The Roundup JR

Well, that series couldn't have ended any worse. I didn't get a chance to see the game, but after reading the boxscore I'm thinking that was a blessing in disguise. The Jays tried my DH/C platoon idea with Barajas catching and Zaun dhing, and it kinda worked. Zaun at least had a nice game at the plate hitting a 2 run bomb.

Outside of that HR though, I'm wondering where all the power has gone. You know somethings not right when Rod Barajas, good as he's been, is third on the team with 5 HR, and the guy who missed a month, Vernon Wells, is second with 7. Rios obviously needs to pick it up, but the other player who's shown a somewhat surprising lack of power is Rolen.

Now I know, Rolen is the Greatest Jay ever and to speak ill of him is blasphemy. But over his last 17 at bats he's been really struggling, hitting 118/250/294. Even worse - over his past 93 at bats he's been primarily a singles hitter, posting a line of 269/376/387. I think Rolen has escaped most of the blame because we were all in awe about how amazing he was during his first couple of weeks. But lately, Rolen has been just as guilty of bringing down the offense, if not moreso, than Rios. At least Rios is showing some signs of life lately.

By now everyone knows that Thigpen was sent down to AAA to activate Zaun from the d/l. But that doesn't change the fact that the way they used him was downright shameful. He was terrific behind the plate for Marcum's start, and as a potentially useful prospect down the road to give him 6 at bats during a 15 day period is just unacceptable. I don't know if this was due to Barajas' hot streak (of which playing virtually every day but one in Zaun's 15+ day absence is batshit crazy). Maybe it was because Gibbons didn't trust Thigpen, although after his start with Marcum I don't see how this would be the case. Hell, maybe it was because of some unknown factor (orders from JP?). Regardless, the fact he got 6 AB over a 15 day period, is terrible development by the Jays, and once again shows a lack of foresight when dealing with prospects. I realize the Jays are trying to compete, and using Thigpen too often may not be the best way to do so. But you're telling me over 15 days they couldn't have found a way to get him some at bats every day or every other day?

AJ Burnett continues to show us why he's such a tool. He made some statements about how if he wasn't a Jay he'd love to be a Cub. AJ, here's a little tip for you - your first and only response to any question about "Would you like to play for team X" should be "I'm happy as a Toronto Blue Jay and I can't imagine playing anywhere else". No more, no less. We know you're lying, and you know you're lying if you say that, but at least it looks good to the media. Nobody gives a shit what team you actually want to play for (except for the one you're playing on now). If you just play dumb, and keep those those thoughts to yourself, than everybody's happy. It makes a world of difference saying "I like the team I'm on" vs "I like the team I'm on, but..."

What I found interesting from that link wasn't about AJ and the Cubs, but about his opt out:

"I have an opt out in my contract," Burnett said. "So people are going to have their own opinion on that. Everybody's talking about me opting out, but nobody's talking about me staying. There's a 100-percent chance of that as well."

If there's a 100% chance of you not opting out, than why was an opt out put into your contract? I don't even care if JP offered you an opt out - if you planned on staying, wouldn't it have made more sense to say "no thanks, I don't want an opt out because I plan on playing all 5 years with this team"?

And if there is a 100% chance of you staying, why don't you prove it by getting your lawyers with the Jays lawyers and removing the opt-out from your contract?

The Jays have an off day today, and they play the Brew Crew in Milwaukee on Tuesday. Oh boy, with the pitcher hitting, this team will have even less offense!

Elsewhere:

Eric Gagne is starting to throw off the mound in his attempt to rehab from injury. Despite his 1-2 record, a 6.98 ERA, and his 2.02 WHIP, I strongly believe some team will buy into the fact that Gagne was awesome 5 years ago and give him a ridiculous contract in 2009. He'll be 33 by then, and should classify as an aging veteran, so Gagne should be at the top of Brian Sabean's 2009 FA wish list.

Chris Carpenter had a set back in his return from TJ. He's gone to see Doc Andrews to find out if "he has a nerve condition common to recipients of the surgery". He'd be out till 2009 if he did have that nerve issue. It's really a shame how Carpenter has been injured for nearly his entire career, cause the past few years when he was healthy he was a monster.

Twitchy.

