Blue Jay Hitters in July
by Tom Dakers on Aug 3, 2011 4:12 PM EDT
in Toronto Blue Jays Analysis
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PrintIt strikes me that it is the first in a number of years that we don't have a bunch of placeholders in the line up. Once Brett is up (today would be a good day) we could be looking at the line up we could see for the next few years. I mean, Hill likely could be replaced and maybe we'll see a new DH next year and we have some guys in the minors that could challenge for jobs soon, but we have finally rid ourselves of the Nixes, Pattersons, Millars, Wilkersons etc of the world. Life is good.
Our batters hit .268/.327/.424 in July. We scored 5.46 runs per game, more runs than we scored any other month.
J.P. Arencibia: .205/.284/.452, 5 homers, 13 RBI. He's been very consistent for home runs this year, he had 4 each month until the 5 in July. After a dismal June, he started hitting again in the middle of July. I'm starting to wonder if there is such a thing as catcher that isn't a streak hitter.
Adam Lind: .210/.265/.314, 3 homers, 10 RBI. Yep, it was a lousy month for him. His gloved looked good though, not much of a trade off.
Aaron Hill: .213/.283/.292, 2 homers, 8 RBI. Well, he's been consistent, his OPS by month this year: .555, .659, .616, and .575. Consistent isn't always a compliment.
Yunel Escobar: .367/.462/.443, 0 HR, 10 RBI, 14 runs. His home run last night was his first since June 30 but if you get on base at a .462 rate, I'll overlook a month between bombs.
Jose Bautista: .316/.423/.646, 7 HR, 19 RBI. Player of the month again? He's looked pretty good at third base too, not that Brett Lawrie won't look good there.
Travis Snider: .287/.289/.471, 2 HR, 18 RBI, 1 walk. Just 1 walk. If he would some walks, it wouldn't be a bad looking line. 1 RBI less than Jose Bautista had.
Eric Thames: .277/.312/.485, 4 HR, 17 RBI. Pretty good numbers too. As I wouldn't mind if he'd get on base a bit more.
Rajai Davis: .260/.313/.377, 0 HR, 10 RBI, 13 stolen bases. I really like him as 4th outfielder. A really good role for him. Great speed, good defence and a pretty good bat against LHP.
Edwin Encarnacion: .313/.377/.531, 4 HR, 14 RBI. And 3 stolen bases. I've said it before, but I do wonder what kind of season he would have had if they didn't change around positions at the end of spring training. He's always been a slow starter though, so maybe it wouldn't have been that much different.
Corey Patterson: .200/.238/.225, 3 RBI.
John McDonald: .324/.316/.351, 6 RBI. 2 caught stealing. His contract runs out after this season. Do you figure we sign him again?
Jose Molina: .304/.333/.391, 2 RBI. Just 23 at bats. Same question as above.
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Speaking of hitters, thought this was a hoot!
Ricky Romero
RickyRo24 Ricky Romero
Dwayne Murphy Brian Butterfield n johnny mac "jguy4: @RickyRo24 if you could pitch to 3 hitters of any year since 1900, who would they be?"
hmmmm wonder what happened...
Ricky said he’d like to pitch to Butterfield, Murphy and Mac. Figure Butterfield would take him deep?
Related Thwip
Q: who was/is the person you want to strike out the most?"
A: Johnny Mac because he talks a lot of smack
hahahahaha
Yes, I am addicted to the bbref play index. @BBBMinorLeaguer
by Minor Leaguer on Aug 3, 2011 4:41 PM EDT up reply actions
gotta keep PMoD at least one more year
great backup infielder and though his bat isn’t great it has been decently clutch IMO, plus…who would be our emergency catcher!
by llello.loves.ace on Aug 3, 2011 4:20 PM EDT reply actions
yes
you definitely “gotta” keep one of the worst hitting position players in the history of the Major Leagues (at least considering how much playing time he’s received)
WAR... WAR never changes.
also, you know
if we didn’t have PMoD (who I like as a person, he is just pretty horrible at hitting baseballs) we wouldn’t have this roster problem for Lawrie
WAR... WAR never changes.
even if lawrie was in the bigs, we have a log jam in the OF
thames and EE are both hitting reasonably well, so do you bench/platoon them?
COLBY RASMUS
they have a team option though
I don’t think he’s going anywhere “just” for a comp pick. could be wrong though
WAR... WAR never changes.
I thought EE was not currently ranked (but he is getting close to Type B)
by llello.loves.ace on Aug 3, 2011 5:46 PM EDT up reply actions
That's the point
If he plays a bunch, he likely reaches type B status, otherwise he probably won’t.
by Playoffs!!!!1 on Aug 4, 2011 8:36 AM EDT up reply actions
I would send thames down
needs more work in the OF and needs to walk a bit more
by Matthew Mueller on Aug 3, 2011 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions
I don't think it is.
He’s not as good as his number show. And if we keep winning no one will care.
by Matthew Mueller on Aug 3, 2011 5:42 PM EDT up reply actions
that was a dumb thing to say
because we’d obviously have someone else taking his place, though that person could have presumably been Lawrie
WAR... WAR never changes.
He may not be the best hitter out there but he's heck of a nice guy...
The Jays last trip to Boston, I was at Fenway for the last match of the series. If you guys remember there was a rain delay during the game and me and my cousin moved up to the seats right beside the Jays dugout.
Towards the end of the rain delay when the players were returning to the dugout, I asked most of the players to autograph my ticket and got rejected. Then I asked Johnny Mac and he looked up, saw my Jays gear (Bautista shirt and Jays hat) and decided to sign my ticket.
I know it’s a very small thing, but for me, that was a huge gesture. He’s clearly a good guy, a well liked guy as I saw him laughing around with most of the players in the Jays dugout. I guess that’s the reason for the Lovefest for Johny Mac.
