Griffin: Q&A with Alex Anthopoulos

The Star spoke with Blue Jays' GM Alex Anthopoulos in his office at spring training, as he enters his third season as a major-league GM. The Jays went from 85 to 81 wins but have more talent at this camp -- no Jo-Jo Reyes vying for a spot. The true strength of this organization is a year or two away, so how do the Jays plan on competing in the meantime and how do changes in the CBA affect their future.

Richard Griffin: Entering your third season as GM, you came in with your style of gathering information, of finding out as much about what every team needs in advance. Having that information with you when you make future calls, even with forming three-way deals. Have other GMs made adjustments to your style and do you need to make adjustments back, like players do?

Alex Anthopoulos: I don't know that...I know it's adjustments, but it's relationships, right? To me it's two years into the job. Hopefully I've built relationships, greater relationships, stronger relationships. The 29 other GMs are the guys that I've got to work with, right. I've always said, the trade avenue is an important one for us. We haven't been big into free agency, so scouting, development and trades are going to be a big part of it. I don't think there's a style. You know, my style when you talk trades with GMs, it's not...I think some people talk about, you think about making trades and it's like fantasy sports. I never try to sell or convince anyone of anything. Everyone has their own scouting departments. Everyone has their own reports. Everyone has their own analysis. I think it's more just frank, candid conversations...this what I'm going to do, this is what you're willing to do. It's not up to me to tell you what I think about it. I think it's a slap in the face for me to even dare try to do something like that because obviously it's not an objective viewpoint. In the same way, if someone's trying to convince me, it's not objective as well. I don't think it's a style thing. You become more comfortable with the people that you deal with and you know what everyone's plan is and what they look to do.

RG: Just specifically this winter and as a follow-up to what we're talking about, I believe part of what you like to do is sort of set up parameters of “We're interested in this guy,” and then work on specific names they can have, later. With some starting pitchers that were available this winter, does that sometimes work against you where a team might have jumped in if there was specific names from another team out there before you had a chance to finish your talks. Do you know what I'm saying?

AA: No.

RG: Or do you make that adustment and start offering names from now on, moving forward?

AA : I don't think it comes down to that. I think of all the guys that were traded, we had an opportunity to acquire all of them except one. The one we didn't have the opportunity to acquire strictly because we didn't have the right fit in terms of now players. There was a lot of deals where we could strip the big-league club and it was robbing Peter to pay Paul. Get a good player, but we'd lose another good player, so the strength of the team is in the same spot.

But this winter we had the ability to say yes to a lot of deals for some of the other guys that were traded. Just for us – and it's not a knock against asking prices that were out there – it didn't make sense for us. It was a comfortable “No”. It just didn't make sense for us. We just didn't believe in that deal.

There was one deal, it was never a matter of us saying no. It was a matter of -- and the GM had told me this at the time – we had a lot of very good players available, but there was something very specific that they looked for. They needed players that were going to be on the big-league roster right away. So that was an easy one too. It wasn't even a matter that we weren't in line, that we weren't in a position to go at a player and strip three players. We were going to strip three minor-league players or four or five minor-league players, sure. But it never got to that point, so once you're not a clear-cut fit, no matter what we were offering from the minor leagues – and the only way we were going to be able to get back in was if that other team dropped out.

RG : When you talk about now players are you going to have more now players next winter, because all your young players were pretty much a year or two off? Are you going to have more now players, is that part of what is going to change things next winter and give you more trade opportunities?

AA: Sure, I would hope so. I would think as the minor-leagues get better, everybody talks we've got great prospects. They're exactly that though, they're prospects. But they're a year closer and you look at that group that was in New Hampsire arguably they're two steps away. Now they get to graduate to Las Vegas and hopefully they get to Toronto at some point. So, now all of a sudden you do have players that can go to the big leagues right away. Again, with some teams, they were fine with taking prospects and they gave us a price and we knew about it and it wasn't going to work for us or we decided to say no. Then there's just one other scenario with one player and it wasn;'t a case that we didn't have more talent, it's that team wasn't in a position to wait a year or two for these guys to pan out.

It would be almost like when we traded Roy Halladay. We could have gotten players that could have come into the big leagues right away or be a year away. It was a few deals on the table that we had talked about that could have happened, but for us, where we were and what we were trying to time it for, we didn't mind taking guys that were 3-4 years away, because they were going to fit more from a philosophical standpoint.

RG: You talked about the difficulty that you had even afterwards in coming to grips with trading Nestor Molina. Did you realize at some point this winter that maybe Brett Lawrie was as close to an untouchable moving forward as you had.

AA: I guess I don't look at it that way from a roster standpoint. I always say that you're open-minded to any player off the team. It's not that certain players are judged by how important they are to your club, so you value them and make them almost untradeable. I just don't believe there's any untradeable players, because what if somebody's going to knock your door down. That rarely if ever happens, because that probably means it's a win-trade for you and you're never going to get that deal. But there's players -- we don't have any players on this team with a no-trade clause -- but there's a lot of players that have been here for a while and are probably going to be here for a long time because of their importance and their value to us, to what we're doing. We always talk about timing and where the timing is with this club. It makes it harder to trade them. It makes them virtually untradeable, but on a one in one-million chance you get a knock-em-out deal you have to consider it.

RG: Is it harder from the outside to read this organization because of the Vegas Factor where some of your younger starting pitchers you maybe don't want to move up there before their full double-A season's over. Does that make it harder to gauge where prospects are in this organization, specifically.

AA: From our standpoint...

RG: No, from an outside standpoint.

AA: You know what, I understand the question. It makes sense to ask it. I don't know that it does, because if you're a position player you're going to go in and scout and you're going to scout tools. There's no question from a performance standpoint you might say, okay, batting averages, things like that and from an ERA standpoint, but if you're looking at tools for a position player, swings, and you're looking at stuff – I mean, I don't think Henderson Alvarez, if he's in Las Vegas or New Hampshire, any scout's going to go in and see his sinker and velocity and athleticism and strike-thowing ability, no matter where he's at. And whether it's Kyle Drabek as well. His stuff was still the same in Las Vegas, his command just wasn't there. If Kyle's throwing strikes, he's going to get a lot more outs. So, it's not as clean, it's not as easy, but I don't know that it impacts things a whole lot. I mean Arencibia's winning the MVP in Las Vegas. He had 30 home runs in New Hampshire two years earlier and he was a first round pick with huge power. It didn't matter what park he's in, people know he has power.

RG: But just a follow-up on that question, does it impact a kid like David Cooper who wins a batting title and people are talking about other minor-league first basemen far more than they're talking about him in terms of Baseball America prospects and that sort of thing.

AA: Yeah, I don't know and, you know what, I think that last year, because David the year before in New Hampshire didn't have a great year. In the second half of the season, I remember Jon Lalonde was in there scouting, he was Jon Lalonde's draft pick, and David asked to see his draft tapes. Jon got his draft tapes sent down to New Hampshire and David went back to his college swing, college setup and in the second half of the season, the numbers were not unbelievable, but he led the team in hard-hit balls, just lineouts and so and so. Then he came to spring training last year and had a great spring training. He hit the cover off the ball. There was a fundamental change, so the fact that David hasn't gotten the hype is because the performance part, prior to last year hadn't been there. So I think now you're going to see David come on the map a little bit more because he's had the success. The first two-week callup, and he even said, was a little bit deer in the headlights. But in September, he had an outstanding month. He had close to a .900 OPS, he hit the ball on the screws and he's having another grerat spring as well. So he hasn't gotten the accolades because his career was a bit of a slow start, but I think now you're going to start to see his name float around.

RG: In May of '09 when you were an AGM, we talked and you spoke about Canadian farm teams and you couldn't understand why there weren't more teams with Canadian affiliates. You got Vancouver, but it sounded at the time like you were interested in more than one. Are you still interested in more.

AA: The problem is we don't own our affiliates. So, from a Canadian baseball perspective it's great, it's great for the game. I don't see why with all these small towns in the United States have teams, with so many Canadian cities that should be able to support baseball. I wasn't around or wasn't as involved in the game to understand why those other markets failed – whether it was Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, what have you. St. Catharines, Medicine Hat, I mean there was a lot of them, then all of a sudden, they vanished. Even Vancouver had to go down to a short-season club. Something changed, but I wasn't around. I think the more success that the big-league club has it's going to help in terms of the popularity of the sport. Would I love to see there be more Canadian minor-league affiliates, sure, but that means leagues have to be willing to go in there and there are certain stumbling blocks and you need to have ownership and stadium and then help from everybody else involved. Of course I'd rather see minor-league affiliates here, but there's so many steps to go over. If it was a matter of we owned all our affiliates fine, but it does not work that way.

RG: Would you rate Vancouver a huge success?

AA: Huge is an understatement. I don't know that we could have dreamed of the atmosphere. I didn't get to go until the end, but all our scouts that went through there said what an unbelievable...I think opening night the word was electric, in terms of the atmosphere. And the fan base and the excitement, the people that were there that run the place, Jay Kerr, Jeff Mooney, Andy Dunn, they do an unbelievable job of sellouts, yet in an environment that I would tell everybody they should experience it once. It's that much fun.

RG: In terms of free agents, I talked to Jose Bautista and he said he was not even aware there was a team policy of nothing beyond five years, that he was happy with the length of the deal he signed and wasn't even thinking about length. But has years now, for this organization, become more of an impediment than money?

AA: It hasn't come up yet, I mean it hasn't become an issue. It hasn't been where we were right there with a free agent and our policy became a stumbling block. So right now it hasn't become an issue yet. Even with Jose's deal, our first choice, length is always a concern.

You know Paul's had a long-standing belief that length is the thing he's most concerned about and I understand. He talked to me about it over and over again, just the fact that when they ran things, him and Pat, how the team would make mistakes with long-term, more years. Guys get hurt, guys don't perform. He would always rather go shorter, so five's as far as he would go. Even when we did Romero's deal, we did the five but again that took a little bit of time to end up getting through that. So it hasn't come up yet. There hasn't been a free-agent deal that's come up where we wanted to do more than five years and policy came into play, We just haven't been in the market for free agents that have signed for more than five years. Free agents, not guys under club control. With all due respect to the clubs and the players, it's probably not something that's going to fit for us.

