Buffalo Boy's Blog

I haven't posted much on the Jays because I have been wanting to get a feel for the team. It is pretty much what we all anticipated, great offense that can strike at any moment with the long ball but also scratch out runs thanks to David Eckstein. The starting rotation is going to be one of if not the best in the AL and have shown it with a ton of quality starts through the first 17-18 games or so.

What is up in the air is the bullpen. The long known fact that what your bullpen is one year, even with the same pitchers brought back, will not be the same the next year. That is oh so true so far for the Jays. They have been in or seemingly been in and had a chance to win just about every single game in this young season with the exception of maybe one or two.

The bullpen, has been inconsistent at best so far. What we are seeing is Casey Janssen not being there to help in long or middle relief. Jesse Litsch has filled in great in the five hole and thats fine, but if you have Janssen, you have the luxury of either him or Litsch coming out of the bullpen if you get in trouble early.

So far, the Jays are missing someone like that and have relied heavily on Scott Downs and Brian Tallet to do more than they probably should in middle innings. They have tried Brian Wolfe and now Shawn Camp and Jesse Carlson. I have lots of faith in pitching coach Brad Arnsberg and John Gibbons to get the pitching staff in order.

Today another issue has come up, Frank Thomas is off to his typical slow start, though he has a bunch of RBIs he is mired in a slump, but I agree with his argument. I have been watching the games and Thomas has been hitting the ball hard, right at people. The Jays have a lot of money invested in the "Big Hurt" and to me you have to play him. He actually got off to a fast start hitting home runs in the Boston series to get them a sweep in that series so the start hasn't been awful.

Gary Denbo the former Yankee hitting coach will have to work with Thomas because as far as Im concerned, Thomas is the best option at DH on the team. In the AL East you are not going to win if you don't have a good one. Boston as Ortiz, the Yankees have Giambi or Matsui. Thomas is like a Dave Winfield in the DH slot, hes big, lots of power but once he hits the basepath hes not going to go like lightning. What he will do it drive runs in and for that he needs to be in there.

The next month or so will say a lot of where this team is, BJ Ryan returning to full time form will be a huge help for a struggling pen and the return of Scott Rolen will make it very interesting as we head towards May and June.