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TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips answers three questions each week. This week, topics cover the Blue Jays rotation, the futures John Gibbons and Alex Anthopoulos, protecting pitchers and a bonus question on his predictions for the MLB playoffs. 1) With J.A. Happ heading to the DL, the Toronto Blue Jays have announced a starting rotation of R.A. Dickey, Drew Hutchison, Mark Buehrle, Brandon Morrow and Dustin McGowan. Should the Blue Jays feel confident with that group or even this early in the season, should they be looking outside the organization for an upgrade? Or should they have kept a prospect like Aaron Sanchez or Marcus Stroman with the big club? The Blue Jays are starting the season with exact rotation they should be using. Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman both need more development but at some point they may be called upon to help. Certainly there are big questions for three-fifths of the starters but there is definitely upside. RA Dickey is just a year removed from his NL Cy Young Award and is predictable and dependable. I cant believe I am saying that about a knuckleballer but it is true. Mark Buerhle is a more than serviceable innings-eater who gives his team a chance to win start after start. After these two though the questions are significant. Brandon Morrow has suffered injuries in each of the past two seasons after looking like a number one starter at times in 2012. Dustin McGowan is throwing in the mid-nineties and is working on a curve ball to go with his devastating slider, but he has thrown just 46 2/3 innings since 2008 because of recurrent shoulder injuries. Drew Hutchison hasnt pitched in the Major Leagues for the past year and a half due to Tommy John surgery but prior to that he looked like he could be a long-term answer for the rotation. Before the season begins players, front office personnel and fans close their eyes and dream about what could be. I can close my eyes and see RA Dickey commanding his dancing knuckler that will baffle hitter. I can envision Buerhle getting a ton of grounders and working quickly getting the powerhouse offense back in the dugout and scoring a ton of runs. I can picture Brandon Morrow rifling his fastball by the games biggest sluggers and logging a ton of strikeouts. I can imagine McGowan and Hutchison fulfilling the potential that they once had as well. It could happen just that way. But it probably wont. My experience is that the more questions you enter with the more things that will likely go wrong. There is a bunch of unpredictability in this rotation. Depth will be important. It is safe to assume that health will be an issue at some point because it has been an issue in the past. Esmil Rogers and Todd Redmond may make starts if necessary. But Alex Anthopolous is going to have to keep working the phones to look for upgrades. Early in the season other clubs arent typically trading good pitchers but he will need to be ready for when they do become available. So when you close your eyes and dream just hope it is not a nightmare. 2) Is manager John Gibbons on the hot seat with the Blue Jays? If the team is slow out of the gate again this year, will he be replaced? Are his and Alex Anthopouloss future tied together (if one goes, the other follows him out the door)? I dont think John Gibbons is on the hot seat during the season this year. I know there were big expectations last year but the collapse wasnt Gibbons fault. The starting rotation just fell apart on him as Morrow and Josh Johnson got hurt and Ricky Romero imploded. Jose Reyes injury crushed the offense early in the season and more injuries followed. The expectations are less this year than a year ago. It certainly behooves the Jays to get off to a good start so they can start to believe in themselves but Gibbons cant pitch for his team and the staff will be the key. I have never been a believer that managers and general managers are tied at the hip. The manager needs to look at the GM as his boss. Clearly Gibbons was brought back to the Jays because of his relationship with Anthopolous but if Anthopolous thinks a change needs to be made he will have to make it. If ownership gets to a point where they believe the roster is flawed and they decide to make a decision on the general manager it is unlikely Gibbons would survive a change in regime. Anthoplous can possibly survive the firing of Gibbons but I dont believe Gibbons would survive the firing of Anthopolous. As it stands today both the manager and general manager are on firm ground as they should be. They just need to be honest with themselves and their bosses about what the expectations are with the roster they have. The owners can hope to be competitive in the tough AL East but if they expect to win it then both Anthopolous and Gibbons are in trouble. This is a roster for which you can hope but not expect great things. 3) With Reds starter Aroldis Chapman and Rays starter Matt Moore both being hit in the head by comebackers to the mound in spring training, is it time for Major League Baseball and/or the players union to implement mandatory pitcher protection? It seems that pitchers have become more and more vulnerable over the past few seasons. Fortunately, we have avoided major catastrophe but we shouldnt be shocked if a pitcher were to be killed by a hit ball. We have just been lucky so far. I am a firm believer that we should never wait for someone to be killed to make a change. Baseball already did that once. Base coaches wear helmets now because a minor league first base coach was hit in the head by a line drive and killed. If protecting pitchers is being considered then protect them. Lets not wait for a tragedy. It is currently optional for pitchers to wear the new protective headgear that was developed by MLB for this year. The feedback so far is that the hats look funny and are not overly comfortable. MLB needs to keep refining the protective hats to make them functional. This needs to be a priority for the Players Association as well. Protective hats for pitchers need to be made mandatory at the minor league level initially. Let the kids get comfortable with them so by the time they are big leaguers it is commonplace. Once the hat is advanced enough make it mandatory for major league pitchers to wear. There is no clock in baseball but we need to put a clock on this. Every pitch thrown puts a pitcher at risk. Please hurry. 