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TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips answers three questions each week. Carlos Hyde . This week, topics cover the Blue Jays rotation, the futures John Gibbons and Alex Anthopoulos, protecting pitchers and a bonus question on his predictions for the MLB playoffs. 1) With J.A. Happ heading to the DL, the Toronto Blue Jays have announced a starting rotation of R.A. Dickey, Drew Hutchison, Mark Buehrle, Brandon Morrow and Dustin McGowan. Should the Blue Jays feel confident with that group or even this early in the season, should they be looking outside the organization for an upgrade? Or should they have kept a prospect like Aaron Sanchez or Marcus Stroman with the big club? The Blue Jays are starting the season with exact rotation they should be using. Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman both need more development but at some point they may be called upon to help. Certainly there are big questions for three-fifths of the starters but there is definitely upside. RA Dickey is just a year removed from his NL Cy Young Award and is predictable and dependable. I cant believe I am saying that about a knuckleballer but it is true. Mark Buerhle is a more than serviceable innings-eater who gives his team a chance to win start after start. After these two though the questions are significant. Brandon Morrow has suffered injuries in each of the past two seasons after looking like a number one starter at times in 2012. Dustin McGowan is throwing in the mid-nineties and is working on a curve ball to go with his devastating slider, but he has thrown just 46 2/3 innings since 2008 because of recurrent shoulder injuries. Drew Hutchison hasnt pitched in the Major Leagues for the past year and a half due to Tommy John surgery but prior to that he looked like he could be a long-term answer for the rotation. Before the season begins players, front office personnel and fans close their eyes and dream about what could be. I can close my eyes and see RA Dickey commanding his dancing knuckler that will baffle hitter. I can envision Buerhle getting a ton of grounders and working quickly getting the powerhouse offense back in the dugout and scoring a ton of runs. I can picture Brandon Morrow rifling his fastball by the games biggest sluggers and logging a ton of strikeouts. I can imagine McGowan and Hutchison fulfilling the potential that they once had as well. It could happen just that way. But it probably wont. My experience is that the more questions you enter with the more things that will likely go wrong. There is a bunch of unpredictability in this rotation. Depth will be important. It is safe to assume that health will be an issue at some point because it has been an issue in the past. Esmil Rogers and Todd Redmond may make starts if necessary. But Alex Anthopolous is going to have to keep working the phones to look for upgrades. Early in the season other clubs arent typically trading good pitchers but he will need to be ready for when they do become available. So when you close your eyes and dream just hope it is not a nightmare. 2) Is manager John Gibbons on the hot seat with the Blue Jays? If the team is slow out of the gate again this year, will he be replaced? Are his and Alex Anthopouloss future tied together (if one goes, the other follows him out the door)? I dont think John Gibbons is on the hot seat during the season this year. I know there were big expectations last year but the collapse wasnt Gibbons fault. The starting rotation just fell apart on him as Morrow and Josh Johnson got hurt and Ricky Romero imploded. Jose Reyes injury crushed the offense early in the season and more injuries followed. The expectations are less this year than a year ago. It certainly behooves the Jays to get off to a good start so they can start to believe in themselves but Gibbons cant pitch for his team and the staff will be the key. I have never been a believer that managers and general managers are tied at the hip. The manager needs to look at the GM as his boss. Clearly Gibbons was brought back to the Jays because of his relationship with Anthopolous but if Anthopolous thinks a change needs to be made he will have to make it. If ownership gets to a point where they believe the roster is flawed and they decide to make a decision on the general manager it is unlikely Gibbons would survive a change in regime. Anthoplous can possibly survive the firing of Gibbons but I dont believe Gibbons would survive the firing of Anthopolous. As it stands today both the manager and general manager are on firm ground as they should be. They just need to be honest with themselves and their bosses about what the expectations are with the roster they have. The owners can hope to be competitive in the tough AL East but if they expect to win it then both Anthopolous and Gibbons are in trouble. This is a roster for which you can hope but not expect great things. 3) With Reds starter Aroldis Chapman and Rays starter Matt Moore both being hit in the head by comebackers to the mound in spring training, is it time for Major League Baseball and/or the players union to implement mandatory pitcher protection? It seems that pitchers have become more and more vulnerable over the past few seasons. Fortunately, we have avoided major catastrophe but we shouldnt be shocked if a pitcher were to be killed by a hit ball. We have just been lucky so far. I am a firm believer that we should never wait for someone to be killed to make a change. Baseball already did that once. Base coaches wear helmets now because a minor league first base coach was hit in the head by a line drive and killed. If protecting pitchers is being considered then protect them. Lets not wait for a tragedy. It is currently optional for pitchers to wear the new protective headgear that was developed by MLB for this year. The feedback so far is that the hats look funny and are not overly comfortable. MLB needs to keep refining the protective hats to make them functional. This needs to be a priority for the Players Association as well. Protective hats for pitchers need to be made mandatory at the minor league level initially. Let the kids get comfortable with them so by the time they are big leaguers it is commonplace. Once the hat is advanced enough make it mandatory for major league pitchers to wear. There is no clock in baseball but we need to put a clock on this. Every pitch thrown puts a pitcher at risk. Please hurry. 