DUNEDIN, Fla. – Decision time is rapidly approaching for the Toronto Blue Jays, with Devon Travis’s spring training debut Friday against the Boston Red Sox an important piece of the bigger-picture puzzle.
The second baseman was slated to play four or five innings and a couple of at-bats as he looks to move past the right knee injury that knocked him from Game 1 of the American League Championship Series last fall.
Caution has ruled the day in his recovery, and with only six days remaining for the Blue Jays in Florida before they head for a couple of warmup games in Montreal ahead of the April 3 season opener in Baltimore, they need to get a read quick on where he stands.
“It’s hard to say,” bench coach DeMarlo Hale, acting as manager while John Gibbons is at home with his family, replied when asked if they have enough time to get a proper read on Travis. “The best way we probably can look at it is let’s see how he’s feeling day-to-day, how he reacts, how he bounces back (Saturday) and the next day. I think he will tell us a lot and we still have time to make that decision. As much as we look at when we’re breaking camp, April 3 is opening day.”
Ryan Goins, who is out of options, is one of the primary pieces caught in the balance, as there’s an obvious place for him if Travis isn’t ready, but not if he is. The versatile and defensively gifted infielder is unlikely to clear waivers and likely has more value to the Blue Jays than on the trade market, so if they don’t want to risk carrying him, they need to find him a spot on the roster.
With Ezequiel Carrera (also out of options) and Melvin Upton Jr., currently fighting through a minor shoulder issue, slated for the roster, that’s a further squeeze on Goins. Perhaps Steve Pearce’s ongoing recovery from elbow surgery factors there, since the Blue Jays want him playing left field and if he is, than perhaps that impacts Upton or Carrera.
So there’s some juggling to be done very soon.
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Not to be lost is that a healthy Travis also makes a significant difference in the quality of the Blue Jays lineup, as he’s the most logical candidate to bat leadoff. Between the freak shoulder problem that truncated his 2015 season and the knee issue that prematurely ended 2016, the 26-year-old with an OPS of .811 over 163 career big-league games has endured a lot over the past couple of years.
“There’s always that first game excitement, I’m ready,” he said Friday morning before taking the field. “I’ve been waiting for this. I’m pumped.”
While he’s played in minor-league games over the past few days, the Grapefruit League action against the Red Sox was his most significant action since he left Game 1 of the ALCS in the fifth inning hopping in agony after jamming his knee.
Asked if he would have been playing had it been a regular season game, Travis replied, “Probably not.”
“It’s the playoffs right, so you try to play through anything you can,” he continued. “I gave it all I had and that was all I had right there.”
Given how much pain he was in, he immediately feared the worst.
“I knew I was hurt, I wasn’t sure how bad,” said Travis. “If I come out of a game, there’s something that’s wrong, that needs to be fixed. I knew something was messed up, that’s for sure.”
He’s starting to get righted now, with Friday an important indicator of how much he still has left to go.
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Notes: Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Ezequiel Carrera were also back in the Blue Jays lineup Friday and due to play 4-5 innings or so. With split-squad games both Friday and Saturday, Hale is looking to ease the load on his regulars.’
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