What will the Bisons' roster look like?

9er_4life · Post #1 » by **9er_4life** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 2:26 pm

With the hoopla dying down a bit after a crazy few weeks in Jays-Land, I thought I'd take a look at what to expect on our boys down the QEW. For the last few years I've caught quite a few Bisons game as a friend of mine has had seasons' tickets for years. Love Coca-Cola field, cheaper beer, and minor league baseball overall. I was thrilled that the Jays' AAA team will be playing there next season and can't wait for opening day!

Now with all the moves the Jays have made we should have a pretty good team to cheer for in Buffalo as well. And the success of players down there will have an impact on the big league club to provide depth in case of injuries/ poor performance. So I've started looking at players in the Jays' system, and at the minor league free agents they've signed so far, in order to get a look at what the Bisons' team might look like next season. Anyone care to help me fill it out? (Some of these players could make the big league team out of camp, some are injured and will be back later in the year, some are potential call-ups from the lower levels, and I'm going to assume recently designated guys will be brought back, just for the sake of this exercise).

1B - David Cooper, Mike McDade (assuming he's not claimed in Rule V draft)
2B - Jim Negrych (Buffalo native), Jon Diaz
SS - Cesar Izturis (or is it Julio?), Ryan Goins
3B - Sobolewski, McCoy
C - D'Arnaud, Wilson
OF - Sierra, Gose, Nanita, Glenn?

SP - Germano, Jenkins, Pino, Carenno, Cecil?, McGuire, Hutchison, Drabek, Nolin
RP - Dyson, Uviedo, Crawford, Wagner, Stroman, Stilson, Hinshaw, Korecky

Potential Opening Day Lineup:

CF - Gose
LF - Nanita
C - D'Arnaud
RF - Sierra
1B - Cooper
3B - Sobolewski
SS - Goins/ Izturis
2B - Negrych
P - Germano

Go Bisons!

Lateral Quicks · Post #2 » by **Lateral Quicks** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 2:33 pm

Two of those guys (d'Arnaud and Cooper) could be with the big club on opening day.

evilRyu · Post #3 » by **evilRyu** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 3:04 pm

What about Chad Beck? Is he still with the Jays?

baulderdash77 · Post #4 » by **baulderdash77** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 3:29 pm

Lateral Quicks wrote:Two of those guys (d'Arnaud and Cooper) could be with the big club on opening day.

TDA only makes the team if JP gets traded at least to start the season. I think Cooper has a legit chance to unseat Lind again, as was discussed extensively on this board.

The bigger question is will Gose make the Jays team? He has a chance and if Rasmus is traded then he's defiantly with the big club. I think he'll spend as much time in the MLB as he does with the Bisons this year.

The pitching staff could be interesting though.

Graham's Cracker · Post #5 » by **Graham's Cracker** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 3:38 pm

Beck got claimed by the Pirates.

I'm sure AA plans on bringing in some vets to help fill out the pitching staff as well. That seems to be his MO, although things could change now that we're not in Vegas.

9er_4life · Post #6 » by **9er_4life** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 4:11 pm

It's hard to predict what the big league roster will look like at this point, hence my disclaimer that some of these guys might make the big team out of camp. But I think there's a good chance they all spend at least some time in Buffalo this year.

I do think AA will be rounding out the pitching with more minor league vets (like Germano) - it's important they field a competitive team down there if they want to stay in Buffalo long-term (I believe their agreement is just for two years). The big reason Buffalo kicked out the Mets was that they haven't fielded a competitive team in quite some time.

Any ideas on who else the Jays might sign? Baseball America keeps good track of these things:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statisti ... s/mlfa.php

The_Hater · Post #7 » by **The_Hater** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 8:04 pm

I guess it's Julio Izturis not Cesar that was signed and he last played at low 'A' ball so we won't be seeing him on the 'AAA' team anytime soon.

Pretty obvious that this was a favour to his bother and probably their mutual agent.

engageTHEmasses · Post #8 » by **engageTHEmasses** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 10:52 pm

The roster looks good-- the FA list has a few interesting options, but I'm not sure there's a big impact guy there... still, I'll be super interested to see how good this squad does. I think the coaching roster might change a bit too with a new staff coming up, so that will be interesting to track as well. Wonder if Chad Mot. comes up or not.

Another interesting development will be injury rehab stunts throughout the year-- how do the AAA rosters work? Does someone get demoted when a Lind/McGowan/Whoever does a conditioning stint post-injury, etc?

Post #9 » by **Schad** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 11:22 pm

If McDade is left off the 40-man when the Rule V draft hits, he's as good as gone; the talent pool these days ain't what it was in the 80s, so he'll get selected. Which would be a crying shame when we're keeping Bobby Wilson, he of the .593 career OPS, as the fifth catcher on the roster.

Graham's Cracker · Post #10 » by **Graham's Cracker** » Sat Nov 24, 2012 12:09 am

Schadenfreude wrote:If McDade is left off the 40-man when the Rule V draft hits, he's as good as gone; the talent pool these days ain't what it was in the 80s, so he'll get selected. Which would be a crying shame when we're keeping Bobby Wilson, he of the .593 career OPS, as the fifth catcher on the roster.

It's strange considering how many Bobby Wilson's are out there. Why take a chance on losing a kid that still has potential.

DrSteveBrule · Post #11 » by **DrSteveBrule** » Sat Nov 24, 2012 1:32 am

I just farted.

FOR YOUR HEALTH!