Saturday Bantering: Alan Ashby on Travis Snider.

by Tom Dakers on Sep 4, 2010 11:13 AM EDT in Toronto Blue Jays Analysis

Not much for Jays' news out there this morning.

In none Jays' news Manny Ramirez admitted that he made mistakes at the end of his time with the Red Sox. It is kind of nice to see he has some self-awareness.

Over at Amazing Avenue James Kannengieser shows us that Rod Barajas knows how to make a good first impression.

The Drunks have a great post on stuff that Alan Ashby said on Prime Time Sports the other day. You can listen to Ashby's interview here. I really like Ashby. He's not afraid to speak his mind. He can be critical and he's honest. He was the one Toronto media guy that said there was troubles in the Jays' clubhouse. All the other reporters followed the company line that the story was exaggerated. Alan said yes there are problems and they have been there for a while.

I totally agree with Ashby that Cito has ruined the confidence of Travis Snider and J.P. Arencibia. They should be playing. It seems like we've wasted the last two years with Snider. Snider, like Ashby said, seems to be playing worried about making mistakes, instead of being a play showing his skills. J.P. should have played most of the games while Buck was hurt, like Anthopoulos said he would. Instead he gets 20 at bats over 15 days and people are tripping over themselves making excuses for why Cito didn't play him. "He can't call a good game". How anyone could pretend to know that after watching him catch 4 games, I have no idea. It would be nice if he played enough so that we could have some idea what we might have next year. Right now we must have a young catcher who has to be questioning himself.

What strikes me as funny is that when Cito started with the Jays, this time round, he got them to call up Adam Lind and said he had to play everyday. Then he played him everyday. With Snider, he has said that he has to play but here we are in September and Snider has 207 at bats. It's two years later and we are still talking about Snider's potential.

What should have happened with him, long ago, is he should have been told, 'Hey you are playing everyday, go out there and have fun'. Instead, well he plays come of the time and most of the time, when he does play, the manager shows his confidence in him by batting him 9th.

Would he be a better player if he had played everyday? I don't know. But at least by now we would know we've got with him.

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How's this for a tin-foil hat theory

Maybe with Adam Lind Cito saw something that he doesn’t see with Snider, maybe he saw that Lind had the potential to hit as well as he did last season. If that’s the case however, that he’s given up thinking that a guy, who came up to Toronto at the ripe old age of 20 after tearing the entire MiLB a collective new one, has the potential to be an All-star type hitter then he needs to renew his foresight prescription.

by T_Mizz on Sep 4, 2010 11:27 AM EDT reply actions

To Cito's defense, we do have a log jam in the OF

atleast with Overbay gone at the end of the year, Lind will take over at 1st, and Snider, Lewis, Wells, Bautista, EE can split time on the field and DH’ing. Then there should be no reason to sit Snider, but Snider shouldn’t be sitting in the first place. EE should have been DFA.

HEADING STRAIGHT FOR THEM, I PRESS DOWN MAH GUNS!

by BenjiDoc on Sep 4, 2010 12:38 PM EDT reply actions

Agree 1000000% with Alan Ashby

I still don’t understand why Wise gets a start in the OF and Snider sits on the bench. It seems like its been 2 whole years that Snider has been a bench player for us. How is he suppose to develop with only 200AB a year? I really hope we get a coach who knows how to develop players the right way.

http://prolineexperts.webs.com

Proline Experts

by Schenn4captain on Sep 4, 2010 2:29 PM EDT reply actions

Love what Ashby had to say

Snider should be in there everyday. Don’t want to say Cito appears to have something against him, but man, it makes you wonder.

Arencibia should be getting more playing time, and even an extra at bat when he can. Can someone explain to me what the hell Molina is doing up batting in the 8th inning of a 7-3 deficit with Morrow long gone from this game. Pefect opportunity for JPA to get in there in my opinion.

As for JPA’s game calling issue, I say that is plain crap. i’ll sight two things. First, as I heard Asby say during a game called last month, it’s ultimitly in the pitcher’s control. Second, to back that up, I recall when Kevin Cash was first up and caught Halladay, he said he put down a signal {s}, and waited for Halladay to nod. These pitchers have the same right to do that if they are uncomfortable with what JPA is asking for.

by Alan F. on Sep 4, 2010 7:38 PM EDT reply actions

Ashby is the best

not because he’s always right, but he frequently is and as you said, Tom, he speaks his mind.

I couldn’t agree more with him here. Now I don’t think that Buck should be riding the pine either, but there’s a middle ground. The Snider situation is even worse. Travis should be playing 5-6 games a week, full stop. That’s all there is to it. If that pisses Fred Lewis off or if it means Bautista has to play third base more, so be it.

On the JP thing, don’t forget that Ashby was a major-league catcher for 15 seasons. If he doesn’t see something glaring that Arencibia is doing wrong back there behind the plate, no one can.

"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman

by hugo on Sep 4, 2010 8:52 PM EDT reply actions

JPA will be okay, but Snider's an issue

He should have got more ABs when Buck was injured and it’d be nice to see him play more now, but I’m not worried about JPA’s progress. Going into 2011, he’ll just be happy to have had a taste of the big leagues this year and he should be learning stuff with his time around Buck, Molina and the big league pitchers and coaches, regardless of how much playing time he gets.

Snider’s lack of playing time, on the other hand, is a cause for concern. Sure he’s still young, but in terms of where he’s been in his stage of development, he ought to have been playing full-time this year, end of story. I think Alan Ashby’s right that he’s “playing worried” as he knows that a bad game might means he rides the bench for a few days. In terms of the mandate for the new manager who takes over in 2011, one of the key points from AA is that Snider gets a fresh slate and is told that he plays every day, whatever happens. He also needs fixed position, which isn’t DH – give him LF and leave him there.

by jabalong on Sep 4, 2010 9:00 PM EDT reply actions

the funny thing

is that Snider is 2 years younger than Arencibia. That’s in no way a knock against Arencibia, it’s just a reminder of how young Snider is. That he’s held his own for the past two years in the majors is a testament to the kind of player that he is capable of becoming. All he needs is a shot to play everyday and get his timing and his confidence back on track.

"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman

by hugo on Sep 4, 2010 9:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Snider's low AB has something to do with his long stint on the DL

The fact that the Jays needs someone like Lewis to bat lead-off, taking playing time away, makes things a bit worse.
If only E5 vanishes and Bautista plays 3B more often, making the OF less crowded for Snider and Lewis……

by PFHLai on Sep 5, 2010 8:50 PM EDT reply actions