Monday at 1:05pm ET — Drew Hutchison vs. Masahiro Tanaka
Tuesday - Day Off
Wednesday at 7:05 pm ET — R.A. Dickey vs. Michael Pineda
Thursday at 7:05 pm ET — Daniel Norris vs. C.C. Sabathia
New uniform numbers this season — Justin Smoak has #14, Josh Donaldson will don #20 (SWIDT!), Danny Valencia is now #23, Marco Estrada will wear #25, Devon Travis has #29, Colt Hynes wears #49, Miguel Castro has #51 and Roberto Osuna is going with #54. Russ Martin has #55 and Michael Saunders, who wore #55 in Seattle, will get #21 when he gets off the disabled list, sometime in late April.
After the jump, the Batter's Box 2015 Roundtable Preview!
So, is Jose Reyes' new, more manly beard enough to erase the beard deficit from Adam Lind's departure? I say maybe. It isn't an Oakland A's level beard, but it would definitely get him kicked off of the Yankees.
2JB: I think Russ Martin will beard the winner this season. If Steve Delabar is called up, he may be a worthy challenger. Of course, Joey Bats can grow a beard in five seconds. He could go all Forrest Gump/Running On Empty if he wanted to but he has not shown the inclination to let it go yet.
NFH: I sometimes daydream that Bautista spends time between innings shaving off the hair he grew while in the outfield with a big industrial trimmer. And then some intern has to clean out the Rogers Centre drains.
Gerry: Jose Reyes’ beard is likely to become some work of art by the middle of april and be gone by May 1 to be replaced by some topiary hair. Lind was consistent. Jose Bautista could out-beard anyone with his chia-pet growth levels. Jose is just too cool for that.
It has officially been ten years since the infamous Named For Hank/Robert Dudek “Shea Hillenbrand Bet”. Where did the time go? Has the team progressed in that time?
2JB: The Shea Hey Kid will always be known for saying, “The ship is sinking. Play for yourselves.” Nothing has really changed with this team as evidenced by being the only team yet to reach the playoffs in the wild card era.
Gerry: The time went into a whirlpool of promises and regret. The last several years have shown that JP Ricciardi was not all that bad a GM, until he got tired of the corporate frustrations.
Who will lead the Blue Jays in saves this season?
2JB: My first inclination is to say it will be a trade acquisition. Failing that, I think it will be Miguel Castro.
NFH: Dioner Navarro.
Gerry: In order to be different I will say Cecil, but he needs to nail down all he can over the first two weeks. If the Jays give him a series of three run leads and he saves them he will stick but if he gets one run leads to save on the road it could be nervous nellie time.
Will John Gibbons avoid the firing line in 2015?
NFH: Is Cito available? The Jays don't usually fire a manager unless Cito is available.
2JB: I said in last year’s preview he will get gassed if the team struggles early but the awesome month of May kept him in the driver’s seat. I like Gibby and I would love to see him get this team into the post-season but the pessimist in me says he’ll be toast before the All-Star break.
Gerry: I say yes, mainly because the Jays have to avoid some of the bad luck they had over the last few seasons.
How many wins will the Jays get?
2JB: I thinking 82 wins at best only because of the additions of Donaldson and Martin will balance out the youth on the ball club but it won’t be enough for a playoff appearance.
Gerry: I say 84. We all know that it is tough to be a rookie in the major leagues and the Jays have six of them and almost seven with Colt Hynes barely being a non rookie. I am worried about starting pitching depth and the bullpen.
Who will leads the club in homers?
NFH: Me. I am a club-leading homer.
2JB: I like Bautista to keep his home run crown with 30+ plus dingers. We’ll have more of Joey’s Bombs to just edge out Edwin’s Parrots and Josh’s Raindrops.
Gerry: Josh Donaldson, like Bautista he is all in on the swing.
Who will lead the staff in victories?
2JB: I will say Buehrle finds the win column 15 times to go along with 15 seasons of 200 innings.
Gerry: I think RA Dickey will bounce back. Drew Hutchison would be my number two selection.
Will Buehrle make it to 200 innings again?
