Casey Janssen: Setting a Great Example For Teammates

 

 

Beginning the 2013 season, the Blue Jays are looking at a familiar crowded bull-pen theme. Due to the business side of baseball, the Jays may option some arms to AAA despite perhaps being deserving of a MLB role. One of those people left behind will not be Casey Janssen. However, Casey has been that victim of the numbers game in the past, and he should serve as a ray of hope to any teammates that might be dealing with a demotion.

A 29 year old Casey Janssen was the odd-man out with a minor-league option on his contract as Octavio Dotel was returning from the disabled list in April of 2011. The alternative to sending Janssen down, at the time, was to release David Purcey: The Jays 2004 first round draft pick who was out of options. Although Janssen had decent numbers in 2010 (3.67 ERA and career relief ERA of 3.10), they couldn't justify giving up on a former 1st rounder when Janssen could be 'banked' in AAA. So Janssen was sent down. That wasn't necessarily the first disappointment Casey had faced since starting his MLB career.

Janssen had aspirations as a career starting pitcher.  When he was originally called up to the Jays, it was in a starting role to replace AJ Burnett in 2006. Then in 2007 he was asked to cover in the bull-pen... where it turns out he thrived.  His bullpen ERA was 2.35 over 70 games, and he looked like he had found a great every-day role. That is until a torn labrum required shoulder surgery, and he spent the entire 2008 season on the DL. 2009 was a struggle for Janssen to get back to full-strength as he did a couple of stints on the DL, spent 18 games in the minors, and put up unimpressive numbers at the MLB level. For his 2010 season, Janssen put some solid numbers together, stayed off the DL, and proved that he was back, healthy and ready. So after the struggle to get back to major league ball, his 2011 demotion to AAA must have felt like a kick in the teeth.

I've heard lots of interviews over the years where Casey Janssen has mentioned that he wanted to be a starter, but he was willing to play wherever the team needed him.  He's always been that unselfish team player, and I didn't hear complaints from him in the press when he was sent down to AAA to start 2011. He accepted his unfair assignment in 2011; he went down, pitched 7 shut-out innings over 6 games, and was on the next flight back up when Toronto finally decided to release David Purcey on waivers. His contract at that time was $1 million for 2011. On his 2011 recall, he put up a 2.54 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and went 6-0 as a reliever over 55 games. He parlayed those numbers int a 5.9 million dollar contract for 2012/2013 with a $4 million team option for 2012. He's run the gambit in terms of roles; starter, long reliever, set-up guy, and now closer. He's done everything asked of him, and consistently carried that team-player attitude that's made him the cornerstone of the 2013 bullpen.

There may be a few disappointed pitchers spending time in AAA this season; JA Happ, Brad Lincoln, Aaron Loup... and even Josh Thole for that matter (as a positional player).  Hopefully they'll be able to look to the example of Casey Janssen, and hold out hope that the best days are still to come after the next recall - regardless of the 'fairness' of it all.



Aaron Loup in 2013

 

The Jays bullpen looks pretty well set for the 2013 season due to existing contract options and the 'business' side of the game. However, there are early whispers of question marks in this years' pen.  We have some guys that may be feeling less than 100%, and there are some guys that still need to prove their ability to be what the Jays need right now.  Should a spot open up in the pen, the Jays have extra depth with their 2012 Rookie of the year on stand-by in AAA: Aaron Loup.

2012 was a season in which, due to an unfortunate string of injuries, a number of rookies were called up to the big league club for the first time.  Among rookie call-ups were Anthony Gose, Moises Sierra, Adeiny Hechavarria, Drew Hutchison and Chad Jenkins. Of all that were called up, when the dust had settled, it was rookie-reliever Aaron Loup who received the club-house votes for Blue Jays 2012 Rookie of the year. When Luis Perez was forced to exit the line-up for Tommy-John surgery, 24 year-old Aaron Loup stepped in and posted a 2.64 ERA and 0.913 WHIP over 33 games and 30.2 innings pitched.  His SO/9 innings wasn't overly impressive at 6.2, but he maintained a SO/BB of 10.5... which is phenomenal given the overall moderate number of strikeouts. That's only 2 walks given up by Loup over his 30.2 innings of work compared to 21 SO's.

Although John Farrell opinions are currently taboo to quote in Jays-land right now, the 2012 skipper with an eye for pitching did have this to say of Aaron Loup: “You’re looking at a left-hander with a low-90s fastball, a breaking ball that’s very effective that has really shown effectiveness against right-handers as well. But it’s his poise and his presence that allows him to maintain not only composure, but the ability to execute,” Farrell said. “Even when he gets into hitters’ counts, he’s been able to locate down and away from a left-hander and he’s not shown any tentativeness, no matter who he’s facing, the name on that player’s back or the ballpark in which he’s pitching.”   

Aaron Loup was not a highly touted or coddled prospect. Loup was a 9th round pick in the 2009 draft, and given a measly (in terms of draft dollars) $100,000 signing bonus. He's generally flown under the radar through the minor-leagues, although he has been a consistent performer with a AA All-star appearance under his belt.  At the time of his call-up in 2012 it seems it was a generally unexpected move; Chad Beck or Travis Snider would have been more likely candidates. Of Loup's call-up, Farrell himself admitted: “I don’t know that we were fully expecting a guy that wasn’t talked about as much as others in the system come up and be as consistent as he has."

Being a first time call-up in 2012,  Loup has a few more options left on his contract; the Jays can call him up and send him down with relative ease. Maybe Loup deserves to be with The Blue Jays right now based solely on performance. At this point in time, although Loup is coming off a very productive 2012 campaign, someone has to be released from the Blue Jays entirely (or placed on the DL) to make room for Aaron at the MLB level. So unfortunately for Loup, the numbers game means he will likely start the season in AAA.  If any of the current incumbents of the big-league club should falter though, you can bet Loup will probably be the first call-up we see. Given the Jays used 34 different pitchers last season, it's reasonable to expect we'll see Loup sooner than later Although we'd all like to hope the current pen will be perfect and healthy, it'll be interesting to see how Loup's 2012 success carries over into 2013 when that call does come. 

Henry Blanco: Mentor to JP Arencibia in 2013?

 

In honour of pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training this week, I thought I'd have a look at some stats and see if I can decipher who will be the back-up catcher for the Blue Jays in 2013. I started with Henry Blanco to see how his career stats portray him. One of the first things I read bout Henry Blanco: December 2nd, 2009 - his brother was shot and killed in Venezuela by kidnappers who were demanding ransom money from Henry. Wow... that's an unfortunate piece to read.  Kidnappers apparently didn't understand what Blanco's MLB salary was, and were demanding much more than Henry had access to.  I couldn't seem to come up with much more specific information; it seems the private matter wasn't especially detailed in the news beyond the initial reports.  My sympathies go out to Henry Blanco and family.

Henry Blanco is a difficult individual to research and summarize due to his sheer volume of experience.  His 15 year career, on 9 different teams, has put him in a tremendous number of noteworthy situations. He's boasted numerous accomplishments to be proud of.  He's caught and mentored some pretty big names, and has had alot of great stuff said about him in every source I looked at. He'll never be a ‘hall-of-famer’, but he'll probably be revered by teammates and counterparts as if he were one. How do you choose which significant points to touch on? I'm going to stick to explaining the key to his role in Toronto, which I think is going to be as a mentor to JP Arencibia.

JP Arencibia, with the off-season dealing of Travis D'Arneaud, has been officially anointed THE catcher for the Toronto Blue Jays.  JP is going to be the everyday guy and, if he's healthy, he'll be expected to play a lot more games in TO this season than he has in any of his past 3. At 27 years old though, with only parts of 3 seasons of experience, JP still has to have some growing-up to do. Not a knock against Arencibia; you just have to realize he’s still  relatively new to the game at the MLB level.  JP seemed to have benefited greatly from having Jose Molina as a back-up/mentor in 2011. Although Mathis was a great back-up, and seemed to be an encouraging mentor, I think Arencibia would benefit more from a mentor that he's not 'competing' with for playing time. Especially with Don Wakamatsu out as bench-coach in 2013, there is a need to have a veteran catcher presence available for Arencibia to turn to.

Henry Blanco has been credited with being a great mentor to other young catchers. He's also known as an expert at handling his pitching staffs. At his age, and the number of games he's played in his recent seasons, I'm sure he's content to just be there to give JP a day off every now and then. He's probably counting on playing less than 50 games in 2013… which is exactly what the Jays need in this back-up role. I don't think the Jays are looking for a guy to handle some of the weight for JP. I think they need someone who will help JP in learning to handle the weight himself.   

