Pitchers. Catchers. Reported.

Even though it’s -100 and we have snow up to our armpits, pitchers and catchers have officially reported to Dunedin, Florida. Halle-effin’-lujah.
Pitchers


Daniel Norris has the potential to be a big star. He has a perfect storm of idiosyncrasies: the full and lush beard, the van living,  the surfing, the shaving with a hatchet and the french press coffee. This all comes together to appeal to the hipster contingent of baseball fans who enjoy beards and french press coffee, who have fantasies about surfing and living in vans. The fact that Norris plays baseball for a living is just icing, really.  He’s also a good looking son of a gun, so pretty he might make a few uncomfortably tingly.

John Lott of the National Post reports that the beard was shaved off in some sort of ritual near his van that Sportsnet filmed on a beach.

Mark Buehrle is enjoyable to watch work. He works so quickly, he almost lulls the hitters into complacency. While he’s practicing this hypnosis, he’s cutting it in, he’s cutting it away and he’s making little adjustments. Buehrle’s discussion of the proposed pitch clock is interesting. Buehrle is even willing to forgo the warm up song pre-game, which is funny because his warm up is the least elaborate of just about anyone I’ve seen live. Dude basically rolls out, long tosses for about 5 minutes and is ready to go. Maybe his warm up is more elaborate behind the scenes, but he definitely appears chill and minimal. Even his warm up song is the quickest. And I love the hell out of the Mike Judge directed video for it.

  

He had a great second half his first season and a great first half of his second season as a Jay, so maybe he can pull it together. Buehrle discussed the changes in the clubhouse and the oft-discussed idea of "chemistry":

“It seems like guys get comfortable in one spot,” Buehrle said. “I won’t say they don’t try, but [it might be helpful] just to change up the attitude and bring in some different guys. So, will it work out? Only time will tell.”


Catchers


Pictures of Josh Thole catching Dickey on the first day of camp made people rumble a little bit. Of course, there is going to be rumbling but let’s remember it was the first day of camp and the catching appeared to be more of a long toss situation. Martin was also seen selecting his knuckleball glove (balle papillion, as he’d say.) Because we have Martin, it means we get lots of baseball articles in French. Martin posted one on his Facebook page that talked about his relationship with Bautista.

Articles in French mean you get Bautista descriptions in French. Here's Martin describing what he saw when they played together in 2001:

«J’ai été impressionné," a indiqué le Québécois. "J’ai vu un jeune homme, il était un peu plus vieux que moi, mais j’ai vu ses habiletés. J’ai constaté son incroyable vitesse au bâton et son bras canon. Puis, il a joué au champ centre, un peu au troisième but et il était aussi notre releveur numéro 1. Il lançait des balles à 96 milles à l’heure et je me disais: ''ce gars est incroyable''.

Translate? "I was so impressed. I saw this young man, a bit older than me, but I saw his abilities. I saw his amazing bat speed and his canon of an arm. Plus, he played centre and third base, he was also our number one reliever. He pitched 96 mph and I said to myself  'This guy is amazing."

You also get translations of Bautista in French:

«Je suis heureux d’avoir mon Batman. Je ne peux pas dire mon Robin, puisqu’il est au même niveau que moi, peut-être même meilleur. Ce n’est rien contre mes coéquipiers, ils sont d’excellents joueurs. Cependant, prendre la parole au sein d’une équipe n’est pas quelque chose qui est fait pour tout le monde.»

Yes, you can see he called Russell Martin his Batman.

The man not described as anyone's Batman is Dioner Navarro. Navarro's been pretty vocal about his desire to be traded.


Which, fair enough. I just don't want him dumped for spare parts.

Neither pitcher nor catcher, Josh Donaldson showed up early to camp and is already trying to make friends.


“What I’m trying to do now is build relationships with these guys, because ultimately I think that’s important, and I think that’s what helps win games,” Donaldson said during his first media scrum Tuesday. “At the end of the day, I want the guy next to me to know that I believe in him just as much as I believe in myself.”

Maybe they can just have a whole Justice League of happy clubhouse guys.

All My Friends are Leaving



The big story over Twitter this morning was Bob Elliot's very candid interview with now ex-Jay Adam Lind. I once asked Bob Elliot who was the best guy to talk to in the clubhouse, and he indicated (though didn't name, in a very Bob Elliot roundabout way) that Adam Lind was the guy. I can see why in this interview. The guy gives good quotes.

Lind played 953 games with the Blue Jays. And now he's a Brewer.

“There might be a few more smiles with Colby gone.” That was a widely tweeted quote. I don't know if this was meant to say that Colby was a malcontent. But rather that the dude is a bit of an Eeyore. The other choice quote was this one: "They haven’t changed the culture of the clubhouse. They’re my friends, but the guys who still run it are still there. Jose Bautista is the voice among position players and Mark Buehrle runs the starting pitchers."

But Batman! Yeah, I dunno. Frankly, I'm ok with Bautista being the "voice" because he's played the best. But I'm not in the clubhouse. I'm not one of these dudes. 

An unnamed pitcher texted Lind about the Lawrie trade, “All my friends are leaving.” I'm going to guess Cecil.

His best Jays buddy was Travis Snider. “He was real, genuine, cared about my family and myself,” said Lind. “We had some talks on a deeper level.”

On Roy Halladay: “He had a tremendous workout ... plus he was good.” That always helps.

And Lind likes Scott Rolen (as he should.)

On Aaron Sanchez: “We didn’t have a lot of home-grown guys come up. He’s our best organizational player I’ve ever seen.”

Notice he still said "our". All my friends are leaving.


Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair.