The 35-year old veteran will have another chance at a comeback with Toronto.

Johan Santana has been trying to make a comeback, and the two-time Cy Young award winner now has the opportunity to do so. According to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman, the Blue Jays have signed Santana to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.

Santana, 35, last appeared in a major league uniform with the Mets in 2012. In 117.0 innings, Santana posted a 4.85 ERA and 4.09 FIP. His best season came in 2005 with the Twins, when he posted a 2.87 ERA and 2.80 FIP in 231.2 innings pitched.

Although he was ultimately unable to return in both 2013 and 2014, Santana attempted an immediate comeback. Santana was expected to be in the Mets' starting rotation in 2013, however shoulder surgery kept him sidelined for the entire season and made such a goal unrealistic. Last season, he signed a one-year deal with the Orioles, but Santana tore his achilles tendon in June while he was participating in extended spring training. Despite the fact that he logged over 100 innings in 2012, Santana also sat out in 2011 as a result of shoulder surgery.

For Toronto, signing Santana could be a gamble since the type of pitcher they are receiving is unclear. However, it could prove to be a low-risk, high reward type signing if Santana can remain healthy and consistent on the mound.

Earlier in his career with the Twins, Santana led the American League in strikeouts for three consecutive years. All of the procedures aside, Santana could still prove to be valuable to the Blue Jays' rotation, which is not entirely set. Mark Buehrle and R.A. Dickey anchor the staff, and Marcus Stroman had a solid 2014 campaign. Daniel Norris, Drew Hutchinson, and Marco Estrada will also see time as starters this spring, but Santana's experience may give him an edge.

Santana has made just 21 starts since 2010, and according to Yahoo! Sports' Mike Oz, spent some time pitching in the Venezuelan league where his velocity reached 90 mph this winter. Some MLB scouts lost interest because he subsequently suffered from a sore shoulder, but Santana could successfully make a comeback if he can find the strike zone this spring.

In a Friday morning scrum with the Blue Jays beat reporters, general manager Alex Anthopoulos spoke about his newest pitcher in camp as well as his injured left fielder.

Johan Santana

Last night it was reported that the Blue Jays have signed reclamation project Johan Santana to a minor league deal. Santana will be in camp for the spring but he will likely not be ready for opening day, according to this John Lott tweet. I interpret that as meaning that Santana would not be ready for either a big league or a minor league start by early April. I had hopes that I would see him and Josh Thole reunited as the starting battery with the Bisons on their opening day, but according to Scott MacArthur, the Jays would probably not want to expose Santana to the Buffalo cold, preferring to leave him in Dunedin after spring training.

Anthopolos explained that Santana will be allowed to opt-out of his contract on April 28 (per Gregor Chisholm) if he is not on the major league roster by that point (a good number of minor league contracts for former big leaguers have some sort of opt out date, usually end of spring training or June 1). If he opts out, he becomes a free agent the Blue Jays won't have to pay him going forward. That means that if Santana is not quite ready, but looks promising, in two months' time, the Blue Jays would have to make a call on whether to call him up and let him finish his rehab in the major leagues , or to let him go with another club.

Santana will be making $2.5 million guaranteed if he gets called up, but he will get bonuses on top of that based on games started and days spent active. This is, if I recall correctly, the first contract with incentives that Alex Anthopoulos has handed out in his tenure, making an exception in this case for a pretty exceptional pitcher. The Blue Jays' aversion towards contract bonuses stem from the poor experience they had after the club signed Frank Thomas during the J.P. Ricciardi regime. Incentives that are tied to playing time are dangerous, as players who are legitimately benched for poor performance may feel that the club is doing so to save money. However, unlike an everyday position player, there should be less of a problem with this case, as the Blue Jays would very likely just release Santana if he cannot go every five days.

This is a good, low-risk move for the Blue Jays. If Santana makes the starting rotation sometime in April, he will either be good enough to go all season as a starter or he won't, in which case that's also fine because it would mean either Aaron Sanchez or Daniel Norris will get some more seasoning in triple-A. The biggest risk of this signing is if the Blue Jays hang on to him for too long on the 25-man roster when it is clear that he has nothing left (see Wang, Chien-Ming).

Right now, Preston Guilmet is assigned #57. I'd assume he will be changing numbers shortly.

UPDATE

According to Jon Heyman, Johan Santana can make up to $6.55 million this season if he achieves all his bonuses (boni?).

Beyond 2.5M base in majors, Johan has 2.05M in games started bonuses (maxing out at 25 GS), 2M in roster bonuses #jays

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) February 27, 2015

Michael Saunders

The Condor will be getting surgery to repair his torn meniscus this afternoon, reported Shi Davidi (I'm spreading the Twitter love today).  Echoing what Bluebird Banter reader Thom Nelligan discussed yesterday in the comments, Michael Saunders could have opted for a quicker recovery (4-6 weeks) by removing his meniscus, but that procedure would cause heightened risks of arthritis in his knees later in life--something that he obviously should not take a risk on.

Joe Girardi did not always use the 41-year old outfielder as expected, and as a result, Suzuki is happy to be a Marlin.

Ichiro Suzuki does not have a problem serving as a fourth outfielder. But he had a problem serving as the fifth. According to Kevin Kernan of the New York Post, Suzuki is pleased to be playing for the Marlins and is excited to move forward without Joe Girardi as his manager.

Suzuki, 41, will almost certainly help the Marlins in 2015. He is a leader in the clubhouse, he has a notable amount of experience, and he brings a left-handed bat and versatile glove. While Manager Mike Redmond may only use Suzuki once or twice a week, an already productive Marlins outfield significantly improved when Suzuki was signed to a $2 million deal. During his first press conference of the season, Suzuki made it clear he is happy to be with Miami. A new environment should prove to be beneficial too.

Despite the fact that Suzuki had a lot of success in New York, Kernan notes that even though Suzuki would not say it, he has often wondered why he was used or not called upon in varying situations.

"It was a great lesson for me to learn and I was able to go through that. If things happened that you couldn’t control and didn’t like, if you let that affect you and cut things off emotionally and mentally, you can’t do that, you’ve got to keep going.

"That was something I had to overcome.’’

Ichiro has posted 4,122 hits throughout the course of his baseball career, and is 156 shy of 3,000 major league hits. His 3,999 hit came last August in the first game of a doubleheader against the Blue Jays, however Girardi opted to only utilize Suzuki as a pinch runner in the second game. According to Kernan, that was not the first time Suzuki was placed in such a position.

There were other moves like the time Austin Romine, batting .138, replaced Ichiro in the order late in a game the Yankees were losing by one run, even though Ichiro was the Yankees’ hottest hitter at the time and had three hits in the game.

There were times Girardi last season used minor league journeymen Zelous Wheeler and Antoan Richardson ahead of Ichiro.

Suzuki will not see much starting time in 2015, although whenever Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna, or Christian Yelich need time off, he will receive an opportunity. Suzuki will also be valuable as a left-handed pinch hitter, something the Marlins' bench has had difficulty maintaining in recent seasons. He accepted the Marlins' contract with an understanding of the situation, and appears to be eager to get started. Redmond may not have a ton of playing time to give Suzuki. But he can promise that he will be used the right way in situations that he will have success in.

Johan Santana is the best chance his generation has at greatness, mostly because he's all that's left.

All of the injuries and years of missed time have made it hard to remember just how fantastic Johan Santana's career has been.

