Skipping K.C.
TORONTO — I’m off for the next few days, handing off the Blue Jays’ beat duties to a fill-in down in Kansas City. After that lousy display of baseball in Orlando, I don’t mind having a few days off, though I am looking forward to seeing Scott Rolen finally in Toronto’s lineup.
I’ll be back on the road when the Jays head to Boston and I’ll pick up the blogging from there. I have a hunch that Adam Lind will have returned well before then, maybe even tonight in K.C. We’ll see. Anyway, I’m about to head out for dinner — just didn’t want you guys wondering where the pregame bloggage was.
One thing before I sign off, though: Someone in the last post commented with a question about my doing a live in-game Q&A last season. I’ll probably do one or two of these this year, depending on my schedule. I’ll post well in advance when I plan on doing this so you all can be sure to hop on and dish questions.
Catch you all from Beantown. Stay tuned for more…
Major League Bastian 
Garry
Griffin said: “There is a sense of urgency missing from the manager that the GM understands.” Man do I agree with that comment. That’s what I think is the biggest problem with Abner, there is “sense of urgency” to win today’s game, it’s almost like a country club.
Lets hope things change tonight and the Jays come to the ballpark to play ball.
I can’t find anywhere who was sent down and if Lind was called up.
If you read in the Toronto Sun, Rolen says that he still feels pain when he throws and hits. That’s great that he is willing to play through it, but I don’t like the idea of playing through pain. I guess we don’t have many other choices so let’s hope it works for the better and he is able to help this team win some ball games.
Freedom
If that’s the case, I just hope he doesn’t cause further damage.
Garry-I haven’t seen any move announcements yet either-hopefully we’ll get them when Jordon updates the blog. But it looks like Lind is still on Syracuse’s roster-although it could be they just haven’t updated it. I smell a deal in the works though, I wonder if JP is trying to move Barajas.
I dont think Rolens bat will help right away but his deffence and presence should help this team a lot and I hope I’m wrong about his bat.
Garry
well if he makes contact that will be an improvement over what we’ve seen the last 5 games
Garry
Lind isn’t in Syracuse’s lineup tonight, so maybe they called him up
G. I’m with you on that.
HEY BOSOX you think the royals will sweep us lol.
gsumner. I checked the Jays roster it has not been updated and Jordan is not there for the three game set with the Royals so no Blog updates,I hope Lind was called up.
well, he’s not in the starting lineup and Abner’s kept Eckstein in the leadoff position. Why not try something else.
How can we win we only have 2 left handed batters in the game DUH.
Garry,
I don’t think the Royals will sweep the Jays. Then again, I didn’t think they would get swept by the Rays, lol.
If the Jays are looking for a win, have the Red Sox hit Toronto, lol. Toronto owns Boston in Toronto.
I think Gibbons time is winding down. Will he see May ?
LBosox
I hope he doesn’t last the night, never mind the end of the month
Good to see Burnett being efficent for a change, lets hope he gets through 7.
So far Burnett is pitching a great game. But just like I expected, the offence hasn’t kicked in yet.
BURNETT is a loser and the Jays can’t hit what a mess, I was just telling my grandson that we can’t even beat a bottom feeder but than where are we.
I wonder why they didn’t call up Lind. I think thats the first game all year AJ gets through 5 with only 65 pitches.
Their pitcher threw 41 pitches in the first 2 inn. then the Jays started to swing at the first pitch and now he will go 8 or 9 inn. What a bunch of idiots.
I know how to fix the hitting problem. Since we’re only hitting .175 to .200 with RISP, don’t get any runners on base. lol They’re making this pitcher look like Cy Young. Tough to watch these guys, just lifeless, no energy, no focus, no nothing.
Someone should make sure to wake up Abner when the games over, wouldn’t want to see him sleep in the park.
HEY HEY HEY, Lyle Overbay just hit a homerun!………….Actually I don’t find that this exciting.
Are you sure Overbay hit a HR; its probably been a year since we saw him hit one of those.
See, don’t get runners on base, I told you guys that was the problem.
Knowing the Bluejays, if a runner got on base, Overbay would have probably been distracted or the pitcher would have thrown a different pitch or something and he would have never have hit that homerun.
well as i said, the solution to scoring runs for this team is don’t get any runners on bas. lol
Wow Rolen is the best.