RG: Imagination is a word that you like to use a lot in terms of the rules and all sorts of ways of dealing with the way the game is regulated. Now, with Jose for instance, if Jose hit another 45 home runs and this team was not moving forward...we don't even need that part. But, just if he had another big year and it looks right now like he's one of the biggest bargains in baseball, is there a creative thing where you could extend from the end of his current contract and make that new deal reach to five more years, as in effect you would have lengthened that original deal to eight.

AA: I guess there's always ways to look at things...

RG: But are you always looking for imaginative solutions?

AA: I think I know when I was discussing Romero's extenson with Paul, he was strong on three years if he pitched, five years for position player. Part of the hurdle was being able to get over the fact that it was five years for Romero was that two of those years were zero to three years, minimim salary years, so it wasn't like free-agent years. He wasn't even in salary arbitration yet. So, yes it was five years and I was kind of the way that we settled our...we debated for months and that's the way we found common ground and Paul finally gave the go-ahead. It took a long time and the term was the problem there, because Paul wanted to keep it a lot shorter. From that standpoint, I don't ever want to say never, have absolutes, put lines in the sand and box yourself in, but there's a reason we have things in place . It's probably to police ourselves from ourselves.

RG: We've asked this before, but when Rogers got involved, negotiating for MLSE – and that was before the winter meetings and then they announced it right after – was there a change in what you guys were going to do until that whole Maple Leaf situation was...

AA: I didn't know anything about it. That Maple Leaf thing, I found out about it the morning it was announced and that's fine. It's not my area. I'm worried about the baseball operations, the baseball team and that's a million steps removed from what head office is doing, so...

RG: Did you think back and go, “Oh that explains that.”

AA: No. I mean communications is always good. I deal with Paul 99.9-percent of the time. That's the person I deal with. Obviously he deals with ownership. Sure there's times I deal with Keith Pelley. There's times I deal Nadir Mohamed. But Paul is the point-man for me and the one that I bounce ideas off of. Our offices are right beside each other and the fact that we could just deal, we could just interact, but he always knows what my thought process is and so on. I know there was a lot of talk in the off-season about payroll and things like that. I just felt like, I always talk about our fans being able to think along with us.

It's not our fans agreeing with us, because that's not going to happen, no matter who's doing the job, but I just want them, as we make transactions, as we do things, to say, 'Okay, I understand why. I may not agree, but I understand why and at least there's a consistency in terms of the plan. At least there's a consistency in terms of what we're being told the club is goung to do.'

That was why I felt that things had spun so far out of control with respect to the national media, both in the United States and Canada, the MLB Network at the winter meetings saying the Blue Jays are going to go crazy. We're going to ramp up the payroll, $80 million above. It was just completely fabricated and obviously I don't come out and talk about everything every day, for obvious reasons, for me just to be able to do our work. But there are times where I come out and say things. There are times when I don't talk about rumours and speculation, but like the man in white last year, there's things that are that prevalent, that out there, where I have to step out and say something. I have to address it, so , it's not that black and white where you don't ever speak. There's times I did need to address things to set the record straight and that's all it was.

RG: Have you asked Sergio Santos about the man in white. He was in that Sox bullpen.

AA: No. It's so...here's what I will say. I let my emotions take over because I was so irritated and so blown away by what a ridiculous story it was. My one regret was my comment at the start, my opening statement of 'This is stupid.' That's not me. But it's like you're sitting with your buddies and ...it's just ridiculous. I heard about it and I figured, ah, whatever. It is what it is, but all of a sudden it's getting all this attention. I said are you kidding me. This is getting all this attention. This is getting that much play.

RG: I know you like to make up your own mind about people, but there seems to be an organizational , sort of a negative vibe towards Scott Boras clients. Is that something you've inherited. There's never any issue of a Scott Boras guy coming here.

AA: There's no negative view. I mean we drafted James Paxton two years ago. Scott Schoenweis was here. Scott Boras client. We've had a bunch of minor-league free agents. Josh Banks was here, Guillermo Quiroz. We don't look at it and say, okay, Scott Boras client. We look at the players based on talent and ability. So, again, some years we have a lot of clients from a certain agent, other years it changes. We had a lot of, back in the day when Paul was here, there happened to be a lot of Hendricks Brothers clients. Obviously that can change over time. The thing is players change agencies so much. Let's say in the two years that I've been as GM, players hire and fire agents, it seems like every six months, so there's no way to track that.

RG: Just one more on free agency. You and Tony LaCava flew to Japan and sat in the stands. Don Nomura signed Dice-K for five years. Was a turning point for Yu Darvish when six years was on the table or is it a fact that in advance nobody knew that this guy wanted six years?

AA: It was a secret negotiation, but I'm sure there was a scenario where someone would have preferred five years but I can also see the argument for six because of the money that they've had to put up front for the posting. I think any player will tell you the shorter the term the more money on the table, depending on age and things like that.

RG: How do the new rules change your approach to international free agency, the draft and in-season trades where you may have had a guy who was compensation worthy? Those were three areas that you used nicely, but the rules have changed.

AA : The international signings you have to be more selective, when you only have a certain amount of money to deal with. I guess you can go over but it's more than a slap on the wrist, it's like getting your hand chopped off if you go over. So I don't think we want to get our hand chopped off. I think we'd rather just stay with where we're at. Knowing that, I think we have to be more selective and it makes good scouting that much more important. Whereas in the international market you can go spend x amount of dollars, it's almost like you mine for gold. Before, you could spend all that money and whatever it ends up being is fine, but now you just can't do that. You basically have to go into that pile and pick out every piece and make sure you're right. Scouting has always been important, but it became that much more important from an international standpoint.

The same goes for the draft. I think you're going to see a lot more high school players go to school and that's just because, we take a kid like Drew Hutchison in the 14th round or whatever it was, we can't pay that guy $400,000. We could but it's not a slap on the wrist. It's getting your hand chopped off. You don't want to lose your draft picks. It's got to be some kind of talent. We have to make the decision if we want someone for that price, we better draft him up high enough and then there's the opportunity lost. So you can't say we're goung to take a flyer. When we signed Hutchison that year, we hadn't signed Paxton, we hadn't signed Eliopoulos, so we had a little bit of money left over. We said, 'You know what, we'll pay a little bit more to get the player,' but under normal circumstances we didn't draft him high enough and he wasn't going to be signed unless that money was freed up back then. So that will change.

And then from a trade standpoint, without compensation I think you're going to see more players traded that aren't going to factor for a team long-term. Teams are going to look for salary relief is what I think is going to happen. I may have a dfferent opinion a year from now. But, if you're not going to get a draft pick and you're out of the race and you want to play a young player you'll see players moved out for salary relief, get whatever you can get for them. I don't see the benefit of keeping the player unless you're obviously right there competing or close to .500. Obviously you always want to win games, but developmentally I don't see a player staying on the roster if he's going to block a young player.

RG: So the new CBA is good for university programs.

AA: I think so.

RG: Did they consult the GMs at a GM Meeting?

AA: Yes. We were told but you have 30 clubs with 30 completely different agendas. So there was a committee led by John Schuerholz when it came to the draft, Evey club had a chance to give their opinion and input. They try to balance all the demands, the requirements, the ideas of the clubs and then also had to bring it back and negotiate it with the union. So it's not an easy process at all. They did as good a job as they could, but it's not an easy thing to do at all.

RG: You've got 49 Dominicans, 42 Venezuelans. Is that number going to go down under the new agreement.

AA: It's not like $2.9 million internationally is a bad amount of money. Some clubs don't even spend that kind of money. We've spent more the last two years, but again, we don't look at it like we're getting x amount of players or we don't look at it like we want to sign 10 players or two players or five players. We're never of the mindset that we're going to spend for the sake of spending. It's going to have to be the right players.

There was many times last year in the international market that we could have spent more. And there was players that we liked that we offered significant dollars to and they got even more money than that. They got millions more. And at that point we didn't feel comfortable so we walked away. So I don't think it changes. One, the prices will come down, because everyone's going to have to adjust accordingly. I don't know that your volume's going to change a ton. Your volume of elite, high ceiling guys might, in terms of big dollar guys.

RG: Is that the first step to a universal draft.

AA: I think so. I think there's been a lot of talk about that and I think the way the rules are set up now there's a lot of sentiment that it might make things go towards a worldwide draft. Because everyone has a certain amount of money to spend and if it's a $2.9 million cap, last year you saw some players sign for $4-5 million. Well, automatically that can't happen unless you want to lose the ability to spend the following year. So certainly clubs don't want to do that. If the highest guy got $4-million last year well does the highest guy this year get a million, a million five, two? Is a team going to spend $2.9 on one player? There's already a ton of risk. I don't see clubs spending a hge chunk of money on one player. It doesn;'t make a whole lot of sense.

RG: So the rafts might start drifting to south Florida again.

AA: That still happens anyway, but there are rules that if you're over 23, you won't be part of that. But Adeiny Hechavarria was young, He would have been part of that cap. Chapman would have been part of that cap.

RG: Is what you've done with this organization, with you and your staff, is what you've done here almost an addiction where you can't leave Toronto until you see what happens with these kids?

AA: We could be told to leave. But would we by choice leave. I hope not. I hope our staff wouldn;'t want to leave unless they have opportunities to better themselves.

RG: But you specifiucally. Are you hooked on what you've done here to the point where you just physically need to see it out?

AA: I don't know that I look at it that way. I love the job. It becomes more enjoyable when you start seeing the fruits of the labour that we've all put in. It's starting to show itaself a little bit. We won 85 games, we won 81 games. We haven't done anything yet. But it does feel better to look on the field and see more talent, see better athletes. You start to see what's been put in place. I don't know how it's going to translate. The thought and the hope and the plan is that it translates into wins. But there's no question that what we set out to do is starting to show itself in terms of being more athletic, high ceiling players playing the game a certain way, That's starting to show itself. All that being said the reason we set it up that way is to win games, win the World Series, make the playoffs and so on. We'll find out over time, but it's starting to show itself.

