Just wanted to bring something up that no one seems to be addressing in the analyst world:
The Blue Jays are hoarding switch hitters.
If you've been a fan of the team for a while, you've no doubt been frustrated at points with Travis Snider's, or Adam Lind's, or Colby Rasmus' difficulty handling left handed pitching. Nothing quite like getting to a critical point in a game and having one of your key hitter's batting average drop 100 plus points because of a call to the bullpen. It seems as though there has always been a platoon or two or three going on, and it's frustrating to me to see such different lineups vs lefties.
Okay, so, let's look at the recent acquisitions.
2B/3B Maicer Izturis Bats S Throws R
SS Jose Reyes Bats S Throws R
UTIL Emilio Bonifacio Bats S Throws R
OF Melky Cabrera Bat S Throws L
Out of all our offensive adds this year, only John Buck is sticking with one side of the plate.
Now, it's mostly Lefties who struggle with Lefty pitchers; this due to the lack of seeing left handed pitching throughout the early developmental years of baseball, especially the curveball, which starts coming at you and breaks away from you. Welcome to our world lefties...
Anyway, that is to say, there is no big problem with a right handed heavy lineup vs a righty starter. No one brings in a ROOGY (aside from side-armed guys). Righties have seen righties their whole life, thats what they are used to, and stats do not dramatically go up or down vs. lefties for most guys. At least nowhere near as much as the opposite.
So, if we take a look at what our starting 9 is likely to look like.
C JP Arencibia Bats R Throws R
1B Adam Lind Bats L Throws L
2B Maicer Izturis/Emilio Bonifacio (both Bat S Throw R)
3B Brett Lawrie Bats R Throws R
SS Jose Reyes Bats S Throws R
LF Melky Cabrera Bats S Throws R
CF Colby Rasmus Bats L Throws L
RF Jose Bautista Bats R Throws R
DH Edwin Encarnacion Bats R Throws R
So you can see the trend. We have only 2 true lefties.
So when we face CC or David Price or Lester we will be trotting out at least 7 right handed hitters, more if Lind is given the day off, Edwin slides over to 1B and Bonifacio or someone else DHs. Similarly, Rasmus can be benched and Bonifacio and Melky can cover CF and LF between the two of them.
On the other hand (pardon the pun), vs righties, their guy will be seeing 5 lefties. As I have said, the stats do not dramatically swing, but there are certainly pitches that guys will use that have more affect against righties. Any pitcher with a dominant curveball or slider as his secondary pitch will definitely find more success vs similarly handed hitters. A pitcher with a split-finger or change-up may actually find that pitch being slightly more effective to opposite handed hitters.
But the real benefit here is not even vs. starting pitchers. Any starter worth his weight in tobacco juice has figured out a way to get lefties and righties out, if not with the same level of ease.
No the real benefit comes late in those tight games when the opposing manager would love to see 2 lefties up in a row so he can bring in his lefty specialist to throw 6 sweeping curveballs and get out of whatever they are in. Either that, or we are forced to pull one of our guys from the game in whatever inning it may be.
The Blue Jays will not send 2 consecutive true lefties to the plate ALL YEAR, barring injury.
WOW.
And there will only be AT MOST 2 guys you can bring in a LOOGY against (lefty one out guy).
This team, as talented as it is, will also be a NIGHTMARE to manage against.
Just thought I'd bring it up.
Anyone else notice this? Do you think this was a deliberate tactic from management? How's that rash doing?
Please leave your questions and opinions in the comments section, and if you haven't already, follow me!
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
I guess the owners were serious....
In case you haven't heard, the Toronto Blue Jays have pulled off a massive trade. A Blockbuster. Very possibly the biggest trade in years, not just for the Jays, but in all of baseball.
Coming to the Jays are RHP Josh Johnson, LHP Mark Buehrle, SS Jose Reyes, C John Buck and UTIL Emilio Bonifacio.
Going the other way are 7 players, 4 of which have seen major league action; RHP Henderson Alvarez, SS Yunel "Gay slurs are funnier in spanish" Escobar, C Jeff Mathis and SS Adeiny Hechavarria. The prospects included are CF Jake Marisnick, P Justin Nicolino and P Anthony Desclafani.
The only guys I am sad to see go are Henderson Alvarez, Marisnick and Nicolino. I think those guys will make some noise on the big league level, but only Alvarez has actually shown flashes of that, so who knows.
