Young Man Blues - Where Does Brett Lawrie Go From Here?

Photo courtesy the outstanding @james_in_to's Flickr stream.

If there's one aspect of being a baseball fan that has transformed most dramatically since this blog was launched seven seasons ago, it's the way that young players are taken into consideration.

I remember at various times in the not-so-distant past keeping a watchful eye on the stat lines of players such as John-Ford Griffin, or Robinson Diaz, or Brian Dopirak, or even Chad Mottola, with the full expectation that at some point they would translate their minor league excellence into a career as everyday players with the Jays.

In more recent years, the mark of the more sophisticated baseball connoisseur was the ability to scoff at such middling organizational filler and rattle off the long list of more pertinent and exciting prospects within a system and throughout the game. A new surfeit of readily available resources that rate and rank and analyze ballplayers and teams allowed us to form opinions from our couches on athletes that we might not see at the top level for years...if at all.

Actually, that last part is the one that increasingly preoccupies me. Having indulged in so-called "prospect porn" for the last few years, the one thing that increasingly impresses itself upon me is the high failure rate of prospects. And this isn't limited to your garden variety organizational filler. I'm talking about the number of "blue chip", "can't miss" prospects. The top five percentile that fill the top ends of those perpetual speculative top 100 lists based on the gaudy numbers they post against their peers in the lower, developmental levels. The players who make their way onto a Major League Baseball roster to all matter of hoopla and frantic fantasy baseball waiver wire activity.

All this new information gives us some alleged sense of knowledge on players about whom we know very little beyond the blurbs. But what has been striking over the past couple of seasons are the number of top-flight young players who simply cannot make a go of it once they face real live big leaguers.

Previously, there were players like Jeremy Hermida or Brandon Wood, who stood out because they seemed to be the exceptions as top 10 prospects who never were able to convert that promise into something more tangible. Lately, though, it seems like this list is getting longer in a hurry. This includes premier minor league players like Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Justin Smoak, Jesus Montero, Dustin Ackley, Gordon Beckham, and yes, Travis Snider.

This failure rate for young players is quite unlike anything you see in the other major professional sports. Basketball, hockey, and football all draft impact players from the amateur ranks and have them producing at the highest level within a year or two. They slide into the professional game seemingly by sheer virtue of their athletic prowess.

Which brings us to this month's whipping boy, Brett Lawrie.

There's little question that Brett Lawrie is an exceptional athletic specimen, and that certainly helped him push his way into the major league lineup ahead of schedule, at 21 years of age. He made the leap into MLB after just 326 minor league games. That's fewer games than it took for Roberto Alomar to make it to the big leagues. It's almost a full season less than it took for Tony Fernandez to make it and it is about half as many games as it took for Carlos Delgado to crack the premier lineup.

It probably helped that the Jays needed to show some return from their trade of opening day starter Shaun Marcum while a mixed bag of third baseman barely held the spot warm for him. Meanwhile, Lawrie posted numbers in Las Vegas that were otherworldly, and beyond what he'd ever posted before in his minor league career.

Lawrie's debut with the team in the latter stages of 2011 was something of an astrological event. New-found plate discipline and a hell-for-leather approach to all other aspects of the game made him appear to be something more than an all-star. Lawrie appeared destined to become a transcendent sports figure in Toronto, and one who brought non-baseball fans into the fold. One needed only look at the names and numbers on the backs in the crowds at the Rogers Centre to see whose stardom shone above all others.

But like those many other phenoms before him, Lawrie began to struggle as the league became more acquainted with him. In 162 games in the two seasons following his sparkling debut, Lawrie has posted a .710 OPS (.311 OBP) and an OPS+ of 91. While his defense has been sterling and continues to improve, the more difficult to master tool of hitting seemingly continues to slip away from him.

Which brings me to my point, as much as I'm talking concentric circles around it: Baseball is hard. Really hard. It's harder than we as fans realize. Even more so, harder than some players realize.

And if there is an existential quandary that is leading Brett Lawrie to mow further down into his nail beds, throw equipment hither and yon, pout intensely and point fingers at his teammates, it's might just fact that this game which he had mastered (well, somewhat) at most every level is suddenly beyond him at this point.

Okay, let's slow down for a moment. We're moving into an area of speculative, long-distance psychology, and I'll cop to being on the shakiest of ground in proceeding down this train of thought. But given that Brett Lawrie's name has been often accompanied with a question mark in recent days, indulge me for a moment as I hypothesize on what's going on in his head, and where he needs to go to get through the other side.

Here's the short form of how I think Brett Lawrie's mind works: "I want something, and if I want it bad enough, I've gotta go get it. Take it. It's mine if I want it." I base this on the "Never Surrender" tattoos, the times when he's been thrown out on the bases like a nincompoop, and often, the defiance in the post-game interviews when it all goes wrong.

All of this adds up - in my mind, anyways - to a player who attacks the game. Takes no prisoners. Lays the smack down.

But baseball is a game that doesn’t cotton to being attacked.

It requires a quiet, steady approach. A marksman’s still hand and slow heart beat, not the furious anger of a shootist. It requires patience, not haste. An ability to let the game unfold as it will. A sense of perspective, and an ability to fail with grace.

You gotta be chill, bro.

The problem with this is that Brett Lawrie has been consistently rewarded for his unbridled enthusiasm. From the fans to the front office to his own father, Lawrie's single-minded competitiveness seems to be the attribute for which he is admired and rewarded.

He became something close to a folk hero for throwing his body over barriers, regardless of the damage he caused to himself. People laugh at the notion that he pumps himself up with unhealthy amounts of caffeine in anticipation of a game, figuring that his jacked-up athlete's body will insulate him mood-altering doses of substance that affect the neurological and nervous systems.

And then we wonder he's jumping at pitches.

It could be that the most recent onslaught of negativity could provide the impetus for Lawrie to reevaluate his approach. Maybe this is a learning experience, and somehow, he can learn from the bad times and adapt his game appropriately.

It wouldn't surprise me if he does. In spite of his dude-bro exterior, I've always suspected that there is a very clever and quick mind underneath it all. I think he can adapt, and I think he can transcend from the player that he has become to the player that he could very well be.

