Mark Spector

Mark Spector is a columnist for sportsnet.ca

Alex Anthopoulos is getting back to the grass roots of Blue Jays baseball.

DUNEDIN Fla. — On a blustery Thursday at Dunedin Stadium, with the Blue Jays away in Port Charlotte and the clouds gathering over the Tampa-St. Pete area, a grounds crew guy walked from the width and breadth of ball field with a pail of grass seed and fertilizer. Lovingly spreading the food by hand, he filled in every perceptible bare patch, inspecting the turf with the diligence only a true gardener knows.

Then the rains came for most of the next 24 hours, proving that sometimes a good plan is rewarded with a good result.

Upstairs, 32-year-old general manager Alex Anthopoulos is in his first year as head groundskeeper of this Toronto baseball club. He has hired a passel of new scouts, is putting his organization back on the ground in Latin America, and has sat in alongside manager Cito Gaston on every entry and exit interview this spring as Blue Jays players have arrived, and in some cases been assigned elsewhere.

In his own way, Anthopoulos is getting back to the grass roots of Blue Jays baseball. Drafting smarter, going back to the Epy Guerrero days, when the pipeline from San Pedro de Macoris was rich.

Whether it is he or his ball club however, the overall impression is going to take more than one night of rain to green up.

But the first impression has begun for both of them. And we all know, you only get one chance at those.

"Alex is sitting everybody down (in meetings), and everybody knows their role," said second baseman Aaron Hill, who has been around some. "He’s taken the approach that, we’re not rebuilding, but we’re going in a different direction. He’s building the farm system up, and some of the arms we have in camp here, honest to God, they’re going to surprise some people."

But you have to define the term "surprise" as it applies to the Blue Jays this season. For instance, they would surprise some folks if they don’t finish dead last in the American League East.

Others might define "surprise" as a team that didn’t fold under the constant reminder that, with Roy Halladay now a distant memory, they don’t have an arm that is money every fifth day.

"Look," begins reliever Scott Downs. "Roy’s been with the Blue Jays a long time. Look at his career. Look at his work ethic. Look at the way he handles a young staff, and he takes the ball every five days. He’s the best pitcher that I’ve ever had the privilege to play with. This is a new chapter for him, and it’s a new chapter for us."

It’s a new chapter that the guys in the clubhouse would be getting over just fine — if us darned sports writers didn’t keeping reminding them.

"Yeah, he was here," Hill offers, all but rolling his eyes. "Everyone admired his work ethic — now he’s gone. Turn the page. We have a job to do."

Is Halladay’s name spoken in the clubhouse?

"No," Hill laughs. "He’s going to be talked about (in the media), but for us, it’s like, ‘Uncle.’ Drop it. He’s gone."

OK. If we’re focusing on the positives — and isn’t that what spring training is all about? — the turnover up top at least gives Blue Jays fans reason to hope.

The J.P. Ricciardi era has ended, and that alone gives Blue Jays fans reason to hang around and watch what happens this season. No matter where the Jays finish in 2010, at least this is the start of something new, and not merely a futile continuation of old and futile.

For me, it starts with Vernon Wells. After three sub-par seasons — and now charged with being a leader for this young group — if Wells can’t get back to putting up big numbers this season, then he likely never will again.

You get the impression he knows that.

"Being in the middle of this lineup, I think this team will go as I go," Wells said. "It’s fun to put that pressure on yourself — that’s what this game is all about."

For Wells this season, it will be about leading 24-7. It’s something he embraces — at least, for now.

"Being such a young team, a young organization, it’s how you play the game. How you carry yourself," he said. "You’re going to struggle, it’s how you deal with those struggles. Just staying on guys to play the game right. I tell them all the time, ‘You’re blessed to wear this uniform each and every day. Take pride in it.’"

It’s a place to make a start. A fresh start.