The problem with the Jays is not just the quiet bats, the attitude on the team reflects that of the coach. John Gibbons has to much of laid back attitude. There does not seem to be a fire in his belly and the team is showing the same. There is no sense of urgency, and if something is not done soon, they might as well kiss the season good bye.
I mean getting swept by the rays, and now looks like they are going to loose the opener to KC.
If they are not worried now, when will they be. Gibbons, should have been canned at the end of the year. Hey lets face facts, new hitting coach same results. Obviously not the hitting coach.
Hey well what do you know, we got runners on base, and got some runs. Wouldn’t you know it, Rolen would be the one to hit the double and get two rbis. Now lets just hope they keep that lead. I would use Downs and Ryan for these next two innings. I also really wish we still had Jansenn.
Hey JP great move in letting Reed go, what is Shannon hitting? Not to mention in weak arm, he could not throw out my dead grandmother. Reed brought some intensity to the team. He played tough ball, he gave his heart the way he played.
306, I fully agree with you. I havn’t seen a more stupid move as that was in a really long time. There was absolutely no reason behind that. J.P was worried about his back surgery? What about all of Stewarts surgeries and injuries that he endured while he was on the twins???!!!
BJ Ryan piched last night so he wont pitch tonight,
Why is he leaving Burnett in the game this is going to cost us the game.
Well there goes the run, Downs is in but it’s probably to late anyway. Yea I forgot Ryan pitched yesterday.
Hahaha, yep there goes the tying run. I wonder what’s next? The game maby?
You wont fire me will you JP no no abner never YOU know I love you smooch but keep it down we don’t want our wives to find out.
I thought the best time to post this, is when this game is still fresh in everyone’s mind and when I’m really pissed off, because from time to time, I get push back for Abner bashing. The difference between a good manager and a bad one is 5-10 wins a year. This game was lost by Abner.
We have the very best defensive short stop in the AL, maybe all of baseball. Rolen had just done what he does so well, which is to deliver the key hit to drive in the potential winning runs. We’re up two runs in the top of the 8th, all we have do do is hold them and win. So why in hell didn’t Abner put in Macdonald, was Abner still asleep. This is the perfect spot to put him in and should be an automatic defensive change-but instead he left Eckstein in and Eckstein made an error that cost the game.
Eckstein has now had 5 errors in 23 game, projecting to 35 errors on the season, the worst in all of baseball. He’s also missed 4-5 other balls in games I’ve seen because his range is so limited-like the two he missed with Halliday pitching that cost Halliday his game. And yet, Abner keeps running him out there. What the hell is wrong with Abner. Eckstein is a defensive disaster, bench him and play Macdonald. And it’s not like his bat is so valuable, the guys hitting .249 and .231 against RH’s . That’s no better than Johnny Mac can do with some reasonable number of at bats. Why is Eckstein still in the leadoff position. Put Overbay or Hill in that spot.
Why is Abner still playing Stewart against rh pitching. Inglett is hitting .333 against rh’s, Stewart’s hitting a minsicule .171. For Christ sakes put Stairs in left field, Inglett at DH and lets play ball.
With this continual mismanagement, we deserve to loose. I won’t even bother to go into little things, Abner should be doing to try to get this very talented team gelled and playing well.
Jp, two of your deals have failed, Stewart and Eckstein, while one other has now served it’s purpose. For christ sakes, dump Abner, Stewart, Barajas and bench Eckstein. Get Lind and Diaz up here, lets go get a professional baseball manager and lets try to win.
This team can contend. Rolen gave us a glimpse of why he’s so valuable. This guy has delivered in exactly the same circumstances like he did tonight for years. He’s one of the very best clutch hitters in baseball. He will carry this team, if the other right moves are made.
A very tough luck loss for Burnett, the guy pitched his heart out for us tonight, and got nothing to show for it.
One thing to be restated which is to keep Stewart to hit against LH’s-but take the word hitting against rh’s out of his vocabulary.
306
I agree on Johnson. He was the spark plug on this team. The Cubs have put him in their lead off spot, and he’s hitting .311 with a .394 OBP. What is interesting as well is how well he’s hitting RH pitching which is .333. The Cubbies love him.
Agreed Eckstein needs to start proving he can contribute before he continues to play every game. If your not going to get offensive production out of a position why not at least have good defense especially at short stop. I didnt get a chance to watch the game, but its been a season long problem.
