I’m back after booking off the Blue Jays four-game series in Kansas City. A lot of the other beat reporters followed the same schedule that I’m on and during our absence the club managed to go 4-0. We return and Toronto finds a way to lose a tough ballgame. Coincedence? Absolutely, but I’m sure someone out there can start the conspiracy theories.

The big news while I was away centered around Sergio Santos. We found out on Monday that he will be out at least four weeks but the Blue Jays appeared to dodge a major bullet by the injury not being more severe than just inflammation. Sounds like there was genuine concern there would be structural damage in the throwing shoulder but since that has been ruled out the long-term concerns should be alleviated.

Below, you’ll find some of today’s leftovers from the pre-game scrum that mostly talked about Santos. There are some additional items on the Blue Jays’new look lineup, recent winning streak, and the make-up of Toronto’s bullpen. Also on the main site you can find today’s notebook and of course tonight’s game story which is all about Eric Thames and Henderson Alvarez.

John Farrell:

Length of time for Santos…

“We feel like it’s going to be a minimum of four weeks. Ten to 14 days of no throw and as we’ve used the typical rule of thumb it’s going to be at least the same number of days to get back to where he left off. That’s going to take us right up to, probably, a four-week period.”

Would he be ready for a rehab assignment after 14 days or he’d just be ready to throw again?

“I think the best way to outline it right now is that at the end of that 14-day period once he initiates a throwing program we’ll re-evaluate where he’s at, get a full work-up of tests as far as strength is concerned and how we would advance through his throwing program at that point. So that’s why I said, you initiate the throwing program and you start to build back up it’s going to be that minimum of four weeks.”

Did he have any of these symptoms in Spring Training?

“No. That’s why the last outing in Kansas City, this was clearly isolated where even during that outing, unfortunately he felt not quite right but yet he’s 95-97 mph and as the course of that evening progressed through the night and the morning when he woke up there was increased stiffness, increased soreness, and when he came in for some treatment and then did some early light catch he felt okay but then during his throwing program when we started to lengthen him out it was starting to grab him a little bit more and that’s when we decided at that point it was time to get him evaluated.”

Has there been noticeable changes in his delivery since being converted to a pitcher?

“As far as I know there haven’t been drastic changes. I’m sure from the first time he stepped on the mound to the other night there might be some subtle changes but even in talking with Serge two days ago before we made the move he felt nothing last year, he felt nothing at any time while he’s been converted to a pitcher and yet it showed up in that one outing and that’s why we were concerned. If he didn’t have this in Spring Training and he didn’t have anything leading up to that, then all of a sudden in one outing you have that kind of inflammation, we were concerned to the point of not questioning it, putting him on the disabled list and having him evaluated totally.”

Janseen hasn’t pitched in 10 days. Does the injury to Santos open up the door for a possible role as a set-up man?

“Well because there has been a number of days that he hasn’t gotten into a game we’ll look to. One, he has to get back into a game first and foremost. The fact is we’ve gone to some matchups, how Luis Perez has evolved, I’m not going to say has supplanted him or replaced other guys, he’s done one hell of a job for us, Casey’s fully ready to go and he will be in the mix.”

More on Perez…

“Last night, had both Frasor and Oliver hot when we started the eighth we were basically hitter to hitter, we were going to match up and then when Luis went through the heart of their order with a couple of weak ground balls, I was staying out of the way.”

Encarnacion the new clean-up hitter?

“It gives us a couple of other options and the fact that the way Eddie has swung the bat, he has emerged as our four-hole hitter for right now. The fact that he and Adam are one slot apart in the lineup, it’s not that big of a deal but whether it has been against right-handers or left-handers, Eddie has swung the bat very well and has provided more consistent protection behind Jose and I thought throughout the course of the entire series against Kansas City he had good at-bats. That’s the way we’re going to go right now.”

So, he’s earned the promotion?

“Yeah. Ideally that would be the best thing that everybody does. It gives us the ability to push Adam down and a spot and then we can stack the left-handers in the 7-8 hole with Rasmus and Thames. Somebody has to hit four, somebody has to hit eight, so that’s where we are.”

Rasmus has moved up as well…

“He is in a very good place. There hasn’t been a whole lot of swing and miss. The other day, Duffy was a tough left-hander for him but setting that game aside, and even throughout the course of the other 14 games of the year he has done a good job of getting the bat on the ball, he has hit good pitching, he has squared up good pitching and he feels very confident in his overall game right now.”

Four-game sweep a good sign for this ballclub that needs to beat teams like Kansas City?

“We had some things go our way and I think we executed very well within the series in Kansas City. We still know that within our division that those games mean the most and that’s where we have to continue to improve upon and that’s not to take anyone lightly outside of our division but we all know that the 18 games per team in here they mean twice as much just because of the head-up competition. We will be challenged every night we walk onto the field against a team in this division.

“But for us to get where we want to go we’re going to have to go through this teams that are in the East.”

Brandon Morrow started off the year on the right note with a dominating performance against the Indians. Since then, though, success has been much tougher to come by against American League East division rivals Boston and Tampa Bay.

The problem — as it often is with starting pitching — comes down to location. In the past two starts, Morrow’s fastball has crept up into the zone and he’s had difficulty getting his offspeed pitches over for strikes. The fastball location will come because he’s shown the ability to rectify that issue in the past but the offspeed pitches remain a work in progress.

One of Morrow’s top priorities in the spring was using his curveball and changeup on a more consistent basis. On Wednesday night, the effective changeup was there but the curveball wasn’t as effective and the inability to go to that pitch on a consistent basis allows teams like Tampa to sit on Morrow’s fastball-slider combination.

Morrow said after the game that he would take a look at some video to see if perhaps there was a mechanical problem that was causing issues with his fastball. If there is, it should be a relatively easy fix and that’s something the Blue Jays have to be hoping for as they need Morrow to establish himself as a bonafide No. 2 starter this season.

Here are today’s leftovers:

John Farrell:

The level of frustration was palpable during the ninth inning at Rogers Centre on Monday night. Toronto’s closer Sergio Santos had just blown his second save in as many opportunities this season and the 48,000-plus fans in attendance let their voices be heard with a chorus of boos as Santos walked off the field.

