Easter is for TweetBaggery! Also, goldfish putting Lincoln Logs in your sock drawer. That's the story of Jesus! And now, before I offend any more of you, onto the questions.
The Angie Dickinson of the Jays blogosphere, @HumandChuck asks: what would you do about Cecil's lack of confidence?
Seriously, those shots of the inconsolable Cecil in the dugout last night were pretty crushing. He looked as though he was going to return home, draw the blinds, and listen to Joy Division until the sun came up.
The cure to Cecil's case of the sads won't be dressing in black, growing out his bangs or stretching his earlobes absurdly out of some misguided sense of tribal...whatever. He just has to pitch better. Cecil's velocity is coming back, but he's got to pound down in the zone and stop flying all over the place with his delivery. And by the way, we were having this same conversation about him last year, and he came around quite nicely in the last half of the season. He'll get there. But sad faces and reassuring neck rubs from J.P. Arencibia won't help.
Next! Softball legend @bigmf99 asks: If you could throw just one 110 mph fastball in your life, which Yankee would you plunk?
That's easy. Derek Jeter. And afterwards, we walk towards him and say: "That's for 17 seasons of ostentatious jackknifing away from balls that were likely over the plate. You prat."
And more! All full of bounce and body, @GrubersMullet asks (amongst about a dozen other questions): why do players still slide head first into 1B when its proven that running through is faster?
They just can't help themselves. And when they are running down that line, there's a moment when their brain says "I can see the base! Right there! GO GIT IT!" And their physical response is: "I'mma GO GIT IT!" And suddenly, they are a superhero, flying through the air on a mission, leaping head first towards Truth, Justice and the Blue Jay Way. Except that their hands slow their momentum as soon as they hit the ground, while the ball beats them to the base. Sad trombone. Parting gifts.
There are two situations in which it makes sense to slide into first: To avoid a tag, or if you are Roberto Alomar, who actually seemed to be able to launch himself through the bag at top speed. The first thing Robbie touched on his way through was the bag, not the ground in front of it, so maybe he makes it there at nearly the same time as running though. At least he does in our cartoony memories.
Bunny hops! Habitual tweetbagger and Roto-Hoedown carpet bagger @austinja asks: why are people losing their shit over John McDonald? He's great and all, but am I missing something?
Two things on Johnny Mac: First off, he's exceptionally good in the field, and while we wank ourselves blind over wRC+and RE24, run prevention still matters. And John McDonald is one of the best defenders that we've ever seen in more than 30 years of watching the game. So there's that.
Also, there's those "little things". Yeah, it sounds trite, but when you pay as much attention to as much baseball as we do (and many of our readers and tweeters do), you appreciate the nuance of the game. Like just how hard Johnny Mac had to work to get himself set up to bunt that Mariano Rivera cutter on the safety squeeze to tie the game a couple of nights ago. There's not that many players who execute that play, and McDonald deserves credit for pulling that off.
Quickly! The Easter Bunny is coming! @the_real_THF notes: According to @RGriffinStar, the Jays' bullepen:bench ratio is out of whack. Who should they be calling up to fix that problem?
You know that we're invariably on the same page as Griff, so of course we agree with him. That the Jays have a bench that consists of a backup catcher and a corpse from the second season of Quincy screams out that there needs to be some readjustment of the roster.
On the other hand, we believe this is an elaborate scheme to get us to say that the Jays should recall Gordie-Dougie Baseball Canada Stud. I refuse to do so. Even if it might be the best option. (Truth is, though, that we'll see a lot of Mike McCoy this year.)
Also...when do we get Brad Emaus back?
One more before we head off to the wilds of Northern Ontario for the holiday. @tberry3 asks: As of yesterday, Jayson Nix is officially the Jays' starting 3B. What's the over/under on how long that'll last?
Was there a ceremony involved with this? Did John Farrell touch each shoulder with a bat and name him Sir Third Baseman, The Nimble! We're not sure about this officialness that you claim.
Nevertheless, we'll play along: Jayson Nix will be the everyday 3B, until Aaron Hill gets hurt, which seems as though it might happen both soon and often. And when Hill's not around, Nix will move to second, and then there's a hole at third. Johnny Mac? Gordie-Dougie? Edwin? Fill that hole in with whatever treats you please.
Thanks again for the tweets, and for your ongoing patronage. We'll be off to a land where cell towers are scarce, so if you don't hear from us, we're probably not dead. Just resting.
(Photo swiped from the web log thingy for Gratz Industries. Hey there!)
Nice post!
ReplyDeleteRe: Nix, Farrell said in his media scrum yesterday, or at least he did to Gregor, that Nix was going to be the everyday 3B and Rivera would be on the bench.
A ha! Well then, that's what I get for not parsing every word from the beat writers.
ReplyDeleteBut what I said still applies.
Great posts as always. One small issue. The correct response to the 110 mph fastball question is you save that magic beaner for the Red Sox. And you go after Youklis.
ReplyDeleteI guess what I was getting at with the Nix question was more of a "David After Dentist"-style is this gonna be forEVER? Or, at least, is this what we're stuck with until the eventual Lawrie callup? Which I suppose is more rhetorical than anything else, with you not being a soothsayer and all.
ReplyDeleteIt just seems ludicrous to announce EE as the everyday third baseman at the end of spring training and then give up on him after like, three games there. I don't even hate Nix but it seems insane to use him as a starter for any length of time in the major leagues. It's not as though Lawrie is pounding on the door (he's averaging about an error every two games in Vegas so far), which makes this whole Nix thing a much longer-term commitment than I'm emotionally prepared to handle.