RG: Last question. If you started 20-10 or you started 10-20 does that change anything for you.

AA: No, it shouldn't. It all depends I think. You look at last year, Tampa started 1-8, Boston the same. It's too long a season. It's the same as you look at teams collapse at the end too. I got asked this last year and we may have lost seven or eight in a row and we won six in a row. It's too long a season to get caught up in anything. It really is. But three years ago the Diamonbacks had the best team in the game at 24-10 and in the end they finished at .500. The year 2009 is not lost on me at all. Six weeks in, I think we had the best team in the game. It was exciting. It's a six month season. You don't have to go pole to pole, start to finish. The Cardinals last year weren't in it and they accelerated at the end. The Braves and Boston came back at the end the year before. The Rockies were out of it and they accelerated all the way to the end. I've told myself repeatedly, I'm not going to get too high or too low. We've seen it happen and I know no matter what happens if we play well for a stretch we're going to be planning the parade and if we play poorly for a stretch, the sky is falling. I understand it. It's not work in sports, Its fun. We just try to block it out and keep our eye on the prize. As much as you tell yourself not to, you do live and die with every loss. 

Griffin: Q&A with John Farrell

The Star sat down with Blue Jays manager John Farrell in his office at spring training in Dunedin. Following a rookie managerial season of highs and lows on the field, John and his wife Sue spent the months of October and November, 2011, staying at a hotel in Boston, as their 20-year-old son Luke underwent successful radiation treatment at a Massachusetts clinic, with the goal of reducing a non-malignant tumour at the base of his skull. It was Luke's second time in treatment in the past two years. The family returned home after Thanksgiving and Luke returned to school at Northwestern University in Chicago in December. He is now taking his regular turn on the mound as a leftanded pitcher. The Farrell's eldest son, Jeremy is a minor-league third baseman with the Pirates, while a third son, Shane was drafted by the Jays last June, but has been forced by injury to give up his aspirations as a pro ballplayer. After his difficult winter, John Farrell is back for his second season with his second family.

Richard Griffin: You're probably not aware, but you are now the longest serving head coach or manager in terms of hiring date of any team in Toronto major pro sports. It's hard to believe. In addition, there's only 15 major league managers with a longer tenure than you. Half of them! What does that tell you about your profession?

John Farrell: A lot of turnover? That there has to be an alignment of understanding of where the organizastion is, of the stage where the organization is at, whether it's growing, whether it's rebuilding, whether it's expectation is to not only be in contention, but will probably be measured by how deep into the post-season a given team achieves.

RG: There's often a honeymoon period for GMs, managers, coaches. Have you experienced that. Do you feel that. Do you feel there's any pressure to win sooner rather than later here. Or...

JF: I think any competitor probably has greater expectations of themselves than what others internally may have for you, for the team and certainly whatever the public perception or expectation might be. I always look at things in somewhat of a five-year cycle, where the first year you come in and you learn what is here. The second year you begin to make changes that you collectively feel need to be made to continue to make progress. Then years 3-4-5 you're continuing to build on it and with that continuity even in this pro sports world, where continuity is a relative term, when you get into that third, fourth, fifth and hopefully longer, so rises the expectation and that's what you're eventually judged upon.

RG: This is a more personal question, but in terms of maintaining a family, there's different pressures in different jobs. Has it become harder to be a husband and father starting from Cleveland in the front office, to pitching coach in Boston to where you are now?

JF: I think the toughest balance that anyone in professional sports has is between home life and a profession. This can be all-consuming and if you let it control you, other areas will suffer. It takes an understanding spouse, an understanding wife that is in it with you. Fortunately we have a family that has lived in the game long enough that even though the time apart from our sons is a large amount of time, they're all pursuing their own dream and their own path. But fortunately through technology, we're able to keep up to date and in contact frequently, whether that's through phone, e-mail, text, watching their games on video, there's a way that you can manage the time apart.

RG: You obviously are a very proud father of three sons. Jeremy has been to Dunedin a couple of times with the Pirates. You've been able to visit with him in Bradenton. He carries himself like a man, like someone with an obvious respect for the game of baseball. Can you give me thumbnail sketch on each of your three sone, starting with Jeremy, Shane and Luke.

JF: Jeremy's very driven, very focused. He might work to the point of diminishing returns and overwork at times. He's very clear on what his professional goal is at the current time and that's to become a major-league player. In what role we'll see. He will not rest at anything to exhaust all means to try and realize his potential and that is hopefully one day to wear a major-league uniform.

Shane? He's suffered the most physical ailments and as a result has ended his playing career because of some things that are completely out of his control. And I think the thing that you're aware the most and that you bleed the most for them is when they have an injury. You see the challenges and disappointments they go through when play is interrupted and in his case where he's had to shut it down at a relatively early age. They learn life experiences through the sport. He's now looking at the next path. He wants to remain in the game, whether the scouting path it will take or some other role, I think he will be successful within the game, just the way he deals with people.

And then Luke, who's had his own challenges, physically. He's the one that's probably taught us the most, through his resiliency, through his will to fight and overcome some things that were within his control. Not to rank one or the other, but to see him back on the mound after what he's been through, that's probably been the most joy of anything that's happened to our entire family, to see him come back from that and get back on the mound, as he loves to do.

RG: Does that two months of adversity in October-November that followed up on two years earlier, did that make three sons, a father and mother come closer together?

JF: Yeah, and actually through the first procedure they had. When you're able to just be in a room and hear their conversations that gets exchanged. It went from that brother rivalry and competition to one of true concern and support. I think it's taught them that even if they might think of themselves as being invincible, things can change on a phone call and they're in a little bit of a battle. But all three have taken whatever challenges have been thrown at them and they've embraced them and they've worked their tails off to try to overcome them.

RG: Does that life experience for you, does that make handling a Blue Jays 20-10 start or a 10-20 start this year on the field, will ot allow you to treat them both the same?

JF: Well, we'll find out on that 10-20 start or 20-10, but yeah, I think it prioritizes things and life and health is clearly the most important. It makes that hanging slider a little bit easier to digest in that key spot. And I think we all look at who might be reading this or looking through it, I'm sure everyone's got their own story that they can go back to and draw from and in our case, Luke's unfortunate hand that he's been dealt has shown us a different side of him and it's certainly brought us all closer together.

RG: At the end of last season in Chicago, you talked about different things that you had learned about yourself in your first year as manager. Some of them philosophical, some of them in terms of dealing wth 25 individuals. Did you think about it more over the winter and did you come to spring training with any subtle changes in your philosophy of dealing with 25 different personalities?

JF: I would go back to our internal meeting at the opening of spring training. Communicatng a vision of what I think we can be and what we should become and more importantly, how we go about it. Every team is going to create its own identity at various times, ir it will evolve at some point in time during the year. I would like to think that we could arrive at that identity much sooner and I think that's by outlining expectations and what's important to us, things that we value as an organization, the coaching staff and myself and not to be reluctant to trust those, just to put it out there. Having come from the paths you mention, front office, pitching coach and now this position, I think every player wants direction. They want to know where are we headed. Now, overseeing a roster of 25 and a camp of 65, I'm probably a little bit more outgoing in describing that as clearly as possible. And I think that's the personal direction in their lives that everybody wants.

RG: Is it more important to underpromise to players than to overpromise, even to the public, that we're hoping that this will happen, this is your role and then maybe with hard work they earn something higher, rather than promising success that is unattainable?

JF: I think it's important to be very objective and honest with individual players or what we're talking about with our given team. But I don't think it's wrong to say that this is what I feel like we can achieve too as a group or this is what an individual player can achieve too. I think it's important to put out a vision of what the final product can be. They, or we, might not be there yet and yet there's going to be some obstacles, some goals, some plateaus that we have to reach along the way. I kind of describe this as a little bit of a journey with a destination, rather than, okay, this is just the final product. There's going to be some things along the way that we might not be aware of today and how we respond, that's what we can control and that's what matters most. That's why I feel confident with the staff that we have, their ability to teach and we collectively understand what we want and what we see as our true ability to contend. Everyone comes in eager and with a lot of optimism and energy to work and teach every day and I think the combination of it is what will get us there.

RG: This clubhouse, I was just talking with Alex and he said, what do you think. I said, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to say 85-86. He said why are you sorry? I said, well it makes me wrong because I predicted 78-81 all winter and it makes me wrong.

JF: Well we all have to adjust.

RG: This clubhouse seems far more confident, even without significant additions other than Sergio, this clubhouse seems far more confident. Is that something that you have passed on to them or something that you have just observed?

JF: I don't know if I can answer whether I have passed that on. They can answer that, what they feel, perceive, hear and have grown into. We've talked and I know talk can be very cheap, I'm the first to acknowledge that. But I think when you see real tangible players that have very good major league talent that are capable of achieving an awful lot within a framework of being themselves – and that's the one thing we trumpet is that there's a defined framework here, but we want them to be themselves. We don't want them to necessarily totally conform to the point where they're someone else, because then their abilities won't come out. So, providing that framework in their ability to maximize their abilities and be themsleves within it, as long as it doesn't compromise who we are as a group, that's where I think they feel good about themselves and that they can be themselves. That might be where that feeling of confidence comes from. They can be who they are in this clubhouse. Alex and the staff have done a great job in the due diligence of the people off the field in identifying those players. There's a lot of character in this group.

RG: Being a father of three young men, does that translate into how you treat these guys. There's no ban on social media. There's no ban on beer in the clubhouse. There's no treating these guys like they're kids. Does being a father help in that regard?

JF: Whether it's three daughters or three sons, I think parenting as we all know teaches us a lot of handling adversity and how we deal with each one of them differently. Some, even my own kids, some need a pat on the back, some need a kck in the butt. I think there are a lot of similarities there. We are a family at home and this is our family here. We want them to be able to express themselves at home. We want them to express themselves here. If you treat them and respect them as men and as individuals, I think you get that in return.