Josh Thole, who was catcher for RA Dickey's Cy Young 2012, is still relatively young (26) and is also looking to be an everyday guy himself. He still has an option on his contract, so it makes sense to keep him playing every day in Buffalo. At least as long as Blanco is still willing and able.  Thole will likely serve as the call-up guy for now in the event Arencibia needs to spend time on the DL.

Among the many Henry Blanco enthusiasts has been RA Dickey.  RA has pointed to Blanco as possibly his favorite all-time catcher to throw to.  So it makes sense that Blanco, as personal catcher to RA Dickey, would be playing just the right number of games and allowing Arencibia to handle everything that's not a knuckle-ball.  It's great that Arencibia has been enthusiastic about learning to catch Dickey, but it still makes sense to have Blanco as Dickey's catcher for 2013, giving Arencibia at least every 5th day off.  And maybe Blanco can step in from time to time to assist any pitchers who might be struggling with something.

In terms of what Arencibia needs in support of his full-time status, Henry Blanco seems to be an obvious choice. So long as he is healthy and deemed fit to cover 30-50 games in a season, Blanco looks like he'll be the back-up catcher this year. It looks to me like Anthopolous did an excellent job locating Henry Blanco and bringing him into the fold. One thing missing from Blanco's impressive resume is a World Series Ring (although he has World Series experience with Atlanta). It would be great to see Blanco add that ring to his resume in 2013.



Izturis the New Scutaro??? I Think So

 

Yesterday I did some basic review to better understand who would man 2nd base for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2013.  Emilio Bonifacio, or Maicer Izturis.  What I found was that Maicer Izturis doesn't quite have the resume you'd expect of an everyday 2nd baseman. What I found was that Izturis is more of a utility infielder that can cover 2nd base well for stretches.  Going to bed, I assumed Izturis must be going to split time.  All the rumbling in the press seem to have second base as a competition between Izturis and Bonifacio though right?

 

I've discovered that Baseball-Reference.com doesn't even have 2nd base listed as a position for the newly acquired Emilio Bonifacio. He's listed as: outfielder, third baseman, and shortstop. Why? Because in six major league seasons, he's played only 75 games at 2nd base. That's 16% of his total games played. 15 games at second in 2012, 5 in 2011, 5 in 2010... you get the picture. And his fielding percentage is .960 at 2nd base. By comparison, Izturis has a .990 fielding average at 2nd base.

 

I'm not going to get into all the positives right now that Bonifacio brings to the field with his speed or his bat.  The only thing I'm really interested in seeing at the moment is if he's a realistic 2nd base candidate. For 5 - 15 games a season he is. But he's not going to be the every day guy. But Izturis is not an everyday guy.  What's going on here?

 

Remember Marco Scutaro? He had never been an everyday guy in 6 Major League seasons until he came to Toronto.  He was a great infield-utility guy that Oakland fans were fond of. For the bargain price of $1.5 million per season,  Toronto gave him his shot at being the every-day guy at the ripe age of 32... and he ran with it.  Scutaro's been a full-time guy ever since, has a World Series ring with San Francisco, and is in the midst of a $6.66 million dollar season at the age of 37 (with 2 more seasons still coming guaranteed at that price).  Amazing to think he was playing in TO for $1.5 million a season.

 

So, I guess Izturis is the new Scutaro. At the age of 32, Izturis is now the Utility guy given his late first shot at being the everyday guy for a bargain price.  He has a better resume than Scutaro had coming to Toronto, and Maicer should be able to hold his own in the field. Due to a stacked line-up, he's not really under pressure to produce in the 9th spot with his bat.  If he does produce with the bat, great. Having looked a little closer at his stats lines, today I'm feeling confident that Izturis is a low risk-high reward kind of gamble.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how Izturis will make out in his new full-time Blue Jays role in 2013.

Maicer Izturis - 2nd Base Controversy?

 

So... Maicer Izturis.  I don't know a lot about this guy.  But he'll be with Toronto for a few years now. 3 actually (barring trades.. . or his 4th year option).  My (mis)understanding at the time he was signed (from the Angels) was that he was going to be the guaranteed 2nd baseman for the Blue Jays.  Since The Great Miami Fire Sale of '12, however, I've been hearing Bonifacio's name in the mix for 2nd base. So I'm doing a little research to try and understand a little bit about the former Angels 2nd baseman that's been thrown into some good ol' fashioned Toronto controversy before he's even set foot on the field.

 

Right off the top when I look at Izturis' career stats, I see he debuted as a rookie for the Montreal Expos in 2004 with 32 games played.  That fits with Anthopolous' penchant for acquiring guys with Montreal ties. I can't tell from my searches if Anthopolous had ever scouted Izturis when he was with the Expos.  I do know Anthopolous left scouting in  Montreal to join Toronto's organization in 2003.  I also know Izturis was traded to Montreal from the Cleveland farm system in 2003.  Maybe AA still has some nostalgic insight of this player from that time. Who knows?

 

At 32 years old, I also see that during 9 seasons, Izturis has never played over 122 games in a season, so it's difficult to really say he's ever been an 'everyday' 2nd baseman.  His batting average has never been stellar, but not bad for a guy that wouldn't really be considered an everyday player.  He's touched on .300 once, and a .273 career batting average is respectable.  He's generally had a decent OBP; career .337 OBP. As a point of reference, Kelly Johnson was touted for his OBP when he was first acquired, and his career OBP was .338 by comparison. Big difference between Kelly Johnson and the newly acquired Izturis? Izturis has accumulated 313 SO's over 9 seasons; Johnson has accumulated 829 over 7 seasons (yes Johnson has 200 more AB's career than Izturis... but still).  So Izturis should be an upgrade at 2nd from what we're used to in terms of selective hitting and putting the ball into play. Not a lot of stolen bases, but averages 10.1 per season, so he'll contribute. No power numbers to speak of though.

Fielding - I've noticed that Izturis has never played more than 68 games in a season at 2nd base. In fact, his career split is 390 games at 3rd, 246 games at 2nd, and 194 games at SS. So not only can we not refer to him as an 'everyday' player, we can't really refer to him as a '2nd baseman' either.  He appears to be more of a career super-utility infielder than 2nd baseman per se, so I find it highly unlikely he would be promised an everyday 2nd baseman role in Toronto. If he matches his career high for games played at 2nd base, we actually need 94 games covered by someone else.  I should note, however, that it appears 2nd base is Maicer's position with fewest errors and best fielding percentages.

I've also come across a quote from Alex Anthopolous in the 'Leader-Post' where he said of Izturis: "We signed him to compete for second base," he said. "There were no guarantees beyond that. I'm very big on being clear, never overpromising anything." I take this as reinforcement that Izturis is not the bone-fide 2nd baseman.

Izturis did play for an Angels team that won the WorldSeries in 2002.  He's been part of an Angels team that's won their respective West Division title 5 times after that. He's been part of a winning tradition, and that kind of experience is a welcome addition to a Toronto team that's attempting to establish the same kind of tradition. I'd also like to point out that his 3 year, 9 million dollar, contract with Toronto is decent value for someone of Maicer's pedigree. An All-star 2nd baseman he's probably not.  A dependable and experienced super-utility infielder; that's what we have in him. No 2nd base controversy.

Easy on the Whipping Boy

 

Optimism - A certain amount is healthy. But too much optimism can be a double-edged sword - especially for fans of Toronto sports teams. Too much optimism can lead to lofty expectations that just can't be reasonably met, and that often leads to some kind of back-lash. At the start of every Jays season we have big things to be excited about.  A promising new rookie, big off-season acquisitions, or bounce-back seasons expected from key players. But as the dog-days of summer wear on and things start to go sideways, we Blue Jay fans can be especially good at ascribing 'whipping-boy' and 'scape-goat' status to players we feel should shoulder the blame for organizational disappointment.  We've driven our fair-share of struggling players out of Toronto to choruses of boos. Frankly, I'm often embarrassed to be a Jays fan when alumni like Alex Rios return to Rogers center in another uniform and are greeted by disrespectful boos. 