The former Rule 5 pick ended up in Minnesota and proceeded to take over from Pedro Martinez as the game's most electrifying and brilliant starter, throwing up a seven-year run that stands up alongside the work of all-time great Sandy Koufax. As if this isn't all baseball-depressing enough on its own, consider Santana is merely the archetype for his generation of great arms: every single one of his comparably talented contemporaries was felled by injuries before their time should have been up, and Santana is now the last of them still standing.

That "still standing" is mostly relative, too, as Santana is attempting to work his way back to the majors with the Blue Jays through a minor-league deal and spring training invite. That's more than what Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Brandon Webb have left of their baseball careers, however, as the first two dropped out of the game due to injuries after 2013, while Webb's last full season came before he even turned 30.

The previous generation of historic pitchers boiled down to the aforementioned Martinez, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux and Roger Clemens. While they aren't actually a generation of pitchers -- Clemens is nearly 10 years Martinez's senior, for instance -- the sustained greatness of Clemens and the late-career breakout of Randy Johnson helped all four flourish at a singular time in baseball history: during the Steroid Era, aka the golden age for hitters.

It's unlikely any of Santana and Co. were the equals of these four, as Pedro and Pals might very well represent the four greatest starters ever. What is more than likely, and is fact, is that injuries robbed us of the full measure of greatness that this foursome had to offer us, and even if Santana succeeds from here on out things will never be quite what they could have been.

Santana celebrates tossing the first no-hitter in Mets' history, Photo credit: Mike Stobe/Getty Images

Santana became a full-time starter in 2002, while the Roys earned that distinction a year before. Webb showed up in 2003 with his bowling ball of a sinker, and suddenly the game had four talents in their early-to-mid 20s devastating hitters left and right.

Santana produced a 150 ERA+ over a nine-year stretch in which he won a pair of Cy Youngs, received votes for the award in six of those seasons and led the AL in innings, complete games, strikeouts, ERA and ERA+ on multiple occasions each. Halladay returned from his early career demotion to the minors to rattle off an 11-year run with a 148 ERA+, picking up a pair of Cy Young awards for himself while tossing throwback-esque innings totals along the way. Oswalt pitched for a few great Astros clubs and a mess of bad ones, picking up Cy votes in six of his 10 peak seasons, in which he produced a 135 ERA+ and averaged over 200 innings per year. Webb only threw just over 1,300 frames before his body betrayed him, but he won a Cy Young and finished in second for two others in the six seasons he managed to play. What would he have accomplished if he lasted 10 seasons? Or 12?

Even with the injuries, even with the late-career struggles, these four stood out among their peers. From 2001 through 2011 (minimum Webb's 1,300 innings), Santana, Halladay, Webb and Oswalt took up four of the five top spots in ERA+, with only the then seemingly ageless Curt Schilling interrupting the group. Just for context, all of that is better than what their younger counterparts in Felix Hernandez, Justin Verlander and Adam Wainwright have accomplished -- these dudes were legit. Halladay and Oswalt were first and second in wins above replacement for pitchers in this stretch, with Santana fourth and Webb somehow 12th even though he was 1,000 innings behind pitchers both in front of and behind him in the rankings. Injuries are the worst.

From that group, we've got a maybe Hall of Famer in Santana -- he's deserving, but the Baseball Writers Association of America has proven itself incredibly picky and quick to not vote for pitchers with much longer careers than Santana's. We've got Halladay, who was a big enough deal in his time and on enough quality Phillies' teams that he's the most likely to get in, especially with over 2,700 career frames behind him. Oswalt's injuries undercut any chance he had at Cooperstown, however, and the same goes for Webb, who obviously needed to prove himself for more than six years, but it's hard to deny just how impossible to hit that sinker was. It's not Pedro, Clemens, Maddux and Johnson, no, but this should have been four Hall of Famers, and instead, we'll maybe see one, with this time period never getting the proper immortalization it looked like it had coming to it.

That is, of course, unless Santana picks up and pitches in 2015 like he's been here every day since his wonderful 2010. Santana turns 36 next month, and in his four years with the Mets, managed a 127 ERA+. He missed 2011, and 2012 was truncated and not productive, but if he can stay on the mound, there is still a ton of talent here to work with. He won't be peak Johan, not at 36, but the greats tend to tail off differently than your average player: Santana could still be a well above-average pitcher, one who fills a hole that has a very good chance of opening in the Blue Jays' rotation and could be that guy for a few years yet.

It would certainly help his Hall case down the road, especially as it helps erase the memory of Santana as a guy who couldn't stay on the mound after turning 30 instead of as one of the greatest pitchers of this young century. It would only help fix the narrative surrounding one of these four pitchers, but at this late stage, that's all we have left to root for when it comes to last decade's greatest arms.

Since their starting left fielder Michael Saunders seems like he will be out of the lineup until mid-July (the Blue Jays have promised an update on his condition at 7 pm Eastern), the front office has been looking for a replacement. One of the players they have been speaking with is free agent outfielder Dayan Viciedo, according to FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal, in a Friday evening tweet.

Sources: #BlueJays, #Athletics among teams talking to Viciedo.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 27, 2015

The 25-year-old (26 by Opening Day) Cuban received his outright release from the White Sox earlier this month after five disappointing seasons in Chicago. He has good raw power, but his poor plate discipline numbers (21.7 K%, 5.7 BB% last season) is pretty much against how Alex Anthopoulos has tried to build the Jays lineup for this season. If I have to write something positive about him, I'd mention that his rate swinging at balls outside the strikezone tumbled five percentage points going from 2012 and 2013 into 2014. But I don't, so I won't. (Dammit, too late.)

Viciedo, a righty, has had major platoon splits throughout his career with an .837 OPS against lefties and a .679 OPS against righties. So he isn't someone that can be paired up with Kevin Pillar. He is also a horrifically horrible defender in the outfield (see the GIFs and embedded videos here). Think 2013 Melky Cabrera but worse and without a spine tumour to blame it on.

Anything more than a minor league contract is too much for the Blue Jays to offer to him.

We deserve some good news.

Some good news, at least for the Blue Jays, maybe not for the future Michael Saunders, but doctors removed his meniscus and he will likely be back much earlier than first reports.

Michael Saunders had 60% of the meniscus removed from his left knee removed this afternoon. He's now expected to be out 5-6 weeks. #BlueJays

— Gregor Chisholm (@gregorMLB) February 27, 2015

Barry Davis tweeted that Saunders elected to have the meniscus removed:

Before going under, Saunders had opted to have meniscus removed regardless. Advancements with the procedure made decision easier. #bluejays

— Barry Davis (@SNBarryDavis) February 28, 2015

Apparently, even with the greater chance of arthritis, later in life, Saunders wanted to get back to the team as quick as he could.

Saunders walked out of hospital, without crutches and will be able to start running in a couple of weeks, all going well. He may even get into some spring training games. I'll admit,  I'm hoping the Jays keep him out of the games in Montreal, just to be on the safe side.

So can we forget the idea of picking up Dayan Viciedo?

We learned a lot of things from Michael Saunders meniscus injury scare earlier this week. Mainly our lessons related to what a meniscus is and how there's a rather large range of severity of that specific injury (from Derick Rose to Victor Martinez). We also learned something that's not quite as exciting, which is that if one Blue Jays starter gets injured then the whole season could easily go down a treacherous path. After the news of Saunders' sprinkler incident broke, Jays fans far and wide rushed to their favourite depth chart websites to try and figure out how the team was going to survive with that hole in left field for half a season. Now that Saunders is expected to miss very little regular season time (possibly in exchange for arthritis down the road) the outlook is slightly less bleak, but the astounding lack of depth is still present.

