On Thursday afternoon, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons went on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM and told Jim Duquette that the club's experiment of trying out Brett Lawrie at second base is "over" and that the young Canadian will return to the hot corner for the remainer of this season.
John Gibbons mgr of Tor told us the Brett Lawrie experiment at 2nd is over, will play 3rd for the remainder of season @MLBNetworkRadio
— Jim Duquette (@Jim_Duquette) July 25, 2013
During his latest stint on the disabled list, Lawrie played three rehab games for the Buffalo Bisons stationed at second base. When he returned to the Blue Jays the weekend before the All-Star break, he started at second base six times and third twice. The original idea for trying him out at second--his position coming up in the minors in the Brewers' system--was to expand his positional flexibility. Via @StivBators, who tuned in to the interview, Gibbons said that another reason they wanted Lawrie at second was that he felt more comfortable with Mark DeRosa at third than second.
From an eye test, the Blue Jays suffered especially with Maicer Izturis at third and Lawrie at second. There were definitely some batted balls that went for hits because of Izturis and DeRosa's limited range and reaction time. The placement of Lawrie's strong arm at second also seemed wasteful.
Those who think the Jays have been doing Lawrie a disservice for flipping him back and forth between second and third would welcome this news. I've wanted Gibbons to try Jimy Williams' manoeuvre, flipping Lawrie and DeRosa / Izturis back and forth between second and third based on the batter's spray charts to put Lawrie where the batter hits more often. If nothing, that'd be fun to see.
Lawrie has only been hitting .203/.273/.345 since his return from the DL, but he has hit the ball hard several times for outs.
In the same interview, Gibbons said that the plan for Brandon Morrow is to cease throwing for six weeks then to start a "spring training-like program" to evaluate him further. He also mentioned that Drew Hutchison and Kyle Drabek are likely September call-ups.
Much thanks to Clint (@StivBators) for tweeting out the interview.
UPDATE:
Gibby says he made the decision to keep Lawrie at 3B for rest of season after watching him last night. "I'm dumb, I'm not stupid" #bluejays
— Brendan Kennedy (@BKennedyStar) July 25, 2013