The next stop on the non roster invitee trail i
s to a place north of the border. Ah, Toronto. A team that has been an after thought in the AL East for years and who will uncertainty be again this year.
I don’t know how Toronto will even find a way to be on national tv at all this season as they traded Roy Halladay and with the exception of Aaron Hill they feature a roster of 30-plus guys being paid too much and some unproven talent.
I’ve found myself being much more cynical in the non roster invitee reports this year. Of course in fairness with Toronto I’m basically writing about Joey Gathright. Kind of hard to talk positive with that type of energy in the room.
Had I had a more exciting player or one I actually didn’t dislike a lot I probably would have talked about how the fourth and fifth outfielder, as well as back up catcher and even a rotation spot or a few bull pen spots are for anyones taking. Oh but this is Joey Gathright.
Gathright has a great chance of making the team because well… there are currently only five players to span across three outfield and a DH spot leaving roughly two openings on the team by my count. What’s worse is that Gathright may be one of the better options with the unimpressive Jose Bautista and youngster Travis Snider at the corners there’s a great chance Gathright (perhaps based on the luck of not being the worst of the three at some point) may work himself into the role of a platoon or even a starting gig for some part of the year.
Gathright also gives the Blue Jays their best option in center field to replace Vernon Wells from time to time. I’d bash Wells but really everyone and their mom thought the guy was great when he was given that contract so you can’t completely blame the Blue Jays now departed front office.
Gathright didn’t play much last season between Chicago and Boston because really he’s just not that good and the guys ahead of him were at least expected to outproduce him. He still offers great speed on the base-paths, is a decent defensive option at all three outfield options and since he was signed on a minor league deal he’s may actually be the best outfielder on the Blue Jays dollar for dollar.
Ouch!
I don’t see Gathright getting 300 at-bats so you won’t need to gouge your eyes out with a fork but 200 is another story should Snider and Bautista continue to be awful.
So there you have it. Joey Gathright. I tried not to say too many mean things but seriously what else is there to say?
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Non-Roster Invitees | ||||||
| Pitchers | B/T | Ht | Wt | DOB | |||
| 36 Lance Broadway | R/R | 6-3 | 195 | 08/20/83 | |||
| 67 Willie Collazo | L/L | 5-8 | 180 | 11/07/79 | |||
| 4 Kyle Drabek | R/R | 6-0 | 185 | 12/08/87 | |||
| 72 Daniel Farquhar | R/R | 5-10 | 170 | 02/17/87 | |||
| 71 Shawn Hill | R/R | 6-2 | 225 | 04/28/81 | |||
| 33 Zach Jackson | L/L | 6-5 | 220 | 05/13/83 | |||
| 64 Chad Jenkins | R/R | 6-4 | 225 | 12/22/87 | |||
| 66 Rommie Lewis | L/L | 6-5 | 230 | 09/02/82 | |||
| 69 Steven Register | R/R | 6-1 | 180 | 05/16/83 | |||
| 73 Zachary Stewart | R/R | 6-2 | 205 | 09/28/86 | |||
| Catchers | B/T | Ht | Wt | DOB | |||
| 9 J.P. Arencibia | R/R | 6-0 | 215 | 01/05/86 | |||
| 62 Travis d’Arnaud | R/R | 6-2 | 195 | 02/10/89 | |||
| 12 Brian Jeroloman | L/R | 5-11 | 200 | 05/10/85 | |||
| 75 Matt Liuzza | R/R | 5-11 | 225 | 02/03/84 | |||
| Infielders | B/T | Ht | Wt | DOB | |||
| 76 David Cooper | L/L | 6-0 | 200 | 02/12/87 | |||
| 77 Brad Emaus | R/R | 5-11 | 210 | 03/28/86 | |||
| 68 Jesus Merchan | R/R | 6-0 | 185 | 03/26/81 | |||
| 46 Brett Wallace | L/R | 6-2 | 205 | 08/26/86 | |||
| Outfielders | B/T | Ht | Wt | DOB | |||
| 1 Joey Gathright | L/R | 5-10 | 185 | 04/27/81 | |||
| 20 Adam Loewen | L/L | 6-6 | 235 | 04/09/84 | |||
| 70 Chris Lubanski | L/L | 6-3 | 210 | 03/24/85 | |||
| 74 Jorge Padilla | R/R | 6-1 | 215 | 08/11/79 | |||
| 7 Jeremy Reed | L/L | 6-0 | 210 | 06/15/81 | |||
