Mulliniks’ Moustache #11 – First Week Musings (10 Things to Think About)

Just a few things I’ve noticed now that we’re a full week into the season:

1. Much as we thought to begin with, the much-maligned starting rotation seems to be the Achilles Heel of this team. The good starts have been pretty great, especially Mark Buehrle’s first and RA Dickey’s second starts of the year, but the still-sluggish offense hasn’t been able to cover the sub-par starts thus far (compounded by the absence of Jose Reyes and slow starts by both Edwin Encarnacion and Brett Lawrie).

2. I’ve been super-impressed with Melky Cabrera’s quick start right out of the gate. Hopefully he keeps it up all season. Just imagine if he was able to get the game-winning hit at yesterday’s game, with chants of “MEL-KY! MEL-KY!” raining down from the 34,067 fans in attendance. Fans looking for an early-season hero would’ve found one pretty easily after that. Oh well.

Mulliniks’ Moustache #9 – Toronto Blue Jays 2014 Opening Day Lineup

For better or for worse, below is your Opening Day 25-man roster for the 2014 Toronto Blue Jays.

Starting Pitchers

RHP R.A. Dickey

RHP Drew Hutchison

LHP Mark Buehrle

RHP Brandon Morrow

RHP Dustin McGowan

Bullpen

RHP Casey Janssen

RHP Steve Delabar

RHP Sergio Santos

LHP Aaron Loup

LHP Brett Cecil

RHP Esmil Rogers

RHP Todd Redmond

RHP Jeremy Jeffress

Starting Players

C Dioner Navarro

1B Edwin Encarnacion

2B Ryan Goins

SS Jose Reyes

3B Brett Lawrie

LF Melky Cabrera

CF Colby Rasmus

RF Jose Bautista

DH Adam Lind

Bench

INF Maicer Izturis

OF Moises Sierra

C Josh Thole

(This was straight up stolen from torontosun.com http://www.torontosun.com/2014/03/26/your-2014-blue-jays-roster)

Mulliniks’ Moustache #3 – 2014 Blue Jays Season Preview

It’s every baseball fans’ favourite time of year - Spring Training is on the horizon*! Teams are taking shape, optimism abounds and everyone is in first place! Now is an opportune time to look ahead at what I expect from the Toronto Blue Jays in 2014.

In a word? Not much.

Shut up. I know that’s two words.

One small proviso, though: There is an almost microscopic kernel of optimism nestled firmly in my medulla oblongata that has me excited for the upcoming season. You may be asking yourself: “Why would this dimwit be optimistic?” Well that’s a great question, and here’s my answer: the 2014 Blue Jays are, essentially, the 2013 Blue Jays**, who were a near-consensus pick to not only make the playoffs, but to also win the World Series, and the team that played most of last season was decimated by injuries. If a few things go well, really well, and everyone stays reasonably healthy, they have a chance!

Without further adieu, below is my in-depth analyses of the 2014 Toronto Blue Jays.***