Music: {allcanada} Lincoln, Delabar join Jays with optimism

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

{allcanada} Lincoln, Delabar join Jays with optimism

SEATTLE - Their backstories are vastly different but Brad Lincoln and Steve Delabar joined the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday sharing a similar sense of optimism about the new opportunity before them.

The right-handed relievers acquired Monday night on the eve of the non-waiver trade deadline should provide a major boost to a beleaguered bullpen that badly needs their contributions.

Lincoln, 27, figures to see action in the eighth inning on days when Darren Oliver and Brandon Lyon can't go, and in the seventh inning otherwise, while Delabar, 29, is particularly effective against left-handed batters and may at times be called upon to get four or five outs as needed.

For both, the Blue Jays offer a chance to cement developmental gains made this season.

"I've struggled in my career as a starter at the big-league level," said Lincoln, who has thrived since the Pittsburgh Pirates converted him into a reliever earlier this year. "For me to go in the bullpen gave me the opportunity to show what I'm capable of, just go out there and attack guys and not be so scared of the bat, I guess I was scared of contact and trying not to let them get a hit.

"Now I'm going to come right at you and here's my best stuff. That's got my confidence where it needs to be."

Said Delabar, who has been prone to surrendering home runs (of the 23 hits against him, nine have left the yard): "I began working on a slider, a pitch that kind of can combat the right-handed hitters. Those are the guys that have been hitting home runs. The main focus is to get that third pitch, or maybe just another pitch, that I can throw when I'm behind in the count, so those guys aren't just sitting on fastball. Because when you're supplying a lot of the power, all those guys have to do is catch up with it and it goes a long way."

Lincoln was the fourth overall pick in the 2006 draft, owner of a good fastball and a sharp curveball that's one of his key weapons.

He made a total of 17 big-league starts in 2010 and 2011 and five more this year when the idea of turning him into a reliever took hold -- "It was either time to put up or shut up," is how he put it -- and proceeded to go 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA in 23 appearances, striking out 40 in 35.2 innings.

"My mentality fits that pretty well. For me to use my stuff like I know how has been a long time coming. Now it's finally starting to come together," he said. "At this time of my career, I'm going to have to start putting up numbers to stick around. That brought me to the realization now is the time to step it up."

Delabar has a far more unlikely history, a 29th-round pick in 2003 by the San Diego Padres who cracked his elbow, needing nine screws and a metal plate to put it back together, and eventually fell out of baseball.

Once recovered Delabar began working at an academy that featured a weighted baseball program to build strength in the shoulder and arm speed at the same time. In learning how to teach the regimen, it ended up helping Delabar rebuild his own arm, eventually earning a look from the Mariners, who signed him in March 2011.

He climbed three minor-league levels last year to make his big-league debut and has been up and down with Seattle this year.

"I asked my wife, 'You thought last year was kind of crazy and a wild ride, like now this year we've gone to Japan and been back and gone all over, been sent down, back up and now we've been traded midway through,' and who knows what's going to happen the rest of the season," said Delabar. "Hopefully a playoff run, and hopefully a chance to compete for the World Series.

"It's been an amazing ride. All I can say is it's been a lot of fun so far."

The Blue Jays are counting on both to keep the good times going.