How will the Blue Jays deal with Casey Janssen's devastating injury?
I guess it was too much to ask for that the Blue Jays, who lost more than 950 man-games to a variety of injuries in the field and on the mound last season, to make it through this spring unscathed.
It wasn’t a good sign when word started filtering out Tuesday in Dunedin that Casey Janssen, who was so valuable last summer in the set-up role for Jeremy Accardo and expected to battle for the fifth spot in the Jays 2008 rotation, was having arm issues. He couldn't warm up before a simulated game appearance and was going off for an MRI on his barking pitching shoulder.
As is want for all Toronto sports fans, the worst was expected - I guess we can thank the Leafs for that - and the worst came down mid-morning on Wednesday when it was revealed that the 26-year old right-hander has a torn labrum, will undergo surgery to correct the problem and is lost to the team for the season. Janssen will not be able to pick up a ball for four months so that basically scrubs the year.
So where do we go from here, with such a devastating injury to a key cog on their pitching staff? Well, thankfully last season's injuries revealed that the Jays have a lot of depth in the arms department. If, and it's still an if, closer B.J. Ryan can return to his closer role then Accardo steps back into the set-up role with help from Brian Wolfe, Scott Downs and a rejuvenated Brandon League.
They also brought in the likes of Shawn Camp, John Parrish and Lance Carter and just yesterday, one hour before Janssen came up lame, former closer Armando Benitez, all with Major League experience, on minor league deals with a spring training invite.
The depth in the bullpen will allow them to handle this injury to a key reliever. But Janssen was being pencilled in to follow Roy Halladay, A.J. Burnett, Dustin McGowan and Shaun Marcum in the rotation, and with Gustavo Chacin already optioned to Triple-A Syracuse to build up his arm strength following his own injury, that spot will fall, by default, to Jesse Litsch.
Nothing wrong with Litsch, he made 20 starts in 2007, going 7-9 with an ERA of 3.81, but his development might better be served by starting the season in Syracuse. Instead, he's now the number five guy unless the deep thinkers in the Blue Jays' front office are able to cobble together a deal for an established starter, either through trade or free agency. The team does have some excess currently in the outfield, with Adam Lind having the type of upside that other teams would be interested in. With Shannon Stewart's return, Reed Johnson is also available. Perhaps, if a young arm like League or Wolfe is thrown into the mix, something can get done.
Then, there's the free agent route, which is a lot dicier when you consider that no one liked the guys on this list up until now. That list includes the likes of Kyle Lohse (9-12, 4.62 ERA in 32 starts with the Reds and Phillies last season), Jeff Weaver (7-13, 6.20 with the Mariners) and, gulp, David Wells (9-9, 5.43 with the Padres and Dodgers). Nothing there to really visualize a late October parade down Bay Street is there?
Luckily, J.P. Ricciardi has 19 days to fill this gaping hole until the season opens at Yankee Stadium against one of the teams they need to catch to even think about the post-season. Watching the transaction page in the back of the sports section just took on a whole new meaning.
Haven't we all seen this movie before?
