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Photo Credit: © Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Spring Threat: Another Chance For Latos, Rays @ Blue Jays

| Cam Lewis

Mat Latos will get the ball for the Jays, while Josh Donaldson, Roberto Osuna, and J.A. Happ will see action in a minor league spring game.

News and Scuttlebutt

Surely you’ve seen this incredible video that made its rounds through Twitter yesterday morning, but if you haven’t, there you go. Josh Donaldson, nursing a calf injury suffered at the very beginning of spring, hit a dinger in a minor league game, and din’t run the bases. It kinda looks like a badass home run celebration, but in reality, it’s because the former MVP was instructed not to run the bases, because of his injury.

That didn’t stop this college coach from trying to lay into Donaldson on Twitter:

“This might be the worst video I have ever seen. So much disrespect to the game of baseball. Baseball gods will handle this. https://t.co/ln1X66zrXV”

— Sean Allen (@SeanAllen3) March 17, 2017

Donaldson replied and let the guy know he wasn’t allowed to run, and Allen apologized and deleted the tweet. Be careful what you say on the internet, folks. It’s a cruel, unforgiving place that never forgets.

Sticking with Donaldson, he’ll bat again in a minor league game, while J.A. Happ and Roberto Osuna will join him. Devon Travis, who had a singe and a couple of walks in his minor league camp game yesterday, will have today off. Both still appear to be progressing to return before the end of spring.

Anthony Alford was unsurprisingly cut and sent to minor league camp yesterday, but John Gibbons had some very positive things to say about the 22-year-old outfielder. Part of me wonders if the team isn’t interested in committing a decent wad of guaranteed cash to somebody like Angel Pagan because they believe Zeketon can carry the load for a few months, giving Alford the opportunity to grab the left field job and run with it. Wishful thinking? Probably.

Speaking of Zeketon, both Carrera and Upton were curiously scratched just over an hour before the game today. Zeke apparently has a sore finger, and Upton has some other injury he wouldn’t elaborate on, but claims it isn’t long-term or serious.

And finally, yesterday’s big news: Blue Jays games on MLB.tv will not be blacked out in Canada this upcoming season like previously suggested. Fuck yeah! It was expected with Rogers releasing Sportsnet Now, an app that allows you to watch Sportsnet TV content on the go, or something like that, the Jays would lobby for a blackout in Canada to force people into buying it, because as we know, most fans like to be able to watch games on their phones, laptops, and tablets rather than living room TV (if they even have one, because welcome to 2017).

Mat Latos will get the ball today for the Jays. It hasn’t exactly been an ideal spring for the once-very-good-now-not-very-good veteran righty, as Latos has allowed seven runs through eight innings of work, largely due to the long ball. But Latos still has an opportunity to work his way through the depth chart, likely not as a starter, but possibly as a long reliever or something. The Jays knew this was an experiment that was going to take some time, so improvement is what we’re looking for at this point.

TV: SNET, MLB.tv

Radio: SN590

And now, the starting lineups..

Blue Jays

Troy Tulowitzki (R) SS

Russell Martin (R) C

Kendrys Morales (S) DH

Darrell Ceciliani (L) RF

Kevin Pillar (R) CF

Justin Smoak (S) 1B

Ryan Goins (L) 3B

Darwin Barney (R) 2B

Jon Berti (R) LF

Mat Latos (R) SP

Rays

Nick Franklin (S) 2B

Mallex Smith (L) CF

Jake Bauers (L) LF

Casey Gillaspie (S) 1B

Luke Maile (R) C

Michael McKenry (R) DH

Daniel Robertson (R) SS

Patrick Leonard (R) 3B

Dayron Varona (R) RF

Chase Whitley (R) SP

SEE ALSO