Well after defeating the Boston Red Sox last night by a score of 3-0 the Blue Jays enter the 2nd day of May with a pretty weak record of 12-17 sitting dead last in the American League East, 4.5 games behind the division leading Tampa Bay Rays…
Today I will be having an in-depth look at all faucets of the Jays team and assigning a grade to Offense, Pitching, Team Defense, Management and individual players.
Let’s start with the Offense.
Offense
In the 14 team American League the Toronto Blue Jays have one of the league’s worst (if not worst) offense’s. Let’s have a look at some key categories for the Blue Jays and see how they rank in comparison with the rest of the AL.
For example, I will list the Blue Jays Total Runs Scored, 119, and next to it have their ranking (out of 14) next to it in brackets.
Runs Scored: 119 (12th)
Batting Average: .251 (11th)
Home Runs: 20 (11th)
Walks: 119 (3rd)
Stolen Bases: 24 (5th)
On Base Percentage: .339 (5th)
Slugging Percentage: .363 (12th)
Hit Into Double Play: 38 (1st)
Batting Average With Runners In Scoring Position: .210 (14th)
There you have it. The Blue Jays offense is terrible. They are in fact DEAD LAST in the American League with respect to the ability to drive in runners who are standing on 2nd or 3rd base. Their .210 batting average with RISP is the worst in the league by a large margin. 13th place Texas is hitting .231 with RISP. With runners on 2nd and 3rd and 2 out, the Jays batting average drops to an even more feeble .186
Not to mention this team hits into the MOST Double Plays in the AL.
It’s no wonder this team can’t score.
So on a team that features players who are paid like Big Time Players such as Vernon Wells, Alex Rios, Frank Thomas (while he was with Toronto) this team is at the bottom or near the bottom of most major offensive categories. Their high on base percentage and low strikeout totals show that the Jays are adept at getting men on base. They just can’t drive them in. Their low slugging, homerun totals and batting average (especially with RISP) show that this team’s offense just has been plain failing them.
Offense Grade : F
Pitching
ERA: 3.62 (2nd)
Strike Outs: 197 (2nd)
Opponents Batting Average: .252 (7th)
Home Runs Allowed: 21 (3rd – as in 3rd fewest allowed)
WHIP: 1.34 (4th)
How can you complain about this pitching staff? They are the only thing keeping us in games this season. During this last series against Boston the Blue Jays lost the first game against Boston 1-0 after Roy Halladay threw his FOURTH straight complete game. Three of which were losses…
The following night Dustin McGowan threw another gem only to see Boston beat us 2-1. I think last night, every Jays fan thought Burnett had to be perfect for us to win the game. Luckily he was as Toronto won 3-0.
But I think this most recent series against the Red Sox sums up the season so far. The Jays allow 3 runs in 3 games and come out with a 1-2 record. Because our pathetic offense could only put 4 on the board the entire series.
Put it this way. The Jays have a Top 3 Pitching Staff in the American League. They seem to be neck and neck with Tampa Bay and Oakland in most categories. The difference is that Tampa Bay and Oakland can actually hit the ball and thus are in 1st place in their respective divisions, while the Jays enjoy the view from the basement. Although I will dock a few points from the Jays as Jeremy Accardo has single handily cost the Blue Jays 3 games this season. If they go the other way the Jays are in a lot better shape.
Pitching Grade: A-
Defense:
Errors: 19 (9th)
Fielding %: .983 (8th)
Percentage Of Base Stealers Caught: 29% (8th)
The Jays appear to be a middle of the road defensive squad. They don’t do anything great, they don’t do anything terrible. Vernon Wells is still a great CF, while John MacDonald is a great SS when he actually plays. Other than that I don’t have much to say on the matter. The Team Defense isn’t killing the team nor helping them greatly.
Team Defense Grade: C+
Management
Certainly a weak spot for the team. So far this season the team has given away Reed Johnson for nothing, while paying Frank Thomas to play in Oakland.
In the long run, I am fine with both moves as I think it would have been foolish to invest $10 million in another season of Frank Thomas, while I feel that Adam Lind should already be our everyday LF. Bringing in Shannon Stewart hasn’t made much sense either.
Still I feel the Jays could have gotten something….even minor league players for Thomas and Reed Johnson.
The long term signings of both Rios and Aaron Hill were smart moves and leaves us with a decent core of Rios, Wells, Hill and Adam Lind to build upon. But Toronto should focus next on Marcum and McGowan and making sure they stay in the fold for years to come.
Management Grade : D
Individual Player Grades
Gregg Zaun – C
Rod Barajas – F
Lyle Overbay – D
Matt Stairs – B-
Aaron Hill – B
John MacDonald – D
David Eckstein – C-
Scott Rolen – Incomplete (But he’s playing well 6 games in)
Marco Scutaro – D
Shannon Stewart – F
Vernon Wells – B- (Really needs to bring that batting average up)
Alex Rios – A (The Jays best and most complete player. Hopefully can cut down on strikeouts)
Roy Halladay – A (Been the Jays best starting pitcher this season. His team just can’t score runs)
Shawn Marcum – A (Has been almost as good as Halladay)
Dustin McGowan – B+ (Showing flashes of brilliance early on this year)
AJ Burnett – C (Mr. Inconsistent. Terrible one night. Great The next)
Jesse Litch – C ( A true #5 starter at this point in his career. His W-L Record is nice, but he’s not going deep enough into games)
Jeremy Accardo – F (Terrible Start To the season has cost the Jays at least 3 games)
BJ Ryan – A+ (Has looked fantastic since coming off the DL)
Jesse Carlson – A+ (Simply brilliant since his call up)
Scott Downs – C+ (Not bad, not great)
Brian Tallet – A (Very good out of the pen this season)
Jason Frasor – B (Nice season thus far)
Brian Wolfe – B ( Steady season to this point)
So there you have it. Overall I would give the Jays first month of the season a D.
I think all Jays fans were hoping for a much better start out of the gate. Obviously we can’t blame it on the pitching staff as they have just been throwing the ball great to start the season. The numbers don’t lie and obviously the blame should lie on the shoulders of the teams impotent offense. Hopefully the bats will heat up during the month of May and the Jays can climb the division.
Please feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below.
