A month into spring training, the Toronto Blue Jays have identified their key need going into the 2015 season: connective tissue.
On Tuesday, the Jays announced they've lost another key piece to a freak injury. Marcus Stroman – tentatively slotted third in the starting rotation – tore his ACL during a routine pitchers' fielding drill. After viewing the results of an MRI, general manager Alex Anthopoulos said Stroman would probably miss the entire season.
The team will seek a second opinion, but if he had any real doubt, Anthopoulos wouldn't have announced it.
In all likelihood, this means another touted prospect, Aaron Sanchez, will move up into a starter's position. As good as Sanchez promises to be some day, it's difficult to imagine him being as immediately effective as the man he replaces. Last year, Stroman was arguably Toronto's best starter in the second half of the season.
Slotting Sanchez in for Stroman may – may – end up being like-for-like in the rotation. It is certainly a huge setback for the bullpen.
Sanchez, a 22-year-old power pitcher, was shaping up as the likely successor to decamped closer Casey Janssen. The job may now fall to veteran left-hander Brett Cecil, who's been off-and-on with shoulder soreness. Beyond those two, the Jays are getting into very nervous territory.
But don't worry. I'm sure Rogers is anxious to reinvest in outside talent.
"Right now, we're going to go internal. That's always the preferred choice," Anthopoulos told the FAN 590's Mike Wilner.
Oh.
But surely there's someone out there worth …
"Realistically, you're not going to replace him in trade or free agency right now," Anthopoulos added. "Most guys who are available at the end of spring training are guys who are out of options, who don't make teams."
Thanks for the update. If you hear anything else, we'll all be over in the corner. Sobbing.
Is the Jays' season over before it's begun? No. But sort of.
More than any other team sport, baseball has an inertial relentlessness. Once things start spinning off in the wrong direction, they don't slow down. They pick up speed. Unless you're willing to invoke the heyday Yankees' model – "Spend your way right-side-up" – there is no righting a listing ship.
It's possible Anthopoulos is poor-mouthing his finances so that he doesn't get rooked by another GM. Given recent history, it's more likely he's just giving us the bad news first. If that's the case, the Jays are fundamentally diminished. And they weren't looking so hot to begin with.
Adjust your expectations accordingly.
The latest avoidable disaster can be pinned on one problem – spring training itself.
A hundred years ago, more than a month in the malarial tropics made sense. The players worked real jobs all winter. They didn't need the time to rediscover their swings – they needed to work off 15 pounds of soft-living. This was the only chance for fans south of the Mason-Dixon line to see their heroes. So you wanted to play a few games. You had to get down there by train. Then you had to get back. It took a while.
Nowadays, it's an extended invitation to disaster. The odds suggest that if you do any extreme physical activity for a long enough period of time, you will eventually hurt yourself. Baseball players do more baseballing in spring training than football players do footballing through an entire regular season.
Not one single player will ever tell you he enjoys spring training. He enjoys the first week ("All my friends are back!") and the last ("God, I'm so sick of spending all day, every day, with my friends!"). Established veterans spend this time trying to protect their bodies. Lacking that experience, youngsters such as Stroman are more prone to getting hurt doing something simple, like pulling up short on a bouncing ball.
Two weeks ago, outfielder Michael Saunders tore his meniscus after stepping awkwardly on a buried sprinkler head. He could be back by opening day, though he will do so meniscusless, following surgery to remove the problem cartilage.
If the logic of natural selection had meant for us to run around doing athletic things without benefit of a meniscus, humans would be born that way. Whenever Saunders returns, don't figure on him being healthy. Not "healthy" healthy. More like "they removed that problem lung and I've stopped whistling in my sleep" healthy.
The latest portent of doom came a few hours after lineup lynchpin Edwin Encarnacion was shut down for most of a week with inflammation in his lower back. It's a good thing swinging a bat doesn't require much twisting, and that backs always heal right.
That's another problem with baseball – it is essentially a series of violent movements custom-designed to tear apart your soft tissues. If your back is wonky in March, it's going to need to be fused by September.
There are three weeks left in the Grapefruit League. Perhaps the Jays should stop fielding. And batting. And running. And moving around at all. Fly them back to Canada, where the jetway can malfunction and the entire 40-man roster can come piling out of the plane, Benny Hill-style, and land on the tarmac in a heap.
No, I'm serious – check the jetway. This team may be cursed.
Could the Jays still win? Sure. Anything's possible. Guys exceed ceilings. Untouted players suddenly emerge. But that's not the way it usually works. Baseball tends to reward the teams you saw coming a long way off.
The Blue Jays were already fringe contenders – very strong through two-thirds of the order, with some emerging pitching talent, but lacking depth in almost every area.
That's not getting better now. And it's hard – verging on impossible – to see it getting any better down the road.
Cathal Kelly