Yesterday's Star had a long article on Shannon Stewart and what has been an extremely difficult season for him. Stew's cri de cour:

 

"This is like a bad dream. Things happen in life that are unexpected. I went through a lot in the off-season. It was kind of difficult just because of the situation. I knew I wasn't going to be the guy (here). The way I look at it, I was more like insurance. I've had the opportunity to play, but it's been weird.

"I don't think people really understand how hard it's been on me. Not saying just the (lack of) playing, but a lot of stuff. It's been difficult. It's been more of an eye-opener because I didn't think it was going to be like this. What can you do? If you don't go out there, if I don't play well, then the other guy's got to play. I haven't lit it up. To be honest, I haven't felt comfortable since the spring.

"I know we're losing and you've got to play the guys that are producing. The organization's doing what they can to try to mix things up, but ...that's the hardest thing. The reality of it is that this role that I'm in, I'm not doing anybody any good right now. I'm not doing the team any good. I'm not doing myself any good. It's like, what am I going to do next year? Hopefully, I'll keep working till I find it. They might want to do something else. It might get to the point where they might want to bring in other guys and see what they can do."

I can empathize with Stewart. He really sounds like he's feeling sorry for himself, but he doesn't seem like the kind of player to take those feelings out on teammates or out on the field, and he's not complaining about the team or anything. Nor does he have reason to, as he's gotten plenty of playing time despite underperforming. But if both the Jays and Stewart himself are resigned that it's not going to work out for him here in Toronto, it might be best to let both parties move on now. Even if Wilkerson doesn't work out in the outfield, I think the Jays would be better served to give Lind another shot, and if he's brought back, he needs to play. It doesn't seem likely that Stewart will still be with the team a month from now.

 

 

 

As we briefly reported yesterday, the Jays added two veteran hitters in an effort to solve their offensive woes, Kevin Mench and Brad Wilkerson.

Mench, pictured at the right and looking like one of the many New Jersey dudes blowing dollar after dollar trying to ring the bell at the San Gennaro Festival , was acquired from Texas for cash considerations. Mench is 30 and coming off a subpar season for the Brewers in which he hit .267/.305/.441 in a crowded outfield over 288 at-bats. This season Mench was playing in the minors. Mench did have a couple of solid offensive seasons with Texas.

If Mench is used correctly, I think he can be an asset to a team that was expected to destroy left-handed pitching but has struggled miserably against them. Are you ready for this? - the Jays have hit a Jason Phillips-esque .221/.304/.337 thusfar this season against southpaws. Over his career, Mench is .305/.361/.563 against left-handed pitching. One big caution, though, is that Mench historically has hit much better at home than away, which suggests that his numbers may be inflated by the hitter-friendly Ballpark at Arlington. The fact that he struggled so much in Milwaukee lends additional evidence to that argument, though it's by no means airtight. Mench has never hit well against righthanded pitching and doesn't field or run the bases well, so is not really suited for an everyday job. I think he can help the team (though he certainly didn't last night against lefty C.C. Sabathia) and I would platoon him with Matt Stairs at DH and make him the first righty bat off the bench on his off-days.

Brad Wilkerson (left) was a beloved member of the Montreal Expos and Washington Nationals until he was traded to Texas for Alfonso Soriano. Wilkerson has had major injury problems over the past several seasons, including elbow, forearm, and shoulder problems. Wilkerson, a Kentuckian like new teammate Scott Downs, hit .234/.319/.467 last season for a 104 OPS+. Over his career, Wilkerson has both walked more and hit for more power than Mench and had 20 HR last season in under 400 plate appearances, which sounds great, though he also hit much better at the Ballpark at Arlington than on the road. Wilkerson doesn't cover ground in the outfield like he did when he was a solid centerfielder, but he still looks to play the corners pretty well, and he also plays 1st base. Wilkerson was not hitting well for Seattle early this season, but is only 31 so it's not clear he's over the hill, though it's certainly possible that injuries have worn him down. His main assets are his power and patience, particularly against right-handed pitching (though he has actually hit left-handers well over his career in limited action, with an .819 OPS (probably skewed a bit by facing left-handers who are not as good. Wilkerson's career line against righties looks pretty nice, .244/.351/.445, and the Jays have not hit righties very well this season either (though not as putridly as lefties) and went into the season needing help against righties following a season where they could not even manage a .700 OPS against them.