Before I start splooging on the screen about how excited I am by this massive deal, let me preface this by saying it sounds like there is an outside shot that some dummy like Bud Selig steps in and puts the brakes on. If the Yankees were doing it, it would be done already, but Bud doesn't give a shit about baseball in Canada, and this deal sets a terrible precedent from the Marlins side. Ownership there just roped the Miami taxpayers into fronting 80% of the bill on their new stadium. The promise of an exciting, competitive team certainly fed into that. Reyes and Buerlhe were signed as free agents in the offseason to big deals, and now it is looking a little bit like a bait and switch on the fans.
BTW these are the same morons who sunk the expos.
I don't see how MLB can step in though. If they do I will personally go find Bud Selig and tell him just what a greasy dick he is.
OK! So, now to how this affects the team!!!
It's a good thing. That's obvious. I mean, Buck was clearly thrown in as a money dump similar to when we had to take Mark Teahen in that multi-player deal for Rasmus. Buck is not worth $6 mil a year, but its certainly not an albatrossian contract to absorb if the Jays can't pass it on to someone else. Jays fans may remember he hit 20 dingers with us in 2010 while hitting .281. Ehhhhh, no, he is a career .235 hitter, and hit .192 with Miami last year. If we can ditch him, we will.
But the rest of these guys are STUDS!
Josh Johnson has top 5 stuff in baseball. When he is healthy, he is utterly dominant. The health is the concern with him, as his shoulder has been problematic in the past. But the guy is 6'7, 250 lbs. He's not Tim Lincecum, there is no reason he can't stay healthy, and in fact was for most of last year, although the stats are a little less impressive, indicating to me he was still recovering from 2011's injury for the first part of the year. His .BAA was .220 for the second half of the year. If he is healthy, he is the ace, unquestionably. The best pitcher Toronto fans have seen since Roy Halladay. He is, however, in the last year of his contract, and if possible, the Jays should try and tie him to a 4 or 5 year deal. He is 28 and in his prime right now, and because of last years slightly less impressive performance, he will be most affordable now.
Jose Reyes is one of the most exciting players in baseball. A far stretch from Yunel Escobar's slow and steady take on playing the game, Jose is a walking highlight reel. The Jay's haven't had a genuine leadoff hitter since Devon White in 1994. Almost two decades. He provides speed without the OBP liability of Rajai Davis. This is a guy fans are going to want to shell out money to see on a nightly basis. His big concern is his hamstrings, and I have no idea how they will respond to the artificial turf in Skydome. He is a guy who has MVP type talent. There are not that many of those guys out there, fewer still who play SS. If he can play 140 games, you are looking at double digit HRs, double digit 3Bs, 100+ runs and 40+ stolen bases. This is a guy who has stolen 78 bases during a single season. Wow.
Mark Buehrle. The guy just keeps getting it done. And health concerns? Nada. 12 straight years of 30 games started and 12 straight seasons of 200 IP. Then there's the pickoffs, which is just plain fun. I, personally, will ensure I go to a game and sit on the 1st base side when he is pitching just to see that filthy move to first. He's not going to get a ton of K's, but he keeps his team in the game, all the time. Not a guy who gets blown up routinely. An ideal 3rd or 4th starter. I feel bad for his dog though... http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-mark-buehrle-toronto-dog-20121115,0,7337754.story?track=rss What a stupid law.
And last but, well, better than Buck, is Bonifacio. A very underrated commodity. This guy, over the past few years, has played everywhere on the diamond except 1B, P, and C. He may be in the lineup almost everyday, and one would assume most of those would come at LF due to the void there, but he is best used as a utility guy; a swiss army knife that is such an advantage to have on your team. He has wheels too; 30 stolen bases in only 64 games last year. 40 the year before that. He can start due to injuries, give people a day off almost anywhere, come off the bench. Great talent to have. He's exactly the type of bench guy that championship teams have.
It is a talented, high calibre group of guys coming in. The vegas odds went from 100-1 to 15-1 for the Jays winning the world series. Nuff said.
One overlooked aspect of this is how this will affect the search for the manager. Not a lot of guys clammer for a job in Canada. If you are a manager with an impressive resume, you are going to get a job somewhere, and Toronto is generally going to be last on the list. Or rather, not even on it. All of the sudden, there is a lot of extra enticement to take a shot up here on an incredibly talented club. Perhaps the list opens up a bit to some more formidable names (how much fun would it be to see Lou Pinella or Bobby Cox down there?).
