I had planned to write about John Gibbons' use of Brad Lincoln and his nonuse of Casey Janssen, but Andrew Stoeten beat me to it. I agree with everything he says there, including the 'Now, obviously this isn't a reason to fire" him part, but it is a reason for Alex Anthopoulos to give him a call, ask him what he was thinking and tell him what he should have been thinking. Tell him 'no more managing for the save', use the best reliever in the highest leverage spot. Winning run on second in the 10, if you haven't already used Janssen, now is the time.
Since Stoeten's already done it, let's talk about listing out relievers in order of our confidence in them.
- Casey Janssen. Casey has been as close to perfect as a reliever can be. 12 innings of work, 3 baserunners allowed, 13 strikeouts.
- Darren Oliver. Darren had a tough start to the season. He gave up runs in his first 3 appearances and we were wondering if we would have been better off if he retired. Since then, 13.2 innings, 2 earned, 10 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts. He has huge reverse splits at the moment, and I'm sure it is a small sample size thing, but lefties are hitting .444 against him, in 27 at bats, right-handers .133. He's always had pretty even splits.
- Brett Cecil. Of course, I'm much more confident in him against lefties, and he's been great this year. Lefties are hitting just .125 against. But, in 18 innings, he's struck out 20 and allowed just 11 hits and 7 walks.
- Steve Delabar. I really don't have all that much confidence in him, at the moment. He's walking too many, 14 in 21 innings. He does have a bunch of strikeouts, 25 and just 15 hits allowed, but I hate watching relievers walk guys. He's been better the last few times out, only 1 walk in his last 4 appearances, covering 5.2 innings.
- Esmil Rogers. I haven't been a fan, so far, 18 innings and 22 hits allowed. Batters are hitting .301/.358/.411 against him. He has had good days, but there have been too many bad days.
- Brad Lincoln. Maybe it is last night's self destruction, but I don't trust him at all. As a Jay, he has pitched 8 innings, allowed 7 walks and 6 hits. Batters are only hitting .207 against him, but then a .378 OBP.
- Mickey Storey. Only because I haven't seen him yet. He did have 23 strikeouts, with just 6 walks, in 17.1 at Buffalo.
How would you rank the Jays relievers in terms of your confidence in them?
- Missed Loup... I'd put him behind Delabar....