But to get there, Lawrie has to want it. And you can't find stillness of mind with the body's hustle.

Angst Now, or Angst Later?

The last time I blogged hereabouts, I was railing against the dying of the light, refusing to go gentle into that good night, swearing I would enjoy the last few weeks of the Blue Jays' disastrous 2012 season.  It's been a challenge, friends.

Since then, out of thirteen games, they've won... [counts]... TWO?  Two goddamn wins?  Yes, that's apparently accurate.  I've tried to focus on the positive -- the settling in of Adeiny Hechavarria, the emerging adequacy of Aaron Loup, I'm sure there are one or two others -- but losing sucks.  The fight to finish fourth in the division ahead of the equally discombobulated Boston Red Sox has been as dreary an endeavour as you might expect.

I think it's jealousy that I'm feeling, actually.  I've taken to cursing the improbable Orioles every time they pull another extra-inning win out of their hindquarters, because I refuse to believe the talent they've assembled there is better than what Toronto has on a position by position basis, yet there they are, challenging for the division lead in late September.  We haven't seen that for two decades as Jays fans, and to see another long-suffering AL East franchise enjoy such a stretch now makes me envious.

On the plus side, though, this ugliness has probably provided me with a certain amount of objectivity I didn't have before about some players on whom decisions will need to be made in the off-season.  As a fan, I want them all to succeed, and even when they don't, I often look past their flaws or assume they can be easily rectified with some off-season coaching, adjustments, and presumably pixie dust.  But this season's struggles have led me to question whether I'd be prepared to see even some of my favourite players be moved in off-season deals if it meant an upgrade.

I think it's healthy to begin to re-evaluate which players are untouchable when it comes time to address the needs that Alex Anthopoulos has candidly identified.  Last off-season, I was singing Yunel Escobar's praises as a long-term solution at shortstop.  Now, given his dismal offensive season, to say nothing of his other issues, I wouldn't hesitate to include him in a trade (even if that's admittedly selling low on an asset).  But the Escobar situation is pretty much self-evident by now.  Who else on the roster is untouchable now -- or more to the point, who would you have considered a longshot to be traded six months ago that now might be more realistically on the block?  Does Colby Rasmus still get the benefit of the doubt after what we've seen apart from one strong month?  Is next year's 23-year-old version of Brett Lawrie more valuable as a trade chip than he will be over the long term as the Blue Jays' every day third baseman?

I expect the Jays' marketing department and/or the Mounties to show up at my door at any moment for daring to suggest that the Blue Jays could trade Brett Lawrie.  And I'm not even saying they should.  Maybe it's just this bleak, brutal September that has me thinking things are worse than they are, and players that were once seen as cornerstones could now be trade bait.  Thankfully there are people who actually get paid to think about baseball making these decisions on a more informed basis than me.

But I do believe there are some surprises in store this off-season with respect to what the team will have to give up to get those much-needed upgrades.  Some prospect-porn types on whom we've been dreaming might end up on some other team's Eastern League affiliate.  And yes, even some big-league players to whom we've become attached will change uniforms too.  The last couple of off-seasons have been filled with one kind of angst:  the kind that comes from the team perceived to be doing little or nothing to improve.  If Anthopoulos starts dealing, we might be faced with a whole different kind of angst this time around.

Blue Monday - Five Things We Vaguely Recall from the Weekend

Blue Monday, oh, it's Blue Monday. Got to work, would rather sleep all day...But since that's not an option, here's a few top-line impressions from the weekend.

Who You Laughing At?: Being the perpetual fourth-place finisher, it's hard to resist the urge to give noogies to the perpetual fifth-place finisher. You've got to find someone to pick on, don't you?

This weekend's series against the Orioles should be a bit of a wake-up call to those who figured that the 18 games against the Baltimore boys would be an easy walk-over all year long. The Orioles might have their flaws, and those organizational flaws might be ongoing and systemic. But when you see them on the field, they have the tools to knock the ball around and put runs on the board in a hurry. There are weaknesses in their rotation, bullpen and on defense, but we won't be quick to underestimate Nolan Reimold or Chris Davis again.

Full Tilt Lunacy: Somewhere among all the splendid attributes displayed by Brett Lawrie is a profound confidence in his abilities that is etched into his psyche like the ink is etched into every available spot on his epidermis. So it shouldn't have surprised us to see him take off for home with the bases loaded and José Bautista at the plate on Saturday afternoon. You halfway expected him to pull off his jersey as he took off to display a giant "YOLO" scrawled across his chest. It's hard to imagine Lawrie feeling as though he couldn't make it.

Lawrie then went on to compound the issue by making another out on the bases, getting gunned down by the strong arm or Matt Wieters. In the moment, we wondered if what sort of reception would be given to Colby Rasmus or Edwin Encarnacion or Eric Thames if they were to make two spectacular, inning-ending outs on the basepaths. We highly doubt it would be generous, but when it comes to our demonstrative countryman, there are many who we heard making the case for how those plays were positives. Can't knock the hustle? We beg to differ.

It's fair to remember that for all of the things that Lawrie does very well, he's still young and we're going to be witness to his maturation process over the next few years. Rookie mistakes? He'll make a few, for sure. We just hope that he learns from them.

Edwin Smiles Are the Best: There were weeks on end last season when Edwin Encarnacion would seemingly always wear a sad face with far-away eyes. Like he was miserable, lost, and waiting to be booed or scolded for whatever he'd just done. As someone who has been a fan of EE since he arrived, it was tough to watch, and even worse to hear some fans identify this as a sign of his lack of heart. If anything, we thought he took too much to heart.

So there are few things that are as heart-warming to us as to see the broad smiles and gregarious demeanour that EE has had on display thus far this year. Early in the season, he leads or is tied for the lead on the team in hits, doubles, homers, RBI, stolen bases, slugging, OPS and total bases. For a guy who fans were chasing out of town until well into July last season, Edwin has the chance to be a big part of this year and the future of the team.

Introducing Evan: It was nice to see the Jays give Evan Crawford his shot at an inning of work on Sunday afternoon. For a player who was far back on prospect lists up until this spring, the 25 year-old Crawford has made a quick move up the board with some tremendous strikeout numbers over the past two seasons.