It seems to me that the Jays had a more immediate need for a player like Mench, since they had no one to take righty at-bats at the DH spot when a left-hander was pitching, and the team has struggled so mightily this season against lefties. Although Wilkerson has (or had) definite skills, it's hard to imagine that he will outperform what Adam Lind could do over the rest of the season, though their skills are different (Lind is more of a righty-killer who hits more line drives and strikes out less while Wilkerson walks more and has more of an uppercut swing that will likely result in more home runs as the weather gets warmer. But if Wilkerson can get back to his numbers before injuries slowed him, he's the better player, I think, and the Jays can certainly use another left-handed bat with power. It's unclear how Wilkerson and Stewart will split the playing time in leftfield, with Wilkerson getting the start yesterday over Shannon Stewart against lefty C.C. Sabathia (he went 1-3 with a hard groundball single). Stewart has not shown much and may end up getting cut by the Jays sooner rather than later, even though he has been playing a little better. Wilkerson hasn't hit lefties badly over his career and is better in the field. Even if Wilkerson doesn't work out, I'd rather see Lind given another chance at the everyday job than see it handed back to Stewart.

Of course, the wild-card is that Vernon Wells left yesterday's game after making a diving catch with both wrist and hamstring injuries. Apparently, his hamstring was just tight, but the wrist injury looked extremely painful, though it didn't look to us watching like it was a displaced fracture or anything. Wells will have more tests today and won't be in the lineup. Both Mench and Wilkerson will be needed if Wells has to miss any significant time. But what the team really needs is for them to play well, not just to play. Enjoy your Saturday, see you later for the game thread.

 

Update: Looks like Wells did indeed break his wrist and is out for 6-8 weeks. Typically, though, wrist injuries allow you to get back on the field in about 6 weeks or so but take much, much longer than that to fully recover. It sounds like Wells will be back around the all-star break. Get well, Vernon.

Today's title for a rainy offday post comes courtesy of the fantastic U.K. band the Guillemots, who despite their poor capitalisation skills (they often write it gUiLLeMoTs or some such thing), are fantastic. The title is from their tune "Trains to Brazil" and it just seemed to fit. The Guillemots are from Birmingham, I wonder if they are Birmingham or Aston Villa fans?

Despite a horrendous week, the Jays have actually picked up a game in the AL East standings over the past few days (Boston got swept by the Rays and the Jays are now 3 1/2 games out). They finally snapped a 6-game losing streak yesterday afternoon, thanks to a terrific performance from starter Jesse Litsch, a stellar game out of the leadoff spot by Alex Rios, and some great hitting by Scott Rolen, including his first HR in a Jays uni. I enjoyed Gibby's willingness to shake up the lineup and his hit-and-run with Wells at the plate, not a tactical move exactly but calculated to stop Wells from overpressing and just concentrate on making solid contact.

As I remarked yesterday, the Jays actually had a positive run differential coming into yesterday's game, so there's some reason to be optimistic, particularly with Rolen and Lind now on the team. The Jays pythagorean record is 14-12, which would have them within a hair of first place, interestingly enough. The team has hit .256/.346/.372, which is punchless but not completely awful (97 OPS+), and has walked 109 times, which is 3rd in the league, quite good. As for the starting rotation, there is plenty of room for improvement among Halladay (113 ERA+ vs 128 in his career), A.J. (at a loathsome 69, sure to improve), Litsch (at 87 not terrible for a 5th starter), and McGowan (at 101 and yet to live up to his lofty expectations) - only Marcum (130) has been at the top of his game. Other than Accardo, who struggled early but has picked it up, and League, who was demoted to work on control, the bullpen has been great.

You can guess where this is going, right? Of course, you've been watching the same team I have, and the problem is that the Jays have been abysmal with runners in scoring position. This has really hurt the Jays. The Jays are .215/.308/.312 with runners in scoring position, which sounds bad until you consider their .193/.308/.289 line with RISP and 2 outs. This might not be so terrible in and of itself, but when combined with the Jays awful power thusfar (11th of 14 AL teams in SLG), it means they're just not scoring runs.

