No, it wasn't an April Fools joke, Brett Cecil is going to start the year in Triple-A Las Vegas. Cecil figured that he showed management enough during his start on Wednesday against the Phillies to warrant him breaking camp with the club, but apparently not. I find it a little peculiar that they made the final decision before Tallet's final start of the spring. If they were able to make that decision when they did, that tells me they basically had their minds made up even before Cecil's start on Wednesday. No matter how good Cecil pitched on Wednesday, he wasn't going to make the team.
Not that the order of the pitching rotation matters all that much in the grand scheme of things, but fans were under the impression that sophomore Ricky Romero was supposed to be the #2 starter, but in fact, it will be reliever-turned-starter Brian Tallet that will occupy that position and start next Wednesday against Texas. Tallet's position as the #2 starter also wins him the honour of starting for the Blue Jays in their home opener on April 12th vs. Chicago. Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow and Dana Eveland round out the starting rotation as the 3,4, and 5 pitchers.
Since both Tallet and and Eveland (possibilities for the bullpen) are currently in the starting rotation, that leaves only one lefty in the Jays' bullpen - Scott Downs, who last year, got used to the role as the Jays' closer for a period of time after the departure of BJ Ryan, but now may simply be used as situational lefty - quite a change from the closer's role. Obviously having only one left-handed pitcher in the bullpen is not a long term solution. To me that indicates that they believe Jesse Carlson will be returning soon. It also indicates that ideally they would like to have at least one of Tallet or Eveland in the bullpen - maybe both - when Marc Rzepczynski, and hopefully, Dustin McGowan return from their respective injuries.
Reasonable and rational comments are always welcome.
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