PITTSBURGH – Its fitting Marcus Stroman is taking Brandon Morrows place on the Blue Jays 40-man roster. Akeem Dent . A top pitching prospect, one who the ball club is pinning some of its future hopes, takes the spot of a veteran who once was viewed as a future ace but who, to this point, hasnt realized his potential and may never. Stroman threw his first major league pitch on Sunday, facing four Pirates hitters in the eighth inning of a 7-2 win less than 48 hours after Morrow may have thrown his last pitch for Toronto. That is if Morrow requires season-ending surgery on a torn tendon sheath at the base of his right index finger. Stromans just beginning. Morrow is in the final guaranteed year of his contract and if, for a second consecutive year, his season has ended shortly after it started, its hard to believe the cash-conscious Blue Jays would pick up the $10-million club option it holds on Morrow for 2015. The 23-year-old Stroman, whos started at the Double-A and Triple-A levels dating back to last season, will begin his big league career in the bullpen. Its an area in which Toronto needs help. Since the second game of an April 17 doubleheader in Minnesota, Blue Jays relievers have combined to allow 40 earned runs on 55 hits and 33 walks in 48 1/3 innings pitched. The bullpen has blown saves in six of the last 15 games. It was a strange scene for Stroman. He arrived at the PNC Park and almost immediately was whisked into manager John Gibbons office, where the skipper had called a meeting with his struggling relief corps. The rookie was saying all the right things."I honestly think we have one of the best bullpens in baseball between guys like Sergio (Santos), Casey (Janssen), (Brett) Cecil, everyone thats in the pen dominates," said Stroman. "Its just a rough patch theyre going through but I have no doubt in my mind that theyll get through it and get back to where they were last year."Stroman is coming off his most dominant start of his professional career. On Tuesday in Buffalo, pitching against Louisville, he struck out 10 Bats hitters and didnt allow a hit over six innings. During one stretch, Stroman retired 16-straight. In five starts for the Bisons, Stroman has two wins, a 1.69 ERA, a 1.088 WHIP and 36 strikeouts in 26 2/3 innings. The WHIP is even more impressive when you consider Stroman has allowed almost a hit per inning. Hes walked only six, a welcome walks per nine inning percentage for a staff whose 124 bases on balls is second most in the majors. "Fastball command has definitely been a lot better; Ive been keeping the ball down in the zone much better," said Stroman. "The development of my change has been huge and I just feel more comfortable, more settled in. That was my first big-league spring, I feel like I got ahead of myself sometimes, but I feel real comfortable, I feel like Im ready to go out there and pitch well." Stroman found out about his big league call up in an unusual way. The Bisons played an afternoon game on Saturday, which gave Stroman an opportunity to venture with his girlfriend to Niagara Falls for the evening. He thinks he missed a call from Blue Jays farm director Charlie Wilson and when he did check his phone, the first message he picked up was a congratulatory one from his mother. "Shes been saying for a little bit, Oh, Ive got a feeling," said Stroman. "Im like, Mom, relax." Stroman didnt sleep on Saturday night, he was excited, and he was out of bed by five oclock on Sunday morning to meet the car service driving him from Buffalo to Pittsburgh. "No sleep," he said. "But I feel wide awake." Stromans addition to the starting rotation seems like an eventuality but hes not going to dwell on his role. "Im just happy to be here," said Stroman. "Ive had experience in the bullpen, Im not worried about it, I feel like I can come in, thats something Ive done before in the past and thats something Im comfortable with, so its not like its completely new." Jacquizz Rodgers . Ricky Ray, Trevor Harris and Mitchell Gale all threw touchdown passes for Toronto as the Argos romped to a 41-23 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Thursday, the CFL pre-season finale for both teams. Dwight Lowery .Y. -- Dwane Casey admitted hed been concerned about his young Raptors team who had zero experience playing in close-out games -- what awaited them with the vastly-experienced Brooklyn Nets, and how theyd react.The Atlanta Thrashers bring a not-so-storied history with them to Winnipeg, reaching the playoffs once in 11 seasons, but even if there are some growing pains to be encountered by this young team, the fan base figures to be enthusiastic enough that it wont much matter in the short term. Shifting back to defence full-time last season, Dustin Byfuglien enjoyed a breakthrough campaign, leading all defencemen with 20 goals. Byfuglien scoring, combined with penalty minutes (93) and, for