Crawford looked amped up for his ninth inning appearance, but threw strikes down in the zone and touched 93 MPH a couple of times on his way to a one-hit, scoreless inning. Also, on the scouts' 20-to-80 scale, his high socks were a 65. We wouldn't be surprised to see him back before the year is out.

Otherwise...

-Another strong outing for Kyle Drabek, who has surrendered just two earned runs in his first two starts of the season. His 10/4 strikeout-to-walk ratio is also promising, and he may be pitching his way into a permanent position in the fourth slot of the rotation.

-Colby Rasmus continues to impress, and finally had a game where his hard-hit balls weren't directly at a fielder. If you can't see that he's playing well, we can't do much for you.

-Henderson Alvarez pitched well for the most part, but he seriously short-armed his pitch to Chris Davis on Saturday, which was turned around quickly for a tape-measure shot. We're not sure if he was overly concerned with the runner, or just wanted to quick-pitch Davis, but the result was a slow fastball well up in the zone. Let's hope it was a glitch.

30 Jays in 30 Days - Brett Lawrie's Star Burns Bright

Who: Brett Lawrie, No. 13. Third baseman. Bats right, throws right. 6’0”, 215 LBS. 22 years old.

Provenance: Langley, British Columbia, Canada. Canada, Canada, Canada. Drafted in the first round (16th overall) of the 2008 amateur draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. Acquired by the Blue Jays on December 6th, 2010 in exchange for pitcher Shaun Marcum.

Contract Status: Date of arbitration eligibility not yet established.

Still Just a Babe: Was the fifth youngest player in the American League last year.

Minor League Stats: In three minor league seasons across four levels, played 326 games in the systems of the Brewers and Blue Jays. .360 OBP, .492 SLG, .852 OPS. 39 homers, 190 RBI, 208 runs scored in 1425 plate appearances.

2011 MLB Stats: In 171 plate appearances over 43 games, .373 OBP, .580 SLG, .953 OPS with eight doubles, four triples, nine homers, and seven steals.

Looking Back: Brett Lawrie has gone supernova.

There was plenty of excitement about him when the Jays acquired him around the Winter Meetings after the 2010 season, a fair bit of which was fuelled by the fact that he was a “homegrown” talent. (From 3000 kilometres away, but nevermind that.) At the time, we figured that a September call-up might be a possibility, but that 2013 was most likely the point where Lawrie would become an every day player.

But Lawrie’s arrival in Jays camp was loud and fierce, and garnered raves from nearly everyone who saw him bust out and impose himself into the near term plans of the team. From the media to the manager to the front office, it was hard to find anyone who wasn’t wowed by Lawrie.

Were it not for an ill-time errant pitch that caught Lawrie in the hand, he may have earned his way to Toronto as early as May last year. Lawrie not only tore up the Pacific Coast League (18 homers, 1.076 OPS, 13 steals in 69 games), but he responded to direction from the team in a way that we’ve never quite seen. When the front office noted that he was being too aggressive early in counts and not taking enough pitches, Lawrie immediately changed his approach and added close to 70 points of on-base percentage over his previous minor league outputs. Moreover, he did this while moving up a level and learning a new position.

By the time he arrived in Toronto in August, the legend of Lawrie had grown to a point where his was the most anticipated Blue Jays debut in recent memory. He did little to disappoint, cranking out game-changing hits at a hellacious pace, and looking like he belonged from the moment he arrived. There is nothing timid or tentative about Brett Lawrie.

Even his defense, which initially looked problematic, visibly improved over his two months with the big club. He appeared to loosen up in his approach to fielding the ball, and by season’s end, his throws looked loose and elegant while remaining strong and on target.

Looking Forward: Last week, as we walked around the concourse at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium in Dunedin, we saw Lawrie’s name screened onto the backs of more fans’ new blue paraphernalia than every other Blue Jay combined. And though he spent most of that week sitting out to rest a sore groin, his comings and goings were closely monitored by all of the other baseball nerds who showed up at 11 am to watch practice sessions.

As much as we might attempt to maintain a critical distance from the patriotically-fuelled Lawrie-mania, we have to tell you: It’s really difficult to resist the urge to watch his every step. We were compelled to watch him take grounders at third, and especially notice the improvement on his footwork and throws. We couldn’t help but pay attention as he crushed the ball in batting practice – the ball really does sound different coming off his bat – nor could we help but notice how eager he was with a smile and a handshake to the media or fans assembled on the field.

Brett Lawrie is a big bright shining star.

Of course, this season will bring a whole new test, as Lawrie will have to adjust to teams who have video on him and his approach to hundreds of at bats. Given his previous determination to make adjustments and absorb instruction, it will be interesting to see if Lawrie will recognize new patterns and reconfigure his own approach. We’d find it hard to bet against him.

2012 Expectations: Last year’s big league numbers were pretty extraordinary, though we wouldn’t want to get ahead of ourselves in trumpeting that small sample. Still, Lawrie has a number of tools at his disposal, and can use his speed to change games should his power regress. Health will also be a concern, given his tendency to play all-out, all the time.

Lawrie will still be young, and still have to adapt and adjust to a higher level of play and tremendous pressure. But we wouldn’t want to be the one attempting to rationalize doubts about his ability to conquer his foes and exceed the expectations.

A full year of watching Brett Lawrie is a very exciting thought to hold onto on the eve of the season.

They're Doing Something Right

I don’t know what the baseball offseason is like in, say, Arizona, where it stays warm all year round and a person could conceivably step out to the backyard and have a game of catch in early January without thinking twice about it.

I do, however, know what the offseason is like in Canada. In case you hadn’t noticed, it gets really freakin’ cold here. And there’s snow. And it lasts forever, or at least that’s what it feels like.

Let there be no doubt that those who settled this country a few hundred years ago were crazy people, which would be forgivable if they had foreseen that something as glorious as baseball might come along later. But they missed that too.

So today, there’s no skipping out to the neighbourhood park in January to chuck the ball around. Your ball glove is more likely packed away in the garage behind bags of salt to de-ice your driveway, a few snow shovels, and that huge box for your artificial Christmas tree.

