Fragen und Vorschläge » e man but skipper Ron Washington

Imagine if you will a Jays team starting this season with Roberto Alomar at second base, Joe Carter in right field, Devon White in centre, John Olerud at first and Paul Molitor at DH. Not to mention a pitching staff, that includes Dave Stewart, Juan Guzman, Pat Hentgen and up-and-comers like Woody Williams, Al Leiter and Todd Stottlemyre. This team would also have three young prospects who could be the foundation of a great team for years to come in Carlos Delgado, Shawn Green and Alex Gonzalez. You might already be printing the World Series tickets. Well it didnt exactly turn out that way for the 1994 Blue Jays. They did win six of their first seven games and got off to decent 12-6 start including a six-game win streak. However it didnt last, and by the time the strike came in mid-August that led to the eventual shutdown of the season, they had faded to 55-60 and the dream of a three-peat gone with it. I painted that little scenario to show you how difficult it can be to predict division winners, let alone World Series champs. The 1994 Jays had most of the key components back from the team that had repeated in 1993, including having WAMCO intact as the top five hitters in the lineup (White, Alomar, Molitor, Carter and Olerud). There were three missing pieces. Closer Duane Ward had injured his shoulder in the offseason and was never really able to come back and be the dominant bullpen stopper he had been. Shortstop Tony Fernandez and left fielder Rickey Henderson had been allowed to leave in the offseason as well. Still, there was more than enough talent for this team to contend. Darren Hall, a mere shadow of Ward took over as closer and recorded 17 saves. Veteran Dick Schofield played the bulk of the games at short and journeyman Mike Huff played left for the most part. I would submit the 94 Blue Jays had far more talent than the current Jays, yet they finished the abbreviated season five games under .500. You dont want to be a total buzz-kill about the 2014 Jays, because they do have talent. If they both stay healthy, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion are capable of hitting at least 40 homers. Melky Cabrera, sans back tumour, is looking more like he could have been batting champ with the Giants a couple of years ago. Jose Reyes, again when healthy, is one of the top shortstops in the game. Brett Lawrie could be on the cusp of developing into one of the top third basemen in the Majors, and this is a free agent contract year for Colby Rasmus, so the pressure is on for him to produce. In other words, the offence should be there. As it has been the past two seasons, pitching is the question. The starting rotation has to log enough innings to give a solid bullpen the chance to produce results for the entire season, not just the first half, after which they could fade from overuse. If Drew Hutchison is the real deal, and it looks as though he just might be, the top three in the rotation looks pretty decent, though you always worry about the inevitable age-related declines of veterans like R.A. Dickey ( 39) and Mark Buehrle (35). The question marks are the 4 and 5 starters. Brandon Morrow has to prove he can put together a dominant healthy season and finally realize his vast potential. As for Dustin McGowan, youd have to have a heart of stone not to be pulling for this guy, whos battled through injury after injury to finally crack the Opening Day roster for the first time since 2008. Top prospects Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman are waiting in the wings, but probably wont make significant contributions this season, unless there is another rash of injuries, or the Jays drop so far back, they just decide to go young. After calling the Jays to win 92 or 93 games a year ago and contend for a wild card spot, Im reluctant to make any kind of a call on where they will finish in 2014. But my gut tells me they will win 83 or 84 games and be battling for fourth with Baltimore or maybe even Boston. I really do hope Im wrong. Jays Elsewhere Not a really good well for Canadians in the Majors or ex-Jays. The Cubs released Canuck catcher George Kottaras, while Minnesota out-righted lefthander Scott Diamond of Guelph, Ontario to Triple "A" Rochester. Lefty Frank Viola, a Cy Young winner and World Series star in his days with the Twins, had a brief stint with the Jays near the end of his career. The now 53-year-old Viola is taking a leave of absence from his job as the Mets Triple "A" pitching coach at Las Vegas after undergoing open heart surgery. The man taking Violas place is Tom Signore, who was the Blue Jays Double "A" pitching coach at New Hampshire the past three years. So Signore will get to work with the Mets top pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard, whom he also had in the Blue Jays system before he was traded as part of the package for R.A Dickey. Former Jays righthander Shaun Marcum was sent to their minor league camp by Clevleand. Marcum, who was dealt to Milwaukee for Brett Lawrie, has seen his career hampered by injuries. Over eight years in the bigs, the 32-year-old Marcum has a 58-46 record with a 