2012 Toronto Blue Jays Thread

[Kin]

I know you have to put the best interests of the team first, but does Arencibia's love for the team and the city at all impact what to do with him?

Dear jeebus, I hope not.

The Jays are fighting three of the best organizations in baseball within their own division. That kind of demands utter ruthlessness. If Lawrie's the kind of guy who'd react negatively to the team making a decision in the best interest of the ball club then he might as well be the next guy dealt. If the Jays are going to be competitive they'll need to make lots of tough decisions and you may as well get Lawrie used to it as soon as possible.

As to the general question, I think people are looking at this slightly the wrong way. Unless JP can play a good defensive 1B then there's no reason to look at converting him there. There's a perfectly good spot available at DH if and when that becomes an issue. The thing right now is that Arencibia needs to develop his bat to the point where you need to find a position for him.

 

[Kin]

The Jays demoted Travis Snider.

Honestly, I've never seen a guy get jerked around like this.

 

[Newbury]

The Jays demoted Travis Snider.

Honestly, I've never seen a guy get jerked around like this.

Wasn't he having a great spring?

 

[Erndog]

The Jays demoted Travis Snider.

Honestly, I've never seen a guy get jerked around like this.

Kadri?

 

[Kin]

Wasn't he having a great spring?

I don't know about great but reports were that he was hitting much better and showing off a much improved swing.

 

[Kin]

Kadri?

Not even close and that should say something.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

The Jays demoted Travis Snider.

Honestly, I've never seen a guy get jerked around like this.

Wasn't he having a great spring?

I thought I read that he had a good start to the spring and kind of fell off towards the end, while Thames was having a good spring as well.

Hopefully we see him back up soon enough.

 

[Peter D.]

Some have suggested that Snider's one-handed swing crept back in as spring training progressed.

I'm not overly upset about the Snider situation in the sense that I have always felt underwhelmed by him.  Maybe it's because he hasn't been given a prolonged period to prove himself.  But Thames to be the one to continually outduel him?  Frustrating.  Either something's not there with Snider or management has some sort of soft spot for Thames.  Probably a bit of both.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Thames was pretty highly touted at one point though, wasn't he?  Didn't he fall in the draft because of a bad injury or something?

 

[Kin]

Some have suggested that Snider's one-handed swing crept back in as spring training progressed.

I'm not overly upset about the Snider situation in the sense that I have always felt underwhelmed by him.  Maybe it's because he hasn't been given a prolonged period to prove himself.  But Thames to be the one to continually outduel him?  Frustrating.  Either something's not there with Snider or management has some sort of soft spot for Thames.  Probably a bit of both.

Either way, it's a bizarre way to treat such a good prospect who actually had a pretty decent year in the majors at the age of 22. We have to watch Adam Lind over the last two years get 1150 PA's at 1B while being unable to get his OPS+ to 100 but we can't give Snider half a season of AB's to hit MLB pitching?

 

[maplesyrup]

Thames was pretty highly touted at one point though, wasn't he?  Didn't he fall in the draft because of a bad injury or something?

Correct on both counts.

 

[maplesyrup]

Why not have Snider co-DH with E5 in the short term? I'd rather Snider see half as many MLB pitches than a steady diet of PCL pitching. 

 

[bustaheims]

Thames was pretty highly touted at one point though, wasn't he?  Didn't he fall in the draft because of a bad injury or something?

Yeah. He was expected to at least be a 1st rounder, possibly even a top 10 guy the year the Jays drafted him before he suffered a serious shoulder (I think) injury.

 

[Peter D.]

Thames was pretty highly touted at one point though, wasn't he?  Didn't he fall in the draft because of a bad injury or something?

I didn't realize that.  For some reason Thames seemed to be a guy that kind of came out of nowhere.  Maybe that's because Snider has been billed as the next big thing since he was drafted and as sure-fire as it gets.  It seemed to be pretty much Snider and nobody else.

I wonder how much Snider's option came into play. 

 

[Andy007]

Why not have Snider co-DH with E5 in the short term? I'd rather Snider see half as many MLB pitches than a steady diet of PCL pitching.

He should be seeing 100% MLB pitches, not half, and he should be in LF, considering his defense is far superior to Thames'.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

This excites me.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/spring2012/story/_/id/7729121/toronto-blue-jays-third-baseman-brett-lawrie-bound-greatness

A .953 OPS? A .580 slugging percentage? More extra-base hits (21) in a month and a half than the National League's starting third baseman in the All-Star Game (Placido Polanco) got all season (19)?

...

You'd think that a month and a half in the big leagues wouldn't tell us anything meaningful about any player, right? Well, guess again.

Since 1900, only a dozen other players have had an OPS that high at age 21 or younger, in a season in which they got as many at-bats as Lawrie got in 2011. There's not a Shane Spencer-ish fluke in the bunch.

Ten of those players are now in the Hall of Fame. An 11th (Albert Pujols) is a lock to join them. The 12th was Hal Trosky, whose spectacular career path was cut short by migraines.

There is only one other name on the list: Brett Lawrie. Whew.

EDIT: and yes, I know McCovey is the only player on that list with as few AB's as Lawrie, but still.

 

[Kin]

Not to take anything away from Lawrie but nobody should be holding up Placido Polanco as a standard of excellence.

Seriously, the NL starting All-Star at 3B had a .674 OPS.

 

[Champ Kind]

Thames was pretty highly touted at one point though, wasn't he?  Didn't he fall in the draft because of a bad injury or something?

Yeah. He was expected to at least be a 1st rounder, possibly even a top 10 guy the year the Jays drafted him before he suffered a serious shoulder (I think) injury.

Knee injury, I believe.  But I'm far from confident.  But for the hell of it I'll bet you the free coffee I just won on roll up the rim.

 

[Kin]

Globe says Quad:

?I got my confidence in college,? said Thames, who batted .529 with a .956 slugging percentage as a junior at Pepperdine. ?I started wearing a T-shirt that said BLOB. It stood for Big Leagues Or Bust.?

But he tore a quad muscle off the bone of his right leg two weeks before the draft in 2008 and dropped from a possible first-rounder all the way to the seventh.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/baseball/slow-and-steady-wins-the-race-for-jays-eric-thames/article2380880/

 

[Deebo]

McGowan signed to a 3 year extension.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/baseball/mcgowan-blue-jays-agree-to-3-year-contract/article2381785/