Significant Layover

Our flight out of Rochester to New York City went off without a hitch and we are currently in the JetBlue terminal at JFK, one of the few remaining free airport wireless internet services (even Rochester has become part of Frontier's Citywide subscription network).

We don't take off again until 6:40 so we are sitting down to dinner while surfing news stories and pointed humor blogs.

Interestingly, the most chatter about the Blue Jays that I've come across in recent days involves a minor league free agent signing. Shannon Stewart, originally drafted by Toronto in 1992, returned to the Bobby Mattick training center on Monday. Stewart spent parts of nine seasons with Toronto from 1995-2003 before being traded to Minnesota for Bobby Kielty (who was spun for Ted 'The Tease' Lilly).

Stewart's presence appears to be insurance taken out by the club on the health of Reed Johnson's lower back. With Matt Stairs also in the fold, and Adam Lind waiting patiently at the AAA level, the onus is on Johnson to perform in the spring season. I do feel however, that Stairs' greatest value to the club is pinch hitting and backing up Lyle Overbay in addition to backing up whoever the regular leftfielder is. Hopefully Johnson and Stewart make John Gibbons' decision extremely difficult through solid play (or they could carry one less useless bullpen pitcher, but they're stubborn).

Tomorrow the plan is to hit Philles vs. Pirates at Brighthouse Networks Field in Clearwater (watch out for Scientologists!) at 1PM and hopefully get to Brady's Backyard BBQ for dinner.