 

 

 

 

Griffin: Blue Jays notes Game 24

DUNEDIN, FLA.-The Jays' magical spring continued as they overcame an early three-run deficit to beat the Red Sox 6-5 in 10 innings. The winning run came on a bases-loaded single by minor-league outfielder Ricardo Nanita. The Jays ran their spring record to 19-4-1, second highest win total in 36 years of Grapefruit League play. 

The Jays received a scare in the sixth inning when Jose Bautista was hit on the right hand by a Daniel Bard fastball. The Jays' slugger spun away from the mid-90s heater, as it deflected off his hand, then his helmet. He slammed his helmet to the ground and started to first base before being called back to the plate by umpire Travis Carlson who ruled it a foul ball. An irate Bautista removed his batting glove and was in the umpire's face, but retrieved his helmet and angrily resumed his spot in the batter's box. However first base umpire Mark Carlson entered the picture and awarded Bautista first base.

“Unfortunately, he did get clipped and I think we were fortunate to avoid something there," manager John Farrell said. "He took the glancing pitch off the thumb and the index finger on a pitch that just got away from Bard. But fortunately the x-rays were negative and there's a little bit of swelling, but he should be fine."

Bard had hit Brett Lawrie at the Rogers Centre last September, one of four Jays that were drilled in that game, including Bautista...although that was by a Tim Wakefield knuckleball.

First baseman Adam Lind continued his hot streak. He homered in the second inning off Bard, then doubled to left and walked. In his last six plate appearances, Lind has two homers, a triple, a double and two bases-on-balls, raising his average to .306.

Edwin Encarnacion had two hits and a double, while Rajai Davis stole two bases, had two hits, including a bunt single and was thrown out at the plate on a squeeze bunt.

The Jays have an off-day on Monday, with Ricky Romero slated to throw six innings in a minor league game at the stadium formerly known as Grant Field.

* * * * * *

The Jays reduced the roster of players in major-league camp to 30, sending out non-roster infielders Jonathan Diaz and Chris Woodward and catcher Yan Gomes. In addition, they optioned left fielder Travis Snider and first baseman David Cooper to AAA-Las Vegas.

The Jays have 15 pitchers, two catchers, five outfielders and eight infielders remaining in camp. There are three non-roster players, including pitchers Aaron Laffey and Drew Hutchison and infielder Omar Vizquel, who is expected to earn the utility role.

* * * * * *

GM Alex Anthopoulos confirmed that the 40-man roster stands at 39, leaving room if the Jays wanted to add Omar Vizquel before Friday, but the GM explained that the move to pass Rick VandenHurk through waivers was not designed to clear a spot, but was a favour to the player to give him an opportunity to find another major-league organization.

"People tried to speculate the roster, that we made a move with VandenHurk, that was pre-emptive to clear a spot, that was strictly we promised Rick VandenHurk when we brought him in if we knew sooner, rather than later, because he was out of options, that he wasn't going to make the team, we'd give him a chance to get to somebody else's camp with as much time remaining as we could," Anthopoulos explained.

"After his last outing there was too many guys in front of him to make the team. I pulled him in, talked to his agent, told him we could go a lot of routes. We let him know that maybe this was the time to put him on outright waivers. That was the reason for the timing. Under normal circumstances we would have carried it to the end."

* * * * * *

Lefthander Aaron Laffey did not have a great outing against the Red Sox, but it was nt the pressure of competing for a spot that bothered him. The former Indian, Yankee and Mariner explained how he obtained his sense of tunnel vision to the goal. 

“From the time I broke in I've been coming into the season every year battling for a job, fighting for a job," he said. "Starting all the way back in '08, I was competing for a job against Cliff Lee and then he goes off and wins the Cy Young.

"Injuries happen.They occur, they're part of the game and guys underperfrom and that's the nature of the beast. So, every year since '08, every spring I'm battling for a job, fighting for a job, so it kind of comes as second nature to be able to have that tunnel vision. It kind of developed over time, just coming in every year. I can't worry about what everybody else is doing, how they're going abut their business, because if I worry about what they're doing or not doing, I'm not putting enough attention and focus on myself."

* * * * * *

Manager John Farrell was happy to see Brett Lawrie back at third base after a week off with tightness in his left groin. Farrell laughed at the intensity of his third baseman who was upset with himself for grounding into a double play with two men on, excusing it for having been sidelined for a week.

“He was aggressive through his baserunning drills yesterday," Farrell explained of picking the date for his return. "In his mind, he felt like he was ready to go. With the off-day coming, there' a natural built-in rest period as well."

* * * * * *

In a nice story from spring training, the first pitch on Sunday was thrown out by a gentleman named Steve Kanyar, from Burlington, Ontario.

Mr. Kanyar was in Florida with the annual Toronto Star spring training tour, but his throwing the first pitch was a lifelong dream. He is a cancer patient and it was part of the Make-a-Wish campaign.

Mr. Kanyar fled Hungary across the border into Austria in 1958. He emigrated to Canada and fell in love with baseball when the Blue Jays were formed in 1977. He was at the April 7, 1977 opener and, later, was offered a huge sum for his Game 6 of the '93 World Series tickets, but held on to them and witnessed Joe Carter's "touch 'em all" moment.

On Sunday he was surrounded on the field by the Jays players, with the first pitch caught by Kyle Drabek who he had met on Friday at a reception on Clearwater Beach. It's one of those nice spring training stories. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Griffin: Blue Jays notes Game 23

DUNEDIN, FLA.-The Blue Jays juggernaut continued its roll on Saturday at the stadium formerly known as Grant Field. The Jays beat the Atlanta Braves 9-0 to run their impressive spring record to 18-4-1 The 18 wins ties for second most among Jays' all-time Grapefruit League victory totals, done previously in '88 and 2000. The club's all-time mark of 21 spring wins was set in '89 under manager Jimy Williams. 

The Jays opened the scoring on a three-run homer by Adam Lind in the third inning. They added five more in the fourth, keyed by a bases-loaded, three-run double by leadoff man Kelly Johnson. Left fielder Eric Thames was 2-for-3 and raised his average to .349. The ageless Omar Vizquel also collected a pair of hits and is now batting .429.

Impressive 21-year-old starter Henderson Alvarez tossed five shutout innings, allowing one hit with no walks and four strikeouts. His ERA now stands at 1.64, allowing just eight baserunners in 11 innings, with two walks and 10 strikeouts. He threw his developing slider this time out, after going just fastball-changeup at minor league camp five days ago.

“I think it's a continuation of the breaking ball we saw last September the last three starts that he made for us," an impressed manager John Farrell said. "He's got a much better feel of maintaining his fastball release with that breaking ball. It's got power to it and I think it's a better fit in combination with his sinker and his changeup as well. He's carried that over from a year ago."

Alvarez has been preparing for the season as if the job is his...which it truthfully is. He has thrown all of his pitches for strikes against some tough opponents.

"I was very aggressive from the beginning," Alvarez said through interpreter Damaso Blanco. "I like to be around the strike zone and make the hitters put the ball in play. I feel ready to start the season. I've been working very hard and I'm ready to go."

Who's to argue. The Jays have now allowed just two runs in the last 36 innings at home. The Jays host the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon, on radio but not TV.

* * * * * *

For the third time in a row, manager John Farrell handed in a batting order that featured Kelly Johnson in leadoff, with Yunel Escobar hitting second. It doesn't necessarily signal a permanent change from Escobar-Johnson, but it's something the Jays are looking at.

“The thing that we'll always have to balance with whoever's in the 1-2 hole, these two guys in particular, is the effect it has on Jose Bautista,” manager John Farrell said. "One through three will be the same three guys, depending in the order, but at least one or two more times through will give us a better read on what the most comfortable alignment will be.”

The revamped Johnson-Escobar order seems to make sense in terms of the abilities of the two men and the requirements of the respective slots in the lineup. Johnson is more likely to open a game going deep into the count and making the pitcher work. Johnson collects a lot of soft hits with runners on base perhaps not being able to leave on contact. He swings and misses pitches more often than Escobar. Neither is a stolen base threat.

“Yunel's inside-out swing is conducive for a hit and run,” Farrell further explained. “Kelly is an all-fields type of hitter. That's not the only prerequisite or factor that would be considered in who'll hit second. There's nothing that's imminent to say that this is where we're going to be come opening day, but I think we just want to give it a little bit more opportunity here in camp.”

* * * * * *

The Jays sent four non-roster players back to minor-league camp on Saturday. They were pitchers Jesse Chavez, Robert Coello and Drew Carpenter and outfielder Anthony Gose. Gose needs to start getting regular at-bats in preparation for the AAA-Las Vegas season. The Jays now have 35 players in major-league camp, including six non-roster.

* * * * * *

The Jays new closer, Sergio Santos made his first game appearance in 17 days on Saturday, throwing a shutout inning, with a double, a walk and two strikeouts.

"Everything felt really good," Santos said. "I threw a couple of changeups. One of them I really liked, the other I pushed a little bit. I threw a couple of good sliders and a couple of bad ones. It was just ironing those out and kind of cleaning them up before the season starts. The changeup that I did like had the movement I wanted, but I needed to start it up a little higher."   

Santos had been perfectly healthy, but in an unusual decision by the Jays, they kept him out of games because he was too strong, too ready to go and they didn't want him to peak too early. Plus they wanted him to gain confidence in his changeup, his third pitch to go with fastball-slider. He did throw side sessions and at minor league camp.

"John kind of came to me just because bullpen sessions and everything for me are just a little bit more intense than most guys," Santos explained. "It's just because I go zero to 100, there's really no in between for me. The way they saw the ball coming out and everything was going well, they wanted to slow me down a little bit and just focus on the changeup part of it a little bit. I was all for it."  

* * * * * *

Brett Cecil struggled in all aspects of his game on Friday night in Port Charlotte against the Rays. Manager John Farrell did not see it as a failure.

