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TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips answers three questions each week. This week, topics cover the Toronto Blue Jays and their crowded bullpen, the early success of journeymen pitchers, the comments of Archir Bradleys agent and the diminishing number of African-American players. 1. The Toronto Blue Jays are currently carrying an eight-man bullpen and with Adam Lind banged up, the Jays only had two bench players for their first game against the Twins on Thursday. Is an eight-man bullpen feasible over the duration of the season? Certainly an eight-man bullpen provides depth and flexibility for the manager to handle moves during the course of the game. It typically will allow John Gibbons the ability to work matchups for any situation. When a starting rotation does not go deep in the game, the added bullpen depth allows the manager to try and hold the lead or hold the deficit on a daily basis and gives him the best chance to win. With a doubleheader scheduled on Thursday, the extra arms protect Gibbons from having to do what White Sox manager Robin Ventura did when he pitched a utility infielder in the 14th inning of a tie game (and lost). Of course, with the one or two extra relievers, there are limitations in other areas. It doesnt allow the manager much creativity on the offensive side of things. In the American League, it is easier to carry an extra pitcher or two on the roster because they generally dont have to pinch hit for the pitcher. The Jays greatest weakness is their starting pitching and therefore bullpen support is critical. I dont suspect the Jays will go with 13 pitchers all season long but there will be times when it is necessary and appropriate. 2. Weve seen hot starts from a trio of journeyman pitchers who were pressed into starting duty because of injuries to their teams regular rotations in Atlantas Aaron Harang, Jesse Chavez of the Oakland Athletics and Alfredo Simon of the Reds. It doesnt seem realistic to expect any of the three to maintain their torrid paces, but who do you think has the best chance to stay successful? Teams that have successful seasons find ways to deal with adversity. Injuries can cause tremendous problems over the course of the season. There is a saying in baseball that you never have enough pitching. There is nothing more true. Each teams has to go into the season understanding that they will need potentially 20 major league-ready pitchers over the course of 162 games. There will be injuries and underperformance that will prompt a change in personnel. As soon as you think you have enough pitching, the "baseball gods" remind you who is boss. Journeyman pitchers are journeyman pitchers for a reason. They have good enough stuff to retire hitters at the major league level but lack the long-term consistency to do it on a regular basis. Aaron Harang, Jesse Chavez and Alfredo Simon all have experience and decent stuff. Yet at this point in their careers, they are part of the inventory that their teams carry to deal with the adversity of the season. Chavez with the As, is with his fifth major league organization. He is now 30-years old. He hasnt been able to secure a full-time position on any staff. He has made three starts so far without earning a decision but he does have a 1.35 ERA and has struck out 22 batters in 20 innings. You may look at this and think that he has figured something out. But you cannot judge a player by just a three-start window. He has 11 years worth of performance as a professional that led him to be inventory for Oakland. Certainly, the As are ecstatic about what he has given them but they understand what he is and where the season may progress from here. I actually broadcasted games that Harang and Simon threw against the Mets this season. Both pitched well. Simon (1-1 1.20 ERA) is a big hard-throwing righthander with a good slider. His stuff is better suited for the bullpen but out of necessity, he has been asked to start. His versatility is valuable in a pinch because he can easily move from the bullpen to the rotation. Every team would love to have a guy like him on their staff but you wont win with 12 guys like him on the staff. Harang (2-1 0.96 ERA) has a far superior track record than the other two. He led the NL in strikeouts once as a starter for the Reds. He has won 112 major league games. That being said, Harang couldnt make the Indians rotation in spring training. The Braves picked him up once it was clear he wasnt in the Indians plans. Harang has a career 4.25 ERA but over the past three seasons, his earned run average has been in the high 4s or low 5s. He is starting to deteriorate at the age of 35. Of the three, Harang has the best chance of success this season but at some point, all three of these pitchers will be part of their teams adversity. They will start to perform like the pitchers that they are and need to be replaced. 