I assume it will be Hattig who is called up to replace Glaus?    But Hattig has had a very slow start at Syracuse and is batting only .185.    Could it possibly be Ryan Roberts who is called up?

    Or another possible option:  make Smith the starting 3B and call up Adams as the back-up infielder.  Unfortunately Adams is hitting even worse than Hattig at the moment.....

I'd rather start john mcdonald at 3b than have hattig there... he was completely lost last year.  I think they'd call up ryan roberts since he seems like the only guy worth giving a shot to.

League on DL - hurts a little, the Jays do have other middle relief options and Casey Janssen has pitched well

Reed Johnson on DL - hurts a little more, Adam Lind can cover most of the offense but you do take a defensive hit

BJ Ryan on DL - hurts quite a bit based on the 2006 BJ Ryan.  Everyone moves up a spot so you are weaker at closer, at setup and at middle relief

Troy Glaus on DL -  hurts a lot as the Jays have no replacement.  John Hattig is hitting under .200 in AAA and his defense is suspect.  Ryan Roberts is another option, maybe in a platoon with Jason Smith, but neither will be a good replacement for Glaus.

Here's hoping that Glaus misses just the 15 days.

....call up Adams as the back-up infielder.

If Glaus comes back early, and Hattig and Adams both play sensationally, I wonder if J.P. is gonna do some tinkering with the infield.

 

A question raised on the Globe's comments page seems worth raising here. Why, in the case of Johnson and Glaus, are these injuries only being dealt with now?

A ligament strain such as BJ Ryan's is one thing, but in each case, it seems likely that there were signs much earlier, indeed during the winter or the end of the previous season, that Glaus's heel and Johnson's back would be a problem. So why not deal with them in the off season instead of waiting until now?

I expect the answer is "they were really hoping it wouldn't be a problem." But if so, in the age of modern medicine, isn't that just a little bit stupid?

Eric Hinske, Eric Hinske, wherefore art thou, Eric Hinske?

or

A third sacker! A third sacker! My kingdom for a third sacker!

The bench will be the death of this team.

To follow up Flex's point, questions are being raised in the Yankees camp about their strength and conditioning program (may need to log in to view).

Were there any changes in this aspect made this year for the Jays?  Couldn't Reeder's back, Glaus' heel and League's bad training been monitored more carefully?  Are 30 MLB-ready players that hard to keep track of?

This really sucks, the Yankees are ripe for the picking.  And all the BoSox have lost is Clement.

Here we are a half game outta first behind the Sox and 1 and a half up on the Spankies. We're tied for first in the wildcard race. The end is not nigh.

Interestingly, we may actually play better with all the injuries. Ya, I know I've got a reputation as a bit of a Pollyanna...but I got that FEELING, you know the one you got when your girfirends father came home early from Bible class and caught you and her...er...well, at least I remember the feeling.

JohnnyMac and Smith have been SWELL at 3rd defensively, offensively JM is 500/55/643, Smith is 353/389/529 and that slacker Glaus is 333/467/625. JM and Smith have 0 homers between them (split evenly I think), Glaus has 2. Some of you might say that JM and Smith will regress...oh ye of little faith! OK,so they'll drop a bit.

With Sparky gone we actually get better over the first four (for sure), five (maybe)... Rios, Lind, Wells, Thomas, Overbay, Hill, Zaun, Garbage, Moregarbage.

Thank our lucky stars we've got all that pitching that BA likes to denegrade us for. Janssen, Marcum, Vermilyea, Frasor and Accardo. Not so worse.

Rios, Hill, Lind...could be a contender for three of the best young hitters (on any one team) in the game.

Bottom line? Ask me in October.

Ryan Roberts gets the call.

Bottom line? Ask me in October.

Won't you be busy scheduling a parade?

 

At the risk of being seen to be pedantic.

Not that the team really has to answer to the fans or anything, but  ... what was Ricciardi thinking again this last off season signing Matt Stairs instead of Glaus's back-up.

Do we think Cantu could handle third?

 

Okay, with the smartass comments out of the way...

Who imagined, while he was playing for Toronto, that Ryan Freel would one day earn $7M in pro baseball? Good for him.

I imagine that while Glaus is serving his 15-day stint (which I'm guessing is being backdated?), the team will just go with a Smith/McDonald platoon. But what if this injury is more serious and Glaus is out for longer? Should the team slide Hill over to 3B and take this opportunity to re-audition Adams for a 2B job? Or should they just stop shuffling Hill around and just leave him anchored at second base come hell or high water? My instincts are for the latter. But if a prolonged Glaus injury doesn't see Adams indirectly get some AB's, I'm not sure what ever would (save for a Hill injury, of course).

I agree with Robert (if not his use of the word wherefore). This team's bench is being exposed. And only two weeks in.