When taking a look at the Blue Jays projected starting lineup, an injury to almost any player would severely damage the team's chances of competing. Starting in the outfield seems like a logical choice considering the Saunders news has already shown us that the team would have a helluva time trying to even get replacement level play from some combination of Andy Dirks, Kevin Pillar and whatever other player has an outfielder's glove in their locker. The problem isn't any better in centre fielder where a rookie without 100 plate appearances above Double-A is the only thing standing in the way of a legitimate absence of any player who could play the position for more than a few weeks. Beyond the impact that a lack of Jose Bautista in the lineup would cause, the replacement situation for his position would be just as much of a disaster as his corner outfielder counterpart Saunders' almost was.

The left side of the infield is arguably in the most vulnerable position if an injury occurred as the lack of depth is almost nausea-inducing. We've seen that Danny Valencia can hold the fort at third base for limited periods of time but his platoon splits would quickly sink the batting lineup if he was forced to play everyday for a more extended length of time. There isn't a ton of quality left-sided infielders in the minor leagues either as Munenori Kawasaki and Ryan Goins can only take you so far before their entertainment and defensive ability respectively stop cutting it. With a 31-year-old short stop who has missed extended time to injury before, it's a little scary to even think of this possibility.

An injury to a second baseman wouldn't be quite as fatal due to the fact that there's a handful of players who are all slated to provide about the same value to the team at this point. Regardless of who wins the job in spring training, Ryan Goins, Devon Travis, Maicer Izturis, Steve Tolleson, Danny Valencia and every other scrappy player in the organization could probably fill in and provide the same level of play. The team also features a number of players who can play first base so the depth isn't an issue there aside from the obvious damage that Edwin Encarnacion missing time would cause.

As everyone knows the team has too much depth at catcher currently and it would be a cruel twist of fate if Dioner Navarro was traded prior to an injury occurring to Russell Martin. Very few teams have a catcher on their bench that could actually take over the starting job and provide solid value, except maybe the Dodgers, so it would be unfair to criticize the Blue Jays even if they did have a lack of depth at the position.

Although it's a depressing topic to talk about, the coming season seems to be the worst in recent history for the Blue Jays in terms of depth beyond the starting lineup. It would be a great world to live in if the team suffered no major injuries as the players slated to take the field opening day could compete with anyone in the major leagues, but as we know this is rarely the case. Sometime during the season a key player will go down and it won't be a surprise when no one is quite sure how the hole will get filled. There obviously is only a certain number of quality major league players to go around for the 30 teams but most squads slated to contend this season have suitable replacements for at least a handful of their starting players which isn't the case for the Blue Jays. At least there's just over a month until the regular season to try and fix the problem.

The Blue Jays have announced who will be starting pitchers in their first 5 spring games.

Tuesday: Aaron Sanchez

Wednesday: Marcus Stroman

Thursday: Daniel Norris

Friday: R.A. Dickey

Saturday: Mark Buehrle

Tuesday's game will be on Sportsnet and MLB.tv and it will be our first GameThread of 2015. Saturday's game is also on MLB.tv and then next Sunday's game is on Sportsnet.

Gibby says he hasn't decided who will be the opening day starter yet.

Other news:

Barry Davis talked to a very happyMichael Saunders. Saunders talked about how he decided, before the surgery, that he would have the meniscus removed, saying that he read up on it and he talked to some doctors.  He said that the Jays tried to talk him out of having it removed, not wanting him to have problems later in life. As it turned out, the doctors when they saw how damaged it was, they decided it had to be removed.

Saunders says that his goal is to be ready for opening day, I hope he doesn't push too hard. Mid-April would be fine by me.

Johan Santana has arrived at camp:

Johan Santana has arrived! pic.twitter.com/zVWGhKp8HV

— Blue Jays (@BlueJays) February 28, 2015

Santana is saying that he is in no rush to get him into games, he wants to be ready first and that he considers the April 28th opt out date as 'just a number'.

And, if you are interested in reading more about the Dan Duquette saga, Barry M. Bloom at MLB.com has an interview with him.

"I knew the people from Rogers [Communications] before I took the job at the Orioles," said Duquette, who spent three years as director of player development for the Montreal Expos, and would have been a good fit again north of the border. "You'd have to check in with those guys, but I think they liked the work I did in Baltimore."

It didn't happen. As has been reported, the Blue Jays and Orioles couldn't work out a compensation package for Duquette. The Jays terminated discussions near the end of January. Asked if compensation was the reason why the Orioles wouldn't let him out of his contract, Duquette simply said: "Yes."

Just think, in 8 months or so, this will start all over again.

The Mariners lefty is hoping a new circle change will be the key to a stable and successful season.

Last December, the Mariners traded a beloved-yet-oft-injured Bavasi connection to the nation of Canada in exchange for a person known for throwing baseballs at a relatively high-velocity every five days or so. In the process, Jack Z and company were signaling the belief that the club was made better in three clear areas: 1. Paving the way for what would eventually become a crowded platoon outfield filled by, ostensibly, healthy players, 2. Acquiring a middle-of-the-rotation starter ready to eat around 170 innings, and 3. Doing both without hampering roster flexibility on a club only missing a few key pieces.

Because justice is only an imaginary concept concocted by Lovecraftian Elder Gods, that beloved player won't be doing much playing for his new team, and even literally had part of his body removed in the process. So in a sense, although a pretty bleak one, the Mariners have already won said trade. But in another sense, the Mariners bought themselves nothing but time, with an apparently blank slate ready for the making right in front of them.

We are here speaking of new Mariners starter, J.A. Happ, owner of a recent 1.3 fWAR season with a shiny 3.95 xFIP despite having a slight tendency to get hit hard when overusing his fastball. After the trade, there was a general sense of untapped potential in the sense that the Saunders-Zduriencik relationship seemed resolvable only through a trade, and also that the pitcher they received in return never had the opportunity to call a spacious ballpark his home.

In fact, in his eight seasons in the major leagues, Happ has yet to post any sure-fire consistency from year to year, somehow gaining around four average MPH on all his pitches while at times abandoning his off-speed pitches in favor of his fastball. Which, yeah, isn't always the most preferred situation.

Consistency has always been the key to Happ's success. Despite the fact that his uptick in velocity has turned his left-handed fastball into a plus pitch, Happ ran into quite a bit of trouble last year when losing control of his off-speed stuff. Which made this morning's report from Shannon Drayer all the more interesting:

"The changeup will be a focus, getting that back," (pitching coach Rick Waits) said." He has been in and out with it. The changeup is crucial for him as a lefty, but he has been working hard on it and will continue to do so this spring, getting that feel back. There will be a lot of changeups."

Although Waits probably didn't intend to channel his inner Paul Thomas Anderson with this quote, I have to wonder what this new focus will do for Happ as he enters his ninth year in the bigs on this, his fourth club. Last season, Happ once again came out of the gate with poor command of his off-speed pitches, leaving him to mix up his repertoire in the hopes of stabilizing what has actually been a pretty unstable arsenal over the past couple years.