“He struggled, there's no doubt about it," Farrell said. "It's not uncommon for most pitchers to have that one start in spring training where things aren't in sync from a delivery standpoint. The command isn't there and that was the case last night. He got his pitch allotment in, even though it was only in two-plus innings.

"One thing in the short time I've known Brett that's been uncharacteristic is the number of walks. So, ideally you'd like to see some adjustments, prior to the length it went into. There was a little bit better command in the third inning. It was just one of those outings. He'll get his side work tomorrow and he'll be back out for another start Thursday. I'm not sure that he ever really got in it. Just the overall command was not there."

Cecil saw some positives through the haze of negatives.

"The positive is I got out there and I sat out there for a little bit, got some endurance up," Cecil said. "I was probably out there for 15-20 minutes the first two innings. It builds endurance. The hits that I gave up, they weren't hard hits. Two groundballs got through the hole at second base. Two soft line drives to left field. Without the walks, they're just base hits. Obviously the negative of it was the walks and lack of command."

If he struggles again on Wednesday vs. the Orioles, there may be cause for concern. Cecil is still throwing 85-88 m.p.h. fastballs and is still elevating too many pitches. 

 

 

Jays mailbag: Where will Adeiny Hechavarria be in 2012?

It's been an interesting spring training with the Jays widely touted as the up and coming team in the AL East by many gushing U.S. media sources.

Alex Anthopoulos tried over the winter to add helpful-to-the-winning-cause pieces – not Prince Fielder and Yu Darvish – but he was thwarted and is now going with the hand that he has been dealt. That hand, in fact, is deep in talented young prospects, which is the big reason why the Jays are one of the top teams in the Grapefruit League standings.

Their minor-league hitters are mounting late comebacks and their minor-league pitchers are nailing down the final victories. Opening Day is April 5 in Cleveland. The home opener on April 9 vs. the Red Sox and that game has already been sold out. Every team is tied and life is good. On to the mailbag.  

Q-Hi Richard,

Please explain the logic of Ben Francisco. His stats do not impress. He is unlikely to play a significant part of the Jays plans. The organization clearly thinks that Snider and Thames have serious upside, and yet one of them is going to get sent down while Francisco is handed a roster spot uncontested.

I understand that young guys need playing time, yadda, yadda, yadda. But sending Snider back down to beat up on AAA pitching in Vegas is not going to help him at this stage. I'd much rather keep Snider and Thames and get creative about fitting them in -- parsing some DH at bats from Encarnacion against righties, for example. Maybe platoon them in left a bit. Providing a strong left-handed bat on the bench for late innings. To my mind Francisco brings zilch. What am I missing?

Kevin S., Peterborough

A-I agree with you that both Travis Snider and Eric Thames are better players in the long and short run than Francisco. However, in speaking with Anthopoulos this spring it's clear that existing minor-league options on the contract, the ability to send down and bring players back up without waivers, for his players is a very important part of the Jays equation. Snider has one option left and Thames has two. The fact is if one of the two batted right-handed, there might be a chance to platoon or partially platoon, but there is never enough at-bats out there when you're talking three players for two spots.

I don't think Francisco's roster spot is 100-per cent guaranteed all year, but he is an experienced major-league asset and AA doesn't like to just give away his assets unnecessarily. The Jays role is a limited one for Francisco. Play a little defence in left if it's Thames that wins the position. Start occasionally in left or right to give the starter a day off. Maybe pinch hit against lefthanders late in a game –- although how effectively is in question. Snider and Thames are both major-league players. This is a case where options are not your friend.

RELATED: Blue Jays emerging rotation key to contending 

Q-Hi Richard,

Travis Snider has been hitting a lot of home runs this spring, but striking out a lot too. Last year Rajai Davis led the team in home runs and he didn't carry that into the regular season. Am I still the front-runner to head north with the Jays?

Eric Thames, Toronto courtesy of M.Siddall

A-Yes Eric you are the front runner and thank you for pointing out the obvious. Sheesh!

Q-Any chance Ben Francisco would be released to free up another spot? What is his contract status, and is his 2012 contract guaranteed?

Thanx,

J. M. ("Mel") Norton, Burlington, ON

A-Francisco has a one-year deal with 4-plus years of major-league service. Francisco is 30-years-old and fills a role right now that might be deemed superfluous by the end of the season. He is a right-hand outfield bat and a defender at the corners. The cost is reasonable. 

Q-Dear Richard,

I've been watching baseball over 50 years. Please tell me why The Jays bring in a demonstrable failure like Rick VandenHurk, following the tradition of bringing in a Brian Tallet (twice!), and other dreck named Bullington, Burres, Reyes, Eveland 
et al. It was obvious these washouts would fail in Toronto. What a waste of time, effort and money bringing these guys to a pitching-rich organization. I know clubs need “filler " at AAA. This seems to be an affliction AA has inherited from Mr. Ricciardi. 
What am I missing ? You can't create a silk purse, etc.....

Thanks,

Selby Martin, Toronto

A-I think your negative reaction is a little strong to the former presence of Mr. VandenHurk, claimed on waivers by the Indians, and other non-roster spring training invitees of the past. Oh, and don't forget John Thomson, Tomo Ohka and the  less-talented Zambrano -- Victor.

No, the art of signing other teams' released free agents during the winter and then inviting them to your spring training is a time-honoured tradition, usually when you're not quite sure about the back end of your five-man rotation. It's not that expensive an exercise, really, with no cash-money guaranteed if a player is in camp on a minor-league deal. You're just paying his meal money and housing expenses. If the pitcher does make your staff, it's usually for a million dollars or less.

I don't think Jo-Jo Reyes should be included in your group, even though it did not end well for the plucky left-hander. He was, in fact, part of the trade that brought Yunel Escobar to the Jays. Anthopoulos believed that he saw something major league in Reyes. In fact, this spring it seemed like the Jays actually brought in fewer such pitchers as starters. Aaron Laffey and VandenHurk were really the only two with any shot as major-leaguers. This is an internal signal that they feel any extra needs can be filled internally by talented kids that they have developed. Next year will see fewer invitees.

Q-Being a Blue Jays fan all my life, it saddens me to see how the fanfare surrounding the team has diminished over the years. How can the Jays get back to the glory years (1989-1994) when they sold out all their home games and broke the 4 million mark for home games attended in a season?

I think they need to buy some great players to make this team a true contender now. We've been waiting 20 years for a post-season game. Give the city something to cheer about. We certainly can't count on the Leafs for that!

Dean Brunton, Toronto

A-Anthopoulos' belief is that once the Jays reach the anticipated position where they are contending for one of the three playoff spots available – AL East winner or one of two wild cards – for the first time, the theory is that the Jays' contending status will be sustainable for many years to come because of the depth of their farm system. It's a solid philosophy, but hard to stay patient for a fan-base that has been waiting 18 years for a return visit to the playoffs since the World Series years.

Wandering the Mattick centre during the Jays' mini-camp in February, the young talent that was on display there was amazing. In fact there are some Venezuelan and Dominican kids not at that camp that have not yet reached the Baseball America radar because they are too young -- 16-17-years-old. But there are some talented kids – mostly position players -- that need to fill out physically and are 5-6 years away from the majors. The Jays arrived at this point being one of two or three teams that took advantage the last two years to stock up on international free agents, mostly from the Caribbean, and draft choices before the new CBA levelled the playing field with financial restrictions that were rammed through and help the lazy scouting teams.

Throwing money at major-league free agents is rolling the dice, paying for past accomplishments, that rarely works unless you are already building through the farm and have a couple of holes that need filling. The formula of two big ticket free agent stars that you have just outbid someone for surrounded by four iffy major-leaguers at starting positions is not a winning formula. The Jays' reasoning this past winter was more about trading for a starting pitcher. AA tried that route, but it did not work out for various reasons. Without that experienced young starter, they still have a chance to contend, but too many things need to go exactly right. 

Q-Hi Richard,

Can you tell me if Dustin McGowan will be on an innings limit this season?

thanks,

Marcus Heinrichs, Stouffville

A-McGowan, even if he remains healthy all year, will be on a pitch limit of around 150 innings. The formula actually relies more on pitch count, but at the top end of pitch count that assumes 20 pitches per inning – which is high – or about 3000 pitches. The Jays are already thinking ahead in the case of McGowan. They have decided that young Drew Hutchison will himself be on an innings count. They have Hutch starting the year restricted to 2-3 inning starts so that by August, he will have enough innings left in his personal gas tank that he could possibly come up and finish off McGowan's fifth starter role for the Jays. However, if something was to happen to McGowan early on and he can't make it that far into the season for whatever reason, they have Aaron Laffey as a non-roster possibility, or Kyle Drabek, Chad Jenkins and Deck McGuire ready to go and stretched out. But they will ride McGowan as far as he can physically carry them to a max of 150 innings.

Q-Richard,

With Hechavarria seeming to have solid at bats during spring training could you see him pushing Jays management getting him into the every day lineup this season? I wouldn't think Kelly Johnson has a great amount of trade value, but if he was packaged with Snider or Thames, do you think that would net the Jays a pitcher like, G. Floyd? If not what level of pitcher could a package starting with those players be able to net?

Scott Cochrane, Niagara-on-the-Lake

A-Adeiny Hechavarria has impressed everyone this spring, but he still needs his Triple-A at-bats in Las Vegas. The plan would be as the season goes along that is there is a disablement to either Yunel Escobar or Kelly Johnson, that Hechavarria would come up and fill in as the starter at that position, while the backup at the major-league level – presumably Omar Vizquel – remains the backup. But by next year, Hechavarria will be on his last option and after the 2013 season, he needs to make the Jays to stay or someone will definitely claim him on waivers. They would probably like to have Hechavarria start the 2013 season as a major-leaguer after a year at Vegas and thus still have one option left. The decision would then come of how to align Hechavarria and Escobar in the middle infield.

Johnson this year would have zero trade value because he was a free agent and nobody made him significant offers the, so why would they look to him now when they have to give up a player. The White Sox want a lot more than that for Gavin Floyd. That's why he's still a Chisox.  

