The outfield on either side of Kevin Pillar feels different. Up the middle in the infield feels very new but hoping for more appearances from "old" players. The 2018 Toronto Blue Jays are strong at catcher, 1st base, 3rd base, and centre field. Short of brilliance elsewhere, the potential for the 2018 season is cautious.
Starting pitching, what every team wants, is an ace for the Blue Jays with potential for the bullpen.
Curtis Granderson is new. Teoscar Hernandez is basically new. Randal Grichuk is new. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is not quite ready. Steve Pearce is still here. Ezequiel Carrera is gone.
Troy Tulowitzki will start the season on the shelf. Devon Travis will hopefully be healthy at 2nd base. Yangervis Solarte, Danny Espinosa, and Aledmys Diaz are new and will help. They essentially replace Ryan Goins and Darwin Barney.
Pillar in centre, Russell Martin behind the plate, Josh Donaldson at 3rd base, Justin Smoak at 1st with Kendry Morales as DH is a pretty good core. But they need a lot of help.
Jose Bautista could help but teams aren't pounding on the door to sign him. Bautista can offer a better bat (if he doesn't have to lead off), a killer arm in right, a good teammate, and lots of versatility.
Lefty J.A. Happ will be the Blue Jays opening day starter followed in the rotation by Aaron Sanchez, Marco Estrada, Marcus Stroman and Jaime Garcia. John Axford (Canadian), Seung-hwan Oh, and Tyler Clippard are new to the Blue Jays bullpen. Roberto Osuna is still the closer.
Josh Donaldson is playing on the final year of his contract. Manager John Gibbons may need some luck and miracles.
As for the future of grass at Rogers Centre, installation and ongoing maintenance costs are reportedly the concern. The priority will be placed on other improvements at Rogers Centre. Forbes recently ranked Rogers Centre as MLB's 9th-worst stadium.
Best of luck to those vying for the play by play position for Blue Jays radio
— Elliott Price (@ElliottFPrice) March 1, 2018
It's not going to be me
I look forward to hearing whoever gets the gig
Blessed to co host the best sports morning show in the country@BradyandPrice
The sudden retirement of Jerry Howarth after 36 years and the promotion of Joe Siddall to TV studio analyst to replace the disgraced Gregg Zaun means a whole new radio booth for the Blue Jays in 2018.
The logical replacement for Howarth was Elliott Price, former Montréal Expos announcer and current morning show co-host of Sportsnet radio 590 The Fan. Price wasn't a factor for whatever reason.
The Blue Jays went to the bench in spring training, using a couple of their minor-league announcers to call some of Toronto's spring training games. Ben Wagner (Triple AAA Buffalo Bisons) and Rob Fai (Single A Vancouver Canadians) got to help out Mike Wilner, the lone member of the Blue Jays radio team from 2017. Former Blue Jays pitcher Scott Richmond, a Vancouver native, helped out on colour analysis on spring training broadcasts.
The team went with Wagner to call the Blue Jays on radio along with Wilner in 2018. Wagner had spent the last 11 years as the voice of the Bisons. Dan Shulman will call some games on radio. There will be analysts but we don't know who or when they will be on the broadcasts.
On the TV side, Buck Martinez and Pat Tabler will also be on the Blue Jays telecasts once again. Shulman will be more visible in the broadcast booth, calling 50 games this season. Shulman left his role as play-by-play guy on Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN to spend more time in Toronto.
Rogers Sportsnet will have all but 2 games. Some games will air on Rogers Sportsnet One, especially during the Stanley Cup playoffs. Facebook Watch will have the games on April 18 and May 24. Those will not have Sportsnet announcers nor will air on TV in Canada.
The Blue Jays TV studio show will feature Jamie Campbell and Siddall in his new role with help from former MLB players Cliff Floyd and Kevin Barker will fill in as guest analysts.
Justin Morneau, one of the best ever Canadian MLB players, has retired. Morneau played 14 seasons in the major leagues and won the American League MVP in 2006. Morneau will do 6 Minnesota Twins games as a TV analyst.
2018 Toronto Blue Jays in Montreal preview
2018 Toronto Blue Jays spring training schedule
CanadianCrossing.com MLB coverage
The 2018 Toronto Blue Jays home opener is this afternoon at 3:37 pm Eastern against the New York Yankees. The Yankees will stay in Toronto for a Friday night game (7:07 pm); Saturday afternoon (4:07 pm); and Easter Sunday (1:07 pm). The Chicago White Sox finish off the homestand with Monday-Wednesday evening games all starting at 7:07 pm. In terms of the MLB Extra Innings free preview, the Blue Jays are in Texas April 6-8 with a pair of night games (8:05 pm) and a Sunday afternoon contest (3:05 pm).
We never have too much information about Blue Jays telecasts in the United States. ESPN should have one telecast but does not have one listed so far. The Blue Jays will be on MLB Network Friday against the Yankees as well as the primary game on April 19 and 21. Fox Sports 1 will call the Oakland A's game at Toronto on May 19. The April 18 game at home to Kansas City will be on Facebook.
Saturday home matinee games will be divided in start times: 9 will be moved to 4:07 pm while 4 Saturday day games start at 1:07 pm.
photo credit: Toronto Blue Jays/MLB
I thought Elliott Price would be an obvious choice for the Blue Jays radio job too. But he said early on in spring training on twitter that he wasn't in the running for the job. Perhaps they wanted to go with someone younger who has the potential to be around a long time as I believe Ben Wagner is only in his late 30s. Price is probably late 50s if I had to guess.
Posted by: KWH84 | March 29, 2018 at 07:18 PM
Some good thoughts. Price could have been a good transition figure where Price could do 6 innings and Wagner do 3 innings or the other way around.
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Posted by: Intsp | September 13, 2018 at 07:21 AM