DUNEDIN, Fla. – Embarking on his second Grapefruit League campaign as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, John Farrell can survey the clubhouse and find plenty of differences from his first exhibition season in charge.
“Being in this position for the first time, there were a lot of firsts,” he said Saturday, before his squad took on the Pittsburgh Pirates. “There was at this time last year a steep learning curve on the offensive side, what we were trying to do as a staff, (third base coach Brian) Butterfield was gone (for two weeks while sick) so it took us a little bit longer to get our rhythm as a coaching staff, and then getting to understand the players as well.
“Also, we tried to change the culture of our offensive approach, so there were a lot of firsts from a number of different areas. This year, I’m not saying everything is a package deal, but we’re starting at quite a bit of an advanced stage or point than a year ago.”
One of many areas in which he’s made adjustments is in the clubhouse, where he has a much better feel for the personalities of his players. Farrell believes that’s helped in his communications.
“There’s probably a little bit more freedom on my part on how to approach guys, when to pat a guy on the back, put your arm around him, when to be a little bit more stern in some cases, but I think this group jelled pretty well together considering the number of changes we went through, we ended the year with some understanding of what our vision for our team is and how we consistently communicate that takes any kind of grey area out of the minds of the players,” he said. “Right from Day 1 in this spring training, it was a different feel on my part, and probably being able to speak from experiences that happened a year ago, I can say some things with a little bit more conviction than maybe not going through it.”
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LINEUP THOUGHTS: The Blue Jays believe the refinements Kelly Johnson is making to his approach at the plate will make him an ideal fit in the lineup’s two-hole, allowing the team to leverage his combination of on-base percentage, power and ability to handle the bat.
“On-base percentage is the No. 1 criteria,” said Farrell. “Kelly has that in his past, when we met as we have with every player one on-one-here, he felt like the year in Arizona where he hit 26 home runs he started to sacrifice some of that approach for more power. He recognizes what makes him a better player and one that fits into a lineup in that two-hole slot. I think after last year where the average settled in on the low end for his career, he’s back to the focus of what he did well a couple of years ago.
“That’s not to say he can’t hit the ball out of the ballpark but I think what he has done is prioritize a more consistent approach rather than sacrifice average or on base for a little more power.”
Farrell also said philosophically, he believes the team’s best hitter should always bat third, which is why the team hasn’t considered moving Jose Bautista into the cleanup spot.
“You want him coming to the plate in the first inning,” said Farrell. “It’s going to give him a few more at-bats throughout the course of the season. Why wouldn’t you want him more times than not in that spot?
“Jose is in scoring position at the plate. I’d rather him come up in the first inning with two outs rather than not come up at all. That’s not taking anything away from who might settle into that three spot, if that were the alignment, but we’ll take that bat to the plate right in the first inning.”
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ROTATION SHUFFLE: Lefty Aaron Laffey will start Sunday at Bradenton against the Pirates instead of Henderson Alvarez, who was pushed back to Monday’s contest at Lakeland versus Detroit to get him an extra day of rest.
Manager John Farrell said the switch was unrelated to the ball Alvarez took off his left foot earlier in the week, and that no physical issue was behind the move. The Blue Jays simply felt based on workload, Alvarez would be best served by an additional day of rest.
Drew Hutchison, originally scheduled to pitch Monday in his hometown, will instead pitch behind Kyle Drabek in Wednesday’s split-squad game at Bradenton versus the Pirates.
Chad Beck, Jesse Chavez, Robert Coello, Francisco Cordero and Sergio Santos to follow Laffey’s two frames Sunday with an inning each.
Alvarez will throw one inning Monday, with two from Drew Carpenter, one from Evan Crawford, two from Nelson Figueroa, and singles from Jason Frasor, Jim Hoey and Jerry Gil behind him.
MURPHY’S RETURN: Hitting coach Dwayne Murphy, away the past week tending to a personal family matter, is scheduled to return Monday.
Triple-A Las Vegas hitting coach Chad Mottola has filled in during his absence, “and the fact that Chad spent last September with us, he’s familiar not only with Murph’s program – which is an organizational program – but more specifically the checkpoints in guys’ swings, he has got a rapport with a number of guys either from being in camp or with guys that were in Las Vegas with him a year ago,” said Farrell.
The Blue Jays have also kicked around the idea of going with two hitting coaches, something a handful of teams around the majors have done, but Farrell said “I can’t sit here today and say we’re not going to go with that alignment, but we have talked about it.”
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CARLOS PROGRESSES: Reliever Carlos Villanueva reported no ill-effects with his right hand Saturday after throwing a bullpen session Friday.
He described the session as “a very good day,” says the pain and coldness in the hand was almost gone, and added “I’m almost back on track.”
He’s got a batting practice session coming up before a simulated game. He could return to game action next weekend.
