Ross Atkins talks about the starting rotation and Vlad Jr.

Pitchers and catchers are reporting today! You know what that means? It’s time to get excited because winter is nearing an end and the warm, soothing sights and sounds of baseball are on the way? Nope! It means it’s time to get mad about the Toronto Blue Jays!

We all know that the Jays are going to keep Vald Jr. down for a few weeks at the beginning of the season to ensure the organization can push back his eventual free agency as far as possible. This is a thing everyone does with young players. We saw it last year with Ronald Acuna in Atlanta, we saw it in 2015 with Kris Bryant in Chicago, and we’ll see it again until the MLBPA makes a big stink about it during the inevitable work stoppage in a few years.

Still, there’s no doubt that it’s frustrating, and it’s a great avenue to unleash general angst fans have towards the team right now. With the Jays having a boring off-season in which they’ve completely shrugged at the idea of being even sort of good, fans are agitated.

Ross Atkins ultimately confirmed that Vlad will start the season in Triple-A…

Again, this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, but it’s going to be a storyline for the next few months. It’ll be a talking point every time Vlad hits a dinger in spring, it’ll be a talking point when he doesn’t crack the roster at the end of March, and it’ll be a talking point as he lights up hopeless Quad-A starters in Buffalo for a few weeks.

Remember when I said Jays fans are agitated and they’re looking for things to get upset about? Well, beyond the Vlad thing, there’s this…

Atkins also spoke about the starting rotation this morning, suggesting that four of the five starters are set. Ryan Borucki, who enjoyed a very good rookie showing with the Jays last season, will apparently be one of the guys fighting for the final starting job, while Clayton Richard and Matt Shoemaker, two underwhelming veterans, have been pencilled into their roles.

It’s a little surprising that Richard has been guaranteed a job as a starter, given the fact he’s 35 years old and he’s coming off a season in which he had a 5.33 ERA. I had thought when he was acquired from the Padres back in December that he would come into spring competing for the fifth spot or a role as a long man out of the ‘pen. Apparently the Jays view him as a sure fire starter at this point.

This really seems like posturing on the part of Atkins. As great as Borucki was last season, it’s difficult to just give a rookie with just 17 big league starts a certain spot in the rotation. You gotta prioritize those veterans who have earned it, ya know! For the sake of optics! Anyways, when it’s all said and done, I’m very confident that, barring injury, Borucki will be one of the five starters travelling north with the Jays at the end of March.