Opening Day Roster

[Joe S.]

Sanchez 5th starter,  Floyd in the bullpen and Hutchinson to Buffalo.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-name-sanchez-fifth-starter-option-hutchison-triple/

 

[Frank E]

Sanchez 5th starter,  Floyd in the bullpen and Hutchinson to Buffalo.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-name-sanchez-fifth-starter-option-hutchison-triple/

I think I'm happy about that.

 

[dappleganger]

Sanchez 5th starter,  Floyd in the bullpen and Hutchinson to Buffalo.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-name-sanchez-fifth-starter-option-hutchison-triple/

I think I'm happy about that.

I'm hoping this means that when the first starter goes down with an injury Hutch will be the one to enter the rotation.

 

[L K]

Sanchez 5th starter,  Floyd in the bullpen and Hutchinson to Buffalo.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-name-sanchez-fifth-starter-option-hutchison-triple/

I think I'm happy about that.

It's the right move.  You have to let Sanchez prove he can start...or fail to get LHP out.  Worst case he flames out as a starter and you put him back in the bullpen as a dominant pitcher against RHP.  Best case he becomes at least average against lefties and becomes a mid-rotation starter at least with the potential to be a 1B/2A kind of starter.  He needs to develop another pitch beyond his heat though.  ST success is one thing, he needs to get MLB hitters out.

 

[Captain Canuck]

Sanchez NEEDS to develop a changeup to be successful as a starter. He threw one last year while a starter, but then completely abandoned it after he got hurt and went to the pen.

Pitchers generally lose a bit of velocity moving from the pen to the rotation. Sanchez threw his sinker at 97 mph average out of the pen, 95 mph average in the rotation last year. He can't rely solely on the heat, needs that off-speed pitch to be successful as a starter.

Hopefully he has been working on the changeup this spring because with the amount of movement he can generate on his there is potential for him to have success throwing it.

 

[Frank E]

So Osuna resumes his closer role, and Storen goes to the bullpen.

http://www.tsn.ca/osuna-gets-nod-as-blue-jays-closer-1.461522

 

[cabber24]

So Osuna resumes his closer role, and Storen goes to the bullpen.

http://www.tsn.ca/osuna-gets-nod-as-blue-jays-closer-1.461522

Excited to get this season started and also excited to see what Sanchez, Stroman, and Osuna can do over a whole season. If pitching fails hopefully the bats continue to pickup the slack. Probably the last season of Edwin and Bautista, at their ages it probably does not make a lot of sense to sign the contracts their asking for. Who knows, maybe winning will lead them to be more liberal with $.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Split this off into its own thread.

Here's BlueJaysNation on the teams opening day roster: http://bluejaysnation.com/2016/3/30/roberto-osuna-named-the-blue-jays-closer-as-the-club-announces-its-full-opening-day-roster

POSITIONAL STARTERS

C Russell Martin
1B Chris Colabello
2B Ryan Goins
SS Troy Tulowitzki
3B Josh Donaldson
LF Michael Saunders
CF Kevin Pillar
RF Jose Bautista
DH Edwin Encarnacion

BENCH

IF Darwin Barney
OF Ezequiel Carrera
C Josh Thole
1B/DH Justin Smoak

STARTING ROTATION

RHP Marcus Stroman
RHP RA Dickey
RHP Aaron Sanchez
LHP JA Happ

BULLPEN

RHP Roberto Osuna
RHP Drew Storen
LHP Brett Cecil
RHP Jesse Chavez
RHP Gavin Floyd
RHP Joe Biagini
RHP Arnold Leon
RHP Ryan Tepera

DL

RHP Marco Estrada
LHP Aaron Loup
2B Devon Travis

 

[L K]

I think my big criticisms of this roster would be:
1) Josh Thole isn't an MLB calbire catcher and having a personal catcher who is useless outside of catching Dickey seems like a poor use of a roster spot considering Martin seems to find ways to get hurt all the time
2) Cecil shouldn't be the only LHP in the bullpen

 

[Kin]

Interesting to see if the Colabello/Smoak platoon works as well as it did last year. Otherwise you wonder if they work Travis into the lineup as a DH.

 

[L K]

Ezequiel Carrera - .154/.258/.346/.604 made the team as the 4th outfielder.  He isn't a good defender.  I think I would have preferred one of Lake/Brown as the 4th guy.  It would be nice to have a guy on the bench who can hit.

 

[Kin]

Ezequiel Carrera - .154/.258/.346/.604 made the team as the 4th outfielder.  He isn't a good defender.  I think I would have preferred one of Lake/Brown as the 4th guy.  It would be nice to have a guy on the bench who can hit.

I know what you're saying and agree to one extent but A) this team doesn't need another bat and B) when Travis comes back I figure there'll be no need for a bat off the bench. 

 

[bustaheims]

I know what you're saying and agree to one extent but A) this team doesn't need another bat and B) when Travis comes back I figure there'll be no need for a bat off the bench.

Basically, yeah. The 4th outfielder right now is basically the designated pinch runner.