Those locks to make the roster are, naturally, names you know well. Roy Halladay leads the rotation for the 4th year running, followed up by the Best Lefty in the AL East*, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt Lilly. Dave Bush looks to build on a very promising rookie campaign, while veteran Miguel Batista hopes to rebound from a disappointing '04.
In the bullpen, Justin Speier and Jason Frasor return for the late innings, while Scott Schoeneweis joins the team as lefty specialist. Billy Koch begins his second tour of duty in Toronto as a middle reliever. Kerry Ligtenberg will try to regain the form of his first 5 years, having been injured and quite a bit less than effective in 2004.
Lets have a look at the other hurlers in camp, and what the immediate future may hold for each.
*Middleweight class - under 6'5", 250.
The Starters
While Josh Towers hasn't done anything to lose his fifth starters role, he faces a challenge nonetheless this spring as 2004 success story Gustavo Chacin and minor league vet Ryan Glynn try to topple him and make the big league roster. Should he survive this challenge (and I'd give him a 75% chance of doing so) it won't get any easier for Towers going forward as the arms on the farm continue to ripen. If Chacin can show himself to be more than a one-year wonder, he'll get a chance to start in the big leagues someday, be it in Toronto or elsewhere. Glynn is most likely to continue down the 4A path, and will be welcomed on what should be a much improved team in Syracuse this season.
Name Age Level IP ERA H BB K HR Chacin 24 MLB / AAA / AA 168 2.79 137 55 129 15 Glynn 30 MLB / AAA 131 3.78 127 56 108 11 Towers 28 MLB / AAA 152 4.50 181 33 76 21
2004 season stats. Ages as of July 1, 2005.
The Relievers
While Vinny Chulk teamed with Jason Frasor to make for an unlikely but effective 1-2 punch in the first half of 2004, he faded badly in the second half and faces a lot of competition for one or two openings in the Toronto pen. Top prospect Brandon League looked great in a 5-inning Major League audition, and GM J.P. Ricciardi has hinted that the Hawaiian Punch-Out will serve in the Toronto pen, rather than looking to establish himself as a starting pitcher in Syracuse. Minor league free agents Scott Downs, Jesse Carlson, Steve Andrade, and Spike Lundberg all hope to impress the right people in Dunedin. Claimed on waivers from the Angels this winter, Andrade’s name came up in a recent roundtable discussion at Baseball America, and should he make it to Toronto he’ll be an interesting data point in the Stats vs. Scouting debate.
Back from Japan, Pete Walker faces an uphill battle to break with the big club, but he does have the selling point of being able to absorb a good number of innings. Traded from Tampa Bay to Toronto in exchange for Kevin Cash this winter, Chad Gaudin is the second-most interesting amongst the bullpen hopefuls and at 21 years old he already has two half-seasons of big league pitching under his belt. The Jays are much more conservative than the Rays when it comes to player development, however, and they'll likely choose to have Gaudin hone his pitches in Syracuse for at least the first half of the campaign. His talent dictates he will be back in the majors as some point - whether as a starter or a reliever remains to be determined.
Name Age Level IP ERA H BB K HR Andrade 27 AAA / AA 62 2.90 52 20 76 5 Carlson 23 AA 55 5.04 57 21 51 5 Chulk 26 MLB / AAA 85 4.02 86 38 70 11 Downs 29 MLB / AAA 198 4.05 222 49 105 25 Gaudin 22 MLB / AAA 91 4.75 107 33 82 12 League 22 MLB / AA 109 3.22 95 42 92 3 Lundbrg 28 AAA / AA 79 3.19 84 20 67 9 Walker 36 Japan 46 6.80 63 19 23 18
The Prospects
Many of Toronto’s bumper crop of pitching prospects figure to spend some time at the Major League camp, though none of these have a realistic shot of making the club coming out of Spring Training. 2003 2nd-rounder Josh Banks and the now recovered from Tommy John surgery Francisco Rosario are the best bets to sip their first cup of Major League java in 2005. 2003 3rd-rounder Shaun Marcum and 9th-rounder Jamie Vermilyea also have an outside shot. Canadian Vince Perkins, the emerging Ismael Ramirez, and the rehabbing Dustin McGowan will be content to rise to AAA Syracuse this year.
Name Age Level IP ERA H BB K HR Banks 22 AA / A+ 151 3.75 138 36 136 19 Marcum 23 A+ / A 148 3.16 138 20 155 13 McGowan 22 AA 31 4.06 24 15 29 4 Perkins 22 A+ 55 3.95 53 24 47 2 Ramirez 23 A+ 165 2.72 151 25 131 5 Rosario 24 A+ / AA 65 4.41 64 27 61 8 Vermil. 23 AA / A+ 113 2.80 97 25 76 6
And Also
The clock is nearing midnight for Justin Miller and Jason Arnold in Toronto, and younger prospects will soon pass them by if they are unable to turn things around. Seung Song and Mike Nannini are still fairly young, and both were once thought of as top prospects. They’ll attempt to prove that the potential they once showed can be turned into big league results. Minor league vet Adrian Burnside will most likely serve as the lefty specialist in Syracuse, where relative grey beard Matt Whiteside projects to be the closer.
Name Age Level IP ERA H BB K HR Arnold 26 AAA / AA / A+ 67 3.63 70 19 40 11 Burnsde 27 AAA 76 6.13 87 40 62 11 Miller 28 MLB / AAA 99 5.36 117 46 68 16 Nannini 24 AAA 151 5.29 156 42 111 31 Song 25 AAA / A+ / R 84 4.82 94 36 72 9 Whitesd 37 AAA 64 3.23 56 16 59 9
It seems like every year around this time I think, “It’ll be nice to finally have some good pitching depth” – but in the last couple years we’ve seen more than a few pitchers come, get lit up, and move on. Call me a sucker, but I really am convinced that there’s more than enough talent in this group for a full 162-game baseball season. I look forward to seeing which ones step up, be it in Spring Training or over the course of the regular season.