Still, there is room for optimism, since most learned folks believe that hitting with runners in scoring position is not a special skill and that would seem to indicate that the Jays are due for a change of fortunes in this department. The Jays were not nearly so pathetic last season in these departments (.788 and .694 with RISP and RISP/2 outs respectively) and that was a pretty bad offensive season. The caution to that is that the Jays are going to need to start showing more power as well. Overbay (1 HR), Hill (2 HR), and Rios (2 HR, though he does have a .484 SLG so I don't want to overstate my case here) are going to have to do better in this department, and Rolen and Lind will need to contribute as well.

I suppose, then, that my current mood is very guarded optimism, despite everything. It is extremely unlikely that the Jays will continue to struggle this way given their secondary numbers, and it is extremely reasonable to expect improved performance from at least 3 rotation spots (while Marcum may admittedly not keep up his thusfar brilliant performance, he seems like a good bet to remain above league average as well) and from several spots in the order, while no one has really been playing over their head offensively at all (well, Rolen in his 3 games perhaps).

The only problem is that where the Jays are right now, they're going to need to play about .600 ball from here on out to contend for a playoff spot, based on the last few years in the AL. That's tough, but not impossible, to do, and of course there's always the chance that this season will be the first in a while where each AL team doesn't need 90-95 wins to make the playoffs. But I wouldn't necessarily bet on that.

The Jays have 3 games against Boston coming up, and while it would be ridiculous to say that they "need" a sweep or a series win, it's indisputable that the team can't afford to linger on the wrong side of .500 for very long if they want to compete. They need to get back to .500 and try to build from there. Can they turn it around?

Some Quick Hits: Scott Downs is apparently nursing what the Jays are calling a "tender shoulder" (whatever that means). Hope Snakeface is allright, other than his last appearance, he's been quite deadly this season. At least Carlson's emergence will soften the blow if Downs has to miss any time. Rios is not surprised to be hitting leadoff, and Gibbons says that when Eckstein returns to the lineup, he'll be in the 2 hole. I guess that's fine, and maybe we can do a little hitting and running with Eckstein (since Rios is quick enough to steal the bag if Eck doesn't make contact), but I hope this doesn't result in a lot of 1st inning bunts, because that would be quite dumb. Eckstein has shown some ability to get on base, but I don't understand the Jays' willingness to hit him 9th and use MacDonald as a defensive replacement. Why are we paying Mac $2 million to play SS once a week and pinch-run? And Eckstein certainly does not seem like the type of player whose ego will be bruised by being taken out for 2 innings occasionally for one of the best fielding SS in the game - he seems like the kind of player who knows and accepts his skills and limitations.

Well, as you no doubt heard yesterday, Frank Thomas was not very happy about the Jays' decision to "bench" him indefinitely. Thomas did not shake hands with his teammates after the game and spoke angrily to reporters, indicating his belief that the decision was based on money, not putting the best team on the field.

If Thomas makes approximately 350 plate appearances this season, a $10 million dollar option will kick in and pay him that much to play for the Jays in 2009. Thomas believes the Jays' move to be based on preventing him from reaching enough plate appearances for his option to vest. For their part, John Gibbons and J.P. Ricciardi insist that money has nothing to do with it and that the move is designed simply to put the best team on the field everyday.

"I'm going to put the team out there that gives us the best chance to win," said Gibbons. "I feel for the guy, but right now we need more production."

I'm just going to come out and say that I think Gibbons' argument would be more convincing if the bat that replaced Thomas in the lineup yesterday didn't belong to Joe Inglett. Not that Inglett has been so terrible, but if the Jays want his bat in the lineup, there's an open spot at third base and he can get plenty of at-bats sharing that spot with Marco Scutaro. In addition, Shannon Stewart would seem to see more at-bats based on this, and Stewart is not exactly tearing it up - not only is he hitting poorly (.235/.341/.294) but his groin has been acting up and has limited his play.

If the Jays were to, say, demote Inglett (or better yet, one of their pitchers they're unlikely to use much like Camp) and call up Adam Lind to play leftfield and/or DH against righthanded pitching, an argument could be made - but as it is, the Jays lineup is clearly better with Thomas in it than on the bench.

