Wednesday, March 12, 2008

What's that Finnegan? You say my labrum's torn?

Casey Janssen's season is done. His labrum is all buggered up (keep up with the technical medicalspeak if you can), and he's going to have season ending surgery on it soon.

As much as we liked Janssen, we're not freaking about this nearly as much as we might have imagined. The depth assembled this off-season has given the Jays a little more latitude to deal with this sort of injury, and Jesse Litsch doesn't seem like a terrible option for that fifth spot in the rotation.

And as an aside, Litsch actually looks a lot more like Mr. Dressup's treehouse dwelling sidekick than Janssen. So we can probably keep using this picture all season long.

Next question: How does this shake out in the pen?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a bad loss the the Blue Jays.
He was a rock in the 'pen last season.
And one of the top setup guys in the AL.
Big question is can League move in and replace him as setup guy?
If so, than the Jays will be alright.

Chris said...

As long as the Beej is healthy, I imagine the bullpen would set up as:

Ryan
Accardo
Downs
League
Frasor
Tallet
Wolfe

Pretty much the same if Janssen won the 5th starter job. It just made some decisions a little easier.

Tao of Stieb said...

Parrish might fit in there somewhere as well, and the assumption here is that Ryan isn't pitching until May.

Anonymous said...

Although Tallet's numbers aren't all bad, does anyone else feel like Parrish should get a shot at that other-lefty-in-the-pen job?

I guess if Ryan's not coming back immediately, we might see both Parrish and Tallet with the big boy club anyway, but I've just never been too impressed by Tallet's stuff....

Anonymous said...

its time to try to get another starter. i don't think anyone is convinced that Litsch is good enough. i can smell JP starting to panic already.

the question is, is JP gonna pull a JFJ and strip the farm of its prospects for old, overapid players?

love the mr. dressup pic btw.

Brendan said...

I'm thinking we won't see Ryan until May either, which would mean that Parrish might get a shot, and if decisions need to be made regarding he and Tallett, they can be made based on regular season performance in April.

Torgen said...

The AL average fifth starter in 2006 had a 6.22 ERA. Even if Litsch regresses, he should be able to beat that.

The Southpaw said...

But who're the next two guys? Litsch would've been a beauty as a 6th starter and bumping him means the first injury call goes to... Dave Purcey? Ricky Romero? Parrish? Jeebus?

JW

Darren Priest said...

I know nothing about this, but how hard is it for a middle reliever to make a spot start? I look at that bullpen and I can't help but think that one of these guys should build up his stamina or something. Doesn't Frasor have better stuff than Litsch? How/when do hurlers decide (or have the decision made for them) they can't be starters?

And doesn't Frasor look like the lead singer of 8 Seconds?