Bluebird Links and Major League Equivalencies

Here's a links post that I'm sure about 10 of you will appreciate (based on TFSML's poll, below). Joking aside, since yesterday was an off-day and there are only about 15 links today, I thought I'd take the opportunity to take a quick look at a few of the Jays minor league players and how their major league equivalent numbers would compare to the current Jays.

This post ended up a lot longer than I had originally expected, so I'll start you off with your links and if your interested in the MLB equivalent numbers of the AAA Jays players, head on down after the jump to check those out. If people are interested in this sort of thing, I'll do another post in a month or two, separate from the links post. For the links, I'll start you out with Minor League recaps from yesterdays Las Vegas win and Fisher Cats loss.

JAYS LINKS

Offseason work paying off for Edwin Encarnacion Encarnacion
John Farrell says that Anthopoulos deserves a lot of the credit with regards to Encarnacion.

Snider in no rush - sportsnet.ca
Shi Davidi has a piece on Snider's injury, and his relationship with AAA hitting coach, Chad Mottola.

Seize the day, Jays
Ken Fidlin says it's important that the Jays take care of business against Oakland and Minnesota this week, especially considering their schedule in upcoming weeks.

The Most Expensive Bench Coach In Baseball
Parkes wonders why the Jays bother using one of their roster spots on Vizquel

Three Things From Week Five
The 500 Level Fan talks about the pitching staff, JPA, and slow starts.

Forgotten Former Toronto Blue Jays
Callum Hughson takes a look at how a whole bunch of ex-Jays are doing this season.

San Francisco Wins Battle of ’07 Multiple Draft Picks
Marc Hulet looks at the four teams (including the Jays) that had five picks before the 2nd round in the 2007 draft, and updates us on how they've done.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Is 5 Games Enough For Cole Hamels?
I'm sure everyone has heard about this - Hamels admitted to throwing at Bryce Harper...just because he felt like it. Rob Neyer wonders if 5 games is enough, considering Hamels won't really miss a start.

San Francisco Giants' Guillermo Mota gets 100-game ban
And in slightly more substantial suspension news...

The perils of rebuilding: how "the right way" in theory can be absolutely the wrong way in real life
Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times takes a look at early season attendance trends in an interesting piece.

Flip Flop Fly Ball – 20 Strikeout Games
Craig Robinson with yet another great info graphic.

The Mariano Rivera Fact Sheet
Mike Axisa takes a look at some interesting nuggets about Rivera's career.

Werth’s Injury Will Keep Harper Around
Jayson Werth is hurt again, which means Bryce Harper's job is safe for a while.

The Orioles are squawking, while our no. 1 is looking ragged
If you want to know how the rest of the league is doing, check out Jonah Keri's "The 30".

The major league equivalencies are after the jump!

For the equivalency numbers, I used the mlsplits calculator, which allows you to input a players minor league numbers and it spits out the MLB equivalents, taking into account run environment, home park, etc. I have no idea if the minor league numbers are due for regression (i.e., Hechvarria); I just thought it would be an interesting exercise to look at how their current numbers would translate to the Jays. I have a few thoughts after each, but I'll leave any analysis to others if they want - discuss! So, without further ado...

DAVID COOPER, 1B
	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2012 AAA	116	38	12	1	4	13	13	0.328	0.395	0.552	0.947
MLB Equivalent	119	31	10	1	3	10	14	0.260	0.316	0.425	0.741
ADAM LIND
2012 MLB	93	18	6	0	2	12	19	0.194	0.286	0.323	0.608

Based on the equivalency calculator, I think it's safe to say that David Cooper would have provided more offensively this season than Lind has, so far. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think a 0.741 OPS is roughly equivalent to an OPS+ of 100 this season, so Cooper would be more or less a league average hitter. Obviously, still not what you want from your 1B, but compared to Lind's awful start, not bad.

ADEINY HECHAVARRIA, SS
	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2012 AAA	136	40	11	1	2	12	28	0.294	0.353	0.434	0.787
MLB Equivalent	139	33	9	1	1	9	30	0.235	0.281	0.340	0.621
YUNEL ESCOBAR
2012 MLB	122	31	5	1	1	7	14	0.254	0.292	0.336	0.628

I suspect a lot of people will be wanting to see Hech in the near future if he keeps up this start, but maybe we should temper our expectations a little. His equivalent numbers look remarkably similar to Yunel's; a little less average, a little more power. Of course, if Hech. could put up a 0.621 OPS in the majors with above average defense (say 10 Runs a season), I think he'd be a very valuable member of most teams. Thoughts?

TRAVID d'ARNAUD, C
	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2012 AAA	111	31	9	0	2	11	19	0.279	0.352	0.414	0.766
MLB Equivalent	114	25	7	0	1	8	21	0.222	0.275	0.324	0.599
YAN GOMES, UTL
2012 AAA	108	40	11	0	3	5	20	0.370	0.404	0.556	0.960
MLB Equivalent	109	33	9	0	2	4	22	0.299	0.322	0.439	0.761
JP ARENCIBIA
2012 MLB	77	18	4	0	2	3	19	0.234	0.277	0.364	0.641

Two for the price of one! I don't think anyone thinks that Yan Gomes could hit like this in the majors, but with these numbers, I could see him getting a call up if one of the catchers, or Lawrie gets hurt. Despite JPA's terrible start, it's certainly not time to call up Travis just yet. d'Arnaud has been wielding the hot stick the past couple of weeks though, so hopefully he can continue to do so.

TRAVIS SNIDER, LF
	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2012 AAA	75	30	10	0	4	11	11	0.400	0.477	0.693	1.170
MLB Equivalent	78	24	8	0	3	8	12	0.315	0.381	0.529	0.910
MOISES SIERRA, OF
2012 AAA	116	35	6	0	6	13	30	0.302	0.382	0.509	0.891
MLB Equivalent	119	29	5	0	4	10	32	0.240	0.297	0.388	0.685
ERIC THAMES
2012 MLB	85	23	4	0	2	6	19	0.271	0.323	0.388	0.711
COLBY RASMUS
	100	21	3	2	3	8	27	0.210	0.266	0.370	0.636

Last one! I was going to included Anthony Gose here as well, but his equivalency numbers are dreadful right now. Small sample size and all that, but Snider was raking before his injury. I know that the Jays are probably looking for him to improve his approach and his mechanics, and I have no information on that process obviously, but if he continues hitting like he has been, I don't know how they can keep him at AAA for long. Interestingly enough, Moises Sierra would fall right in between Eric Thames and Colby Rasmus with his equivalent MLB numbers. Is Moises a call up option if the injury bug strikes the Jays at some point?