And we're off!

The stupidspeak has already commenced. WPIX is showing the Mets-Braves game and the Mets' broadcast team found themselves wondering what exactly all the fuss over Jason Heyward was last year given his paltry 72 RBI. Ron Darling, perhaps Yale's least articulate graduate not named George, then went on to cite a number of rookies other than Posey who may also have had a better year than Heyward. I do loves me some good objective reporting.

First time out pitchers are primarily throwing fastballs.  Hitters like fastballs so they swing early.

On the other hand a good fastball hitting player can get everyone excited over the first couple of weeks of the spring, become the talk of camp, then fail over the last two weeks to a diet of breaking balls.

I am not sure of the difference between a B game and a split squad game other than a SS game is considered a major league game and you have the requirement that there will be at least four major leaguers on the team.

Also B games are played in the morning whereas SS games are at 1pm or 7pm.

There are no available boxscores for B games.

Who else thinks Drabek will be starting the season in the minors? It has to be tempting to GM AA to keep him cost controlled an extra year, right?

I think GM AA is also going to be busy dealing pitchers early in the year. There are just too many MLB quality arms on the 40 man roster.

It has to be tempting to GM AA to keep him cost controlled an extra year, right?

The team shouldn't concern itself with preventing Drabek from Super-2 status, but it definitely should go after an extra year of control if Morrow-Romero-Cecil-Litsch-Rzepczynski are healthy and on schedule when ST is over.

I agree with 92-93 that there's no need to rush Drabek if others are pitching just as well or better.   It won't be considered "gaming" the system if any two of Litsch/Zep/Richmond/Reyes/Mills are having strong springs and are deemed ready for the majors.

Having never pitched at the AAA level, Drabek could benefit from two or three months in the challenging environment of Las Vegas.  Drabek should get a job in the majors when the team needs him and when he's the best option -- he shouldn't get the job just because he might benefit from the major-league experience (which would benefit any young pitcher, after all, not just him).  The Super 2 issue is just one of many considerations, not necessarily the determining factor.

On the other hand, if Drabek has clearly won the competition for a starting job, if he's clearly the best choice, then give him the job -- but it shouldn't just be a reward for potential.

Ryan, In my experience,  B games are indeed informal affairs as you descirbe. Split-squad games are as you note as well.   Went to the B game in Clearwater on Saturday morning. There were about 500 folks in the stands.  No tickets were sold.  Three umps, not a full squad.  The Phillies did get four outs one inning.  The game only went 6 innings.

The Jays looked great in the B game and the typical Split-squad game has nothing on the B game on Saturday.  Richmond, Jenkins and McGuire looked great on the mound.  Jays bats were humming, I think there was only 1 maybe two unearned runs out of the 8 scored.  Gose was impressive on the bases and in the field.  See the Bluejays.com site for some stories about John Farrell getting his feet wet on the B game and how he values aggressive base running.

At one point, in the 4th inning, I counted five 2010 New Hampshire and two 2010 Dunedin players on the field.  Shows how well the Jays farm is being developed.  They  looked great. 

The Jays grabbed their bags and went right to the bus for the 10 minute ride back to Dunedin.  At least 6 of the B game players (Mastrioanni, McDade, Sierra, Cooper, Thames, Diaz) saw 4 or 5 innings of work in the morning game and then did the same in the Spring Training opener against the Tigers.  Too bad the A game boys couldn't come up with any lumber against the Tigers on either Saturday or today in Lakeland.

SPEED THRILLS: Jays rookie Anthony Gose worked a walk off hard-throwing right-hander Brayan Villarreal in the ninth inning Sunday to put the tying run on first.

Before each pitch, Gose measured off a 12-foot lead, challenging the pitcher to throw over. The battle drew an audience of interested Tigers coaches, one of whom had a stopwatch, down the right-field line near the clubhouse. Gose took off on a full-count strikeout and stole second easily.

“The whole thing was 3.24 (seconds),” one impressed Tigers coach said. “That’s Rickey Henderson territory. It’ll be tough to throw him out.”

Gose proceeded to steal third easily as well, but was stranded to end the game.

Sounds good.  I like the 3.24 seconds, but I also like the "drawing the walk" part.  He did a lot of that in Dunedin.

It sounds as though the club's development people have been working hard with Gose on the basestealing aspect of his game, and that he has been absorbing the lessons.  Gose is the first centerfield prospect who has captured my interest and attention since Alex Rios.

What year did Ken Singleton replace Duke in the Expos booth?  I`m thinking it was well into the 80`s.  There was no one else in between was there?

Just a note for XM suscribers, on the MLB network channel (175) they will be coveing the jays today from Dunedin, it starts at 10:00 AM eastern time.  Also the Phillies apparently are broadcasting the spring training game against the Jays from their website today (so I've read anyway). 

Sorry, back to your regular scheduled programming, enjoy your day!

If this team was planning on going deep in the playoffs,

It''s February. EVERY team is currently planning on going deep in the playoffs.

The Jays have scored a run!  Only took them 24 innings if my math is right!  Eric Thames scores on Mike McCoy's double in the sixth to put the Jays in flight.  However, they're losing 6-1 against Philly today in Dunedin.  Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

BP has really upped their game in the last year or so.  It took a while after Nate Silver left, but they are producing some good stuff now.

It's funny that you say that. I just received this year's book and my first reaction, 10 minutes in, was not positive.

On Casey Janssen: "He moved to the bullpen in 2009 and gained comfort there in 2010."

My first reaction was that their downward spiral of recent years had not abated. Not only was the author in question not terribly familiar with the Blue Jays, he was apparently lacking in the schoolboy skillset of being able to decipher the back of a baseball card. Did the year 2007 not happen? Did Bobby Ewing just dream it?

Obviously I can't use this to bias the BP team as a whole, but as far as I am concerned, they are still very much on parole.

Sheesh, you guys are tough on Jenkins based on a picture on Twitter. He must be the first overweight baseball player...

Jenkins just finished his first year in pro-ball. His first year eating on the road, being away from family -- this all counts into the equation. And he put up nearly identical numbers (if only a few more hits) that he did in Kennesaw and was promoted to high A. This isn't enough to pull out the "Oh I knew he was a bust all along!" card.

MatO,

That's true - Jenkins was quoted in a story I read that he felt he lost too much weight last year and it contributed to his lack of stamina - it's interesting especially when contrasting with Ricky Romero's espn video of his strenuous offseason workout and Romero saying he needs that to maintain his stamina during the season. Interesting sidebar, Jenkins apparently spoke with former Expo Steve Rogers in the offseason regarding using his sinker (Rogers best pitch), so maybe that advice will be helpfull.Of course if Jenkins has a tough seasons, many will blame the weight issue regardless.

.....A poor spring shouldn't knock him out of the 4th spot.....

I don't really agree with this.  Unless you're an established major-leaguer, a poor spring can always knock anyone out of the rotation, especially if other contenders are having a strong spring.  Drabek isn't established in the majors yet -- he still has to show that he can do it.

Now I suppose this also depends on what "poor" means.  A pitcher with a poor ERA might be having a good spring, despite the numbers, if he had a couple of unlucky outings in the early part of the spring.  If Drabek does poorly in his first couple games, and then impresses in his last two or three outings, he could make the rotation.  But if he has a whole series of poor games in the spring, I don't see how he makes the rotation. You can't reward a pitcher purely for "stuff" and potential.

.....I'd like to hear a convincing argument why being sent to LV would be good for him....

Here's a convincing argument from John Farrell (quoted on the Jays website) about why LV would be good for Zach Stewart:   "We're going to make sure that he makes every stop along the way," Farrell said. "Sometimes in those offensive environments, pitchers learn more about themselves with the conditions they find themselves in."

(Of course Stewart is not in exactly the same situation as Drabek, the subject of the above comment by christaylor, but there are enough similarities between Stewart and Drabek to give us pause to consider Farrell's comment and whether it might apply to both of them, not just to Stewart.)