(Blogger seems to be acting funny again with the photos, so you'll just have to pretend that you can see the photo of Edwin Encarnacion, shining with a heavenly light with the dulcet tones of the choir invisible singing his praises. It's kinda cool.)
Last night, somewhere in between his two home runs, we offered forth two thoughts on Edwin Encarnacion, which we will recycle here. (You'll forgive us for quoting ourself, like we're Chet from Kicking and Screaming.)
Firstly: "You know who still calls EE "E5"? Prickish fucking ingrates. #YeahThatsYouPal"
And then: "You may say I'm a dreamer...But a 20 HR season for EE is not out of the question."
And we all had a good laugh, and then Edwin cranked another home run, and you all stood dumbfounded by our foresight. (Right?)
It's damn hard being an EE apologist, what with the awful start to the season at the plate, and let's not even mention the fielding. Yet, we've felt for some time as though Encarnacion was starting to pull himself out of the funk and make himself into a perfectly good DH. And yes, the thought that he's the next coming of David Ortiz - a no field, all hit late bloomer - may have crossed our mind. Like, a thousand times or so.
It's not just last night's offensive onslaught that has us thinking in this manner, though. For the month of June, EE has posted a .967 OPS (.356 OBP, .611 SLG) with five doubles and four homers in 59 plate appearances. (And if you want to play a little dirtier with arbitrary endpoints, you can back up a couple of days to May 29th, and jack that OPS up to 1.019 and add another home run to the tote board. Just for fun.)
We've heard EE describe in much harsher terms than "E5" earlier this season, as fans torqued up their anticipatory frustration with the franchise and began referring to Edwin as "garbage" and "nothing" and "worthless". We're not so foolish as to use one game to tell you that we told you so. But we hope some of those who trade in hyperbolic vitriol as they preemptively vacate the bandwagon find that the harsh words towards EE are now much harder to summon.
Often Irreverent, Mostly Rational Blog for Fans of the Toronto Blue Jays. One Day, We'll Be Perfect.
13 comments:
I have believe in Edwin as a DH all season long (except for maybe 5 times when I lost faith). As long as you keep him off the field, I'm fine with him. Plus he seems to be happy. I like happy players.
Aloof. He seems aloof to me.
You're racist, Ack.
(Just kidding.)
Long live Edwin the DH.
If I was his agent, I'd tell Edwin to start whistling during his at-bats and getting more involved in the crazy handshakes between Yunel and JoBau, and then Edwin would be all "SHOW ME THE MONEYYYYY"....
Or something like that.
Put E5 (yes, Tao, E5...it's too good of a nickname not to use it) at 3B and return Bautista to his rightful position in RF. The team will be better for it and you won't be pissing off the team's best player.
A lot of the anger and frustration regarding Encarnacion is related to his predecessor. They went from an eight time gold glove winner to a guy who, to put it mildly, is a little less proficient with the glove. He's also less of a batter in a number of respects. So poor old Edwin takes some of the beatings for not measuring up to his most recent predecessor, based on management decisions.
Anyway, I'm comfortable with him at DH (or the occasional fill in at first). The Sabremetricians may not like it, but I can see how butchering plays on defense could affect his batting.
The Jays need a solution at third so that the Bautista band-aid solution can end and he can be sent back to right field. I will (im)patiently await Lawrie's arrival.
Discussions not worth having: are fans unfairly hard on EE?
Discussions worth having: what is the best use of the 25 and 40 man rosters, in light of injuries?
Until Laurie comes up then DH'ing EE and letting Thames handle LF or RF makes sense. This means that Rivera is your bench guy. After that point, Bautista will go back to RF and then you have to decide whether EE deserves DH ABs ahead of Thames (assuming Snider is back in the OF by that time).
I support your Kicking and Screaming reference. Quite a bit.
I'll fully admit, I was one of the folks who bought into AA's spiel earlier this year when he said "this is a guy who can hit 30 home runs, etc".
Now I'm not so sure, but just the second I write EE off, that's when he comes back with a game like last night. And yes I picked him up off waivers in the Roto-Hoedown, but will likely regret that decision in a few weeks.
@Drew
SAME GUY!
I don't know, I didn't think Kicking & Screaming was Will Ferrell's best work.
@Ack
*Sad trombone*
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