By July, Happ had nearly given up his slider altogether, and instead focused on locating his curveball to add variety to his fastball-dominated approach. The result, visualized in a pretty striking graph image over at Rotographs, was not only more whiffs, but a vastly improved secondary arsenal that led to some of the best games of his career. It was only too bad the rest of the Blue Jays couldn't have thrown him a bone in the process. And here I thought Canadians were supposed to be nicer.

But his changeup? It's an interesting idea. While that curve was key to his resurgence last season, he never returned to throwing it at the rate as he had in previous seasons, dropping use from nearly 14% down to 6.98% by July. But now Happ has changed his changeup grip--which he apparently has done midseason in the past--and the pitch has effectively developed into a circle change. Happ's old change was thrown with a split-finger grip, which was Roy Halladay's bread and butter during his 2010 Cy Young season. While split-finger changeups tend to break vertically down toward the plate, circle changes have a little more horizontal movement, which is good news for a lefty.

The best case scenario is that this change will allow Happ to further take advantage of his handedness against right handed hitters, especially considering he has apparently completely abandoned his slider in recent bullpen sessions. But the downside is that circle changes, like the sliders they mimic, can become dinger magnets when left hanging in the zone. And the last thing Happ needs is to give up more hard hit balls.

Every season someone develops a new pitch, or gives up this or that thing for the other. Montero already took the Best-Shape-Of-His-Life card from the rest of the team, so maybe it's just Happ's turn to play his in the hopes of putting together a more consistent year nine in the bigs. Or maybe this will become Happ's key out pitch and lead him to the first totally stable year of his career. Either way, the Mariners have an interesting project in their rotation that only cost them a player who was probably on his way out anyway, and then they still had enough money left over to pick up Rickie Weeks a few months later. Which is kind of a strange way to look at it, but hey, we've never been hit in the head with a baseball or lost our meniscus to a sprinkler, so what do we know?

The Blue Jays have signed Dayan Viciedo to a minor league contract. Dayan will fight for the 25th man on the roster spot. Minor Leaguer shared some of Dayan's better moments with the glove back here. I think the Jays are more interested in his bat. Career he has a .254/.298/.424 line with 66 home runs in 473 games, all with the White Sox. Last year he hit .231/.281/.405.

He's 25, a right-handed batter, born in Cuba. He'd be a good pinch hitter off the bench, I hope we won't see him in the outfield much. As a pinch-hitter/sometimes DH I would be ok with him making the team, if they have room for 2 extra outfielders. I guess that depend on if the team decides Russell Martin can catch R.A. Dickey. If they have to carry 3 catchers, I can't see any way Dayan make the team. Of course, it is more than possible that Saunders will start the season on the DL.

The Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday reportedly agreed to terms with outfielder Dayan Viciedo on a minor league contract, per both Shi Davidi of Sportsnet and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, a transaction that gives us a glimpse into the minutiae of baseball rules.

Viciedo will get $2.5 million per Davidi if he makes the Blue Jays, who are expected to be without outfielder Michael Saunders to start the season after a torn meniscus in his left knee.

Viciedo, who turns 25 on March 10, hit .231/.281/.405 with 21 home runs in 2014 with the White Sox, and in his five-year major league career has punished left-handed pitchers to the tune of .291/.331/.507 with 21 home runs and 31 doubles in 487 plate appearances. He could be someone who could not only make the team in Toronto, but also stick around once Saunders returns, if only for right-handed power off the bench.

But this isn't the first contract Viciedo has agreed to this winter. He avoided salary arbitration with the White Sox in January, signing for $4.4 million for 2015. But since most arbitration contracts aren't guaranteed, Chicago was able to cut bait at only roughly one-sixth of the cost.

When the White Sox signed Gordon Beckham on Jan. 28, they designated Viciedo for assignment, removing him from the 40-man roster, then released him six days later. By releasing him in the offseason, the White Sox only owed Viciedo 30 days termination pay. Since MLB calculates salary based on a 183-day regular season, the White Sox paid Viciedo roughly $721,311 to send him away, still $3.7 million less than he would have received had he stayed with Chicago.

If Viciedo does make the Blue Jays, that $2.5 million isn't enough to totally recoup his loss. But given that spring training has already started, and that demand for his services wasn't so hot, this is probably the best Viciedo could have hoped for under the circumstances.

It's March, the maddest time in sports, when Major League Baseball does the long and exciting windup towards Opening Day.

In the Heavens of Anaheim

Slow, School Zone: Anybody who fails to recognize Mike Scioscia here has either just fallen off the turnip truck, or simply refuses to pay attention. Garrett Richards is in overdrive to get himself back into the rotation as of Opening Day, saying "That's not going to change, regardless of what anybody in here says." Poor Garrett. Sosh is a man of process. He has roles and rules and methodologies. And that process states that Richards is not going to be ready for 2 or 3 weeks into the season. "He knows it. He's not going to be able to rush it because our medical staff is not going to let him. There's a progression. He has to pass every plateau. It's great that he's going to shoot for being ready by Opening Day, he's working very hard to be ready by Opening Day -- but he's not going to be ready Opening Day." I find Richards' eagerness to be admirable, but i am with Scioscia on this one...

On the Job Training: There is a seriously strong school of thought that, by the time they get to the Big leagues, players are who they are. Leopards don't change their spots, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, stats bear out that things don't change, etc., etc., etc. So, the corollary is that coaching is not much about teaching and instruction. So, against that grain comes the occasional story where the player fails to agree to the rule. Such is the case of Hector Santiago, who has spent a great deal of time learning how to recognize how he loses control during a game, and what to do to regain it. The results will have to wait to be seen, but let's adore the attention young Hector is paying to his craft.

Hambone Central: We still don't have word from the MLB Front Office concerning any punishment targeting Josh Hamilton, but it appears that if any suspension is to be defined, Josh would most likely start serving when the season opens. The reason that this needs to be stated is because there are some who would choose to calculate a suspension to begin after Hamilton would return off the DL. Nope. As some parts of DL duty and suspension would be served concurrently............Meanwhile, Mike Napoli is saying his prayers for Josh.

Shifty Eyed: Here is an unusual one. When looking at the infield shift plans for 2015, some odd factoids pop out.  The Halos ranked 15th in Major League Baseball in defensive shifts in 2013, when they executed 250 shifts. In 2014, they famously went whole hog, and ended up amping up their shift rate to 357 total. That's a 40% increase over the previous year, and yet they dropped to 18th in MLB for shifts in 2014!!  Because, of course, everybody else went shift-crazy, too. But wait, it gets crazier! Al that analysis and all that coaching and all that strategizing and all that signaling and running around for everybody to get into the right shift at the right time...didn't pay off so well for the Angels. "Last year, the Angels were one of only six teams that allowed a higher batting average on balls hit to infielders when they did not shift. To be exact, opponents hit .262 on balls hit to Angels infielders against the shift and .257 when the infielders held their ground." So with a new front-office analyst, and a new infield, a less-than-efficient result last year, and lagging behind the trend already, 2015 is going to be interesting.

Around Baseball

Texas Heat: Man, 2014 must have been tough in Texas. Not that I feel bad about that or anything. But when a Yu Darvish has to defend himself against accusations of quitting, you know things got out of hand.

NYC 2015 = The Year of What Would Jeter Do? Expect to get a lot of Derek Jeter references this season. From MFY fans, from EastSPiN, from John Carpino...you know. Hell, even from NYY GM Brian Cashman, who is obviously looking forward to improved defense out of the left side of his infield this year, after decades of under-performing. Cashman goes out of his way to explain to his new starting shortstop Didi Gregorius that he should not try to emulate Jeter, but just be himself. Yeah. Stop trying so hard to suck over there in the hole.