Every other team has found its manager at this point, and so the Jays have their pick of those still in the market for a gig. This move may bring a few fellers out of the woodworks.
Allright. That's how I feel about this trade. So nice to feel like all the money I've given to Roger's Communications over the years has actually been worthwhile, and that all these years of talking about where the payroll "could be" weren't total garbage. We have a competitive team folks!!!
I will post another one o' these here bloggies discussing how i feel the rotation and lineup should be set up once the deal has been finalized by Fartface Selig. Don't buy your jerseys yet.
What do you think of the trade? Which player are you most excited about? Saddest about seeing leave?
Post these in the comments section and I will tell you why you are just straight wrong.
Coming to the Jays are RHP Josh Johnson, LHP Mark Buehrle, SS Jose Reyes, C John Buck and UTIL Emilio Bonifacio.
Going the other way are 7 players, 4 of which have seen major league action; RHP Henderson Alvarez, SS Yunel "Gay slurs are funnier in spanish" Escobar, C Jeff Mathis and SS Adeiny Hechavarria. The prospects included are CF Jake Marisnick, P Justin Nicolino and P Anthony Desclafani.
The only guys I am sad to see go are Henderson Alvarez, Marisnick and Nicolino. I think those guys will make some noise on the big league level, but only Alvarez has actually shown flashes of that, so who knows.
Before I start splooging on the screen about how excited I am by this massive deal, let me preface this by saying it sounds like there is an outside shot that some dummy like Bud Selig steps in and puts the brakes on. If the Yankees were doing it, it would be done already, but Bud doesn't give a shit about baseball in Canada, and this deal sets a terrible precedent from the Marlins side. Ownership there just roped the Miami taxpayers into fronting 80% of the bill on their new stadium. The promise of an exciting, competitive team certainly fed into that. Reyes and Buerlhe were signed as free agents in the offseason to big deals, and now it is looking a little bit like a bait and switch on the fans.
BTW these are the same morons who sunk the expos.
I don't see how MLB can step in though. If they do I will personally go find Bud Selig and tell him just what a greasy dick he is.
OK! So, now to how this affects the team!!!
It's a good thing. That's obvious. I mean, Buck was clearly thrown in as a money dump similar to when we had to take Mark Teahen in that multi-player deal for Rasmus. Buck is not worth $6 mil a year, but its certainly not an albatrossian contract to absorb if the Jays can't pass it on to someone else. Jays fans may remember he hit 20 dingers with us in 2010 while hitting .281. Ehhhhh, no, he is a career .235 hitter, and hit .192 with Miami last year. If we can ditch him, we will.
But the rest of these guys are STUDS!
Josh Johnson has top 5 stuff in baseball. When he is healthy, he is utterly dominant. The health is the concern with him, as his shoulder has been problematic in the past. But the guy is 6'7, 250 lbs. He's not Tim Lincecum, there is no reason he can't stay healthy, and in fact was for most of last year, although the stats are a little less impressive, indicating to me he was still recovering from 2011's injury for the first part of the year. His .BAA was .220 for the second half of the year. If he is healthy, he is the ace, unquestionably. The best pitcher Toronto fans have seen since Roy Halladay. He is, however, in the last year of his contract, and if possible, the Jays should try and tie him to a 4 or 5 year deal. He is 28 and in his prime right now, and because of last years slightly less impressive performance, he will be most affordable now.
Jose Reyes is one of the most exciting players in baseball. A far stretch from Yunel Escobar's slow and steady take on playing the game, Jose is a walking highlight reel. The Jay's haven't had a genuine leadoff hitter since Devon White in 1994. Almost two decades. He provides speed without the OBP liability of Rajai Davis. This is a guy fans are going to want to shell out money to see on a nightly basis. His big concern is his hamstrings, and I have no idea how they will respond to the artificial turf in Skydome. He is a guy who has MVP type talent. There are not that many of those guys out there, fewer still who play SS. If he can play 140 games, you are looking at double digit HRs, double digit 3Bs, 100+ runs and 40+ stolen bases. This is a guy who has stolen 78 bases during a single season. Wow.
