You know those times when everything seems to be breaking down for you and you seem to be spending all your time (and money) trying to get things repaired and/or buying new things. Well that has been my life lately.In the last month there was a small fire in my desktop computer, the sewer backed up, our oven stopped working and yesterday my laptop wouldn't boot up. It is all Rogers fault somehow.
At the start of this little run of spending money I got a blackberry because my phone was getting old and, well, I wanted one. I can get 'apps'. I got the Sportsnet app, because it was free. Free is good.
Scott Carson has a column up titled "Strong Finish Mandatory". First, I don't think a strong finish is mandatory. It would be nice. What I think would be mandatory is to get Snider out there everyday, get Arencibia out there as much as we can, play Lind at first a good bit, it would be nice to pitch Josh Roenicke some and not injure any pitchers arm. Winning is fun and I'm not against it in the least, but if it was a choice of win or play Snider, I'd pick play Snider (not that playing him gives us any less chance of winning). But for Scott:
It is imperative, both for the psyche of the ball club and for their evolving fan base, that the Jays go hard right through the finish line of the season.
I think it would be good for their 'evolving fan base' to, you know, get to see the games on TV. But that's me.
After a few boring little bits, starting pitching is good, bullpen isn't, Jose Bautista good. He says a couple of things that caught my attention.
With Lyle Overbay likely to leave through free agency, Adam Lind, in his limited exposure to the position, clearly is not the answer. Lind has looked very shaky on pop ups hit down the line behind him and just hasn't looked comfortable.
Really? I guess we see what we want to see but I think that Lind has looked quite reasonable at first. He might not be Overbay's equal yet or ever, but he has made the plays, caught the throws made to him, even dug a couple of short hops. Yeah I think he has missed one or two short hops but even Lyle misses some. He hasn't made an error yet. I'd be quite willing to give him a longer look at the position. He is signed for a few years and he is too young to be put in at DH forever. I think playing a position will keep him in the game better too.
Also I wonder, is how a first baseman looks on 'popups hit down the line' one of the big issues? I guess that it would be nice if all players did everything well. And I'm sure with practice, Lind would be ok at that too. But then, how many times has it come up in Adam's 67 innings thus far? Once? Twice? If we are defining a player by one thing that he doesn't do well, shouldn't it be something more important?
Then Scott says:
I'm hoping that the deep thinkers might consider a position change for minor league slugger J.P. Arencibia from catching to first. Arencibia has the size and the athleticism to man the position, perhaps a stint in winter ball somewhere in the Caribbean might be needed to see if they won't have to go outside the organization to fill that bill.
Ok, let's say we decided that Lind. We think we should move another player? Take Arencibia away from a position that doesn't have an obvious starter next year. A position that he played all the way through the minors. And, Scott figures, with 2 months work in winter ball, JP will be better at first than Lind, after Lind has spent the whole season working with Brian Butterfield.
Add in that a team needs offense from the first baseman. JP would have have to hit the ground slugging. At catcher, the team would be a little more understanding of a slow start.
Yeah JP has the size and athleticism for the position. Lind has the size too. And Athleticism? Frank Thomas played the position for ten plus years. Prince Fielder plays it now. It isn't shortstop we are talking about.
Maybe, sometime JP will move to first, but, at the moment, we don't have a catcher for next year. I guess we could keep John Buck, if we figured we were moving Arencibia to first. Though, Buck looks to be a Type B free agent. I think Alex Anthopoulos would rather get another first round draft pick.
Next:
...the search for another corner outfielder should be a high priority for the Jays heading into the 2011 off-season. Hopefully that player will be a switch-hitter with speed.
Ok, we want a free agent corner outfielder, with speed and he should be a switch hitter. Scott, please, point this free agent out for me? Carl Crawford? Nah, bats lefty. MLB Trade Rumors has a list of potential free agents and I can't see a switch hitting corner infielder with speed....oh sorry, I found him. Randy Winn. That's what we need. Great. Good news is he'll be easy to sign.
I guess we could trade for this player. But I'm not sure who we are talking about. Andres Torres? Ben Zobrist? Trevor Crowe?
He finishes with:
The next goal for this franchise is a .500 finish, meaning that the team needs to win at least 10 of their final 25 games to achieve a status that few thought was possible at the beginning of April.
10 of 25 is a Mandatory strong finish? I guess we define terms differently.
There were two other Sportnet postings that I wanted to point out, but it will wait for later. Oven repairman is here.