The loss of Johnson will not seem so significant when Lind gets here, then hopefully the jays will finally have the production out of left feild they need.
Why are we not calling up Lind, what is the reason? Is he still injured? He sat out yesterday’s game with Syracuse and the day before was used only as a pinch hitter. The guy’s got the hottest bat in AAA. Is Mike Wilner right in what the reason is, and I quote Mike Wilner:
****I was asked on the pre-pre-game show if Lind was being held down in Syracuse in order to keep him from being a “Super 2″ arbitration player, and I said I didn’t think so, since he had lots of service time already (145 days, I think), and at this point in time, I doubted it would be a factor. But you know what? It might be. With 138 games left in this season, his service time if he was to be called up in the morning would be about a year and 120 days at the end of this season, perhaps avoiding making him a “Super 2″ arbitration-eligible player after the 2009 season. It doesn’t seem like it to me, but Alex Anthopoulos knows the numbers WAY better than I do, and he may well have crunched them to the extent that he’s told J.P. Ricciardi when the right time is for the call-up to keep Lind cheap for an extra year. Please note, this is all conjecture.****
If this in fact is the reason, it shows the lack of commitment to winning this management team has and how bad their judgement is. It also shows us as fans, not to expect more than a 3rd or 4th place finish, with no real chance to win a playoff spot. This is the same group that squandered 20 million on Frank Thomas and are keeping Lind in AAA for a few days in order to save 500k.-Pathetic.
Bring up up Lind, recall Diaz, send Inglett back down and dump Barajas. Bench Eckstein, play Macdonald and prove me wrong!!!!!!!!
I agree that this team isn’t commited to winning, if they were Barry Bonds would be signed allready!!!
I’ve never liked the idea of adding cold infielders as replacements on defence late in the game. Playing infield is more about being in the rythym of the game then anything, and cold players coming off the bench don’t have that. They should be giving more starts to Mcdonald though. Trouble is the only other player with potential at leadoff is Inglett and he will be sent down when Lind comes. If we keep Diaz up and platoon him with Zaun (Zaun getting the plus side) I don’t think Diaz gets enough AB’s to continue his developement. Barajas being a righty makes more sense to platoon with Zaun for the time being.
When we have runners on base, we don’t even get the ball into the air. It is always ground out after ground out. I am so sick of this. I pray that the presents of Rolen and Lind will do this team some good.
I meat *presence* in my last comment.
I meant *meant* in my last comment. Wow I think that the horrible playing by the jays is driving me crazy!
freedom-I think both Rolen and Lind will help. I do like what they’re doing with Lind, he is the regular left fielder with Stewart delegated to splitting the DH role with Stairs.
fredom Dont worry about the wrong words we all do it.
3inn.of playing with chances to drive in runs in all 3inn. what is the matter with these blanks.
Sorry 4inn.now.
Notice the inning ending ground out in this and last inning.
We get a run on an error and then nothing great team huh
Haha, Zaun on 3rd and Rios grounds to short. But atleast we got the run do to the error. But now we have Wells grounding into a double play. Can we ever win??? Well I guess not cosidering we lost 8 out of our last 10. (sorry for all my complaining guys, but you know how it is.)
Hey G. nice to see lind up and Rolen is playing great.
Garry
this does get hard to watch doesn’t it. Seems to me Vernon is too pull happy. they’re pitching him outside and he tries to pull it and hits these soft ground balls. Rolen looks good doesn’t he, nice replacement for Glaus. good speed on the basepaths as well.
I’m not sure Rolen has the speed but he sure has the smarts on the base paths.
what is the matter with this team I’ts as iff they don’t want to win.
Maybe they know Abner is on thin ice and they are trying to sink him.
I don’t know if that’s the case, but if it is, let’s hope they succeed. After last night’s fiasco, even JP must be shaking his head.
Another loss, I have nothing left to say…………………
just no intensity
. . . . . . this team sucks.
Sumner, I completely agree with the rant you made last night. I do not understand why Eckstein continues to be used late in games that they are leading and why he continues to be used at the lead-off spot. I think Eckstein can be valuable to this team but in a limited way (i.e. lower in the line-up and taken out late in the game with a lead.)
