TORONTO — A look at five Blue Jays to watch in 2014:
R.A. Dickey
The erudite knuckleballer had a slow start last season before rallying to finish with a 14-13 record and 4.21 ERA. Dickey went 8-10 with a 4.69 ERA prior to the all-star game and 6-3 with a 3.56 ERA after. His goal is to start 2014 the way he finished 2013. He knows improvement is needed.
"Because I’m going through the AL East again this year," he said. "So although they didn’t see the real me, I feel like especially early on in the season, I’m still looking for other weapons."
Dickey believes his preparation has been superior this spring, without the distraction of the World Baseball Classic.
"I feel more ready," he said. "I’m going to take that into the season with me. It’s no guarantee than things are going to be just perfectly smooth. But at the same time, the way I feel brings a level of confidence with it that you don’t have when you’re not as prepared. So I’m thankful for that."
The 39-year-old, who will work with catcher Josh Thole, finished the spring with a 5.79 ERA.
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Melky Cabrera
The 29-year-old left-fielder from the Dominican Republic is healthy again after having surgery to remove a tumour from his lower back. He played through pain in 2013, hitting .279 with 30 RBI in 88 games after joining the Jays as a free agent from San Francisco. It’s been a new-look Cabrera this spring. He hit .431 through his first 19 spring training games and showed good defence in the outfield. Cabrera is healthy enough that he will spell Rasmus in centre field as needed.
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Dioner Navarro
The Jays are the fifth team in five seasons for the chunky catcher from Venezuela, who takes over from the departed J.P. Arencibia. At five foot nine and 205 pounds, Navarro is not your conventional pro athlete body type.
But the Jays pitchers seem to like him. And after the season Arencibia had in 2013, anything is an upgrade. Navarro calls an aggressive game, with an emphasis on throwing the first strike and getting ahead of the hitters.
"Attack, attack, attack," is his preferred way to go at hitters.
A career .251 hitter himself, Navarro hit .300 in 89 games last season for the Chicago Cubs. The move to the Jays has been good personally for the 30-year-old Navarro, who makes his family home 70 kilometres from Dunedin in Riverview, Fla.
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Colby Rasmus
Rasmus is eligible for free agency in 2015, making this a big year for the 27-year-old centre-fielder. A career .248 hitter, Rasmus had a banner season last year when he hit .276 with 22 homers, 66 RBIs and an .840 OPS (on base plus slugging). His OPS has risen from .517 to .689 to .840 in his time in Toronto. His 2013 performance earned him a one-year, US$7-million deal, up from the $2.3 million he made the year before. Another quality season and he is looking at even bigger numbers. A slick fielder, Rasmus covers a lot of ground in the outfield.
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Drew Hutchison
One of the few pitching success stories of the spring, Hutchison played his way into the starting rotation. Hutchison consistently threw strikes in spring training, with 16 strikeouts and just one walk in his first three outings. Just 23, his major league experience consists of 11 games in 2012 when he went 5-3 before being shut down and undergoing Tommy John surgery.
"We’re all impressed," manager John Gibbons said of his spring showing, citing a harder-than-expected fastball with good command.
"The ball jumps on you more than I ever thought it did," he added. "And he does it easy. It’s basically effortless. He’s great at hitting both sides of the plate, with some good off-speed stuff."
Gibbons compares him to former Blue Jay and current Met Shaun Marcum.
