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Toronto Blue Jays General Manager Alex Anthopoulos anointed Casey Janssen as the team’s closer should he remain healthy when the team breaks camp next week.
Janssen is recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, but has been dominant and pain free in his last two outings and seems poised to be on the opening day roster. Janssen took over the closer role last season when Sergio Santos went down with a season ending injury. Janssen was effective last season mopping up 22 games for the Jays while posting a 2.84 earned run average slamming the door on the opposition.
It was thought that Santos may trump Janssen for ninth inning duties once healthy, however, Anthopoulos confirmed Santos will set-up Janssen in the 8th inning role while he still works on his control.
Santos is also recovering from a season ending injury that saw Santos sidelined after only five innings pitched in 2012. Santos will work off the rust from the set-up role poised to snatch up the closer role should Janssen falter or suffer an injury setback.
The Blue Jays bullpen is shaping up nicely with Janssen, Santos and the likes of Darren Oliver and Steve Delabar holding down the fort in the 7th inning. The pen should be much improved from a disastrous 2012.
Whether it’s Janssen or Santos closing out games for the Blue Jays, it’s a good problem to have not one but two proven major league closers in the bullpen motivating one another to perform night in and night out.
Clayton Richer covers the Toronto Blue Jays for Rant Sports. Follow and interact with him on Twitter at @MLBHotCorner.
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