Look who decided to show up

The Jays are fresh off a sweep, and who better to close it off than BJ Ryan. He looked pumped out there, and was pretty damn sharp too. You could tell he was excited to be back, and it looked like Halladay nearly tackled him at the end of that game during the high-fives. Hell, I forgot there was a guy on third because of how dominant BJ's always been.

Personal favourite Brandon League went down, as Will pointed out due to what I think was criminal underuse. I don't hate Gibbons, but I can't believe he underused League so much. I hope he gets his control back in AAA cause he'll actually be used...

Still, I can't imagine how pumped this team is gonna be in Baltimore for the next series. The "BJ bump", fresh off a sweep, should hopefully lead to the first major winning streak of the season. The first of many

For the next series, Dusty is taking on Matt Albers, who probably isn't expected to go to deep into the game. Marcum's going to take on Steve Traschel, meaning we can expect the game to end by June if we're lucky. I got better things to do than watch Traschel take 20 minutes to throw from the stretch....

Twitchy.

The Roundup

Yesterday's loss was a closed-fist punch right square in the gut and a mockery of all of us who've been trumpeting up our stellar pitching when coupled with the one from the night before. But lest we forget that there will be massive highs and crushing lows over the course of this 162-game season. We didn't deserve to win yesterday and we didn't. The stars were aligned.

If you're not of the level-headed philosophical nature and want to be a total douchbag about how things played out last night, you could blame JP for bringing in Scutaro, who is now dead weight because he made his first error of the season, and for the Beej's injury.

Despite the sweep of the Red Sox, this game isn't as easy as it looks when you have more than $23 million (U.S.) for two guys tied up on the disabled list.

Words to live by. Words. To. Live. By.

(For the record, I begrudgingly give it to the A's. They just look right as a team. Did you know any of their current position players aside from Ellis and Crosby 18 months ago? I didn't.)

I'm naturally curious by nature and I've got to wondering whether Jeremy Accardo is in fact a top-stepper. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it's used for those closers who repeatedly flirt with danger, forcing everyone in the park to the edge of their seats and prompting all the players on their team to move up to the top step of the dugout.

Mitch Williams was a top-stepper with great stuff. Todd Jones and Joe Borowski are top-steppers with crappy stuff.

It's been a bad week for young Mr. Accardo. Despite locking down 3 saves to date, he's yet to do it cleanly once. Here's a summary:

Apr. 2 @ NYY: 1 IP, 2H (nailed 'er down)
Apr. 4 vs. BOS: 1 IP, 1H (got it done relatively cleanly)
Apr. 6 vs. BOS: 1 IP 2H, (got the save)
Apr. 8 vs. OAK: 1 IP, 1 ER (took the loss)
Apr. 9 vs. OAK: .1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB (blown save)

I would also note that his first three outwardly successfull outings were all relatively low-pressure 3-run save situations. The last two, he came in to a tie game and another with a one run lead.

Last night on JaysTalk Wilner said he's going to ask Accardo today why he's abandoned the splitter than served him so well for much of last year and report back to us tonight. If Accardo's lost confidence in the pitch, he's certainly not going to try and regain mastery of it in the sort of high-leverage late game situation closers routinely face. I don't think Accardo is a bum; he's quite the opposite. But something's clearly needs to be done because the status quo ain't workin'.

We need the steadying hand and presence of the Beej now more than ever.

The decision to DFA Randy Wells and call up Jesse Carlson is a semi-curious one. Carlson is a 27-year-old lefty who will presumably be up until the Beej is ready to rejoin the club in a week's time or so (knock on wood). He's had great to impressive peripherals throughout his career in the minors but has yet to really translate them into better than average ERAs. He's been great at Syracuse so far this year. But seriously, though: a pen with 4 lefties? That's insane!

I really don't give a flying crap about Randy Wells (though it's too bad he left before collecting his Fazooli's gift certificate from Wilner) given the bullpen depth we seem to have, so don't expect me to eulogize him here. Keep in mind that if we do bring Armando Benitez up (he now has his VISA and has to join the Jays before May 15 if we want to keep him) and he performs, he'll likely have trade value at the deadline.

Pick 'em up for nothing, trade 'em for something: it's a can't lose strategy.

Ironically, Blair notes that Benitez has been touching 94 with his fastball and showing a good splitter, the secret weapon that eludes Jeremy Accardo. He and the Beej are moving on up to Syracuse.

ELSEWHERE:

* But down your hash pipes, you dirty B.C. hippies. Rich Harden is more seriously injured than the A's let on. Zut Alors! Quelle surprise!

* Over in the Bronx, Jeets (Daryl Strawberry's nickname for Derek Jeter between jail stints) and Posada are still ailing, but neither is expected to hit the DL.

* If you didn't pick up Zach Greinke in your fantasy pool and slot him into your bullpen, you really missed the boat, Hoss.

-- Johnny Was

Hypothetical ramblings

There's been a lot of focus on Janssen's status being determined by the health of BJ Ryan. I think they're looking at the wrong player. Regardless of Ryan's status; League, Accardo, Downs, Frasor & Tallet should be able to handle the 7th through 9th innings without a significant problem, whether or not Ryan's ready to roll. And let's face it, Janssen would pretty much be doing the 7th-8th innings within a week of Ryan being healthy. What a waste of his arm that'd be.

