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Not sure if this will be a surprise to many?

The Toronto Blue Jays announced on Tuesday that knuckleballer R.A. Dickey will once again be their Opening Day starter.

Jays manager John Gibbons made the announcement at the team's training complex in Dunedin, Florida.

Dickey, 38, was the team's Opening Day starter in 2013 after coming over from the New York Mets in a trade that offseason.

The 2012 National League Cy Young Award winner finished his first season in Toronto with a record of 14-13 with a 4.21 ERA and a WHIP of 1.237 in 224.2 IP.

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=444122

What's the point in naming the SP already? I would have just let everyone battle it out to see who get opening day.

Wo1verine wrote:What's the point in naming the SP already? I would have just let everyone battle it out to see who get opening day.

Agreed. The organization has been weird like that recently, just like when they publically committed to Gibbons for 2014, in the midst of last season while they were under performing.

if all goes to plan, Morrow will be the Ace of the staff

Blue Jays wrote:if all goes to plan, Morrow will be the Ace of the staff

duder is hurt and he should have opted for surgery - we'll be lucky to get 100 innings from him. Look younger for your ace(s).

Blue Jays wrote:if all goes to plan, Morrow will be the Ace of the staff

The official slogan of your Toronto Blue Jays 2011 - Present.

o/u on passed balls/wild pitches has gotta be more than 5 here. let's see if dioner can upstage jp's performance from last years opener

in other words we have to score seven or more to win opening day!

akakalakin wrote:in other words we have to score seven or more to win opening day!

The game is in Tampa, so the odds of getting a good Dickey performance are a lot better. The other three days who knows...

no brainer

I'm more interested in knowing who will be the opening day catcher. Probably Navarro but can he catch Dickey?

Waylanderz wrote:I'm more interested in knowing who will be the opening day catcher. Probably Navarro but can he catch Dickey?

Gibby has said the back-up C will catch Dickey regularly. It does look like the team hopes Kratz can prove worthy, but if he fails then Thole gets to make the team. Now, whether they make an exception for opening day, I have no idea, it's certainly possible that Navarro goes that one game just because, but the plan, until someone makes them change it, is for the back-up to get all the Dickey starts.

Makes sense, since Navarro is more brittle than your average starting C so he's going to need at least those days off anyway.

satyr9 wrote:

Waylanderz wrote:I'm more interested in knowing who will be the opening day catcher. Probably Navarro but can he catch Dickey?

Gibby has said the back-up C will catch Dickey regularly. It does look like the team hopes Kratz can prove worthy, but if he fails then Thole gets to make the team. Now, whether they make an exception for opening day, I have no idea, it's certainly possible that Navarro goes that one game just because, but the plan, until someone makes them change it, is for the back-up to get all the Dickey starts.

Makes sense, since Navarro is more brittle than your average starting C so he's going to need at least those days off anyway.

That's the other head scratcher. For how terrible JP was, at least he was durable. How the hell do they plan to run Navarro out there 4/5 days? If/when he goes down, do they call Jimenez up or seriously roll with a Kratz/Thole catching situation?

Blue Jays wrote:if all goes to plan, Morrow will be the Ace of the staff

Let's try Plan B.

Should have been morrow...

Blue Jays wrote:if all goes to plan, Morrow will be the Ace of the staff

Well if that is the plan, we should be set until the end of April.