When you're supposed to be blogging about the Toronto Blue Jays and you have what serious writers (ie: folks who are, uh, good with words, and, uh, get paid to do it) refer to as writers' block, there's always one easy fallback option.So how fuckin' good is that Jose Bautista? Am I right? Nails or what?
OK, but seriously, this post is about Bautista and his greatness. The premise is this:
How long do we think his current level of greatness will last until he becomes "just another slugger"? 2 more seasons? Maybe 3? And does it then not stand to reason that Alex Anthopoulos would target the next few seasons as the time during which the Jays must finally climb that mountain?
Of course, it's not so easy as snapping your fingers and announcing "We're competing now, boys!", but one would have to assume this timeframe was already within the scope of The Plan (right?). But let's say things were to go south with certain pieces of the future plan (no inferences allowed)..... does the Era of Bautista then dictate a quick and dirty (ie: expensive) plan-B as opposed to waiting for the next internal option?
You know what brings this to mind? The Jose Reyes nonsense brings this to mind. Not that I was buying into any serious interest the Jays might have in the player (miss that), but the concept of this team actually taking a run at big shiny pieces along those lines.
And I can't decide if I love or hate the idea.
Because as fantastic as it would be if AA's Jays suddenly became players for the Reyes and Fielders and (gasp!) Pujols of the baseball world.... I seem to kinda remember the outcome the last time the Jays were amongst the biggest players in the free agent world. It didn't end so well and resulted in a public craving for an internal rebuild and "doing things the right way".
And here we are.
Great players are great players, whether they're homegrown or bought & paid for on the open market. So what am I thinking? I guess I'm thinking a Big Splashy Move is always fun, but this team is more than one piece away from a championship calibre club.... until proven otherwise.
Luckily, we're likely on the verge of finding out whether a few of those pieces are ready to assert themselves as future cornerstones in the days, maybe weeks at most, ahead.
And if they are?
Big Splashy Moves!
I was just talking about this a couple of days ago. Right now, there are 6 guys, maybe 7, on the team who I'd consider 'key pieces': Romero, Morrow, Drabek, Bautista, Lind, Arencibia, and maybe Escobar. None of those guys would look out of place on a championship team.
ReplyDeleteIf you consider that a baseball team needs 4 solid starters and 9 starting position players, that means that the Jays have 6 or 7holes in the roster that could be filled with a Big Splashy Move.
That's a lot of holes. Sure, maybe by next year, Snider and Lawrie and Cecil and others will have filled some of those spots... but a lot of things need to break right tp justify the team making a run at contending in 2012.
I wonder what the players themselves think about this stuff. I mean, to get to the MLB, you have to be really good -- like you were the best athlete your highschool ever had in 6 sports and you finally choose baseball and you make it all the way to...the bench of a non-contending team. I wonder if those guys think of themselves as "holes" in the lineup.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing I keep reminding myself of is how many holes we would have said the Giants had last year.
There are 110 games remaining in the season and I hate to consider them meaningless tune-ups already. Then again, I've seen many big splashy moves come and go since 1993 -- I shouldn't get impatient now.
Bring up Wayne Dougie already - 0 for 45 at third base is horse shit.
ReplyDeleteI will never understand Corey Patterson.
ReplyDeleteI just kinda noticed this, and was hoping you guys could post something about it here, cuz this is my favourite Jays blog. The Jays are actually a top five offense in the League. 2nd in AVG, SB and TB, 3rd in OBP, HR, Hits, Walks and Runs 4th in Slugging.
ReplyDeleteGranted, the One Man Gang makes up for a lot of low production elsewhere, but he is still a part of the offense. So what does it all mean? Well, I was hoping you could tell me. Cheers
RE: HAWK HARRELSON:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sonsofsamhorn.net/wiki/index.php/Ken_Harrelson
Whilst you may not be able to understand Corey Patterson
ReplyDeletelets look at this
OBP .224 OPS .527 HR 4
OBP .333 OPS .811 HR 4
one is an overpaid former fan favorite the other is a player that none can understand.
We are one trade away from feeling much better about this "The Near Future" discussion.
ReplyDeleteIf AA was able to pull off another League-for-Morrow or Gonzalez-for-Escobar type trade that could make a big difference.
Granted both those deals were successes the year after they were made. Next year should work fine on the Bautista timeline though.
Then again I don't really have any suggestions as to what that trade would be ha...