Mark Buehrle. The guy just keeps getting it done. And health concerns? Nada. 12 straight years of 30 games started and 12 straight seasons of 200 IP. Then there's the pickoffs, which is just plain fun. I, personally, will ensure I go to a game and sit on the 1st base side when he is pitching just to see that filthy move to first. He's not going to get a ton of K's, but he keeps his team in the game, all the time. Not a guy who gets blown up routinely. An ideal 3rd or 4th starter. I feel bad for his dog though... http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-mark-buehrle-toronto-dog-20121115,0,7337754.story?track=rss What a stupid law.
And last but, well, better than Buck, is Bonifacio. A very underrated commodity. This guy, over the past few years, has played everywhere on the diamond except 1B, P, and C. He may be in the lineup almost everyday, and one would assume most of those would come at LF due to the void there, but he is best used as a utility guy; a swiss army knife that is such an advantage to have on your team. He has wheels too; 30 stolen bases in only 64 games last year. 40 the year before that. He can start due to injuries, give people a day off almost anywhere, come off the bench. Great talent to have. He's exactly the type of bench guy that championship teams have.
It is a talented, high calibre group of guys coming in. The vegas odds went from 100-1 to 15-1 for the Jays winning the world series. Nuff said.
One overlooked aspect of this is how this will affect the search for the manager. Not a lot of guys clammer for a job in Canada. If you are a manager with an impressive resume, you are going to get a job somewhere, and Toronto is generally going to be last on the list. Or rather, not even on it. All of the sudden, there is a lot of extra enticement to take a shot up here on an incredibly talented club. Perhaps the list opens up a bit to some more formidable names (how much fun would it be to see Lou Pinella or Bobby Cox down there?).
Every other team has found its manager at this point, and so the Jays have their pick of those still in the market for a gig. This move may bring a few fellers out of the woodworks.
Allright. That's how I feel about this trade. So nice to feel like all the money I've given to Roger's Communications over the years has actually been worthwhile, and that all these years of talking about where the payroll "could be" weren't total garbage. We have a competitive team folks!!!
I will post another one o' these here bloggies discussing how i feel the rotation and lineup should be set up once the deal has been finalized by Fartface Selig. Don't buy your jerseys yet.
What do you think of the trade? Which player are you most excited about? Saddest about seeing leave?
Post these in the comments section and I will tell you why you are just straight wrong.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Lawrie looks lovely at leadoff.
Allright, I called this a while back.
Brett Lawrie lead off for the Blue Jays today, going 3 for 5 with a double and 3 runs scored.
The Jays don't have a true leadoff hitter until Anthony Gose is ready to rock in the Majors, which won't be this year. Brett Lawrie is the closest thing to it and will provide something thats been lacking at the top of the order; EXCITEMENT! Yunel and Kelly Johnson are vanilla at the dish and on the base paths, but Brett Lawrie has all the sprinkles and chocolate sauce (my blog just popped up on gay-google searches everywhere).
The OBP needs to go up, no doubt, but I don't think the Jays are going to want to curb Lawrie's aggressiveness much at the dish. I believe it is the natural progression for young hitters to be aggressive first before they can become selectively aggressive, which is where you should be to be a successful hitter for any sustained period of time in the bigs. His style of play is disruptive, and he always puts pressure on the opposing defence to contain him on the base paths. This can lead to rushed, slide step deliveries to Colby Rasmus and Jose Bautista. Any pitcher with a high leg kick is going to be really worried about Brett over there at first, and that can wreak havoc on pitch locations and finish.
So I was listening to Jay's talk after the game and fans as well as Mr. Wilner, his genius self, were saying that this was only on a trial period (Brett and Colby hitting 1-2) and that it wouldn't be a whole season thing or anything. What idiocy. I bet Ricky Henderson hit leadoff as a trial run as well at one point. Duuuh guys. You can bet we will keep seeing these two at the top as long as they are producing at a respectable clip, with this being a permanent fixture by no means out of the question.. I heard lots of callers answering the question of whether Lawrie should be the leadoff man with "Yes, if he performs like tonight". Yeah, I'd take a .600 hitter as a leadoff guy too. Dummies.
Lawrie will hit wherever he is stuck in the lineup, but who knows what this experiment will drag out of him. Maybe he will learn a little patience trying to see a few more pitches. He's not too bad in that regard anyway, he doesn't walk that much but doesn't swing at a ton of balls out of the zone. Stat wise, I would suspect maybe his average will drop slightly but his OBP will go up as will his SB's and certainly runs scored will improve.
