Jays winter caravan stops in Toronto

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The Blue Jays kicked off the Canadian leg of their winter tour which will also take them to Calgary and Vancouver. It gives them a chance to meet and mingle with their fans and their friends in the media. The people who will remind them constantly they now have the longest playoff drought in the majors of 21 years and counting.

So Jose Bautista, are the Blue Jays going to make the playoffs this year?: “This is by far, the year that I feel like that’s the most attainable out of all the ones I’ve been here.”

R.A. Dickey: “I’m as excited as I was in 2013. We all know what happened in ’13.”

Yep. The Jays finished 5th in the east.

What Dickey feels will have the greatest impact, is the Jays’ ability to stay healthy. And when asked if he had any concerns about the bullpen: “Questions, maybe not concerns. The guys we have are incredibly capable. In a perfect world you’d like to see an addition in the back end.”

Perhaps someone like Ancaster off-season resident, John Axford?. A player who assistant general manager Andrew Tinnish told us he likes, but refused to comment-on further, as per the team’s policy on free agents.

And speaking of free agents, Jose Bautista could become one at the end of this season: “The thing I’m focussed on is how to win more games because we have such a good core. I don’t feel any sense of urgency.”

But there’s definitely a sense of urgency for Mississauga native Dalton Pompey, who played his first 17 major league games with the Jays last season and stands a good chance of becoming the team’s starting centre fielder: “If I didn’t have that experience, I would definitely be nervous. Obviously, this team is trying to contend, so I have to come in and play my part right away.”

The next time these Blue Jays will be back here at the Rogers Centre is April 13th. Opening day, when they host the Tampa Bay Rays.