It's time to pick 25 guys for the roster. Looking at the stat sheet, the following guys will make the club:
Catchers
We need two of these. In the stats as of March 19th, Gregg Zaun is hitting .417. We'll let him be our starter.Unfortunately, Greg Myers is only hitting .083, so he's off the team. There's a tough choice to be made here: Quiroz is hitting .400, but Ken Huckaby is hitting .333. Huckaby has twice as many RBI (2 to 1) in 3 less at-bats, so Huckaby is our choice.
Infield
We need someone at each position and at least two backups, maybe 3. Frank Menechino is hitting .409 and can play every position but 1st, so we'll find a place for him.Corey Koskie is hitting .300, so we'll let him play 3rd. Hillenbrand is hitting .280, so we can fit him in at 1st or DH. The only other infielder hitting above .260 is Julius Matos and Raul Tablado, so we'll try to find spots for them in the infield.
Who else is hitting .250 or better? Hinske is at .258 and McDonald is at .250. We'll keep Hinske and keep McDonald if space permits.
Now we have six infielders: Menechino, Koskie, Hillenbrand, Matos, Hinske, and Tablado. We'll figure out where to slot everyone once we know if we'll need to use one of them as a DH.
Outfield
Babe Gross is setting the world on fire. So he'll be in one of the corners. Reed Johnson is hitting .370 and Vernon Wells is hitting .133. It's a no-brainer to see which one of those guys will be our centerfielder.Negron is hitting .333 and Cat is hitting .296, so we'll want them in somewhere. How about Negron in right and Cat at DH. We could use another outfielder, but nobody else is hitting, so we'll keep McDonald instead.
We'll slot our players in this way:
Position Players
C - Zaun 1B - Hillenbrand 2B - Menechino SS - Tablado 3B - Koskie DH - Cat RF - Negron CF - Johnson LF - Gross Bench: Huckaby, Matos, Hinske, McDonaldNow we need to sort out the pitching staff.
Rotation
Bush, Walker, and Towers all have ERAs at 3 or under, so we'll keep them. After that it's a struggle, since most of our "name" pitchers have ERAs over 6. Ryan Glynn can start and his ERA this spring training is 0!!! He's a keeper. Justin Miller's ERA is 2.25, so we'll take him as well. A rotation with ERAs at 3 or under. How can you lose?Bullpen
We need 7 guys here. Batista's ERA is 1.50, so we'll keep him on the team. Rosario and Frasor have 0 ERAs over 4 innings, so they're on. Zack Jackson could use a little more time in the minors, so we'll take the other 4 guys who have pitched 2 innings without giving up a run. They are: David Purcey, Israel Ramirez, Jason Arnold, and Spike Lundberg.Our pitching staff is thus:
Pitching Staff
SP - David Bush SP - Pete Walker SP - Josh Towers SP - Ryan Glynn SP - Justin Miller RP - Miguel Batista RP - Jason Frasor RP - Francisco Rosario RP - David Purcey RP - Israel Ramirez RP - Jason Arnold RP - Spike LundbergCombining the pitchers and the position players gives you this year's team.
Your 2005 Toronto Blue Jays
C - Gregg Zaun 1B - Shea Hillenbrand 2B - Frank Menechino SS - Raul Tablado 3B - Corey Koskie DH - Frank Catalanotto RF - Miguel Negron CF - Reed Johnson LF - Gabe Gross C - Ken Huckaby UT - Julius Matos UT - Eric Hinske UT - John McDonald SP - David Bush SP - Pete Walker SP - Josh Towers SP - Ryan Glynn SP - Justin Miller RP - Miguel Batista RP - Jason Frasor RP - Francisco Rosario RP - David Purcey RP - Israel Ramirez RP - Jason Arnold RP - Spike LundbergThat's a pretty good team.