4) With the second and third opening days approaching for Major League Baseball it is time to make predictions. Here is how I see the American League:AL East AL Central AL West 1) Boston Detroit Oakland2) Tampa Bay* Kansas City** LA Angels3) Baltimore Cleveland Texas4) Blue Jays Minnesota Seattle5) New York Yankees Chicago Houston * first Wild Card ** second Wild Card AL CHAMPION: Oakland As defeat Detroit AL AWARDS AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera, DetroitAL MVP: Justin Verlander, DetroitAL Rookie of Year: Yordano Ventura, Kansas CityAL Manager of Year: Ned Yost, Kansas City Here are my predictions for the NL:NL East NL Central NL West1) Washington St Louis LA Dodgers 2) Atlanta** Milwaukee SF Giants*3) NY Mets Cincinnati Arizona4) Philadelphia Pittsburgh Colorado5) Miami Chicago San Diego* first Wild Card ** second Wild Card NL CHAMPION: Washington Nationals defeat Dodgers NL AWARDS NL MVP: Freddie Freeman, Atlanta BravesNL CY Young: Stephen Strasburg, Washington NationalsNL Rookie of Year: Gregory Polanco, Pittsburgh Pirates Manager of the Year: Mike Matheny, St Louis Cardinals WORLD SERIES CHAMPION: Washington Nationals defeat Oakland As LET THE GAMES BEGIN…..PLAY BALL!!! Perrish Cox 49ers Jersey . The Spurs announced on Monday that they have re-signed Matt Bonner. Andy Lee 49ers Jersey . Moore-Towers, 21, of St. Catharines, Ont., and Moscovitch, 29, of Toronto teamed up in 2009 and became Canadian pairs champions in 2011. They were runners-up at the national championships the past two years.LONDON -- Wayne Rooney scored for the first time in two months with a strike of the quality that justifies his lucrative new Manchester United contract as the floundering English Premier League champions won 2-0 at Crystal Palace on Saturday. The striker volleyed in Uniteds second, shortly after Robin Van Persies second-half penalty, a day after ending the uncertainty over his United future by signing a new deal that could earn him more than $140 million until 2019. Such a contract would seem to be beyond the reach of Palace, whose fans appeared to throw coins at Rooney, who flicked them back in their direction. "Its been more or less agreed for a month now and it was just the fine details that needed sorting," said Rooney, who pushed unsuccessfully to leave United last year. "I wanted to get it done as quickly as possible and thankfully its behind me and I can concentrate on my football." United needs Rooney, with just 12 goals this season having missed much of January through injury, to be more prolific for it to have any chance of qualifying for the Champions League next season. Although United ended a three-game winless run and climbed to sixth, David Moyes side was eight points from Liverpool in the fourth Champions League place having played an extra game. And this was a victory against a Palace side that might have sprung from the bottom in recent months with a recovery but was still only two points above the relegation zone. "We moved the ball well, maybe could have created more chances but overall we were in control of the game and once we got one goal we knew wed get another and see the game out," Rooney said. Looking at the team sheet, this is not a United side that should have taken until midway through the second half to score, or be in such a lowly position. The forward line in south London saw Rooney working in tandem with Van Persie and January signing Juan Mata. Uniteds teenage midfield dynamo, Adnan Jaanuzaj, did put the ball in the net early on but it was ruled out because he appeared to control a pass from Van Persie with his arm. Jerry Rice 49ers Jersey. . And as United struggled in front of goal initially, goalkeeper David de Gea was called into action to block Marouane Chamakhs header. Uniteds Marouane Fellaini, starting his first game since December following wrist and groin injuries, squandered a good chance when he missed the target with the net in sight. It was a dangerous start to the second half by Palace, with De Gea tipping over when under pressure from Glenn Murrays corner, and saving low from Jason Puncheon after Ince sliced over. United looked unable to score, but the breakthrough came after Chamakh, the forward who was back in defence, tripped left back Patrice Evra. From the spot, Van Persie sent Julian Speroni the wrong way to make it 12 goals for the season in the 62nd minute. Suddenly United looked a more confident attacking unit, with Mata setting up Fellaini for a low shot that was saved. But Palace also came close to levelling, with Mile Jedinak playing in Cameron Jerome who fought off defenders to force De Gea into a low diving save with almost his first touch since coming off the bench. Uniteds anxieties were eased by Rooney scoring his first goal since Dec. 26, powering the ball in after Evras cross bobbled over to him, unmarked, in a prime central position. "Sometimes when Wayne has not got time to think, he does things naturally," Moyes said. "He has natural talent and the technique and ability to get his weight behind the ball and strike it cleanly. He works really hard for the team and some of his passing was fantastic." It left Moyes relieved that he prevented Rooney from defecting to a rival. "He would have been too difficult to replace," Moyes said. "There arent enough top players out there that you can get cheaply or easily. Waynes one of them, one of the top players." ' ' ' |
