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This Day in Baseball It Appears Doc Is Ready!!

Roy Halladay crafted together another fine outing as the Jays beat the Nationals 7-6 in the home finale of the spring season in Dunedin.



In his final tune-up before Opening Day on Monday, Halladay yielded just two runs (one earned) on five hits over six innings.  He struck out five, didn't walk anyone and induced seven groundouts.  B.J. Ryan spun a perfect seventh with two groundouts and Scott Downs had a one walk eighth.  The good pitching ended in the ninth when lefty Tim Collins struggled to close the door.  He was lit up for four runs on four hits and two walks while only getting two outs.  Michael Barbara had to put out the fire as he stranded a pair of runners to get the final out and the save for his troubles.

Scott Rolen wielded the hot hickory stick yesterday with a homer, double and walk in a perfect afternoon at the plate.  He scored twice and drove in a run.  He's now hitting a robust .367.  He did make his first error in the spring but we can let that slide!  Alex Rios was also perfect at the dish by going 2-for-2 with a walk and is just four points away from .300.  Travis Snider is just four points away from Ted Williams territory after doubling twice in a 2-for-3 day.  Vernon Wells had one just hit but he made it count for a two-run double, one of seven on the afternoon for the good guys.  Wells is hitting .318 on the spring.

Today, the Jays take on the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland.  Number five starter Scott Richmond will pitch against Eddie Bonine at 1:05 p.m. EDT.
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In other TDIB notes.....

*  Cardinals third baseman and former Jay Troy Glaus could miss more time than expected with his sore shoulder while former Jay/current Cards starter Chris Carpenter tries to overcome a sore calf.

*  Former Jays outfielder Frank Catalanotto is out of a job with Texas as Andruw Jones wins the fifth outfielder's spot.

*  Indians ace and Cy Young Award stealer, er, winner (kidding!) Cliff Lee is anxious to forget this spring ever happened.

Posted by #2JBrumfield on Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 01:02 AM EDT.
It Appears Doc Is Ready!! | 19 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
92-93 - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 01:11 AM EDT (#197746) #
Only 62 pitches for Doc? I reckon that's because the relievers also needed to get their work in, and he's just too damn efficient. Would this mean he went to the bullpen after and threw another 40 or so pitches? Or maybe even throw to a live hitter on another part of the complex? I'd imagine they wanted to get his arm strength up to par so he's ready to entertain me at the Dome with a CG come Monday.
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Nolan - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 01:21 AM EDT (#197747) #
So Cat gets dumped by the Rangers.

I don't know if JP wants to bring back a guy he let walk [and rightly so], but Cat would fit in perfectly.  He can back up in the outfield and he is a better option than Millar at first base.  If I'm JP, I'm calling up the Cat's agent.

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VBF - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 01:25 AM EDT (#197748) #
Seconded.
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ANationalAcrobat - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 01:31 AM EDT (#197749) #
Millar will be used mostly against lefties to give Snider/Overbay/Lind a break. As a lefty, Cat would not be of much use to this team.
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brent - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 05:38 AM EDT (#197750) #
Hopefully Rolen can close the gap between him and Glaus to make the trade look better. I wonder if anything is going on with the fielding metrics because Glaus' fielding jumped up in St. Louis and Rolen's dropped that he came to Toronto. JP took too much grief over that trade last year and with the Johnson thing.
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Pistol - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 09:22 AM EDT (#197752) #
As a lefty, Cat would not be of much use to this team.

When 75% or so of pitchers are right handed and 6 of your regulars are right handed I think having a LH reserve would be quite useful.
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Brian Barnas - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 10:00 AM EDT (#197754) #
Your guys who play the positions Cat could play

Lind, Snider, Overbay

are all left handed. Which one of the three would you like to take at bats away from because it makes sense to have millar to play for one of them (Overbay) if a lefty is out on the mound

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MatO - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 10:05 AM EDT (#197755) #

News out of the Tigers camp is that Fernando Rodney is the "opening day closer".  We'll have to wait until September to find out who's the "closing day starter".

Continuing with the Tigers they seem to be really hard up for pitching.  Joining Porcello on the roster is 2008 1st rounder Ryan Perry who put up medicore numbers in a 12 IP in the FSL last year.  He and Porcello put up good ERA's in spring training but lousy peripherals.  Jim Leyland claimed that they made the team based upon the "look in their eyes".  For the Tigers' sake I hope it's not the "look" the mackeral gave John Candy's fisherman character in the SCTV spoof of Jaws where Candy claimed it "looked at him kind of funny".

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John Northey - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 10:37 AM EDT (#197759) #
Wow, putting your 2008 first rounder in the majors after just 12 innings in A+?  That is just asking for trouble. 

