DUNEDIN, Florida – For a guy with an uncertain future and a history of self doubt, Colby Rasmus has arrived for his third spring training with the Blue Jays a relaxed and confident ballplayer. [url=http://www.reaairmaxsverige.com/]Nike Air Max Rea Sverige[/url] . He eagerly relives the thrill of the

DUNEDIN, Florida – For a guy with an uncertain future and a history of self doubt, Colby Rasmus has arrived for his third spring training with the Blue Jays a relaxed and confident ballplayer. Nike Air Max Rea Sverige . He eagerly relives the thrill of the Iron Bowl football victory in November, in which his beloved Auburn Tigers defeated the two-time defending NCAA champion Alabama Crimson Tide on a last second missed field goal returned for a touchdown. In the next breath, he laments Auburns loss to Florida State in the BCS title game. “Too many mistakes,” he said. Rasmus isnt a fan of American Idol. He watches only when his wife, Megan, has it on TV and admits to only passing interest in the success on the show of Dexter Roberts, a singer whos made it into this seasons final 13 contestants and who, through friends, performed at Rasmus New Years Eve bash. “I dont really know him. I only met him once,” he said. When it gets down to the business of baseball, Rasmus will attempt to control only what he can – his performance on the field. Signed for this year at $7-million, Rasmus will become a free agent for the first time in his career if he and the Blue Jays dont reach a contract extension before the end of the season. Hes not bothered that general manager Alex Anthopoulos hasnt approached him about a long-term deal, preferring instead to wait and, as Anthopooulos put it in December, “gather more information.” “Im given a chance to play again another year,” said Rasmus. “They didnt see fit to hold me for a long time and I have had some ups and downs and I get that. Im not really worried about it. Ive been given a chance to play another year so Im going to go out and play and let it all hang out and leave it all out there on the field.” Rasmus enjoyed a bounce back season in 2013. Limited to 118 games thanks to oblique and facial injuries, he authored a .276/.338/.501 slash line. His OPS of .840 looked more like the number in his 2010 breakout season in St. Louis (.859) than in either 2011 (.688) or 2012 (.689.) Despite missing 44 games, Rasmus hit 22 home runs, one off his career high. Prorate that number over a full season and he hits 30-plus home runs for the first time. At 27, Rasmus is entering his prime years. Hes maturing with time. “I guess everybody always said it comes with age or whatever,” said Rasmus. “I mean now that Ive got some time under my belt it definitely is easier. Looking back on how it was when I was younger I understand I had hard times with the older guys. I get it. But now, to be where Im at, Im just happy to be here and I look at it like that.” His manager sees all-star potential in Rasmus. “Last year was a big year for him,” said John Gibbons. “I think as the season went on he got much better. A lot of strikeouts early but he made some adjustments and when he puts the ball in play consistently, the ball goes a long way. Hes got a chance to be one of the premier power hitters in the league. He can do a lot of things.” Rasmus had a strong relationship with former hitting coach Chad Mottola. The two formed a quick bond, Mottola helping Rasmus with his mental approach to hitting. Now, as Rasmus gets to know his third hitting coach in as many seasons, hes willing to be patient as he adjusts to Kevin Seitzer. “Im not putting a rush on it,” said Rasmus. “Weve got a lot of time here in spring. I just try to get my thoughts together on what I think would help me and help him to make it a good flow and a good mix of what Im trying to do and what I need him to look for in me.” Seitzer knows Rasmus is a pull hitter who loves his fastballs – Rasmus believes hes evolved from being a dead pull hitter to someone willing to use all fields – and hes not coming in to overhaul the centerfielders swing. “Hitters have to be able to make adjustments from week to week, game to game, pitcher to pitcher, depending on the stuff theyre going to attack with,” said Seitzer. “Hes been around a long time and hes a smart hitter and hes very talented. You cant teach hand speed and hes got a lot of that. Well see how the process unfolds. “Youve got to be able to get in their head quick and find out how they tick and where their insecurities are, their points of concern in their swing with their mindset and all of that,” said Seitzer. “I