Over the course of writing this week, I figured that I should address the updates that happened regarding my last post.
Mere days after acquiring Mike Napoli, the Jays addressed their glaring bullpen needs by trading him to the AL champion Texas Rangers for reliever Frank Francisco, who they’ve now successfully signed after arbitration to a 1 year deal worth $4 mil.
Along with making any keeners who custom ordered their Blue Jays’ Napoli jersey (and there HAS to be someone) look foolish, they improved the weakest facet of their 2011 team, their bullpen (though the pitching situation as a whole takes a close second).
In case you missed it, the Jays lost a big chunk of their pen in the offseason, with Kevin Gregg, Brian Tallet, and Scott Downs among the group to leave. With Francisco in town, the closer’s job is almost his to lose, with FA signings Jon Rauch and Octavio Dotel his main competition.
But the scariest part of the Jays’ pen this year is all the question marks in it, for example…
Can Jesse Litsch be a return from injury to be effective? He should end up competing for the fifth starter’s job, but if he doesn’t make it there, he’ll probably be seeing time in the bullpen. The Jays have seen good things in the past, but whether or not he can stay healthy is yet to be seen.
And speaking of injured, it would be nice to get the Casey Janssen of a few years ago back as well.
David Purcey had some solid appearances last year after being taken out of the starting rotation. The Jays’ new development strategy for him seems to be working, hopefully he can become a solid lefty out of the pen.
Carlos Villanueva, acquired in their wheeling and dealing with the Milwaukee Brewers, has been an inconsistent arm with potential the past few years in Wisconsin. He’s like the 2011 Jays’ version of a Brandon League (without that lightning arm), and joins a team that pitches to the toughest division in baseball, so what kind of guy the Jays get will remain to be seen.
A fairly busy offseason is looking to lead up to an interesting 2011. And with spring training now mere weeks away, these questions will not go unanswered for long.
