We have returned from a long and terrific holiday. We spent three weeks on safari in Botswana and Zimbabwe and then took a cruise up the west side of Africa. I saw places and things I never thought I’d see: many lions, zebras, elephants, giraffes, wild dogs, hippos, water buffalo, monkeys, hyenas, cheetahs, and many other animals. I saw wild dogs take down a young impala and eat the entire poor thing in about 10 minutes, other than the fur and the head. On the smaller side, we saw a scorpion, poisonous snakes, and many lizards.
We had a few scary moments. An elephant charged at our jeep, but the guide banged on the hood and yelled, and the elephant stopped. The guide said that if you back up, it tells the animal he’s in charge, and he’ll continue charging at the vehicle.
On the downside, despite being told we would have ‘high-speed internet’ on the cruise, it was far more like the old dial-up days. So, I was out of the loop on things happening with the Jays.
I owe a huge thank you (and likely a few beers) to Tom_M for doing a great job while I was gone, and to everyone else who kept the lights on here.
But came home with the good news that Alan Roden has made the opening-day roster. I’m very happy for him. It looks like he had an amazing spring, hitting .407/.541/.704 with two home runs in 37 PA. Sample size warnings, but I hope he gets some playing time.
On the bad side, Addison Barger didn’t make the team, even with a .367/.429/.733 line in his 35 spring PA. I’m hoping he’ll be up sometime in April. Daulton Varsho is starting the season on the DL, and they plan to use Myles Straw and Nathan Lukes in center field in his absence. Straw had a good spring, .400/.472/.567 in 36 PA, but he had a .564 OPS in 2023, the last time he got a good number of at-bats in the majors. Lukes didn’t have a great spring (.222/.364/.361), but he has done well in limited at-bats with the Jays the last couple of years.
The batters who will start the season with the Jays:
Catchers:
- Alejandro Kirk: who has a nice new contract ($58 million over five years).
- Tyler Heinemann: Stay healthy, Kirk.
Infielders:
- Vladimir Guerrero: Mark Shapiro figures they still have a good chance of signing him. We’ll see.
- Andres Gimenez: Who also had a nice spring, .283/.377/.543 with 2 steals in 53 PA.
- Bo Bichette: Great spring numbers, .373/.411/.667.
- Ernie Clement: Who will likely get most of the playing time at third (.395/.400/.581, 45 PA, a great spring even without a walk).
- Will Wagner: The infield utility guy.
Outfield:
- Anthony Santander: Nice spring, but just one home run.
- Myles Straw
- Nathan Lukes
- George Springer: Terrible spring, .108/.298/.514 with one home run. I wonder how long the Jays will go with him if he doesn’t hit?
- Alan Roden
- Davis Schneider: The surprise to me. He didn’t hit at all last year and didn’t have a great spring (.223/.312/.404). If he plays more than Roden, we riot. But he is a RHB, which explains why he gets the nod over Barger.
On the pitching side, the team hasn’t told us who will make the team. Max Scherzer seems to be the biggest question. If he starts the season on the IL, then there is some questions.
And Ryan Yarbrough isn’t making the team, making him a free agent, which surprises me. I thought he was a needed part of the bullpen.
The bullpen will be missing Erik Swanson, Zack Pop and Ryan Burr to start the season. All three have fairly minor injuries.
Shi Davidi tells us that the bullpen will include Jeff Hoffman, Yimi Garcia, Chad Green, Nick Sandlin, Brendon Little, Yariel Rodriguez, Jacob Barnes and Richard Lovelady.
Lovelady gave up 3 home runs in his 8.1 spring innings, but the team seems to like him for one of the left-hander spots. I think I’d rather have Yarbrough.
The team was 18-10 in spring games, which means little, but winning is always better than losing.