KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The season-opening 25-man roster’s big reveal is still set for Tuesday morning, although the Toronto Blue Jays offered a sneak preview of who is and isn’t making the initial cut through their words and actions Monday.
Here’s a summation of the hints:
Confirmation on most spots is due ahead of the Blue Jays’ Grapefruit League home finale against the Philadelphia Phillies. Gibbons left some leeway, saying “there may be a couple of spots where we still aren’t quite decided on.”
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The wait for those on the bubble is an agonizing one.
“It’s like Christmas,” said starter Daniel Norris, who is taking nothing for granted. “We’ll see what I get under the tree.”
Asked if he’ll be able to sleep, he replied: “We’ll see. Maybe. Probably not.”
The only real surprise in the hints dropped is that the Blue Jays may go with an eight-man bullpen, although there’s some sense in that since the Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels have had past interest in Hendriks, and with the starting depth dangerously thin at Buffalo, they’re loathe to lose him.
Besides, an extra long man in the bullpen, at least in the early going, offers protection for a rotation that will include rookies Aaron Sanchez and Norris, who surrendered his first two home runs of the spring in a 7-4 win over the Houston Astros but recovered to work six solid innings with eight strikeouts, including the side in the sixth.
“I showed (Gibby) that even if I go out there and start rocky I’m going to finish strong – I’m not going to pout about giving up a couple of homers,” said Norris. “We’re way past that. It’s about growing up and maturing and getting through the fifth and sixth and giving your team a chance to win. That’s what I did tonight.”
Said Gibbons: “You can see him gaining confidence with each start down here. The sky’s the limit, but I’m glad I got to see that today.”
Still, there may very well be nights during the regular season when a starter doesn’t recover from a dodgy opening, and it’s occasions like that when the extra reliever will come in handy.
“You hopefully at least have a couple (long men) and a big part of that is you might have some youngsters,” said Gibbons. “The guys down there, too, they can pitch different roles. They’re versatile. You get boat-raced early in the game you want to stay away from your go-to guys.”
Hendriks, who’s allowed three runs on eight hits and three walks over 7.2 innings with nine strikeouts, intrigues the Blue Jays in shorter bursts, but can be extended as well if needed.
“You put him in the bullpen and he kind of turns it up a little bit,” said Gibbons. “He doesn’t have to conserve for six, seven innings. Now he can kind of turn it loose. His stuff’s better. I mean, he’s got a good arm; he’s always had a good arm but it’s a much better arm when he’s pitching an inning, maybe two innings like that. So yeah, we’ve been impressed.”
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SANTIAGO CUT BEFORE DEADLINE: The Blue Jays released Ramon Santiago, who broke his collarbone earlier in the spring, to avoid paying him a $100,000 retention bonus that comes with a June 1 opt out of a minor-league contract. Santiago qualified for the bonus as an Article XX(b) player, which covers those with at least six years of big-league service time and are not under a big-league contract the following season. Munenori Kawasaki and Johan Santana are the other Blue Jays who qualify. The Blue Jays may look to re-sign Santiago in the coming days.
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GETTING CECIL SET: Closer Brett Cecil was on the initial travel roster to Kissimmee so he could pitch in back-to-back days but the Blue Jays decided to instead throw him Tuesday, and perhaps in Wednesday’s Grapefruit League finale in Fort Myers versus the Red Sox.
Cecil has been slowed by a sore shoulder this spring and has thrown just two innings, but John Gibbons believes he’ll have enough time to build up his strength for the season.
“Yeah, I think so,” said Gibbons. “He’ll be out there two or three more times; that should be good. He still knows how to pitch. He’s still got that good curveball, which is the old equalizer. Ideally, yeah, you’d like to see him pull it like he was last year. It’s not coming out yet but we think it will.”
Asked if he might use Cecil in a different role early on while the zip on Cecil’s pitches returns, Gibbons replied: “We’ll judge some things off his next couple of outings, anyway, but we think he’s going to close a lot of games for us this year. That will all play itself out.”
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VERSATILE GOINS: Ryan Goins started the game in left field and played third base and shortstop as well against the Astros, hitting three doubles off three different lefties – Brett Oberholtzer, Tony Sipp and Darin Downs.
“His swing looks a little shorter to me, that may not even be the case, but it looks that way,” said John Gibbons. “I see him staying on the ball and using left-centre. He’s had a tough time in the past against left-handed pitching, I see him staying on the ball better and that’s all he needs to do.
“We let him play a little at the other positions, and he could very well be on the team playing some type of utility role. But he’s good out there.”
Goins made a strong throw home on Jose Altuve’s RBI single in the second to start an inning ending 7-5-4.
“He’s a good athlete and he’s got instincts,” said Gibbons. “That doesn’t mean he’s going to be out there, but if a game comes along and you need him to play left field, you want to at least know he’s been out there.”
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SHORT HOPS: Daniel Norris’s next outing will be a couple of innings against the Reds in Montreal on Saturday. … Aaron Sanchez, starting Tuesday against Philadelphia, will stay back in Florida to pitch in a minor-league game Sunday before rejoining the club in New York. … This cut-down period has been one of the most difficult John Gibbons can remember. “There are so many decisions, that’s not normal usually,” he said. “Regardless of the number, you don’t enjoy doing that because it means someone isn’t going to be in the big-leagues, and we all have hearts, we feel for these guys, most of us have all been in their shoes at one time or another. That’s never easy, but it’s still a business and we’ve got to put together the best team we think we can.”