Exclusive Spring Training Report: Watching the Blue Jays play the Orioles

I was there yesterday, in the rain and the wind, looking for Showalter, who made sure there was always some warm body between us. He didn’t want to be questioned about why he pulled his starters in the last game of the season – years ago, back when he was with Texas – giving LA the home field advantage. Dammit, he can't forever. But he did yesterday. 

Some observations:

The Blue Jays have a 27-year-old infielder named Emilo Bonifacio, and he's built like a tire iron. He switch-hits, he’s really fast, and he’s going to be trouble. Yesterday, he looked like the next Robbie Cano. He hit a line drive that is still going. After the deal with Miami, the signing of Melky and the trade for Dickey, baseball fans seem to have forgotten that the Blue Jays still have more season-ready youth in the system than we do, and this guy could put them over the top. Be afraid. Be very afraid. There’s a reason they went all-or-nothing: They have young guys on the verge. Anybody who thinks they’re not the pre-season favorite is crazy. And I think optimistic Yankee fans are flat-out delusional. When they see this guy, and what he’s going to mean to the Blue Jays lineup, a lot of people are going to lose hope fast. Like... in April.

The O’s are basically the same team that came within an eyelash of beating us last October. But Manny Machado looks like the next great Baltimore thirdbaseman, and that’s usually good for a world championship. He made three solid plays in the three innings that I watched, before the rain chased every thinking fan to the nearest bar. Last year, he was considered one of the best prospects in baseball. This year, when bloggers put their prospects lists together, they forget that he is younger than most of our Double A stars. This could be his breakout year. Add a .300 hitter with 20 home runs to last year’s Orioles lineup and tell me how we’re going to beat them with Juan Rivera and Brennan Boesch.

Well, I’ll tell you how: Pitching. Neither team showed any yesterday. Make no mistake here. Pitching is our only hope this season. We’re banking on three workhorses who are long past their sale dates – not to mention Mariano, who by rights should be sitting on a sugar plantation, drinking rum. Our lineup – at least through June – is a pale ghost compared to Toronto and Baltimore. Dickey could win 30 games, and if Baltimore finds any arms at all, we'll be so far back they won't see us in the rearview.