Anyway, until Edwin Encarnacion is back, I believe we will see a lot of this formation atop the lineup, and I am excited to see what Lawrie can do with it. From seeing his personality so far in his young career, I believe he will thrive in this role. Let's hope his infectious energy trickles all the way down through the rest of the batting order.
Oh yeah, and Colby Rasmus went 5 for 5 with a dinger and 4 runs scored. Not bad either.
Brett Lawrie lead off for the Blue Jays today, going 3 for 5 with a double and 3 runs scored.
The Jays don't have a true leadoff hitter until Anthony Gose is ready to rock in the Majors, which won't be this year. Brett Lawrie is the closest thing to it and will provide something thats been lacking at the top of the order; EXCITEMENT! Yunel and Kelly Johnson are vanilla at the dish and on the base paths, but Brett Lawrie has all the sprinkles and chocolate sauce (my blog just popped up on gay-google searches everywhere).
The OBP needs to go up, no doubt, but I don't think the Jays are going to want to curb Lawrie's aggressiveness much at the dish. I believe it is the natural progression for young hitters to be aggressive first before they can become selectively aggressive, which is where you should be to be a successful hitter for any sustained period of time in the bigs. His style of play is disruptive, and he always puts pressure on the opposing defence to contain him on the base paths. This can lead to rushed, slide step deliveries to Colby Rasmus and Jose Bautista. Any pitcher with a high leg kick is going to be really worried about Brett over there at first, and that can wreak havoc on pitch locations and finish.
So I was listening to Jay's talk after the game and fans as well as Mr. Wilner, his genius self, were saying that this was only on a trial period (Brett and Colby hitting 1-2) and that it wouldn't be a whole season thing or anything. What idiocy. I bet Ricky Henderson hit leadoff as a trial run as well at one point. Duuuh guys. You can bet we will keep seeing these two at the top as long as they are producing at a respectable clip, with this being a permanent fixture by no means out of the question.. I heard lots of callers answering the question of whether Lawrie should be the leadoff man with "Yes, if he performs like tonight". Yeah, I'd take a .600 hitter as a leadoff guy too. Dummies.
Lawrie will hit wherever he is stuck in the lineup, but who knows what this experiment will drag out of him. Maybe he will learn a little patience trying to see a few more pitches. He's not too bad in that regard anyway, he doesn't walk that much but doesn't swing at a ton of balls out of the zone. Stat wise, I would suspect maybe his average will drop slightly but his OBP will go up as will his SB's and certainly runs scored will improve.
Anyway, until Edwin Encarnacion is back, I believe we will see a lot of this formation atop the lineup, and I am excited to see what Lawrie can do with it. From seeing his personality so far in his young career, I believe he will thrive in this role. Let's hope his infectious energy trickles all the way down through the rest of the batting order.
Oh yeah, and Colby Rasmus went 5 for 5 with a dinger and 4 runs scored. Not bad either.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Bullsh*$-pen
Again? Really? What are the relief pitchers eating/drinking/smoking/putting in their rectums that the starters are not?
Santos' struggles have been well covered. Farrell is standing behind his closer, which he should. Early struggles with moving to a new team, new mound, new catchers.... I get it, it can happen. That can explain Santos' playing cricket with his slider out there I guess. And as far as Cordero, who gave up a 2 run shot to Nolan Reimold today to lose the game in the ninth, same deal. Plus being moved into the set up man position maybe doesn't get his blood pumping like it used to. Adjustments to be made there.
I hope that is all it is for those two guys, but I truly wonder. Much was made of Fat Frank Francisco and Long Jon Rauch's struggles here last year. I wrote it off to Francisco being a little washed up and Rauch just being real tall without great stuff, but maybe there is more to it. Both are certainly having early success with the Mets. Let's look at some possibilities...
1) Playing in Toronto.
Maybe guys feel a bit like... who gives a shit. I'm in Canada. I might expect this from veteran US players, but the Franciscos (Frank and Cordero) are Dominican, so I wouldn't have thought it would really be a factor. Maybe the fact that so much attention is paid to the god awful hockey team in this town means that guys who thrive on the spotlight feel unmotivated. Seems a little farfetched, but....
2) Our bullpen coaches suck.
