TORONTO – There’s no better time for optimism than opening day, when every team from the Astros to the Tigers has a 0-0 record.
But as the season opener between the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees approached in Toronto Wednesday, both managers chose deference over bravado in describing their division rivals.
“I look at the rotation first and foremost,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the Blue Jays. “We know we’ve got a tough matchup every single day, and we also know this is a dangerous team at the plate with power, they’ve added a little athleticism bringing guys like (Randal) Grichuk over. We know we’re up against it. When they’re on top of their game, this is a dangerous team.”
“We’re well aware of how good they are,” Blue Jays John Gibbons said of the Yankees. “But really, I’ve been in this division in a number of years. When you play the Yankees, the Red Sox, that’s kind of what happens.”
“That doesn’t surprise you and they’ve got the pockets to do it,” Gibbons continued. “But we’ve always, these last few years, stacked up good against them and the Red Sox, so this year we don’t think it’ll be any different.”
The four-game series between the Blue Jays and Yankees can only go so far in determining the outcome of a 162-game season, a point both managers stressed in their respective availabilities Wednesday. Still, at a time that the Yankees and Red Sox are both loaded, the Blue Jays aren’t deep enough to recover from the kind of 6-17 start they endured a year ago.
“Everybody and their brother tried to find out what happened last year. Nobody ever really knows,” Gibbons said. “It’d be tough to have a worse start than we had last year. I tend to be more positive.”
“In the big-leagues you can overcome a so-so start,” he added. “It’s very difficult to overcome a bad start, and that’s what we had last year. There’s the old saying in baseball, you can’t win it in April, but you can lose it in April.”
TULO INJURY OPENS DOOR FOR DIAZ
Troy Tulowitzki had been scheduled to visit with a specialist Wednesday to determine next steps as he recovers from bone spurs in his injured right ankle, but Gibbons was still awaiting word on his shortstop as of the afternoon.
At minimum Tulowitzki will start the season on the 10-day disabled list, and the 60-day disabled list remains a possibility. In the meantime, Aledmys Diaz gets a chance as the Blue Jays’ primary shortstop.
“We traded for him for a reason,” Gibbons said. “Hopefully he gets off to a good start. I think it’d do wonders for him. We acquired him for a reason … We like him. We think he can really handle the bat and play a solid shortstop.”
VLAD JR. WALKS IT OFF
As Gibbons put it, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s walk-off home run Tuesday was ‘the perfect ending’ to the team’s 2018 spring training.
“It excites everybody and hopefully our fans,” Gibbons said. “He should be a big part of the future.”
After an impressive spring for Guerrero, the question becomes how soon he will impact the big-league roster. Still just 19 years old, he has yet to play above A-ball, so there’s plenty of development remaining, even before considering service time questions. All of that said, it’s now easier than ever to envision Guerrero doing damage against big-league pitching.
“I’m sure he’ll force the organization’s hand one of these days soon,” Gibbons said. “Until then he just needs to go down and just keep doing what he’s doing. He’s still got part of his game he’s still got to polish up, from his experience level, but he’ll do that, (he’ll) concentrate on those things. He’s got a chance to be really, really good.”
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