3. The Arizona Diamondbacks are off to a horrendous start, and have a team ERA over 6.00, which is almost a half-run more than the 29th-placed team. The agent for their top pitching prospect, Archie Bradley went to media to complain that Bradley wasnt called up yet. Does this affect how Bradley is viewed by the organization, or is this just part of doing business in the Majors? So you wonder where the "us against them" mentality gets started. Agents telling players that their organization is treating them poorly and unfairly can lead to an animus relationship. Players need to understand that when their agent speaks, it is them speaking. The agent works for the player. When he says something, it is as if the words are coming out of the players mouth. Agents sometimes forget that and players sometimes dont realize it. As a general manager, I reminded myself that sometimes agents step over the line. They think they are just doing their job. I didnt want resentments between me and an agent. I would speak to a player and remind him that his agent is representing him with everything he says and does. I wanted my minor leaguers to think they were ready to be big leaguers. I wanted them to keep fighting and pushing to prove they were ready. So the fact that a top prospect is so confident that he thinks he is able to compete at the highest level is actually a good thing. Is Archie Bradley better than at least one of the starters on the Dbacks. You tell me? Their starting rotation has a combined 7.63 ERA (30th). The next closest teams starters have a 5.21 ERA. Arizonas starters are far and away the worst in baseball so far. A little known fact is that no team starts their season with the best 25 players on their major league roster. Every team has a prospect that is better than a role player on the major league club. But the prospect starts the season in the minor leagues to better refine his skills so when he is ready for the majors, he isnt just a middle reliever, utility infielder or extra outfielder. Archie Bradley has all the makings of a successful starter at the major league level. He has quality stuff, a presence on the mound, poise and athleticism. He will be a big leaguer. It is just a matter of when he will get the call. The Dbacks wanted him to refine his abilities so he started the season in the minors. He has only made three starts (1-2 3.31 ERA) there. It is his first season at the AAA level. He needs time to refine his command and control and consistency of his off-speed stuff. The Dbacks dont want to rush him to the majors and set him up to fail. They dont want the pressure on the youngster to have to be the savior of the team, which is impossible. All five of Arizonas starters have been bad. One young kid is not going to improve them every night. Their problems are far greater than just the one start he would make every fifth day. The Diamondacks will likely, at least, wait until early June before even considering a call-up. They want to get beyond a certain date to protect him from becoming arbitration eligible any sooner than he has to. It is the organizations prerogative and it is the right thing to do. Bradleys agent would be better served telling his client that he needs to stay focused and ready. That it is not a matter of if he will be a big leaguer but only when. He can only control what he does, not what the organization does. So in the long run, there will not be lingering hard feelings about the pressure the agent is applying unless the agent keeps planting a seed of distrust in the players mind. 4. What has happened to all of the African-American baseball players? This is a question that was asked quite a bit this week. April 15 was the 67th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in major league baseball. It is a good time to evaluate the progress that the game has made since Robinsons heroic efforts. I think it is safe to say that if Jackie were alive today, he would be disappointed in the number of African-American players in the majors. In 2014, only 8.3 per cent of big leaguers are African-American, which is down from a high in 1981 of 18.7 per cent. In contrast, the number of foreign-born players has grown to 26 per cent of the 2014 rosters. When Jackie Robinson broke into the majors, that number was less than 1 per cent. Baseball scouts and executives are color blind. It doesnt matter what you look like or where you come from. If you can play and help me win, then I want you on my team. The decreasing number of African-Americans is not a byproduct of racism or discrimination, it is strictly a scouting issue. Scouts go where the players are. The numbers indicate that baseball is growing internationally. A fisherman throws his line in where he has the best chance to catch the most fish. Scouts are the same way. It is not that scouts dont want to sign African-American kids. It is just that there are fewer African-American kids playing baseball and putting themselves in a position to be drafted. So why is this the case? I believe part of the issue is that organized baseball had diminished in size and numbers in the inner cities. MLB has tried to bring the game back with the RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner cities) academies. There are now six in the U.S. that have about 220,00 kids participating. But because so many fewer kids were playing baseball, it dried up the number of prospects scouts were finding. Baseball is a more expensive sport than basketball. A glove, cleats, bat and bag can run about $300. All a kid needs to play hoops is a pair of sneakers and a buddy with a ball. Plus there are fewer baseball fields around the cities than there are basketball courts. One of the other financial challenges faced today is the fact that the higher levels of baseball are played as part of elite travel teams. These teams may demand a $1,500 participation fee in addition to the cost of equipment. Many of these teams travel to weekend tournaments, which can cost a family a significant amount of money for hotels and meals. In order to get drafted or offered a scholarship, players may need to participate in showcase events around the country. These can be expensive propositions as well. For a family having difficulty making ends meet, these can be out of the question. In addition to the financial challenges, there are limits to the number of baseball scholarships available to student athletes. When a player is recruited to play college