P.S. At the end of the 8th inning, Lind threw me the ball on his way to the dugout, what a thrill that was!
"Low, and he walks the bases loaded on 12 straight pitches. How can these guys lay off pitches that close?"
by Clueless Omar on Aug 3, 2011 5:42 PM EDT up reply actions
I've never said he wasn't a nice guy
He’s a horrible hitter, but that has nothing to do with his personality. By all accounts he is a terrific human being, but unfortunately, being a good guy doesn’t help him hit the ball any better (or play left field for that matter).
Really, I was angry that the Jays signed him to a two year deal two years ago. I was wrong. This second year was valuable because he provides a veteran utility presence on an otherwise youngish squad. Having said that, I don’t think he should be back next year because I do think his age is beginning to catch up to him on defense. And without defense, the PMoD has no value at all.
Meh, it isn’t like there are great (or even really average) hitting backup infielders that provide good defense… they wouldn’t be back-ups were that the case.
Can't McCoy be the emergency catcher?
Or is catcher the one position that he hasn’t played yet? I lost track of it.
Not to mention Lawrie was a catcher growing up and was moved after the draft so he could be an emergency catcher too I’m sure…
McCoy isn't really good at any of those things
he’s a “super utility guy” because he’s not good enough to be a starter at any of the positions
WAR... WAR never changes.
The reason Mac is the emergency catcher isn't anything to do with ability behind the plate
it’s, sorry John, that he is the most expendable of the guys that are always going to be on the roster.
I think we should keep him for 10 more years
as a replacement for butterfield when he retires.
Founding Member of the Ban Overused .GIFs Club
by Bowling_Guy25 on Aug 4, 2011 8:22 AM EDT up reply actions
Amazing stats based on brutal schedule.
This is amazing considering that in July the Blue Jays played a total of 6 games against teams that as of today would not be in the playoffs. They went 5-1 in these games. We played Texas a bunch of times, Philly, Cleveland, NY Yankees and Bosox. I don’t think a lot of Jays fans realize what an accomplishment our record in July was considering the strength of our opponents. I look to us having a strong August and some of the younger bats warming up again as we face a lot more weaker teams then we did in August.
Me too
It exists because people don’t remember beating the lesser teams because it’s expected.
The Jays are 30-38 vs teams with a record > .500 http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/share.cgi?id=duKGB
The Jays are 26-15 vs teams with a record <= .500 http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/share.cgi?id=1iTkA
The Jays have played the most games against .500+ teams in the majors.
Is there any chance that AA doesn't give Lawrie a shot at all this year?
To save money long term by not starting his player clock running till next year and pushing back his free agency?
I’m sure it would piss off Bautista a little and us fans a ton but it could save them millions long term and he (AA) could point to EE’s play of late and the lack of roster space as the reasons behind a none move.
by TonyFernandezSavedMyLife on Aug 3, 2011 5:08 PM EDT reply actions
he seems a sure thing to be a september callup, no?
"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
I don't believe there's a chance
Do you remember what AA said after the Rasmus trade? (paraphrasing) “Everyone has their warts, you can be flashy, arrogant, moody…but if you’re a good person, you’re going to be fine”.
While AA is running a business I firmly believe that he practices what he preaches. Holding Lawrie back after he produced and exceeded in all areas that AA had asked of him would reflect poorly on AA as a human and I get the sense that as shrewd as he might be considered, he understands that Lawrie has earned his way up this year.
Near-impossible
They would have to keep him down past next year’s Super 2 deadline. I can’t see him being down in AAA for another 4 months.
Add to that there is no justification to keep him down past Sept 1.
Brett Lawrie is not going to play 2B. Enough.
I'd be happy if we resigned Molina
he’s hit great this season, even when he has only gotten sporadic at-bats. Now, sure, he has a .393 BABIP, but he’s also walked a lot (for a catcher) and hit a good amount of line drives. He’s been worth 2.3 WAR for the Jays over the past two seasons, which for a backup catcher is quite solid.
"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
yes
but he might just accept arbitration if offered, no? He reportedly loves Toronto and he’s very unlikely to get a multiyear deal on the FA market.
"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
as you said,
the best move is to offer him arbitration: it’s probably a win for the team whether or not he accepts. I can’t imagine they’d actually go to a hearing — if he accepts, I’d imagine it wouldn’t be hard to reach a deal.
Ever since meeting him a few years ago, I’ve been a Jose Molina fan. I wouldn’t mind seeing him back next year. He’s done a solid job and, if d’Arnaud forces AA’s hand next June or July, I’m sure there’s going to be someone who would take him as a backup.
"Look at me! I'm Tomokazu Ohka of the Montreal Expos!"
Thought I remember seeing on twitter that he was demoted the other day.
I think you'll find I'm universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult.
Twitter is the thing with all the tweets...
You're right...
…it was Monday.
Hugo thinks I'm a lazy academic
by bluejaysstatsgeek on Aug 3, 2011 6:10 PM EDT up reply actions
the other half of that is that he was actually hitting
.268/.345/.375, not great by any standard and yet it seems to me that I’d have kept him on the team.
It's been a steady decline since a huge 1st month
12-for-66 (.182) in July. He’s got something to work out for sure.
And he was in the lineup against Las Vegas in his first game down last night
went 4-4 with a BB against Drabek, Henn and Farquar
by Playoffs!!!!1 on Aug 4, 2011 8:43 AM EDT up reply actions
Thames OB% will climb as hes in the majors more.
Right now pitchers are just pounding the zone because hes a rookie. .423 OBP in AAA, .326 in his rookie season in the majors.
Rasmus July Hitting
.169/.234/.310 3 HR 10 RBI
by McBluejays on Aug 3, 2011 6:38 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
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