Santos said all the right things after his outing about how the fans have every right to voice their opinion and how he himself would have booed in that situation. That’s all fine and good but you have to think there’s a level of frustration beneath the surface that Santos has about the reaction for his first game in a Blue Jays’ uniform. Let’s get one thing straight, Santos isn’t Frank Francisco and he’s not Jon Rauch. He wasn’t around last season as the Blue Jays tied for the American League lead in blown saves with 25. It’s a new season and a new closer — one with an overpowering fastball and devastating slider – who has all the tools required to become an elite reliever in this league.

That little rant isn’t meant to criticize the Blue Jays’ fanbase. I completely understand the lack of patience a lot of people have considering the struggles in 2011, the previous mistakes of Kevin Gregg in 2010 and the lack of a bonafide closer since BJ Ryan’s first season in Toronto. But Santos wasn’t responsible for any of that and before everyone jumps to conclusions about his overall abilities let’s give this at least a few weeks to see how it all plays out. The fact is Toronto has a very valuable commodity under club control until 2017 and even if Santos struggles early there’s no reason to believe he won’t be able to turn it around. Afterall, it has only been two games.

Here are some leftovers from today’s interview with Santos and some leftovers from John Farrell’s scrum with the media:

Sergio Santos:

What did you learn about the closer position last year in Chicago that helps you deal with some early season adversity this year?

“You can’t change the past all you can do is learn from it. Looking back, last night after I finished doing my running, I looked at video, sat down and talked with Papi and we kind of went over stuff that we could have improved that inning or what we could have done and I just learned from that. I take that as an experience and maybe it will help me out at some point in the season when that same kind of thing happens and things start to speed up I can kind of look back and be like, alright this happened before, you have to learn from it and I just take it as a learning experience.”

What did you notice in the video?

“I was just trying to do too much. I was trying to be too perfect with every pitch. Trying to locate at 97 and throw at 100 and you can’t really do that. Just have to go back and go back to square one, pound in the zone and attack hitters. If I’m throwing good pitches and they’re still hitting them, I can live with that but when I try to do too much that’s tough to swallow because I should know better.”

Was it a similar pitch to Pedroia that hurt you in Cleveland with Asdrubal Cabrera?

“It was just a bad located pitch to a guy that can hit that pitch. If there’s anybody in their lineup that can hit a fastball up and in it’s Pedroia. I should have stayed low and away or gone with something else but learn from it and move on.”

Happy to have the home openers in Cleveland and Toronto out of the way so you guys can focus on the season without some of the added distractions?

“It’s good, the beginning of the year, because everybody gets excited and it’s a fun time of the year but now it’s kind of like that first week is almost done and now we know the grind is before us. Now it’s important to try to win as many games as we can because we’re playing tough teams every night and any way we can scratch together a win is very helpful.”

You were on a different plan in Spring Training than the other pitchers. Did the lack of innings in Major League games this spring potentially play a factor in the rough start?

“It would have been nice to get more innings but that’s neither here nor there. That’s not a crutch for me, I’m not going to sit here and say look I only threw ‘x’ amount of innings so that’s why I’m not starting off great. It’s a part of the game, it’s baseball, you have good days and bad days so it’s about weathering that storm, not making the bad days too terrible and on the good days not being on cloud nine. It’s just finding that even keel, it’s a long season, and hopefully looking back in August and September if we’re pushing to win the AL East I can look back on this first week and it just be a blip and something I can learn from. I still have the utmost confidence in myself to go out there and get the job done and that’s what I look forward to doing.”

What do you like about your stuff right now?

“My arm’s feeling good, everything feels good. The ball’s coming out of my hand the way I want. I threw some good pitches yesterday and that’s what I take away from it. I leave all of the bad stuff there and I just take the good stuff and build off that and hopefully I can get some momentum and put some good innings together.”

Can’t wait to get back out there again?

“No doubt about it. The hardest part is waiting. It’s tough, I’m a competitor, I love to compete, I want to be out there again and I want them to give me the ball.”

You haven’t had much time to work with J.P. yet and you’re obviously known for that hard slider, which appears difficult to catch. What has the working relationship been like so far with Arencibia?

“It’s going to take some time for J.P. to learn me, for me to learn J.P. It’s kind of tough to do that in the six weeks of Spring Training because he’s got so many other pitchers to work with. We’ll get in synch, we’ll get it together, I’m not worried about that part of it. I would have loved to get off to a better start but that’s in the past now and I can look forward to being here for the rest of the season. I’m looking forward to going out there and I’m sure J.P. and I will get together and start working.”

Lots of other closers around the league have been struggling as well. Can you take any solace in that and know that these type of things come with the territory?

“It happens. It just stinks, that’s the tough part about being a closer is you have all your teammates battle for nine innings and grind it out and for you to get in there and screw everything it’s tough. It’s a tough pill to swallow because you know how hard your guys worked. You see it, I’m not the only one going through it, there are other guys around the league that have blown saves and it happens. I just have to leave that in the past and move on.”

Having the ability to put bad outings in the past…

“No doubt about it. I think about it that night and then literally as soon as I wake up the next morning, the sun came up, I talked to my wife and kids. It was a good day. Now I look forward to having another ballgame, hopefully I get in and this time hopefully I’ll get the job done.”

John Farrell:

“Sergio’s our closer. Anything more than that at this point, there’s no difference in approach being taken today, tomorrow or Friday, he is our closer.”

On the altered approach for Santos in Spring Training…

“We felt like he was in very good shape coming into camp. We did spend some time working on his changeup, we spent some time refining where his hands are set up in his delivery to strive for more consistent fastball command, particularly down in the strike zone. We still got him seven appearances total between sim games, Minor League games and A games and I think typically for a one-inning reliever that’s not too few of outings particularly in the shape he came into camp with.”

Still new to being a closer…

“He’s relatively new to being a pitcher when you look at 28 innings in the Minor Leagues in his pro career before becoming a big league reliever. It’s very clear that’s a quick path to the big leagues and really not a whole lot of developmental time regardless of whether it’s as a one-inning reliever or as a starter. He understanding who he is as a pitcher and how he’s most effective, particularly with his effort level in his delivery and inevitably a pitcher is going to sacrifice command at times when they’re trying to get maximum velocity.