Q-Mr. Griffin,

There is much discussion in regards to the Jays lack of a 4th or 5th starter. Who might the Jays GM be targeting? Also, will we ever see Scott Richmond at the major league level again?

Gord Robertson, Oakville

A-Right now, Brett Cecil, Henderson Alvarez and Dustin McGowan are the 3-4-5 guys. During the winter the Jays made a run at, or else considered and rejected, all the familiar names that were eventually dealt, like Mat Latos, Gio Gonzalez and Michael Pineda, but nothing happened so the Jays are staying in-house for their rotation answers. It's a tough call for the Jays with those final three guys that combined for just five major-league wins in '11. The rule of thumb is you need about 65 wins out of your rotation to contend for the post-season. Jays' starters were 51-61 a year ago, with a 4.55 ERA. The five guys that are starting the year in the Jays '12 rotation combined for a 31-38 record a year ago. Do the math. Tough to make up those wins.

As for Scott Richmond he is the ultimate minor-league warrior. I talked to him at the Team Canada-Jays game and he is healthy and understands that he must rock and roll at AAA-Las Vegas to stay ready in case he ever gets the call, or maybe another team has a need. He knew he was going to start in Vegas, but nothing in his baseball life has ever been given to him. He is the ultimate underdog story and we hope it turns out well. But if not, it won't be for a lack of trying.

Q-Hi Richard,

I've read in a few places about the 'great vibe' in the Jays clubhouse. I'm just wondering if you can comment on that? Does a good clubhouse translate into wins on the field? Do you think AA tried to create a clubhouse with good chemistry? Finally, fans like me are keen to know more about what the players are really like. Reporters get to see things that fans don't. I understand you have to be careful about what you can divulge, but what can you tell us about the Jays vibe and personalities? Any fried chicken and beer?

Robert Brander, Sydney, Australia

A-The Jays do have a good clubhouse. When the spring started there were 65 players in that clubhouse so it was kind of hard to get a read on what it would be like once it was pared down. But it tells you a lot when a veteran like Francisco Cordero, at 36-years-old and coming in as a free-agent, says that after three days in the clubhouse he felt like he had been there before, that he somehow was at home. The vibe in the clubhouse comes from the lack of cliques based on demographics. You're as likely to see Brett Lawrie over at Jose Bautista's locker, or Kyle Drabek and J.P. Arencibia with Ricky Romero and Brandon Morrow sharing a laugh. Then there's the country boys, Jeff Mathis and Colby Rasmus. There's a lot of smiling and banter going on in the Jays' room, rather than slumped over brooding in front of lockers. Off-season social networking among the players has had a lot to do with the fact that when they show up at camp they are already involved in each other's lives. Good vibe going on.

However, that being said, it's a long season and once the season schedule starts, the reverse to your question happens. It won't be a good clubhouse that translates into wins. It will be wins that translates into a good clubhouse. AA has not been worried about building the clubhouse vibe, but he does focus on bringing good people, solid personalities into the organization. He is focusing on the individuals, but when you bring all those solid individuals together, the result is a good clubhouse. As for the chicken and beer question, after a KFC small bucket and a six-pack of Yuengling it's off to work for me.   

Q-Hey Richard,

Re: Jays AAA relocation -
 Has there ever been any discussion of having the AAA team in the GTA?
The fans seem to know about the Jays' prospects so presumably attendance would be good, plus there's such a big population in the region.

Thanks,

D'Arcy Draper, Richmond Hill

A-The fans in Toronto know as much about their own minor-league prospects as any fans in major-league baseball. In fact, I was listening to MLB radio on my satellite car radio on my drive to Kissimmee this spring when the co-host suggested that of all their MLB radio listeners they get more response on fan questions and polls from Jays fans than any other. He suggested it was a cult and there must be a secret handshake. Kind of funny, kind of flattering to Jays fans.

Which leads to the answer to your original question. Say there was a 15,000 seat stadium built somewhere at the corner of 401-and-whatever for the AAA-International League Jays. How embarrassing would it be on a given night for the real Jays to be out-drawn by their local farm team. No, the Jays need to build their major-league brand in Toronto before they can think of bringing in a second product. The Leafs and Marlies is not a good example, because the Leafs sell out every night.

Oh, by the way, the satellite radio is good for listening to MLB radio on those long drives to Jays' road games, but I think I was bamboozled. When I booked the car online, I added satellite radio for $100 for the 34 days. The guy in the parking lot took the zip-up bag and leaned into the front seat and hooked up the radio that sits on the dash and is harder to manipulate than a Rubik's Cube. I started the car and drove away and realized the car had a built in satellite radio. Hmm.

Q-Thanks for your blog, good reading. I was just viewing an article about DH in the NL. Best solution -

one, have somebody PH for the pitcher in both leagues, but leave the pitcher in the game if you still need him. Simple and effective.

 Two -- increase the roster to 27 (and the protected to 42) to cover the added guys needed to PH. Remember, PHs can only be used once. The union will love this, and that will get them onside. PHs are cheaper than DHs -- that'll get the owners onboard.

 But all of this won't happen, because it is too easy to do...

What do you think?

Dean Tudor, Toronto

A-The DH question will not be solved with any compromise. It's either DH or no DH and since every league in the world except the National League operates with the DH, I fear that will be the winner. I hate it because it will take away from a lot of the strategy that makes baseball so interesting to discuss sitting in the stands or the press box. The balance of more offence against more strategy is simple. For true baseball fans, the winner would be more strategy. But there are no fantasy baseball categories that include strategy, so the fix is in for the demise of nine-man baseball. However I already agree that with most teams carrying 12 pitchers these days that it's time to increase major-league rosters to 27 players.

Q-Richard,

I'm still drinking the AA Kool-aid despite a rather meek winter. Unlike other Toronto teams, you get the sense with the Jays that they're building the right way with high-end talent that they can either bring to Toronto or trade for the final parts. 

That being said, there's one big concern I have with the Jays ability to compete in 2013 (a more reasonable playoff goal). It seems our talent is lining up where Gose will be the starting CF; Hechavarria the starting SS and D'Arnaud the starting C. All 3 rookies, starting at the most critical defensive positions; right up the middle; trying to adjust to MLB life while making a playoff push. 
With 3 rookies at 3 key positions in 2013 won't it take until 2014 or 2015 until they and the team have matured together to compete?

David Major, Richmond Hill

A-I believe the Jays were indeed aggressive in trying to trade prospects for major-league players this winter, but AA's problem might be that most of his valuable minor-league prospects were still 2-3 years away and harder for other GMs and organizations to project than those from other organizations that may have been less talented in the long-term but more advanced in the now-term.

I see the question you're asking abut all those rookies at the same time. I can see Gose beginning his major-league career filling both the Rajai Davis and Ben Francisco role as the disruptor off the bench and as the defensive replacement and fill-in for occasional starts at all three outfield positions. As for D'Arnaud, the Giants won the 2010 World Series with rookie Buster Posey behind the plate. And Hechavarria will be 24 early in the 2013 season and his defence he brings will negate his rookie inexperience. That's not to say all three of those things will happen, but the Jays want to contend and will not give up that dream just for the sake of getting the three rookies into the lineup. Having Arencibia and D'Arnaud is a nice problem for the Jays to try and figure out.      

Q-Hey Richard,

Here's one for you:

 What are the odds we could blow-out the seldom-used 'Windows' restaurant in centre field and pop-in an open air beer garden? 

How sweet would it be to sit at some communal tables, sharing adult beverages, and shagging fly balls? 

Best seats in the house as far as I'm concerned. 

I can only assume that there is some rule prohibiting fans to be sat in dead centre field (distracting hitters - *insert "man in white" comment here*), but a man can dream,  no?

Thanks

A-I think that's a great idea, however considering the location in dead centre field in the batter's line of vision, you're right, there would have to be a dress code at the beer garden of nothing but men and women in black, with nothing but Guinness on tap and no drinking while a pitch is being delivered. Oh wait, that was the rule in the Red Sox clubhouse last year. However, really, if they took your concept and extended a concrete platform down the left field line towards but inside the foul pole that extended from the Level 300 overhang out towards the field and put picnic tables and umbrellas and servers in blue lederhosen and barmaids in Oktoberfest outfits, what a concept. But, of course Jays fans might be confused by the confusing concept of baseball AND October.

Q-I have no question or comment. I am a lifelong Pirate fan. I have no explanation.

Terry Olynik, St. Catharines

A-As they say in Quebec, “Quel dommage.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Griffin: Blue Jays notes Game 21

DUNEDIN, FLA.-In a crisply played Thursday afternoon affair against the visiting Phillies and their outstanding lefthander Cliff Lee, the Blue Jays upped their spring training record to 16-4-1, with a 2-0 victory at the park formerly known as Dunedin Stadium. The 16 wins equals last year's victory total under then-rookie manager John Farrell and is within five of the all-time franchise record of 21 set in 1989 under Jimy Williams.

Jays' righthander Brandon Morrow pitched five shutout innings, allowing one hit, with two walks and one strikeout. He faced two batters over the minimum.

"I think more than anything, he's taken this spring training to go out and pitch, quote-unquote, rather than just go out and throw the baseball," manager John Farrell said. "He's been able to do a number of things, especially with his off-speed stuff. It's very positive that he's not just relying on sheer power, with a hard fastball, hard cutter."

Second baseman Kelly Johnson banged out three hits from the leadoff positon, flipped in the batting order for the second straight time with shortstop Yunel Escobar. Farrell suggested that it was a spring training experiment.

"Taking a look," Farrell said. "Both have hit at the top of the order for the vast majority of their career. Just felt like Yunel has the ability to hit the hole over there a little bit more. Kelly's not a dead pull hitter, where he's going to use the whole field a little bit more. It's just a couple of game look. Can't say that that's going to be reflected on Opening Day."

Jose Bautista manufactured a run in the fourth inning. He led off with a line drive off the left field wall, beating the throw to second with a slide to the centre field said of the bag. He stole third, then scored on a slow bouncer through the right side by Adam Lind. 

