What I Think the Blue Jays 2012 Opening Day Roster Should Look Like
by LoewenBehold on Sep 27, 2011 12:13 PM EDT
Email
PrintHi everybody,
I've been a long time lurker on this site and have pretty much read everything that comes on the site. I figured it was time to start contributing a little bit since I am on here quite a bit. Anyway's I've seen a lot of opinions on what we should do in the offseason and who we should go after so here is my honest opinion on what the opening day roster should look like.
Catcher - Leave it the same. JP should start as expected. Resign Molina, I think the value he brings as a mentor to the young pitchers is more valuable than the draft pick we would get if he left.
1st - I'd like to a platoon of Lind vs righties and EE vs lefties, both have extreme splits and we would get the best value of them. I don't think we should get Prince. I wouldn't be angry if we did, but I think we should only spend the big money when the time is right to compete and I don't believe we're there yet.
2nd - Sign KJ to a 1 year deal if we can. If not, deploy either Mike McCoy or Jonnny Mac out there until Hechevarria forces our hand and Escobar moves to 2nd to make room for him.
3rd - Lawrie.
SS - Escobar will start there. Possible move to 2nd if Hech proves he is ready. No big moves here.
LF - Combination of Snider and Thames, with Snider getting the most playing time in left. When one is in the field the other can DH. We need to see both of these guys getting at bats at the big leagues next year everyday.
CF - Rasmus.
RF - Bautista.
DH - Basically a rotation of Thames, Lind, and EE.
Starting Rotation - Romero and Morrow for sure. Alvarez has shown he can handle the bigs so he should be there. McGowan will likely get an oppurtunity. Don't sign CJ Wilson, we don't need him and he will just block the younger guys. Make a realistic bid for Darvish, if we don't get him, it will most likely be Cecil in the 5 spot until one of the young guys get called up.
Bullpen - Frankie should come back, he's done a lot better recently and he won't be that expensive. Janssen will be back. Jesse Litsch will be back. Villanueva will be back. Everyone else will have to earn their way into the bullpen. Shawn Camp will probably make it yet again. Luis Perez will be the lefty. I'd like to see Joel Carreno and either Chad Beck or Danny Farquhar in the pen next year.
Opening Day Roster (/'s denotes a platoon)
C- Arencibia
1st - Lind/Encarnacion
2nd - Johnson or McCoy/Mcdonald
3rd - Lawrie
SS - Escobar
LF - Snider/Thames
CF - Rasmus
RF - Bautista
DH - Lind/Encarnacion/Thames/Snider
SP - Romero, Morrow, Alvarez, McGowan, Darvish or Cecil
RP - Francisco, Janssen, Litsch, Villanueva, Camp Perez, Carreno, Beck or Farquhar
Bench - Davis, Molina
28 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I believe you have 7 righthanders in the bullpen....
I´m ok with the most… but AA runs the business in Toronto so there will be some changes.
I think Perez will be part of the bp next season. And i´d like to see Carreno there too. Otherwise it would be nice if they don´t blow nearly every second save opportunity like this season.
"Touch ´em all, Joe!"
by jaysfanfromeurope on Sep 27, 2011 2:12 PM EDT reply actions
Thames isn't good enough to play DH
and since both him and Snider are lefties, there’s no platoon advantage to be had
I agree completely
I was just trying to figure out a way that one could get both Snider and Thames into the lineup. In this situation Snider would be getting the vast majority of playing time.
by LoewenBehold on Sep 27, 2011 4:12 PM EDT up reply actions
I think Carreno is a lock for a spot in the pen next year for what hes shown he can do so far this season, Beck or Farquhar will be a tough decision though.
Not changing my signature until Hechavarria is promoted to the big leagues.
[Funny phrase about how few followers I have on Twitter]
Perez probably gets the spot over Beck or Farquhar
pen needs a lefty.
Hic sunt fortuna dracones
I'd argue that he could replace Camp
I would rather see Beck or Farquhar over Camp any day
by LoewenBehold on Sep 27, 2011 4:10 PM EDT up reply actions
Depends what you base Camp off of...
BABIP gods weren’t on his side this year, still got a ton of groundballs this year, but a load of those groundballs found holes in the defense.
Not changing my signature until Hechavarria is promoted to the big leagues.
[Funny phrase about how few followers I have on Twitter]
Camp's place in the pen would be at the expense of Beck or Farquhar though
I’d much rather see those two get some seasoning in the bigs next year
by LoewenBehold on Sep 27, 2011 4:31 PM EDT up reply actions
Subject... (optional)
Message…I think AA is feeling the pressure by the fans to make a big move this winter.
That being said, I think your article is valid. That is most likely the lineup for next yr and I look forward to thames and snider battling it out in LF.
Our bullpen will figure itself out, but our starting rotation is weak for now. With the young guys coming up over next few yrs, we have a ton of potential to be a great pitching team in a few yrs, but for next yr……eeek.
hopefully they get darvish.
We do not have a week rotation...please quit it with this garbage..
Not changing my signature until Hechavarria is promoted to the big leagues.
[Funny phrase about how few followers I have on Twitter]
Exactly, I'm not saying ours is amazing..
It didn’t play out well this year, but we have some good potential there.
Not changing my signature until Hechavarria is promoted to the big leagues.
[Funny phrase about how few followers I have on Twitter]
My bad, I'm lazy.