It would be awfully easy for Canada’s only major league baseball team to just disappear from our frozen wasteland, both physically and mentally, until the spikes can at least penetrate the soil under the outfield grass again.

In fact, that’s exactly what they had been doing for several years. The season would wrap up in September; the casual fans would turn their attention to hockey or football or curling or whatever; and come April they’d need reminding that the Toronto Blue Jays still exist and play 162 baseball games every year.

The more obsessed fans, like yours truly, don’t go through this cycle, but make no mistake that a huge number of fans – and potential fans – still do. Simply allowing it to continue would represent a big missed opportunity for a team that has free rein to market itself coast-to-coast-to-coast to more than 30 million people.

The Jays used to run their “Winter Caravan” in years past as a way to try to connect with some of us, drawing us out of our igloos and ice fishing huts and what-not. For some reason, they stopped for a long time. Maybe it wasn't as successful as they'd have liked for the money they spent; I don't know. But it was an effort. Even if it was just the most dedicated fans that turned up to see a couple major-leaguers up close, at least they got the chance.

So when I took the eldest of the Org Kids with me to St. Laurent Centre (a run-of-the-mill Ottawa mall) this afternoon, I similarly expected to see maybe a few hundred hardcore fans on hand to have a brief interaction with Casey Janssen, Ricky Romero, Brett Lawrie, and J.P. Arencibia.

We got there at 12:20 for an autograph session that began at 1:30, and we were lucky to get in line in time. The lineup snaked down the mall and kept building for at least two more hours. Blue Jays caps, jerseys, t-shirts and other paraphernalia, old and new, were abundant. One guy wore a batting helmet with two Jays flags taped to it. I had no idea this kind of excitement about the Jays simmered under the surface in my city, and here it was on display.

It’s really easy to gripe about the state of the Toronto Blue Jays, the lean years since the glories of 1992 and 1993, those cheap fucks at Rogers, or the price of beer at Skydome. We generate, and are exposed to, more negativity about the game and team we love than ever before.

But today, a huge number of fans stood in line for hours to get a chance to meet four Toronto Blue Jays and maybe have them sign an autograph. I’d wager most of them didn’t get a chance, but lined up anyway. But standing there in line, I didn’t hear grumbling or moaning about Prince Fielder, Yu Darvish, or some other outrage of the week. People were just excited about the Blue Jays in Ottawa. IN JANUARY.

My five-year-old got a hug and a high-five from Ace, did the fist-bump-blow-it-up thing with Arencibia and Lawrie, got an autographed ball, and I don’t think I’ve seen him happier since he opened his presents on Christmas morning. He can’t wait for baseball season to start so he can see those guys play.

Oh, and we both got a free toque.

Sometimes we ought to recognize when this team is doing something right.

Notes from the Notebook: Scattered Thoughts from the Long Weekend

After a long weekend of reflection and scribbling the most profoundly obscure, yet thoroughly sagacious baseball insights into our Moleskin notebook, we scanned the pages, ran them through optical character recognition software, and six hours later, we gave up. (Our teachers were right: We really do have atrocious handwriting.)

Instead of those momentous thoughts, we offer the vague whims that came to us just now. Enjoy.

The Ongoing Epic History of Brett Lawrie
We live in an age where baseball is increasingly appreciated through the analysis of various and sundry points of data. (Which is totally fine. We get that thing. We don't judge. Some of our best friends are stat heads.)

But in the midst of all that poring over columns of numbers and arguing as to the validity of the your numbers over ours and fretting over which version of the stat you're about to quote is the one that is de rigeur this week...well, there's something refreshing about sitting back and viscerally appreciating the sight of Brett Lawrie playing baseball.

It's not just that Lawrie plays with intensity (which he does), or seems to legitimately love what he's doing. It's not the dirt on his jersey or the blood on his pants, or his somewhat local provenance. The thing that's so awe inspiring about Lawrie is the simple fact that he plays the game well. Extraordinarily well.

There are things that he does on the diamond or at the plate which are just so impressive to watch that it legitimately reminds you of why you like the game in the first place. For instance: Seeing the 21 year-old let pitches that break just out of the zone float by without a flinch leaves us astonished. These are pitches that entice swings out of successful veterans with a decade of experience under their belt, but because someone in the Jays front office told Lawrie at some point to be more selective, he just figured it out and did it. This is to say nothing of his defence, which seemed shakey when he first arrived in Toronto. But a bit of presumably well-received instruction, and now we're reaching for superlatives and to remember who has ever patrolled the hot corner for the Blue Jays as skillfully as he has.

It takes effort to turn down the noise of the chatter about value and free agents and September callups and men in white and next year's rotation and compensatory picks and, well...all of it. We're grateful that Brett Lawrie has shown up to occasionally wow us with the game he's crafted for himself. It makes us feel 21 again.

Red Sox Pitching Torture
Between Josh Beckett's interminable dull-eyed stare into the catcher's groin and the infuriatingly protracted time that Jonathan Papelbon takes to throw the ball, we're amazed that anyone can even pretend to enjoy watching the Red Sox.

Sure, we get that there's an abiding affection for the team that's held by New Englanders or some of you kids out in the Maritimes. But you can't tell us that you enjoy watching the games. It's just such an onerous demand on your patience to sit and watch Papelbon take 24 minutes to throw 27 pitches. Who has that sort of time all summer long?

A four-hour game that ends with a single run being scored just baffles us, and should frankly be more of a concern to the MLB's brain trust. There are rules in place to guard against these sorts of excesses, and the league shouldn't be waiting until sometime after a Red Sox/Yankees ALCS where every game lasts well beyond 1 a.m. to do something about it. It's contrary to the best interests of the game.

As we joked on Twitter: Whichever player decides to charge the mound in the middle of one of Papelbon's endless ponderings will instantly become national hero.

(Apparently, we weren't alone in our antipathy, as NESN Red Sox analyst Dennis Eckersley called the display "sickening to watch" according to a tweet from ESPN Boston's Gordon Edes.)

