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The 25-man squad will feature 17 players who have already played at the Major League level, including 16 that reached 'The Bigs' a season ago. The club will also feature four of the top young players in the Blue Jays minor league system.
The Bisons pitching staff fits that ideal formula of having exciting top prospects and established veterans. The rotation will include RHP MARCUS STROMAN and LHP SEAN NOLIN, who are rated the #2 and #10 top prospects in the Blue Jays system respectively, according to Baseball America. Stroman struck out 129 batters in only 111.2 innings last season for New Hampshire (AA), while Nolin enters his fifth year as a pro with a career .676 winning percentage (24-11). RHP KYLE DRABEK was the Blue Jays #1 prospect a few seasons ago and is healthy now after 2012 'Tommy John' surgery. LHP RICKY ROMERO tossed 81 strikeouts for the Bisons last year and was an American League All-Star in 2011. RHP LIAM HENDRIKS won 17 International League games as a starter with Rochester, 2011-2013.
The new group of players is headlined by the Blue Jays' top overall prospect, RHP Aaron Sanchez, and New Hampshire native and 2013 Fisher Cats All-Star Kevin Nolan. That duo is part of a team that features a host of Double-A veterans as well as some key newcomers, all with the hopes of bringing the Fisher Cats another Eastern League Championship.
In conjunction with the Toronto Blue Jays, the Lansing Lugnuts announced a loaded 2014 Opening Day roster headlined by center fielder D.J. Davis, third baseman Mitch Nay and frontline pitching talent.
Third-year manager John Tamargo, Jr. will direct a Lugnuts squad that features eight returning players alongside 10 of Baseball America's Top 30 Blue Jays prospects - including six of the Jays' 12 best minor-league talents
Graham's Cracker wrote:Dunedin hasn't released their roster yet from what I can see.
Just based on the Lansing lineup, I'm guessing some of the players listed below will be starting the year with Dunedin:
Smith Jr
Chris Hawkins ?
Knecht
Newman
Baligod
At the crossroads: Matt Smoral, Left-handed Pitcher
Two years ago, the Blue Jays lured Smoral away from a commitment to North Carolina when they selected him with the 50th pick in the Draft. Injuries have stifled the lefty's development since, though, and Toronto has seen just 25 2/3 innings out of their $2 million investment, all in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League.
Smoral and the Jays are confident 2014 will be different. After a stress fracture in his right foot robbed the towering 6-foot-8 prospect of most of his senior year of college and all of his potential first professional season, Smoral debuted in 2013. Then another injury hindered his development. A problematic fingernail led to an infection and a nagging array of blisters that kept Smoral from ever feeling right on the mound.
In November, the Jays took a page out of San Francisco Giants reliever Jeremy Affeldt's playbook. Affeldt underwent surgery early in his career to remove part of a similarly troublesome fingernail, and last fall, Smoral did the same. This spring, the 20-year-old has been blister-free.
"[The blisters are] no longer an issue. He's a big guy with a great arm, and he's had a couple bumps in the road health-wise," LaCava said. "It just takes a little longer sometimes for these [big] guys to put it together. Smoral is a guy who has been frustrated with it, but we still believe in him."
If he's able to stay healthy, Smoral excites the Blue Jays with serious stuff. The long-limbed southpaw can rev his fastball up to 96 miles per hour and couples it with a solid slider and changeup.
"Hopefully he's turned the corner, and this year, we'll get to see him, particularly this summer, get out and do some things," LaCava said.
Toronto can afford to take things slowly with the young Smoral, who will head to another short-season gig in 2014.
dagger wrote:I guess this thread is where we will retreat for some comfort and hope. So drool a little.
dagger wrote:Graham's Cracker wrote:Dunedin hasn't released their roster yet from what I can see.
Just based on the Lansing lineup, I'm guessing some of the players listed below will be starting the year with Dunedin:
Smith Jr
Chris Hawkins ?
Knecht
Newman
Baligod
Pompey?
Graham's Cracker wrote:dagger wrote:Graham's Cracker wrote:Dunedin hasn't released their roster yet from what I can see.