Freak Weeks: Spring is always chock full of weird and unfortunate injuries. Although not the first out of the gate, an honor that went to Chris Saunders of the Blue Jays taking himself out until the All-Star Break after stepping on a sprinkler and tearing a meniscus, we do have a new candidate for leader.  Chris Sale gave himself something called an avulsion fracture in his right foot hopping out of the back of his pickup truck, and will be out 3 to 4 weeks.

Denial:Matt Holiday is a man of confidence. And not a man of math. "Apparently when you get to 35, people want to talk about your age a lot more.  I’m not worried about it. I take care of myself. I think age is based on how you take care of yourself. I take a lot of pride in training and eating healthy and things like that. Some things you can’t control. But I feel good physically...I’m not worried about my skills diminishing. My skills aren’t diminishing. I’m anxious to get out there and play." Yeah, well, Holiday's slugging and on-base percentages over the past 5 seasons have both been plummeting. Thus, his combined OPS slide has gone 1.023 to .922 to .912 to .877 to .879 to last season's .811. That was still 19th in the NL (and would have been second only to Mike Trout on the 2014 Halos), so not bad at all, but that is still the very definition of diminishing.

Live Long, and Prosper: Ex-MLB reliever Joe Nelson bids farewell to Leonard Nimoy in a most special way, as his own career is brought back into the limelight.  Nelson had a special grip on his change-up that he named the "Vulcan change-up". "Nanu Nanu was nerdy and Spock was cool," Nelson said. "I didn't want to be Mork from Ork."..............While on the topic of losing legends, R.I.P. Minnie Minoso.

Closing:Having fun with picture day.

John Lott has an article up with John Gibbons talking about his 'worst move' of 2014:

Viciedo, just signed to a minor-league deal, was playing for the White Sox last June 28 when Gibbons summoned Dustin McGowan from the bullpen with two men on base. McGowan gave up a prodigious three-run shot that turned the tide in Chicago's 4-3 win.

"That was probably my worst move of the year," Gibbons said with a chuckle.

So that got me wondering about what was Gibby's worst move of 2014 really was. I don't agree with Gibby. That one didn't turn out great but it's tough to blame Gibby for it. There are plenty of other choices. Let's list a few:

• Playing Jose Reyes in Montreal.

Reyes was nursing a hamstring injury that caused him to miss the last couple of weeks of camp, but he wanted to play opening day. The Blue Jays played their last two preseason games in Montreal, on carpet that was even worse than what they had in Rogers Centre last year and Reyes played. Then, leading off the first game of the season, in Tampa Bay, he injured himself hustling after hitting a line drive that Desmond Jennings made a great catch on, got hurt, and was out until the Jays 19th game of the season. It really was stupid to have Reyes play in Montreal, but then maybe we would have had the injury anyway. Still.....

• Having Dustin McGowan start the season in the rotation.

Going into spring training, last year, Esmil Rogers, J.A. Happ and Todd Redmond were supposed to be battling for the last spot (or the last two spots) of the rotation. All three were terrible and Gibby, with about 10 days left of spring training, decided to give Dustin McGowan the spot. McGowan had try to get his arm stretched out to where he could go more than the one or two innings he might be asked to throw from the pen in less than 2 weeks. It didn't go well. McGowan made 8 starts, had a 5.08 ERA, throwing 39 total innings, before being moved to the pen. Batters hit .291/.371/.475 against him as a starter, .215/.284/.405 against him as a reliever. It was a bad idea. The rotation really came together when he was removed and Brandon Morrow hit the DL.

• Continuing to run Juan Francisco out there, day after day.

Francisco was called up when Adam Lind hit the DL on April 15 and, for a month and a half, he was pretty great. He was hitting .275/.365/.596 at the end of May. And then the other teams figured out that you shouldn't throw the guy a fastball. In June he hit .169/.217/.369. He did right the ship some in July, batting .258/.319/.532 for the month, but then August was a bust, .130/.196/.196 and by then even Gibby had enough and he only had 5 at bats in September. He was also pretty terrible defensively at third base.

• Letting Casey Janssen go to the Dominican during the All-Star break.

I suppose it's really not Gibby's fault that Casey got food poisoning. The closer role was a mess at various times. Casey started the season on the DL, and Sergio Santos closed. Sergio's converted his first 4 save opportunities, but then imploded (or exploded or whatever happens to a reliever when things go bad) and he blew 3 of his next 4 chances, in rather spectacular fashion.  Casey came back and was great, until he got sick at the break. He never seemed to get back to 100%.

• Having too slow a hook with R.A. Dickey.

Early in the season, Dickey seemed to start games well, but then fall apart at about 85-90 pitches. Gibby seemed slow to figure this out. In particular, there was a stretch from June 14 to July 18, where he took losses in 6 of 7 starts, blowing up late in each start. I though Gibbons should have had a shorter leash on the guy. Later in the season, Gibby seemed to be able to read the signs of a tiring knuckleball pitcher better.

• Playing Ryan Goins too much.

Goins played in all of the first 24 games of the season. Being fair he Jose Reyes was hurt, but there should have been a better choice out there. At the end of the 24 games Goins was hitting .150/.203/.217.

I kind of feel bad about picking on Gibby, I think he did a pretty good job, all things considered, last year. No manager does everything right. But then, he did invite us to the subject by giving us his suggestion for his worst move of the year.

Hat tip to Minor Leaguer for the idea.

Our writers voted on the best players for the upcoming season. Who finished seventh?

Over the last few of weeks, we've offered introductions to our Best Players of 2015 series. We set the stage for the whole endeavor, and we then revealed the players who landed between 45th and 11th on the list. If you need a refresher on the methodology, nine of our writers ranked players based on how well they thought players would perform during the 2015 season. They ranked them from No. 1 to No. 20, and those players got point values (20 for first, 19 for second, etc) and were ranked by the sum of their points. The highest possible score is 180. We're already told you Anthony Rendon ranked 10th, Jose Bautista finished ninth, and Miguel Cabreralanded at eighth.

No. 7: Josh Donaldson, Third Base (Toronto Blue Jays)

Jim Cowsert/USA Today Sports

Josh Donaldson didn't come out of nowhere. He was a high draft pick and had prospect credentials, but that potential looked a long way off when 2012 started. Donaldson was 26 and had 350 below average MLB plate appearances to his name. His career wasn't over, but stardom wasn't on the radar.

Until it wasn't. By the time 2014 ended, Donaldson was getting legitimate MVP consideration after his second consecutive 6+ WAR season. In a division and league with Mike Trout, it was easy to get lost at times, but Donaldson spent the last two seasons as one of the game's best handful of players. This winter, he moved east in a big trade that should have the Blue Jays in the thick of the AL East race in 2015.

Why We Love Him

Donaldson has half a flaw as a player, if you could call it that. His base running is average, or maybe a touch worse, but if you focus on his bat and his glove, there are few better than the new north of the border cornerman. Donaldson gets on base, he hit for power in Oakland, and he is an elite defender at third base.

In 2013, he posted a 147 wRC+. Even with a dip in his BABIP in 2014, he still ended the year at a 129 wRC+. When you take someone with that kind of offensive ability and you put him in the same body as someone on par with an early era Evan Longoria, it's hard not fall in love.

