The seasons stolen by injury, the velocity lost to the passage of time and the adjustments necessary to overcome both haven’t eroded Jeff Francis’ determination to continue competing, even if it means another trip to the minors.
“There were points in the last couple of years where you start to consider, ‘When is the end?’” Francis, in camp with the Toronto Blue Jays on a minor-league contract, says in a recent interview. “I haven’t pitched at the level I once did, but I’m still healthy, I feel good, why stop playing?
“A trip to triple-A is not a death sentence, I’ve done it the last three years and it’s turned into more opportunity somewhere. I’m not above doing that again.”
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Whether or not the 34-year-old left-hander from North Delta, B.C., is ticketed for triple-A Buffalo is still being determined, although a rough outing Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rays, when he allowed four runs on five hits including a homer over two-thirds of an inning, may hurt his cause.
With roughly two weeks of spring training left the Blue Jays bullpen is beginning to take shape, with general manager Alex Anthopoulos telling Jeff Blair and Stephen Brunt on Sportsnet 590 The FAN on Thursday that prospect Miguel Castro is “certainly putting himself in an unbelievable position” to make the team.
Combined with manager John Gibbons now strongly hinting that Aaron Sanchez will start the season in the rotation, a relief corps with Brett Cecil handling the ninth, and Aaron Loup, Steve Delabar and Castro bridging the gap appears to be the likely set up.
Should Cecil end up the closer, the Blue Jays may look to carry a third left-hander behind him and Loup, creating an opening for someone like Francis or Colt Hynes, a 29-year-old claimed off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers last August who’s impressed while throwing 4.2 shutout innings so far this spring.
Marco Estrada, technically still competing with Daniel Norris for a job in the rotation, Wilton Lopez, who has struggled, Todd Redmond and even prospect Roberto Osuna are also in the running for the remaining bullpen spots, and there’s limited time for others to emerge.
The period ahead, when hitters begin to lock in tighter and the lineups get stronger ahead of opening day, offers the spring’s best evaluation platform for players fighting for jobs to make their case.
The Blue Jays tried to sign Francis to a minor-league deal last August, and he intrigues them now as a lefty specialist.
While his overall numbers in the majors over the past three seasons aren’t pretty – 10-14 with a 5.84 ERA and 1.480 WHIP in 59 games, 37 starts – he held left-handed hitters to a .622 OPS in 198 at-bats over that span, allowing just three homers and five walks with 44 strikeouts.
Such a line suggests that if deployed in the right situations, he could be pretty effective as a reliever.
“It’s something I’ve gotten used to, something new that I think could be helpful to a team,” Francis says. “As a starter there’s a certain approach I’ve learned to take over a lot of years. Some of that will probably have to change just because you have to come in and get people out right away. But that’s something I will do when it comes to it. Right now I have to go pitch and we’ll see what happens.”
The ninth overall pick by the Colorado Rockies in 2002, part of an unprecedented Canadian draft class that included Adam Loewen selected at No. 4 by the Baltimore Orioles, Francis won 44 games from 2005-07, becoming the first Canuck pitcher to start Game 1 of the World Series.
Shoulder problems cut his 2008 season short, and surgery cost him all of 2009 and some of 2010, his final season with the Rockies. Francis began bouncing around at that point, opening the 2012 and ’14 seasons in the minors while spending time there in ’13, finding his way back to the majors each time.
Triple-A can often be baseball’s most bitter place, but Francis avoided that pitfall.
“I think it’s what you make it,” he says. “There’s no doubt some people struggle going to triple-A, it’s not something I’ve ever taken hard. It doesn’t happen to everybody, but I’m not above taking a trip to triple- A to look for an opportunity. You have to go there, you have to get better and you have to pitch better.”
One thing he’s working on to help on that front is lowering his arm angle on occasion to add some more deception to a repertoire that features four pitches – fastball, changeup, curveball and slider.
“It’s to mix up the hitter a little bit with a different look, maybe they won’t pick up the ball as well,” he explains. “It’s something I’ve worked on, not something I have yet, but something I’ve been keeping in mind.”
Francis spent time with the Cinicnnati Reds, Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees last year, making 11 of his 12 appearances out of the bullpen. As a result, the average velocity on his fastball jumped two m.p.h. to 87.2 from 2012, the last time he was a full-time starter.
Unable to sign him last summer after his Aug. 5 release from the Yankees, the Blue Jays brought him in during the off-season and told him at the beginning of spring training that they might have an opportunity for him in the bullpen.
“At the time it wasn’t right with the triple-A season almost over,” Francis says of last summer’s offer. “They called right when the World Series ended, to me that was a sign they wanted me here. That’s not a guaranteed job or anything, but the fact they would give me a fair look is worth a lot.”
The rest, of course, is on him, and he’s far from the only person in Blue Jays camp getting a fair look. From here on out the stakes will rise each time out as the deliberations pick up and decision time nears.
