Between the Jays and their minor league affiliates with the infusion of higher end talent, I can't wait for the season to start!

I absolutely agree. This team has so much pitching depth, that it's easy to picture them having one of the best staffs in the major leagues in a year or two. I don't really care if they when this year, obviously it would be nice, but what excites me is watching to see who excels from this group. They have 20 guys who all have a shot at being good major league starting pitchers. And I tend to believe that the depth will make it so that no one is being rushed and only those who have proven themselves are in the major league rotation.

I also can't help but get excited when I think about what the Scott Rolen trade brought back. There was a point during Rolen's tenure where it was looking like Rolen was destined to be released.  Then he turned it on for a little bit and now they have Zach Stewart, who seems like he has a shot to be a high end starter. I love Roenicke's arm. And I wouldn't be shocked if Encarnacion puts out a 30 homerun season this year.

Arencibia has me thrilled after only 8 spring training at bats.  I'm thinking this surgery talk isn't just fluff, but actually could be significant.

And of course it will be fun to see how the draft shakes out with all these picks...

It's going to be a fun year.

they when this year

*win

Edwin Encarnacion is, once again, not in the lineup for today's game against Houston.  His continuing absence from the spring lineup is starting to become a big issue for the 2010 lineup.  Even if he returns from injury soon, can he get enough work to be ready for opening day?  If not, Bautista can take over at 3B, but that creates a hole in the outfield.  The Jays could opt for an outfield of Wells-Lind-Snider, but that would be a defensive nightmare -- and it presumes that Snider and Ruiz are good enough for full-time slots in the outfield and DH respectively, both of which are uncertain propositions.  The Jays have plenty of depth in pitching, but not much depth in the offence (unless you're excited by the likes of Joey Gathright or Chris Lubanski).   One injury, like the injury to Encarnacion, has a cascading effect on the whole lineup, exposing further weaknesses in the team.

That sounds logical, WillRain.  But for some reason Bautista has been playing at 3B for all of the spring so far, and McCoy has not been at 3B.  I can see McCoy making this team as a utility guy, but you'd think that the Jays would want to give him some time at 3B if that's going to be an option for the team.  It appears, on the face of it, that Bautista is being prepped to play 3B if Encarnacion can't do it.

So then who plays RF and LF?  The outfield is emerging as one of the biggest question marks this year.  Snider is looking unimpressive this spring and the Jays have said quite plainly that he will start in the minors if he doesn't force his way onto the team.  To shift Lind to the outfield -- after a year when he was primarily the DH -- is a little risky, but I suppose it can be done.  (If this means that Ruiz opens the season as the full-time DH, maybe Dopirak makes the team as the back-up DH and 1B.)  You're still left with a hole in the outfield.  The options there would be:  a 29-year-old career minor-leaguer who has never proven himself in the big leagues (McCoy);  or a guy with a career OPS of .630 (Gathright); or a guy with a career OPS of .669 (Reed).   Any of them could be a decent back-up, but they don't seem ready for full-time duties at this point.  It's all very unappetizing.   Let's hope that Encarnacion recovers very soon.

If McCoy is strong on defense he could be interesting. Lifetime 270/369/360 in the minors, 293/387/391 in AAA. However, a chunk of that AAA is in the PCL which is a hitters league.

300+ games at 2B and SS, 127 at 3B, 22/32/19 LF/CF/RF, even pitched 3 times. Seems like a very useful utility guy, even more so than Inglett.

John, I have to disagree with you here. McCoy's numbers as a minor leaguer are terrible overall. In 4 seasons at AA, he put up a .635 OPS when he was old for the level. His only respectable numbers arise in the hitter-friendly PCL. By contrast, in 3 seasons at AA, Inglett's OPS was .868. Moreover, McCoy is 29 on opening day. I find it hard to imagine someone less interesting.

"Snider's got a chance to make this club," manager Cito Gaston said. "We want him to make this club, because you've got to go and look at the long-term future of this club. Is it more with Gathright, or is it more with Snider? ... Gathright, he's got a chance to make the club, but it's probably as an extra outfielder or, if Snider just falls on his face, an everyday outfielder."