The timing of the injuries is terrible, with Boston and New York coming to town. Still, I think we can weather the storm. Even with weak #8 and #9 hitters, our lineup is still quite solid. And we have bullpen depth to cover for BJ (the pen is also well rested). For me, Glaus's injury hurts the most.

We should be thankful about the update on Ryan. There's no reason he can't rehab and come back at full strength.

I think the main thing is to try to hang with the competition for a couple of weeks until (hopefully) Glaus is all the way back. The larger goal is to still be in the race when BJ, Reed, and possibly McGowan rejoin the team this summer.

Simply devasting. That's all I can say after all the injuries have stacked up. Okay I lied, I have more to say.

Losing Glaus, Ryan, Johnson, and League for a game isn't that big of a deal. Losing these 4 key members for days/weeks/months is terrible news. Even with everybody healthy, the Jays had a slim margin of error if they wanted to make the playoffs. Now the Jays have basically replaced those 4 guys with Roberts, Lind, Zambrano, and Vermilyea. Players like Smith and Johnny Mac will see more playing time.

I'm still scratching my head why the Jays front office didn't get a backup 1B, backup 3B, and OF in the off-season. It's not like the Jays didn't know this was going to be a weakness even if everybody stayed healthy. I'm also questioning how the Jays deal with players that aren't 100% healthy. I wonder if Ryan had any elbow soreness during Spring Training. It wouldn't surprise me if the Jays knew about it and didn't react accordingly. This is the same front office that let Doc pitch last season during Spring Training when he wasn't 100% healthy and moved a hobbling Troy Glaus to SS during inter-league games to get Hillenbrand's bat in the line-up.

Should the team slide Hill over to 3B and take this opportunity to re-audition Adams for a 2B job? [...] if a prolonged Glaus injury doesn't see Adams indirectly get some AB's, I'm not sure what ever would

As you alluded to, Chuck, the last thing Aaron Hill needs is another defensive switch. Seems to me like Russ Adams should learn how to play third base -- and the outfield, for that matter. (Speaking of Ryan Freel.)

I agree with Robert (if not his use of the word wherefore).

I assumed he meant, "Matt Stairs, wherefore art thou a fourth outfielder?"

For the life of me, I can't understand the Adams-crush that some people still seem to have. He has been abysmal in the majors, offensively and defensively, for the last two seasons. He apparently has a Knoblauch-like throwing problem. And he isn't hitting at all in AAA this year. I just don't get it.

Devastating, no. See 2004 for devastating, or imagine losing Wells and Halladay for half a season. This hurts, but it's survivable. If Ryan's only out for a month and a half, the remaining relievers should be able to cover for that length of time -- this pen looks good. If Glaus is only out for 15 days, McDonald and Smith are at least warm bodies to occupy the spot in the short term. And left field was the one position where the Jays had a bona fide prospect waiting in the wings. If Glaus's injury lingers, then that's a serious problem, because the dropoff from starter to backups is canyonesque. I'm actually a Ryan Roberts booster, but it's asking a lot of a rookie to come up to the majors and fill in for a guy like Glaus for weeks or months at a time.

And yeah, this rash of injuries has exposed the near-criminal negligence of the front office in assembling the bench, going back to the Hinske deal. Combine that with the evident lack of monitoring of Brandon League's off-season regimen -- how do you not keep a closer eye on a young arm like that? -- and JP's team comes off looking like they spent the winter asleep at the switch. They need to rectify their mistakes really fast, if it's even possible at this point.

Don't write off Russ Adams yet -- he's been hurt by some terrible weather in the International League. I continue to maintain he'll play a respectable second base in the majors in the near future.

I really like Ryan Roberts. To me he's Sparky-Lite. Presently, he's hitting 269/367/500 with 2 homers in 26 at bats at AAA. This guy is a scrappy overachiever. He plays hard, he plays dirty. I think this call up is his audition for one of the back up infielder jobs. Expect to be pleasantly surprised!

Ha, Sparky-Lite.

I really didn't think there were any more Lite back-up infielder jobs left on a team already down by the head with em.

No question, the Glaus injury hurts the most. While Smith can provide the 'D' at third, no one can replace that bat ... Lind is going to be special -- though maybe not this year (hopefully this year). As for Ryan, that hurts quite a bit too. I like the closer-by-committee approach though, and I think there are enough good arms in the 'pen to do it.

I have to agree with the Russ Adams assessment -- he's just not the answer. Hill is a second baseman. Sure, he can play these other positions, but not as well as he'll play at second -- especially after having played 2B for a long time. You can't just go to SS and make an easy transition. He won't be used to the long throws -- and he doesn't have the range to play SS on an everyday basis. Natural second baseman, that's all I have to say. Keep him there.

