Apr 14, 2017
The Blue Jays are in trouble
Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. The Blue Jays fell to 1-8 and it appears that they may have lost Josh Donaldson, one of the few guys on the club hitting his weight.
Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. The Blue Jays fell to 1-8 and it appears that they may have lost Josh Donaldson, one of the few guys on the club hitting his weight.
The Toronto third baseman reinjured his calf on Sunday in Tampa against the Rays. It’s the same calf he tweaked at the beginning of spring training, although his pain is in a different spot. Donaldson pinch-hit in the home opener on Tuesday, and then was the DH on Wednesday and Thursday. But after hitting a double down the right field line in the sixth inning, he limped into second base and then off the field.
The Blue Jays are in trouble. No one is hitting, other than Donaldson and reserve infielder Darwin Barney. In fact, they are the only two Jays hitting over .250.
Toronto is caught between the proverbial rock and the hard place. They can’t afford to put Donaldson on the DL and they can’t afford not to put him on it. They need his offence desperately, but they also need it desperately two weeks from now. If the Jays don’t put Donaldson on the DL, he may be lost for a month or more. That would be catastrophic. I will be surprised if the Jays don’t put him on the 10-day DL.
General manager Ross Atkins should get on the phone immediately and see if the Mets would consider trading Jay Bruce. The Mets have a crowded outfield with Yoenis Cespedes, Curtis Granderson, Jay Bruce and Michael Conforto. New York would prefer to trade Bruce over any of the others and he would be a great fit in Toronto.
If money is an issue, consider a deal that would send Francisco Liriano and Dalton Pompey to New York for Bruce and young starter Robert Gsellman. The Mets would get an upgrade over Gsellman and an outfielder to replace Bruce, while the Jays would get a hitter in Bruce to upgrade the offence and a starter to replace Liriano. Bruce and Liriano are both making $13 million, so the money would be a wash.
I tend not to panic early in the season, but I’m very concerned about where the Jays are. I know there will be plenty of chatter about John Gibbons’ job, but this is not a managerial issue, it’s a personnel issue. The lack of hitting isn’t the result of bad managing – it’s just bad hitting. Gibbons isn’t a good manager for the pitchers and a bad manager for the hitters. He is trying different things with his batting order and playing time. Jose Bautista, Russell Martin, Kendrys Morales and Troy Tulowitzki will all point thumbs at themselves and not fingers at Gibbons when it comes to blame.
That being said, Gibbons needs to accept that the team is struggling and force their hand. The Jays can’t wait for home runs. They have to manufacture runs with their healthy personnel. They must lump hits together and fight for every extra base. Gibbons will need to start runners on the bases with steals and hit and run plays. Base runners will need to take the extra base wherever they.
The guy that Gibbons must be most concerned about is Martin. The team has never needed him to be the old Russell more than they do right now. This group needs leadership and a veteran spark. The Jays’ veteran catcher is the glue that holds everything together on the club. The turnaround has to start somewhere and I believe it starts with Martin. He is to the Jays what Yadier Molina is to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Martin looks lost at the plate, just as he did in September and October last season. I attributed those struggles to fatigue, wear and tear, and a sore knee. Now he is just mentally off at the plate. A bad approach, bad timing and getting caught between pitches have led to a 1-for-24 start to the season. He will come out of it and get hot, even though it feels like he might never hit the ball hard again. Baseball is a funny game. You are never as good as you look when you play your best or as bad as you look when you play your worst. He will be making Jays fans cheer again very soon.
How about some good news? Marcus Stroman looks like he’s in mid-season form already. Oh wait, it is mid-season for him. All we ever hear about with the World Baseball Classic are the potential negatives, but for Stroman, it got the motor rolling early and he has the intensity we’ve seen from him in big games in the past.
The Jays need as much good pitching as possible right now, since the offence is really struggling. Stroman’s performance exudes leadership, desire and toughness. In the WBC, he pitched for nationalistic pride. Now he is pitching for Blue Jay and personal pride. He has never looked better.
