The 25 Man Roster Challenge 2019 Edition

Spring Training dates:
Pitchers and Catchers, 1st workout – February 14th
Full team, 1st workout – February 18th https://t.co/Rc3Zo6Ub97

— Blue Jays PR (@BlueJaysPR) November 26, 2018

This will be the 10th annual contest in which a bunch of random people make a guess a month and a half before a deadline and then a bunch of shit happens and in the end somebody wins stuff.

The 25 Man Roster Challenge. Just mentioning the name sends contestants minds to a previous year in which one of these scrubs fucked them out of a possible glorious victory.

• Jo-Jo Reyes
• Jayson Nix
• Dana Eveland
• Jay Bruce (unicorn)
• Hank White
• Ben Francisco

For the record, it is a super simple game that has but one requirement: Name the 25 baseball players within the Blue Jays organization who will crack the opening day roster.

Sounds easy right?

Well, it isn’t. No one has ever gone 25-for-25 in all the years we’ve been running this challenge, and we would be very happy if that streak was broken this time around.

If you decide to play, there are 4 ways to submit your ballot:

1) Send us an email: 1bluejaysway(at)gmail.com
2) Make a post on your blog, if you have one, and send us a link.
3) Add your ballot to the comments section of this post or the reminders we post later.
4) Twitter ballots will be accepted. @1BJW

In the event of a tie—and it's pretty much a given at this point that there will be a tie—we ask that you also give us a prediction of what you think the spring training record will be. From what we can see, it appears as though the boys of summer will attempt to play 33 spring training games this year. That total includes the 2 exhibition games against the Brew Crew at the Big O but not the split-squad game against the Canadian Junior National Team on March 23.

Try not to forget that sometimes it rains in Florida and the games don't generally get made up if they are cancelled. There is also a chance that if a game goes to extra innings and one team runs out of pitchers, both teams agree the game ends in a tie. 

It is not a requirement that you select a tie breaker, all ballots containing 25 names will be considered valid, but it is a really good idea that you do include one. Over the years we have had numerous stupid close finishes and we actually had to break it right down to winning percentage. We have only had one outright winner in 9 years.

Some things to consider:

The pride of Mississauga Dalton Pompey is mercifully out of options, meaning he makes the big league club or is potentially lost on waivers. Still just 26 years old, the 16th rounder from 2010 has had his chances to impact the roster before. This could be his last go at it for the home side.

We got a rule 5 pick to spice it up! Soon to be 19 year old Elvis Luciano was selected from the Royals and needs to be on the big league roster *cough lengthy DL stint cough* all season or has to be offered back. Certainly a wild card to break camp with the club due to his age and inexperience but the braintrust knew all this prior to selecting him so you have to believe that they believe he has a shot. No doubt he throws hard, has a "feel for spin" and is working on a third offering.

Eric Sogard AKA Nerd Power and his career .623 OPS will try to crack the infield rotation on a minor league deal. Doubtful he makes an impact but likely has on out clause in his contract that the team might have to think about.

Prizes:

We are emptying the clip this year. Most of this stuff has been just collecting dust in various basements across the GTA for some time. All of it will go to the winner. Behold!

The ticket is from Vlad Jr. second game in AAA in which he collected his first hit. You can pretend you were there now!

Vladdy Jr.’s first #Bisons hit! #Jays #Bluejays pic.twitter.com/er5WjFvd76

— Sarah Peacock (@spcock) August 1, 2018

Good luck to all that decide to join in on the fun this year. We already have our first ballot and it is not predicted to do well. They forgot the damn tiebreaker. Do NOT forget the tiebreaker. Deadline is February 13th @ 11:59PM EST.

Here's my entry
Vlad Guerrero Jr. 25 times

— Rowdy Guzmir Jhericurl Jr. (@GuzmansJhercurl) January 17, 2019

Assessing The Current Options

Tough decisions lay ahead

Thanks to King Jordan, we have a "quick glance" at the contract situations facing your Toronto Blue Jays going into 2011. Big time hat tip.

Here is my take..... 

Leading Off:

Boy Wonder just found $16,000,000. I doubt that figure will even cover the raises he owes his players through arbitration. 

Digging for Second:

There is the potential for a whopping 15 different arbitration cases that need to be negotiated. Bautista included. Good thing we got a guy for that.

Legging out a Triple:

Lewis and Wise are out of options and arbitration eligible. They both project as the back up outfielder right now. I can see a scenario unfolding where they go against each other for the same job next spring, with the loser being put on waivers. Unless, we non tender E5 and J-Bau plays third base. In that case Lewis would start in LF with Wise on the bench.

Collision at Home Plate:

Check out the clusterfuck in the bullpen!

The following relievers are out of options and would have to be placed on waivers if they don't break camp with the team: Camp, Purcey, Accardo, Buchholz, Tallet.

Quickly:

There are 7 jobs available in a Major League bullpen.

You have to figure Camp and Purcey are locks.

Assuming neither of those guys are the closer, that leaves only 4 jobs remaining.

If you also consider the possibility that neither of them are the set up man, then only 3 jobs will be up for grabs.

Normally a Major League bullpen has at least 2 lefties. And a long man.