Lind Provides Bitter Relief
The end of that endless 10th inning came on three wild and ugly swings from Adam Lind. The strikeout only served to further our opinion that he should slide down (way down) the Jays lineup soon for the good of the team. The Jays may not be "playing for something" at this point, but that doesn't mean that they should continue to undermine their offence by waiting for the ghost of a chance that Lind's 2009 form will return.

After returning from a back injury in June, Lind put up two solid weeks of walloping the Royals, Orioles and Reds. But from his OPS apex of 1.019 at the start of play on June 18th, his performance has plummeted, with his OPS sitting at .745 through September 3rd. In the intervening time, Lind has put up a .199 batting average to go with a .241 on base and .322 slugging. He's struck out 57 times in those 287 plate appearances, while drawing just 14 walks.

Perhaps most shocking of all is that Lind hit just six doubles in that time, which is one fewer than the number of times he's hit into a double play. Over the full course of the season, he's hit 24 homers, but that number only serves to obscure just what a feeble offensive season this has been for Lind, given that he's managed barely half as many doubles (13). (In case you're wondering, Lyle Overbay has 18 doubles through his horrible season with Pittsburgh and Arizona.)

It could be that the back troubles that landed Lind on the DL in the first place have nagged at him all year long, and perhaps when he is healthy and rested at the beginning of next Spring, he'll rebound nicely. If there is some injury that is impeding him from playing the game to his fullest, the Jays might be willing to show some patience and see him through part of the remaining three years on his contract. What they should not do is continue to subvert the achievements of the others in the lineup but waiting for those tarnished skills to suddenly reappear this season. It isn't happening.

Three Happy Thoughts!
So that your pallet isn't offended with the acidity of any of the observations above, we leave you with three happier notions to brighten your day:

1) Henderson Alvarez faced the most fearsome offensive lineup in baseball and walked away unscathed. Moreover, the hard sink and movement on his pitches left some pretty impressive hitters looking like statues cast to convey befuddled apprehension.

2) Five of the Blue Jays' minor league affiliates made the postseason this year. Vince Lombardi said that "winning is a habit". It's nice to think that some future Jays are developing that habit early on in their careers.

3) Dustin McGowan is back, and he brought his lambchops with him. It's nice to see him, and we look forward to seeing him pitch again.

Full Tilt Lawrie

It was just about the time that we managed to get our heart rate down to normal after a day of angrily watching the fall out from the most dubious of dubious non-stories.

And then, with the bases loaded, Brett Lawrie - FULL TILT! GORDIE DOUGIE! - steps to the plate and we're thinking: "If this dude hits a home run right here and right now, with everything that's going on...he's going to be a legend. This would be huge." And then...well, you all know what happened:

A towering shot that hung in the air just long enough to build anticipation to monumental levels, then landed just the other side of the wall.

Lawrie fist pump.

Crowd roars.

Lawrie nearly laps Aaron Hill on the basepaths.

Twitter feed blows up.

Lawrie nearly takes Brian Butterfield's hand off as he rounds third. (Shadows of things to come.)

Home plate high-fives-to-chest-bumps, and exaltations to fudge (FUDGE YEAH!).

Then, the most energetic dugout high-five line in Jays history.

Hard high fives are doled out from Lawrie towards anyone who dares congratulate him.

Grown men - athletes! - flinch and stagger back at the force of the celebratory exchange.

Helmet boogie.

"Woo! Woo! Woo!"

Spike the helmet.

Helmet hits Edwin Encarnacion in the chest.

Chest bump for Edwin Encarnacion, to make sure his chest is still okay.

Mad pacing through the dugout.

Teammates falling over laughing at the lunacy of the moment.

More pacing.

Swig of Powerade.

Powerade goes down the wrong hole.

Cough out Powerade.

Curtain call.

Scene.

If we'd known that he'd be this fun to watch, we might have shoulder to shoulder with those of you asking when he was going to get the call months ago. And seriously: When was the last time that being a Jays fan was THIS MUCH FUN?

Two Thoughts Brett Lawrie, and a Spare Thought for Henderson Alvarez

1. Brett Lawrie Looks Like He Belongs
We just stopped ourself here. We were going to talk about the apprehensions that some may have had about calling the kid from New Whereeverthehell, B.C., to the big leagues, when it came to us that we couldn't think of anyone (well, Dustin Parkes aside) who had any hesitation about bringing the lad up. So, never mind, really. Just to say that Lawrie looks as though he fits in, and doesn't seem trepidatious at all to be at this level.

2. Brett Lawrie Doesn't Look Like a Third Baseman
You know how people have said for years that Travis Snider looks like a fullback? Well, Brett Lawrie looks like a strong safety: Jacked up and ripped and wound tight. And that all seems to work fine when it comes to unleashing that sheer physicality in a swing or getting out of the box.

But playing the field (especially the infield) requires a level of relaxation, and the ability to remain physically loose. We're not sure that Lawrie has it in him to be either of those things (which is what y'all seem to love about him anyhow, so don't get upset.) When watching Lawrie transition from fielding a ball to throwing it, you can visually see the effort that he requires in order to quiet himself and get the ball across the diamond without throwing it into the second deck.

And here's the thing about Lawrie's impending fielding struggles: Fans are going to have all sorts of patience with these sorts of errors, because it will look like HE'S TRYING SO DAMN HARD TO MAKE THE PLAY. But an E5 is an E5, no matter how it comes to be.

3. Henderson Alvarez Is Finally Here
Okay, so maybe there are more people expressing their concern that the young Venezuelan hurler has made it to the big leagues before he's ready. But as for us: This is a long time coming. We remember the first time that we saw the strikeout-to-walk ratio that Alvarez posted in Low-A Lansing in 2009 - which finished at 92/19, but was even more brilliant early in the season - and we pondered how long we might have to wait to see that arm in the big leagues. We figured the end of 2012 would be the earliest that the occasion would come along. Now that it appears that he'll get his first kick at the rubber this week, we couldn't be more thrilled.

We're not entirely sure that this means that Alvarez will stick, though given the choice between sending him to Las Vegas next year to refine his game or bringing him directly to Toronto, we'd choose the latter. (Which speaks to the pressing need to get the hell out of the PCL, but that's another post for another day.)