I don’t understand how Gibby can miss that kind of stuff. The only explanation I can think of is that Riccardi is demanding that his offseason acquisition be used in all situations in order to make it look like a valuable signing.
Another thing that should be done in tomorrow’s game is to see Stairs batting fourth, Rolen 5th and then Wells. That’s my opinion anyway.
This is the worst team Ive seen in a long time….what a waste of coin on these pre paid tickets. Vernon and the other big boys should be whipped into shape for there terrible display lately. No excuses. Its KC…Come On!!!!
Q: How do you beat the Blue Jays?
A: Put the first 2 guys on and pitch to the next 3.
Always nice
Quote: “So why in hell didn’t Abner put in Macdonald?”
This is getting to be a habit, gsumner, but I agree again. We should be using JMac out there to help the set up guy and closer when we have the lead.
In Gibbon’s defense, I can only say that we haven’t had a late lead in the past couple of weeks, so he probably forgot.
I was going to go down next Sunday and watch the White Sox game, but I think I will save my coin. Maybe slide down a hill of broken glass, or something.
Always nice
This is the problem: Last 10 games:
Eckstein .238
Hill: .200
Rios: .317
Wells: .150
Stewart: .194
Always nice
Take it easy my god. we are 25 games into the season. last year starting june the yankees were 20 and 29. this is a very good baseball team. Thankfully NY, Detroit, Cleveland and Seattle havn’t got off to good starts either not to mention Boston losing their fourth in a row last night. By the way Eckstein almost single handedly won us the game last night in addition Marcum’s stellar performance. John Macdonald sucks guys and is not the answer for any team at shortstop. THIS TEAM HAS ONE PROBLEM AND IT IS NOT THE PLAYERS………… IT IS OUR ILLITERATE MANAGER JOHN THE DUMMY GIBBONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JOHN I’m not so sure I can Read because I can barely speak english GIBBONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is really the problem….So if we have to start the season 12-17 or something like that hopefully we will have a new skipper after we are done this roadtrip. I know who I would bring back in a heartbeat. Thats right CITO GASTON! Unfortunately that will never happen, Cito was the best manager this team ever had/ Bobby cox not too bad either I guess.
See Gsumner I’m really not a rascist after all. The only thing I said was (real)Black Catchers don’t possess a long list in the majors.
The problem is hitting with runners in scoring position. These guys are about 10 in their last 100 ab.’s. Three times last night Vernon came up with runners either on second or third. None of them scored. Personally, I don’t think Vernon should be hitting 4th. Vernon sometimes tries too hard and when he gets in that mode he pulls evey pitch trying to hit it out. I agree with Enigma, bat him 5th or 6th with Stairs hitting 4th and Rolen either 5th or 6th. The best clutch hitter we have is Rolen, the second best ( I believe) is Lind. Lind should go 7th, and frankly if we’re going to keep playing Eckstien, he should go 9th, as a secondary lead off guy, with Zaun 8th and I’d put Overbay in the lead off spot. Although, Overbay hasn’t driven the ball all that well this year, his OBP is .406 overall and .462 against rh’s. So the lineup I’d like to see Abner try is:
Overbay
Hill
Rios
Stairs
Wells
Rolen
Lind
Zaun
Eckstein.
I must admit though, I would like to see us play Macdonald as our everyday shortstop. I have always believed that position is about defense and he’s the best in baseball. Why he sits on the bench is beyond me.
This might not be the right lineup, who knows. What I do know is, when it’s going so badly, you have to switch things around, try different guys in different slots. You can’t just keep xeroxing the same lineup evey day and cross your fingers.
The interesting thing about last nigt’s game is in spite of our poor perfromance, if it hadn’t been for Pena making a spectacular play on Lind in the top of the 9th, two runners would have scored and we’d have likely won.
rshobie
Why don’t you just relax and post things baseball, there’s no need for the other stuff. No personal insults, no personal attacks, let’s all just share our thoughts and ideas on baseball. Of course attacking Abner or Jays mangement is not only ok, its becoming mandatory. lol
The thing that has always puzzled me about Cito Gaston is why he never got another job in baseball. He’s one of very few managers to win back to back world series and yet after he left Toronto no one has hired him for ANY baseball job. It makes no sense to me. Puzzling for sure.
