The moves the Blue Jays
made this offseason caused ripples throughout the rest of roster,
shifting a handful of position players into new roles.
The end result was a clear
candidate to assume the primary designated hitter job and the
strengthening of the bench as a whole, giving the team more options.
Adding third baseman Troy
Glaus and first baseman Lyle Overbay via trades left Shea Hillenbrand
and Eric Hinske out of regular work at the corner infield spots.
Hillenbrand will be the first choice for DH -- a role he platooned
in last season.
"[Hillenbrand] handled
[serving as the DH] really well last year, so I don't see any
reason why he won't handle it well again," Toronto general
manager J.P. Ricciardi said.
Hillenbrand split time
between first base and third last season, and becoming the regular
DH doesn't mean he won't see any action in the field. In fact,
Hillenbrand will probably be the team's first option when Overbay
or Glaus aren't in the starting lineup.
"There's going to
be days when Overbay needs a day off and [Hillenbrand] can play
first. There's going to be days when Glaus needs a day off and
he can play third," Ricciardi said. "He's primarily
going to be our DH, but there will be enough times to get him
in those other spots. It's just a luxury we have."
Last year, Hillenbrand
hit .291 and tied a career high in home runs (18) to go along
with 82 RBIs. He also was Toronto's lone representative at the
All-Star Game.
Hinske's situation adds
to the Jays' bench options. Hinske, who will attempt to move to
the outfield, said that he hasn't played out of the infield since
his days in Double-A.
The plan going into Spring
Training is to try Hinkse, who bats from the left side, in left
field and start him against right-handed pitchers. He hit .283
last season, with 11 of his 15 home runs coming against righties.
Ricciardi also wants Frank Catalanotto in the order against right-handers,
so that means Catalanotto would have to move to right field.
Right-handed outfielders
Reed Johnson and Alex Rios would be in left and right field, respectively,
against left-handed pitchers. Both are good enough defenders to
play center field if Vernon Wells needs a break, too.
The bench is strong no
matter who is starting at the corner spots. If Hinske and Catalanotto
are starting, Toronto has good speed and defensive choices available
in Johnson and Rios. If it's the other way around, the Jays have
two good left-handed bats ready. One of those, Catalanotto, led
the team in batting average (.301) and on-base percentage (.367)
last season.
"I think it's the
deepest [bench] we've had," Ricciardi said. "There's
a lot of things we have that I don't think we've had here in the
past."
The recent signing of catcher
Bengie Molina pushes Gregg Zaun, the starting catcher for most
of the past two seasons, into a reserve role, leaving him as a
nice switch-hitting option off the bench. Last season, Zaun had
a career-high 73 walks to lead Toronto, and he also set personal
bests in homers (11), RBIs (61) and games played (133).
The reserve duties up the
middle rest with John McDonald, who will serve as the backup to
both shortstop Russ Adams and second baseman Aaron Hill. McDonald
was with the Jays last year before being traded to Detroit in
July. He was reacquired in November in exchange for cash considerations.
McDonald is known more
for his defense than for his offense. He hit .277 with no homers
and 16 RBIs in 68 games for the Jays and Tigers last season and
spent most of his time at shortstop. McDonald also played some
second and third base as well.
In a worse-case scenario
in which Toronto would have to look beyond Adams, Hill or McDonald
for help up the middle, Minor Leaguers Ryan Roberts, who had a
good season with Double-A New Hampshire last year, and Sergio
Santos, who was acquired from Arizona in the Glaus deal, likely
would be the first two in-house options.
Toronto seems to have a
backup plan in place at every position. The flurry of deals the
Jays made this winter not only strengthened the starting nine,
but also added some more flexibility to their bench. It's a long
season, and Toronto will need all of its pieces to fit into the
puzzle just right if it wants to make a run at the postseason.