“We’re still learning Sergio. Yeah, we can go back and read reports and review all of the video that we want but through experiences and in the same uniform that’s where we get to learn more about him and what makes him most effective.”

On max effort  versus location…

“You want location first and foremost regardless of velocity. Some guys have that rare ability to combine both. We’re certainly not asking Sergio to throw slower, but at the same time there has to be a balance there with effort and energy in the delivery and commanding the baseball.”

Apparently the Blue Jays and Indians were so excited for the start of the regular season they decided to more or less play two games on Opening Day for the 2012 season.  The more than five-hour marathon lasted sixteen innings and became the longest Opening Day game in Major League Baseball history. It wasn’t until J.P. Arencibia hit the go-ahead home run in the 16th inning and Sergio Santos closed things out in the bottom half of the inning that an outcome was finally decided.

It really was a tale of two games. The first one involved the Blue Jays hitters getting absolutely dominated courtesy of a masterful pitching performance by Indians ace Justin Masterson. Jose Bautista’s solo home run in the fourth and a double by Adam Lind were the only marks against Masterson who kept Toronto’s hitters off balance for eight innings en route to a 10-strikeout performance. Things completely shifted gears when Indians closer Chris Perez entered the game and proceeded to surrender a three-run lead in no time flat and force extra innings.

You can read all about last night’s game on the main site but as you can imagine with a game that goes on for 16 innings there was plenty that couldn’t fit into the recap. Here are a few tidbits from last night followed by lots of leftovers. Apologies for the late post but after spending 11 hours at the ballpark I needed a little time to recover. I think everyone is a little thankful — players and journalists included — that Friday was a scheduled offday for both clubs.

Tidbits:

• Jose Bautista proved yet again that he isn’t adverse to helping the Blue Jays in the field any way possible. Bautista moved from right field to first base when Adam Lind was lifted for a pinch runner in the ninth inning. It was the 10th time that Bautista has appeared at first base for the Blue Jays and his first game there since 2010.
• Omar Vizquel also made a rare appearance at first base when he entered the game in the 12th inning. Vizquel technically came into the game as a left fielder as Toronto subbed out Eric Thames to go with five infielders in order to get an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded to keep the game tied. Vizquel came back out in the 13th at first base, which allowed Bautista to return to right field,  and marked just the second time in Vizquel’s career that he played first.
• Rajai Davis was responsible for the game’s biggest brainfreeze when he attempted to bunt runners over from first and second in extra innings. Davis popped the bunt up towards third base and then inexplicably stood in the batter’s box and watched the play unfold. Cleveland’s Jack Hannahan wisely let the ball drop and easily turned a 5-4-3 doubleplay to essentially put an end to Toronto’s rally. Davis received a lot of criticism — and rightly so — from comments on the site and people on Twitter and while I’m sure John Farrell was beside himself in the dugout after the game he appeared to be understanding. Nobody can question Davis’ effort on the field and even though it’s a mistake that cannot be made at the Major League level this isn’t about a highly paid player being lazy. Davis is a veteran player who likely got caught up in not being able to get the bunt down and had a temporary brain cramp. It’s not the way he normally plays the game and I doubt it’s something we ever see again but the Blue Jays got away with one there.
• The Blue Jays decision to go with five infielders during the 12th inning with the bases loaded was  a scenario they practiced quite a bit during Spring Training. In many ways, it’s a last resort type of strategy but it paid off against Cleveland as Perez got the inning-ending double play and I bet it’s not the last time we see Farrell make that move.
• I really liked what I saw from Kelly Johnson hitting out of the two-hole in front of Bautista. Johnson couldn’t get anything going against Masterson but when Cleveland’s bullpen came into the game he proceeded to reach base four consecutive times. It’s the ability to get on base that’s crucial when batting in the No. 2 spot and Johnson has shown a keen ability to do that during his Major League career. I think he’s in line for  a big year.
• Sergio Santos was supposed to come out of the Blue Jays bullpen to start the 16th inning last night but a miscommunication in Toronto’s dugout momentarily derailed that plan. Santos about to leave Toronto’s ‘pen when Luis Perez darted out of the Blue Jays bullpen with the belief that he was still pitching. Perez crossed the chalk and once that happens he is required to face at least one batter. It’s a new rule in Major League Baseball that was designed to stop teams from buying extra time for their relievers to get ready and further delaying the game. So, Perez stayed in to face one batter before Santos was allowed to enter the game.
• As a result of that move, Santos did not earn his first save in a Blue Jays uniform. In order to record the save, Santos would have needed to pitch a full inning or come into the game with the tying run on the on-deck circle. Since he began pitching with one out, nobody on and a three-run lead that scenario didn’t apply. He’ll have to wait at least one more day for another opportunity.

Now onto last night’s leftovers…

John Farrell:

“The bullpen did an outstanding job, 11 shutout innings, hopefully we’re not going to look at that too often, and if tonight is any kind of insight into this season, strap in, we’re in for a long ride.”

On J.P. thinking he was supposed to bunt in the 16th when he really wasn’t…

“In that situation against that type of pitcher, right-handers have had good success against Ascencio and we certainly didn’t want to take the bat out of J.P.’s hands. He saw a sign that wasn’t there and fortunately he fouled it off, and he gets the next pitch in the middle of the plate and does some damage with it.”

On Santos in the 16th….

“With the change in rule, as soon as that pitcher crosses the line that’s pitched the previous inning, he has to face a hitter so we tried and made sure that we gave Serge all the time he needed to get loose, Luis kind of bolted from the dugout, so it ended up working OK.”

“I know it’s Day 1, and we’ve seen an awful lot in the first game, but the one characteristic we had last year was a relentless attitude and a relentless approach, and came back a number of times and today was another example. I think that just speaks to the character of this group.

On JP defence…

“He’s made such strides from a year ago. It’s remarkable how far he’s come from this time a year ago. He throws out Choo from his knees, he blocked numerous two-strike pitches in the dirt. I know it’s Day 1, this is a game that makes you awful proud with the way guys continued to battle and grind things out for 16 innings.”

Grinding…

“On Day 1, extremely difficult. We’ve had guys go nine innings one time and suddenly we’re asking them to go 16 in a five-hour game out of the chute. We’re dealing with guys who were cramping up during the game, even though it’s not hot and sweaty it’s still cold, they’ve been on their feet for five straight hours. It’s a testament to their will.”

