DUNEDIN, Fla. – The 2015 Toronto Blue Jays, or at least their first incarnation, are pretty much set following five weeks of sorting through countless roster permutations, Thursday’s cuts of Steve Delabar and Ezequiel Carrera triggering the final preparations for opening day at Yankee Stadium April 6.
Barring sudden and drastic events, mesmerizing rookies Miguel Castro and Roberto Osuna are breaking camp in the bullpen, Kevin Pillar will be covering left field until Michael Saunders is ready although Steve Tolleson may factor there as well, and Devon Travis appears to be set as the starting second baseman.
Things may yet change on the periphery, but many of the big questions are answered.
“We’ve got a pretty good idea,” manager John Gibbons conceded after Thursday’s 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. “We’ll take a few more days before we really finalize everything. We’re throwing some things around still.”
While Gibbons didn’t go into specifics, the areas still to be settled likely include first base, where Justin Smoak is gaining traction and would logically have the inside track given that he’s guaranteed $1 million, and the bullpen, which may end up with eight men, but probably won’t.
Beyond that, the priority for the Blue Jays is to ensure their players are ready to rock once things get real in a week and a half, and the starting lineup they used against the Phillies – save for Danny Valencia at first base, in for Smoak to face lefty Cole Hamels – is what they’ll roll with to start the season.
“It looks pretty good,” Gibbons said before the game. “You’ll see that one a lot the rest of the way.”
Pivotal is that the lineup included Edwin Encarnacion, playing in a Grapefruit League game for the first time since March 8 because of his back, and a relief appearance by Brett Cecil, making his spring debut after a bout of shoulder soreness.
In three trips to the plate versus Hamels, Encarnacion walked twice and hit into a fielder’s choice, booting it up the line and hitting the bag hard to avoid a twin-kill. Afterwards, he reported that he was all systems go for some action at first base Friday against the Detroit Tigers, relieved he was able to swing the bat without issue.
“That’s what made me feel more happy,” he said.
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Cecil, meanwhile, collected a strikeout in a clean inning of work, dropping some fine curveballs and mixing in his changeup. Slated to be the closer, he must spring to the finish in order to be ready.
“Everything was great,” he said of his outing. “Felt good, warmup was good, everything was good.”
The plan for him, he said, is to take two days off before pitching in back-to-back games Sunday and Monday, and then either pitching Wednesday and Friday or just once while in Montreal after that. How he feels will determine the course of action.
Whatever the case, Gibbons liked what he saw Thursday.
“I thought he was good,” he said. “He broke off some curveballs which is his big pitch. The key is that he feels good. He’s starting to build in the right direction.”
Maintaining course that way were starters Aaron Sanchez, who allowed a run on two hits and a walk in 5.1 innings versus the Phillies, and R.A. Dickey, who threw seven innings and 100 pitches in a minor-league game.
Sanchez induced 10 groundball outs while striking out two, continuing what’s been a strong spring of progress. One particularly impressive sequence came in the second inning, when he followed a 94 mph fastball to Carlos Ruiz with a full-count curveball at 78 mph that produced an awful swing and a weak grounder.
That pitch gave catcher Russ Martin valuable insight into how Sanchez reacts to such a call, and his ability to execute the pitch should give him the confidence to pull it out when needed during the season.
“I’ve done it in the minors quite a few times and this is the perfect time to do it, this is a game where you’re trying to work on things and there’s going to be a point during the year where I’m going to need a 3-2 curveball,” said Sanchez. “If I do it now, I know I can do it.”
Dickey knows he can do it, but he’s pleased with how he’s been commanding his knuckleball this spring, a good sign with him lining up to start the season’s second game April 8, and the home opener against the Tampa Bay Rays on April 13. As colleague Mike Wilner wrote on the weekend, Drew Hutchison looks set to pitch opening day, with Daniel Norris to follow Dickey, and Mark Buehrle and Sanchez behind them.
Infielder Ryan Goins, who took some balls in left field before the game and started a four-run rally in the eighth with an RBI double, and Tolleson, who followed with a three-run homer, drove the Blue Jays to their 14th spring win Thursday. They may be among those on the bubble when roster decisions will need to be made early once Saunders and Maicer Izturis are ready to return from the disabled list.
But as the Blue Jays have discovered this spring, things change suddenly and today’s plan is tomorrow’s adjustment. However their first incarnation rounds out, it certainly won’t be their last.