Ryan Perry is in his age 22 season so he could potentially be ready but in 2006 he had a 7.34 ERA in college, in 2007 he was at 6.35 before a breakthrough year in 2008 with a 2.89 and 72 K's in 74 2/3 IP. In the minors last year he threw 2 innings in rookie ball, then 11 2/3 in A+ giving up 7 walks and 12 K's. There is no way any GM should be allowing this guy to pitch in the majors at the start of 2009. Maybe it'll work out, but if I owned the Tigers I'd be scared I'd be losing a hot prospect due to being pushed far too fast. If his 12 innings were 0 or 1 walk with 20 K's I'd feel a little better, but not a lot. In the spring he threw 10 2/3 IP with 7 walks and 11 K's but gave up just 1 run.
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Jevant - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 10:45 AM EDT (#197760) #
I think the thought process is that with the Jays predominantly RH hitting top of the lineup (the 3 guys you mentioned are all likely to hit 5th or lower), a guy like Cat for the league minimum would not hurt.  And I have got to agree.  He's better than Millar, and I'd probably prefer him to Bautista as well.  Of course, if we could go with a 6 man pen it would be a no brainer. 

And I still have a sneaking suspicion that Wells isn't right.  If so, Cat has a starting job at either DH or LF, in my books.

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Ryan Day - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 10:50 AM EDT (#197761) #
Catalanotto would be more useful than Millar, but that's a pretty low threshold. At this point, I'm not sure he's more valuable than Inglett - they both hit righties about the same last year, and at least Inglett has some defensive versatility.

I love the Cat, but he may be nearing the end of the road. That said, I'd tell him he's got a minor-league coaching job any time he wants it.

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Pistol - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 11:02 AM EDT (#197763) #
Which one of the three would you like to take at bats away from (Lind, Snider, Overbay)

None. 

But there's 2 RH OFs that aren't going to play every single day and a catcher, SS, & 2B that you might want to pinch hit for late in games.  If you spot him correctly you're going to get maybe 50 starts and a lot of pinch hitting ABs late in games that gives you 300 good ABs for the season.

Millar is simply redundant with Bautista on the team and therefore expendable.
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Mike Green - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 11:03 AM EDT (#197764) #
Cat has hit .265/.340/.420 at age 33-34.  In the age of the 12 man pitching staff, there really ought not to be a spot for him or Millar.  I am all in favour of a move to an 11 man staff, but that isn't on the agenda, least of all with the 09 Jays.
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Thomas - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 11:06 AM EDT (#197765) #
As discussed in the previous thread, the bigger issue with Cat is that the players he would spell are predominantly left-handed in Overbay, Lind and Snider. In an ideal world, the Jays would have a right-handed bat to cover that area (one that was better than Millar) and a left-hander on the bench who could spell the middle infield. As it is, Cat would have a role as he could pinch-hit for either of the two catchers or for whomever is playing shortstop and he'd still probably pick up 200-300 at-bats, but many of them would likely be against tough left-handers when Cito is resting the kids.
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John Northey - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 11:35 AM EDT (#197766) #
Yeah, Cat and Sheffield and others of their ilk (including Millar) just aren't that useful to the Jays at this point.  You need a bench with guys who compliment those who are the future.  If Millar is happy getting 250 AB's maximum then he can work, but I'd hope he hits at least over 100 for OPS+ (ideally at a 110-120 rate). 

Rios and Wells are not going to miss more than 10 games each if healthy, and whenever on the DL will be replaced by a call up most likely.  We have Bautista (not ideal, but not horrid) to be a backup RH 3B/1B/LF/DH emergency CF while Scutaro can dance around anywhere too.  McDonald is the odd guy on the bench with just one role - defensive SS. 

Basically I see it as, with a limited bench, multi roles are vital and only one spot open for a hitter/1B only and with Lind/Snider/Overbay being the only guys likely to sit for a reason other than getting a day off to rest that guy had to be right handed.  Millar has that 'winning' attitude which I discount strongly but makes sense to want on your bench with kids in the lineup (vs Sheffield who has a bad rep).  So we have a 3 man plus catcher bench - 1 is a utility guy who plays 3B/LF/1B, another is a middle infielder (SS/2B) while the third is a RH hitter for 1B/DH.  Perfect for this team, although the pieces aren't as good as I'd like (ie: we need backup for Rolen who is likely to be hurt here and there, a defense first SS, and a RH hitter but I'd prefer better than the guys who are here).
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jgadfly - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 12:45 PM EDT (#197768) #
           "That said, I'd tell him he's got a minor-league coaching job any time he wants it."  ... I agree with Ryan ... Is there a better role model than Catalanotto for studying pitchers and 'approaches to the plate'  notetaking . Hire him as a minor league roving hitting instructor, sit him down next to Tenace, Cito & Murphy for post-graduate work half the time during games and have him tutor Snider and Lind ... then have him visit the minor league teams with  specific projects (eg. Eiland, Thames, Cooper) during the other half .  Frank Catalanotto PHD ... Professor of Hitting and Deportment ... time and money well spent looking after their investments.
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China fan - Thursday, April 02 2009 @ 05:52 PM EDT (#197773) #

My admiration for Cito Gaston is growing by leaps and bounds.  Latest evidence: he has just publicly referred to Roger Clemens as a "complete asshole."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/baseball/

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TamRa - Friday, April 03 2009 @ 12:22 AM EDT (#197776) #
Prediction:

If Richmond sucks at all his first two turns he'll be skipped the third time through (an off day) and Janssen/Ceci/Mills will get the April 25 start.


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