Rajai…

“Hannahan did a great job. He pops a ball up and he did exactly what you instruct every infielder to do, get a read on it, give the impression you’re going to catch it, he let it drop, Rajai read his positioning, thought he was going to catch it, and kind of backed off instead of running it out.”

Five-man infield…

“It’s a thing we had worked on in spring training. We’re in kind of a desperate situation right there and we’re looking for something on the ground, we had played the infield in trying to cut down the run earlier, but when we got in the situation with that fifth infielder being right at the bag, we felt like we could then look to turn two in the middle of the infield rather than try to cut down the speed at first base. It worked, you kind of roll the dice and it turned up in our favour.”

“Long game? Yeah, but it was a fun game because there were so many different things inside it, whether it was Rajai scoring from first on a ball off the wall, to a dramatic three-run homer, there were a lot of good things.”

Ricky Romero:

“I just got a little off my game there in the second inning and everything started going up, the ball started rising. I wasn’t able to make the adjustment back quick and I ended up with a lot of pitches that inning, but you know it happens and it’s over with. I’m glad we came back, we grinded it out. We wanted to make history tonight, you guys didn’t know that, huh?”

J.P. Opening Day….

“This is the thing about this team. He had some rough at-bats earlier … but he stayed within himself and he came up huge in that inning with that three-run homerun.

“I’ve said it all along, this team is special. I know it’s game 1 out of 162, but I could have easily, after that second inning, folded, but I told myself I’ve got to grind through whatever innings I can get and it turned out to be great. We’ve got to tip our hat to the bullpen – what a great job they did – everyone came in and it just shows you the depth that we have and this bullpen is really good.

“I was here [the whole time] I felt like I pitched yesterday, actually, I came out a long time ago. But like I said it was a great team win and the best thing is we won and that’s all that matters.”

Arencibia’s strong defensive game behind the plate…

“To me, J.P. Has always been a great defensive catcher. He’s always blocked great balls for me and sometimes I know I throw tough breaking balls to where they’re not even close and he blocks them. That guy works his ass off and he wants to be the best at whatever he does and he showed it today. He took a beating. People don’t notice the little foul balls he took off the mask and off the risk. Like I said he’s a grinder and that’s what he’s all about.”

My six weeks in Dunedin officially comes to an end today and what a spring it has been. The storylines haven’t been quite as compelling as normal this Grapefruit League season because Toronto entered camp with a relatively set lineup. The only real competitions were found in left field and utility infielder but both spots were more or less locked in to be Eric Thames and Omar Vizquel from the start. The same could be said for the fifth starter role, which was going to Dustin McGowan until a foot injury opened the door for either Kyle Drabek and Aaron Laffey.

Despite the set lineup, there were still some interesting developments in camp. Colby Rasmus’ new attitude even with his continued struggles this spring, Travis Snider’s ability to deal with more adversity in his career, and the continued development of young prospects such as Travis d’Arnaud, Anthony Gose and Drew Hutchison. I hope you enjoyed the coverage both on the blog and especially on Bluejays.com this spring and make sure to keep reading throughout the season.

It’s now time for me to head back to Toronto for a couple of days before the start of the season. I have a lot of catching up to do in the city I haven’t lived in for the past month and a half but in no time at all I’ll be hitting the road again to cover the season opener in Cleveland. Even though I won’t be in Dunedin, MLB.com will have you covered during the final two days of camp. Make sure to keep reading over the next couple of days to find out all the information on the fifth starter, what happens to Luis Valbuena, what John Farrell settles on for his batting order and of course the starting rotation. The blog will be in hiatus until Thursday but BlueJays.com will have you fully covered.

Also in the coming days on BlueJays.com you’ll find some season preview articles from me. There will be a piece on Omar Vizquel looking forward to returning to Cleveland for the season opener in what likely will be his season. Also there will be a feature on Ricky Romero setting the bar high for this season and of course a general season preview looking at how this team might fare in the American League East.

Thanks again for reading the blog and if you’re not doing so already make sure to follow me on Twitter @gregorMLB. Before I leave, here are some leftovers from my final day in sunny and delightfully different Dunedin.

John Farrell:

Encarnacion batting cleanup something you’ll go with on Opening Day?

“It’s one possibility. The way Edwin’s been swinging the bat all spring, he’s in a good place, he took some very good swings again (Saturday), we’re going to have to stack some right-handers in there somewhere, so that’s the configuration at the moment. Again, in spring training, we have the benefit of taking a look at different things and this is one of those.

Encarnacion better equipped to protect Jose considering Lind’s recent injury?

“That’s some of the thought right now, I can’t say that’s going to be the case every single game, but we’ve seen throughout the course of last year that teams are going to manage our lineup or pitch to our lineup with the focal point being Jose, we want to make a lineup that’s deep in protection as possible. More than anything, I love our lineup, we’ve got a deep lineup, one that’s going to be capable of doing a number of different things. That’s just today’s look.

“That would be the ideal scenario. I think it’s safe to say teams are going to look to attack the guys before and after him a little bit more readily, and that’s not to take anything away from their abilities, but the thing we’ve established early on is that if one guy in the lineup is not getting his pitch to hit, than don’t be afraid to pass the baton on to the next guy. That’s what you see very good lineups are capable of doing, players trust in the next guy, and you’re looking to build an inning regardless of where you are in the lineup. I think we’ve got a lineup this year more capable one-through-nine, so on-base percentage to me is the key component, particularly with the two guys ahead of Jose.

Being patient at the plate and not being afraid to take a walk… that tougher to teach with younger players?

“It’s a hard message in general because regardless of the age of the player, hitters to me have to earn deep counts. You can’t just walk in thinking you’re going to take pitches for the sake of seeing them and work deep into counts – then you’re behind in the count 0-2. So it goes back to a disciplined strike zone and maintaining that discipline throughout an at-bat or throughout a given game. There’s going to be times when guys think they get a pitch and they don’t quite handle it the way they wanted to, but it’s been more of our daily conversation and value. But by no means should that be interpreted as being passive on their part.”

Do you anticipate needing to use Lind as DH in early stages of the year?