It seems like Adam Lind is off the map as an outfielder. That's a tough call. While it would certainly be a pitcher's nightmare to have a LInd/Wells/Bautista outfield (at least it's a defensive step above a Lind/Wells/Snider outfield), Lind doesn't seem to have a future at first base either now that Wallace is in the wings.

I suspect the organization is giving a lot of thought to running out an entire rotation of youngsters, and we'll end up with Gathright in left and JMac at third if Encarnacion can't play (though the news on mlbradio concerning him sounded good on Thurs or Wednes.) I don't think that Snider will be able to turn it around in spring training given his worse-than-expected performance so far, though it appears they'll be giving him every chance to show he can hit major leaguers.

His only respectable numbers arise in the hitter-friendly PCL

It's not like his power numbers came up in AAA.  Just his OBP.  I'm not sure how the leagues compare for singles and walks.

Another thought: why is no one talking about Dana Eveland for a rotation spot? He's still only 26, was a top prospect and had a pretty successful rookie season in 2008.

I don't think Lind is off the map as an outfielder.  When the Jays face a lefty I expect Snider to sit, Lind to play left and Ruiz to DH.

That would be a solid decision if Snider makes the squad given his struggles against lefties. I meant though that LInd seems off the map as an everyday outfielder. If Snider doesn't make the team, the quote I posted from Bastian suggests the org would go with Gathright in left and Lind as DH rather than the Lind/Ruiz pairing at left/DH. If that's true, I suspect it results from a consideration that they'd rather have the difference in left between Gathright and Lind for the sake of young pitchers, than the difference between Gathright and Ruiz, if any, at the plate.

It might make the team a little too lefthanded, but I would rather have Doparik up and DHing over Ruiz.

I think they both bat right. And I find it pretty hard to get excited about Dopirak given how hard he struggled at each level before finally progressing. I'm not at all sold on Ruiz given his two stanazolol positives, but if he's hitting clean I think he's got a better shot at contributing something than Dopirak.

A couple of pre-game notes from the Fan590 pre-game:

Mike Wilner interviewed Dustin McGowan who pitched another simulated game today.  Everything appeared to go well with McGowan today.  The plan is for McGowan to pitch in a minor league game next Friday.  McGowan said he did have some soreness after his last start but he said it was normal soreness.

Jerry Howarth interviewed the Jays new first base coach Omar Malave.  I had interviewed Malave back in 2005 when he was managing Ricky Romero and Adam Lind in Dunedin in the FSL.  So I was surprised when I heard Jerry asking Malave questions about some of his quotes from that interview.  I waited to see if Jerry acknowledged Batters Box as the source of his quotes but he did not.  I am not sure if that is normal but a shout-out would have been nice. 

Here are the quotes Howarth used in the interview:

Ricky (Romero) is a special player ....... the key for him is location. Right now his fastball is good, his curveball is getting better and his changeup is too hard at times and needs some adjustments.

(Adam Lind) .... doesn’t miss the pitches he is looking for ....... Defensively Lind was a first baseman in college and when he came here first but he has worked so hard and now he is average defensively. 

As a hitter I think Adam Lind has the edge over Vernon at the same age. Lind is more patient and more polished than Vernon was at the same age. Defensively its no contest, Vernon was at the top of his game, Lind needs help defensively.

Just as the Jays are trying to showcase Frasor for a trade, he allows 4 runs in one-third of an inning against Atlanta.  A bad time for him to have a bad outing.   With the large number of good pitchers in camp, I'd like to see Tallet in the bullpen and Frasor traded -- if they can get a good return for him. 

Of course, Gregg hasn't looked much better than Frasor, so the real question might be, who's the closer?  Let's hope Downs can do it. 

Hechavarria, 21, is considered the top SS prospect coming out of Cuba. Although reports differ on his defensive prowess, he is considered a two way threat both offensively and defensively.

An interesting side note: while playing on the Cuban national team with then teammate Jose Iglesias, Hechavarria was penciled in as the starting shortstop (Iglesias slid over to 2B). Iglesias is currently considered a world class defensive shortshop.