Wells is not a clean up hitter he never was so why try to make him one Matt Stairs can hit no matter where he is so can Scott Rolen, But Abner does not posses the guts to tell Wells that he will be hitting 6th this line up will work,
RIOS
HILL
WELLS
STAIRS
ROLEN
LIND
OVERBAY
ZAUN
EKSTEIN
Iknow I sain wells in 6th but the three hole will be fine.
Garry
I like the look of that lineup. I think they need to try a few things, mix it up for a while to hopefully get these guys going. I’d also like to see them start Macdonald for 5-10 games.
Garry
Check out this kid. Edgar Estanga in Lansing ( A-), a LH reliever, has pitched 15.1 innings, 6 hits, no bb’s, 15k’s, no runs and held opposing hitters to a .125 BA.
Start johnny Mac. Why let him sit we all know he is the best ss. Eck is not all that great so far and does not seem to be getting much better. Least lind is up. What do the Jays do with 2 utility guys fighting for playing time (Sutaro & JMac)? What a frigging waste. Just frustrated with the whole situation.
gsumner I checked him out verry good, that whole team looks good maybe we should bring them all up and send send this team down.
Garry
Yes, a bunch of our draft choices from last year are playing well. Lansing is in 1st place.(A-) Dunedin is in 1st place ( A+), Syracuse is in 2nd place-2 back in AAA. The only team struggling is New Hampshire (AA) who’s in last place. I guess New Hampshire’s playing like the big club. lol
I love how our highlight video on bluejays.com is rios getting an rbi because of an error.
duanegault, Johny Mac is supposed to be starting today. I agree that he is the best ss, but only defensively. Offensively he (well I don’t want to say sucks) because his great defence makes up for some of that.
Now that is an interesting lineup Abner’s trying today.
Rios
Overbay
Rolen
Stairs
Wells
Hill
Lind
Barajas
MacDonald
Finally Johnny mac gets a start, and finally Abner mixes it up.
Pevey should have sent Rios home but it’s a moot point now RIOS SCORES.
Yea Scott Rolen is the man!!!!!!!
Best way to take the pressure off a young pitcher? Score two runs in the 1st inning. Nice throw by Barajas.
How about that. Troy Glaus hasn’t hit a HR yet for the Cards. He’s hitting .256 and driven in 15 but no round trippers. I think we’re ahead in that trade, Rolen certainly looks like an upgrade.
Damn, well that’s immediate payback for an error.
Talking about pressure on a young pitcher, how about two errors on the same play. There’s a way to put it right back on. Hope it doesn’t affect him further in the game because 2 runs just crossed the plate and the game is tied.
Jordan
As much as I like the new format, it’s too busy on this page and takes forever to reload. There’s a download of over 500 items each time one posts. Can you move some of the stuff on this page, to speed this up.
It’s good to see this blog busy but Robert Lee and Hemgold and a few others are not postin very often last year they were hot to go I wonder why.
Wells gets a hit but trying to steal at this time was not good.
I think I’ll put BJ in for 2inn and ruin him DUH.
Well Ryan only threw 9 pitches in the 8th so we should be alright. But I know what you mean, that was stupid again o their part.
We are ahead now, so far by 1 run. IF WE LOSE THIS GAME!……….
Me thinks I like the new lineup. Well no duh we almost won. Other than that, there is a noticable difference in the way they are making outs. Last night the Jays had about 15 groundouts and quite a few of them were to the pitcher. Today we have around 7 and plenty of fly outs. Atleast with the flyouts we are getting a piece of that ball.
My god we won I can’t belive it.
I actually think putting Ryan in the 8th inning was done to make sure he got his inning of work. For a change a smart decision by Abner.
Well what’s not to like about Rios in the leadoff spot. 4 for 5 but more importantly great base running. A great outing from Jessie, made a lot easier with 2 runs in the 1st inning.
If it makes anyone feel better about the Tampa series, Tampa just swept Boston for Boston’s 5th loss in a row. Beckett fanned 13 and lost.
Welcome to Toronto, Scott Rolen
First 3 games, 13 at bats, 4 hits, 1 hr, 2 doubles, 2 bb, 1 stolen base, and 4 rbi’s, when he’s still hurting. I’m not sure I want him healthy. lol
What a difference he makes. Now we get Lind going, KEEP PLAYING MACDONALD, and we might actually cause some damage.
Woops, that sb 11 at bats, not 13.
