Who's up and Who's Down on the Jays This Week: May 20 to 26
by Tom Dakers on May 27, 2011 1:00 PM EDT
in Toronto Blue Jays Analysis
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PrintIt wasn't the best of weeks, we went 2-5, so you can expect a bunch of down arrows. Our bullpen, that was so good last week, let us down this week.
Rotation
Just the one start this week but he went 7 inings and only allowed the one run. Unfortunately it was lost by the bullpen.
Kyle Drabek
Had the one start. It wasn't terrible, 6 innings and 3 runs, 3 walks and he took the loss. He gave up 8 hits but not many of them were of the 'hit hard' variety. I think it was a small step forward for him.
On to the DL, he was sent to see the doctor but not Dr. Doom, so I'm hoping the news won't be too bad.
2 starts, one that was very good (7 shutout innings), but the bullpen lost if for him and one that was just terrible, 3 innings, 5 runs and he was lucky that it was only 5 runs. Added together he had a 4.50 ERA for the week. He can set a major league record his next start.
2 starts. The one against the Astros didn't go well, 6 innings, 9 hits and 4 earned, but the team won. Then, Thursday, he goes 7, allows just 4 hits and 1 earned but the team lost. All in he had a 3.46 ERA for the week, which is an improvement over how things have been going for the guy this season. So a half hearted up arrow.
Carlos Villanueva
Juan Rivera
The Rest
Pitched 3 times this week, didn't allow a run, giving up 2 hits, and 1 walk in his 2.2 innings. A good week.
Farrell only used him once this week and he got the 2 batters out he faced. The way he has pitched, he's going to have to get used to facing 2 batters a week.
3 games, he gave up his first run in a month, but it wasn't really his fault, Yunel booted the double play ball. Had they turned the DP, the run wouldn't have scored, but it goes as an earned run because you can't assume a DP. He faced 12 batters and gave up 2 hits and a walk. Can't get all that much better.
In 3 games he faced 8 batters and got 7 of them out. You can't ask for much more. When we were signing all the RH relievers we could find, this off-season, I felt that Janssen was at least as good as any of them. He is showing it.
Got into 4 games and allowed runs in three of them and he blew a save. Opponents hit .357 against him.
It was a bad week for Scrabble, he took the loss Thursday, not that it was his fault. 2 runs scored against him, neither earned, he struck out 3 batters in his inning of work, but there were 2 errors behind him. His other 2 appearances of the week weren't great.
He made his first start for us and we couldn't have asked for more. 5 innings of 2 hit ball, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. He got us one of our two wins on the week. He bought himself at least 1 more start and likely more beyond that.
Got into 3 games and took 2 losses. The down arrow isn't big enough for him. Batters pounded him for a .500/.538/.833 rate in the 3 games. It would be hard to imagine a pitcher having a worse week. Of course, the 2 losses were in both in the second of back-to-back games. The other game he struck out 2 batters in his inning. You think maybe he shouldn't pitch in back to back games?
Luis Perez
Got called up to the majors so that's worth an up arrow all by itself. Add in that he got two big outs in our win against the Yankees and he ate 4 innings in Jo-Jo's terrible start against the Yankees, I think we can say it was a good week for him.
He started 5 of the 7 games and pinch hit in another one. He had at least 1 hit in 4 of the 5 starts, had a home run and 2 doubles and drove in 6 runs. He was .300/.333/..550 for the week. You can't complain about that.
Might be back early next week. Hurry Adam
Not a bad week with the bat for Aaron, he hit .296/.345/.407. He only drove in 1 run but I ame happy with small steps forward.
.He had a great week, .308/..333/..692. 2 homers, a triple, 2 doubles. He did make the one error but when you are hitting like that, I'll allow an error.
Terrible week, .167/.167/.167 in the four games he got into. He had an error too.
.250/.300/.357. He was caught stealing once, now he is 7 out of 12 on stolen base attempts. He has to stop trying to steal in front of Jose. I don't suppose, when Lind comes back, that we could let Thames play left some?
Not a terrible week with the bat, .286/.310/.357, but not what we'd like to see. Stole 1, was caught once. Scored just 1 run. He's not really causing the havoc on the base paths that we were hoping he would. I do like watching him in CF. Can't really give him a down arrow when he hits for the week pretty much what he has done all year.