This might be more to the point. If there is any other way to judge a bullpen coach than how the bullpen performs, I'm all ears. Pat Hentgen stepped down last year after our BP (bullpen, not batting practice, although we seem to get those two things confused in the late innings) blew 25 saves for the most in the AL, citing family reasons, but probably would have been fired otherwise. Let the former star player save some face I guess. Now we have another former Jays chucker, Pete Walker, out there getting the reserves ready. The guys that have come in here have been guys that had success elsewhere. Santos was pretty effective as the closer in his gig with Chicago last year, Cordero has been solid for years in Cinci, Oliver had been aging like fine wine in Texas. Geez, Dotel and Rzep left us last year and went on to be crucial cogs for St. Louis' World Series win. For whatever reason, guys in the bullpen definitely seem to underachieve here and maybe it could be as simple as they are not as mentally prepared as they have been in past stints, and that falls squarely on the bullpen coach. Maybe in the offseason next year instead of giving out millions to bring in new parts for a car, we change the driver... lure someone away who has had big league success as a bullpen coach. Don't bring in Juan Guzman. Although that would make me smile.
3)The daunting AL East.
The toughest division in sports. Maybe guys look at the last 18 years, maybe they look at the payrolls, maybe they look at the talent of the other teams and a little voice in the back of their head says "We have no shot at making the playoffs". Once again, you would hope guys making this much money would be above this, but we all know that's not the case.
4) JP is overly focused on the starters.
Arencibia is a young catcher, and a lot of new arms have been rolling through our bp over the past couple of years. And veterans too, not guys that will defer to a catcher's game calling, especially one as green as JP. As a pitcher myself, I can tell you that familiarity with a catcher makes a world of difference. It's frustrating going through 2, 3, 4 signals out there on a regular basis and sometimes it makes you second guess what you want to throw, or even worse, you go with a sign you don't have total faith in. Those pitches have a way of going very far. And even beyond game-calling, you need to know that if you bury your deuce in the dirt (sounds filthy), he's digging it out for you, keeping it in front of him. Maybe JP needs to put in more time with those guys before games, in practices, in spring training, watching video, getting a feel for what each guy wants to do up there. I have actually been very impressed with Arencibia's defence this year, he looks like he has a bit more of a feel for the starters, he's been blocking very well, and he's been gunning down base runners, even when they are getting great jumps. He's throwing from his knees a fair bit, which I think he will find a very successful tactic for him. He's just too tall to pop up super quick, it kills his release time. A slightly slower ball out much quicker is going to get runners more often than the alternative. But anyway, he seems to be off rhythm with the relief staff and that can't help them at all.
So there are a few thoughts on why our bullpen looks like a pigpen over the last couple of years. Honestly, when was the last time we had a steady, solid closer? I know thats a luxury item for contending teams, but boy oh boy it's been awhile. I'm hoping these are just some early jitters from the new guys, and just some poor early luck from guys like Jannsen, but if this year turns out like the last in this regard.... it's time to start digging a little deeper for a solution.
What do my millions of followers think? Is it the players? The coaching staff? Is there beer and fried chicken being consumed out there too, ala BoSox? Holler at your boy.
Ughhhhh. I hate losing to Baltimore....
Santos' struggles have been well covered. Farrell is standing behind his closer, which he should. Early struggles with moving to a new team, new mound, new catchers.... I get it, it can happen. That can explain Santos' playing cricket with his slider out there I guess. And as far as Cordero, who gave up a 2 run shot to Nolan Reimold today to lose the game in the ninth, same deal. Plus being moved into the set up man position maybe doesn't get his blood pumping like it used to. Adjustments to be made there.
I hope that is all it is for those two guys, but I truly wonder. Much was made of Fat Frank Francisco and Long Jon Rauch's struggles here last year. I wrote it off to Francisco being a little washed up and Rauch just being real tall without great stuff, but maybe there is more to it. Both are certainly having early success with the Mets. Let's look at some possibilities...
1) Playing in Toronto.
Maybe guys feel a bit like... who gives a shit. I'm in Canada. I might expect this from veteran US players, but the Franciscos (Frank and Cordero) are Dominican, so I wouldn't have thought it would really be a factor. Maybe the fact that so much attention is paid to the god awful hockey team in this town means that guys who thrive on the spotlight feel unmotivated. Seems a little farfetched, but....
2) Our bullpen coaches suck.