At a QMJHL hockey game, I (and the other fans around us) heckled our defensemen for sloppy puck-handling on the power play. My father-in-law commented: "it's interesting how people who are losers in everyday life demand perfection from professional athletes, don't you think?" It might have been intended as a shot at me... but a fair comment nonetheless. Guilty as charged.  Why do we demand perfection from athletes and then dog them when they don't live up to our expectations? In the example of Alex Rios, it's not like he was purposely striking out. Did his contract contain a 'perfection' clause that he was failing to live up to? Did he really deserve to be run out of town like that? Does he deserve to be booed every time he comes back to Rogers Center?

If Rios was the only player that received that kind of treatment, maybe we could call it a one-off.  But what kind of treatment did fans give Eric Hinske? How about Vernon Wells? BJ Ryan? Juan Rivera? Mark Teahen? Coco Cordero? Frank Francisco? Jon Rauch? Lyle Overbay? Etc. Etc. I feel like the names just roll off my tongue too easily... there are so many whipping-boys.

I love the AJ Burnett example. Despite decent peripheral numbers, here's a player we dogged for most of his time in TO. Ricciardi probably made it worse by questioning Burnett’s willingness to pitch through normal wear-and-tear. But by the time his contract was up, we actually wanted this guy to stay and resign with the team. We're lucky, as fans, that he tipped his cap to us in his last appearance rather than giving us the finger. You can't blame him for not wanting to resign in Toronto.  Same with Aaron Hill. There's a fan favorite that we dogged while he was struggling, and we were obviously rooting for a trade. Then over in Arizona, he catches fire again, and we're asking for him to sign back through free agency? Maybe if his time here was more pleasant he would have thought about a return. I don't blame him if he crossed TO off his list of potential signing locations.

Maybe we should stop shooting ourselves in the foot as fans? Maybe guys like Burnett and Aaron Hill are more likely to return when we want them if we're nicer to them while they're here?

How about the case of E3 Edwin Encarnacion? 2 seasons ago we were ready to run him out of town. Now after 1 good season we're ready to give him the key to the city? We're probably lucky he was willing to sign that contract extension despite the catcalls while he was struggling.

There are other current players on the Jays team going through some dogging right now. How about Colby Rasmus? Or Adam Lind? Obviously fans are entitled to grumble when things aren't going our way. But I hope as the season wears on, we don't start flogging our own guys. 

There are huge expectations on this year’s squad. Fans are calling for a World Series win, and we're not even into spring training yet. Vegas odds have us with a 1 in 8 chance of winning the World Series. That’s great to be optimistic about, but chances are 7 in 8 we won't win it all. There are a ton of things that can go wrong, and the odds are that some players we're counting on will struggle. My hope for this summer, besides whipping the tar out of AL East opponents, is that Toronto fans display some proper sportsmanship and help make Toronto a fun place for players to play. We're trying to convince some big name free agents (now and in the future) that Toronto is a great place to play. Let's help them overlook the terrible turf and extra taxes by showing them that at least the fans are great.

Hardest Throwing Blue Jay? Jeremy Jeffress...Really?

Blue Jays fans are well aware that the Jays could potentially begin the 2013 season with one of their best starting rotations of all time.  The make-up of their bullpen is a more unknown subject though, and open to a greater degree of speculation.  We're not exactly sure of who will make the opening-day relief corp., or what we'll get from those who do make it. Here's a relatively new name in the mix: Jeremy Jeffress. Picked up in an off-season deal from the Kansas City Royals, Jeffress is a name that Jays fans might ignore when reviewing the 40-man roster.  But he's out of options, still has a lot of potential (maybe the highest potential ceiling of any one in their bullpen), and has an excellent chance to make the team out of spring-training as a result. He throws into the triple digits, he’s been compared to Craig Kimbrell, and he’s never experienced significant arm issues. What else should we know about him?

Jeremy Jeffress was a 2006 first round MLB draft selection of the Milwaukee Brewers.  He was selected 16th overall; 2 selections after Travis Snider but 2 selections ahead of Kyle Drabek. Jeffress was a highly touted starting pitcher who routinely touches on 100 mph with his fast-ball. This flame-thrower has been clocked as high as 102 mph, and has also been scouted as having a plus curve-ball.  However, the promising young prospect (with the $1.5 million draft signing bonus) has struggled with a rocky minor-league career; mainly a result of his off-field issues. After a first offence warning, Jeffress was given a 50 game suspension in August 2007 following a second positive marijuana test. In June of 2009 he tested positive a third time, and served a resulting 100 game suspension. This put his minor league career in an awkward position, since a 4th positive test would result in a life-time ban (from minor league baseball). His off-field struggles limited his on-field playing time early on, but his minor league numbers were decent while he was playing in the Milwaukee farm system (2010 and prior). His ERA stayed below 5, his WHIP around 1.5 and his K/9 inning stayed above 10.  He demonstrated he was a power pitcher, but his control has been noted as lacking.

