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Thursday Bantering: Scoring, Sanchez limits

By Tom Dakers
Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Little bits on a Thursday morning:

Isn't it nice to see scoring. The Jays have scored 39 runs over the last five games and we were shutout once in there. Edwin Encarnacion is crushing the ball. Josh Donaldson has a OPS of 1.087 over his last 24 games. Russell Martin has started to hit, going .308/.487/.538 over his last 10 games. Even Kevin Pillar has been hitting, .294/.333/.529 (with 2 walks) in his last 13 games.

It is funny how hitting seems to be contagious. A bunch of guys get hot at the same time. The Jays almost look like the team I expected to see this season.

Everyone is talking about when Aaron Sanchez will be moved to the pen to limit his innings. Gibby made it official, yesterday, saying:

"It's gonna happen," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said, over and over. "It's gonna happen. It's gonna happen."

He says that the plan, all along, was to move Sanchez to the pen and bring up Drew Hutchison at some point. Trading Sanchez for Hutchison will be a pretty big hit to the rotation, but Sanchez will make the bullpen much better too.

My problem is that, if we make the playoffs, I'd really like to have Aaron starting. I think Estrada, Sanchez, Happ and Stroman (in some order) would be a pretty tough crew to beat in a 5 or 7 game series.

The big question, for me, is what is the number they have in mind for Sanchez. I'd like him to pitch 160 inning, so that, next year, we don't have to talk about limiting his innings again next year. I would kind of prefer to have them skip him a few times down the stretch, than to move him to the pen, but I don't get a vote. Give him 10 days off, now and then. Maybe take him out at 5 innings sometimes.

There really isn't a science behind limiting the innings pitchers throw. I guess I should be happy that if the Jays err on the side of caution with Sanchez. It looks like he could be a very good starter for years to come.

Anyone with a guess on the date the Jays move him into the pen? My guess would be after the All-Star break

I hate when my favorites sign with a team I dislike:

I'd like to hope the best for Casey, but I can't if he's a member of the Red Sox.

Speaking of former Jays, I'm sure you have all seen the news that Jose Reyes was DFAed by the Rockies. Baseball seems to be more open to eating wasted contracts than in the past. I'll admit, I liked Reyes, I like players that can have fun playing baseball. I'd like to think that if I had been lucky enough to play the game, I would enjoy myself too. I'm never (I hope) going to be someone that gets on players for smiling and being happy. If you can't be happy playing baseball, I can't imagine a way that you could be happy.

But, I think the Rockies are right to let him go.

John Lott has a nice piece on Dalton Pompey, saying that Dalton is working on his focus:

"If I struck out, I'd be thinking about it for at least an inning," he said. "When I was making mistakes, whether it was on the bases or in the field or swinging at bad pitches, it was because I was thinking about something totally different from the actual task at hand."

So when Gil Kim arrived, Pompey acknowledged his problem and said he was open to suggestions.

"He asked me what my goals were," Pompey recalled. "My goals were to focus more and to be more consistent. We came up with a plan. We wrote it down. It's like a checklist. I run through it every day and in my mind I mark off what I've done."

"You never know what the game's going to bring but at least if your focus on your work is consistent, then it should help you going into the game," he said. "To this point, it has, definitely."

It sounds like he's found what he has to do to make himself a better player. I hope it all works out.

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