Spring Threat: Jays vs. Twins

8 years ago

Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Fort Myers [is where the Jays would be if they weren’t playing a home game today]! A breezy two-and-a-half hour bus ride down the Gulf Coast from the Blue Jays’ home in Dunedin and you’re there! Can you imagine??? [You’ll have to — the Jays are in Dunedin].

Actually, though, I almost can’t imagine what’s about to transpire on the field of Hammond Stadium [because it sure isn’t a Twins-Jays game], as legit stars — and noted “baseball rats” — Troy Tulowitzki and Josh Donaldson have made the trip [is what I’d say if this was actually an away game]. So that’s something! [Except how… y’know… it’s not].

Tulo’s something else, it turns out:

Hey, and maybe Michael Saunders will continue his big start to camp. Or Darrell Ceciliani will make another play in centre that makes me wonder if it’s my useless ass out there.

Ahh, spring!

Scuttlebutt

Great stuff from Josh Howsam of BP Toronto — formerly Blue Jays Plus — as he looks at the… er… great stuff Ross Atkins has done since becoming the Jays’ GM, particularly in terms of depth. The club now has backups with experience as big league regulars at just about every spot on the diamond — something Alex Anthopoulos’s stars-and-scrubs-y team building philosophy (and refusal to include incentives in contracts) never really allowed for.

One of those depth pieces is, of course, Gavin Floyd, who the Jays gave a big league contract to (for some reason) and is making his second start of the spring. Let’s… uh… let’s see how that goes. As well as his 2.70 ERA 13.1 innings last September, with just 11 hits and four walks for 55 batters faced, one hopes! (Just don’t, y’know, look at the strikeouts or HR/FB rate).