3.88 earned run average. The Indians are hoping he can battle his way back at some point this season. J.P Arencibia was hoping to get some significant playing time in Texas this season to re-establish his career. When the Rangers number one backstop Geovany Soto went down for 10-12 weeks with torn meniscus in his right knee, it looked as though J.P would be the man but skipper Ron Washington has been more impressed with Robinson Chirinos. So it appears J.P., at least for now, is stuck as the backup. One Jay having a good week, in fact a good spring, is catcher Yan Gomes. He appears to have won the number one job with Cleveland after the Indians moved Carlos Santana from catcher to third base. The Jays traded Gomes and veteran utility infielder Mike Aviles to the Indians for righthander Esmil Rogers in the previous offseason. Considering how Gomes has progressed and Rogers has faltered this spring, the Jays might like a mulligan on that one. Michael Deiter Jersey . It was just business as usual for the Thunder at home. Durant scored 32 points and the Thunder beat the Bulls 107-95 on Thursday night for their eighth straight win. Cheap Dolphins Jerseys . They find themselves trying to knock each other out in the Western Conference finals for the second straight year. The Blackhawks prevailed last year on their way to the Stanley Cup, and they have the early lead this time after taking the opener, 3-1. http://www.dolphinscheapjerseys.com/?tag...-wilkins-jersey. -- Brendan Leipsic had two goals and an assist and Nicolas Petan extended his point streak to 11 games as the Portland Winterhawks slipped past the Red Deer Rebels 5-4 on Saturday in Western Hockey League action. Discount Dolphins Jerseys Online . -- Floridas smothering defence returned to form just in time for the third-ranked Gators to keep their winning streak going. Wholesale Dolphins Jerseys Authentic . Spains victory rendered Frances 3-0 win against Finland meaningless as Spain needed just one point to secure passage to Brazil. Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema scored either side of Joona Toivios own-goal as France advanced to the playoff among the eight best second-place finishers.Ocala, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Ha Na Jang fired a 7-under 65 on Thursday and she jumped four strokes clear of the field with the second round of the season-opening Coates Golf Championship suspended by darkness. Jang, who qualified for the event on Saturday, completed 36 holes at 12-under- par 132. World No. 3 Stacy Lewis posted a 2-under 70 and she is alone in second place at minus-8 at Golden Ocala Golf and Equestrian Club. Lydia Ko, the second-ranked player in the world, shot 3-under 69 to move into a share of third place. She was joined there by Azahara Munoz (71) as well as Angela Stanford and Austin Ernst, who were still on the course when play was called for the day. Stanford completed 14 holes of her second round, while Ernst was through 13. Jessica Korda, who shared the first-round lead with Lewis and Munoz, managed an even-par 72. Korda is tied for seventh place with Na Yeon Choi (70). The first round was completed earlier Thursday after being suspended by darkness on Wednesday evening. There was also a 90-minute frost delay on Thursday morning. The second round will resume on Friday at 7:30 a.m. ET. Jang played the back nine first in round two and she dropped in back-to-back birdie chances from the 11th. Birdies at 14 and 16 moved her into the lead at minus-9. Around the turn, Jang continued to roll as she birdied the second and fourth. Her lone stumble came at the par-3 sixth. Jang quickly erased that mistake as she birdied the par-5 seventhh.dddddddddddd Another birdie at the ninth left her four clear of the field. I think today my (approach) shots were better. I hit some very nice iron shots today, said Jang, who is ranked 21st in the world. Lewis got off to a slow start as she had five pars and a bogey through six holes. She caught fire in the middle part of her round. The reigning LPGA Tour Player of the year birdied the par-5 seventh and made it two in a row with another birdie at the eighth to move to 7-under. After a pair of pars, Lewis birdied No. 11. She spun her third at the par-5 12th within a few feet and she kicked that in for birdie. Her momentum was halted at the 13th. Lewis missed the green with her approach shot and that led to a bogey, which dropped her to minus-8. She wrapped up her round with five pars in a row to end there. We shot some 66s yesterday and I think thats a great score on this golf course. The greens are just so tricky, theres not a lot of hole locations on a couple of the greens, you have to hit it to the right spot, Lewis stated. You can make some bogeys and worse pretty quick. Its just staying patient. NOTES: Jang has six wins on the Korean LPGA Tour, which she has competed on for the last five years ... Paula Creamer, who is tied for 16th, had a hole- in-one on the par-3 sixth ... With world No. 1 Inbee Park tied for 45th after 36 holes, Lewis and Ko both have a chance to take over the top spot in the world rankings with a victory. 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