Weekend update/scattered thoughts

I'm here there and everywhere this weekend, with minimal levels of attention span or time to commit to anything proper & decent....

Wait, the kid is Canadian? Whaaaat?
I could have sworn I heard the broadcast crew inform us that Brett Lawrie was Canadian.... but that can't be right. Can it? Why haven't I heard that before?

OK, OK. But seriously now. I'm going to be completely honest with you when I tell you that my excitement for the beginning of the Brett Lawrie era has absolutely nothing to do with his passport. I suppose for the casual fan, it's a nice background story and perhaps a reason to watch his debut and maybe follow the boxscores for a few weeks.

But if you're reading this, it's probably safe to assume you don't fit the "casual fan" label anymore than I do. Can I tell you what I love about Brett Lawrie in a Blue Jays uniform?

(preparing to be crucified in 3, 2, .......)

I love the fact that he plays hard. That's right. I said it. I just threw down the dreaded Reed Johnson defence. I, The Ack, enjoy watching guys play who steamroll down the baselines and don't much care what anyone else thinks of them if they happen to get a touch abrasive.

I mean, think about it. Why do we hate Pedroia so? Is it because he's mild mannered and respectful on the diamond? Of course not. It's because he plays the game with an edge.

Of course, there's an addendum to all of the nonsense above. All the hustle & heart (tm) in the world means nothing if the kid can't play. And it does indeed appear that Brett Lawrie can play a little baseball.

The Brett Lawrie era has begun. Long live Brett Lawrie.

.... but what of Lunchbox?
Jeff Blair makes me sad.

I don't need to read that, Jeff. I really don't.

A few quick "explanatory" comments in relation to my twitter feed....

i. I tweeted that in my opinion, I felt like the (mis)handling of Travis Snider has been the one big misstep so far by Alex Anthopoulos. Perhaps that was a little harsh (but c'mon man.... it was an emotional time), and I will be among the first to tell you that Snider looked lost in the batters box, fooled repeatedly by breaking balls and not squaring up fastballs. And maybe you've heard.... like no walks. Ever.

But the sudden about face - "we're at a point where roster decisions are based on performance" - seems both hypocritical and disingenuous. It wasn't but a few weeks ago that the front office boldly proclaimed that "they had to find out what they had in Snider" and he'd be given the rest of the season to show it. I can imagine Snider's confidence is borderline shattered knowing that he was given so little time to prove his Blue Jay mettle.

Where he goes from here.... I really don't know.

ii. I made reference to my disdain for the "cheering for laundry" analogy. Am I the only one who feels badly for Snider? Or do we all just live in a "HE MAKES MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO PLAY A GAME AND IF HE CAN'T CUT IT, TOO BAD" world. Because that world sucks and you're rending your organ donor card useless, because clearly you have no heart. You are heartless. Without heart.

(yeah, I seem to have an emotional investment in Young Travis - so what?!)

Is it time to go internal with the closer?
Developmentally, I mean.

Look, I know that the best relievers are made from failed starters, and every effort must be exhausted in developing starting pitchers before shuttling them off to the 'pen.

But given the depth of the minor league system - specifically with pitching - doesn't it make a little sense to convert an Asher Wojciechowski or a Chad Jenkins (just examples for arguments sake) to the late innings now?

Because God help me, I can't take another season of the Jon Rauch Experience at the back end of the bullpen, nor can I stomach another BJ Ryan adventure (contract-wise) if that's the alternative. This "Plan B" strategy has been tough to watch here in 2011.

Then again, it did net us Colby Rasmus. So there's that.

A One-Sentence Post on...Impatience Rewarded

Funny about all of the reports that came out in the past 24 hours talking about "FINALLY!" and "AT LONG LAST!" and "THE WAIT IS OVER!" for the ascension of Brett Lawrie into the Major Leagues, when we're thinking "21 year-olds don't make it to this level in general, and Gordie Dougie's had less than a full season at Triple-A, and less than a full season in this system, so we've barely come to know this guy or what he might be able to do outside of the low gravity environs of the PCL, and there's nothing about this that makes us feel as though it was an exhaustive wait, but maybe we're not nearly impatient enough to really get what's going on...Gordie Dougie Gordie Dougie Gordie Dougie Gordie Dougie Gordie Dougie Gordie Dougie Gordie Dougie!"

High Five! Tiny Morsels for Your Friday

If brevity be the soul of wit, then blog on, bloggerman!

1) Jo-Jo Reyes is your number two starter: Okay, that's a stretch, but amongst the regular starters, his ERA+ ranks only behind Ricky Romero. (And Carlos Villaneuva, whose awesomeness probably deserves its own bullet point.) Our point here is not to hype Jo-Jo into something that he's not (which was our pre-season mistake), but merely to underscore that a guy who was about to be run out of town two weeks ago ("useless", "waste of a roster spot") is now a guy who the team will depend upon to give them quality innings for the next few months. Beacuse...

2) Kyle Drabek is wild man! WILD!: Drabek has walked more batters than he's struck out (45 to 43). Yikes. And if you want to double down on your worries, listen to Keith Law on the June 2nd edition of the Baseball Today podcast, wherein he wonders if this sort of lack of command indicates some form of injury. (Our two cents is that we think Drabek might have been able to get Double-A hitters to swing at hard stuff out of the zone more so than big leaguers. That's what passes for positivism around here.) Also, KLaw quite rightly questions John Farrell's handling of Drabek in that inning by not letting him extricate himself from the mess he'd made, given that it's part of the learning process.

Does Drabek's recent struggles mean he should go back to the minors and put in some time against Triple-A pitchers? It might work out well, considering...

3) Brett Cecil's wife thinks Brett Cecil is ready for promotion: We tend not to monitor the Twitter accounts of Jays' wives and girly-girls, because we're already creepy enough. But we couldn't help but notice the retweets of Jennifer Cecil's timeline from last night, as her fella tossed a complete game, six-hitter as the Las Vegas 51's won 4-1. The one run was on a homer which Mrs. Cecil assures us would have been a double in Toronto, and she noted that he was touching 94 MPH and regularly hitting 91. Take that as you will. Perhaps if Cecil were to be recalled, he could share a cab with...