“Probably, and that will just be based on what he might be feeling in a given day. We want to build in that periodic rest. The one side of that, too, though, is that let’s say we get into some cold weather – and the reason why he’s playing first base today – you have two innings between at-bats you can sit and tighten up. So by keeping him active, keeping him in the game, he’s going to stay loose. So those are things we’ll look to manage. When we get back to Toronto or we’re on the road we’ve got a stationary bike to continue to ride and stay loose. We can do that as well. All those things factored in we’ll try to manage it to the best of our abilities.”

Valbuena is last position player in camp … because waiting on Francisco? 

“Yes. Luis being out of options, if he’s not on our 25-man roster then obviously he’s got to be exposed to every other club. If there’s an opportunity out there for him to realize better than a minor-league option here. We’ll certainly try to facilitate that, or Alex will to the best of his ability. He’s had a very good spring; he’s shown a lot of versatility. Luis’s come up to the big leagues as a second baseman, but I think he’s played shortstop well, and he’s made himself more versatile to where he’s a solid utility infielder at the major-league level.”

On Jamie Moyer making the Rockies at age 49 — the same age as Farrell…

“I think it’s awesome. Perseverance, work ethic, I mean the guy has just come back from Tommy John at the age of 49 to make a big league club. I think it’s a hell of a story and whether it’s Omar (Vizquel) in our camp at the soon to be age of 45, they haven’t quite gotten their AARP cards yet but it’s great to see.

“It speaks volumes to the way they keep themselves in shape, their love of the game clearly shines through. You look at guys who come in on Major League contracts that set their ego aside, they’re probably pretty good self evaluators on what their abilities are currently and I think it’s just great for the game of baseball.”

Travis Snider has dealt with more than his fair share of adversity during his young baseball career but has always handled with a lot of class. He’s still only 24 but speaks with the type of maturity of someone well beyond his years. I think after being optioned to the Minors for the fifth time in three years most players would take the opportunity to rip their organization but that’s not Snider’s style. Instead he opts to take the high road and put all the blame upon himself and past performance in the Major Leagues.

Snider took some time to chat with myself and another reporter on Friday afternoon at the Bobby Mattick Training Center. There’s a feature on the main site that can be found here but below you can also find a segment of that interview. Don’t forget, you can follow me on Twitter @gregorMLB

What was your reaction to being optioned to the Minors earlier this week?

“I had a pretty good feeling that was going to be the decision that was made. I thought Eric had a great camp in perspective of the competition, I had to come away and tip my cap and understand coming down here is not to feel sorry for myself, or feel like I got screwed out of something. It’s more an opportunity to come play every day, get my at-bats, continue to develop as a complete player and have fun with a great staff and a great group of guys.

“The fact that Eric was the starter at the end of last year, he had a good year, and for him to come into spring training it was going to be an uphill battle for me to try and take that job back. He played well, you have to tip your cap, and move forward.”

How do you deal with being in a different status now within the organization?

“I don’t think it’s so much how you feel about it, because it is what it is, I don’t have anyone to blame but myself, it’s a performance-based game and business and when you don’t perform, there are going to be people waiting to take your job. Accepting that was part of my off-season, realizing it was time to shift gears a little bit and come in with a little different mindset from years past, when it was, ‘Here it is, it’s your job,’ versus now you’re competing for a job, you’re fighting to get back up to the big-league level and establish yourself as an everyday big-league player.

“I don’t think it was necessarily a hitch in the confidence or ego, so to speak, just being realistic with the situation and developing the right mindset so coming into it, the emotions, feelings aren’t getting hurt. This is a business, I know what I can bring to the table, and concentrating on what I can control has kind of been my motto all spring training and will be throughout the rest of my career.”

What things did you do at the plate this spring that you really liked?

“I felt good about the power. Last year was a down year for me in terms of driving the baseball consistently, driving guys in is something I feel like I’ve done good job at over the years when situations have been presented to come up with an impact at-bat or an opportunity to put your team in position to win a ballgame by driving in baserunners, I felt like I did a great job of that during spring training and was very happy with the progress I saw in my swing.

“Moving forward, the two main focuses going into Vegas are continuing to refine my approach and be a patient hitter, because when I’m able to do that, I get better pitches to hit, get on base more and am just more successful all around, and also facing left-handers, continuing to develop the approach against them as well as I saw some success early on, and then faced a couple of tough lefties on my way out, and look to learn from those opportunities that were given to me.”

What did Farrell and Anthopoulos say to you during the meeting before you left camp?

“It was pretty short to the point that the decision was made, they reiterated the fact that they liked the changes I’ve made mechanically in my swing and the adjustments that I was able to make within an at-bat instead of going out there and being 0-2 and giving in to a pitch that’s not in the zone or isn’t a pitch you can handle. I think I showed the capability of doing that again, that’s something I got away from at times in my career, and just establishing that day in and day out at whatever level you play at is important to being a successful player.”

Not much else you could have done this spring, how do you move forward and clear your head now?

“You control what you can control, you go out there, put up your numbers, play your backside off and leave it all out there on the field. If I walked away with any thought in my mind that I wish I would have done this, there was none of that. The goals are there, the focus is there, took a couple of days off to kind of regroup, get some things organized for going to Las Vegas to start the season, and come here with an attitude ready to work and ready to continue to grow and develop as a player.”

Ability to deal with adversity…

“Off the field I dealt with a lot of things early on in my life. I think that instilled some resilience and some ways to work through your problems but when you don’t experience that same adversity in baseball it becomes a little bit more of a shock. The first few times I went through getting sent down those were hard things for me to understand, for me to grasp onto and say ok this is what it is and be able to move on with it.

“As you go through it more and more, it’s not something that you ever want to go through, it’s not something you look forward to going through, but being able to approach it with the right mindset, with the right support group in my life, whether it has been personal or baseball related I’ve always had a huge family of support within baseball and outside of baseball. The Blue Jays have supported me through a lot of those times later in my life since I became a part of this organization so I’m very thankful for that as well as all the family and friends back home.

“The fans in Toronto, the support has been unbelieveable and I know what it’s like to be a fan, I know what it’s like to see guys struggle, young guys, whether it’s in different sports that I watch. The way that they’re stuck behind me I’m very thankful for that and all the support that has been given to me by everybody.”

