We’ve almost made it! The Cubs’ pitchers and catchers reported yesterday, officially kicking baseball season off (sort of) (not actually but look we’re getting desperate here). The Grapefruit League is a little behind, with the Rays camp opening tomorrow being the earliest. The Jays will follow on Thursday.
Beyond entering the meat of “best shape of his life” season, reporting day also officially allows clubs access to the 60-day IL. For the Jays, that will mean clearing a roster spot as Alek Manoah is designated to continue his Tommy John rehab. We’ll see what they do with the space, but it’s a good opportunity to either make a waiver claim or one last signing.
Perhaps the more important date is next Tuesday, the 18th. That will mark the first full squad workout, and therefore also Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s self-imposed deadline to negotiate an extension. There hasn’t been much news, although Ross Atkins acknowledged on Friday that talks are continuing. To which I would reply that the sharpening of fans’ pitch-forks is also continuing, Ross, so get a move on.
Kevin Kiermaier is back in the organization as a special assistant. Kevin had a terrific 12 season MLB career after being drafted in the 31st round out of Parkland College in Illinois. The first 10 of those seasons were spent in Tampa Bay, but the bulk of the latter two were as a Blue Jay. He was traded to the Dodgers at last year’s deadline, where he won his first World Series. All told, he won four Gold Gloves and a Platinum Glove and posted 26.7 WAR, mostly on the strength of his glove. For my money he’s a top 10 all time defensive centre fielder.
All of which is to say, I think he’s qualified for a gig as “outfield whisperer”, which is apparently how he pitched his services to the front office. He was also a respected veteran and strikes me as a class act all around. The kind of guy I’d want to rub off on my young players.
For all the Jays struggles, it’s clear that current and former players like the city and the organization and want to be associated with it. That’s a good sign, and probably helps explain the front office’s longevity in spite of middling on-field results. At some point you have to win, but building a winning culture is an important if hard to define part of the process.
Keegan Matheson, MLB.com’s Jays beat writer, reports that Yariel Rodriguez will come into camp stretched out to start, and that a decision on his role will be made “about three quarters” of the way into spring training.
I think his most likely role is still as a swingman, where I think his iffy command could be better hidden and his stuff could play up. This move suggests he’s sixth on the starter depth chart, though, so keeping him stretched out at least until the top five make it through camp healthy makes sense. There’s also the possibility of experimenting with a six man rotation at times, which might help an old rotation perform more like their younger selves. That requires a seven man bullpen, though, which is tough at all times and especially when your long man is the one moving to the rotation.
That’s about it. The winter’s free agent market is all but over, Alex Bregman notwithstanding, and actual games are still 12 days away (for a sufficiently loose definition of ‘actual’). On the other hand, last night was a great one for sports birds in general, so I’ll choose to take that as a good omen.