Donaldson is newly 29 and probably won't keep the Brooks Robinson act up for too much longer, but you don't usually accidentally have a couple of MVP caliber seasons by accident.

The Projections

Like most of the players at the top of this list, the projections are buying Donaldson. Steamer likes him for 5.6 WAR in 634 PA. ZiPS has an entirely different take, projecting 634 PA and a paltry 5.1 WAR (read that in the cadence of a joke).

PECOTA is a touch more pessimistic, pegging him for 4.2 WAR in 603 PA.

Where He Fits In

Donaldson fits into our list ahead of Miguel Cabrera, but the gap between seventh and eighth is quite sizable. Cabrera finished with 81 points to Donaldson's 93. Donaldson's also the highest third baseman and infielder on the list.

Our voters named Donaldson on seven of nine ballots, with Chris Teeter and Scott Lindholm clearly making the decision to go to bed before most of the west coast games started over the last two years. The seven people who did vote for Donaldson carried him on their lists between fourth and twelfth, which is a tighter distribution than most of the players so far.

With the Blue Jays looking to make a big move and return to the postseason for the first time in a very long time, Donaldson should be a nice addition. They gave up some talent to get him, but in the short run they are a better team. You can probably guess who the remaining six players are, but the order might give you fits. See if you can guess in the comments.

...

Statistics via FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus.

Neil Weinberg is the Associate Managing Editor at Beyond The Box Score, the Site Educator at FanGraphs, and writes enthusiastically at New English D.

Jason Hunt takes a look at a prospect who had a meteoric rise in 2014, and can help a lot of fantasy owners in 2015. What can Dalton Pompey do for fantasy owners this year, and what does his long-term impact look like?

Sometimes the development of a prospect takes a lot longer than anticipated. This generally seems to occur more frequently with prospects that have loud raw tools, but not necessarily the finely tuned skills to let those tools play to their highest level. With Dalton Pompey, this has turned out to be the case, and the Blue Jays' $150K investment back in 2010 is looking really good about now.

The Jays drafted Pompey out of a Canadian high school in 2010, and was one of the youngest players in the draft that year. The organization moved him fairly slowly to start off his career, as he spent most of his first two full professional seasons in short-season ball, to middling results overall. He did get a brief move to full-season ball at the end of the 2012 season, and returned there for the 2013 season.

Pompey spent the 2013 season at Low-A Lansing, and posted a solid .261/.358/.394 line with six home runs, 38 stolen bases and an excellent 12% walk rate. He came out of the season ranked as the #17 prospect in the system by Baseball America, and was viewed as a potential major leaguer on the strength of his defensive profile, but skepticism about his ability to hit for a good average or power kept him outside the top 10 of many lists.

2014 marked another key step, and one that has vaulted Pompey into the stratosphere for prospect rankings. He started the season at High-A Dunedin, and after a 70-game stint where he dominated to the tune of a .319/.397/.471 slash line, was promoted to AA New Hampshire. 31 games there, and another 12 at AAA Buffalo, and Pompey finished his year with a call up to the major league squad.

For Pompey, it was anticipated after the season that he would return to AAA to start the 2015 campaign, given that he had appeared in just 62 games above the High-A level last year. However, the trade of Anthony Gose and the free agency of Colby Rasmus has opened up the starting center field job, and with that Pompey is expected to win that job right now.

The fantasy potential for Pompey is very interesting, as he has a number of tools that can provide above-average fantasy production. His carrying tool is his speed, which should be able to provide 30+ stolen bases on a regular basis, with the potential for more some years. He's not expected to provide a ton of home run power, but he's not a slap hitter by any stretch, and should be able to provide 8-10 home runs a year. The questions about his long-term value come from how well he can translate his athleticism at the plate into high batting averages, but the potential is there for a consistent batting average above .280 with an excellent on-base percentage to go with it.

Pompey is our #85 outfielder in our consensus rankings for the upcoming season, and while I do anticipate him struggling some as he adjusts to the majors, he remains an interesting flier in redraft leagues, as the potential is there for 5-10 home runs, 25+ stolen bases, and even with a .260 batting average would provide at least a solid third outfielder in nearly all formats. Long-term, he can be a top 40 outfielder if he develops in the expected manner, and should definitely be owned in all dynasty and keeper formats.

I'm just happy to have baseball back, don't care who wins today.

Pirates 8 Blue Jays 7

Not what we hoped to see from Aaron Sanchez.

A strike not called and an error, set up a three run inning against Sanchez. Aaron got two quick outs, a line drive hit right back at it, he made a great, perhaps lifesaving, catch on and a nice play by Russell Martin on a soft tap up the third base line (Navarro doesn't make that), with a great throw a bit wide of first but Justin Smoak made a great catch keeping a foot on the bag. Then it went bad, after a pitch that Sanchez and Martin thought was strike three (Russell Martin said, in an in game interview, that the umpire missed the call), Gregory Polanco had a soft single to left. Then Josh Donaldson booted the first ball hit towards him as a Jay and Pedro Alvarez hit an opposite field homer.

Aaron's second inning didn't go any better. A ground out was followed by a walk, a ground single past first and a hard hit double to score two. That was it for Aaron. He was throwing strikes, early, but seemed to lose it a bit in his second inning. His outing would have looked a lot better if Donaldson had made that play or if he got the strike three call.

Marco Estrada, in his first inning, got a fly out pretty deep to right, a ground out down the first base line and gave up a home run to Jung Ho Kang. After that Estrada got a strikeout to end the inning. His second inning had a line out to right, a ground out (with a nice play by Donaldson), a line single and a pop up for the third out. He looked ok, some hard hit balls, but kept in the strike zone.

Steve Delabar pitched the 5^th inning (with Buck and Pat talking him up a bunch, they must be his agent). He gave up a hard line drive to left that Dalton Pompey made a great catch on. Then a ground ball single just past Ryan Goins at short. A fly ball double to the left field corner, that Dalton didn't see (I don't think he would have caught it anyway) drove in the runner from first. After a walk, he got a nice strikeout and an easy fly out to center to end the inning.

Kyle Drabek started the 6^th and started things with a nice strikeout, but then gave up a home run. A ground out, single and ground out finished out the inning. He missed with some of his pitches. We are going to hear that he is out of options every time he comes near a ball, but I'm not sure anyone takes him on waivers or if we care if someone does.

Wilton Lopez had an impressive inning, getting two soft ground outs (one on a nice play by Devon Travis) and a strikeout. A very skinny Miguel Castro had a quick 8^th inning.  Gregory Infante worked around 3 hits, with the help of a nice throw by A.J. Jimenez to catch a base stealer, to get through a scoreless 9^th.

Jays got their first runs of the spring in the third inning. Maicer Izturis, whom Buck and Pat bestowed their first big and strong of 2015 upon, walked and Kevin Pillar followed with a line drive home run. Dalton Pompey had a hard hit single and stolen second and Jose Reyes walked. Russell Martin flied out to medium deep center and Pompey and Reyes tagged up. Reyes should have been out at second (bad idea to run, I think he figured the throw would go to third) but the second baseman dropped the ball. Jose Bautista ground out to third, scoring Dalton. Edwin Encarancion followed with a very long at bat, but he ended up striking out.

