FanHouse CaseyJanssen

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Toronto Blue Jays.

There's no team in baseball in a worse spot than the Blue Jays. They've had to contend with the megapowers in New York and Boston for years, watching their competitive payroll and over-.500 seasons amount to nothing more than third-place finish after-third place finish. No matter how much they have spent and how much they have won, it has never been enough to catch the Red Sox or the Yankees.

From now until the regular season begins, Fantasy Flings is where you'll find interesting story lines about your favorite teams from Spring Training. If there is a position battle, a nagging injury, a comeback story or a youngster making a surge for the "big club" we'll let you know the fantasy implications.

Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox rotation is still in flux. The four givens are Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jon Lester and Tim Wakefield. The race for the fifth spot has pretty much been narrowed down to two; Brad Penny and Justin Masterson. Most feel the job will be Penny's, but Masterson is still being kept on a starter's schedule until Penny comes out and proves that he can pitch well enough to hold the spot down. Penny pitches today, and Masterson goes in a minor league game on Thursday. Both starts are crucial to these two pitchers and whoever wins this job will see his fantasy value rise.

Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.

Meet the ...
Team about to lose one of the best pitchers in baseball. Let's face it, with the economy in the tank for the rest of this calendar year, major league teams will be forced to cut costs. Roy Halladay makes a lot of money. The Blue Jays are going to be the worst team in the AL East (yes, they really will). People will stop attending games, and the Jays are going to have to deal him for about 30 cents on the dollar.

With the number of injuries that have occurred this year -- including, lest you have forgotten, a twisted testicle and some delightful anal fissures -- that I'm starting to think that Carl Pavano may have something to do with it. He must have spent his winter traveling 'round the country, casting his plague upon innocent healthy players.

The latest in the LONG list of players affected by the Pavano Pandemic is Jays pitcher Casey Janssen, who was diagnosed with a torn labrum. He'll be undergoing shoulder surgery next week and will be out nursing his injury for the entire season. The Jays were planning to use him either in the rotation as the fifth starter or in the bullpen if they decided to go with Jesse Litsch in that spot. It's quite a bust for the Jays, as Casey is only 26 and had a breakout year in 2007, with an ERA of just 2.35 in 72+ innings pitched.

Injuries have been the bane of the Jays' existence for the last couple years, and I'd imagine that the team and fans alike are getting sick to death of all the bust-ups. If they could only remain healthy they could put themselves into a position to at the very least threaten the Yanks/Sox in the division or perhaps make a run at the wildcard spot, but yet again it's looking like a long shot.

Thanks a lot, Pavano.

It's become an accepted fact that it takes one year of rehab before a pitcher can even start entertaining thoughts of returning to the mound after Tommy John Surgery. Based on that, we shouldn't have expected to hear anything about B.J. Ryan until a month or so into the season, with his actual return to the big leagues sometime around the All-Star break. There are exceptions to every rule, though, and Ryan might be the exception to this one.

He's already had two bullpen sessions and will throw off a mound on Saturday, Toronto's official first day for pitchers and catchers. He's had no physical setbacks and, if all goes well, could be ready to contribute on Opening Day. That would be astounding and, probably, a little bit unwise. If Ryan is looking strong when camp breaks, it would probably behoove the team to send him to extended spring training for the first month. Better to be sure of his health when he steps back into the closer's role.

The Jays got decent work out of Jeremy Accardo when Ryan went down last season so they wouldn't lose much by waiting. A healthy Ryan would have a beneficial domino effect on the Jays staff. Accardo would move into a setup role, joining Scott Downs and Casey Janssen in what should be an excellent bullpen.