Well, we'll have an article later looking at what's going on with the Jays. For right now, let's take a quick look around the organization.
We had some speculation that the B.J. Ryan injury was a fugazi. If that's true, the Jays are going the extra mile. Ryan had an MRI in Dallas and was instructed not to throw for a week due to inflammation around the trapezius muscle. Sounds like maybe late May for Ryan to return? I'm hoping that his problems with command were caused by the injury, and it sounds reasonable.
As for Ricky Romero, he played catch yesterday and felt fine. Arnsberg's plan is to incrementally build Romero up to doing some long toss and then starting bullpen work. It's a conservative approach, which is appropriate given the nature of oblique injuries.
Shaun Marcum has a bullpen session scheduled for today. Marcum will throw 35 fastballs and changeups.
Justin Jackson appears on a Baseball America list. Unfortunately, it's a list of prospects who are struggling:
He works deep counts at-bat, he plays slick defense and he's only 20 years old, but the high Class A Dunedin shortstop has gotten off to perhaps the worst start of any minor leaguer. His performance this week is a perfect example. Jackson went 0-for-25 with 16 strikeouts, and he leads all batters with 27 for the season. Jackson's only positives from the week that was: he walked twice, stole a base and somehow managed to drive in a run.
Ouch. Jackson was 1-3 with a walk yesterday.
The Union Leader, a paper I was in back during the 2004 Democratic New Hampshire Primary (but that's a story for another day) has an interview with Dick Scott, Jays director of player development. Among other things, he says not to worry about David Cooper.