Halladay knocked around by old mates

It was a sight never seen before in the history of mankind; Roy Halladay pitching against the Toronto Blue Jays. And boy oh boy he looked legitimately awful in the early going. And who could blame him? He spent 12 years in the Jays organization before being shipped out to Philly in the off-season and had never faced his old pals before.

Halladay gave up a lead off double to Jose Bautista, served up a 2 run shot to Aaron Hill on the next pitch, then allowed two more runs on a double by Edwin "E5" Encarnacion and a base rap by Alex Gonzalez. Halladay being Halladay, however, meant he bounced back as he struck out the next four batters, retiring the final seven batters he faced. I don't know who had more ants in their pants for their opening act though, Halladay, or this kid.

Halladay returns to Toronto when the games actually count for a series beginning June 25th, assuming the G-20 summit doesn't screw everything up. Somehow I get a feeling Doc will be just a tad bit better in that contest.

Rzepczynski to miss 6 weeks with broken finger

Just one day after taking a screaming come backer off his finger Jays starting pitcher hopeful Marc Rzepczynski will miss up to six weeks with a broken middle finger. File that one under the "that was obvious" category. Immediately after Zep took the scorching ball off his digit, the 24 year maintained the injury was nothing serious. Ya right. Clearly, he was toast.

The unfortunate injury dramatically changes the face of Toronto's starting rotation to begin the season. Rzepczynski shouldn't have even headed north with the big club even before this occurred after a horrendous 6.10 ERA in the spring. So that essentially leaves Dana Eveland and Brett Cecil to duke it out amongst themselves for a starting rotation berth.

Eveland, acquired in the off-season from Oakland, has been brilliant in the Grapefruit League with a 1.23 ERA over 22 innings (2 starts) to go along with 19 strikeouts. He's also out of options so a spot on the staff appears likely. Cecil, who showed great promise last season, showed his penchant for injuring his finger a couple of weeks ago while in his kitchen, causing him to miss some time. That hasn't deterred him from pitching quite well in his two starts, fashioning a 3.38 ERA. The obvious way to settle the score? Perform this highly scientific task to determine who gets the starting nod.

Jays should name Frasor closer

There has been much debate over who should be the Blue Jays closer this year. Cito Gaston has three options in Scott Downs, Kevin Gregg and Jason Frasor at his disposal, but I believe the clubs stopper should be obvious. In fact, so much so that I happily scooped up Frasor in a fantasy baseball draft last week after two people selected Downs and Gregg in front of me. The past couple of days, Gaston has alluded to the fact Frasor is probably going to be his guy for the forseeable future.

It makes sense to put him in that role. Frasor was fantastic last season, going 7-3 with a sparkling 2.50 ERA to go along with 11 saves. He pretty much pitched just like this all year. The team has everything to gain by installing him as closer, not only because he can get the job done, but because they can try to drive his potential trade value up for interested suitors. The Twins and Cubs reportedly are mulling over whether to acquire him. Toronto could squeeze a lot of saves out of him, then ship him out of town at the deadline, or if they so choose, receive higher draft pick compensation when he leaves at the conclusion of the season.

As for Downs and Gregg, the organization is hoping Downs can reclaim his status as a dominant 8th inning man so his market value is sky high. His contract also runs out after the season, so the same reasoning that is applied to Frasor works for him. Gregg, meanwhile, could slide into either role if Frasor or Downs is dealt, or leave after the campaign and also net the Jays another draft pick.

It's the kind of innovative thinking that former New York Mets General Manager turned ESPN Baseball analyst Steve Phillips couldn't quite grasp.

UPDATE: Frasor has indeed been named Blue Jays closer to begin the season.

Vernon Wells is a monster

Vernon Wells is going to have a monster year. So much so that if Pierre McGuire called baseball games, Wellsy would be dubbed a monster every game. Seriously. I'm not being sarcastic. Really, I'm not. I believe that V-Dub will have an un-Vernon type season and actually produce. The longest tenured Blue Bird is going to be as lucky during the year as this bird of a different kind.

Wells has positioned himself to be in the perfect win-win scenario. He's played like crap for three years (relative to his $126 million dollar contract), so our expectations of him are at an all time sky low (or is it ground low?) He's finally healthy going into the campaign, unlike the past couple of years. And Vernon is hitting behind Aaron Hill and Adam Lind. He can't be that awful again.