You know, it wasn't a great week for Jose, at least by his standards. But he did hit 3 home runs and drove in 5. The line was .250/.367/.625, I know for anyone else that would be a big up arrow but for Jose it was just another week.
He played in every game this week and looked ok at first base. I am not impressed by his range there, but is making plays on most of the balls he can get too. Had his first error Thursday. He had a good week with the bat, .346/.393/.500, with a home run. Only 2 RBI's but can't complain too much about the bat.
John, I love you, but you didn't have a good week. He played less this week than the week before, which is good, he shouldn't be an everyday player. That was one huge error Thursday. As Wilner said he forgot that Rios doesn't run out ground balls. He had time but he rushed the throw anyway. With all the EE jokes, Mac is the first to throw a ball into the seats from third base. With the bat he was 0 for the week.
Another that was 0 for the week. 10 at bats, 0 hits, 4 strikeouts, 0 walks. 1 RBI though, lets cheer the small victories. Add in that he isn't very good with the glove and you have a player that I really don't want on the team.
Played in 2 games this week. One that was good: 2 for 3, 2 runs, 1 RBI. One that wasn't: 0 for 3, walk, 2 strikeouts and a throwing error. Now that JP has shown he can catch pitches thrown by Brandon Morrow I'm not sure how much we'll see of Jose behind the plate. Likely 1 game a week.
.263/..300/..368. 6 strikeouts and 1 walk in 19 at bats. So not a great week but wasn't it fun to see how happy he was to get to play in Yankees stadium. In his first 7 MLB games he is hitting .292, not a bad start to a career. I like watching him bat, I'd like to see him get a chance in LF, just to see what he can do.
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Seems like I'm the only one who ever defends Corey Patterson on here
Sure he was caught stealing, but I don’t think you can fault him when the ump blew the call.
I also know “clutch” is a swear word on BBB, but he didn’t have alot of hits this week, but he sure had some big ones.
I just don’t get why everyone is so hard on him.
by craig in calgary on May 27, 2011 1:10 PM EDT reply actions
I’m okay with the way Patterson has been playing so far. I just defended him for you somewhere yesterday Craig!
I wasn’t too thrilled with the singing at first, but if he hits like he has so far this season, I’m okay with him.
How do you feel about Dotel’s singing though?
I don't steal when Jose Bautista is at bat.
by Minor Leaguer on May 27, 2011 1:25 PM EDT up reply actions
The signing was a big ‘meh’ for me when it happened. I think I said something along the lines of “do we really need another right handed relief pitcher, especially one that can’t pitch lefties at all”
According to the infallible John Farrell logic, apparently he can pitch against lefties though. Considering their utilization of him thus far, and the logjam of right handed relievers, it’s still a pretty big ‘meh’ for me.
hahaha
I wasn’t too thrilled with the singing at first, but if he hits like he has so far this season, I’m okay with him.
The first time I read that I seriously thought you somehow were annoyed at CoPa’s singing abilities but then his hot hitting makes up for it. Then I realized that it didn’t make any sense and that I should make fun of your typo :-)
I don't steal when Jose Bautista is at bat.
by Minor Leaguer on May 27, 2011 2:03 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I can't figure out how he was 'clutch' this week, he had 1 RBI
I’d imagine if he was clutch he’d have more than one. The chart is only about this week and he was down a bit this week.
Why is it that almost every athlete/coach acknowledes that clutch exists
But that baseball sabermetricers refuse to acknowlege it? I’m not saying that clutch is a superhuman characteristic that turns shitty ball players into superhuman hitting machines, but certain players do perform better under pressure than others, regardles what anyone thinks.
by craig in calgary on May 27, 2011 2:37 PM EDT up reply actions
I agree
But i don’t know if we want to start this up again…
by bowling_kid25 on May 27, 2011 2:56 PM EDT up reply actions
I think that true clutch situations aren’t that common and that given a normal amount of at-bats things will average and good hitters will be good hitters and bad hitters bad hitters.
For the longest time People viewed A-Rod as a poor post-season clutch performer but now that he has amassed 230AB his slash lines are near the same to his regular season numbers.
I think you'll find I'm universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult.
Twitter is the thing with all the tweets...
