Left-handed compliments on the rotation

So the final cut-down came down, and the Jays are ready to head to Texas with a rotation that, according to Bastian, looks a little like this: Marcum, Tallet, Romero, Morrow and the Wild Card, Dana Eveland.

You have to admit that no matter what Eveland's performance in the spring might have been, he had a couple of pretty strong things in his favour: He's a lefty, and he's a gingerish, and the Jays can't ever seem to get enough of either.

(And somewhere, David Purcey sits sullen, applying SPF 160 sunblock, feeling less like the beautifully unique southpaw-gigner-snowflake that his momma always told him he was.)

We're actually kinda glad to see Eveland make the team out of camp, even if it means sending two other non-ginger lefties (Cecil and Rzep) to Vegas. We're big on both of those guys, and we're pretty certain that they'll be back and be better at some point this season.

But we're all for the Jays at least have a look in real game action at Eveland to see if they might have something of value in him. It worked okay in the case of two other scrap heap lefties (Scott Downs and Brian Tallet), and Eveland's run through the Fake Game schedule was pretty stellar, after all (1.23 ERA, 16 Ks vs 6 BBs in 22.1 IPs).

Speaking of Tallet, there has already been some discussion as to the order of the rotation, and where the lovable lug belongs in it. Bastian noted that, according those people he could catch up with (a very select group for the slow-of-foot beat writer), Tallet is, in fact, the number two pitcher in the rotation coming out of the Spring.

Our guess on this is that this reading of the situation is a bit too literal. We doubt the brain trust actually considers Tallet as the second best starter, but rather, the Jays would prefer to line up Ricky Romero a little further down the rotation. Dropping RickRo down a slot ensures that the Jays won't have many series in the early going where they go without a start from their two best pitchers.

Because as much as we might root for Tallet, Morrow, and Eveland, the notion of heading into Fenway or New Yankee Stadium with those three as your scheduled starters is more than a little scary.