Spring training kicked off yesterday. Other than Max Scherzer showing up with a Texas Rangers (boo, hiss) gym bag, it seems like everything got off to a solid start. Respect to Max for being worth almost $400 million but refusing to buy his own stuff when there’s perfectly good work swag lying around. High level dad behaviour. Whoever’s responsible for doling out Blue Jays gear might need to start making house calls, though. And hey, at least he showed up unlike certain diminutive former Jays.
The crew at SportsNet had a roundup of quotes and clips if you want some morsels of baseball flavoured content. There’s not much for actual news, though. John Schneider is saying the things he has to say about the roster. There were some injury updates:
- Bo is full go for spring, with the pin removed from his broken finger and his hamstring apparently fully healed
- Erik Swanson dealt with some shoulder fatigue and is a little behind, but is throwing from 120 feet and might still make opening day
- Daulton Varsho is up to throwing from 90 feet. He’s still officially expected to miss the start of the regular season, but the tone seems cautiously optimistic that he might be ahead of schedule.
And, of course, everyone seems unable to ignore the giant flashing countdown clock hanging over the proceedings. Shi Davidi has a piece on the Vlad negotiations, but there’s really nothing of substance. Atkins insists that they’re working on it, but also has a bunch of pablum about how important it is to stick to your valuations. Players all talk about how Vlad wants to stay, which is probably true but not to the extent of taking a discount. Four days remain before his camp’s deadline on Tuesday. I have no idea whether there’s any realistic chance of getting a deal done. The lack of leaks suggests that neither side is mad enough about the way things are going to want to peddle dirt about the other, but also doesn’t give any indication that there’s been progress. It’s felt for most of the winter like the organization would simply have to blink before they let a charismatic homegrown superstar walk, but maybe they really are that “disciplined in their valuations.” We shall see.
The team did announce the managers for their affiliates:
- Casey Candaele stays with AAA Buffalo
- Brent Lavalee was promoted from High A Vancouver to AA New Hampshire
- Jose Mayorga will take over Vancouver
- Gil Kim will manage A Dunedin
The Kim news is a bit of a surprise. He was hired as the director of player development back in 2016. In 2020 he picked up a job as MLB field coordinator (basically managing the MLB roster’s workouts, development plans, etc.), but also retained the Director title until Joe Sclafani was hired into that role in 2022. For the past three seasons he’s served only as the field coordinator. Moving down to A ball looks like a demolition, although it also stations him at the club’s complex to possibly take back some player development work.
One cool note: Eric Pardinho will represent Brazil at the WBC qualifier in Arizona from March 2-6. The qualifier tournament is between Brazil, China, Colombia and Germany, with the top two earning spots to next year’s main tournament.
Pardinho was a top international free agent signing in the same class as Leo Jimenez. Injuries derailed his prospects status, but the past couple of years he’s reestablished himself as a hard throwing reliever, making it to Buffalo last season. It’s cool to see him get a chance to represent his country, and hopefully it’s an opportunity for continued progress towards a role in Toronto.