Have we shown JP Arencibia enough love this year? I'm not sure that we have. A quick perusal of the FanGraphs leaderboards for catchers with more than 140 plate appearances reveals that JP is 5th in baseball in that group with a 0.358 wOBA. Considering he's ahead of American super-hero, Buster Posey and the greatest catching prospect since Johnny Bench (Max Matt Weiters), I think I will dedicate this link post to the awesomness of JP's bat. Lets enjoy our first young catcher that can occasionally hit a baseball since...Pat Borders.
wOBA | |
Alex Avila | .395 |
Russell Martin | .392 |
Chris Iannetta | .365 |
Yadier Molina | .361 |
JP Arencibia | .358 |
Miguel Montero | .348 |
Buster Posey | .346 |
|
.333 |
Carlos Santana | .318 |
Brian McCann | .317 |
The last time the Jays had a catcher hit greater than a .350 wOBA was Greg Zaun in 2006. The last time the Jays had a catcher under 30 hit greater than .350 wOBA was Pat Borders in 1990. Seriously, it's been 21 years since we could get really excited about a relatively young catcher playing on the Jays. Keep it up JP! Links after the jump.
Jays Links
A spy lurks among the Blue Jays | Posted Sports | National Post
The National Post reveals how the Jays are utilizing assistant coach, Luis Rivera.
Johnny Mac celebrates ten years in baseball big leagues
Griffin has a nice piece on what the 10 year anniversary means to MacDonald.
Lind may see reduced workload upon return
Sounds like we will continue to see Rivera playing first, even when Lind is back.
This Here's the Tale of Gordie Dougie Baseball Canada Stud
The Tao of Stieb is tired of the Lawrie love, but admits that he's just about ready to see him called up.
Brad Mills is quietly having a very good season in Las Vegas. Jays Journal wonders if he will find his way onto the team this year, or if he could be used as trade bait. Do you think a pitching starved team would give up anything of worth for a player like Mills?
Villanueva rewarded with Saturday start
Blue Jays right-hander Carlos Villanueva earned himself at least one more start with an impressive performance on Monday night against the Yankees. Also of note in this article, three Jays minor league players earned player of the week honors, including Brett Lawrie, Joel Carreno and Justin Jackson.
I think the Jays are pushing for some sort of record this season.
Around the League
FanGraphs has added a base running element to their WAR calculations, and here's the primer on how it works. They have updated their WAR values going back to 2002 (ish).
Baseball has a drinking problem
Thousands of fans leaving games and getting into their cars are drunk: Researchers took breathalyzer tests of 362 fans at 13 baseball and three NFL games and found eight per cent of them — one in 12 — were legally drunk, while 40 per cent of them had at least something to drink. That eight per cent, when multiplied by the thousands of people attending games nationwide, leads to a staggering number.
That's not much of a sample size to base research on. Do you guys think there's too much drinking at baseball games? How about other sports?
Fielder could receive Gonzalez-like contract
ESPN compares Prince Fielder to Adrian Gonzalez. Fielder, an upcoming free agent, is due for a big pay-day. Would you give him a Gonzalez-esque contract?
Parkes responds to a New York Daily News article with a like-minded piece on Curtis Granderson.
Following a whirlwind minor league career, Brett Wallace appears to have found a home in the majors.
The Best of the Overlooked: The first third of 2011
At the one third mark, Through the Fence Baseball takes a look at the most overlooked stories of the year.
Suddenly Big Apple feels a lot like Toronto
For the first time in a while, New York feels like a mediocre sports town. Like you, I’d know, says Cathal Kelly. It’s a familiar feeling.