The Jays had a couple of hard hit singles in the 5^th from Russell Martin and Jose Bautista. An opposite field single from new Jay Daric Barton scored pinch runner Anthony Alford. Alford didn't seem to be running hard on the play and he didn't slide at home (I don't know why he didn't slide or, for that matter, didn't run hard going home, I was looking forward to seeing his speed, and he didn't show it), but the catcher missed the throw home. Chris Colbello had a chance to get us back into it, pinch hitting with the bases load, but he struck out chasing a pinch well off the plate..

We got a couple of runners on in the 8^th, Josh Thole singled and Caleb Gindl walked, but Thole got himself thrown out at the plate...a ball got away from the catcher, who made a throw to second trying to get the runner moving up, Steve Lombardozzi bobbled the catch, Thole left third for home but was thrown out by 20 feet.

We had another chance in the 8^th. Chris Colabello doubled (Mel Rojas, Jr. dived to catch it but missed and it hit his shoulder) (Mel Rojas, Jr.? Baseball makes me feel old) and Ryan Goins had a hard hit line single up the middle. After Ezequiel Carrera struck out, Chris Dickerson walked to load the bases. Devon Travis ground into a force at the plate, but Thole had his second single of the game, bringing home two and becoming the tying run at first (until he was pinch run for). Caleb Gindl struck out to end the inning.

We got runners on again in the 9^th. Barton walked, Matt Hague took a phantom hit by pitch and Mitch Nay drove in 1 with a hard hit single to center, moving the tying run to second. Ryan Goins couldn't put a bunt down to move up the runners and struck out bunting at strike three. If he wants to make the team, he's going to have to get bunts down. Ezequiel Carrera hit into a force at second and it was up to Chris Dickerson with 2 outs and the tying run at third, he walked to pass the moment on to Travis. Travis chopped one to short for the final out. It was a tough play, but Travis didn't make good contact in any of his 4 at bats (it's early).

Offensive heroes: Ryan Goins was 2 for 3 and Josh Thole was each 2 for 2 with 2 RBI. Kevin Pillar had a 2-run home run. Dalton Pompey had a hard hit single and a steal.

Devon Travis went 0 for 4 and Justin Smoak went 0 for 2. Neither looked good at the plate (it is early).

We had good defensive plays from Pompey (he also lost a ball in the sky), Donaldson (who had an error well), Martin (who looked smooth behind the plate), Travis. A.J. Jimenez threw out a base stealer in the ninth. A very nice looking throw.

Our best pitchers were Wilton Lopez and Miguel Castro.

Let's give Pillar and Pompey the Jays of the Day.

We had a nice GameThread, with 955 comments (we missed baseball). I, apparently, missed it most.

The Rockies' spring training opener is upon us. Here are a few things to watch for.

The Rockies kick off their spring training slate on Wednesday against the Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields. We won't be able to see our beloved purple-clad heroes on television, but rest assured the portion of the fanbase who hasn't become completely apathetic will be glued to their boomboxes, smartphones, computers or car stereos (preferably of the detachable faceplate variety for security purposes).

Fresh off the team's intrasquad game on Tuesday, here are a few things to keep an eye on in first few days of Cactus League play.

The 30: Offseason Stock Report
Grantland's Jonah Keri has a better outlook on the Rockies than his counterpart did last week. Keri notes the obvious: that the Rockies need health from Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez as well as big steps forward from Jon Gray and Eddie Butler in order to fulfill Dick Monfort's yearly vision of 90-plus wins. It could happen, though. It's just a longshot. Either way, we should be able to get some sort of inkling of how some of those things might unfold during Cactus League play.

Rosario shows athleticism in work at first base | rockies.com
Wilin Rosario showed well in the Rockies' intrasquad game Tuesday, according to Thomas Harding. Rosario, as Walt Weiss told Harding, is going to have to show he can make error-saving plays consistently, and that's the biggest worry among the Rockies and their followers. There's little doubt that Rosario and Justin Morneau could make a great platoon offensively, but the Gold Glove winners in the other infield spots need to have confidence that The Bull won't ole hurried throws.

Improving bullpen performance is Topic 'A' for Rockies | rockies.com
The Rockies' bullpen has a solid leader in LaTroy Hawkins and a coach who is doing and saying the right things in Darren Holmes. Now it's time to put up or shut up, Hawkins told Harding in so many words.

Rafael Ynoa, off strong Dominican league, starts quick at Rockies camp
Rafael Ynoa was the star of the Rockies' intrasquad game, writes Nick Groke of the Denver Post. Ynoa, who will be fighting with Charlie Culberson and others for what will likely be the final 25-man roster spot, is trying to get an instant leg up on the competition following a good winter league showing and a fast start in spring training. Ynoa homered and flashed a good glove in the scrimmage, which featured a vintage performance from Adam Ottavino and a plethora of trash talk from Rockies catching coach Rene Lachemann.

Other links

What are the best uniforms in Major League Baseball? - The Denver Post
Patrick Saunders ranks his top five baseball uniforms. Good list, though I'd probably ditch the A's and add the Blue Jays. Their decision to go back to their old design was a huge no-brainer, and I'm glad they finally did it after screwing around with awful designs for the better part of two decades.

The Smell of Baseball is in the Air
Spring training is here, and Matt Quin writes about why that's important.

Stay tuned for full coverage of the Rockies' opener (including our first GameThread of the year!).

It is important not to read too much into one game, especially the first game of spring training, but let's do it anyway.

Just a few quick takeaways from yesterday's game:

The second base competition:

Maicer Izturis had a single and drove in a couple of runs. He made a nice play in the field. The most important thing for him is to show he is healthy and he looked healthy. I wouldn't call him 'big and strong' like Pat did.  On a team with Bautista, Encarnacion, Donaldson and roughly a dozen pitchers in the 6'3" and up range, he looks like a puny middle infielder, which is what he is.

Devon Travis had 4 at bats, and had weak ground outs in each. He didn't look good at the plate (yeah, reading too much in the first game of spring). His last at bat was with 2 outs, bases loaded, in the 9th, so that one stands out. I would have liked to see good contact, but he had another weak ground ball. He didn't show as good an eye at the plate as I was hoping to see. It's early but he needs a good spring to win the job. He looked smooth and showed a good arm in the field.

Ryan Goins played short, had 2 hard hit singles in his first two at bats. The 3rd at bat is the one that people will remember, runners on first and second, in the 9th, down a run and he couldn't get a bunt down. Goins is the type of player that will have to be able to put down a bunt in that situation. I bet, over the next few days, he spends most of his batting practice time on bunts.

Izturis had a leg up in the competition for second base before the game and didn't lose any of his lead.

Pillar and Pompey

Kevin Pillar is the clear leader for the 4th outfield spot (and left fielder until Michael Saunders can play). It would be good for him if he came to camp looking like he is ready to play. So, first at bat, he hits a line drive home run. You couldn't ask for better.

Dalton Pompey's job, this spring, is to look good to make us fans feel ok about him getting the center field job. So his first at bat he singled and stole second. He also made a nice catch in left field (he and Pillar switched spots after a couple of innings). He also lost a ball in the sky, but we'll forgive/ignore that. I don't think he could have made the catch on that.

Other 4th outfield candidates that played were:

• Caleb Gindl who walked and struck out in 2 PA.
• Ezequiel Carrera went 0 for 3 with a strikeout.
• Chris Dickerson went 0 for 1 with 2 walks.

Catcher

Russell Martin made a great defensive play in the first inning. A weak tapper, down the third base line, that he pounced on quick and made a strong spin throw to first. He threw a little wide of first but Justin Smoak made a great catch. Dioner Navarro wouldn't have made that play. He looked as good behind the plate as we were told he would.