I don't agree that a player should determine Janssen's fate - other than Casey's performance. And to date, it's been pretty damn good. But that aside, if I had to pick a player to determine Janssen's fate, it'd be AJ.

Obviously this is just a random thought on my part, but how many of you believe this nail problem of AJ's is as simple as it sounds? Maybe I'm jaded by the fact BJ's doctor said they were rushing him, as I suspected they were. Maybe it's because last year, they told us Ryan's back was a problem, and he ended up getting surgery on the elbow. But you know what they say, the elbow's connected to the - spinal cord...

While I have no real evidence to prove this, I just want to focus on a hypothetical situation. What if AJ isn't ready go opening day? There's obviously no evidence he can't, but let's say his nail still isn't good to go. He isn't going to throw his fastball all day, and his change up has a neon "hit me" sign on it. So if he doesn't have Uncle Charlie, he might not be capable of starting as the #2.

While this is an overreaction, but what it does bring up is the importance of Janssen in the rotation. If Casey is the #5, and AJ isn't ready, we can bring up Janssen to the 4 and Litsch becomes the 5 (or another player if we don't wanna screw with his service time...although I'm drawing a blank as to who...doesn't smell like victory to me). However, if Litsch or even Mr. Victory himself starts off as the #5, and Janssen is headed for the pen, this could cause a problem.

Now, my point is less effective at the start of the season. Janssen is being prepped to start now, so if AJ starts on the d/l Janssen can still be put in the rotation. But again, looking further into the season if a starter gets injured, having Janssen in the rotation means we've got solid options behind him. If Litsch or another is the 5, and Janssen is in the pen, all of our rotation depth disappears.

I'll stop now that I'm rambling, but I'm definetly more worried about AJ than I should be...

Twitchy.

Morning Roundup

Cathal Kelly writes that Casey Janssen's role this year will be tied to the Beej's health: if the Beej comes North at the end of the month, Casey's a starter, if not, he's back in the pen. We all knew that there was going to be a linkage between the two, but is it really going to be that strict?

Would the club really forgo using Janssen as a starter, which JP strongly feels is his most useful role to play, just because the Beej starts the season a month late? Even knowing that if he starts in the pen, it'll be more difficult to stretch him back out should he be needed as an injury replacement if one of Doc/AJ/McGowan/Marcum gets hurt early?

Really, it just doesn't seem wise to use Janssen out of the pen in '08 unless a) other viable 5th starters emerge--Chacin? pppft! Litsch? not ready; or b) the Beej has a serious setback and is lost for most or all of the upcoming season.

Kelly calls the decision on Janssen's role this year a "difficult" one, but it's really not. Yes, it will be shaped by external factors to a certain extent, but the right choice is pretty obvious. Forgotten Man Jason Frasor can adequately cover Casey's pen innings next year, and Wolfe can cover his. Easy peezy.

In related news, the Beej will not be getting his first taste of grapefruit action (mmm, grapefruit action...) this weekend as early hoped. His surgeon, Dr. Tim Kremchek, put the kibosh on that. Gibby says he'll give the Beej a couple more simulated games and then hopefully have him appear in a real fake game about 7-10 days from now.

Clarifying:

“It's not a setback,” said Gibbons. “The doctor just feels better about doing it like that because when (Ryan) gets into a real game, the adrenaline is going to start flowing, he's going to push himself that little bit harder.

“He's really had just one game type situation and that was yesterday, this way he'd get two more.”

The decision comes after Ryan said “now is not really the time to be holding back a lot,” following an 18-pitch simulated game Wednesday. By all accounts he looked good in that contest and plans to pitch him Saturday followed.

ELSEWHERE:

The Giants need a shortstop to replace the injured Omar Vizquel; time to start some crazy J-Mac for Tim Lincecum internet trade rumours?

Rando CP guy checked in our fave Jason Bay yesterday because the Jays happened to be playing his hapless Pittsburgh Pirates. Bay admitted that his spot on offseason critiques of his club's crappiness was the by-product of frustration with what was a poor season individually and collectively from a group that could have performed better. He has the same kind of optimism for 2008 that I do when I buy 6/49 tickets, but that doesn't mean he has a long-term future with the club:

Despite the sunny outlook, Bay's days in Pittsburgh may very well be numbered.

New general manager Neal Huntington opted against stripping down the long-suffering club — mired in a run of 15 straight losing seasons — during the off-season, deciding instead to give them another chance in 2007 before taking that route.

Should the Pirates continue to struggle, Bay and other veterans with market value could be moved for young players as part of a rebuilding program. If they start winning, they may try to add on to make a run in the weak National League Central.

None of this seems particularly surprising or offputting to Bay.

"I'd love nothing more than to do it here having been here through all the bad times, kind of like the Tigers, through the 120 losses and all of a sudden a couple of years removed from that, boom," said Bay. "There's a lot more to be said for that than just kind of going to a team.

"At the same time, it's easier to say that than for it to actually happen. There's some steps we need to take from where we're at, it's not going to be an overnight thing. If it looks like it's going to take more time than I have, does that make a lot of sense?"

As Rando notes, Pirates GM Neal Huntington is most likely biding his time for a deadline deal in the hopes that Bay can rebuild the trade value he lost last year due to a relatively poor season caused by tendinitis in his right knee.

The Jason Bay Tradometer will be adjusted accordingly to these new developments.


-- Johnny Was