Hi everyone. The Jays take on the New York Yankees tonight in a televised spring training game. Fun!
As Tom pointed out, the Jays made some roster moves today, sending David Purcey, Jeremy Reed, and Jesse Carlson to the minors. All are interesting in their own way. Purcey did look sharp in very limited time as a reliever, so it'll be interesting to see whether he continues as a reliever in the minors or whether he goes back to starting. My money is on relief. I know some within the Jays organization still want Purcey to be a starter, but at some point you have to give up imposing preconceptions on a player about what they "could" be and put them in a role in which they can be successful.
The Carlson move seems more health motivated than anything else, as he's had a slow start this year due to some knee problems. He had options, so there you have it. I expect he'll be up soon enough. As for Reed, he has accepted his demotion but he can't have been happy about it. I know his career offensive numbers are weak, but he hit well this spring and even his mediocre career numbers against righties are better than those of Jose Bautista. Perhaps not better by enough to merit him taking up a whole roster spot, though.
Enough of that. In other news, Lyle Overbay (mild knee contustion) returns to the lineup and is said to be feeling better. Alex Anthopolous says that the Jays are going to wait until after Cecil's next start to make final rotation decisions. So that'd be Thursday, as his next start is tomorrow. John Buck is nursing a mild finger injury but is expected to play in a minors game tomorrow.
Here's your Jays lineup:
1. Jose Bautista, 3B
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Adam Lind, DH
4. Vernon Wells, CF
5. Lyle Overbay, 1B
6. Edwin Encarnacion, 3B
7. Travis Snider, LF
8. Alex Gonzalez, SS
9. Raul Chavez, C
Pitching: Marc Rzepczynski
Today's title is in honour of our today-demoted Jays and comes from one of the better songs of the 20th century, Elvis Costello's "Alison."