Bottom line: While these injuries definitely suck, it's not the end of the world. This could be happening in September. There's still enough offence to win ballgames, and there are no major injuries to any starting pitchers -- unless you consider being too inconsistent (Ohka, Towers, Chacin, Burnett) as an injury.

We'll be fine. 

I really like Ryan Roberts. To me he's Sparky-Lite.

I don't think Roberts quite has Reed's talent, so perhaps Sparky-Lite is a good description. Roberts is a 5-10, 190 pound 18th round draft pick and Johnson is a 5-10, 180 pound, 17th round draft pick. Nevertheless, even if Roberts will never become a regular like Johnson, the potential certainly exists for him to become a good infield reserve.

I'm glad to see him get the call, especially as I was one of his supporters when the minor league crew was so divided on where to put him on last year's Top 30.

We're now a 2 sinkhole team.

Lind will be just fine in the OF but we have AAAA calibre players manning 2  infield positions. 

These problems, which existed before the recent injuries, need to be quickly addressed.

Its becoming more and more obvious that Aaron Hill should have been made the Jays SS to start the season.  There were a glut of free agent 2nd baseman available and Clayton hasn't impressed in the field.

A Roberts/Smith platoon at third should be perfectly adequate.  Roberts hits lefties well enough for the platoon role, and fields third base adequately. The 4th outfielder is another issue altogether.

Jeff Duncan is the new triple A centerfielder.  The crude statistics that we have suggest that he's a good defender and would hit like a 4th outfielder. Wayne Lydon is another possibility.  My winter would have been complete if Ricciardi had found a way to pick up Alex Romero when the Twins let him go, but no such luck.  Good health for Lind, Wells and Rios for the next 6-8 weeks at a minimum seems to be a necessity. 

Seems to me that John Ford-Griffin is likely the next outfielder called up if anything happens to Stairs or Lind. One of Rios or Wells can handle centre, so that's not an issue exactly, but I doubt they'd carry 3 left-handed OFs with modest defensive skills at one time. Who's the top RH option out there at the moment? Mottola?

Duncan or Lydon look like they'd make good fourth outfielders. Hopefully we'll see one of them soon: Matt Stairs has become an unaffordable luxury, now that Adam Lind is filling the role of "Slow lefty outfielder", and likely doing it better than Stairs could.

I'd like to see a stronger infield, too, but why mess with success: Clayton's hitting 290/343/452, McDonald's at 500/533/643, and Smith's at 353/389/529.  None of that is going to last, but we might as well let players ride out their hot streak before yanking them.

The one thing Stairs offers is an experienced LHB with power, which we need with guys like Clayton and McDonald in the lineup. I would rather have Stairs up in a key late-inning situation than John-Ford Griffin. But I agree we could also use a good 4th OF--especially one with strong defensive skills.

None of that is going to last, but we might as well let players ride out their hot streak before yanking them.

I thought the sabermetrics crowd clearly demonstrated that when it comes to hot streaks, past performance bears no relation to future results. But I could be wrong.

I'd like to see a stronger infield, too, but why mess with success: Clayton's hitting 290/343/452, McDonald's at 500/533/643, and Smith's at 353/389/529.  None of that is going to last, but we might as well let players ride out their hot streak before yanking them.

I'd suggest that what we can expect from these three moving forward is pretty much what we expected at the start of the year, and that an uncharacteristic two weeks serve no predictive value. Whatever decisions the team would eventually make should be made now.

I agree.  Clayton and McDonald are easy to project from their career patterns.  Smith is harder.  His splits, career major league and 2006 minor league,  involve small samples and do not tell a consistent pattern. The safest assumption is that he has typical platoon splits.  My guess is that given a regular platoon gig at third base (rather than being shunted around), he'd hit .250/.300/.415.  Roberts would, I think, do better than that in the OBP department in a platoon role. 

So far this season, the Jays have turned five 5-4-3 double plays (three started by McDonald, two by Glaus) and only one 6-4-3 double play started by Clayton (and no 4-6-3 double plays).  It might be simply early days and unusual ball in play distributions with a runner on first, although eyeballing Clayton's totals from 2006, it appears that it was a problem last year too.

we have AAAA calibre players manning 2  infield positions.

AAAA is an incredibly generous assessment IMO. As others have mentioned, the mishandling of the bench, as well as the middle infield, over the offseason is absolutely mind-boggling. I can't accept that even JP would be arrogant/incompetent/stupid enough to think that carrying Stairs, Smith, and Macdonald on the bench would adequately address the team's needs. Given the makeup of the rest of the team, the Stairs signing in particular was absolutely insane.

 Here is Will Carroll's take on the injuries and anticipated recovery times. All dates +/- 15 days, 13 times out of 20.