ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – For someone who typically throws about 40 pitches to get ready for a start, Jesse Chavez can get ready pretty quick when coming out of the bullpen.
The Toronto Blue Jays right-hander demonstrated that Monday when manager John Gibbons called on him to warm in the fifth inning, and he said Tuesday that five tosses to loosen up and some 10-12 pitches in the bullpen is enough for him to get ready.
“It started my last two outings of the spring, transitioning my routine to be a reliever, narrowing it down, minimizing it so it doesn’t take as long, when they call down I can be ready for the next hitter, maybe,” says Chavez. “Fastball command is my only mindset coming in because I need to be able to locate.”
Chavez also factors in the eight warmup pitches he gets on the mound as part of his routine, and feels the roughly 20 total pitches is more than enough for about one inning of work.
He’ll throw one or two curveballs in the bullpen just to have the feel for the pitch locked down, but focuses on the heater so he can attack. On Monday, he walked his first batter on four pitches and surrendered a weak single before escaping trouble with consecutive K’s.
“I nibble and you really can’t nibble in situations like that,” said Chavez. “That’s one thing I’m going to have to get out my head a little bit more, not trying to get guys to chase. You want them to, but you can’t put them in position where a little broken bat gets them a run.”
Chavez’s role in the bullpen will be an important one for the Blue Jays, who plan to use him in leverage spots during the fifth and sixth innings to bridge the gap to the big three of Brett Cecil, Drew Storen and Roberto Osuna.
“Chavie’s going to be good, man, in that role,” said Gibbons, adding that Gavin Floyd can be used in such spots, as well. “The key with him is we’ve got to give him enough time to get loose.”
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SHUTDOWN MAN: Brett Cecil’s shutout inning Monday ran his streak of consecutive outings without allowing an earned run to 38, matching Craig Kimbrel’s big-league record established in 2011.
The Blue Jays left-hander hasn’t allowed an earned run since June 21, 2015 when the Baltimore Orioles tagged him for four in two-thirds of a frame. He’s surrendered just two unearned runs since, dominating hitters from both sides of the plate.
“He was arguably the best reliever in baseball last year over the final three months,” said John Gibbons.
Cecil’s absence from last year’s ALCS against the Kansas City Royals due to a calf injury may have changed the series, robbing Gibbons of his reliable lefty. Asked if he wondered after the season how things might have played out with Cecil, Gibbons replied, “During it I was thinking that.”
Gibbons said Cecil and Drew Storen could be flipped in the seventh and eighth innings depending on how the opposition lineup rolled over.
“We could go Storen seven, Cecil eight, definitely,” he said.
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MEMORIES OF MARK: The thought struck John Gibbons before the season-opener Sunday that the last time the Blue Jays were at Tropicana Field, they started Mark Buehrle on short rest with the aim of getting the veteran lefty the two innings he needed for a 15th straight season of 200.
Buehrle didn’t make it out of the first, allowing eight unearned runs in two-thirds of an inning, to finish the season at 198.2 frames. The 37-year-old became a free agent at the end of last season and while he hasn’t officially retired, Gibbons said Buehrle planned to buy an RV and do some travelling with his family this summer.
“I talked to him a couple times during spring training, we plugged him in on FaceTime when we had our orientation meeting on the first day of spring,” said Gibbons. “They had him up on the board, he had one of those big stocking caps on, a big ole beard, he ripped into a few of his buddies real good. He’s got to miss it a little bit but he doesn’t let on. He’s having a great time.”
As for why Buehrle hasn’t filed retirement papers yet, Gibbons said, “He told me, ‘They keep writing stories about me, so I’m going to screw with them, man.’”