This might be more to the point. If there is any other way to judge a bullpen coach than how the bullpen performs, I'm all ears. Pat Hentgen stepped down last year after our BP (bullpen, not batting practice, although we seem to get those two things confused in the late innings) blew 25 saves for the most in the AL, citing family reasons, but probably would have been fired otherwise. Let the former star player save some face I guess. Now we have another former Jays chucker, Pete Walker, out there getting the reserves ready. The guys that have come in here have been guys that had success elsewhere. Santos was pretty effective as the closer in his gig with Chicago last year, Cordero has been solid for years in Cinci, Oliver had been aging like fine wine in Texas. Geez, Dotel and Rzep left us last year and went on to be crucial cogs for St. Louis' World Series win. For whatever reason, guys in the bullpen definitely seem to underachieve here and maybe it could be as simple as they are not as mentally prepared as they have been in past stints, and that falls squarely on the bullpen coach. Maybe in the offseason next year instead of giving out millions to bring in new parts for a car, we change the driver... lure someone away who has had big league success as a bullpen coach. Don't bring in Juan Guzman. Although that would make me smile.
3)The daunting AL East.
The toughest division in sports. Maybe guys look at the last 18 years, maybe they look at the payrolls, maybe they look at the talent of the other teams and a little voice in the back of their head says "We have no shot at making the playoffs". Once again, you would hope guys making this much money would be above this, but we all know that's not the case.
4) JP is overly focused on the starters.
Arencibia is a young catcher, and a lot of new arms have been rolling through our bp over the past couple of years. And veterans too, not guys that will defer to a catcher's game calling, especially one as green as JP. As a pitcher myself, I can tell you that familiarity with a catcher makes a world of difference. It's frustrating going through 2, 3, 4 signals out there on a regular basis and sometimes it makes you second guess what you want to throw, or even worse, you go with a sign you don't have total faith in. Those pitches have a way of going very far. And even beyond game-calling, you need to know that if you bury your deuce in the dirt (sounds filthy), he's digging it out for you, keeping it in front of him. Maybe JP needs to put in more time with those guys before games, in practices, in spring training, watching video, getting a feel for what each guy wants to do up there. I have actually been very impressed with Arencibia's defence this year, he looks like he has a bit more of a feel for the starters, he's been blocking very well, and he's been gunning down base runners, even when they are getting great jumps. He's throwing from his knees a fair bit, which I think he will find a very successful tactic for him. He's just too tall to pop up super quick, it kills his release time. A slightly slower ball out much quicker is going to get runners more often than the alternative. But anyway, he seems to be off rhythm with the relief staff and that can't help them at all.
So there are a few thoughts on why our bullpen looks like a pigpen over the last couple of years. Honestly, when was the last time we had a steady, solid closer? I know thats a luxury item for contending teams, but boy oh boy it's been awhile. I'm hoping these are just some early jitters from the new guys, and just some poor early luck from guys like Jannsen, but if this year turns out like the last in this regard.... it's time to start digging a little deeper for a solution.
What do my millions of followers think? Is it the players? The coaching staff? Is there beer and fried chicken being consumed out there too, ala BoSox? Holler at your boy.
Ughhhhh. I hate losing to Baltimore....
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Hello again!! Let's do the Lind-y Hop!!
Yes, I am back!
As an explanation of my absence, allow me just to post his photo.
Okay, so you can't be too mad at me for f***ing off for a while, I made a human being.
Yeah yeah, he's rad, pees a lot, poops a lot, eats a lot, best thing that ever happened to me, blah blah blah...
LET'S TALK SOME BASEBALL!!!
I'm not going to get into Spring Training and what I think of the whole team just yet, I just wanted to write something that had been on my mind for a while, and obviously it has to do with the title.... the Lind-y Hop! Here's what that means.
The Blue Jays need to hop on the back of Adam Lind.
What? What about Bautista? Lawrie? Romero? Santos?
Those guys are great players. Lawrie gives me a half-lob. But the Blue Jays are only going to go as far as Lind carries them (or whoever is hitting fourth, but Lind will have to hit his way out of that spot, which I sure as hell hope he doesn't).
The Jays have an interesting strategy at the top of their line up. It's not altogether unique, but in my mind it is short sighted. They want guys with great OBP (Escobar and Johnson) to hit, walk and will their way on to first base in front of Jose Bautista and then sit there so that he actually gets pitches to hit, he can smash some bombs, rope some doubles and cash guys in. This is why Rajai Davis was hitting 9th not leadoff last year. First, his BA is usually fine but he rarely walks, leading to a poor OBP, and secondly they didn't want him getting on, swiping second and then Bautista getting nothing but low breaking balls to look at or spin himself into the ground at. The same can be said for the approach this year as it looks. No real wheels from either Yunel or Kelly (Yunelly?), so it's station to station for the top 3 guys.