get to know them pretty quick.” CECIL AND DELABAR ADJUST Brett Cecil and Steve Delabar were two important pieces of the Blue Jays stellar bullpen last season. Both missed time due to injury and while heavy workload would seem to be the obvious reason why, Delabar identified a different reason: He made a mechanical change to his delivery before the All-Star break, which led to shoulder inflammation and a month on the disabled list in August. “It caused me to put some stress in unneeded areas,” said Delabar. Delabar changed the positioning of his feet in an effort to be, as he describes it, more directional rather than rotational toward home plate. He was falling away on his pitches down and away to right-handed batters, likening the problem to a hitter with a persistently open stance who cant get to outside pitches. “I thought it would get me straight on line,” said Delabar. “It felt good to do it so I started playing catch with it, messing around with it and I got in a game and did it and I was like, ‘Hey, it feels pretty good. I just kept doing it, kept going with it and I didnt realize it was putting stress on my shoulder.” When Delabar returned from injury on September 2, he continued with his new delivery and with such little time left in the season, he didnt experience any more significant trouble. The plan is to use the adjusted delivery this season. Cecil appeared in 60 games in his first season as a full-time reliever. Not a lock to make the club out of spring training, Cecil took the ball whenever he was asked and was eager to put in extra work to prove he belonged. He was shut down on September 13 with elbow pain after only three appearances that month. With his role in the bullpen now firmly established, Cecil will focus on better monitoring his own workload this season. “Casey (Janssen) and Darren (Oliver) have been in this situation a lot longer than I have and they were telling me in April, you know, save your bullets. You may not feel like you need a day but if you pitch one day then use your better judgment,” said Cecil. “I told them in August, you guys were right, man. I was starting to feel like I was breaking down a little bit … Thats why you never stopped learning.” Cecil will better communicate with the training staff if hes not feeling 100 percent, but wants something in return – that the training staff doesnt raise any unnecessary red flags if he describes only simple soreness. Hes already adjusting. Cecil was given a 25-pitch cap for his bullpen session on Friday. He chose to throw only 20 pitches. Nike Air Max 97 Sverige . Canada Day is here and with it comes Free Agent Frenzy as the NHLs 30 teams storm out of the gate for signing season. Nike Air Max 98 Rea . -- All-Pro tight end Jimmy Graham and the New Orleans Saints met Tuesday for arbitration on his contract. http://www.reaairmaxsverige.com/air-max-plus-rabatt.html . His second visit, not so much. Roark (7-5) allowed four runs on 10 hits and one walk over six innings in a 7-2 setback in front of several friends and family members, as the Cubs snapped his personal streak of four consecutive victories on Friday.It really didnt come as a surprise that the Florida Panthers fired head coach Kevin Dineen Friday, but its not like a change in the coaching staff is going to magically cure what ails this team. Any time a team fails to meet expectations, coaches end up on the chopping block, but that leads to the question: why would there have been expectations put upon the Florida Panthers for the 2013-2014 season? Go back to the 2011-2012 season, when the Panthers won the Southeast Division, with 94 points in 82 games, despite recording 32 regulation and overtime wins, a total that tied non-playoff teams Buffalo, Carolina (who finished last in the Southeast Division) and Colorado for 20th in the league. The Panthers also had a minus-24 goal differential, so anything beyond the point total in the standings suggested they were not really a playoff-calibre team. Consider them a prime example of a team not being what its record is. Then the Panthers proceeded to lose in double-overtime of Game Seven (after losing in overtime in Game Six) in the first round of the playoffs against the eventual Eastern-Conference-Champion New Jersey Devils, making it easy to sell the idea that the Panthers were "this close" to competing with the top teams in the league. It needs to be noted, however, that the Panthers overachieved in 2011-2012, to even generate mediocre results disguised as playoff-worthy. Florida needed to spend a lot of money in the summer of the 2011 season