Sunday 24 April 2011

Avoid Declarative Statements

So, that last post concluded on a somewhat shaky note, eh?

Since then:

  • Nix to the DL, McCoy back to the Jays
  • Hill to the DL, Litsch recalled after ~40 pitches in Vegas Friday night to start Tuesday
  • Encarnacion has a sore wrist, day to day
  • Raji Davis has had his rehab slowed by a postponed game on Saturday, and might be a day late in being activated
  • Oh, and Scott Podsednick is playing again in Dunedin and should move up to Vegas this week.

Can't tell the players without a scorecard, as they say. The upcoming moves seem obvious, but given the twists and turns, I'll refrain from laying them out. One thing that seems to get some speculation that needs clarifying. The Blue Jays have a very solid conviction about prospect development. they will NOT change the clock on Brett Lawrie (or anyone else who's a legit prospect) because of passing injuries to major leaguers. They would have to run completely out of 40-man roster options before they promoted Lawrie before they thought he was completely ready, and even then probably not. You are more likely to see Calix Crabbe in a jays uniform than to see Lawrie come early.
The one possible exception is if Hill, or Encarnacion, were to be disabled for a foreseeable extended period, and by extended I mean three months or more. They simply don't think that way.

From their public comments, they are not ready to declare him "ready" yet. AA said on the air late last week that it's far too early to judge a player based on a couple of weeks worth of at-bats. On the other hand, the "vibe" seems to be that his timetable is to arrive sometime before September. So there's that.

1 comment:

Mylegacy said...

Lawrie - when a guy is raking over .400 it's hard to complain. BUT - the guy has almost no walks. When AAA pitchers say enough of this and stop throwing him strikes will he turn into Vlad and swing at anything (hitting his share but with ever diminishing results as the pitches get further and further away from the plate) or Bautista (and start taking walks to make him an elite player)?

Vlad is useful - but Jose is SO much more.

Cooper (whom I am on record many times as loathing) is beginning to show a promise that I never thought he had in him and Thames (who is like the stock market - ie up and down like crazy) are both looking very promising.

I wouldn't be too surprised to see us have a competitive 2nd half if Francisco, Morrow and at least one of Cecil or Reyes turn into anything of note.

Like your stuff as always!