* * * * * *

The Brett Lawrie injury update on the tightness in his left groin. Sure, it's seemingly redundant but the question needs to be asked.

“We'll increase his baseball activity today, particularly with a little bit more lateral work," manager John Farrell said in the morning. "He's not in the lineup today and right now we'll push that back until Saturday at the earliest.

"He continues to be improved every day, but consistent with what we've stated about him, we're going to err on the side of caution and he's making steady progress. It isn't because of a setback in any way. It's just a gradual ramping up of the activities and being sure that any discomfort, which there is none right now, we just want to make sure that we take him through the appropriate progressions. He ran Wednesday. Five times at 90 feet with no problem. That will continue today including the additional work groundball wise, laterally. But there's been no restrictions swinging the bat, so we're very confident that he's going to be fine. But, we're just taking our time with him." 

* * * * * *

It's about that time in spring training, where the Jays' regulars will start to see daily action in preparation for opening day. No more avoiding bus rides for the veterans.

“Actually, we'll probably look to get the regulars in there today and tomorrow," manager John Farrell said before the game. "Saturday being a day game after a night game, we'll probably change things up a little bit, but yeah, we went through this week purposely trying to give a little bit more space, rest, but in these last 10 days that will become a little bit more regular."

* * * * * *

The fate of invited veteran infielder Omar Vizquel may have inadvertently been revealed by GM Alex Anthopoulos. The GM was asked if the club would wait until the last minute to let the 44-year-old future Hall-of-Fame candidate know his fate. Anthopoulos said that out of respect, because there was no firm date, they would let him know in timely fashion.

 

“We're not going to take things down to the wire if we don't need to," Anthopoulos said. "When we've made a decision and we know for certain, we don't need to see him play anymore and the decision's set no matter how they play the next day or the day after, we'll advise, we'll tell the players at that point. It's only fair to them."

Anthopoulos is a stickler for the rules and under the new CBA, with a veteran like Vizquel, the new rule is the club must let said player know five days before the opener -- March 30 -- that he is being released or else they owe him a large sum of money. If they had planned on releasing Vizquel, Anthopoulos would have been aware of that regulation. I've been wrong before, but Vizquel must be considered the frontrunner for the utility role.

 

 

 

 

Griffin: Blue Jays notes Game 20

SARASOTA, FLA.-The Blue Jays are proving hard to beat at spring training. On Wednesday, they scored four runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Orioles 6-3. The Jays ran their Grapefruit League record to 15-4-1. The club record for wins at spring training is 21 in 1989 under manager Jimy Williams. The Jays won 16 Grapefruit League games last year in John Farrell's first season. They host the Phillies on Thursday. 

Righthander Kyle Drabek has been working on his mechanics and in improving his temperament this spring, two flaws that have held him back from establishing himself in the majors. He has improved in both each outing. On Wednesday he went 3-1/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts. 

“He reached his pitch count of 65, so I thought it was important to get him out there for a fourth time up and down," Farrell said of taking him out during an inning. "He'll continue to work deeper into games as he builds up his workload. I thought today was encouraging. Things could have gotten a little hairy for him in the first, but he kept things under control. He keeps continuing to put the balls on the ground and that's encouraging."

In the first, after an infield hit and a one-out walk, Ben Francisco came up throwing on a base hit. Catcher J.P. Arencibia seemed to have a tag play at the plate, but stepped out front and gunned a throw to third looking for the out there. Drabek maintained his composure and got a chopper back to the mound and a broken bat flyball to end the threat.

“Even if the manager does, I'm pretty sure the player won't," Drabek laughed when asked if sometimes he thinks the manager may be asking players to mess up just to test him. “Definitely, that's where some of the groundballs came in. I was able to get 'em with the two-seamer and get out of the inning."

Drabek remains relaistic about his chances of breaking camp and heading north with the major-league team.

“It's not up to me," he said. "I'm still working on staying on my line and not rushing, slowing the game down. It's a good point right now, so we'll see. It's just fighting for a job again, same as last year. I've got to be able to go out there and make my pitches.”

The Jays toed the game on a sacrifice fly by Jonathan Diaz and won it on a surprise bunt single by Anthony Gose that was not scored a single. He laid one down and there was nobody covering first and Yan Gomes scored ahead of the backhand flip.

“I think sometimes people might take his physical stature a little for granted," Farrell said of Diaz, fast becoming one of his favourites. "He's got the ability to square a baseball up. He makes a diving play a game it seems like. He's a very good baseball player."

* * * * * *

Eric Thames played in Fort Myers on Tuesday night and stayed at the hotel in Sarasota overnight. But when he reported to the ballpark with tightness in his right calf left over from the Red Sox game, manager John Farrell erred on the side of caution.

“He's had that in the past," Farrell said. "First time, day after a night. I didn't want to press it on him. He came in for some treatment today and even the trainers said he was good to go. I just felt it wasn't the right move to make."

* * * * * *

During the game, righthander Rick Vandenhurk, the big Dutchman who drilled Yunel Escobar in the elbow ending his season last year, was summoned from the Jays' dugout and notified that he had been selected in waivers by the Indians. The Jays had been trying to sneak him through waivers so they could outright him to AAA-Las Vegas and clear a 40-man roster spot for later this spring if they add a non-roster player to the opening day squad.

“I had conversations with the Indians when the Orioles designated me," Vandenhurk explained in his delightful Dutch-tinged accent. "When I took my free agency, I also did talk to Cleveland. They were very interested, so I'm not really surprised. I thought with the Blue Jays it would be a good opportunity for me. I think if I had maybe a different spring training you put yourself in a better situation. Not a great spring, so it's as simple as that."

* * * * * *

The Brazilian-born, Miami educated utility man, Yan Gomes was a key player in the Wednesday game, making his first start at third base in place of the injured Brett Lawrie. He was 2-for-4 with a double, raising his average to .474. He made two nice plays going to his left, drawing a long conversation on the field from an admiring Omar Vizquel. He was at Double-A last year as Travis D'Arnaud's backup and may see that again.

“He has done himself a world of good in this camp, both in terms of the way he receives, the way he blocks balls, the way he can throw from behind the plate and he's not played a whole lot of third base," manager John Farrell said. "We felt like the work he's done both at third base and at first in early work, we gave him a run at it today and he made a couple of nice plays and he's not afraid when he steps in the box."

Gomes knows his limitations in terms of personal expectations.

“I kind of start as a backup, I just have to be able to compete whenever I'm called upon," Gomes said. "I kind of started playing a lot of different positions, like today I'm playing third, just to show my value that I can play every other position. That can give me more at bats and give me more value."

* * * * * *

Third baseman Brett Lawrie had a fifth consecutive day off and will likely have two more before returning to the lineup on Saturday. He had tightness in his left groin, but, as Farrell like to say with regard to minor injuries, the Jays are E.O.T.S.O.C.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Griffin: Blue Jays notes Game 19

The Blue Jays on Tuesday night defeated the Red Sox 9-2 at JetBlue Park to run their Grapefruit League record to an impressive 14-4-1. Lefthander Aaron Laffey, with an outside shot of starting the season with the major-league team, allowed a two-run homer to Kelly Shoppach as the only two runs scored against him in five innings.

The left field battle continued for the Jays with both Eric Thames and Travis Snider having good days at the plate. The DH Snider was 2-for-5 with a run, two RBIs, a double and a stolen base, while Thames, in left field, was 2-for-3 with a double and two walks.

Third baseman Edwin Encarnacion and first baseman David Cooper each had two hits and a double. Cooper is having another solid spring with nowhere to play in the majors. Adam Lind is the starter at first base and DH Encarnacion has played well when given the chance.

The Jays play in Sarasota against the Orioles on Wednesday, with Kyle Drabek getting his chance to make an impression.

* * * * * * 

Third baseman Brett Lawrie took a full round of batting practice and ground balls with no restrictions on Tuesday morning with teammates that were not taking the long bus ride to Fort Myers. Lawrie will get the Sarasota game off Wednesday and likely play Thursday. Lawries is recovering from tightness in his left groin suffered on the bases last Friday.

“

He feels improved, that's been the case for each day," manager John Farrell said. "If everything goes well, with those two first phases, we might even see him do a little running in the outfield. Fact is, we're going to be on the cautious side here."

The six days should not affect Lawrie's readiness for opening day. He's been having an outstanding spring and, after all, is only 22-years-old.

“Given where we are in camp, if he just got the last five days in camp that's going to be ample time," Farrell soothed. "He got out of the gate early for us, he's in great physical shape, his timing seemed to be spot-on in the first week, 10 days of games that he played, so I think he'll get right back up to speed relatively quick."

* * * * * *

Catching for Dustin McGowan at Jays' minor-league camp at Mattick on Tuesday was J.P. Arencibia, who avoided the long bus ride to Fort Myers. Arencibia will be in the group that heads to Sarasota on Wednesday morning to face the Orioles. He will catch Kyle Drabek, while Jeff Mathis will catch Ricky Romero's five-innings of work at the main stadium in Dunedin, facing a group of Jays' minor-leaguers in a game specially scheduled for Romero. Closer Sergio Santos will also work an inning. 

A number of the Jays' players and coaching staff stayed over in Sarasota at a hotel after the Red Sox game farther down the coast. It was the first time in years the Jays had an overnight trip. 

* * * * * *

The Jays were much deeper in terms of competitive talent at training camp this year than in manager John Farrell's rookie year. The results sow in the W-L record.

“

Our pitching depth, our position players, every aspect of our roster, those that are in camp that are non-roster, has taken a step forward," Farrell said. "A lot of that is the growth of our drafted and signed players that are developing. I think Alex has done a great job with the claiming of other pitchers, whether it's James Hoey, whether it's Drew Carpenter, the signing of him, Robert Coello, Rick Vandenhurk, who's here. I just think the overall depth is vastly improved, setting aside the names of a year ago.”