At the time of the 100-game suspension in 2009, Brewers assistant GM Gord Ash (formerly of the Blue Jays) said: "Given that [Jeffress] has been a two- or three-time positive tester, it gives you a lot of concern. All we can do is hope that he's motivated to comply with the rules of baseball, and offer as much support as we can."

In a 2010 interview with Tom Haudricourt, Jeffress expressed seemingly sincere remorse in connection with his 100-game suspension.  His struggles with marijuana seem to have been as genuine as his admissions of wrong-doing and desire to rehabilitate. Of his second suspension, Jeffress said:

"The hardest part for me was knowing I had the mentality to do the right thing, and didn't do it," he said. "I let myself down. It got in my head.  It's the worst feeling in the world. I felt so bad about it."

Jeffress seemed to have been very receptive to the whole rehabilitation process. As part of his rehabilitation program, with continued EAP counselling, Jeffress was moved from a starting pitcher's role to a relief role.  The theory behind the transition was that Jeffress would have to be alert and ready every night as a reliever.  He wouldn't have the days off between starts to get into trouble as he had previously. Of his rehabilitation, Jeffress shared:

"Recovery is just like life. You keep going. It's an ongoing thing. It's someone who can talk to you to get thoughts out of your mind that are bad. The cravings are always going to be there. Triggers are going to be there. You can't get away from triggers. Some triggers remind you of things. There are temptations. It's a problem in life that's always going to haunt me."

But he also added: "I think I've matured a lot the past couple of years. I just feel like nothing can stop me now. I know the things that I can do, the things I need to do."

After producing reasonable numbers during a 10-game call-up with Milwaukee in 2010, Jeffress was packaged to Kansas City in the off-season as part of the Zack Grienke blockbuster deal. He split time  over the 2011 season between AAA and the KC Royals;  25 and 14 appearances respectively. He continued to demonstrate excellent fast-ball velocity, but recorded an almost equal number of walks as strikeouts in both leagues. 2012 was much of the same. Although his minor league walk/strikeout ratio improved, his major league ERA was 6.75 with 13 walks and 13 SO's recorded over 13 appearances. To his credit, his 2012 MLB SO/9 innings was an impressive 12.8, so there is obvious appeal if he can learn to control the fastball and reduce the number of walks.  Before the 2012 season started, however, his off-season issues had flared up again as he was arrested on domestic assault charges.  Although the charges were dropped, the news headlines were an issue with the Royals, and Jeffress was in a situation again where he had to issue a public apology.  At the end of the 2012 off-season, KC had a number of players returning from the DL.  Someone had to be let go on waivers; JeremyJeffress was designated for assignment.

Alex Anthopolous picked Jeffress up from the Royals on waivers November 8, 2012 in exchange for an undisclosed sum of cash. Although official plans for Jeffress in 2013 have not been communicated, he is out of options.  The Jays would likely lose him if he doesn't break camp with the Blue Jays in April. One would think that a 25 year old who throws 100 mph could be worth a long look. Although Jeffress may be carrying some personal baggage, he has expressed interest in maturing. And given that he's been compared to Craig Kimbrell throughout his minor league career, there is that possibility that he could someday become an elite closer if he improves his command.

MLB does not test for recreational drugs such as marijuana. So although this does not necessarily mitigate the risk of carrying a player with potential off-field issues, there is no risk he would be lost from the big league club unexpectedly with a suspension like in the minors. I would think so long as the Jays can make room for him without losing any other players through waivers, Jeffress will make the big league club to start the season. I think the success story of Josh Hamilton lends credence to the notion of successful rehabilitation.  So long as no players are lost from Toronto via waivers in the process, I would personally like to see what Jeffress can do in Toronto's bullpen in 2013.