Bombs Away

I thought I was the resident fantasy baseball expert around here. I'm sure it's been said by others before, but the Jays are starting to operate like a fantasy baseball team.

	4/20 Adam Lind	(Tor- LF)	Add	Free Agents	Blue Jays	JP
	4/20 Frank Thomas	(Tor- DH)	Drop	Waivers	Blue Jays	JP

Ok it took me way too long to set that one up...but after that a week's worth of bad head to head performances Lind was down. And after a bad week from Stew, Wilkerson & Mench were brought up.

Now, I'm a huge fan of making tons of moves...but in fantasy baseball. You're not going to win games by doing this in real life. At least not with these players

The saddest thing over the past couple of days has been Joe Inglett starting in LF. Let me say that again - Joe Inglett is apparently higher on the Blue Jays depth chart than Shannon Stewart, and Adam Lind. Really? Inglett? Yeah, Inglett has a 718 OPS, but I mean, you have nothing to gain by using Inglett in LF. You don't win in this division by playing it safe. You win by taking risks that have huge rewards, such as playing Adam Lind.

While I'm on the topic of bitching at stupid moves - why the fuck was Scutaro DHing in the doubleheader last night? Why not put him at 2B and give Aaron Hill the game off or something? I realize Hill's the better defender, but you don't DH your bench players while playing your starters in a double header. If both of these guys are going to play anyways, you might as well DH Hill so that he gets his rest. I know Hill got the game off the other day, but give Hill or Rolen the DH spot in the doubleheader if you're going to use Scutaro.

Johnny mentioned an article about Lind being a 780 OPS LF yesterday, but I gotta say I don't agree with that. He's capable of a 280/340/460 line, and to me that's his floor. I don't think I'm being totally unreasonable here, as his minor league line is 318/380/509. That's nearly a 900 OPS (it's 889), so why would that person even suggest that Lind is pretty much a 780 OPS player? To me, that's bullshit.

I do agree that by showing no faith in him he has no trade value whatsoever. Considering some people think the season is over, or almost over, there's nothing to lose by giving Lind a shot in LF. The upside is that he could develop into an 800 OPS LF, who we'd pay about 390,000$ or whatever the fuck the minimum is. That's a hell of a lot better than paying Reed Johnson whatever the fuck he got, on top of too much money to Stewart, and the minimum to Butter Fingers Wilkerson. On top of that, we wouldn't need to spend shitloads of $$ or prospects acquiring a LF when we already have one for the next year or so. He'll move over to 1B or something when Snider comes...

Since I'm just ranting at this point, heres's another thing - this offense is just so one-dimensional. Right now, we're just a singles or walks club. There is 0 power, be it from doubles, and more importantly for HR's. I don't care about the BA with RISP - I mean, that wouldn't be a huge problem if say we were hitting 200 but at least we were hitting HR with guys on. Ok, it would be a problem, but you get what I'm saying. Can anybody remember the last time anybody hit a HR when we needed one? We had one the other day by Rolen, and beyond that I think the Stairs HR to win the game 1-0. But outside of that, we've had no HR. And that's what's killing this team. Back in 06/07 I remember Sportsnet showing some stat that 50% of the Jays runs came from HR. I know the team has changed a bit since then, but I'm sure that it's the same basic idea with the Jays.

More than anything, that's the reason they won't score. There isn't any pure speed - be it on the bases, or stealing speed. Rios steals the occasional base, sure, but not enough to be considered a base stealing threat. When he's on, you don't get worried like you would an Ichiro or a Crawford. The Jays are a station to station club. But if they're not showing power...well...this is what ends up happening. They get a couple singles, a couple walks, but never enough to really do any damage.

I know what I'm saying is pretty obvious, but if the Jays don't hit HR's, they're not going to win games. They got the OBP, they have a decent BA most of the time, but the Jays need the HR to score.

It's one thing for me to say it's the problem, but I'm not quite sure how to fix it. Giving Lind his reps in LF should give us better production, but Lind isn't really a HR guy. He's more like Overbay. Rolen is a guy who has a high slugging potential, but he's not a true HR guy either. Things' will get better when Overbay. Hill & Rios get out of their slumps, but even then none of them are really HR guys. It's like this team was built for the 3 run HR, except there aren't any true HR hitters.

Twitchy.