Just based on the Lansing lineup, I'm guessing some of the players listed below will be starting the year with Dunedin:
Smith Jr
Chris Hawkins ?
Knecht
Newman
Baligod
Pompey?
Right, I knew I forgot someone. Probably more than one actually.
Pitchers (13 + 1 DL)
Barnes, Danny
Boyd, Matt
Browning, Wil
Champlin, Kramer
Cole, Taylor
Girodo, Chad
Hernandez, Jesse
Jackson, Justin
McFarland, Blake
Meyer, Ajay (DL)
Nieves, Efrain
Norris, Daniel
Sikula, Arik
White, Ben
Catchers (2 + 1 DL)
Chung, Derrick
Rankin, Pierce (DL)
Reeves, Mike
Infielders (7 + 1 DL)
Flores, Jorge
Guerrero, Emilio
Hobson, K.C.
Lopes, Christian
Opitz, Shane (DL)
Patterson, Kevin
Pierre, Gustavo
Sweeny, Kellen
Outfielders (5)
Baligod, Nick
Knecht, Marcus
Newman, Matt
Pompey, Dalton
Smith, Jr., Dwight
Lateral Quicks wrote:So Jenkins doesn't even get a starting spot in Buffalo over a guy like Hendricks? I would have thought he'd be at or near the top of the list for an early-season spot starter.
Michael Bradley wrote:Lateral Quicks wrote:So Jenkins doesn't even get a starting spot in Buffalo over a guy like Hendricks? I would have thought he'd be at or near the top of the list for an early-season spot starter.
I'm not a fan of that move either. Three of the five starters in AAA cannot get MLB hitters out (Romero, Drabek, and Hendricks). That's not good for depth purposes. Jenkins is probably a #5 starter at best, but he's at least proven he can get through 5 innings at the MLB level without imploding.
There There wrote:Michael Bradley wrote:Lateral Quicks wrote:So Jenkins doesn't even get a starting spot in Buffalo over a guy like Hendricks? I would have thought he'd be at or near the top of the list for an early-season spot starter.
I'm not a fan of that move either. Three of the five starters in AAA cannot get MLB hitters out (Romero, Drabek, and Hendricks). That's not good for depth purposes. Jenkins is probably a #5 starter at best, but he's at least proven he can get through 5 innings at the MLB level without imploding.
He really hasn't though.
If 15 hits and 4 walks in 10 innings isn't living on the brink of implosion, then I don't know what is.
Those were his two starts last season that didn't happen in PETCO.
His recent track record starting in AA/AAA has been terrible. If he's unable to get minor league hitters out, why would you expect anything differently against major league hitters.
However, once they moved him to the pen last year, his walk rate dropped, his strikeout rate increased slightly and he started to induce a higher number of ground balls.
He definitely added a couple of mph on his FB, sitting more consistently in the 90-93 range out of the pen.
I'm usually not a fan of prematurely moving guys to the pen, but everything we've seen from Jenkins indicates that if he's going to have any success at this level, it likely will be out of the pen. So I don't see the issue moving him now.
Michael Bradley wrote:His sample size as a starter is very small, and by no means am I saying he's going to perform at a high level without improvement (K rates in particular), but he hasn't embarrassed himself.
For example, in his relief outings that lasted 3 innings or more last season, he gave up 1 earned run in 14 innings (7 K, 2 BB, 8 H) against Boston, Baltimore, and Kansas City (IOW, not Petco). Does that mean he would have been able to go 5-6 innings with similar results? Maybe not, but as an emergency starter, I'd trust him to get through 5 innings and keep the team in the game before I feel comfortable with Drabek, Romero, or Hendriks to do the same, especially if his improved velocity can stick when stretched out.
Ultimately, I agree his future is probably in the pen, or a #5 starter, but unfortunately, he's probably the 3rd best starter (in terms of MLB rotation depth) in AAA behind Stroman and Nolin. Drabek is coming off two TJS's and couldn't find the plate when he was healthy (he is destined to be in relief, IMO) and Romero is just about done barring a miracle, so my main concern is having to watch them start MLB games this season if injuries start to pile up again.