4) With the second and third opening days approaching for Major League Baseball it is time to make predictions. Here is how I see the American League:AL East AL Central AL West 1) Boston Detroit Oakland2) Tampa Bay* Kansas City** LA Angels3) Baltimore Cleveland Texas4) Blue Jays Minnesota Seattle5) New York Yankees Chicago Houston * first Wild Card ** second Wild Card AL CHAMPION: Oakland As defeat Detroit AL AWARDS AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera, DetroitAL MVP: Justin Verlander, DetroitAL Rookie of Year: Yordano Ventura, Kansas CityAL Manager of Year: Ned Yost, Kansas City Here are my predictions for the NL:NL East NL Central NL West1) Washington St Louis LA Dodgers 2) Atlanta** Milwaukee SF Giants*3) NY Mets Cincinnati Arizona4) Philadelphia Pittsburgh Colorado5) Miami Chicago San Diego* first Wild Card ** second Wild Card NL CHAMPION: Washington Nationals defeat Dodgers NL AWARDS NL MVP: Freddie Freeman, Atlanta BravesNL CY Young: Stephen Strasburg, Washington NationalsNL Rookie of Year: Gregory Polanco, Pittsburgh Pirates Manager of the Year: Mike Matheny, St Louis Cardinals WORLD SERIES CHAMPION: Washington Nationals defeat Oakland As LET THE GAMES BEGIN…..PLAY BALL!!! Air Max 97 Günstig . Tony Parker had 33 points and nine assists and San Antonio never trailed in a resounding 116-92 victory over Portland, bullying the younger Trail Blazers in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. Günstige Air Max 97 Schweiz . In the days leading up to the draft, TSN.ca and TSN Radio basketball analyst Duane Watson looks at some of the names that will be headlining the event. Tonight, Michigans Nik Stauskas of Mississauga, Ontario. http://www.airmax97schweiz.ch/ . Groves signed with Cleveland as an unrestricted free agent last year after a season with Arizona. He was in the linebacker rotation and had a sack in the season opener against Miami. Air Max 97 Günstig Kaufe . According to Dave Stubbs of The Montreal Gazette, preliminary talks have begun between Markov - an unrestricted free agent this summer - and general manager Marc Bergevin. Air Max 97 Günstig Herren .ca. Kerry, In Mondays Habs/Bruins game, there were three questionable/brutal calls against the Habs late in the game - Tomas Plekanec, then Douglas Murray, then Brendan Gallagher.PHILADELPHIA -- For once, Zack Wheeler was able to smile after a start. The rest of the Mets were pretty happy, too. Wheeler struck out nine in 6 1-3 innings and Chris Young hit a two-run homer to lead New York to a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night in the opener of a rare five-game series. Wheeler (2-5) looked nothing like the pitcher who entered with a 4.63 ERA and one win in 10 starts this season. Mixing a fastball that hit the high 90s and a slow, knee-buckling breaking ball, the right-hander retired eight of the first 10 batters via strikeout. Wheeler had sent down 14 straight batters until Marlon Byrd lofted the first pitch he saw with one out in the seventh over the wall in right for his seventh homer. That was the end of the evening for Wheeler, who matched his season high in innings while giving up the lone run and four hits with no walks. "It feels really good, obviously," Wheeler said. "I can actually smile after a start now. I knew I had it today. I could locate all my pitches. Its easy when you can locate all your pitches and everythings working." Mets manager Terry Collis said Wheeler "pretty much took control of the game. He really was throwing well. Tonight he dominated this game." The Mets, who opened an 11-game road trip, matched a season best with their third straight victory while beating the Phillies for the sixth straight time at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies set a season high with 15 strikeouts against four Mets pitchers. "Wheeler had real good stuff and we just couldnt pull the trigger on his fastball," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. "We couldnt get anything going." The series originally was scheduled for four games, but the teams will make up their April 30 rainout on Monday, which originally was a day off for both teams. Jenrry Mejia struck out the side in the ninth for his fifth save in as many chances. Mejia hasnt allowed an earned run in nine relief outings since being moved to the bullpen on May 12 after making seven starts. "Thhe entire pitching tonight.dddddddddddd. Youre just sitting in the dugout saying, Wow!" Collins said. "Good stuff, good location, really a well-pitched game." David Buchanan (1-1), who was making his second career start in place of injured left-hander Cliff Lee (15-day DL, left elbow), left after giving up four runs -- three earned -- and seven hits with two strikeouts and walks. The righty earned the victory in his major league debut with a five-inning, two-run outing in Saturdays 5-3 win over the Dodgers. Young, who entered with three hits in his last 35 at-bats, put the Mets in front 3-0 with a drive to left in the fourth. Both Collins and Young hope its a sign of better things to come for the outfielder, who entered batting .220. "Hes got to get on track, and the home run was really big for him," Collins said. "Hes hit some balls hard with nothing to show for it, so I think tonights a big game." Said Young, "I felt like I was aggressive all night. I felt good about the pitches I did swing at, even the outs I had. Thats a good start. Today was probably the best day I felt, not going by the results but simply the pitch selection." New York added an unearned run in the fifth when Curtis Granderson walked with the bases loaded in an inning that was extended by third baseman Cesar Hernandezs throwing error. Ryan Howard, who hit a walkoff homer in Wednesdays win over the Rockies, went 0 for 4 with four strikeouts. Howard entered with a hit in 12 straight games against New York, batting .417 with four homers and 13 RBIs over the stretch. NOTES: New York C Travis dArnaud went 0 for 4 in his first game since being activated from the 7-day DL due to a concussion he sustained May 13. ... Mets 3B David Wright went 1 for 5 with a single. His 19 career homers at Citizens Bank Park are the most of any visiting player. ... Granderson went 0 for 2, extending his hitless streak to 0 for 16. ... Mets RHP Rafael Montero (0-2, 4.96) opposes Philadelphia RHP A.J. Burnett (3-4, 3.51) on Friday. ' ' '