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DUNEDIN, FLA. — John Gibbons said Jeremy Accardo is his setup man if closer B.J. Ryan is healthy. J.P. Ricciardi would only say Accardo is in the mix.
The truth is, it will take a trade or serious injury for the Toronto Blue Jays to take Accardo out of a setup role, but who can blame general manager Ricciardi if he wants to poke and prod a few of his players?
For a team that is all but set, this is where you find controversy: Casey Janssen or Jesse Litsch as the fifth starter — it says here it has to be Janssen. Shannon Stewart or Reed Johnson in left field? No contest — Stewart.
And as Ricciardi stood on the field before what would turn out to be a rain-shortened game against a New York Yankees lineup that did more than whisper opening day, Ricciardi and his assistant, Tony LaCava, were asked about what happened to the days when the fight for available bench spots would be one of the best stories of the spring.
Related Information
- New York Mets
- New York Yankees
- Oakland Athletics
- Toronto Blue Jays
- Jeremy Accardo
- Buck Coats
- Casey Janssen
- Reed Johnson
- Jesse Litsch
- John McDonald
- B.J. Ryan
- Marco Scutaro
- Shannon Stewart
Ricciardi smiled and rubbed together the fingers of his left hand. Money, he was saying. Teams that have a lot of it can have a pricey bench.
They don't hold all-comers camps, any more. But Ricciardi also explained there are bench players in the game who understood they couldn't overvalue themselves at contract time, citing former Yankees catcher John Flaherty as an example. Instead of a young guy looking to crash the majors, most bench players are now veterans who are best served in small doses. An inning here, an inning there.
A hitter such as Jays outfielder Buck Coats can be flavour of the month in March, but in the end certainty is a virtue when you're looking for that small dose, because, as LaCava said: "You like to have an idea about what the battle plan is before you go into the battle."
Enter Marco Scutaro, who will be Gibbons's primary option off the bench in 2008. The 32-year-old Venezuelan started 38 games at shortstop, 33 at third base, 12 at second base and three in the outfield last year for the Oakland Athletics before being acquired in a trade for two Blue Jays minor-leaguers and signing a two-year, $2.65-million (U.S.) contract.
Scutaro is also one of the rare big-leaguers who still plays winter ball, so he's an exception to Gibbons's belief that a bench player needs 30 to 40 at-bats during spring training to be ready by opening day.
"There isn't a number that I think I need to be ready," Scutaro said. "For me, it doesn't take as long because, playing winter ball, I don't feel I need as much time. And I think it really is a matter of feel. It can work the other way, I guess, because you can feel you're ready and still go into a slump. But I think it's different for me than a player who hasn't played over the winter."
Most teams do not want their established players taking part in winter baseball. As a result, Puerto Rico's winter league shuttered itself after 69 years. But Scutaro said the Venezuelan league is fairly stable, largely because many of the country's young players still feel a nationalistic obligation.
"I really enjoy playing back home," Scutaro said. "But I understand why guys don't do it, with the guaranteed money they have now. I also understand that pitchers watch how many pitches they throw. I understand it's all a business. Still, I bet if you asked a Venezuelan player, they'd tell you they'd play winter ball if they could."
Late in the game, the ball finds players who are incapable of being in the majors. That's just the way it is. And Scutaro made his share of errors last season (14, all of them in the 80 games he played at either third base or at shortstop).
But Gibbons views Scutaro as a wise hand, somebody who won't try to exceed his limitations and who can play every position except catcher, and who will put the ball in play with more frequency than, say, John McDonald.
Scutaro hit .260 with seven home runs and 41 runs batted in, and it's clear Gibbons believes Scutaro is a better offensive weapon than McDonald.
"What makes him so good is that he can play shortstop," said Gibbons, whose first taste of the majors came with a New York Mets team that constructed its bench around a strict platoon of second basemen Tim Teufel and Wally Backman and filled in with Kevin Mitchell, Danny Heep and Howard Johnson — all manner of useful odds and ends orchestrated by Davey Johnson.
"A lot of guys can play the other infield positions, but few of them can also play shortstop."
And so the Blue Jays settle in to the daily push and pull of the Grapefruit League trying to force a little "creative tension" at some positions, and hoping for nothing of the sort in others.
Scutaro will happily oblige. The least sexy story in a camp full of unsexy stories. The way it's supposed to be.