QUOTE: The thing that has always puzzled me about Cito Gaston is why he never got another job in baseball.”
I think Cito had a heart attack his last year with the Jays, gsumner, so he probably decided to call it a game. He looks great, though.
It’s good to have a win, even though it was KC that shot themselves in the foot. Rolen’s legit. Didn’t take him long to get used to AL pitching did it?
Good lineup today–al the hot bats at the top for a change. You would eventually want to see Rios as an RBI guy, so sooner or later ECK will have to step up. 5 errors in 26 games? He’s on a pace for 31 this season.
Always nice
Cito tried to get a job with a couple of teams I know he was interviewed but I dont know by what teams but he never was hired,
Jordan would you know or maybe gsumner.
Chicago Whites Sox was one of those teams that interviewed Cito.
It’s fantastic how Rolen is playing despite not being 100%.
Boston by the way has lost 5 straight, which means they are due or are struggling. I hope with the top 3 pitchers going for T.O. they can leave with a sweep (though I do doubt it)
I like Rios in the leadoff spot, and not just because he went 4-5. He wont get the RBI’s but he is getting on base a ton, plus he is our best baserunner. With Rolen and Wells hitting behind him, he could score alot of runs. He could be used like Granderson in Detroit. I dont know if Rios will ever develop 30 HR power, but he is good for 20-25 with 40 doubles, and a few triples.
Good to see JMac get a start too, you really start to value his defense more after watching Eckstein in there. The plays he makes has a big impact on the game. I used to be a supporter for offense first, but i think my opinion has changed.
I was looking at some of the minor league teans and I see Chacin is not doing good he is 0and 2 with an ERA ove 6.
Well no one has to fell sorry for JM he gets paid pretty well to sit on the bench I know he is a pretty good on defence but now that Rolen is back that will leave less ground for Ekstein to cover and if he gets to many eros we still have JM.
I am going to go back to school and learn to spell lol
I also like Rios in the leadoff spot and hill batting second but it looks like Ekstein will be hitting second God forbid that JP admits he made a mistake in signing Ekstein when we already had one of the best shortstops in the game
There is know chance of JP admitting a mistake by signing Ekc.
Eck is a decent player who can hit but his defense is not up to par. What do you do, let Eck play and not get to as many balls as Johnny Mac can? The runs Johnny Mac can save are probably more RBIS Eck can produce. Give J Mac more playing time he is a great player to watch defensively, and last year he had his most productive year on offense. More playing time means better offense for him. Look at yesterdays game 3 double plays great glove work and he actually got a double. Keep playing him. Rios should stay at the top of the order. Rolen is doing great. 4 players Hill, Rolen, Jmac Overbay= best defense in baseball. Defense usually wins games. As long as the true hitters pull through for us. We will have to wait an see. My prediction Eck will commitee to many errors and Jmac will be the everyday SS. Just like last year with Royce Clayton.
I’m with you guys about Rios in the lead off spot. What I can’t believe is Abner stating Eckstein will bat 2nd. What happened to either Hill or Overbay batting 2nd? Either Eckstein or JM should bat 9th. We have a real tough part of the schedule coming up, Boston, CWS, TB, Cleveland, Minnesota, Philadelphia, LAA, KC, Oakland. LAA. We need all hands on deck. Keep messing around with Eckstein hitting 2nd is not an option, or we could be out of this race by the end of May.
In addition, when we’re scrounging for runs, defense is more important, JM should be playing everyday.
Gsumner, seems as if we are on the same page. Defense is very important.To the guy who said JMac sucks is out of his mind. Any major league club would love to have him on there team. Eck should not bat 2nd. Either Hill or Overbay. Gusmner what do you think of my prediction at SS? Rshobie said J Mac sucks. What the hell planet is he from? If he sucks that bad why has he been in the majors for 9 years? Answer that numnuts!
duanegault
I was not in favor of the Eckstein signing at all. Johnny Mac is the best ss in baseball. The story line from the Jays at the time was Eckstein brought a much better bat. Fact is his bat isn’t that much better than JM’s and his defense and range is significantly poorer. Hopefully sooner or later JM will be the everyday ss; it can’t happen soon enough for me.
gsumner I don’t think J Mac will ever be the everyday shortstop because JP will have to admit he made a mistake.
duanegault I’m with you on JMac for the starting shortstop how manny of you guys and gals would like to see JMac as the starting shortstop and abner get the axe.
