Comment after each team's list, important players - IMO - bolded):
Las Vegas 51's
SP: Scott Richmond, Brad Mills, Randy Boone, Luis Perez, Mike MacDonald
RP: Chad Cordero, Josh Roenicke, Romie Lewis, Winston Abrey, Sean Henn, Mike Hinkley, Wil Ledzma
Infield: David Cooper, Chris Woodward, Numan Romero, Brett Lawrie, Manny Mayorson.
Outfield: Adam Loewen, Darin Mastroianni, Eric Thames, Dan Perales, Jason Lane
Catcher: Brian Jeroloman, Ryan Budde
DL: Bobby Ray, Scott Podsednick, Ryan Shealy
The big story here is that Zach Stewart isn't on this roster. It's tantamount to a confession that, as John Farrell hinted at in a recent interview, the Jays do not necessarily think the AAA experience is necessary for a top-shelf prospect. And it's not just the band-box nature of the PCL. Farrell implied that part of the problem with AAA is that more and more organizations used their highest team as a parking place for potential stop-gap veterans who can fill in at the major league level in the event of an emergency. The upshot of that is that a player might see more actual talent on the opposing team at AA than at AAA. There's not any other guy who was an obvious candidate for this team who's missing here.
New Hampshire Fisher Cats
SP: Zach Stewart, Joel Carreno, Rey Gonzalez, BJ Lamura, Willie Collazo
RP: Alan Farina, Matt Daly, Ron Uvideo, Evan Crawford, Clint Everts, Vince Perkins, Bobby Korecky
Infield: Mike McDade, John Tolisano, Adeiny Hechavarria, Mark Sobolewski, Jon Diaz, Craig Stansberry
Outfield: Anthony Gose, Moises Sierra, Adam Caldorone, Richardo Nanita
Catcher: Travid d'Arnaud, Yan Gomes
DL: Scott Campbell, Luis Sanchez, Calix Crabbe, Boomer Potts, Al Quintana, Matt Luiazza
Alan Farina is another guy who had a case for going to AAA but the Jays loaded up with so many filler guys that there apparently wasn't room. Odds are he'll be up there before mid-season. I'm listing Tolisano as an infielder here but I don't think it's certain they will keep him at 2B and Caldarone would be easy enough to bump in LF.
Dunedin Blue Jays
SP: Chad Jenkins, Deck McGuire, Asher Wojciechowski, Nestor Molina, Ryan Tepera, Chad Beck
RP: Frank Gailey, Matt Wright, Ryan Shopshire, Casey Beck, Wes Ethridge, Dumas Garcia
Infield: Jon Talley, Brian Van Kirk, Justin Jackson, Ryan Goins, Kevin Aherns, Kevin Nolan, Ivan Contrares
Outfield: Brad Glenn, Kenny Wilson, Chris Hopkins, Brad McElroy
Catcher: Antonio Jimenez, Sean Ochinko
DL: Henderson Alvarez, Ryan Schimpf, Andrew Liebel, Marcus Walden, John Anderson, Justin McClanehan, Roul Baron, Sean Soffitt
That's gonna be a heck of a starting rotation through the first 3 and maybe 4 spots. When Alvarez is activated, there's a strong possibility he goes to AA (perhaps after a couple of tune-up starts). Gailey is probably the only reliever you'd give a second thought to though. I'm assuming they are trying Van Kirk at 1B along with probably Jon Talley the former catcher Ochinko can play 1B too if they are comfortable with Talley as the available sub at catcher. I still think Lance Durham would fit here but he's on the Lansing DL. Justin Jackson is supposed to be playing a lot of CF this year but none of the others are as obvious at 2B as he is. Maybe he plays there just until Schimpf comes off the DL? Brad Glenn has gotten some praise this spring and while I haven't listed him as a top prospect, he's probably the best OF with the bat on this team.
Lansing Lugnuts
SP: Drew Hutchison, Daniel Webb, Egan Smith, Misual Diaz, Casey Lawrence
RP: Dan Barnes, Drew Permision, Dayton Martze, Scott Gracey, Sam Strickland, Steve Turnbull, Alex Pepe
Infield: KC Hobson, Balbino Fuenmayor, Gustovo Pierre, Gari Pena, Oliver, Dominguez, Bryson Namba
Outfield: Jake Marisnick, Marcus Kenect, Michael Crouse, Marcus Brisker
Catcher: Carlos Perez, Joe Bowen, Jack Murphy
DL: Sean Nolin, Dustin Antolin, Lance Durham, Brian Slover, Marcus Walden, Aaron Loup, Matt Fields
I ended up with a pattern of highlighting 10 players on the other teams so I kept myself to 10 here, but you could argue that either of the other starters were as worthy of notice as Durham was. Or Dustin Antolin if he recovers well. As i said earlier, i think Durham is a more logical choice to move up to Dunedin than Hobson (unless KC really rakes while Durham is on the DL) even though Hobson is a considerably higher ceiling prospect. This team will go pretty far based on the starting rotation and a tremendous outfield.
Guys I notice missing include Ryan page, Eric Eiland, and a slug of minor league free agents who were signed this winter but do not appear on any of these list.
The short season rosters won't be set for another two months, but one might surmise the Vancouver roster would look something like this:
SP: Aaron Sanchez, Noah Syndergaard, Griffin Murphy, Justin Nicolino, Jesse Hernandez (?)
RP:
Milciades Santana, Travis Garret, Brandon Berl, Drew Elliot, Brian Longpre, Zack Outman, Shawn GriffinInfield: Kelin Sweeney, Chris Hawkins, DJ Thon, Matt Johnson, Andy Fermin
Outfield: Dalton Pompey, Yecio Aponte, Steve McQuail, Jim Jones
C: Pierce Rankin, Santiago Nessy
DL: Sam Dyson
Nessy might well be a reach for the highest short-season team, more likely he'll be in the GCL but given that there are no other exciting guys this low I'll wink at that. Any of those bolded starters might easily find themselves thrown into the Lansing rotation in response to an injury.
Overall, I still think Stewart spends SOME time in Vegas, and Gerry has been told that Alvarez is ticketed for AA one also has to assume that given similar progress, Jenkins might be a half-season or so ahead of McGuire and Woj. So I look for several chain reaction promotions, such as Stewart moving up either as Alvarez is activated or Jenkins is promoted . . . or Hutchison is promoted in the wake of Jenkins (or Deck or Woj) moving up. I anticipate much less movement among the hitters.
Off topic tag - another GREAT game for the Jays today, with Kyle Drabek serving notice on the Twins via seven one-hit innings and another prolific day at the plate. I'm so loving this team!
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