TORONTO – baseball of all kinds, even an intrasquad game, is a nice thing if we show up after four months of shutdown. Bo Bichette, who took Matt Shoemaker hella deep, was an unforgettable sight. Rowdy Tellez also went out of the south paw against Brian Moran when the helpers in the pen gave Bullpen coach Matt Buschmann, who was playing on the left field, the equipment for his sketchy pursuit of the ride.
“Come on, bush. Get up! “Shouted one of them.
Good times, although Buschmann not only played the left field, but bounced between there, center and right, that prospective catcher Riley Adams covered a few innings to the right, that shortstop prospect Kevin Smith did the same thing that Teoscar Hernandez was the only regular An action on Thursday evening raised an important question: where are the club’s outfielders?
Last Sunday, along with sportsnet colleagues Arden Zwelling and Ben Nicholson-Smith, we saw 43 of the 46 player managers Charlie Montoyo who started the journey north from Dunedin, Florida. Twelve others, who were not identified by the club, remain there after a player has tested positive for COVID-19 during admission, and the rest have been moved away for direct contact, an industry source said earlier this week.
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The team has so far refused to announce which of the 46 players in Toronto is.
Here are the players in alphabetical order that we saw here:
Riley Adams, Chase Anderson, Bryan Baker, Anthony Bass, Travis Bergen, Bo Bichette, Ryan Borucki, Andy Burns, Rafael Dolis, Santiago Espinal, Sam Gaviglio, Ken Giles, Jordan Groshans, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Teoscar Hernandez, Danny Jansen, Caleb Joseph, Alejandro Kirk, Patrick Kivlehan, Reese McGuire, Julian Merryweather, Justin Miller, Brian Moran, Joey Murray, Joe Panik, Thomas Pannone, Nate Pearson, Jake Petricka, Sean Reid-Foley, Tanner Roark, Jordan Romano, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Travis Shaw, Matt Schuhmacher, Kevin Smith, Ruben Tejada, Rowdy Tellez, Trent Thornton, Ty Tice, Jacob Waguespack, Simeon Woods Richardson, Shun Yamaguchi and TJ Zeuch.
Of the seven outfielders on the 40-man Blue Jays list, only Hernandez is on that list. Of the other six, only Jonathan Davis is on the injured list, which was added in an unannounced and unsettled transaction last week.
It is unclear whether the Blue Jays are facing a problem in their outfield and how big it could be.
It is possible that some of them are in Toronto and were out of sight on Thursday, but that would lead to strange coverage of the outfield. It is possible that some of them may be withdrawn from circulation as a precautionary measure as part of contact tracking. It is possible that some of them have infected the coronavirus. Teams are not allowed to reveal whether a player has been added to the list of COVID-19 injuries, but infection numbers can be posted, which the Philadelphia Phillies have done regularly, and players can be identified if they are given permission to do so Brad Keller and Ryan O’Hearn of the Kansas City Royals did this week. The team even included quotes from both in its press release.
The lack of information makes things cloudy and leads to speculation, a by-product of Yankees GM Brian Cashman, which was confirmed during a conference call with New York media last week: “The information I received is (media) that is trying are going to find out that. Someone might have failed, but we might not be able to speak to the reason, and it would be speculative. You would have to use your journalistic superpowers to determine whether something is there or not, what the circumstance might look like. “
What we know about the Blue Jays is that 12 players are not in Toronto, and Hernandez is the only outfielder on the 40-man squad that appears on Thursday or in the limited video clips of the club’s training sessions in recent days was seen.
The situation shows the personal health risk every player is taking this summer, and very, very second, the challenge of infection and the measures taken to prevent it from spreading when preparing a roster. They are the obvious downsides of playing in the midst of a pandemic.
Ben Nicholson-Smith is Sportsnet’s baseball editor. Arden Zwelling is a senior writer. Together they bring you the most extensive Blue Jays podcast in the league, covering the latest news with opinions and analysis, as well as interviews with other insiders and team members.
Bichette, who speaks generally about the sacrifices that players have to make this summer for the endeavor to work, says, “The team must definitely have some discipline, stay inside, and make sure we don’t just stay healthy, but to keep the rest of the team healthy. It is bigger than ourselves and we will do our best to ensure that everyone stays healthy here. “
The advantage of course is to have baseball again and to return to normal in the midst of the continuing uncertainty that surrounds us all.
Bichette came to Shoemaker, but beyond that, the experienced right-handed player was remarkably effective over five innings, allowing only the two runs with four swings. He has up to 60 parking spaces, including 42 strikes, and instead of being at the start of the ramp-up process, he is in the dial-up phase to reach 100 at the start of the season.
Tellez added a few singles to his home run, Travis Shaw deftly kicked a single against the shift, Caleb Joseph kicked Reese McGuire out and tried to steal third place after hitting a line drive double. all with a hint of competitive collegiality.
“Some of us talked about this (Wednesday) night, we still play baseball even though it’s against our team. It’s different from playing another team, but if you’re on the hill and just have the mentality that you’re going to hit this guy, you’re going to get this guy out, you can still make it look pretty and playful like in the season ” said Shoemaker. “If you can lock it up, I’ll fight, I against you, just go to battle. This attitude only prepares us for the game and gives us a better chance of winning. “
To give the process a certain formality, the Blue Jays recorded walk-up music and sound effects on lazy balls and dropped a few beats while switching between innings. Conversations echoed through the prevailing silence, a preview of how fan-free games will sound during the season.
All around surreal funny.
“We are preparing for another season, not fans. When the season starts, we have to learn how to create our own adrenaline. I think we are practicing that now,” said Bichette. “There’s not a lot of adrenaline when you face your own teammate – it’s more of a practice scenario. We’ll find out how to get the best we can, get the most out of adrenaline on our own, and see what we can do. “
In this environment, the Blue Jays have to make some difficult squad decisions. Manager Charlie Montoyo praised Jordan Romano’s work during Wednesday’s live BPs, saying the right-hander is building a way to leverage innings.
Intrasquads are certainly not the ideal way to settle on a squad, but Montoyo appreciates the way his players make the most of what they have.
“They really compete against each other. I enjoyed watching the live BPs, I enjoyed facing (Hyun-Jin) Ryu Bo Bichette and trying to get him and Vladdy and her out (Wednesday). They compete and they have good bats. It was fun to see that. These guys are professionals, they can have fun, but at the end of the day, when someone is on the hill, the batsman wants to get a hit and the thrower wants to hit him. I saw that and it’s fun to see it. “
