Dunedin Dispatches: Week 4

Now with loads of Alex Anthopoulos content,given the Thursday interview on PTS:

Item: AA expressed confidence that both Janssen and Santos will be ready for the opening day roster, and noted that if both are healthy Janssen is still the presumptive closer.

Item: He said that Brett Lawrie is two weeks away probably, from getting into games and that puts him on a tight schedule to be dialed up by opening day. Don't be too stunned if he opened the season with a brief DL stint for rehab.

Item: Alex discussed the bullpen competition at some length. He noted that being "out of options" could serve as a tie-breaker in a close competition. He noted that pitchers who were excellent last year have a solid leg up as long as they are having a good camp, and mentioned by name Delebar and Loup. He then answered a question about Jefress and sang his praises but voiced caution and wanted to see whether he would keep it going. He spoke glowingly of McGowan, that he seems to be completely healthy and anxious to get into games - and used the expression "if healthy he has the best stuff in the organization."He did strongly imply thatitwas quite late to have him break camp with the Jays. the easy decision is to open theyear on the DL for a 30 day re-hap stint and hope that an opening develops on the big league roster before they haveto make a decision on him.
 I'll discuss the bullpen situation more further down.

Item: He clarified the situation with David Cooper. Without going into the gory details, the release was a function of CBA rules and the Jays hope to sign him to a minor league deal and give him a chance to recover.

Item: They discussed #1 prospect Aaron Sanchez and Alex refers to hm as "our Matt Moore" and quoted the well known Mel Queen comment that Sanchez was aheadof Chris Carpenter or Roy Halladay coming out of high school.

Item: Anthony Gose is much better this spring (Alex is not the only one to make this observation) but he also said he wants to see the spring success carry over to to the regular season. He said "offensively hestill has work to do."

Item: Plenty of confidence that they opportunity exists to sign Josh Johnson to an extension if theywish to.

Item: During a discussion of Romero he said basically that Ricky is the guy but that was open to adjustment, but tellingly he noted that in a season when you are going for it, you can't lose games protecting someone's feelings.

Item: he finished with an acknowledgement that trade talks heat up at the end of ST and pretty much flat out stated that if the out of options guys are not going to make it they will  be discussed in trades. Don't look for the team to lose anyone good without any compensation. 

Early on, Alex was highly praising what he saw from Jose Reyes, and every report concerning Reyes is glowing. this guy could be THE big acquisition in terms of intangibles, even more so than all the imported pitching.

In other items...

Item: the Jayshave signed, to a minor league contract, former Mariner Munenori Kawasaki He'll likely be the starting SS in Buffalo and serve as a depth option. 

Item: Adam Lind is having a great spring. Worth remembering, Lind regularly has a great spring. Stay tuned.

Item: Gibbons says the 2B job will "go down to the wire"

Item:

Item: Brett Cecil had a solid outing today.-his best of the spring. The news cycle doesn't buzz much about Esmil Rogers, who's been assumed to be a lock, and Brad Lincoln, who's assumed to not be likely to make it, but if i may indulge in another round of speculation...
Seven spots.

Mortal locks if healthy: Janssen, Santos, Oliver - the only waiver here is if one of the closers need a few days on the DL to catch up.

That leaves four.

Rogers has been presumed to be in, and it's hard to conceive that Delebar isn't likewise a lock. Today Alex added loup by name as a presumptive guy.

That would leave only one. Jefress and Cecil are both out of options, as you know, so if one doesn't make the team he's almost certain to be traded. Lincoln and Hall do have options, as Michael Schwimmer, Justin Germano, and anyone else you've heard called a candidate. I can't seeany of them forcing the Jays to get rid of two big league pitchers.

McGowan, of course, will almost certainly get 30 days in the minors to establish some momentum and catch up to the others, and he'll be hoping that roster machinations will open a role for him by May 1.

All this leads me to believe that it would not be stunning to think that Janssen might spend at least the first week on the DL and thus give Alex room to maneuver a few more days.