May 18th, 2012 at 5:39 PM
By Ryan BaaschAfter having begun the season about as poorly at the plate as possible while contributing even less in the field, Adam Lind was finally optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas yesterday, mercifully putting him and many Blue Jays fans out of their misery. Brought up in place of Lind was Yan Gomes, who as the first Brazilian-born MLB player makes for a nice story, but represents little else. Gomes was a decent minor league hitter who was succeeding in a place (Vegas) that makes top Blue Jays prospects look like Babe Ruth, and will now fill the role of third catcher on a team whose future at the position (Travis D'Arnaud) is all but certain. Essentially, Lind was demoted for a nobody, and it's time to consider what that means for his future in Toronto
If this is indeed the end for Lind he'll have gone out in particularly strange fashion. Constantly plagued by his plate discipline, Lind was actually 'enjoying' the best BB/K ratio of his career at .58, up significantly from last year's .30 and even better than his breakout 2009 mark of .53. His swinging strike rate also improved markedly, dropping to a career low rate of 6.6%. If you had told a sabermetrician that Adam Lind was going to be drawing .58 walks for every one strikeout at the beginning of this season, while swinging and missing at a career best rate, they'd have probably told you he could be in for a big year. Alas, that was far from the case.
Read more... Join the Conversation... May 17th, 2012 at 10:28 PM
By Toby GottliebDrew Hutchison pitched really well once again, showing that he deserved to be called up to the big leagues, as the Toronto Blue Jays defeat the New York Yankees 4-1. On a very busy day for the Blue Jays it was Hutchison who held down the fort giving up only one run for the second start in a row. His pitching line included five hits and four walks allowed, but he stayed out of trouble and pitched a very solid six innings. He also struck out three.
The big news of the day, however, was Adam Lind being sent down to the Blue Jays AAA affiliate in Las Vegas. His hitting woes have been well documented. He was hitting for a .183 AVG which, for a first baseman in the American League, is not good enough. Toronto GM Alex Anthopolous hopes that Lind's trip down to AAA will help him find his swing and gain some confidence so that he can return to form in time for a late season push towards the post season. Some are speculating a trade is on the horizon but that remains to be seen. The market for a struggling first baseman may not be so strong at the moment.
Read more... Join the Conversation... May 17th, 2012 at 5:54 PM
By Ryan Baasch
What better time to assess Brett Lawrie's sophomore season than in the midst of a four-game suspension he is serving for spiking a helmet which bounced directly into an umpire? The circumstances of Lawrie's outburst are a bit mysterious… there has been a lot of speculation that the umpire was making a 'vendetta' call on strike three with Lawrie at the plate because Lawrie had begun trotting to first base on ball four before the ump had called the pitch strike two. Of course, there's no excuse for Lawrie's reaction, but if this speculation is in fact truth then baseball has much more serious problems than young angry players. Nevertheless, this will just be a small footnote in Brett Lawrie's career soon enough, but what kind of career can we start projecting it to be?
Last year it seemed as though Brett Lawrie was already a star – a borderline superstar – and the projections for his 2012 season were gushing with enthusiasm over the potential he had. While WAR has graded him rather kindly so far (Fangraphs has him at 1.5, tied for ninth in the American League) most of that has been on the back of a stunning defensive grade – something that we should take with a grain of salt with such a small sample size, regardless of what you think your eye has told you. Among the players he is tied with, or behind, on the WAR leaderboard Lawrie is far and away the least productive on offense.
Read more... Join the Conversation... May 17th, 2012 at 2:30 PM
By Ryan Baasch
In a season that has seen almost nothing go well for him, Adam Lind now finds himself in Triple-A for the Toronto Blue Jays. Interestingly, David Cooper was not recalled to take his place on the major league roster (that honor goes to catcher Yan Gomes) so you can expect to start seeing a lot of Edwin Encarnacion at first base. DH duties are likely to be split up by Eric Thames, Ben Francisco, Colby Rasmus, and Rajai Davis, as the four of them have already been splitting time in left and center field. It's hard to see how losing Lind's .186/.273/.314 triple-slash can hurt the team, so consider this addition by subtraction.
Read more... Join the Conversation... May 15th, 2012 at 11:52 PM
By Toby GottliebThe Toronto Blue Jays made four errors and it led to their 18th loss of the season but this game will be remembered for how this game ended. Brett Lawrie was the benefactor of two terrible calls that led to him striking in a one-run game in the bottom of the ninth inning. Umpire Bill Miller called strike two on a pitch from Tampa Bay Rays closer Fernando Rodney that was clearly wide. When Miller called the next pitch a strike, this one high AND outside, Brett Lawrie went through a brief state of disbelief that was quickly followed by a fit of rage in which he took his helmet off his head and fired it down to the ground. The helmet then bounced up and struck Miller in the leg. Lawrie was thrown out of the game and will more than likely be suspended because of this. Manager John Farrell tried his best to get out there in time to separate his young third baseman from the umpire but the damage had been done. Farrell, also livid from this horrendous display of calling balls and strikes, was ejected.
Loading ...