 

 

 

 

Griffin: Blue Jays notes Game 18

DUNEDIN, FLA.-The Blue Jays on Sunday defeated the Phillies 10-2 at the stadium formerly known as Grant Field in their first televised game of the spring, running the club's impressive Grapefruit League record to 13-4-1. They pummeled lefty Cole Hamels for five runs and eight hits in 3-1/3 innings. Monday is a day off for the entire team, except for young starter Henderson Alvarez who will travel the short distance to the Mattick Centre to pitch five innings in a Triple-A game.

Brett Cecil allowed one run in four innings as he gets used to his new trimmer body, having lost 32 lbs. in the off-season. He has allowed just one run in 10 innings this spring, on six hits, with three walks and six strikeouts, despite a fastball that checks in generally at between 86-88 m.p.h. He is comfortable with all aspects of his new physicality.

"As far as the body, I'm even better than I wanted to be," Cecil said. "Body condition and all that is good. As far as the arm is, it's good. As long as everything feels good, I'm happy. There's going to come a point in, who knows what game, that it's not always going to be there and that's where the hard work starts on the mound. I've worked hard in the off-season to go 10 innings. Most pitchers want to get to 6-7 innings, well I've trained to do 10. Given the weight I've shed, it's not putting as much strain on my shoulder. 

"In my mind, I don't care what the velocity is. I don't think velocity is what makes good pitchers. Obviously velocity helps you get away with mistakes but it all comes down to what I feel is 100-percent location."

Non-roster catcher Yan Gomes led the way with three hits, including a pair of doubles and three RBIs. The 24-year-old native of Brazil, who attended high school in Miami, played at AA-New Hampshire last year and has been impressive in his first major-league camp, with seven hits and four RBIs in 14 at-bats.

Shortstop Yunel Escobar was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Centre fielder Rajai Davis and DH Ben Francisco had two hits each. Jose Bautista, getting more of his offensive timing back daily, slammed a monster homer off of David Herndon. It was his third this spring. 

* * * * * *

Injured third baseman Brett Lawrie continued treatment for tightness in his left groin and did not go out on the field Sunday. He injured the groin on Friday and is out at least through Tuesday when the Jays travel to Fort Myers for a night game.

“It's still a treatment day for him,” Jays' manager John Farrell said. “He'll come in on the off day for treatment as well. But there's improvement being made. We're going to be sure that there's nothing lingering there. It's still day-to-day, but we don't think it will be an extended issue either.”

* * * * * *

The Jays cut five more players from major-league camp on Sunday. The club optioned catcher Travis D'Arnaud and first baseman Mike McDade and assigned catcher A.J. Jimenez and pitchers Deck McGuire and Jerry Gil to minor-league camp. The number of players still in major-league camp now stands at 41.

* * * * * *

Utility man Mike McCoy has been the subject of benign neglect when it come to a chance in the middle infield thus far. He has not had the chance to prove himself with the presence of Omar Vizquel, Adeiny Hechavarria and the younger version of himself, Jonathan Diaz. But on Sunday he was pencilled in at second base vs. the Phillies.

“Well, we wanted to get looks at other guys," manager John Farrell said. "Certainly when Hech was here, he took a number of those reps away from Mac. He's slated to go at second on Wednesday at Baltimore. With the second half of this game schedule coming upon us, his rotation in the middle of the infield will become more frequent."

McCoy executed a perfect safety squeeze for a base-hit and is batting .217 for the spring while playing three infield and three outfield positions.

* * * * * *

Catcher J.P. Arencibia did not play in the Jays' game at the stadium formerly known as Grant Field. Instead he traveled to minor-league camp to catch Darren Oliver for his three innings of work. Arencibia has been swing the bat much better in the past 10 days and has impressed his manager. Farrell was asked if Arencibia has been playing with an edge from the competition in camp or from the lack of respect from national baseball media.

“I haven't perceived any edge because of competition," John Farrell said. "That doesn't mean J.P.'s taken for granted anything in his own right. I think J.P.'s a confident person. I think J.P. believes in himself and he believes he's going to be here for a long time. If Travis D'Arnaud forces the issue, we want as many good players as we can regardless if they're duplicates at a position. We'll take every real good player.  

* * * * * *

Pror to Brett Cecil facing the Phillies on Sunday, Jays' manager John Farrell was asked if perhaps winning 15 games in 2010 and leading the staff in victories, while carrying the extra weight and with less-than-he-may-have-needed core strength may have introduced a false sense of security to the 26-year-old lefthander.

“Given the way the year evolved, there needed to be a counter-adjustment made," Farrell said of Cecil's disappointing follow-up 2011. "Whether that was being too comfortable, thinking it was going to happen more readily, he's making the necessary adjustments to maintain the focus and the concentration. He carries himself in a different way right now and that's not just visibly. There's a feeling of a lot more determination. There's a feeling of a lot more attention to detail. I think when you change your own personal habits, those have a tendency to spill over into other areas of your game."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Griffin: Blue Jays notes Games 16-17

CLEARWATER, FLA.-Toronto's 11-game undefeated streak at spring training ended on Saturday in Orlando, as the Braves beat a split squad of Blue Jays 5-3. Meanwhile the other half of the Jays lost to the Phillies 4-3 at Bright House Field. The Jays record in Grapefruit League play now stands at 12-4-1, as they host the Phillies back in Dunedin on Sunday in a televised game on Rogers Sportsnet.

In Orlando, Drew Hutchison and Deck McGuire each worked three innings and allowed a pair of runs, although one of the runs aganst Hutchison was unearned. Centre fielder Anthony Gose tripled, while left fielder Travis Snider was hitless in two at-bats.

At Bright House Field, the starter was Brandon Morrow, attempting to reach four innings for the first time this spring, but he ran up against a pitch count and was removed with one out in the fourth. He allowed one run and five hits in 3-1/3 innings and now has a 1.08 ERA. He was relieved by Luis Perez who worked 2-2/3 shutout innings. Bobby Korecky, a non-roster righthander gave up a leadoff double in the 10th to Scott Podsednick who scored the winner when Hector Luna lined a single to centre through a drawn-in infield. A home run by Freddy Galves off Jerry Gil had tied the game for the Phils in the ninth.

Jays' DH J.P. Arencibia smashed a monster homer off the thatched roof of the left field Tiki hut to give the Jays a 2-1 lead in the eighth and shortstop Brian Bocock slammed a solo homer in the ninth to give the Jays the 3-2 lead. They suffered two blown saves in the contest. Arencibia, Kelly Johnson, Omar Vizquel and Eric Thames had two hits apiece. Thames drove in a run with a sac-fly, bunted for a single and raised his average to .345.

Phillies third baseman Placido Polanco injured the ring finger of his left hand diving back into first base on a pickoff attempt by Jays' catcher Jeff Mathis in the first inning and underwent x-rays. 

* * * * * *

The Jays will be trying the three-man broadcast booth on Sunday in their televised game on Rogers Sportsnet aganst the Phillies with Cole Hamles facing Brett Cecil. Sharing the commentary will be play-by-play man Buck Martinez, with anaysts Pat Tabler and Pat Hentgen. All three men are former Jays' players -- a catcher, an infielder and a pitcher.

* * * * * *   

Jays' injured third baseman Brett Lawrie took Saturday day off from all activity to receive treatment for his injured left groin. The Langley, B.C. native suffered tightness after an energetic trip around the bases on Friday in the second inning that ended with a tweak as he scored from second base on a single by catcher J.P. Arencibia.

“It's likely to be multiple days before he's back on the field," manager John Farrell cautioned. "He's categorized as day-to-day. He feels improved today, but like I said we're going to make sure this one's 100-percent out of his mind and certainly not feeling anything before we would entertain the thought of getting him back in the lineup. We don't anticipate it being a lengthy situation. He won't go through any batting practice or anything today just to give it a complete day of treatment and a day of recovery.

“Even by his own admission, he's done this in the past. He made the smart move by saying something, pulling himself out of the game, so I think we'll get ahead of this in a relatively short period of time. He plays the game the way he's wired. That is intensity all the time, but setting aside yesterday's decision to come out of the game, there's also been times where he's made very good, prudent decisions inside the game, under control. Yeah, he plays full tilt but has the ability to stay under control when needed."

The question becomes how can a guy that plays the game as hard as he does day-in and day-out keep himself healthy and on the field?

“We would never ask him to go less than his instincts tell him to," Farrell said. "All players are going to deal with injuries. Some might say, look at how many games he missed last year. Well, he got hit in the hand with a pitch and he had a groundball pop up and fracture a finger. Those are completely out of his control. When he gets into his career and gets established, I think he'll have a better feel and certainly not trying to take away the intensity, but he'll understand who he is as a player more and more."

* * * * * *

Lefthander Luis Perez continues to impress in his bid for that final spot as a long man in the bullpen. Perez worked 2-2/3 shutout innings, allowing one hit, with a walk and two strikeouts. For the spring, he has now worked 8-2/3 inning without a run, qith two hits, three walks and nine strikeouts. 

Earlier in the day, manager John Farrell had talked about two spots being open, but if you assume that a healthy Carlos Villanueva has one of those bullpen spots, then in Farrell's words, it leaves Perez, Rick Vandenhurk, Drew Carpenter and Aaron Laffey for the other. Farrell described the attributes for which he was ideally looking.

“He's got to be able to get lefthanders out," Farrell said. "He's got to be able to turn a lineup over and have the ability to get both lefties and righties out -- if it's a righthanded pitcher. That multi-inning guy is probably coming into a game to stabilize it. Last year, Carlos did a great job in that role stabilizing games when we were down early when the starter checked out early and would bridge the gap to later inning relievers."

* * * * * *

One of the Jays' pitchers sent to minor-league camp on Friday was lefthander Evan Crawford, who impressed manager John Farrell with his first major-league camp.

“He did everything we felt he could have done in the outings that he had here," Farrell said of Crawford's four no-hit, shutout innings in three games. "He was very impressive in camp for a young guy coming out of Double-A who's recently converted to the bullpen, he's got three solid major-league pitches. You could categorize his breaking pitces, both curveball and slider as being above average. I thought he handled himself in the clubhouse and on the field as a pro and he made a very strong impression in camp."