Anyway, we remember Thomas' struggles at the beginning of last season (his slump lasted really through May) and then the way he turned it on to become arguably the Jays best hitter of 2007 (only Stairs, in part-time duty, had a higher OPS) with a .277/.377/480 line, not to mention his abysmal start to his big 2006 campaign, which lead to his deal with the Jays in the first place. Thomas has historically been a slow starter and has admitted quite forthrightly that it takes him about 200 plate appearances to get comfortable.

I understand why Thomas believes he is being treated unfairly. He heard the Jays' concerns about his slow start last season and this year made a special effort to get ready for the season, showing up to camp early and working his butt off to get ready, which is not something he's done in the past. He was hoping it would short-circuit his usual slow start, and how do we know it won't? Last season Thomas struggled for almost 1/3 of the season, and this year we're just 1/10 of the way there. Thomas has been hitting the ball hard of late and perhaps his work could pay off and mean he has a slow 3 weeks rather than 2 months to start the season. Isn't 60 plate appearances way too small a sample to draw any conclusions anyway? Thomas points to other older DHs around the league, Jim Thome and Gary Sheffield, who aren't hitting any better than himself and yet are not being benched.

The only way the move can really be justified on any grounds other than money is if the Jays have identified something in Thomas that suggests his skills have evaporated and won't be coming back. Jays' beat writer Jordan Bastian suggests that the Jays are concerned that Thomas' bat speed has declined and he has altered his stance to try to catch up to pitches. Looking at Frank's batted ball data, he's still drawing the walks, and a .159 BABIP could just be bad luck that will self-correct. It's worth saying though that Frank's LD % is down far lower than any season and that could indicate a problem, or it could just be small sample size.

The Jays have a duty to do what's best for the team both in the short and the long-term and I'm not questioning that. But they also have a contractual obligation to execute their side of Thomas' deal in good faith. To bench a player just to prevent him from meeting an incentive in his contract violates the letter and spirit of their contract with Thomas (and the CBA, I would expect, though I haven't checked).

The move is such a problem PR-wise that it almost makes you think that the Jays aren't lying about the option - perhaps they are seeking to send a message that those who won't produce won't play to spark a fire under the Jays' offense, which has been lackluster. But Thomas is not the kind of man who takes slights well - he is a proud man and, quite honestly, has quite a lot to be proud about.

 

Update: As chengy breaks in the comments, Thomas has been released by the Jays. I wonder if this was the plan all along or if the Jays felt like Thomas forced their hand by taking his case to the media. The fact that Lind hasn't played for Syracuse for the past 2 games makes you think it might have been the former. Let us know what you think about this whole situation in the comments.

Poll

What do you think of Thomas' release?

• Great Move! Bring on Lind!
• Terrible Move, Frank was basically our best hitter last season
• Frank forced the Jays' hand by taking his case to the press
• Won't make a difference either way, but at least the Jays save $10 million next season
• Never should have signed him in the first place

  116 votes | Results

The Jays won yesterday to get back to 5-5 on the season, a much needed win after their sweep in Oakland. Jesse Litsch had another good start to get the Jays on track, holding Texas to 2 runs on 6 hits over his 5 2/3 innings, while strking out 5. It's always good to see Litsch getting K's, as many folks were concerned that his low K rate last season would, if it continued, prevent him from being a successful starter. I'm not as concerned, considering that the Jays have an excellent defense, which lowers the impact of balls in play, because Litsch has shown an ability to limit walks and homers, and because Litsch was very young last season and always had decent K rates in the minors. But it's great to see him with a high strikeout start. He's certainly looking like a viable 5th starter so far.

Vernon Wells doubled in Toronto's first run and Lyle Overbay soon followed that inning with a bases-loaded double, giving the Jays a lead they would never surrender. Wells' double came off the glove of ever-popular ex-Jay Frank Catalanotto. The Jays continued to run rampant, with Zaun, Wells, Rios, and Coats (making his first start) swiping bases. Brian Wolfe and Jason Frasor yielded a HR and rbi single, respectively, to Josh Hamilton, but Scott Downs and newcomer Jesse Carlson held the Rangers and the Jays emerged victorious.

