Spring Training Stats.... Do They Matter?

A few weeks ago I was at the ACC watching the Leafs lose to the New York Islanders 5-2. The Leafs had an early 2-1 lead, but four straight goals by the visiting Islanders was more than enough to hand the  once playoff-bound Leafs their 8th straight home loss and send many of their heart-aching fans into various (often drunken) outbursts of "Let's Go Blue Jays!" Whether or not these fans were simply mad at their beloved Leafs continuing downward spiral towards last place in the Eastern Conference or they are actually aware of the Blue Jays' seemingly imminent rise to the spotlight in the world of Toronto sports, it does not matter. Both in Toronto and just about everywhere else in the major leagues the Jays are making a name for themselves
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Although everyone in the history of baseball will say that spring training does not matter, it is still nice to have a winning attitude in an organization. The Blue Jays have the best record in the Majors at 23-7-1 (the 1 is a tie and that pretty much sums up how teams really don't care about the actual outcome of the games.) What does matter however, is the incredible outings that the Jays are getting from their starting rotation and projected opening day bullpen players.

Last year the Jays scored the 6th most runs in the whole major leagues so the fact that we are leading the Majors in runs scored in the spring is just ensuring fans and management that we really don't have to worry about the offence. What is much more impressive and the reason why every fan who has followed spring training cannot wait for this Thursday's season opener is the fact that the jays have given up only 104 runs, good for 2nd best in the majors. The Jays have played 31 games and the only two teams ahead of them, the much improve Miami Marlins and the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals have played 6 and 8 fewer games, respectively. Yes, we are not going up against big league hitters every day and that could (and probably does) have a lot to do with this low total, but that doesn't matter. Our pitchers are hitting their spots (most of the time, other than Cecil's last outing) and they are pitching confidently.

Ricky Romero is pitching unbelievably well, having given up a grand total of 0 earned runs throughout his 4 starts and Brandon Morrow has shown that he is willing and able to become what we all know he can be, an elite pitcher in the major leagues. Jose Bautista has picked up where he left off (except for the last 40 games last season he's been the best hitter in all of baseball) and Henderson Alvarez and J.P. Aaroncibia are looking to have breakout seasons for the Jays. Great (godly if you are Brett Lawrie) springs are an easy way to boost confidence. In order to succeed for the whole season the Jays are going to have to stay healthy and some of the younger guys are really going to have to pick up some of the slack, hopefully they an do it. The Jays open up their season on Thursday against a beaten up and generally mediocre Cleveland team, hopefully they can keep up the torrid pace that they are on right now.

Until Doc comes back and leads the Jays to their first World Series since 1993,
Riley 

2011 Blue Jays Season Recap

I think someone once said that one could be “blinded by love”, now I believe that, but I know that isn’t the case when it comes to the Blue Jays’ 2011 season. No, even though they finished with 4 fewer wins than last year I have much more faith going forward than I did at the end of last year, that being said, we still have a lot of work to do. But I love the Jays so I will postpone my ripping on them for as long as I can talk about the positives. So here goes…

Let us start where our offense starts, the heart and soul of the team, Jose Bautista. We entered this season with every single analyst saying yeah, maybe he’ll hit 25, but don’t count on anything over 40 again. Oh sorry analysts (who get paid to analyze may I add, whereas I post my opinions for you out of the goodness of my heart) , and sorry fellow fantasy baseballers who told me picking him 14^th overall was a bad pick… but did Joey Bats hit 43 Home Runs this year to lead all of baseball?  Did he lead the Majors in OBP, OPS and Slugging Percentage? Walks and Intentional Walks? Doing all of this while still hitting over .300 all season long and staying in the top ten of every other major category?  Yes. He did all of this.

Now, I could dedicate whole posts to Jose Bautista and all that he means to the Jays, but many other players stepped up this year for the Jays. Ricky Romero was really the only highlight when it comes to pitching, other than Casey Janssen. Ricky was top 10 in every major category and top 5 in a few, and he has a ton of swag. Yunel Escobar is awesome, he is one of the best all-around shortstops in the Majors.

Brett Lawrie is a god. He will hit 40 home runs one day. He will be an All-Star. He will win Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers. We essentially have a young, gritty Scott Rolen and the best part is, he wants to stay in Toronto!

The Jays did have their fair share of lowlights this year, however. We should start off with our inconsistencies, we never were more than four games above 500 all season? How does this happen? Oh yeah, I forgot, our #3 starter is Henderson Alvarez. Our 7^th inning guy is... oh wait, our starter only pitched into the 5^th, so Luis Perez is just going to pitch the 5^th, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th then if he holds the lead we will hand it over the Frank Francisco, the only closer in the history of baseball who doesn’t like pressure. If the Jays have anything to do over the offseason, it is to improve the pitching. We blew 25 saves this year as a team, if we have 2 or 3 more decent relievers maybe we only blow 18 saves? Then we are in the playoff hunt come September, and maybe I wait a few weeks to write this post.

Here is what our lineup looks like for next season if Alex Anthopolos doesn't switch anything around:

Batting order:

1.       Yunel Escobar – SS

2.    .   Eric Thames – LF

3.       Jose Bautista – RF

4.        Brett Lawrie – 3B

5.       Adam Lind – 1B

6.      Edwin Encarnacion – DH

7.       Colby Rasmus – CF

8.      J.P. Aaronciba – C

9.        Kelly Johnson – 2B

Now that looks like a Batting Order that can score in the top-ten runs again next season.. but as for the pitching, here is what we are looking at.

Starters:

1.        Ricky Romero

2.        Brandon Morrow

3.        Kyle Drabek?

4.        Dustin Mcgowan?

5.        N/A

Above average relievers:

Casey Janssen, Sean Camp and Henderson Alvarez

Below average relievers:

Jon Rauch and his posse of 90MPH fastball throwing sissies

Altogether 2011 was pretty successful, but I would love to be playing in October next season. 

Until the next time the Jays win back-to-back World Series',
Riley