DUNEDIN, Fla. – Roster clarity is beginning to develop for the Toronto Blue Jays as their time in Florida nears an end, with calls on a couple of spots in the bullpen and on a backup middle infielder still being weighed.
Marcus Stroman’s condensed buildup due to a bout of shoulder inflammation continued without issue Wednesday with 54 pitches over 2.2 innings of work in a 7-7 tie with the Philadelphia Phillies, his first Grapefruit League start of the spring keeping him on track to pitch the regular season’s fourth game.
“Arm felt great,” Stroman said after allowing two runs, one earned, on five hits and a walk with a strikeout. “Just another step to getting back out there on the mound in season.”
The remaining intrigue in camp occurred among those who followed him to the mound and those who played behind him.
Seung-hwan Oh made his spring debut after finally getting his work visa sorted out, throwing just seven pitches, all strikes, to get Maikel Franco on a weak popper behind the plate, Carlos Santana on a soft roller to second and Aaron Altherr swinging.
For a guy in need of work, it was almost too quick, even though it helped to ease any uncertainty over his readiness for the season.
“The live BP and bullpen sessions helped me a lot to get to this stage to get ready for the season,” Oh said through interpreter Eugene Koo. “I just have to continue what I’ve been doing so far.”
Oh will help set up closer Roberto Osuna with Ryan Tepera, Danny Barnes and Aaron Loup, with non-roster invitees John Axford and Tyler Clippard leading contenders to claim the final two spots.
Axford pitched in a minor-league game Wednesday before spending some time with the junior national team, which played a Blue Jays minor-league squad to a 1-1 tie, while Clippard continue to look strong, allowing a hit with two strikeouts behind Oh.
Pushing them for a spot on the club is lefty Tim Mayza, who walked two batters in 1.1 innings of work, his sixth scoreless appearance in eight spring outings. Right-hander Luis Santos has also impressed but he allowed three runs on two hits and a walk in his inning and seems to have fallen out of the running.
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Meanwhile, the Blue Jays continued to take a long look at Danny Espinosa, who went 0-for-2 with a walk and run scored while playing six innings at shortstop. Another non-roster invitee, his appeal lies in his track record, versatility, solid glove and power, with 98 home runs in 2,910 career at-bats.
He was replaced in the seventh by Gift Ngoepe, another slick fielder who went 0-for-1 with a walk and has the benefit of currently holding a 40-man roster spot.
With Troy Tulowitzki’s status still unsettled – he’ll open the season on the disabled list, but his timeline is unclear – the Blue Jays will certainly need infield depth with Aledmys Diaz set to start at shortstop, and it’s possible they add someone else as out-of-options players become available in the days to come.
One thing to keep in mind is that carrying Axford, Clippard and Espinosa means the Blue Jays would have to clear three spots on the 40-man roster, which remains full after righty Sam Gaviglio was picked up from the Royals for cash and lefty Matt Dermody was designated for assignment.
It’s not an impossible task, but it could be a factor as the final decisions loom.
“We all have our ideas of what we like and it’s getting to that point of the spring,” said manager John Gibbons. “I’m not sure exactly what’s going to happen yet but we’ve started to form our opinions.”
Here are some other Blue Jays talking points from Wednesday:
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1. Randal Grichuk took four at-bats as the designated hitter as he returned to action for the first time since March 9 due to a ribcage issue, reporting no issues with his mobility during a full-go day. He also missed time this spring with a sprained left wrist, giving him only 21 at-bats over eight games thus far, making a return to action both important from a preparation standpoint and fun.
“Definitely, he said with a smile. “The past 10 days felt like weeks.” He’ll need to condense his reps to be ready for opening day, and is due to play against the Pirates at Bradenton on Thursday.
The priority for him is simply “getting my timing back,” he said. “I felt like I did a pretty good job of not swinging at pitches in the dirt or out of the zone today. But I got beat a little bit on a few fastballs that I shouldn’t have gotten beat (by). There were some positives and there were some negatives. We’ll take the positives and go to work again tomorrow.”
2.Stroman started off slowly Wednesday before settling in, as Cesar Hernandez opened the game with a sharp one-hopper that Espinosa couldn’t handle at short for an error, Rhys Hoskins followed with a home run, Maikel Franco singled, and two outs later, Nick Williams doubled.
The right-hander held the damage there and kept the ball down in the second and third frames, generating six groundballs, four of them leading to outs. “He looked good, he finished good,” said Gibbons. “He struggled a little bit, the ball was up that first inning, but I thought he finished really strong.”
3. A veteran of 625 big-league games, Clippard is facing the uncertainty of being on a minor-league deal for the first time in his career. So far he’s allowed only one run in five innings of work, but more importantly he hasn’t issued a walk with seven strikeouts.
“This whole spring has felt good, everything is coming around like I want it to – that’s been encouraging,” he said. “That’s a little different but I’m viewing it as a positive. It’s going to help me, I’ve been able to lock it in a little earlier in spring, it’s kept me grounded, humbled, motivated and I’m taking the mound with a lot more focus than in previous years. There’s a little less room to tinker with stuff while I’m out there, but this year, thankfully, I haven’t had to do that.”
4. If the bullpen ends up being Osuna, Tepera, Oh, Barnes, Loup, Axford and Clippard, the Blue Jays wouldn’t have a long man. But Oh, Clippard and Axford would give the Blue Jays three pitchers besides Osuna with closing experience.
“Ax might be able to do more than an inning. Your starters have got to be good, they’ve got to give you some innings and we think our guys can do that,” said Gibbons. “We feel really good about the group we’ve got in here. We were wondering a little bit early on but with a couple of nice acquisitions really shored that up.”
