For the second part of my Blue Jays season review, I want to try something different. I am going to talk about some of the good and bad things that have happened to this team in the first half of their season. But like in life, we need balance, so I’ll go back and forth giving a yang to each yin. I hope you enjoy…
The Good – Jose Bautista’s wrist injury seems to be a thing of the past. He has 20 homeruns this season with 55 RBIs, 85 hits, 61 runs and a .254 average. Although his average this season is, well, average, Bautista is hitting the long ball-like the player of old and could flirt with hitting 40+ homers for the third time in his career. Being a starter in the All-Star game this year represents that he is still a very good player.
The Bad – The Blue Jays injuries have once again destroyed many of their pitchers and players. The DL has hosted names like Brett Lawrie, Josh Johnson, Brendan Morrow and Melky Cabrera. The Jays had two horrific injuries, first with J.A. Happs’ injury where he fractured his skull in a game against the Rays, and second was Ramon Ortiz who has had a right elbow strain, but because of his age and the fact he has had surgery on his arm, he may never pitch an MLB game again.
The Good – Munenori Kawasaki has become a fan favorite in Toronto, and although he is not the most intimidating hitter, he has been clutch and helped the Jays win a few games and while capturing the fans’ hearts along the way. I said it earlier in the season that he is like ex-Jay John McDonald who was very popular in the time he played for the Jays. Hopefully the Toronto management will use their brains and sign Kawasaki to a contract that has a few years on it.
The Bad – The Blue Jays reassigning Kawasaki to the minors twice this season. Yes, I realize that the roster is full and the management refuses to mess with their bullpen, but Kawasaki is not only the fan favorite in Toronto, but he was a great person to have on the team. Kawasaki has shown that you do not need to know perfect English to have a positive effect on a team. Hopefully, he will be back before September.
The Good – Winning the Canada Day game 8-3 over the Detroit Tigers. Yes it is just one game, but it was Canada’s National holiday and even though it was a team with Americans, Dominicans and other players with non-Canadian nationalities they still left a crowd and a country very proud of their team with the win – and of course the Red uniforms looked amazing.
The Bad – The Blue Jays players like JP Arencibia, Brett Lawrie, Jose Bautista amongst others blowing up when the umpire makes a call that they do not like. It is severely stupid, the constant arguing these players have done with the umpires. It looks childish and arrogant arguing constantly about balls and strikes with the umpires. Not only that it could damage these players’ reputation with the umpires making them easy ejection targets in the season, and you certainly do not want someone like Bautista out of the lineup. The Jays need to control these guys’ tempers, it is boring to watch these guys act like overpaid babies and sooner or later they could be leaving Toronto, including Lawrie. Yes he is Canadian, but that excuse will not last forever if he is not producing and is constantly getting thrown out. The Jays might look for another player to fill that role.
The Good – You could look at this topic as a bad thing too, but that winning streak in June was fantastic. Not only did that 11 game winning streak make fans believe playoffs could be possible, it also showed that the team built in the off-season could be a dangerous team and if not this year next year, as long as they do not blow up the team. The Jays have the power and potentially have the pitching. They have had an issue with consistency this season, but if they figure that out the rest of the season could be very interesting.
The Bad – Now I do not want to run out of possible material at the end of this baseball season, but it is time for a few things to note that many fans and I have not been fond of this season. First off I disagree entirely with Anthopolous saying he is not looking for a starting pitcher to add to the rotation, I think it is completely idiotic. This team could get a pitcher like Garza then extend him for a few years solidifying the rotation a bit more. The reason why I think that a pitcher should be traded for (and I mean a decent one) is 1: we do not know if Josh Johnson will resign with this team (although I really hope they do, he has had a tough season, but he is a good pitcher) and 2: Esmil Rogers was supposed to be a reliever not a starter and although he has had a few good games but it will not last forever. AA needs to wake up and realize that adding more quality pitchers does not hurt.
To continue with management, the Jays want more pitchers for now and the future. Well, why on earth did they not sign their first round pick Phil Bickford? The Jays are the only team to not sign their first round picks and they have a lot of us scratching our heads wondering why he was not signed.
Last, but not least bringing John Gibbons back to coach the team in my mind was and still is a terrible idea. This was supposed to be a new team part of a post JP Ricardi era meaning out with the old and in with the new. Anthopolous seemed to forget that and signed his good friend John Gibbons. His only head-coaching experience in the big leagues is with Toronto and he did not do a great job the last time either. The best move as a GM is to sign the best guy available and there is no way I will ever believe he was the best available at all. I really do not care if the media likes him and that he is easy to talk to, I rather a jerk coach who the media hates that is producing a winning team not a losing team. If the Jays turn it around and make the playoffs while Gibbons is coaching I will take everything I said back, but for now I think it was a terrible move on the Jays part.
The Good – The Jays have fantastic bullpen and it shows with two players from that pen making it to the All-Star game – Brett Cecil and Steve Delabar. Those two bring show that relief pitchers are very important to any team and can be All-Stars. Congrats guys, you deserve it! Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion will also represent the Jays at the game.
I want to end on a good note as we watch the All-Star game and homerun derby, but this has been a hard season. When everyone believes there is a good team and it ihas been given large expectations and they do not deliver it is hard to let go. For now we have “half” of a season left where the Jays could possibly make some noise. Fearless prediction: I think the Jays will have a great month of August where they will get back into the hunt. If they do not then all that AA needs to do is tinker with the team, not blow it up. Let’s wait and see what the rest of the season has to offer, hopefully it will contain some good baseball and excitement for the rest of the summer.
Enjoy your All-Star break everyone!
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