I think this is it. Its a SSS issue as there are so few AB for “clutch” situations.
Also some players who are better fastball/cutter hitters might do better later in the game because (at least from my limited knowledge), most closers/late inning relievers tend to use more speed pitches and not very many changeups. So it might not be “clutchness” as much as a player matches up better with the harder throwers who tend to come out of the pen late.
That being said I just made that entire thought process up so I’m like 60% sure I’m wrong.
clutch exists in certain plays/samples
but it can’t be used as a predictor of future performance. plain and simple
then define the tern in a way that can be understood
You said ‘corey was clutch’, I said he only drove in one run. To me, unless that was one amazing run, I don’t see how he could have been clutch. To me, if a term can’t be defined it means nothing.
by Tom Dakers on May 27, 2011 3:30 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Clutch doesn't just mean driving in runs
There were a couple times in high leverage situations where he had big hits to set the table, I remember them happening, but I can’t give you particular examples off the top of my head.
You know very well what the definition of clutch is. Kevin Durant is a better scorer than Lebron James yet yesterday when the game was on the line, Lebron hit his shots, Durant didn’t. Nate Kaeding has a better career percentage than Adam Vinateri, yet in the playoffs and the end of games, Vinateri is near perfect, while Kaeding (who is the NFL career FG percentage leader) might be looking for a job. Tiger Woods (Pre-scandal) was always a middle of the field putter but when the tournament was on the line, no one was better. Stand over a 4 foot putt when nothing is on the line, then stand over a 4 foot putt with $100 on the line, then tell me that there is no such thing as “clutch”
These are just some examples, but without having exact stats, the Sabermetric crowd will never buy in. Which is fine, I don’t need to be convinced with articles, stats or whatever else, because I’ve watched sports my whole life and I know some players just perform better when the spotlight is on them.
by craig in calgary on May 27, 2011 3:58 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I have no idea what clutch means.
Tiger Woods puts in putts because he is good, as far as I can tell. Kevin Durant being better in one game means little to me too, but I never watch NBA.
If clutch doesn’t mean driving in runs then I really don’t get it. I’ve had tv commentators tell me all my life that player X drove in that run cause he was clutch. Terms that are defined by ‘i know’ doesn’t help me. I’ve watched sports all my life too and I’ve found clutch means what the commentator wants it to mean. Saying he got hits in high leverage spots, Corey has 4 JoD which I just use from WPA that measures leverage. EE is not clutch and has 5 in few games.
I grew up in Edmonton, I got told all my young life that Wayne Gretzky but Mark Messier was clutch. But if you go through the stats, Wayne scored more big goals that Mark did.
I’ve been told for 15 years that Jeter is clutch. I think it helps that Jeter is on a winning team, if he was on a team that didn’t have the highest salary in baseball every year, I don’t think he’d be as clutch.
But anyway, I’ll leave it there. If someone can define the term, I’ll revisit it.
Clutch:
Verb: Grasp or seize (something) tightly or eagerly
All joking aside, I’ll drop it to. You can’t prove it doesn’t exist any more than I can prove it does exist, but I guess that’s the purpose of sports blogs.
by craig in calgary on May 27, 2011 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions
I think playing better in the "clutch" is pretty much non-existent
however, there are players who perform differently (mostly worse) in higher leverage situations due to different approach
Choose me, Ash!
This is just a fallacy
Tiger has always been a good putter. he is good at everything. he makes good shots when things are on the line because he always makes good shots.
Onions Baby Onions
Not true.
He hits alot of puts in big situations though.
2001 when Tiger was at his all time best, and was in the middle of his TigerSlam™, he was 102nd in putting in the PGA. He might miss a 4 footer for par on thursday for birdie on hole 7, but on the back 9 on Sunday he was nearly automatic.
by craig in calgary on May 27, 2011 5:27 PM EDT up reply actions
I like defending our chitty players!