Here's why this is flawed:
1-You need to have faith in your clean up hitter. I know most teams are sticking their best hitter at the 3 spot nowadays but you have to believe that, over the long haul, your 4th guy is going to make your opponents pay for not pitching to your 3 guy enough so that they can't automatically walk him unless its pushing across a run.
2- You have to put the pressure on the other teams D. Get guys moving to cover bags, let your 2 guy hit and run, rock some double steals. Maybe the pitcher has the baserunner dancing off first in his head just enough that he rushes his fastball to the plate and it flattens out and becomes BP. And if that means we have guys on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out, or a guy at 2 with one out, and they don't want to pitch to Bautista, then Lind has to make them pay for putting on an extra baserunner.
The only way that Bautista is going to see the fastballs he REMs about is if Lind puts in the mind of managers that he's a bad bad man. Pujols needed Matt Holliday. Bautista needs Adam Lind. The Blue Jays need to not put their whole offensive game plan around one man, even if he does have a sexy latin stubble beard.
Hence, The Lind-y Hop!!
Oh, and AJ Burnett broke his orbital bone bunting in spring training for Pittsburgh. What a dummy.They say it could heal as fast as 7-10 days.... let's see how long he milks this one. Oh boy.
As an explanation of my absence, allow me just to post his photo.
Okay, so you can't be too mad at me for f***ing off for a while, I made a human being.
Yeah yeah, he's rad, pees a lot, poops a lot, eats a lot, best thing that ever happened to me, blah blah blah...
LET'S TALK SOME BASEBALL!!!
I'm not going to get into Spring Training and what I think of the whole team just yet, I just wanted to write something that had been on my mind for a while, and obviously it has to do with the title.... the Lind-y Hop! Here's what that means.
The Blue Jays need to hop on the back of Adam Lind.
What? What about Bautista? Lawrie? Romero? Santos?
Those guys are great players. Lawrie gives me a half-lob. But the Blue Jays are only going to go as far as Lind carries them (or whoever is hitting fourth, but Lind will have to hit his way out of that spot, which I sure as hell hope he doesn't).
The Jays have an interesting strategy at the top of their line up. It's not altogether unique, but in my mind it is short sighted. They want guys with great OBP (Escobar and Johnson) to hit, walk and will their way on to first base in front of Jose Bautista and then sit there so that he actually gets pitches to hit, he can smash some bombs, rope some doubles and cash guys in. This is why Rajai Davis was hitting 9th not leadoff last year. First, his BA is usually fine but he rarely walks, leading to a poor OBP, and secondly they didn't want him getting on, swiping second and then Bautista getting nothing but low breaking balls to look at or spin himself into the ground at. The same can be said for the approach this year as it looks. No real wheels from either Yunel or Kelly (Yunelly?), so it's station to station for the top 3 guys.
Here's why this is flawed:
1-You need to have faith in your clean up hitter. I know most teams are sticking their best hitter at the 3 spot nowadays but you have to believe that, over the long haul, your 4th guy is going to make your opponents pay for not pitching to your 3 guy enough so that they can't automatically walk him unless its pushing across a run.
2- You have to put the pressure on the other teams D. Get guys moving to cover bags, let your 2 guy hit and run, rock some double steals. Maybe the pitcher has the baserunner dancing off first in his head just enough that he rushes his fastball to the plate and it flattens out and becomes BP. And if that means we have guys on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out, or a guy at 2 with one out, and they don't want to pitch to Bautista, then Lind has to make them pay for putting on an extra baserunner.
The only way that Bautista is going to see the fastballs he REMs about is if Lind puts in the mind of managers that he's a bad bad man. Pujols needed Matt Holliday. Bautista needs Adam Lind. The Blue Jays need to not put their whole offensive game plan around one man, even if he does have a sexy latin stubble beard.
Hence, The Lind-y Hop!!
Oh, and AJ Burnett broke his orbital bone bunting in spring training for Pittsburgh. What a dummy.They say it could heal as fast as 7-10 days.... let's see how long he milks this one. Oh boy.
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