There are a number of baseball stories out there today: Vernon Wells 'likely' won't be playing in the World Baseball Classic, due to insurance reasons. Former Yankee Bernie Williams will be playing for Puerto Rico in the WBC. Friggin' everybody is writing that Halladay might be traded this season and yeah he might, everyone might be traded, let's wait till, you know, it is not some fantasy out of some writer's head that he would be traded. And there is speculation that the Jays would like to use a good defensive catcher to back up Rod Barajas, bad news for Michael Barrett and in the same story the news flash that Aaron Hill likes Metallica.
But the story that caught my eye was in today's Toronto Star "Maroth's knee worries Jays" by Mark Zwolinski. "It's Not Good, Gaston Says." I love this paragraph:
The Jays went into official worry mode yesterday over an injury to a veteran pitcher they had been hoping might fill a spot in the starting rotation.
Official worry mode, eh? Come on guys, the odds of Maroth getting a starting job on the team were slim before this. Let's save 'official worry mode' for someone that is actually going to play on the team. This is interesting too:
Mike Maroth, 31, the former Detroit Tigers left-hander, spent the day on the trainer's table in rain-soaked Dunedin, receiving treatment on what is believed to be a tear of the meniscus cartilage in his left knee.
Ummmmm what treatment can a person receive on a trainer's table that would help with a meniscus tear? Yeah, maybe a good massage will help that. Right.
Maroth earned an unusual form of respect around the majors the hard way when he lost 21 games pitching for Detroit in 2003 (when the Tigers set an AL record with 119 losses). He then rebounded with two solid seasons before shoulder surgery wiped out most of 2008.
An interesting way to earn respect. Think of how much respect he would have earned if he lost 30 games.
Options right now include injecting the damaged area with cortisone and allowing Maroth a chance to pitch for a job.
Again, 'cortisone' for a tear? What are the odds the Jays are going to hand someone a job who is going to need surgery sometime soon?
Then, after listing Brian Burres, recently demoted to Las Vegas, Matt Clement, Brett Cecil, Brad Mills and Ricky Romero as possibilities to make the starting rotation, Zwolinski writes:
Canadian Scott Richmond – 1-3, 4.00 in five starts with Toronto last season – and reliever Casey Janssen, who missed most of last season after shoulder surgery, are also strong candidates for the rotation.
Is there anyone here that doesn't think Janssen is the number one candidate to make the rotation behind Doc, Litsch and Purcey? Why is he mentioned last? Richmond, in my books, is the next most likely make the rotation, at least until Dustin McGowan returns.
Anyway it seems silly to think the Jays are worried about Maroth's knee. The odds of him making the starting rotation out of spring training had to be pretty long. If there was a 5% chance of him making the rotation before the injury I'd be surprised. Now? Well, there is less than a 1% chance that he makes the rotation out of spring training. Oh well, really shouldn't rag on this story, there isn't much for news out there on the Jays and we all have to fill space somehow.