Can Brian Tallet fill either of those roles? I doubt it.

I'll take Jo-Jo Reyes as a darkhorse to earn a spot in the pen next year.

So what the fuck are we going to do with Dustin Michael McGowan this year? 

More Quickly:

Behold, your Toronto Blue Jays out of options bullpen: Tallet, Accardo, Buchholz, Reyes, Camp, Purcey, McGowan.

Yikes!

I think I'm just gonna go ahead and stop right there. Waaaaaaaaaay to many possibilities right now.

Even More Quickly:

And just think.....we haven't even traded for or signed anybody yet.

Whatever Happened To Jo-Jo?

Truth be told, I am a little disappointed in myself right now. I got so horny about the Yunel Escobar half of the recent blockbuster deal that I neglected to talk about the other guy coming to your Toronto Blue Jays. I just had so much to say about the Cuban shortstop and didn't really have space or time to give Jo-Jo his due.

Well that is just completely unacceptable to me. And today I had an opportunity to think about and research "the other guy" in the Escobar trade.

Analysis:

LHP Jo-Jo Reyes was selected in the 2nd round, 43rd overall, of the 2003 Amateur Draft out of high school in California. He was given an $800,000 signing bonus to skip school and play baseball full time.

Currently the 6'2, 230lbs southpaw has accumulated 1.132 years of MLB service time and is scheduled for arbitration from 2012-2014. I am not sure how many, if any, option years he has left.

The big lefty features the following pitches in his repertoire:

• a 4 seam fastball that sits at about 91mph which he uses over 50% of the time
• a slider that hits the gun at about 83mph and he throws it about every five pitches
• a 2 seam fastball that comes in at about 89mph
• a change up between 83-85mph
• a slow curveball at about 76mph

It is safe to say he is pretty much a fastball, slider kinda guy. The other 3 pitches only get mixed in less than 10% of the time. From what I have read his best pitch is either the change up or the curveball depending on who you ask. Makes you wonder why he doesn't throw them a little more?

Jo-Jo made his debut as a 22 year old in the show in 2007, which also happens to be the year he was listed as the Braves 7th best prospect. He had breezed through their system in a very short time and pretty much struck out a batter an inning everywhere he made a stop, except the big leagues.

Year	Age*	Lg	Tm	G	GS	SH	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	G/F	W	L	S	ERA	WHIP
2004	19	A	Rom	15	14	0	74.3	84	44	10	25	71	-	2	4	0	5.33	1.466
2007	22	AA	MIS	15	13	0	73.3	63	29	5	35	71	-	8	1	0	3.56	1.336
2007	22	AAA	RIC	6	6	0	36.0	25	4	2	12	39	-	4	0	0	1.00	1.028
2007	22	MAJ	ATL	14	10	0	50.7	55	35	9	30	27	1.24	2	2	0	6.22	1.678
2008	23	AAA	RIC	8	8	0	39.0	31	10	2	16	38	-	1	1	0	2.31	1.205
2008	23	MAJ	ATL	25	22	0	113.0	134	73	18	52	78	1.53	3	11	0	5.81	1.646
2009	24	AAA	GWI	15	14	0	66.0	68	21	6	24	32	-	4	2	0	2.86	1.394
2009	24	MAJ	ATL	6	5	0	27.0	27	21	4	13	21	2.16	0	2	0	7.00	1.481
2010	25	AAA	Gwi	12	10	0	47.1	57	30	8	15	50	-	1	5	0	5.70	1.529
2010	25	MAJ	ATL	1	0	0	3.3	10	9	2	3	2	0.86	0	0	0	24.30	3.900
3Yr Avg		MAJ		15	12	0	63.6	72	43	10	31	42	-	1	5	0	6.09	1.621
Career		MAJ		45	37	0	190.7	216	129	31	95	126	-	5	15	0	6.09	1.631

As you can see, Jo-Jo has been used almost exclusively as a starting pitcher up till this year. He had some success in the minors but struggled considerably when pitching to MLB hitters.

I was able to find out why that is courtesy of the Atlanta Braves Examiner:

In 2009 Reyes held opposing batters to a .220 average through his first 50 pitches, but after that point they hit .318 off of him. The first time through a lineup he held the opposing offense to an average of .189, the second time .216 and the third time the batters caught up to him and hit a robust .417 off the lefty.

I think a look at his splits will help answer the riddle as well. I will try to sum up his MLB career for you:

In 698 plate appearances right handed hitters are hitting him at a .320 clip. He also has served up 27 of his 33 homers to them. Angry Little Girl.

On the other hand, in 186 plate appearances lefties have only managed to hit .215 against him. Happy Cat.

Alright. Seriously. Is any of this sounding even the slightest bit familiar?

Can you say David Purcey redux?

Conclusion:

Disclaimer: Normally I am completely against converting starters into relievers unless they are old or injury prone *cough* Dustin McGowan *cough*

HOWEVER

The brain trust needs to tell this young man to simply pick two or three of his best pitches and drop the rest. Then they need to send him to the bullpen full time to dominate in a situational role. I'll bet the Braves had just figured that out this year and most likely ran out of the patience needed to see the transformation through.

I doubt we make the same mistake.