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2:00 AM Eastern

My apologies for the lateness in posting, but blame Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota.  It’s the first spring ballpark I’ve been to this year that has had zero internet connection whatsoever from the broadcast booth.  I understand the writers had a bit of an easier time downstairs in the press box, but it was touch-and-go there.  So I was unable to put anything up until I got back to the old homestead in Clearwater.

What did I learn from the game today?  Not much.  It was the stuff that happened beforehand that was juicier.

A bunch of us reporter-types were gathered around talking during batting practice, as we often do, and while one particular conversation was going on, Vernon Wells wandered over and just kind of lurked for a while, then joined in.  Wells wound up spending about 10 or 15 minutes with us, not in an interview or scrum-type setting at all, but just a shooting-the-bull type conversation that featured topics ranging from Tiger Woods (“he’s cool”) to whether or not Vernon would wear an initial on his jersey if Randy Wells makes the team.  It was a fun conversation, with a loose, relaxed Vernon, which is great to see.  I have always thought that Vernon was one of the smartest, funniest guys on this team, but more often than not he’s refused to let that side show through to us, and therefore, to you.  He’s been guarded with reporters, but this spring he seems to be letting that guard down and allowing his personality to shine through, and I for one am really enjoying it.  Sunday, after I turned the microphone off following my interview with Vernon for the pre-game show about Reed Johnson’s release, he stayed and we talked for a good 5-10 minutes afterwards.  Best conversation I’ve had with him since I’ve known him, which I guess is almost 10 years now.  I hope this loose Vernon sticks around – with us, anyway.  I know he’ll always be that way with his teammates.

J.P. Ricciardi spoke to the assemblage before the game, and said that Scott Rolen’s right middle finger had a screw inserted (John Gibbons said a pin, which is likelier, but regardless, there’s a metal thing in there) and it will remain in for two weeks.  The screw/pin comes out on April 7^th, which is a Jays’ off-day, and from that point, assuming all is well, Rolen will be able to throw and hit to pain tolerance.  It’s very difficult to imagine that Rolen would be able to be back within a week of that, so I’m thinking it’s late April before we see him make his Blue Jays’ debut.  Until then, Marco Scutaro will hold things down, and he’s a much better option than the Jays had when Troy Glaus went down last April and they had to use a Jason Smith/John McDonald platoon to get by. 

Scutaro probably hits 9^th in the line-up, and it brings up a host of options as to what to do with the rest of it.  Does Gibby simply move everybody up one spot, leaving Frank Thomas as the clean-up hitter?  Does he put Matt Stairs in that 4-hole and move Overbay up to 6^th?  I’m thinking the best option might be to move Aaron Hill up to second – he’s certainly hitting well enough this spring to warrant it, and maybe the bat stays this hot for a little while.  Then, if Gibby is still dead-set on having Wells hit 3^rd, he can move Rios down to 4^th, but I don’t think it’d be a big issue to have Rios-Wells go 3-4 until Rolen gets back. 

Ricciardi also made it official that B.J. Ryan will not break camp with the team.  He didn’t want to put a date on when Ryan would be ready to join them, but it won’t be until B.J. can throw every other day with no problems.  I’m thinking that could be mid-May. 

The Rolen injury does one more thing for the Jays, and that’s open up a spot on the 25-man roster.  That’s a spot that could have been Reed Johnson’s had they waited a day to release Reed, but then they would have had to pay him that $3-plus million for three or four weeks of work.  Instead, it appears as though Buck Coats is the front-runner for that final spot.  Coats is back with the team, and he wasn’t just here as a call-up from the minor-league complex.  The Jays took the unusual step (for spring training) of actually recalling Coats from minor-league camp, and bringing him back onto the Spring Training roster.  They’ve been very impressed with him so far, almost like they were with Reed Johnson back in 2003 when he made his tremendous first impression.  He would be a fine defensive replacement for Stewart or Stairs in left field late in games, at the very least. 

It was a good JaysTalk tonight, with most of the callers lamenting the release of Johnson, which is what most commenters on this blog and others have had to say, as well.  And like I have said, I understand that.  Reed is a heart and soul guy who anyone would want to watch play.  He’s scrappy, he hustles, he plays great defense and he gets hit by pitches a lot.  All that said, Shannon Stewart is a better hitter.  Period.  And the Jays didn’t make the playoffs last year because they didn’t hit enough. 

Tuesday it’s Roy Halladay against the Rays and Jason Hammel from Dunedin.  Halladay is scheduled to throw seven innings, and I’ll be live-blogging because we won’t have the game either on the broadcast or the webcast.

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