<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>With the deck once again stacked against them, as it always is in the American League East, the Blue Jays head south next week to train for what has to be considered a make-or-break season. Absent from the AL playoffs for 13 consecutive seasons, it's possible the statute of limitations might run out on the current Jays administration if it fails a 14th consecutive time. A year ago, the Jays went to training camp in Dunedin, Fla., buoyed by their second-place finish in 2006, sneaking past the Boston Red Sox. They felt they had in place a roster capable not only of hanging with the New York Yankees and Red Sox, but one that could surpass them. That dream died a quick death as the team sustained one medical emergency after another in 2007, starting almost on the opening day of camp. By the middle of May, with Brandon League, B.J. Ryan and Reed Johnson on the shelf, a starting rotation in disarray, and an offence in serious underachievement mode, the Jays already had fallen so far behind the streaking Red Sox as to make the post-season out of reach. By season's end, virtually every significant player in the Blue Jay locker room -- from Ryan to Roy Halladay to Johnson, to Gustavo Chacin, to Vernon Wells, to Lyle Overbay, to A.J. Burnett, to Gregg Zaun, to Troy Glaus -- had spent at least one stint on the disabled list and some of them much longer. The hangover is still being felt as the Jays gather for the start of their 2008 camp. It opens officially on Feb. 16. "My biggest concern is how we're going to be able to handle injuries," general manager J.P. Ricciardi said. "It's a depth issue and it's something that every team has to deal with. Our issues are the same as everybody else's." Well, not quite. Everybody except the Yankees and Red Sox, who can still spend their way out of a jam and happen to reside in the same division. For the Jays, the trickle-down effect that will determine how the opening day lineup is constructed begins and ends with Ryan. The closer is coming off Tommy John surgery on his left elbow last May. He may or may not be ready to start the season in April. A gloomier estimate might place his return as late as June. "We think he's going to be ready," Ricciardi said. "But you never know until you go through the process. If he's ready to go on opening day then it has a big effect on how the rest of our pitching staff comes together. "With Ryan, we build the bullpen in a different way." If Ryan is slow coming around, you can expect a bullpen built around Jeremy Accardo as closer and once again Casey Janssen as the setup man. Scott Downs, who recently signed a three-year contract, will be the one certainty as the situational lefty. If Ryan is ready to go, then Accardo will set up and Janssen is probably the frontrunner for the fifth spot in the starting rotation, ahead of Jesse Litsch and Chacin. That rotation spot represents virtually the only open competition of training camp. Chacin is coming off shoulder surgery and has made only 22 starts the past two years. "As far as Gus is concerned we're going to be optimistic," Ricciardi said. "But he has missed a whole year and it's tough to be able to compete without that repetition." One thing that is different this year is that there is some certainty within the starting rotation that wasn't there a year ago. When camp opened in 2007, there was Roy Halladay, A.J. Burnett and a succession of question marks. Veterans Tomo Ohka and John Thomson failed to fill the needs and Chacin was quickly on the DL. Victor Zambrano made a surprise run to grab a spot after undergoing reconstructive elbow surgery the previous August, but his candle burnt out quickly before heading back to the DL.</div> Source: The Toronto Sun