2JB: You can ban his pit bull from Ontario but you can’t ban him from getting 600 outs in a season. He’s only done that the last 14 seasons so who I am say he won’t do it again. He just turned 36 and his next victory will give him 200 for his career. He is in his walk year so he’s got plenty of incentive. If he can keep up this pace for the next few years, he could get a call from Cooperstown.
Gerry: No, he barely made it last year and this year he has a few more bumps in the road.
Where does Dioner Navarro wind up?
NFH: I'd love to see him get a few starts at second to see how he does there.
2JB: I’m going to say he’ll go to the Mets after Travis d’Arnaud suffers yet another injury. Darkhorse pick - Colorado.
Gerry: I think he gets dealt at the deadline to someone who is contending and has an injured catcher. I will say the Dodgers.Drew Hutchison is the Opening Day starter. Can he deliver like an ace or is he horribly miscast?
2JB: His overall ERA against lefthanded batters last season was 5.67 but Fangraphs talked about his improved slider in the late going of 2014. He’ll need to keep that going to combat LHBs. The most important thing was he got through last season unscathed after missing the entire 2013 season with Tommy John surgery. Maybe he won’t be an ace but he could conceivably be a number two starter.
Gerry: I don’t think he is an ace but there are not thirty of them in the majors. I think he has the potential to be a very good starter this year and he isn’t miscast as the opening day starter. The Jays have several mid-rotation starters and no ace.Who’s the breakout Blue Jay (think Swing Out Sister)?
2JB: I have a gut feeling Kevin Pillar is going to be a key contributor this year. He bounced back after his pouting incident of being replaced for a pinch-hitter by slugging .509 and swiping 27 bases in Buffalo. On the pitching side, I’m going to go with Daniel Norris to break through as a starter. I was able to see his first MLB start and he showed some moxie by battling the play-off contending Mariners despite a less than 100 percent elbow. I’m excited about his potential in 2015.
Gerry: I am most optimistic about Daniel Norris and Miguel Castro. Both will breakout in their roles.Who’s the break-down Blue Jay (think Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)?
2JB: As for who the arrow is pointing down for, I’m going with Michael Saunders. He did not play at all this spring thanks to a sinister sprinkler wrecking his knee. I’m also not confident in R.A. Dickey. There were too many times last year when he hit the wall after five innings and he serves up too many gopher balls. I always remember Jack Morris downplaying Dickey’s acquisition by saying knuckleballers are unreliable.
Gerry: I will go with Edwin, he already has had a bad back and he has had injuries before.
Will Devon Travis will fill the void at second base?
NFH: I hope he doesn't get sucked into it.
2JB: I know spring training isn’t the be all-end all but he was good with the twig and he won’t be the next Chris Getz. A .323 career batting average in the minors, double-digit home runs in the last two years and a decent-enough glove and throwing arm were on the scouting report before coming over from Detroit. Maybe Ian Kinsler rejecting a potential trade to the Jays might work out yet if Travis comes close to what he did in the minors and this spring.
Gerry: Offensively he will but I am not 100% sold on the defense. He seems fine on the balls hit to him and in turning the double plays. I didn’t think he looked great going back on bloopers. I think he does OK but Ryan Goins will see time as a late inning replacement.Will the bullpen be better this year?
NFH: The Jays have started years with some historically awful pitching staffs, so "better" is a low bar. I don't see Terry Adams anywhere near this team, so I'm hopeful.
2JB: Or Jeff Tam. Or Doug Creek. As Gerry noted last year and as many have said before, bullpen performance is so up and down from year-to-year. I think it would be nice if Sanchez were back there throwing gas in the late innings.
NFH: I literally wrote down Jeff Tam, Scott Service and Doug Creek, but then I deleted their names because I feared invoking them like Bloody Mary.
Gerry: No. You have an unproven closer, an unknown eighth inning guy, rookies and back end guys. It won’t be a disaster but it won’t be very good either.Who let the dogs out?
NFH: YOU CRAZY KIDS, STAY OUTTA MY TRAILER (/Hillenbrand)
2JB: Only Anslem Douglas knows for sure.Gerry: Named for Hank did, yes he did.