leagues that count them, an outrageous shots on goal total, make Byfuglien exceedingly valuable. Big Buff recorded 347 shots on goal last season, 83 more than Zdeno Chara, who ranked second among defencemen. If there is any concern about Byfuglien, it figures to be conditioning-related. While reports from Jets camp are positive in that regard, he did weigh 286 pounds when he was arrested in the summer and, for a player that reportedly gained 19 pounds during last season, that would seem to be too big to remain effective. As Byfuglien provides the power game, defencemen Tobias Enstrom is a more graceful presence, a smooth skater who makes good decisions with the puck and scored a career-high 51 points last season. Enstroms more modest penalty minute totals make him less valuable than Byfuglien for fantasy owners, but his tremendous power play work (28 PP points last season) gives him top-notch value nonetheless. 20-year-old Evander Kane showed nice progress in his second season, going from 26 points as a rookie to 43 last season. If he becomes more of a presence on the power play -- he had eight points with the man advantage last year -- Kane could be ready for another big jump in production. Through the first five seasons of his NHL career, Andrew Ladd was primarily a banger on the third line, who would contribute a little offensively, but wasnt counted on for a great deal of offence. Then last year in Atlanta, Ladd broke through, taking on more responsibility and leading the team with 29 goals and 59 points while playing more than 20 minutes per game. With a new long-term contract in hand, expectations will be decidedly higher for Ladd going forward. Rangy winger Blake Wheeler wasnt able to earn consistent playing time in Boston and has yet to surpass the 45 points he tallied as a rookie, but after arriving in Atlanta last season, Wheeler contributed 17 points in 23 games, while playing nearly 19 minutes a night. If the Jets can harness Wheelers rare size/speed combo, he could be a fixture on a scoring line. Goaltender Ondrej Pavelec missed the first several weeks after collapsing on opening night, but when he returned to action, he was outstanding, and had a 2.44 goals against average and .927 save percentage going into the All-Star break. At that point, the wheels fell off and Pavelec had a 3.33 goals against average and .883 save percentage that rest of the way. The potential that Pavelec exhibited in his first half performance is what makes the 24-year-old so intriguing. Bryan Little has moved back and forth from the wing to centre, so he does have more value if hes right wing eligible, but he produced a solid, if unspectacular, season in 2010-2011. Little may be more suited to deeper leagues ffor now, but still has room to grow offensively. Dezmen Southward. Veteran Nik Antropov struggled to 41 points last season, but it was understandable as he was coming back from offseason hip surgery. Antropov had put up at least 56 point in each of the previous three seasons, while playing 17-20 minutes a night, so if he can rebound to that form, hell have a chance to lead the Jets in scoring. The eighth pick in the 2010 draft, Alexander Burmistrov made the Thrashers out of camp and had a respectable rookie season, scoring 20 points in 74 games. If Burmistrov moves into the second-line centre spot, he should play more than the 13 minutes per game he received as a rookie and, logically, score more, but maybe not enough yet to generate fantasy interest. A couple of veterans coming in also have some offensive skills, though neither has played a prominent enough role to draw serious interest. Eric Fehr was an efficient goal-scorer on a per-minute basis in Washington, but last years 12:35 per game respresented a career high. Kyle Wellwood has been a fringe player for much of his career, though it looked like he could have been more when he scored 42 points in 48 games in 2006-2007 with Toronto. That was the last time Wellwood scored 40 points, so hes not going to hold draft-day appeal, but maybe hell be able to work his way into a scoring role with the Jets. The Jets are still growing and the potential of some of their young players makes them exciting, but they are still a team that appears to be a year or two of development away from having a legitimate shot at the postseason. Depth Chart - Winnipeg Jets LW C RW Andrew Ladd Bryan Little Blake Wheeler Evander Kane Alexander Burmistrov Nik Antropov Chris Thorburn Kyle Wellwood Eric Fehr Tanner Glass Patrice Cormier Jim Slater Carl Klingberg Ben Maxwell Spencer Machacek Kenndal McArdle Tim Stapleton Jason Gregoire D D G Tobias Enstrom Dustin Byfuglien Ondrej Pavelec Ron Hainsey Johnny Oduya Chris Mason Mark Stuart Zach Bogosian Peter Mannino Arturs Kulda Randy Jones Paul Postma Brett Festerling Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy Sports on Facebook. ' ' '