Not changing my signature until Hechavarria is promoted to the big leagues.
[Funny phrase about how few followers I have on Twitter]
Camp
Anybody know where he’s standing in the Elias rankings now? Last I heard he had just fallen off the list.
far off the list
Sad, Drunk, And Poorly
My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world. - JL
oh, is he?
last time I checked must have been a long ago
Sad, Drunk, And Poorly
My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world. - JL
wondering if Rasmus should be a lock to start? he’s looked really puzzled out there.
wondering if Cecil has lost it too; that 5th spot in the rotation has been trouble this year, and will be next year if he doesn’t step up. I really really wish that Drabek could put it back together.
if you go to the trouble of signing Darvish, he better be second, at least third, in the rotation. McGowan is a good fifth, as he can be given the odd scratch to save his arm.
Darvish would be 2nd or 3rd
He is just listed 5th because I was saying that in the rotation we would either have him or Cecil
by LoewenBehold on Sep 28, 2011 10:31 AM EDT up reply actions
So...
If I truly understand your post, you are advocating to stay with the status quo? I know you say take a shot at Darvish. But the fall back plan is Cecil?
Darvish is as big a necessity for us as he is for the Yankees or Red Sox – Priority #1A
Now, I understand that a full season of Rasmus will likely (HOPEFULLY) be better than what we threw out in CF for much of this year. But any gains in CF would be lost by the significant regression with McCoy or Johnny Mac out there everyday. Plus you are putting a lot of faith in the 108 AAA at bats which Hech had. He still has a way to go to prove he has an MLB ready bat. I see priority #1B being signing Johnson.
We can also expect a bit of regression from Thames and Lawrie in their sophomore years as teams review game footage in the off season/ revise their scouting reports and pitchers adapt.
Given this, I would be shocked if we don’t make a deal for a bat. I don’t think this season has proven anything regarding Lind of Encarnacion. Both had great stretches, but have yet to put together a consistent year….Yes I vaguely remember Lind’s 2009 season.
C – Arencibia, 1B – ?, 2B-Johnson, 3B – Lawrie, SS – Escobar, RF – The Bat, CF-Rasmus, LF – Snider or Thames, DH – Encarnacion
Bench – Molina, Davis, Teahen, Johnny Mac
Rotation – Romero, Darvish, Morrow, Alvarez, McGowan
Pen –
Perez & Cecil – Long men and Loogy’s
Villaneuva – Long man
Beck/ Carenno – 7th – both can go multiple innings also
Janssen – Set up
Fransisco – Closer
The advantage of this pen is you have 5 guys who have recent history as a starter and should be able to go multiple innings. Which will be necessary given McGowan’s likely pitch limits and Alvarez’s inning limits next year.
"But any gains in CF would be lost by the significant regression with McCoy or Johnny Mac out there everyday"
I don’t understand what that means, can you clarify?
and I doubt many people expect Lawrie to have an 11 WAR sophomore season, but I’ve seen nothing to suggest he can’t be worth 4 wins fairly easily
I think he's referring to the potential black hole(s) that would be JMac or McCoy's bat in the lineup everyday...
2B is clearly the most glaring hole for the team right now, and the market is accordingly thin to boot. Making a go at Kelly Johnson would be amicable I think, but if there’s any truth to the notion that Yunel would move to 2B when/if Adeiny is ready in 1-2 years then maybe it’s not wise to commit multiple years to any 2B just yet…my take is that the Jays wouldn’t have bothered giving KJ an audition if they weren’t seriously considering giving him a multiyear contract this offseason.
oh, meaning if we don't get a 2B
no one can be nearly positive Hech will ever even make the Majors beyond as a super-Mike McCoy (better glove, potentially worse bat). if Hech starts raking, great it’s a problem we can afford to have (move KJ, move Hech, move Escobar, change some positions around further, etc). if not, we need a capable “stopgap” for the next one to three years who is also good enough to play every day on a contending team. KJ fits that bill perfectly
If we're expecting Thames to regress, how does he fit with the team at all?
It’s bad enough that our two-hitter for much of the year struggled to get on base 30% of the time, but if we’re projecting a regression from him, how exactly does he have a spot with the team going forward in any role? I know we have no proven on-base solution in LF at the moment, but maybe Thames is some of the better Blue Jay trade bait if we think his ceiling is what he showed this year? Maybe I’m making too much of the comment, and I’m no Thames-superfan, but a .255/.310/.445 type line isn’t exactly an encouraging expectation heading into 2012 right? With Snider,Thames, and Loewen all essentially battling for similar roster spots and all 3 being lefties, Thames might be the best option to market to another team right now…just a thought.
that's a decent point
maybe you can pretend Thames is athletic enough to be an average defensive LF and then trade him – “look, he was a pretty good offensive player as a rookie! he must be great!”, get an asset or two, then start Snider and have Loewen as 4th OF. Loewen’s actually a better 4th OF long term since he can maybe sorta play CF
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Bluebird Banter
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
Baseball Nation Recent Stories
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- Snoop Dogg delivers memorable first pitch at U.S. Cellular Field
- The Juice: Mesoraco’s grand slam helps Reds complete four-game sweep of Braves
- Please hold: Indians’ Joe Smith jumps the gun on relief appearance
- Local radio host honors Cubs’ Tony Campana with parody song
- Roy Halladay bobblehead with glove on wrong hand selling on MLB.com
