The Fragile Man

The oft-injured and highly touted pitcher of the Toronto Blue Jays, Dustin McGowan, is again hurt. This time with his foot. He is likely headed to the Disabled List with plantar fasciitis, and won't be going north with the club.

On a related note, before his injury, the Blue Jays awarded McGowan with a 2-year contract extension. This was in faith in Dustin McGowan, the man. The man who in the past few years have battled through a torn rotator cuff, Tommy John, and two knee surgeries.

It was questioned whether he would be able to come back to the major league level after all of his injury issues. He pitched for the Jays in 2011 and posted an 0-2 record with a 6.43 ERA. McGowan came into camp this spring as the favoured fifth starter on the Blue Jays' rotation.

How Not To Handle A Prospect . . .

Travis Snider will start this year in baseball purgatory with the Triple-A farm team, the Las Vegas 51s. Apparently he lost the starting left fielder's job to Eric Thames.


I can't wait for a season of light-hitting, shitty defence at left field. I was watching Thames try to get a clue on the field last year. I thought we still had Corey Patterson!

Check out other reactions to this:

mike wilner

mop up duty

Casey Janssen: Overachiever

Casey Janssen wowed the hell out of me in 2011, posting a 6-0 W-L, 2.26 ERA, and 7 Holds, working from the bullpen. If there was somebody that you could count on to get a shutdown inning from in the 'pen, it was Janssen.

Almost 3 years removed from shoulder surgery, Janssen fit in perfectly from stints on the rotation before settling in the bullpen. Long relief, garbage time, set-up, close, whatever he was thrown into, Casey just seemed to flourish. Toronto rewarded him and avoided arbitration by agreeing to a two-year, $5.9 million contract with a $4 million option for 2014.

His role is to be the 7th inning arm, before Jason Frasor and new closer Sergio Santos.

Question Mark

We blew up our bullpen last year to trade for a young center fielder, named Colby Rasmus. He has a pretty nice swing, a carefree demeanour and an Alabama drawl that you pass the done time over yonder with. Totally reminds me of another similar center fielder:


He reminds me of Mickey Mantle, who is in the Baseball Hall Of Fame. Rasmus has the potential to be a Mantle if he gets consistent and happy. He could also flame out just like last year, because of his mindset. I wonder who our guy is going to turn out to be this year?

The Upgrade

Would you let this fucking psychopath close out your games? Hell fucking no! This guy is a total flake, and not in a good productive way that closers tend to be.

The nuttier the closer, the more effective they are. But that isn't the case for Francisco. He has crazy electric stuff, and can throw through a brick wall, but his head needs a shake, or lobotomy. He was always too inside himself, prone to doubt and panic, leading to a lot of tense moments at the end of games.

He saved 17 but blew 4. His closer-partner Jon Rauch led in blown saves with 5, but he is Frank's opposite. Sound mind, no stuff. Rauch's pitch is a batting practice fastball. It's most likely we need to get a lively arm for the late part of games.



UPDATE: Both signed mercifully with the New York Mets. Their replacement, Sergio Santos, was plucked from the Chicago White Sox. He saved 30, and blew 6 games in 2011. Still, the 6 blown was lesser than Francisco and Rauch's combined, with more production on the tail end of Toronto's bullpen.