football, he gets offered one of 85 full scholarships from a Division I school. When he plays basketball, he may be offered one of the 13 scholarships available. But in baseball, up to 30 kids split 11.7 scholarships. So there is far less return on investment for a baseball player than the other sports. Finally, I think there are fewer kids playing baseball overall because they think the game is boring. It moves too slowly for them. Kids today want the quick hit. They want instant and constant action. The pace of baseball pushes some kids away to other sports. Kids need to be taught the game within the game so their interest can grow. As much as I would love to see more African-American players in baseball, I just dont think the trend will be easily reversed. Lets hope the RBI programs work and we can restock the inner city ponds for the fishermen. If not, the game will continue to grow internationally until it can no longer be declared "Americas Pastime." Dorian ODaniel Jersey . Coverage on TSN is underway now while action resumes on TSN2 at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. TSN GO also offers TSN subscribers bonus online coverage, with live streams of all four venues. Anthony Hitchens Chiefs Jersey . - In about six minutes, the Memphis Grizzlies had allowed their 23-point lead to be cut to seven. http://www.chiefsauthenticofficialstore.com/authentic-chad-henne-jersey.html .The Hanwha Eagles said the team was impressed with Morgans contact ability and base-running skills.The 34-year-old debuted with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2007 and hit . Dorian ODaniel Chiefs Jersey . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Anthony Hitchens Jersey . Canada will host the second stop on the circuit, the 2014 Skate Canada International in Kelowna, British Columbia from October 31 - November 2, 2014 at Prospera Place.GREEN BAY, Wis. - Ted Thompson is happy to have Julius Peppers in the fold. But the Packers general manager insisted Thursday that landing the eight-time Pro Bowl defensive end from the rival Chicago Bears wont have an effect on what Green Bay does with its nine selections in next weeks NFL draft. In his first public comments since Peppers surprising signing on March 15, Thompson said he believes the 34-year-old lineman has plenty left in the tank and that he expects him to have an impact on the Packers up-and-down defence. "Theres no evidence of any decline in his play, in our opinion," Thompson said Thursday. "He still has the same athletic traits that he had coming out (of college). Hes had a remarkable history in the NFL in terms of durability. Were looking forward to it. I think he is, too." The 6-foot-7, 287-pound Peppers certainly has been durable, playing in 186 of a possible 192 games. Hes also been productive, registering the second-most sacks (118.5) in the NFL and forcing the fifth-most fumbles (39) since he entered the league. He leads all NFL defensive linemen with nine interceptions over that span. But playing 855 snaps for the Bears last season, Peppers managed only 7.5 sacks, the third-lowest total of his 12-year NFL career. The Packers envision him as a hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker in their 3-4 defence, and their hope is that by playing him fewer snaps, they will not only increase his production but give opposing offences another pass-rushing threat to worry about opposite four-time Pro Bowl outside linebacker Clay Matthews. Matthews, who missed six games last season with a twice-broken thumb, is expected to be fully healthy for training camp. "When I view him as a football player, hes an individual youd like to create targeting problems," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said of Peppers in March. "He has the ability to pplay from the two-point stance, has the ability to play on the move.dddddddddddd" In 10 career games against the Packers with Carolina and Chicago, Peppers has recorded 9.5 sacks, his fourth-highest total against a specific opponent. The Packers finished tied for eighth in the 32-team NFL last season in sacks with 44 despite Matthews absence. Their hope is that Peppers, who reported for the first day of the off-season program last week, will have an impact on more than just that one category. Last season, the Packers finished tied for 24th in scoring defence (26.8 points per game), 25th in yards allowed (372.3), 25th in rushing yards allowed (125.0), 24th in passing yards allowed (247.3) and tied for 20th in takeaways (22). "Its fun to see Julius. Hes a specimen. He looks great," Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said last week. "Itll be fun to get him really into the fold and get him feeling like hes part of the team, encouraging him to be a leader for us. I think he brings a lot to the table -- on the field and in the locker room. Im just excited about not having to run away from him anymore." As hopeful as the Packers are of Peppers contributions, Thompson insisted that he wont approach the No. 21 overall pick - or any of his other picks - differently with Peppers on board. "We talked about this before. I might sound like a broken record, but we feel that the draft is a long-term investment," said Thompson, whose teams most immediate needs appear to be at safety, linebacker, tight end, offensive line and cornerback. "We dont get too carried away with what our perceived needs are at the moment. We think thats good business. If you can marry those things up thats fine but if you stretch to try to fill quote unquote need somewhere then you end up messing up a couple of spots, so we try to stick to the best player available." 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