Casey Janssen's first rehab start

Rookie Casey Janssen busted onto the major league scene in 2006, starting 17 games for the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2007, he was a dominant force at the back end of the Jays bullpen, posting 24 holds. Optimistic about a job in the starting rotation in 2008, he tore his labrum in spring training and missed the entire season. Destined to break it with the big club this season, he suffered yet another setback, yanking himself in his final tuneup in spring training with soreness in his shoulder and has been shelved since.

On Monday, Janssen had his first rehab start with class-A Dunedin. The early results are encouraging. There are conflicting reports of his stat line, some saying he pitched 3 innings, others 4. However, he did not allow a single run, while whiffing 3 batters.

Janssen will make at least a couple more minor league starts before he's given a clean bill of health, but if all goes well, he might be back in Toronto's rotation rotation sometime in May.

Richmond earns 3rd win of season

Scott Richmond has 3 wins already this season. The Canadian has not lost a start. And his ERA is a full one run better then ace Roy Halladay. Have you woken up yet?

Just one month into the 2009 season, and it's hard to find anyone who predicted Scott Richmond would be even a decent major league pitcher, let alone a guy who would post the 12th best ERA in the American League (2.70) to this point. In Tuesday night's 8-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals, Richmond had his longest outing of his career, putting together 7 solid innings to go along with 5 strikeouts.

Richmond certainly has been aided by a potent Blue Jays attack, averaging 9.5 runs of support in his four starts. Some of those games, however, the game was close and then Toronto busted out with an offensive onslaught.

A hurler will always have an upper hand facing hitters the first and even second time around. The challenge for Richmond as the season progresses is to keep up his brilliant start when ball clubs have the book on his tendencies. If he can continue to pitch well in August & September, then the Jays might have found themselves a gem.

Or he could be the next Josh Towers.

Litsch receives good news from Dr. Andrews

For once, there is some good news for a member of the Blue Jays starting staff. After Jesse Litsch went to the disabled list with forearm tightness April 14th, he was expected to miss about a month. However, a precautionary visit Monday with Dr. James Andrews raised eyebrows that this could be a more serious injury. Usually, a visit to Andrews is the last thing a pitcher wants to have, but in this case, Litsch was told he had no structural damage and that he could resume tossing sessions.

The Jays hurler will likely throw off flat ground for a few weeks and then pitch on the mound before getting into simulated contests. The team is optimistic for a mid-May return for the former 13 game winner.

In two starts this season, Litsch has posted a record of 0-1 with an ERA of 9.00

John McDonald: The Forgotten Man in '09

John McDonald is quite possibly the most popular Toronto Blue Jay amongst fans. On opening night when he was introduced, he received a raucous cheer, rivaled only by Roy Halladay. The slick infielder has been a defensive wizard, patrolling the infield for 5 seasons with the Jays, but has become a forgotten man in Toronto's early success in 2009.

This year, McDonald has not cracked the starting lineup even once, mainly being used as a defensive replacement in blowouts and occasionally as a pinch runner. The team would like to get him into games, but with the incumbent shortstop Marco Scutaro having such a great start, McDonald has ridden the pine.

The issue behind Johnny Mac's lack of playing time is his career .236 batting average, including a paltry .210 in 08. With the club swinging the bats so well, offense is not a concern, so McDonald should be getting starts despite his weak bat. The foremost reason why he's not starting is the fact Toronto would have no lead off hitter in the absence of Scutaro. It's already a stretch to have Marco at the top of the order, so if McDonald started in place of the incumbent, who would be the guy? McDonald has a career .275 on base percentage, so he's not a good fit there.

In the absence of a prototypical lead off guy, the Blue Jays human highlight reel has become a forgotten man.

What a shame.

Purcey lit up as Jays lose series opener to KC

At some point David Purcey will harness his considerable talent and start dominating ball games. Unfortunately for a depleted Jays pitching staff, he continues to scuffle in April after a brilliant spring.

Purcey's struggles continued Monday night in Kansas City, matching a career high with 3 long balls surrendered. In 5 innings, the American League's worst offense teed off on Purcey to the tune of 8 hits and 6 earned runs, in a game the Jays wound up losing 7-1.

In five starts this season, Purcey has allowed 20 runs in just over 25 innings, issuing 18 free passes. Oddly to the contrary, his strikeout ratio is top 5 in the American League, averaging a strikeout per inning, so it's obvious he does have the ability to be a power pitcher. It remains to be seen when he'll "find it."

If he continues to go in a downward spiral, the Jays should move him down in the rotation, and perhaps have him switch spots with the suddenly surging Brian Tallet.

Purcey has major league stuff. We just have to be patient. It's not like Toronto didn't expect road bumps from the starting rotation.

Jays to face former Manager Gibbons in KC

The opener of a four game set between the A.L. East leading Toronto Blue Jays and the Kansas City Royals will feature a familiar face to the Blue Birds.

Former Jays manager John Gibbons will be in the opposing dugout against the club he led to a 305-305 record in 5 seasons at the helm as Manager. Gibbons is now the bench coach for an up and coming Royals ball club.

The Jays fired Gibbons 74 games into the 2008 campaign after the club slumped to a 35-39 record, eventually replacing him with current bench boss Cito Gaston.

Gibbons tumultuous tenure in Toronto included run-ins with players, most notably Shea Hillenbrand and Ted Lilly.

The Jays will attempt to set a club record with its 7th straight series victory to open a season.

Blue Jays should sign Pedro Martinez

He may be a little long in the tooth, and Pedro Martinez certainly has a lot of tread on the tires, but Blue Jays General Manager J.P. Ricciardi should consider signing the 3-time CY Young award winner to be a member of the depleted starting staff.

The starting rotation, as it stands now, is Roy Halladay, David Purcey, Scott Richmond, Brian Tallet and Brian Burres. The team is expected to have Litsch, Ricky Romero and Casey Janssen back in the rotation mid-May. But what if Purcey continues to struggle? Richmond falls back down to earth? Romero also has a history of injuries, Janssen hasn't pitched in the bigs since 2007, Tallet has only 8 career starts to his name, and Burres' career ERA is 5.99. Is it really that big of a risk to sign the former New York Met?

Pedro's asking price is expected to be in the $5 million dollar range, even though his last full and effective campaign came back in 2005, where he won 15 games. Toronto has some money to spend after the departure of A.J. Burnett in the off-season. They club should draw up an incentive laden contract for the former 23 game winner and see if he sticks.

Really, could he be any worse then Brian Burres?