After the game, the Jays optioned Coats to AAA and called up infielder Joe Inglett. What I want to know is when the Jays are going to make room for Adam Lind. Lind is off to a fast start, hitting .424/.487/.727 thusfar. Robinson Diaz is also hitting well at Syracuse, while Curtis Thigpen is really struggling so far. The Jays don't really have room for Lind at the moment, but we will just have to see how things develop going forward. If the Jays are going to sit Thomas against some righties as Gibbons did last night, you could make a case for carrying both Stairs and Lind.

In other minors news, milb.com writer and friend of Bluebird Banter Jonathan Mayo has a new minors blog and as is typical of Jonathan's work, it's great. Recently on the site, guest writer Kevin Czerwinski has an interesting post about our very own Brett Cecil .

Bluebird Banter's cousin site AZ Snakepit has a get well card for pitcher Doug Davis. Davis was diagnosed with thryroid cancer and had his thyroid removed on Thursday. The card will eventually be sent on to the Diamondbacks, so the more signatures the card can generate, the better. The card is a fanpost and here's the link . Definitely stop by and send your best wishes.

Bugs & Cranks has a bit of a retro look at some old-school Jays, including a sweet one of Carlos Delgado catching. Check it out!

See everyone later on for the game thread!

 

Saturday Off-Topic Digression (a new mostly-weekly feature!)
By the way, today's title comes from a tune ("thirty-three") off arguably one of the best double-discs of all time, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. I think I'd rate them as follows:
1. London Calling, the Clash
2. Being There, Wilco
3. Blonde on Blonde, Bob Dylan
4. The Beatles (White Album), the Beatles
5. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Smashing Pumpkins
With plenty of props to Songs in the Key of Life (Stevie Wonder) and 1999 and Sign O' the Times (both Prince). I'm not as big a fan of Exile on Main Street as some and I didn't like Physical Graffiti or the Wall much at all. I love Springsteen, but the River didn't need to be a double album. Surprisingly, Ryan Adams' Cold Roses is fairly close. List your top 5 double-albums of all time in the comments!

I'm finally settled in here in Florida. The move-in was a breeze, nothing went wrong. Here are a few photos of the house.

 

The alligator was already at the house when I arrived! 

The Jays won their home opener last night in their throwback powder blues behind some great pitching from Shaun Marcum, a timely assist from the pen, and some good hitting. Marcum was stellar, striking out 8 over his 7 innings and surrendering only 3 hits and 1 walk. His one blip occurred in the 7th inning. He got Youkilis to lead off the inning, but then walked Ortiz. Marcum came back to strike out Manny, but then Lowell blooped a single. Marcum had made J.D. Drew look foolish in his previous two at-bats, but not this time. Drew took a Marcum mistake and neatly deposited it above the high right field wall. This tied the score at 3, but not for long.

Jamie Campbell favorite David Eckstein led off the next inning and worked an 11-pitch at-bat into a leadoff walk (sprint), and Shannon Stewart, batting for Matt Stairs, followed up with a single. Alex Rios and Vernon Wells followed with terrible at-bats, both making first-pitch outs, but Frank Thomas followed up with a gapper to give the Jays the lead for good and preserve a well-deserved win for Marcum. Tallet and Accardo nailed down the win to knot the Jays' record at 2-2.

Today, the Jays take on the Sox again, as a couple of young pitchers face off. Clay Buchholz pitches for Boston while Jesse Litsch pitches for the Jays. Litsch kept his ERA very low last season (3.81) but his low strikeout rate makes some question whether he'll be able to keep that up, even with the Jays good infield defense. Litsch had some trouble with lefties last season but has added a 2-seamer to help him with the lefties. There's a great long interview with him in Behind the Dish , a great free weekly digi mag featuring excellent work by the incomparable Marc Hulet.

Anyway, on to the lineups:

Boston Red Sox

SS Julio Lugo
2B Dustin Pedroia
DH David Ortiz
LF Manny Ramirez
3B Mike Lowell
RF J.D. Drew
C Jason Varitek
1B Sean Casey
CF Coco Crisp

P Clay Buchholz

Toronto Blue Jays

SS David Eckstein
LF Matt Stairs
RF Alex Rios
CF Vernon Wells
DH Frank Thomas
1B Lyle Overbay
2B Aaron Hill
3B Marco Scutaro
C Gregg Zaun

P Jesse Litsch

 

As reported by our Sox visitor RedSoxMedford (and commented on by some of ours), the Jays locked up two of their best young players today, signing Alex Rios and Aaron Hill to long-term deals.

