As usual, most of the spots are spoken for.
Because very little in this world makes sense anymore, we can probably expect the Blue Jays to carry seven relief pitchers. A 12 man pitching staff means just 13 hitters, and twelve of those jobs are signed, sealed, and delivered.
The starting lineup will have Zaun catching, Overbay, Hill, Eckstein and Rolen in the infield, Rios, Wells, and Johnson in the outfield. Stairs, Scutaro, and McDonald will be on the bench, along with the extra catcher. Right now, that looks like Fasano unless a new name gets added to the mix.
On the outside, looking in - Adam Lind, Curtis Thigpen, Russ Adams, Rey Olmedo, Joe Inglett...
Halladay, Burnett, McGowan, Marcum are sure to fill four of the rotation spots. Litsch is the incumbent fifth starter. Let's leave him there for the moment.
In which case, the bullpen will certainly include Accardo, Janssen, Downs, and Frasor. And leading the charge for the final three spots would be Wolfe, Tallet, and League.
That's your 25 guys, with Ryan opening the year on the DL.
There's obviously a very good chance that Casey Janssen will be given a chance to take the fifth starter's job, and should he do so I would expect Litsch to begin the year starting in the minors rather than relieving in the majors. Which opens up another bullpen job, at least to start the season - an opening for Camp or Wells or someone who gets hot in Florida.
Gustavo Chacin may yet be heard from, but I'd be pretty surprised if that happens in April. We can be pretty sure that more starters will eventually be needed. I certainly expect that both Burnett and Marcum will miss a few starts.
I've been away, gang. But I'm easing back into it. I've been going over the predictions we all made last spring, and I'll post a report on it shortly. Suffice it to say that... how shall I put this... we did not distinguish ourselves. Out of 100 possible points, the winner (take a bow, electric carrot!) scored 45.
Anyway, that's enough from me for now. I'm a big chess fan, and on the occasion of the passing of Bobby Fischer ( an obnoxious repulsive loony, but one of the three greatest players who ever lived)... I'm going to have a game. Against the computer. Which I will lose.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20080118224113295