Josh Thole. Thole needs to show that he can do the job of backup catcher, convince the team that they can trade Navarro. He had 2 soft singles in 2 at bats. It is up to you if you think that helps his case. At least he made contact twice.

A.J. Jimenez made a great throw to catch a base stealer. I hope, sooner or later, he gets a chance to be backup catcher with the Jays.

First Base

Justin Smoak went 0 for 2 with a strikeout, but showed off his glove, making a great catch on Russell's throw to first, while keeping his foot on the bag.

Daric Barton went 1 for 2, hitting a single against a lefty.

Danny Valencia, the likely favorite for the right-handed half of a first base platoon, walked once and struck out once.

Relievers

There are a few open spots in the pen. Lots of candidates threw yesterday.

• Wilton Lopez impressed me the most, he kept in the strike zone and looked good.
• Miguel Castro allowed just 1 hit in his inning. Man he is skinny. I didn't think he was throwing all out yet, which is smart.
• Steve Delabar gave up 2 hits, a walk, a run and got a strike out. The beat writers said he hit 94 on the radar. He didn't look great but it is early.
• Kyle Drabek didn't impress, but he didn't walk anyone. 2 hits against, including a home run.

The Mariners' infield coach hasn't been coaching for too long.

It is a bit funny that there is a such thing as an infield coach in baseball. Take a professional football team as an example. There is the overall offensive coordinator, but then everything after that is broken down into groups -- because, go figure, offensive lineman have a different skill set than wide receivers do.

Baseball isn't that drastic, but the positions across the infield are still different. You coach your shortstop to be fleet of foot, yet you want your first baseman chained to that bag like he is the captain of a sinking ship.

That wide variety of knowledge makes Chris Woodward the perfect infield coach. Woodward spent 12 years in the major leagues with six different teams and, in the process, played virtually every position on the field. If we ever needed a look into the future of Willie Bloomquist's post-baseball career -- look no further than Chris Woodward.

Woodward attended school at Mount San Antonio College, which is an odd college for two reasons. First, Mount San Antonio College is not anywhere near Texas and is instead just east of Los Angeles. Second, the Mount SACs (as the athletics department is so cleverly named) are the Mounties.

But enough of the Mounties and back to Woodward. Woodward was drafted in the 1994 draft with the last pick of the 54th round by the Toronto Blue Jays. He would spend the most years of his playing career with the Blue Jays, eventually cracking the major leagues in 1999 at the age of 23 and staying with the Blue Jays until 2004. He had some good years there, highlighted by his 2002 year where he hit .276/.330/.468 with 13 home runs in 90 games. During that year, he became the first Blue Jay shortstop to hit three home runs in the same game.

He received a slight pay bump after that year where the Blue Jays thought they had their shortstop of the future. After an offensively inefficient and injury riddled 2004, the Blue Jays released Woodward and he signed with the Mets the following year. While with the Mets, the budding infield coach inside of him appeared.

The Mets put Woodward to work in the outfield. He played every position on the field except catcher and pitcher at least once. He relished his role as a role player. Woodward put together his second best hitting season, raking a line of .283/.337/.393 while being that all-around glue guy on the bench. But once again, Woodward couldn't cash in.

In 2006, injuries reared their ugly heads and the Mets unceremoniously sent Woodward packing. He signed with the Atlanta Braves on a one-year deal, but it was the beginning of a disasterous turn in his career. The bat was completely sapped and Woodward was nothing better than an occasional spot in the field and a last resort as a pinch-hitter. He hit under the Mendoza Line in 2007 with the Braves and wasn't able to recover.

2008 saw Woodward as a globe-trotting man. He played with three different minor league affiliates but could never break into the big club until, and you maybe guessed it, the Seattle Mariners gave Woodward a second chance at life. The Mariners extended a spring training invitation to Woodward in 2009, and he played his way onto the club for a brief spell in the summer before he was sent on waivers to make room for Adrian Beltre. He was claimed by the Red Sox but was sent away eight days later. Woodward would try again with both the Blue Jays and Mariners on minor league contracts, but the well had run dry. He retired on Nov. 1, 2012.

Retirement lasted less than a day for Woodward and he was hired as the Mariners minor league infield coordinator. Woodward spent time working with both Nick Franklin and Brad Miller, and when Lloyd McClendon came into town, he got the major league call up. In just two years of coaching, Woodward was in the big leagues.

McClendon raided the farm system when he arrived with a firm belief of promoting from within.

"No. 1, if you have opportunity to promote from within, it's very healthy for the organization," McClendon told Greg Johns. "And if those guys are qualified individuals, it becomes an A-plus, and that's what we have here with a couple guys who are very capable and have similar philosophies."

Woodward's job has its easy portions and its difficult portions. Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager are stalwarts that don't need much worry. Brad Miller and Chris Taylor will still need molding, and whatever ends up happening at first base in the long-term will need a bit of work.

A few more things about Chris Woodward...

• Mount San Antonio College has sent 18 players to the major leagues, but they generally haven't achieved much success. Of the position players, however, Woodward has seen the second most games with 659.
• Woodward is a master of the sacrifice flies. He hit eight during his 2002 stint and that was good for ninth overall in the American League. He also hit a sacrifice fly during the Blue Jay's 2-0 win on the franchise's 2,000th victory.
• Woodward also lends his hand at TV, every once in a while, or just once. He appeared in season three, episode 18 of Degrassi: The Next Generation. He played an announcer at a music competition in the episode "Rock and Roll High School."

Blue Jays 4 Pirates 1

Quick recap.

Pitchers:

Marcus Stroman went 1.2 innings, 2 hits, 1 strikeout, allowing an unearned run. Munenori Kawasaki made a throwing error from third that cost Marcus.

Todd Redmond (5 total pitches) and Scott Barnes each pitched a clean inning.

Matt Albers, Scott Barnes and Bo Schultz each pitched a scoreless inning, though the broken GameDay boxscore gives all three innings to Schultz. Schultz gave up a couple of walks in his inning.

Liam Hendriks gave up a hit and made a bad play on a ground ball hit back to hit.  The runner on second got too far off the bag but Liam threw to third and the runner made it back to second. But Liam ended the inning with 2 strikeouts.

Matt West closed out the game, getting two strikeouts around a deep fly out to the track

On offence:

Dalton Pompey had a very good game, 2 for 3 with a walk and a double.

Kevin Pillar was 1 for 4 with a double.

Caleb Gindl was 1 for 2 with a triple and a strikeout.

Matt Hague went 1 for 2.

Daric Barton walked and was hit by pitch.

Dioner Navarro was 1 for 3 with a double.

Having bad days:

Ezequiel Carrera was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts.

Chris Colabello 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts.

Ramon Santiago, Steve Tolleson, and Ryan Goins were all 0 for 2. Devon Travis was 0 for 1.

Fielding:

Kawasaki had the throwing error. Liam Hendriks made the bad play that wasn't called an error.

On the good side A.J. Jimenez threw out his second base stealer. Pompey made a nice catch and doubled off the runner at second (the GameDay box score says Pillar, but I'm pretty sure it was Pompey. Wilner said it was and there are a number of problems with the GameDay boxscore, so I'm going with Wilner). Pillar made a good catch in the outfield.

Make Pompey the Jay of the Day.

Our first win of the year.

Tomorrow the Jays play an evening game against the Orioles.