Monday Bantering: Ken Giles?

Happy Monday, the start of a new week. I’m back at home, happy to be sleeping in my own bed, not one that sags in the middle and squeaks loudly every time I move the slightest.

Last night Ben Nicholson-Smith tweeted that the Mariners released Ken Giles and that the Jays are one of the teams that have checked in on him.

Giles is working his way back from Tommy John surgery. He’s pitched just 4.1 innings for the Mariners, giving up just 1 hit, no walks and 4 strikeouts. He’s averaged 94.8 MPH on his fastball in those four innings.

People on Twitter always get upset about these things. “They are dumpster diving.” But an incremental improvement is the best you can do at this time of year. I’m all for adding him if they can work something out. Since they aren’t using Trent Thornton as a long man, why not try a different player in that ‘last guy in the pen’ spot?

It is Adam Cimber’s birthday. He is 32 today. He hasn’t been quite as ‘lights out’ as last year, but he still leads the league in appearances. And batters are hitting just .244/.296/.367 against him.

He has 12 holds this season and 4 saves. Hugo used to rate relievers on the number of blowout appearances (games when relievers give up more than one run in an appearance), and Adam has only had 2 of those (he gave up 3 earned twice in June).

I’ve always loved sidearm pitchers. And Adam also has a lot of personality. I do enjoy watching him ‘celebrate’ after a particularly important strikeout. And the bouncing is fun too.

And how many of our relievers have their own fan club.

We are 25 games into the John Schneider era. The team is 15-10 in those games. The first 15 went great, the last 10 not so much, 3-7.

He came in telling us the team was going to be more aggressive on the bases. And they seemed to be, but I’m not sure that’s still happening. I bet 90% of mid-season manager changes have the new guys saying, ‘we are going to be more aggressive’. They have to say something. They can’t say, ‘we are going to do things exactly the same and hope it works out better’.

Really, all you can expect is that they will give the players a different voice and hope they respond.

Bullpen stuff seems much the same. I’m a big fan of letting a guy have a second inning if he is pitching well, and maybe John is doing that a tiny bit more, but there is no major change. And I don’t think we expected one. The team keeps talking about developing relievers who can got 2-3 innings, but that hasn’t made it to the majors yet.

I think John has been fine, but then I tend to think players win and lose. If the pitchers don’t pitch well and the hitters don’t hit, there really isn’t much that can be done.

Yesterday’s Umpire Scorecard (we don’t get to blame the ump):

Am I wrong, or is this the most maddening hot or cold season in Jays' history? We seem to either score 8+ runs or none. Pitching, we either get a great start or get buried early.

Looking at the league as a whole, it seems like all teams are doing the same this year. Hot streaks or cold streaks. I guess it keeps things interesting.

But I’d be ok with a boring 50-game winning streak.