4) Gordie Dougie!: For all of the pissing and moaning we've done in pushing back on the many fans who were calling for his immediate integration into the MLB roster, we'll confess to being as excited as any of you now that the recall is imminent. The power-speed-contact-discipline numbers that we've seen from Lawrie in the past month are enough to make even us, Your Scolding Auntie, trip over our knickers in anticipation. And won't he look splendid lining up next to...

5) AL All-Star Shortstop Yunel Escobar!: Actually, June-Yell is going to be in tough when it comes to making an appearance in this year's game, given the extraordinary seasons of other AL shortstops. Even with the pretty nice start that Escobar has put up, he's still in a three-way tie for fourth amongst AL SS's in fWAR. (Though Erick Aybar's and Elvis Andrus' 1.7 fWARs are fuelled mostly by stolen bases, and we suppose that you could start to pick apart what value should be placed on SBs if you were so inclined. We'll say that we LIKE the fact that Yunel has only one stolen base this year. So there. SMALL BALL SUCKS!)

All this to say (wtf happened to all the brevity we promised), if you want Yunel to make the All-Star roster ahead of The Shell of Derek Jeter, Alexei Ramirez or Asdrubal Cabrerra, you might have to buckle down and find the time to get your 25 votes in for our boy in the middle infield.

And don't go to sleep on José Bautista either! You remember how that hot girl on American Idol got voted off because no one thought she needed their votes, and then the creepy country kid with the head tilting won? Don't let that happen to the One Man Gang!

Have a great weekend!

10 Reasons Gordie Dougie is More Canadian Than Canada Itself

On the occasion of his glorious summoning to the Blue Jays, we offer a brief rundown of all the many ways that Gordie Dougie is the most Canadian of all Canadians, and thereby the greatest baseball player of all time.

1. Doesn't use pine tar. Applies maple syrup to his bat.

2. He maintains a Tim Horton's double-double level of 0.13 in his blood stream at all times.

3. When he was young, his mother sent a letter to Monsieur Eaton, asking him to send a Blue Jays sweater for young Brett. But Monsieur Eaton sent a jersey with the abominable "NY" of the Yankees instead. Brett was ostracized by his friends, who all wore Blue Jays sweaters with number 9 on the back. They were 9 John Oleruds playing against 9 other John Oleruds. When Brett broke his bat because he was not allowed to play in his Yankees sweater, the "curée" told him to go home and pray to God because of what he had done. And when he went home, young Brett prayed for a thousand moths to come eat his Yankees sweater.

4. When he hits a home run, he calls it "going top shelf".

5. Has tattoos of Tommy Douglas on one arm, Peter Gzowski on the other.

6. Thinks Margaret Atwood gets unfairly overlooked by the Giller Prize, and wonders why there was so little fuss about The Year of the Flood.

7. After every take out slide, pops up and apologizes to the middle infielder.

8. Still refers to the tractor that drags the infield before games as "the Zamboni".

9. Knows all the lyrics to the theme song from "The Littlest Hobo".

10. Rather than consulting with team doctors, he makes appointments to see a specialist in Canada and waits for several months to get in to see them.

(And feel free to add your own in the comments!)

This Here's the Tale of Gordie Dougie Baseball Canada Stud

It's funny to think that is this day and age, legends can be built on little more than boxscores, unrestrained optimism, patriotic fervour and an overwhelming disdain for the status quo. But then, the fact that most of us have very little visual evidence to assess the progress of Brett Lawrie probably helps to add inches and feet to his legend.

It's been at once the most tiring and most tiresome meme of this year's Blue Jays season that the remedy for virtually any deficiency at the plate or in the field is the recall of the "hometown boy" (from 4300 KM away). Edwin Encarnacion bobbled a ball in the first game of the season, and people in our section (231, in case you're wondering if this was you) were calling for the immediate release of "E5" and the ascension of Gordie Dougie, the most scrappinest, Canadianest baseballer ever. Juan Rivera's woes? Release him for Gordie Dougie! Travis Snider's swing is effed up? Summon forth Gordie Dougie!

"I bet you he likes Don Cherry! Knows hockey! Orders double-doubles! Hates Quebec! Drinks strong beer! Says sorry a lot! Plays through injuries! Fights to defend the honour of his teammates! Has a pocketful of loonies at ALL TIMES! Plays euchre! And is really really polite!"

We're not entirely sure why it bugs us so much that there is a thick layer of sickly sweet maple syrupy exuberance for Lawrie. It could be that there is a certain provincial attitude around it that we find off-putting. We're reasonably certain, for instance, that were he from Venezuela, there wouldn't be the fans with marginal other interest in Jays prospects calling for his immediate recall every time Edwin Encarnacion tosses a ball up the line. (As evidence, we'd mention the ongoing discussions around Canadian Adam Loewen, or the popularity of the Jays' move to keep Scott Richmond on the 40-man roster.)

(And none of this is to say that there isn't a compelling reason for considering Lawrie's call up and getting excited about it, because he's hitting the snot out of the ball...albeit in the PCL, where the air is waifishly thin and where breaking balls don't break. Still, as he piles up stats, it's only been recently that he's closed the gap between strikeouts and walks, and we suspect that his willingness to get the bat off his shoulder will be greeted with great enthusiasm by opposing pitchers.)

We don't want to come off as anti-Canadian here, because we're just a pleased as punch to live in this country. But as a baseball fan, we're mostly agnostic to a player's provenance, if only because we've seen time and again how Canadian players get built into something their not when they arrive in Toronto, then slip away in the end, unwept. (Sorry, Corey Koskie.)

But here's the point of the post (and didn't it take us long enough to get here?): We're just about at the point where we're ready to concede that it might be time to give Gordie Dougie a shot.

Edwin Encarnacion has (as we've repeated a few times) regressed in almost every facet of his game this season. His defense is worse (which is hard to fathom), his power is non-existent, and in recent weeks, he's stopped even hitting the ball hard for outs. His plate discipline is in the tank, and he's hacking out of his cleats at just about everything with seams thrown near him. The 30 homer player that we imagined in the offseason? That's not who Edwin is anymore.