I don’t think that J.P is going to hand over that ss job to JMac so easily. It is true that JMac has a much better range than Eck, but Eck’s carrear batting average is still around 40 points higher than JMac’s. For a team that doesn’t like handing out outs by stealing and bunting (which has improved greatly this year), but still I don’t think they will hand over the job to an easy out like Mac.
I don’t mind if it’s either J Mac. Or Eckstein because I was one of the guys that wanted them to sign Eckstein. However, I do mind when Gibbons doesn’t use McDonald as a defensive replacement after the 6th with a 4 run or less lead. The guy is clearly the best defensive shortstop in the game and should be used late in the game with a lead. Also, put Johnny in a few more Roy Halladay starts.
gsumner,
Please do not take this a personal attack but, HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND???? Johnny Mac the best shortstop in baseball, my god what has this really come to?? Johnny Mac may be the worst shortstop in baseball and there are countless minor league ss’s that would be a whole lot more valuable than him. To the guy who said every team would want a guy like Johnny Mac that is purely laughable because the truth is NO TEAM has any desire for Johnny Mac. Cleveland didn’t want him…Detroit didn’t want him…Nor did any other team in baseball who could have had him for free also didn’t want him. We were the only suckers to give a Mendoza hitter a real contract. Some of you should really watch other games around the league but I guess there are not really too many REAL baseball fans out here merely Blue Jay fans who don’t get an opportunity to watch great players around the league. As for his defense the reality John Macdonald is not a fast man for a shortstop. His range is not that good although to the average fan it may seem otherwise. Many of the plays he makes these tremendous dives for do not really require to be stretched out. Great shortstops like Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins, Rafeal furcal truely have GREAT range and would never leave their feet for many of the ground balls JOhnny mac dives for. John Macdonald is a very nice man and I hate to critisize him but he is nothing more than a slow kinda dynamic looking sub par baseball player who thanks his lucky stars the Jays signed him to a multi million dollar contract. Enough of the stupid JOHNNY MAC coments….Move on!!!
rrshobie
Why is it with every post you make you insult people? Why is that? Why can’t you just post your point? See if you just made your point, even when it’s wrong like it is now, you wouldn’t look quite so bad. BUT when you come on here, insult the world, and then post something that’s pure nonsense you look like a babbling idiot and I’m sure that’s not what you want, or is it?
Why don’t you check out the Bill James On line web site-the most respected site for defensive ratings on players there is. The players are rated on fielding ability and defensive performance. The performance includes errors, range and a wide range of other fielding issues. I’ll let you figure out where Johnny Mac comes in, but I will tell you the worst one is David Eckstein.
Oh and if you check some of the others, you’d be quite surprised. You see that site is all about defense. I will tell you this, though, none of the guys you mentioned even come close to Johnny Mac. Don’t take my word for it check it out.
Garry
More than anything else, I don’t want either Eckstein or Macdonald hitting second, which is what Abner is suggesting. That, in my view is stupidity.
rshobie, with a post like that, you are insulting yourself, rather than any of the other legit posters on this site.
As for JMac’s defense, his range factor right now is 6.82, which is almost up there with catchers and first basemen. An adequate shortstop will have a range factor of 4.5 to 4.75. Jeter is at 3.93 right now, mainly because of injuries, but he is normally in the 4.75 range.
I admit that there are faster shortstops in the league, but in a footrace, I would put my money on JMac over Eckstein. As for defense, he has a third basemen’s arm, his footwork is absolutely optimal, he positions himself well, and there is nobody better at catch and throw than JMac. As for his hitting, if he played full time, his average would be in the .240 -.250 range, and he does more with the bat than his average shows. He is an excellent bunter, and he is good at moving runners. And, from his limited playing time this year, I think he is actually swinging the bat with a bit more authority (Denbo’s doing?).
Now that we have Eckstein, we can’t not play him, but JMac should get more playing time in save situations. We haven’t had many lately, but when we do.