Here’s the pitching schedule for the final Blue Jays’ Spring Training games:

Saturday @ Philadelphia:

Ricky Romero (five innings)
Carlos Villanueuva (two innings)
Jason Frasor

Sunday vs. Pittsburgh:

Brandon Morrow (five innings)
Sergio Santos
Francisco Cordero
Casey Janssen

Monday @ Tigers:

Brett Cecil (five innings)
Luis Perez (two innings)
Minor Leaguers

Tuesday vs Tigers:

Henderson Alvarez (five innings)
Kyle Drabek (two innings)
Aaron Laffey (two innings)

The starting rotation hasn’t been set but whoever wins the No. 5 spot between Drabek and Laffey will remain in Dunedin for another start before heading north for their first appearance of the regular season.

The Blue Jays held their annual Minor League Awards ceremony on Friday morning at the Bobby Mattick Training Center. More than 200 players were in attendance for the event and while you can find a note about festivities in today’s notebook on the main site here is a complete rundown of the recipients:

Service Award Winners (years spent with the organization):

Five-Year Player Service Awards:

Kevin Ahrens
Daniel Arcila
Aleson Escalante
Alan Farina
Balbino Fuenmayor
Leo Hernandez
Justin Jackson
Mike McDade
Alex Ramirez
Jonathan Talley
John Tolisano
Marcus Walden

Staff Service Awards:

Five Years:

Dan McIntosh
Chad Mottola
Danny Solano  

Ten Years: 

Voon Chong
John Schneider

Fifteen Years:

Vince Horsman
Dane Johnson  

Winning Baseball Awards:

Quality At Bats Champions

Las Vegas: David Cooper
New Hampshire: Anthony Gose
Dunedin: Brad McElroy
Lansing: Marcus Knecht
Vancouver: Jon Berti
Bluefield: Andy Fermin
GCL: Eric Arce

Pitching Awards:

Las Vegas:  Brad Mills
New Hampshire:  Chad Jenkins/Joel Carreno
Dunedin: Matt Wright/Ryan Tepera
Lansing: Casey Lawrence
Vancouver:  Justin Nicolino
Bluefield: Tyler Ybarra
GCL: Colby Broussard

Baserunning Award

Doubleplay Buster Champion – Markus Brisker

Tony Fernandez Award, which is named in honour of Toronto Blue Jays Gold Glove Shortstop Tony Fernandez.  It is awarded to a player who displays a tremendous work ethic, pride in their defense, and a passion and gracefulness equal to that displayed by Tony Fernandez. 

2011 winner: Adeiny Hechavarria

Staff Awards

Four Managers of the Year

Appalachian League – Dennis Holmberg
Midwest League – Mike Redmond
Florida State League – Clayton McCullough
Eastern League – Sal Fasano

Trainer of the Year:

Northwest League – Shawn McDermott

Coach of the Year – Award

Eastern League – Brian Pike
Florida State League – Armando Gutierrez

Community Service Award Winner: Anthony Gose

Bobby Mattick Award – Dennis Holmberg

Webster Award Winners (MVPs):

Dominican Summer League: Jario Labourt
Gulf Coast Blue Jays: Jorge Vega-Rosado
Bluefield Blue Jays: Chris Hawkins
Vancouver Canadians: Justin Nicolino
Lansing Lugnuts: Jacob Marisnick
Dunedin Blue Jays: A.J. Jimenez
New Hampshire Fisher Cats: Travis d’Arnaud (also won Eastern League MVP)
Las Vegas 51s: David Cooper

Individual Achievements:

Appalachian League – RBI leader – Art Charles  61
Eastern League – stolen base leader (70) Anthony Gose
FSL – saves leader (32)  Wes Etheridge  – also a Dunedin franchise record
NWL – saves leader (15) Drew Permison NWL – wins leader (7) Phillip Brua
Gulf Coast League record for home runs, 14 by Eric Arce
Florida State League – Home Run Champ – Brad Glenn (26)
PCL Batting Title -  David Cooper .364
Appalachian League Batting Title  – Kevin Pillar .347      

Major League Debuts:

David Cooper
Darin Mastroianni
Joel Carreno
Luis Perez
Henderson Alvarez
Brian Jeroloman
Eric Thames
Daniel Farquhar

Dustin McGowan’s minor setback this week could turn into a major break for 24-year-old Kyle Drabek. Nobody ever wants to win a job because of an injury to one of their teammates yet this is the situation that Drabek now finds himself in with just seven days remaining until Opening Day. McGowan’s right foot ailment should open the door for Drabek to break north with the club and how long he stays there ultimately will depend on his early performance.

Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos confirmed on Tuesday that McGowan will have a secure spot in the rotation once he is deemed healthy and back to full strength. That could come as early as April 21st against the Royals but it’s too early to know just when McGowan will be able to get back onto a Major League mound. What all of that means is that Drabek will have at least one start and possibly more to make a case that he deserves a full-time job in the big leagues and not just a spot start.

Drabek’s main competition will come from Brett Cecil, who could still open the year as Toronto’s No. 3 starter but will need a strong month of April to solidify his spot. If Cecil struggles and Drabek excels that likely would be enough to justify making the switch. It’s shaping up to be an interesting first month of the season as the competitions in Spring Training spill over into the beginning of the year.

Don’t forget you can follow me on Twitter @gregorMLB where I am posting various news and tidbits from around Spring Training. Here are some recent leftovers about Drabek’s five shutout innings on Tuesday night against the Yankees:

John Farrell on Drabek:

Ability to repeat delivery help control emotions on the mound?

“No question they go hand in hand. It’s somewhat the chicken and the egg. To me, when he pitches with more emotional control as he has shown, he doesn’t overthrow the baseball, he doesn’t come out of his delivery, he’s able command the fastball and particularly all his pitches more consistently. So, he’s doing a very good job.”

What were the minor tweaks to delivery?

“He had a tendency when he got to the top of his balance point, to have his weight shifted to his heels. It created a bit of a back arch, so when he came out of his delivery to the point of his landing, his head was off line a little bit. He’d get inside the baseball and that’s why you’d see a lot of those fastballs missed up and in to right-handers or up to his arm side. As he’s repeated that one delivery, that’s allowed him to establish a release point that has been much more consistent as has the overall strike throwing ability.”