And while we're loathe to start the clock on him, it just strikes us at this point that Gordie Dougie could provide the Jays with more production and a decent glove at third over the final four months of the season. We'd peg him to post a .320ish OBP, .430ish SLG, about a dozen errors and maybe 10 homers over the remainder of the season.

Given the rather grim alternatives, we're not going to fight the Lawrie love too much longer.

Thoughts on moving pictures

It's a hell of a concept, these motion pictures. Watching a game of baseball on the TV, and suddenly, you're filled with whims and notions and some things that might even approach the territory where they could be called "ideas". Amazing.

As such, a few of those things that popped up following this weekend's game.

Brett Lawrie is Brad Fullmer: Okay, we'll say not really, if only to head of the heaps of scorn that we'd get in the comments for such a remark.

Nevertheless, Lawrie's big, broad upper-body, his batting stance (deep crouch, hands high and bat active), and even his angular features bring to mind the Jays' former DH. And while some would write off Fullmer's performance because of the brevity of his career and his time in Toronto, his 2000 season (32 HRs, 104 RBI, .898 OPS) was amongst the best ever single seasons in the team's history. So don't be giving him no guff.

The chief difference between the two is the glove (though it's probably worth noting that Fullmer might have had the chance to be a passable fielder if he weren't blocked by Carlos Delgado.) Lawrie has looked very much up to the task thus far at third, with good hands and a very strong and accurate arm. We could even envision him being discussed as a Gold Glove candidate at some point down the road. (For whatever that's worth.)

And before we ignite another Lawrie controversy: We still think he should start the season in Las Vegas. The Jays have other outfield options, so there is not the great necessity of moving JoBau to right and bringing Lawrie up immediately to play third. Let Lawrie go get his reps in at AAA, and see a lot more balls at third, and if sometime later this season the Jays feel incapable of keeping him down, then call him up.

Talking OPS: It's probably a sign of how slow the older media are to change when the notion of OPS on a broadcast becomes a novelty. But yesterday, Sportsnet posted the AL leaders in OPS last year to underscore José Bautista's 2010 excellence. And while Pat Tabler was extolling its virtue as a stat that better elucidates a player's worth (which it does! Yay Tabby!), he started tiptoeing dangerously close to some strange "walks clog bases" notions in his discussion.

Baby steps, to be sure. Though we noticed that the stat line in the Sportsnet broadcast later in the game included 2010 OPS numbers, which is a splendid addition to the production mix.

JoBau Bombs: Yes, the Rays very astutely tossed a bunch of random cannon fodder (best selling authors included) out against their divisional rivals, so it's hard to gauge that much from the shit-kicking that the offense laid on those marginal arms. But the swing that José Bautista put on Cory Wade's pitch was a thing of beauty.

And while Wade isn't exactly the Rolaids Relief Award frontrunner (and did you know they still hand that award out?), JoBau's ability to identify the pitch and time his step into it makes us feel much better about the prospects of another productive season.

2010 was no fluke. Go tell that.

Pitch session: We were impressed with each of the initial three pitchers, as Brandon Morrow looked as though he is ramping up, Marc Rzepczynski looked like a major league pitcher, and Carlos Villaneuva looked good enough to get relief innings (though wild enough not to get high leverage innings.)

As for Casey Janssen: He looks like such an unbridled ball of anxiety every time he's on the mound. We still love the look of his delivery, and his performance last year probably merits him a spot in this year's bullpen. But with the heap of humanity available to pitch in relief this year for the Jays, that spot is for Casey is no given.

Infuriatingly Yunel: We're in for a long season with young Mr. Escobar. Early in the game, he rushed a throw and hurled a ball into the camera bay even though he had more than enough time. On the other hand, he hit the ball hard yesterday, and drove in runs. Even still: That swing of his looks like an off-balance lurch towards the pitch, which makes us worry about how repeatable those successes might be.

And even with all the negatives, we're vaguely optimistic about Yunel's 2011. Which is why we'll inevitably end up pulling our hair out by season's end. Should be fun.

The Tao's Sports Book - Brett Lawrie Twitter Follower Edition

Apparently goaded on by teammates (who likely told of the incomparable thrill of sharing your meat-gorging speed records with thousands of followers), Brett Lawrie has joined Twitter. (Said carnivore told us so.)

Now, just the other day, we took note of our own Twitter account, and for someone who is little more than a nerdy simpleton shouting inanities into the ether, we're kinda impressed that we've amassed 1,640 followers in a year or more (Update: Turns out, 752 days on Twitter. Really? Holy shit.) that we've been here. We even get a certain thrill when someone who we respect suddenly takes it upon themselves to put up with our kvetching over the Sens and R.E.M.'s legacy and our feelings of inferiority to Ghostrunner's Drew. (Same guy! Only he's better! Humblebrag!)

Getting to the point, because time is of the essence: We're reasonably sure that young Mr. Lawrie will surpass our follower count within hours of signing up, and so we're proposing a handful of easily manipulated prop bets surrounding that momentous occasion.

Prop Bet #1 - Over/Under on time @blawrie13 passes my follower count. Current line is 2:15pm today.

Prop Bet #2 - Number of tweets Lawrie has posted when he passes me - Over/Under is 2.5 tweets. (UPDATE! 12:42, Lawrie posts his third tweet. Approach the cashier gingerly. We may be busting the house here.)

Prop Bet #3 - Will @blawrie13 have an actual profie pic or still the egg when he passes my follower count? (UPDATE! 12:42, He now has a profile pic. Looks like it was grabbed from a TV.)

Prop Bet #4 - Number of people Lawrie follows when he passes me. Over/Under is 8.5.

Put down your money (or make believe money, or gummy bears, what have you) in the comments.

UPDATE 12:51 pm - Lawrie's sitting at 1205 followers, four tweets, following five, one shiny profile pic.

UPDATE 2:09 pm - Lawrie's sitting at 1513 followers, still four tweets, still following five, still has a profile pic (What happens if he reverts back to the egg? Scandal!)

Update At the bell of 2:16 - DING DING DING! - Alas, young Mr. Lawrie falls short. Couple of props to be settled yet, but I'm pretty much as bored with this tomfoolery as you are.

Good night, and good luck.