Thames returns to the bigs with a bang
Eric Thames, who hit a combined 21 homers in 2011-12 for the Jays and Mariners, is back in the big leagues.
He spent 2013, in the minor leagues and then went into baseball witness protection, also known as the KBO – the Korean professional baseball league. He went overseas and resurrected his career, slugging 124 homers in three seasons while refining his swing and approach.
Milwaukee Brewers’ general manager David Stearns signed Thames to a stunning three-year $16-million deal last November. Even more surprising was the fact that the Brewers believed so much in Thames that they non-tendered Chris Carter, who hit 41 homers in 2016. So far, so good, as Thames is off to a strong start with a .991 OPS. In fact, if he was still a Blue Jay, he would be the second-leading hitter on the team. They could use his bat right now. But if he had stayed in the States, he might not be the hitter he is today.
The key for many players that go overseas is that they learn how to hit the breaking ball because they see so many more of them. In Asia, pitchers tend to use their breaking pitches and changeups more frequently.
We’ve seen other players who were marginal major leaguers go to Japan and Korea and become stars in the past. Tuffy Rhodes (2001), Alex Cabrera (2002) and Wladimir Balentien (2013) are all former major leaguers who went to Japan and at one point and set or tied the single-season home run record there. Neither Rhodes nor Cabrera came back to the States to test their new found slugging prowess because being a star in Japan was better than being a decent or good hitter in the States. Balentien, who starred for team Netherlands in the WBC, has learned the same thing. He currently holds the single-season homer record in Japan with 60 in 2013.
Korea is a bit different as it isn’t as highly regarded as the Nippon Professional Baseball League. But it’s respected enough, as we have recently seen some Korean hitters with success here in the States.
When I was Mets GM, I sold a number of player contracts to Japan. I actually searched out fringe major leaguers who I thought might be interesting to teams overseas. It was a way to make some money for the organization and give players a chance to make a name and money for themselves.
Spitting Seeds
- The Jays have been a surprise with how poorly they have hit so far this year. On the flip side, the Cincinnati Reds have been shocking with how well they have played. They are third in runs scored in the National League. The Reds have outscored opponents by 25 runs already this year without much of a contribution from Joey Votto (.583 OPS). Even more shocking is that they have the second-best ERA (2.73) in the league, including the best bullpen ERA (1.13). Reds’ rookie left-handed starter Amir Garrett has been awesome so far (2-0, 1.42 ERA). He is a former college basketball player at St John’s University. He is 6-foot-5, very athletic and has shown a real feel for his slider and change up. He is in an organization where opportunities abound. The Reds’ bullpen has been historically bad in recent years, but it hasn’t given up a home run yet this season. It gave up 103 homers last season – 21 more than the next closest team. But don’t get too excited about the fast start, this team won’t finish over .500.
- The pitching is ahead of the hitting so far this year. Just ask the Blue Jays. Last season, there were only seven teams with an ERA under 4.00 at the end of the year. At this stage, there are 17 teams with ERAs under 4.00. But already this week we’ve had a three-homer game (Cespedes), a four-hit, two-walk game (Bryce Harper) and a player hitting for the cycle (Wil Myers). It sure feels like the offence is starting to catch up.
- To add insult to injury, former Jays catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud is off to a great start (.333/.438/.704) for the Mets. He delivered a game-winning homer in the 16th inning against the Marlins on Thursday.
- The Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers have homered in every game so far this season. That ties a franchise record for the Tigers and is one away from tying the record for the Rangers.
- I have to give credit to the Chicago Cubs for putting their money where their mouth is. The Cubs believed in embracing the “Curse of the Billy Goat” and their World Series rings prove it. Each ring includes 108 diamonds representing the 108-year drought between championships. Plus, there is a goat head etched inside the rings. I’m envious.
- A big problem for the Dodgers last year was their inability to hit left-handed pitching. The problems continue as the Dodgers are 0-4 in games started by a left-hander and have scored only five runs in those games. The trade for second baseman Logan Forsythe and signing of outfielder Franklin Gutierrez have done nothing to change the offensive flow in L.A. This flaw may haunt them again in October.