The consistent mediocrity
of the Toronto Blue Jays is a wonder to behold. We know that Tampa Bay
and Baltimore, enjoying a brief surge right now, are going to fall back and
end up fifth and sixth. And we know that the Red Sox will dominate the
division, and the Yankees are vulnerable. Doesn't seem to matter:
almost every year since their World Series Championship in 1993, the Blue
Jays must just enough talent to finish 3rd. Given the annual
disappointment with this team, I'm ready to start wishing they would finish
last so they could purge themselves of this steady succession of over-rated,
underperforming hitters and rebuild.
I had thought this year
might be different. They have a lot of young, strong pitching arms, a
very good bullpen, and what looked like a reasonably productive offense.
But over the last 10 games, the Blue Jays get few men on base and then
consistently fail to advance them. Their starting pitching is fine,
typically going five or six competitive innings. Then it's almost as
if the failure of the offense to take advantage and produce runs begins to
eat away at the pitching staff and their defense collapses.
The two biggest problems
were the DH and first base-- the two most important positions to the
offense, and the only positions in which power numbers obviate the need for
any particular defensive skills or speed. Those two positions,
occupied by Frank Thomas and Lyle Overbay (until Thomas was released last
week), produce virtually nothing for the Blue Jays. If your
outfielders and catcher aren't producing-- and, for the Blue Jays, they
aren't-- then your DH and your first base should occasionally carry the
offense. They didn't last year, until Frank Thomas got hot-- too
late-- in August (and even then, Overbay continued to struggle), and they're
not doing it this year. Rios showed promise early last year, but his
power numbers dropped off significantly, and Wells has been a disappointment
since receiving a fat long-term contract. Stairs, who occasionally
subs in left field, has probably been their best hitter for the past two
years and the good news, I hope, is that he won't be forced to share as much
playing time with Frank Thomas any more. Shannon Stewart won't help
the offense much, but his weak arm in left field is certainly going to hurt
the defense.
I'm not a fan of David
Eckstein, but it has to be admitted-- and this is gruesome-- that he has
actually been their offensive sparkplug the last week. So how do you
know when your offense is in deep trouble? When David Eckstein is your
offensive "sparkplug". Personally, I'd still rather see John McDonald
out there every day, and I'll bet most of the pitching staff would as well.
For the record, Eckstein is only batting .245 right now with, of course, no
power numbers to speak of. He tends to weasel his way on base, and he
steals occasionally, but the steal is over-rated as an offensive tool, just
as the double is under-rated.
The Blue Jays get very
little power from their catchers, but then, unless you're the Yankees with
Jorge Posada, nobody else does either. Still, it would be helpful if
your catcher would drive just a few runs in now and then.
It sounds odd but, given
all the observable deficiencies in the Blue Jays offense, I still have
trouble seeing why they are so bad lately. Roy Halliday started a game
in the Skydome against Texas in which he appeared to be dominant. For
five or six innings, he held them off the score sheets. The Blue Jays
were facing a mediocre pitcher, Vicente Padilla (WHIP 1.69, batting average
against of over .300), but except for the occasional single or walk,
couldn't muster the slightest offense against him. You had Thomas,
Wells, Rios, Overbay, Hill, Stewart, all parading through the batter's box
to absolutely no discernable effect. Eckstein got on base a few
times-- and stayed put.
The Blue Jays, even if they
are playing well, are going to have games like this occasionally, in which
they simply, inexplicably struggle. Even very good teams will have the
odd off night against a weak pitcher. But the Blue Jays do this game
in and game out for ten, twelve games in a row. It's baffling. I
resist cheap, abstract generalizations like "they lost their focus" or they
don't have enough "passion", but if I ever saw a team on the field that no
longer cared about results, it was the Blue Jays in the 8th inning on Friday
night against Kansas, in which they gave up six runs and the lead after two
misplayed balls and a moment of pure indifference (see sidebar). If I
had been John Gibbons, I think I might have taken Wells out of the game for
an inning, just to send a message. That might have been a mistake--
but it would have been very tempting. Do we not have some hungry young
players at Triple-AAA who would love a shot at the big leagues and who might
actually get angry at themselves for making a stupid mistake, or for failing
to drive in an important run?
The truth is that J.P.
Ricciardi is probably quite right when he blames himself for the poor
offensive production lately. That is, he chooses the players: the
players he chose are not doing the job. We love to think a great
inspirational club-house speech can rally a team to perform better than they
would otherwise, but the truth is that no amount of emotional energy can
summon talent where it does not exist. The truth is that the players
on the field, Wells, Overbay, Rios, Zaun, Stewart, Hill-- may just not be
all that good. We hear coy allusions to injuries that some of these
players "played through" last year, and the year before, and the year before
that, as if these players had some kind of admirable sense of self-sacrifice
which allowed the team to benefit from their mediocre performances even
while they were injured-- enough already. If you can't play because
you're hurt, say so, and get off the field, and the team can at least face
the facts and commit to an alternative plan.
If I were Blue Jays management right now, I might do
nothing because Rogers Communications, which owns the team, won't give me
any more money. If there was money, I'd go shopping for a new catcher
and first base. Listen-- would the Yankees take Vernon Wells and
Jeremy Accardo for Jorge Posada?
Copyright © 2008 Bill Van Dyk All rights
reserved.