Rios, who has two remaining arbitration seasons, will get $64 U.S. for 6 years, through the 2014 season. According to the Globe & Mail , the deal also includes a $13.5 million option for 2015, but it doesn't say whose. The Blue Jays official site doesn't mention the option. Rios' deal will start in 2009.

Hill, who has 3 arbitration seasons remaining after this year and is due to make near the minimum this season, will get $12 million over 4 years, but his deal starts now and so takes him right to free agency. After that it gets a little bizzare. After the 2010 season (Hill's free agency season), the Blue Jays must extend him by opening day 2011 for three seasons at a total of $26 million, or after the 2011 campaign for one season at $8 million or two at $16 million.

I may go more into the economics of these deals later (though the finance of baseball is not really one of my interests), but I will say now that I support both of these deals. They lock up two good young players for their prime seasons at a reasonable cost. I think Rios is a good bet to age well anyway because of his body type, but second-basemen are a bit of a mixed bag in terms of aging curve. Even if Rios and Hill never reach the next level, the Jays are getting good value, and if they do continue to improve, as it appears they will, the Jays will be getting quite a bargain for those free-agent seasons. I think it was smart of the Jays to lock these two up now and not get a repeat of the Wells situation where the Jays had to pony up huge dollars for seasons that are practically guaranteed to be past Wells' prime.

 

I have just arrived back home in Nova Scotia after a long vacation/road trip. It was a great exprience and I encourage everybody that can to go down to Florida and watch Spring Training. It really is a great thing to watch and extremely interesting!

In totally unrelated news, I have just started writing over at Over The Monster, the Boston Red Sox SB Nation Blog. I hope you don't hold this against me! Also, when I was down in Florida, some of the Red Sox Scouts at the game had noticed I had been at every Blue Jay Spring Training Event and they had noticed me writing about the Jays. We started talking and I told them I was currently unemployed and looking for a job. They said that they knew of a newspaper in Florida that was looking for a Red Sox Beat Writer. The Head of the newspaper was originally from Boston and he said that he wanted members of Red Sox Nation in Florida to enjoy the perks of having a Beat Writer follow their favorite team. He offered me the job and I accepted. So now I'm writing for two blogs as well as a newspaper! Also, because the newspaper is based in Florida, I'm moving down there tomorrow! While I was away, I called my parents and they arranged for the movers to move my stuff down to my new house in Florida (Orlando, to be exact). I will post some pictures of my house once I have settled in there (probably sometime tomorrow evening). But I won't be at my house very much. I will either be in Boston or another city, living out of a hotel. The only times I will be home are the All Star Break and the Off-Season. I'm being paid very well and all my expenses are paid for by the newspaper during the season! I am very excited! But don't worry, I'll still be able to cover the Jays for Bluebird Banter just as much as before. The only down side is I'm going to be on the road constantly and staying up at all hours of the night to blog on two teams and write articles for the paper.

I fly to Boston on Monday morning to get prepared for the first day of writing on the Boston Red Sox on their Home Opener!

 

Today's game featuring the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees has been cancelled due to rain. It has been rescheduled for tomorrow, April 1st at 7:05 PM.

Fans holding paid tickets for today’s game may use them today or exchange their paid tickets for any regular season game at Yankee Stadium within 12 months, subject to availability. Due to limited ticket availability for Yankees home games during the 2008 season, fans are highly encouraged to use their tickets for tomorrow night’s rescheduled game. Tickets can be exchanged at Yankee Stadium advance ticket windows only. They are open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4p.m., and until the seventh inning of any regularly scheduled home game.

I am not very happy about this game being cancelled. I was all set to watch a baseball game and now I have to wait until tomorrow night. Also, it delays my return to home a day later, which I am also not too thrilled about for reasons I will tell you about in the near future.

I'm planning a relaxing evening in the hotel after supper and a quick dip in the pool and excerise in the workout room. Any suggestions as to what would be a good movie to watch?