Yes,
it’s been a difficult first month of the 2014 Blue Jays season, but only in the
sense that every baseball fan wants “their” team to go undefeated. There have
been a few injuries (Jose Reyes, Casey Janssen, Maicer Izturis) and the
starting pitching we all knew would be a red flag has turned into….a red flag. There’s
been too much inconsistency and too many walks.
But
the season is not lost! Ignore the naysayers; embrace optimism. The Rogers’
Centre is not yet filled with the hellfire and brimstone that some people think
every time the Blue Jays lose. Sure, there’s the aforementioned and
ever-present starting pitching struggles and general inconsistency that we all
find so frustrating, and even the bullpen – one of the team’s supposed strengths
– has started to scuffle a little bit of late, although that is due to overuse (and
Alex Anthopoulous’ misguided and stupid decision to keep out-of-option pitchers
over better options).
In
any event, I digress. Today is a day for optimism! I’d like to take this
opportunity to highlight a few of the bright spots of the Blue Jays season thus
far, five Beacons of Hope, if you will. Sure, it’s only been 25 games, but
there are a few things to be excited about, namely:
Brett Lawrie’s
defence
People
tend to bring up the same trio – Manny Machado, Evan Longoria and Adrian Beltre
– as the gold standards for defence at the hot corner in the American League. The
more I watch Lawrie, though, the more I feel that not mentioning Lawrie in the
same breath is doing him a near-tragic disservice. He’s awesome, amazing, and
incredible. He’s a feast for the eyes. Add whatever superlative adjective you
like, because they all apply to Lawrie’s glovework so far this season. It’s a
credit to him that his offensive struggles haven’t followed him onto the field.
Perhaps that’s an indication that he’s maturing as a baseball player? GET
IITTTTTTTT!
Dustin McGowan isn’t hurt
yet
He’s
taken his turn in the rotation every five days with nary a mention of sore
elbows, shoulders or knees. Yes, he’s struggled in a few starts, and by his own
admission he hits a proverbial wall at around 65 pitches, but it’s great seeing
him on the mound. His “stuff” is as great as always, which in and of itself is
incredible; how can someone suffer through as many surgeries and lost years as
McGowan, and still throw 97, 98 MPH? Who can forget his Aprill 11 start, where
he held Baltimore runless through 6.1 innings? It was thing of beauty, a renaissance
to 2008. One mea culpa, though: I’m starting to second guess the decision to have
him be a part of the starting rotation (a decision I was fully behind before
the season started, and one that I actually suggested before the Blue Jays
“powers that be” made the same decision). Any pitcher that is capped at 65
pitches should NEVER start, and he would make a great addition to their
already-taxed bullpen.
As
of April 29th, Bautista’s OPS his 1.053! He leads the league with 27 walks (because teams are pitching
around him to face the still-cold-but-maybe-coming-out-of-it-soon Edwin
Encarnacion). He’s been on base in every Blue Jay game this year. He has seven
home runs already. Despite the occasional mental errors, like bone-headed
attempts to steal third base when his team is down by five runs, “Joey Bats” is
clearly in the upper echelon of Major League talents, and is quite simply one
of the best players in all of baseball. Any time he’s at bat, we’re mere
moments away from a possible moonshot. I’m not really going out on a limb to
say that we can expect an MVP-calibre season if Bautista stays healthy.
A
quick list of reasons I love Dioner Navarro:
- He’s just fun to watch.
- He calls a great game.
- He can steal bases!
It’s
really incredible, and kind of staggering, to fathom how big of a step Navarro
is above JP Arencibia. As we all know, the only thing JP provided was the occasional
home run, along with an unwillingness to adapt or learn the myriad finer points
of receiving major league pitches. Navarro does that in spades, and so far in this
short season, it’s been a pleasure to watch.
Mark Buehrle’s
4-0 start to the season
(I’m
choosing to ignore his fifth start of the season, just for the purposes of this
post.)
For
a notorious slow starter like Buehrle to have four wins in April is incredible.
Even if he just pitches to the same level he’s been at for the last, I dunno…125
years or so (that’s how long he’s been around, right?) then he’s looking at a
15-17 win season (I know, I know…pitcher wins: who cares). In any case, his first
month of the season (2.16 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, averaging 6.6 innings
per start) isn’t anything to thumb our noses at, especially for the tenth-highest-paid
starting pitcher in baseball.
And now, for no reason whatsoever, is Bar Rafaeli:
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