He was falling off to first base side?

“When he overthrows. Not uncommon for any pitcher. They’re going to fall off to their glove side just by over exerting and that goes back to that trust and relaxation versus overthrowing and pitching with more of a linebacker mentality as opposed to a pitcher.”

Common for a young pitcher to not have control of his emotions?

“It’s probably more common that a young guy has them when they first come to the big leagues. The transition phase for any young player, particularly a young starting pitcher because everything is so magnified because of the position, sometimes it takes getting your feet wet, going back down and learning from those experiences, and coming back with the knowledge that you gained the first time around.”

Magnified because of place in the trade as well?

“No, magnified because of the position. Players come to the big leagues through many different paths as we know. Kyle’s a Blue Jay. Obviously he was drafted by the Phillies, but the fact that he’s here with us now, there is an added magnification because of who he was traded for, but as a starting pitcher as we all know you can’t hide out there and the focus is on you from the first pitch you throw to the last pitch you throw.”

Differnt this spring than last?

“There are subtleties in the mechanics. If you didn’t know them before you might not say there has been a drastic change. it’s not like we changed an arm slot or a full windup, more than anything what he has shown is that he knows himself better. What that line of over exertion is, what the right line is his delivery.”

Last year you guys asked Drabek to stop throwing his cutter. What’s the current status of that pitch?

“Right now he has used that very sparingly. We haven’t mandated that he not throw it but we wanted to emphasize basically simplifying his game. Making his delivery more consistent. Getting back to three pitches, not five and refining three there’s a long list of big league pitchers that have pitched with three pitches. Just overall simplification and just getting things pretty straight forward for him is where the consistency has to start for him.”

Did that pitch become a crutch for him last season?

“That goes back to the mental side of it. many young pitchers, when they’re unsure of themselves in a way of how effective their fastball is. When he’s a four-seam fastball pitcher he feels like he has to get greater velocity. That’s where the inconsistent command came in. So he went to the cutter, it had late movement, he trusted it to move off the bat head a little bit more. That’s where the two seamer has replaced the cutter and it’s less stressful on the arm, it has later action and he puts the ball on the ground with it.”

Kyle Drabek:

Happy with your outing?

“I was more happy that when I was getting in trouble I was able to keep my composure and mechanics in check.”

McGowan’s injury change things for you?

“I hope he comes back as soon as possible. I’m just trying to go out there and make all the starts I have left and just compete still.”

Keeping emotions in check?

“Some of it going 2-0 in the count I was rushing a little bit but I was happy that I was able to keep my mechanics the way I wanted them after that to get back to an even count or have them swing and hit a ground ball.”

Climbing ladder with the fastball…

“Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. Today was one of those days that it did, I can’t remember if it was the Astros of the Pirates but tried to do it and I threw it right down the middle. To me, it’s a pitch I have to be careful with.”

What have you changed to be able to keep your composure more effectively…

“I think it was getting the experience and learning from it. Stepping back, breathing a little bit, trying to slow your heartrate down, it tends to help for me.”

What did Farrell say to you after you came off the mound?

“It was just really, great job, way to pitch out of the trouble. Way to keep your mechanics in check. Pretty much all of the stuff that I’ve been working on. We both thought it went good.”

Do you feel more in control of your mechanics?

“Sometimes I get out of it but that’s when you have to step off and remind yourself to stay back and all of that good stuff. Last year I ended up changing it up a few times which definitely couldn’t have helped. This year working on it everyday playing long toss and working on it in the ‘pen it seems to help out pretty good.”

What changed for you in the past during those situations on the mound?

“Sometimes heart rate gets up and I kind of want to rush it. I’ll start leaning forward and that’s when my arm has to catch up with my body. That’s when we’re trying to keep me back so everything’s in line.

“It’s more excitement. You just get excited and for me that’s why I have to step off and breathe a little bit. That’s why I have to slow my body down to where I can be where I need to be.”

The cutter…

“Barely using it this year. Last year I think I might have used it a bit too much and trying to make it move too much too which I think caused me to fall off to first base. Some times doing that and then trying to throw a four-seam I would do the exact same thing and that’s why I think I tended to be wild with my fastball.”

Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos is known for catching people off guard with his moves but usually that is reserved for trades. On Monday afternoon, though,  Anthopoulos pulled another trick out of his hat by announcing he had signed Dustin McGowan to a two-year contract extension worth $3-million plus a club option in 2015 valued at $4 million, which can be bought out for $500,000.

I don’t think anyone saw this deal coming — at least not this early in the year. It was a calculated risk for the Blue Jays but one that comes with a relatively minimal downfall if things don’t pan out. The $3-million in guaranteed money is not going to make a difference to the club’s bottom line and won’t impact which players the club can pursue in the future. Sure, it’s still a lot of money but when compared to the amounts handed out in the First-Year Player Draft and international signings it’s relatively similar and both come with high risk and high reward.

There’s no way of knowing whether McGowan will be able to stay healthy but the fact that he has been throwing in the mid 90s during Spring Training is an encouraging sign. The walk rate needs to be lowered and command within the strikezone needs improvement but what else would you expect from a pitcher who has thrown just 21 innings during the past three years in the Major Leagues. He still needs plenty of work to shake off the rust but now the club can take all the time it needs in the development process without worrying about McGowan leaving like Al Leiter and Chris Carpenter did before him.

Here are today’s leftovers from this morning’s press conference to announce the two-year deal…

Alex Anthopoulos:

Why now…

“There’s no question there’s a risk but that’s part of what we have to do. The one thing is, I’d be lying through my teeth if I said there isn’t a risk, of course there are health concerns, of course there’s risk that’s just a reality of what he has gone through. But at the same time, I find I’ve learned as an assistant GM and then going into GM, the one thing I think I’ll put my head on the pillow as we do more of these is the person we invest in.

“I know I say it, I know it sounds corny, or cliche, but I believe in it more and more each year. If you give the money to the right human being — and obviously you have to have ability, the ability speaks for itself — but if you believe in the person, most times you’re going to be right more than you’re wrong. Whether you’re a little high on the money, a little low, at the end of the day the mistakes I find we’ve made as an organization we may not have done an evaluation of the person first and foremost. Whatever happens, from here forward, it’s not going to be because he isn’t going to work, it’s not because he isn’t going to be a tremendous teammate, it’s not going to be because he isn’t going to lead my example. He’s going to do everything how we want it to be.

