Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Roster Machinations

(First off, apologies to anyone who has been checking this space - but with the final month of my final term at university wrapping up, I haven't exactly had the time to devote my writing to a low-traffic personal website. Look for a heavy volume of posts starting somewhere early-mid April. This is just a quick refresher post to get some stuff out of my system)

It's March 22, and Aaron Hill just played his first game of the spring and is apparently still nursing a quad. Given that Pods is also one-legged at the moment, it seems that the three-headed monster vying for the last two roster spots is no longer much of a monster: McCoy becomes the necessary 2B caddy at while Patterson will certainly start the season as the fourth OF. It's not a bad alignment, but it certainly cuts into any perceived depth Jays fans might have deluded themselves with; with McCoy breaking camp as a borderline starter, the Lawrie temptation only grows. While I don't think the Jays'd go back on everything they've said over the spring and plunk him in the middle infield just to cover for an injured Hill, the roster constrictions certainly tighten the skin that holds everything in place. If Patterson is a pure bench guy, then with one more OF/DH/1B injury Bautista has to move to cover and make room. If one of the outfielders struggles early on, likewise there's an argument to be made for introducing a platoon of sorts (Snider/Rivera) and making way for the native frat boy.

Oh, and if there's another infielder go down, well, brace yourselves:
The pen situation is similar at the moment, but I'll save that for another post.

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