For the season Patterson is 3rd on the team in average and ops with RISP (.300 and .886 respectively). Heres the link: http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/stats/batting/_/name/tor/cat/OPS/split/39/toronto-blue-jays
As for this week he could have sucked. I kinda thought after getting to 20-20, we would dominate this part of the schedule. Big letdown = they all suck! :)
by Matthew Mueller on May 27, 2011 2:24 PM EDT up reply actions
Why is it that almost every athlete/coach acknowledes that clutch exists
But that baseball sabermetricers refuse to acknowlege it…
Baseball sabermetricians deal in probability and logic. People who say clutch exists are the same people who draft Derek Jeter in their baseball pools
For me it's like Pat saying 'this team plays the game right'.
unless you know how you are defining that, it means nothing. I’m sure Corey Patterson would be more clutch than me. But his career numbers with RISP are a little worse than his total numbers. So what makes him more clutch than anyone else? I think he is an ok 4th outfielder, he’s been ok for us, I wish he wouldn’t get caught stealing so much and I’d like him to take better routes to fly balls, but I’d rather have him than Brad Wilkerson.
I think the notion that some people are clutch or offer some other intangibles to the team makes things more interesting.
That’s why athletes/coaches/baseball commentators acknowledge it. Clutchiness (if that’s a word) makes for heroes and interesting stories. I think clutch can exist, but probably only in small sample sizes and that eventually it usually evens out. To think that a certain player is clutch can be fun though. It’s a game of numbers, but from a fan’s perspective, it’s also about cheering for personalities, who are created, more often than not, by fans.
Molina DHing today.
Honestly. There is absolutely no argument whatsoever for DHing Molina over anyone except McDonald. Farrell needs to either use EE for the role he is best suited for or release him. So ridiculous.
Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.
Umm... great minds think alike?
Saw your post come up just as I hit the button on mine. Agree!
by transmogrifier on May 27, 2011 4:10 PM EDT up reply actions
Molina is DH tonight.
Honestly, if they won’t even use EE as DH then DFA him… get it over with and promote a warm body they will use from AAA. Molina as DH (or as cleanup hitter) makes no sense, he’s a backup catcher for a reason. Much as I like him he is not a hitting wizard, he’s had decent numbers recently but can’t expect it to continue at that rate. If you want EE to finally hit some HRs then play him, he’s not going to do it from the bench.
Granted he doesn’t have a lot to work with, but some decisions being made by Farrell these days are clearly showing his inexperience as manager. I like his risk taking but there are points where it goes too far. He doesn’t seem to want to work with the players and develop them, as soon as they struggle a bit they get yanked. Very reactive approach.
Farrell panicing?
This just seems to be grasping at straws at this point. I understand the frustration at not getting much offense, but this move seems strange to me.
Molina is 7 for 11 against LH pitching so far this season.
This must be the logic behind his decision. If you go back over last three season though he is batting .196 vs LH pitching. Wasn’t somebody saying something about Farrell using small sample sizes in making certain lineup decisions? I hope it works out but I would rather have seen EE as DH.
No doubt Farrell is feeling the struggles of his team. Just watching how restless he is in the dugout during games makes me feel for the players, what an adjustment from Cito’s relaxed approach. Must drive them crazy not knowing if he will pull the trigger on them next time they have a bad game. He needs to relax and take a longer term approach, the season is too long to be on pins and needles every step of the way. No player is perfect every game.
by transmogrifier on May 27, 2011 4:35 PM EDT up reply actions
Molina didn't bat clean up, it was 5th. Not that it makes a lot of difference.
I like that Farrell is up and in games talks to coaches and players.
I’m not all for Molina DHing but Cito had him DH once last year too. This will be his 4th game at DH in his career. If it is once, I’ll go along with it as a hunch or a hope or something. I remember being unhappy when Cito did it too. I don’t see the point in not putting EE in the spot but then maybe EE has a sore wrist again or something. I’ll give in that Farrell is closer to it than I am.
He has a sore toe, as reported by New Bastian
by craig in calgary on May 27, 2011 4:50 PM EDT up reply actions
JMac also not available tonight due a hammy problem
so we only one guy on the bench and that is Thames
We're just banking a lot of injuries this year so that next couple years when we're winning we'll be injury-free, right, guys?
….
….
Guys?
I don't steal when Jose Bautista is at bat.
by Minor Leaguer on May 27, 2011 5:15 PM EDT up reply actions
Woo about 20 at bats.
I think you'll find I'm universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult.
Twitter is the thing with all the tweets...
irrelevant to thread but
the Tigers just traded Scott Sizemore to the A’s for David Purcey.
/snicker
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