Jays pulling the old switcheroo?

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?

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