“Now you start lining up in the rotation with a Romero, Morrow, a McGowan. All have great ability but the way they carry themselves, the way they handle themselves, the way they go about it day in and day out, for all the young kids that continue to come, we’ve now really set up a formula and a module for how this is going to be done and these guys are going to impact everyone else.”

Did Chris Carpenter situation affect this move?

“I wasn’t here, I wasn’t part of the organization. I know Chris is great, he has developed to become a great starter but I didn’t know the dynamics there. I just know that even when (McGowan) came up last year and the numbers weren’t great, from a scouting standpoint I still loved what I saw. I loved the delivery, I loved the stuff. But at the same time we’re not blind to the fact that yeah, there’s a ton of risk here. But, again, in this division with what we’re up against and what we’re trying to do we have to take a little bit more risk or maybe a lot more risk than a lot of the other teams and that’s part of it. But I’ll take the risk on the right human being and if you bet on the human being you’re going to be fine.

“I think at the end of the day, if we wanted him to be here, and he wanted to be here, you always end up getting a deal done. Just the distraction and the time involved of getting these things done during the season, things can change and so on, it’s always better to do it offseason or even Spring Training at the latest. If it would have had to go into the season we would have done that we would have done that as well but I prefer not to.

Element of risk for McGowan here as well…

“I think in anything, when a player signs a multi-year deal, you should be rooting to outperform your contract. That’s really the goal of these things. If you don’t outperform your contract, well sure financially it was good for you but that probably means your career isn’t going too well and that probably means you’re not having any success on the field, fans, media. From a front office standpoint it probably doesn’t look good on our end. Any time you sign a deal you’re guaranteeing yourself that money, you’re eliminating the risk but you’re hopeful that you outperform it and that there’s a second contract that comes to that.

“I always say that the downside to a player not taking a deal is significantly worse than a player saying I cost myself a little bit of money and oh, you know what there’s a second big deal that’s coming down the pipe and that has happened a lot of times in this game.”

Why two years as opposed to one…

“That was more us. Obviously we’re the ones making the contract offer, we’re the ones making the proposal. On the flip side, you could argue that well, one year it’s less guaranteed money. From our standpoint, he’s going to need to be built up over time. I don’t think he’s going to go to 200 innings or what not during the year. Knowing that we’re going to take him carefully and slowly build him up we wanted to be sure he was going to be here for a certain amount of time as he continues to build up as a starter. I think the years were important with respect to knowing he was going to be here for awhile considering the fact that we were going to build him up. That was something we requested and wanted and it was just a matter of coming up with what the right dollars were in terms of the option and everything else with the options.”

Paul Beeston was really upset when Al Leiter left as a free agent. Did you guys have any conversation about losing a guy you put so much time into?

“Just talking internally there was a lot of sentiment in the front office why are we doing this now? Let’s just wait. It’s not that everyone doesn’t love him and believes in him. But obviously Paul gives me a lot of autonomy. He always says I’m held accountable and he doesn’t want me to come back to him two years, three years from now, a lot of times I make trades he says I don’t want you coming back to me two or three years from now saying I didn’t allow you to do something. If you want to do something I’ll let you do something but you’re going to be accountable for it either way. From my standpoint, I wanted him to be here either way.

“If you know you want to be here then why not get a deal done unless you know you want to be somewhere else. I can tell you from my standpoint, I know my contract status has never been revealed but I want to be here so I don’t care what the money is. It’s kind of the same thing and I don’t care if other GMs make more money, this is where I want to be, it’s my first priority. It’s the same kind of thing with me, talking to my wife, if this is where you want to be, you’re happier. We’ve seen a lot of players go to places where they didn’t want to be because of money and end up getting traded, not happy and things don’t go well. I think there was going to be loyalty either way on both sides. I think we could have talked about it during the season, I think we could have talked about it at the end of the season. But I think we have a very competitive team and we wanted the focus to be on the field.”

Are you saying that Paul was skeptical?

“No, not at all but he always takes the other side. No matter what I bring to him, I come to him with an idea, I might be gung ho a certain way and he’ll say have you thought about this, this, and this. But Paul endorsed it 100%. When I walked Paul through the thought process and why he totally endorsed it.”

Dustin McGowan:

On the deal…

“It feels great. Toronto is where I wanted to be and it’s the only place I’ve ever been. The organization stuck by me the entire time. I’m grateful for that and I wanted to continue it here.”

Were you surprised…

“I was a little surprised, yeah. But when he talked to me I was very thrilled and looking forward to getting it going.”

Was there a point when you wondered if the Blue Jays were going to stick by you?

“Yeah, I guess going through that many years of being injured you’re always going to wonder. It’s just like wondering if I would ever pitch again but they stayed with me and it made me continue to work harder just because I knew they wanted me here and they seen something in me. This is where I wanted to be.”

Weight lifted off your shoulders now?

“Any time you get something done like this it’s just another thought in your mind that you don’t have to think about. Do I think about going out and performing just to get a contract next year? This eliminates all of that. It gives me a little bit of security and gives me a chance to just focus on pitching.”

Did you sign this deal because of the guaranteed money or out of a sense of obligation?

“A lot of both. Any time you’re guaranteed money you want to take it no matter what probably the deal is. They were very loyal to me so I have to be loyal too. It works both ways. It was one of those things where I had to sit down with my wife, we talked about it, and at the end of the day when I lay my head down to sleep at night there’s no regrets whatsoever. Even if I go out and have two or three great years people might say well you signed for, it wasn’t enough, to me it doesn’t matter. I made the deal, I’m going to stick to the deal and in my mind I made the right deal.

“There’s risk and reward. It’s a risk to hold out all year and see what happens. This way we got the deal done and I can concentrate on what I love to do and that’s pitch.”

Was there one major low point for you during your rehab?

“I don’t think there was just one. Spending three years down here it was like groundhog day. You’d have days where you’d just go out and throw and be like man I just had surgery and this still doesn’t feel good. But you go out there the next day and have a little bit of zip on the ball and things felt good and that gave hope and gave me confidence too. That always put my mind that things were going to be better and I’d get through it.”