Vernon always gets ridiculed for his pudgy body, and perhaps unjustifiably so. After all, he does look heavy like this. But why lose the weight? Where's the motivation? It's not going to change the fact he has wads of money filtering through his fat bank account for the next five years. Would you care about your performance and exercise? He would.

What do you think? Will Vernon be as pathetic as always? Or will he have a good season? Let your voice be heard by clicking on the "comments" button below this post.

Oh Gathright, we hardly knew ye

Today marks an incredibly sad day for the Toronto Blue Jays organization. The scintillatingly (did I just make up a word?) epic career of Joey Gathright as a Blue Bird is now over. Gathright was given his unconditional release today by the club, so excuse me while as I release a steady stream of tears. It's OK, feel free to break out the kleenex. You'll feel better afterwards.

When all you have is speed, as with the case of Gathright, then you better show it off at all times. Like this guy. Or better yet, this dude. The problem is, if you can't ever get on base because you are an awful hitter, then you're kind of screwed. Sorry bro.

Gathright (or is it Cartwright?) was trying to impress the team's brass enough to earn a spot as a bench player this season. It would've been a match made in heaven by all accounts. You know, because Gathright has had a storied career to date. But he was dreadful in the spring, hitting a pathetic .167 in 43 plate appearances. There goes that idea. Even Gregg Zaun could do better than that. I think.

So that ends the chapter of Joey Gathright's remarkably historic career with the Toronto Blue Jays. It's a devastating time for Jays nation. Now excuse me once again while I yearn for the glory days of Eric Hinske and Russ Adams in Toronto.

A stench emanating from Edwin Encarnacion

Edwin "E5" Encarnacion is allegedly healthy and on track to start at third base for the Jays this season. I'd be OK with that, except E5 racks up errors seemingly for the hell of it. Even this guy is better at fielding a baseball. The creaky and not as old as you think (27) Encarnacion has just got back to playing ball following surgery on his wrist. He's going to be fine this year, right? Wrong.

This injury already has a stench so rancid emanating from it that it's time to break out the axe body spray. I can see it now; a blistering .210 batting average, a razzle dazzle grand total of 8 home runs and a paltry RBI total of 35, all the while inventing new ways to airmail first base by five miles. Then we'll find out sometime in the winter that he was a hurt bag all season. Vernon Wells anyone?

Another plausible scenario is he'll be on and off the DL all year. That will force Jose Bautista to third base, ensuring Adam Lind and Travis Snider ample opportunities to run circles in the outfield and give career minor leaguer Randy Ruiz a chance to show everyone exactly why he hasn't been in the big leagues in 11 years. Maybe I'm too cynical. After all, Edwin does have one hit in nine at bats this spring.

Then again, considering this buffoon traded for him in the Scott Rolen deal last July, would we expect anything different?

(Note: Toronto Blue Jays Way realizes J.P. Ricciardi consummated a good trade by also netting prospects Zach Stewart and Josh Roenicke in the Rolenpalooza. However, in the interests of ripping him at all costs, it must be pointed out that he sucks. Big time.)

Send Rzepczynski to minors so Eveland can start

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm a big fan of Casey Janssen and feel he deserves to be on the club. He's up against Dana Eveland, amongst others, for a spot in the bullpen. Eveland shouldn't even be considered for the 'pen; Toronto should make him a part of the rotation and send Marc Rzepczynski down to AAA because he has looked brutal during spring training.

Even though Rzepczynski had a very solid rookie campaign, he is still extremely young and unproven despite his 3.67 ERA in 11 starts last season. However, in the spring this year, he has struggled with his command, allowing 9 earned runs in 16 innings, giving up 17 hits for a 5.06 ERA. The 24 year old has pretty good potential, but why not allow him to find his game in the minors and allow the veteran Eveland to start out the campaign as part of the rotation?

The 26 year old Eveland started 29 games in 2008, with a decent ERA of 4.34. He is being considered for the Blue Jays bullpen, where he'd fit in well as a long reliever. However, with the influx of pitchers vying for a job in the pen, including incumbents Jeremy Accardo, Josh Roenicke and Casey Janssen, why not move Eveland to the rotation, freeing up another spot for one of the young relievers? After all, he has a 1.69 ERA over the course of 16 innings, including one start.