TORONTO – Darrell Ceciliani crushed spring training and nearly broke camp with the Toronto Blue Jays. Four games into the season with triple-A Buffalo, he tore the labrum in his shoulder on a throw home from centre field. He rehabbed the injury, returned, struggled, and over his last 38 games, took off.
Now, he’s back in the big-leagues for the second time this season, in an hour of need for the Blue Jays with Jose Bautista, Kevin Pillar and Ezequiel Carrera all on the disabled list. Ceciliani’s stay may be short with Carrera expected back from the disabled Tuesday in New York, but the 26-year-old will have some say in that with how he looks over the coming days.
"I’m definitely looking forward to it, trying to make the most of the opportunity," he said Friday before starting in left field against the Houston Astros. "But in the end, have fun and try to contribute to help this team win some ballgames. Whatever they ask of me, I’ll do the best I can, mainly go out and have fun with these guys and make the best of it. Whatever happens, happens."
Carrera started a rehab assignment Friday with Buffalo and barring a major setback to his troubled left Achilles, manager John Gibbons said, "he’s ready to go." Given both he and Ceciliani bat left-handed, that might not bode well for the latter, but the Blue Jays could also demote the right-handed hitting Junior Lake and keep the extra lefty to spell the right-handed Melvin Upton Jr., on occasion.
Ceciliani has been hot lately, batting .314/.381/.584 with nine homers and 23 RBIs over his last 38 games. That was a marked turn from his first 29 games back after he missed a month rehabbing his labrum tear, when he struggled to a .234/.274/.308 slash line.
"I was lost at the plate for a while, feeling stuff out," said Ceciliani. "I was just kind of grinding, but that’s baseball, you go through those ruts, that one lasted longer than I wanted it to, but I was able to get back on track and kept working, knowing I was trying to pick it up and finish strong.
"I was able to get rolling of late down in Buffalo. I’m feeling like myself again."
The shoulder injury made that hard for a while.
On April 10, he fielded a base hit up the middle, saw the runner at second turn for home and came up firing. During the throw he felt something pop, but managed to finish the game, thinking he’d avoided major trouble.
"The next day it was pretty stuck where it was," said Ceciliani. "Mentally it was tough. I thought it was going to be something that might knock me out for the year. We rehabbed it back, it took about a month, and it was hard. Once I started doing baseball activities and getting back into it, it was a lot easier to stay positive knowing I was coming back and my season wasn’t over. I was just looking forward to getting back."
The shoulder may or may not need surgery at season’s end, Ceciliani said they’ll be "playing it by ear" on that front, but he’s keeping things strong right now with regular maintenance and strength work three or four times a week, and a longer throwing routine to get the area loose.
He’s now in position to impact a pennant race.
"It’s awesome, it makes it fun," said Ceciliani. "Everything matters."
SEARCHING FOR HELP?:
The Blue Jays continue to monitor the waiver wire for potential help, but they aren’t necessarily locked in on trying to get an outfielder to cover their current gap. Carlos Gomez, designated for assignment Wednesday by the Houston Astros, is getting plenty of attention but may not be a great fit for them.
Given his performance this season, he’s no lock to offer better production than some combination of Ezequiel Carrera/Darrell Ceciliani/Darwin Barney during the absences of Jose Bautista and Kevin Pillar. Also, with the Blue Jays expecting both players back right around when their DL stints expire, they aren’t able to offer Gomez much playing time beyond that.
Another team is likely to have a better opportunity for Gomez, and perhaps be more motivated to offer the Astros something before the 10-day DFA-period expires.
MEMORIES OF A-ROD:
Russell Martin, right, is pictured with New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi, left, and Alex Rodriguez in 2012. (Chris Young/CP)
Alex Rodriguez played his final game at Yankee Stadium on Friday, a contest which might also be the final game of his brilliant and tainted career. Blue Jays fans won’t be sorry to see him go, and not only because he batted .269/.357/.511 with 58 homers and 170 RBIs in 242 games against them.
His most infamous moment in Toronto came May 30, 2007, when he caused Jays infielder Howie Clark to back away from an infield popper at third by yelling "Ha," as he ran by on the basepath during a 10-5 Yankees win. The ball dropped in for a hit that scored a run. "Maybe I’m naïve, but, to me, it’s bush league," John Gibbons, managing the Blue Jays in his first stint, said that night. "One thing, to everybody in this business, you always look at the Yankees and they do things right. They play hard, class operation, that’s what the Yanks are known for. That’s not Yankee baseball."
Later that season, Josh Towers hit Rodriguez in the calf, causing the benches to clear.
Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin, Rodriguez’s teammate in New York during the 2011-12 seasons, quite obviously remembers him differently.
"He’s got a lot of knowledge – he figured out how to hit a baseball," said Martin. "Behind the scenes he’s a real hard worker, committed to his craft, very cerebral, always looking for whether the pitcher is doing something, searching for an edge somewhere, whether it’s looking at video, helping a teammate or whatever it may be. That’s what I remember from him, his work ethic, he was always one of the hardest working guys. Never necessarily the best with the media or how people viewed him, which is unfortunate because he’s a nice guy, but he got a bad rap, he got in trouble, he did some things he probably wishes he didn’t do. But for the most part he was always good with me, he’s always been a good teammate and everybody’s time comes to an end. Sometimes it’s done gracefully, sometimes guys get banged up – Prince Fielder, that’s unfortunate – but he’s put a lot of people on their feet often throughout his career, and he’s done some amazing things."
Martin wonders if Friday will really be the last game for Rodriguez, who started the night with 696 career homers.
"I’d think he definitely wants to get at least four more," said Martin. "We’ll see if someone gives it to him."