Always nice
Gsumner
I do not know why you take your beloved blue jays so seriuosly???????????????? My last post was clearly not an insult to you!!!!!!!!!!! I have been clear to not be vindictive here but you seem to be very defensive in life. My quote ” have you lost your mind” is heard on sports shows around the world when debating or discussing teams and players. This is NOT a personal attack on you or others so take it easy and try to have some fun without jumping all over people. If you think Johnny Mac is the second coming of Ozzie Smith then fine…..If you also think he is a piece of crap well that should be fine too. The topic could be debated without going crazy I’m sure. Bill James I’m sure has some knowledge of baseball but be very careful of statistics…….. The best way to judge talent is to eyeball it and ive seen enough of John Mac to realize his true limited value. By the way J mac could NEVER hit .250 as a regular…this is a pipe dream!!
Jmac isnt the best ss in baseball, maybe defensively
But i do know Jmac could be just as productive at the plate as Eckstein right now, and have world class defense. Im tired of Gibbons playing favourites, if someone isn’t producing they dont play simple. As for JMac not hittin .250 with regular playing time, just check his batting average from last year when he played 123 games and you might want to take back what you said. I mean seriously do a little reasearch before posting if you dont know what your talking about.
John macdonald is a .230 something life time hitter who hit .223 the year before last year when he carreered it at .251. He will also turn 34 yrs old this summer so the odds of him improving are slim and none and slim just went home. He’s batting .167 curently and has never stole more than 7 bases in a season. his lifetime fielding percentage is .972…not great. David eckstein is a lifetime almost .290 hitter and has stolen as many as 29 bases in a year with a lifetime fielding % of .978. Gimmie a break guys!!! Not to mention a world series MVP!!!! Eckstein is also YOUNGER!! Wake up people J.P. Riccardi knows more about baseball than any of us out here tens times over and he knows very well that John Macdonald is a very marginal player. THAT IS WHY HE ACQUIRED MR. ECKSTEIN. Does anyone not understand this. No competitive team could ever win with a utility player, backup, minor league SS like John Macdonald. Let’s figure out how to get a new manager and maybe how we can stay in the race until the bats come around which they SURELY WILL. Don’t worry the bats WILL come around very soon and Mr. Eckstein will be a big part of it. This is not the juggernaught of the NY. Yankees that could afford a stiff like Johnny Mac playing SS and batting fifth. Don’t forget we still have Greg Zahn and Adam Lind’s dead bats to deal with. And please don’t tell me about Lind’s great numbers in AAA………..meaningless!! unless of course hes facing a triple A pitcher in the majors which is not often.
NINTH
p.s John Macdonald lifetime OBP = .279 ( LOL ) David Eckstein lifetime OBP = .351 . Enough is enough JM is useless lets change the subject. Again this is not a personal shot but if it were up to gsumner he’d have Sergio Santos playing shortstop…………..LOL. Sergio Santos the last few years has been the next coming according to gsumner. Thank God we don’t have to hear that anymore.
How many of you want to hear how great Adam Lind’s number Vs righties and lefties and this and that in the minors when he’s facing Josh Beckett or Dice K on the mound……….LOL LOL
rshobie
I’d suggest you see your Dr and have your meds changed, cause what you’re taking isn’t working
rshobie
im pretty sure you mentioned if he played a full season…and the only one he played he hit 251
and werent you the one saying that you had to watch a player to judge them not just thow stats out there…now your comparing jmacs carreer to ecksteins career
why dont you take your own advice and watch them play.
I truly hope Ecksteins bat comes around, but untill then they should be player McDonald more so at least we have sound defense. Right now we are getting no offence or defence out of the position
rshobie you come off like you know every thing about baseball, I’m 63 years old and have been watching baseball for manny years and I don’t know everything about baseball, You are way off base about JMac. he is a great shortstop maybe his bat is a little limp but it is good enough because of his defence so quit slaming him and try to say something nice about someone. By the way are you a Jays fan.
JMAC best shortstop ….NEVER
JMAC worst shortstop ….NEVER
you look at han ram or rollins they are pretty strong defensively but CAN CARRY A TEAM OFFENSIVELY…and no doubt about it thats why i consider them the best SS…
JMAC has awesome defense, you think he has no range but look at many of his videos and you can see he is getting to balls that less than 5 percent of the shortstops would get to and me makes plays consistently, good reaction time and good footwork. and he is a delight to watch and a commodity for any pitcher to have on defence so he is definately not the worst shortstop…btw give JP some credit..he isn’t that stupid…
I rest my case…JMAC is an average shortstop, can’t carry a team but he can definately do the little things right….