Some people say it's the first leaf, some people say it's the first birdsong, some (correct) people say it's the vernal equinox, but I say that spring begins when the first photos from Blue Jays spring training arrives in SB Nation's photo bank. And they did, last night, on the day pitchers and catchers reported to camp!
Notice: if you are a Blue Jays pitcher or catcher and you have not reported to Dunedin for spring training, report to detention once you arrive.
Blue Jays Links
- Mark Buehrle is absent from the gallery because he ran off to watch the Daytona 500. Robert MacLeod of the Globe and Mail spoke with Buehrle, who basically admitted that last year's clubhouse was a mess. Not surprisingly, he is a fan of the new pace-of-game rules, but not the shrinking strike zone.
- Brett Cecil tells John Lott (I think) why he thinks he has proved that he can be a major league closer:
- Gideon Turk of Blue Jays Plus tells us why Ryan Goins should make the club as a backup infielder. (Spoiler alert: it is not for a bat off the bench.)
- Andrew Stoeten, writing at the National Post to get his bills paid, offers us the first half (A-L) of his alphabetical "look at this season's major story lines."
- The Blue Jays are kind of OK in a week American League East division, Richard Griffin tells us in the Toronto Star.
- Ian Hunter, the Blue Jay Hunter, wrote a post about Daniel Norris (and our very own Johnny Anderson) going on to the Today Show this Saturday.
Elsewhere at Bluebird Banter
- Yesterday, MjwW updated the list of Blue Jays players' option and outright statuses. This is probably the only place on the Internet where this information is compiled in one place. A new feature in this version of the table: players with options remaining are highlighted in blue. You should keep this page bookmarked.
- Speaking of updated tables, I updated the Blue Jays' spring training uniform numbers. I hope the Chris Colabello-Danny Valencia mystery would be solved soon.
- Tom gives us a quick guide on the 3000 pitchers coming to Blue Jays camp
- Kevin P. cares not for post counts and put five topics into one! Read his musings on Marco Estrada, Blue Jays' plate discipline, dingers, the lack of spending on the bullpen, and optimizing starting rotation order.
- And from last week, Edwin Encarnacion's best dingers from 2014 and the introduction of a new statistic developed by Nick Ashbourne.
- Weekend transaction: The Jays picked up Chris Dickerson on a minor league deal.
- Happy news from Saturday: Ricky Romero and Kara Lang are getting married.
- Sad news from Sunday: Dustin McGowan is heading to the Dodgers. He apparently got a major league contract--good for him.