Toronto is Ready for Some Baseball, Jays 25 Man Roster Revealed

The Toronto Blue Jays have released their 25 man roster ahead of opening night Tuesday against Cleveland.

The roster includes an eight man bullpen and lists slugger Edwin Encarnacion as the teams DH, but expect him to get the majority of the starts at first base.

Third baseman Brett Lawrie will begin the season on the DL after suffering a strained rib while playing for team Canada at the World Baseball Classic.  Lawrie could return to the line up as early as Saturday if all goes well with his recovery.

Last seasons National League Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey will start the opener for the Jays followed by Brandon Morrow on Wednesday.

Toronto manager John Gibbons is aware of the expectations surrounding this years edition of the Blue Jays saying

“Really you can’t go anywhere without hearing something about the Blue Jays, That’s why we’re excited to get this going. Opening days are always exciting.”

“So we’d like to get that behind us, hopefully get a win out of the way and then move on from there and then play some regular baseball. But we’re excited. We’re ready, we’ve got a good team, we’ll see what happens.”

Toronto is trying to put last seasons injury-plagued 73-89 fourth place finish in the AL East behind them, and with the new faces come high expectations.

Toronto’s payroll has ballooned to north of US$125 million, good for eighth in the world of major league baseball. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Yankees are both over $220 million.

Starting Pitchers

Mark Buehrle, R.A. Dickey, J.A. Happ, Josh Johnson, Brandon Morrow

Bullpen Pitchers:

Brett Cecil, Steve Delabar, Casey Janssen, Jeremy Jeffress, Aaron Loup, Darren Oliver, Esmil Rogers, Sergio Santos

Catchers:

J.P. Arencibia, Henry Blanco

Infileders:

Mark DeRosa, Maicer Izturis, Adam Lind, Jose Reyes

Outfielders:

Jose Bautista, Emilio Bonifacio, Melky Cabrera, Rajai Davis, Colby Rasmus

Designated Hitter:

Edwin Encarnacion