just to get above the salary floor and, as a result, cobbled together a make-shift roster, handing out some contracts that had surprisingly long-term implications. Sure, Florida signed Tomas Fleischmann (four years, $18-million), and he scored a career-high 61 points in 2011-2012, and has generally been a productive scorer since. C Marcel Goc (three years, $5.19-million) has been okay and G Jose Theodore (two years, $3-million) was a low-risk move, but the Panthers also inked RW Scottie Upshall (four years, $14-million), D Ed Jovanovski (four years, $16.5-million) and LW Sean Bergenheim (four years, $11-million), none of whom has provided a decent return on investment. (Injuries have admittedly played a part in their lack of production.) The Panthers also dipped into GM Dale Tallons past and traded for some former Chicago Blackhawks: D Brian Campbell, RW Kris Versteeg and RW Tomas Kopecky. That roster didnt have any business harbouring playoff expectations yet, with Dineen taking over for Peter DeBoer behind the bench, the Panthers defied the odds and reached the postseason, thanks in large part to Fleischmann, Versteeg and Stephen Weiss, their top line that combined for 70 goals and 172 points. Campbell added 53 points while playing nearly 27 minutes per game. That quartet made up the entire list of Florida Panthers to record more than 33 points that season, so there wasnt a lot coming from the supporting cast. The 2013 season brought much worse results, particularly when injuries limited Weiss and Versteeg to a total of 27 games and the goaltending went from decent, ranking 11th with a .914 save percentage, to a league-worst . Air Max 95 Sverige. 887 save percentage in the lockout-shortened 2013 season. Those injuries, and subpar goaltending, over a small-sample season may have been what led Tallon to still harbour expectations for this team coming into the 2013-2014 season. Or maybe its because there is a new owner calling the shots that the Panthers couldnt simply see the 2013-2014 season as one for development of their young talent. After all, the Panthers have added some promising young players including LW Jonathan Huberdeau, C Aleksander Barkov and C Nick Bjugstad, who are all playing significant minutes. D Erik Gudbranson, the third overall pick in 2010, and D Dmitry Kulikov, the 14th pick in 2009 are still works in progress, but young enough to be part of what the Panthers are trying to build. G Jacob Markstrom is supposed to be the goaltender of the future, even if the 23-year-old has struggled this year. Forwards Vincent Trocheck and Drew Shore and defencemen Alex Petrovic and Colby Robak have been in the AHL, playing for new head coach Peter Horacheck. Trocheck, who has 11 points in 11 games as a first-year pro and nearly made the Panthers out of training camp, could get his opportunity soon. In the summer of 2013, the Panthers didnt spend big money, but brought in a lot of veterans on low-money deals. Defencemen Tom Gilbert has been a bargain as a top-four defenceman while Matt Gilroy and checking forward Jesse Winchester have been decent. Veteran forwards Brad Boyes and Scott Gomez along with blueliner Ryan Whitney have not been effective and goaltender Tim Thomas hasnt been able to stay healthy in his attempt to return to action after a year off. As a result, the Panthers have the leagues 28th-ranked goal differential (minus-1.36 per game), ahead of only the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres. Unfortunately, the goaltending hasnt gotten any better this season, ranking 28th with an .885 save percentage, and no team can win with goaltending of that calibre, let alone a team that isnt scoring at the other end of the ice and the Panthers rank 29th in 5-on-5 shooting percentage when the score is close. The good news, according to the probabilities of advanced stats, is that the Panthers arent likely to maintain such terrible shooting and save percentages all season, so they are due to get some better results; a little "puck luck" as it were. Of course, being better than their current 3-9-4 record doesnt mean all that much. When those young players start to control play more consistently and the Panthers start getting adequate goaltending, they may turn the corner, but thats going to require patience and the expectations placed on this team dont necessarily allow for patience. Trouble is, when a general manager makes moves that appear to reveal a lack of patience, its fair to start wondering if the next one on the chopping block will be the GM. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '