never going to be a part of the 2008 Jays plans. The Jays need to win right now and Thigpen is not in that picture. Signing Barajas has not affected Thigpen’s ’08 season. He was slated to go back to Triple-A, splitting time with Robinson Diaz. Many in the organization prefer Diaz in the long run and that led to plans to find another position for Thigpen. At first it was going to be second base and then first base. Now that they have pretty much committed to Hill at second and with Lyle Overbay healthy and ready to play every day at first, it looks like Thigpen will continue to catch. Syracuse is where he belongs.

Q: Hey Richard, as I grow ever-weary of JP's decisions, I have three questions about David Eckstein:

1. What is his career and 2007 on-base percentage;

2. I've heard he could be a defensive liability - how likely is it that we'll see Johnny Mac in late-innings defensive assignments; and

3. Why was St. Louis willing to let this guy walk?

Doug S., Peterborough

A: Ah, David Eckstein. The man has two World Series rings – with the Angels and Cardinals, which is hard to argue with. But you always wonder how he does it. In answer to your questions, he had a .356 on-base average last year and is at .351 lifetime. Defensively, his arm from the hole is below average, but his release is quick and accurate. He seems to make every out at first a close one. With the presence of Marco Scutaro as a reasonable third option at all three infield positions, it makes it easier for manager John Gibbons to bring McDonald into games in which the Jays have a late-inning lead. It’s likely to happen a lot.

As for why the Cards were willing to let Eckstein walk, they felt his days as a shortstop were numbered. The Cards have former Jays’ shortstop Cesar Izturis and prospect Brendan Ryan 1-2 on the depth chart. In fact, many of the teams that had spoken to Eckstein as a free agent were interested in moving him over to second base. The Cards didn’t want to give him a three-year deal as did the Jays.

Q: Who are the most promising rookies coming down the pipe that we can expect to make the greatest leap this year, either within the minor league ranks or into the major league club?

Matthew Vatta, Toronto

A: Look for outfielder Ryan Patterson to see a lot of action in Grapefruit League games this spring. He is a better defender than Adam Lind and could be brought up during the season if there are any injuries. Much has been written about young outfielder Travis Snider. He’s a good one, but don’t look for him to reach the majors until the rosters expand in September. The top pitching prospect, lefthander Brett Cecil was selected in last summer’s draft and is likely still a year or two away. There aren’t many others that could make the leap to the major-league club.

Q: I've noticed many pundits saying that Tampa will be able to put together a respectable season this year and are on their way to contention. I think much of this has to do with the prospect of not finishing last because the Orioles have taken such a turn for the worst. I really like Tampa's core (Crawford, Upton, Shields, Pena, Kazmir), but they look to be a long way away from competing for anything to me. Do you think they're starting to put something together in Tampa and does this/would this add any degree of urgency for JP if even third place in the division isn't a guarantee?

Danny B., Ottawa

A: The Rays have never finished above .500 but they believe this year they have a chance. If they do, then the Jays would be struggling to stay ahead of them in the division standings. Think about it. With the Red Sox and Yankees seeming a lock to win over 90 games, if the Rays step up; how often do you see four clubs in the same division all finish above .500?

The Rays rotation has two solid starters at the top in Scott Kazmir and James Shields. Add Matt Garza and the still-developing Edwin Jackson and they could cause problems. The organization is loaded with prospects, so it would seem that the Rays are indeed on the verge of putting something together. However, since Jays’ GM J.P. Ricciardi is fixated on the Sox and Yankees, it’s unlikely that the development of the Rays has caused him to lose any sleep. If the Jays end up battling the Rays for third place, then J.P. is likely a goner, anyway.

Click here to send Richard a question and he'll answer a selection in the Blue Jays blog.