I
have to say, when the Blue Jays first acquired Brett Lawrie, I drank the Kool-Aid®.
I guzzled that sugary goodness like a 19-year-old at their first open bar. My
thirst could not be slaked! I bought in hook, line and sinker. How could I not?
A young, brash, highly-touted, dynamic Canadian baseball player? Sign me up! By
all* accounts Lawrie was the second, coming clad not in robes and sandals, but
in baseball cleats and eye black. He seemingly came from nowhere (Milwaukee),
and his destiny was to lead a downtrodden team into the stratosphere and back
to the promised land, baseball Mecca – PLAYOFFS. And all it cost was the Blue
Jays’ opening-day starter.**
From
the very moment he was acquired, I counted down the moments in breathless
anticipation of when Brett Lawrie would arrive in “The Show”.
If
that turncoat bastard John Farrell had had his way, 21-year-old Lawrie would’ve
broken camp as the Blue Jays starting third baseman in 2011. Instead, upper
management decided to send him to the minors for more “seasoning” where, on May
31st, he proceeded to break a hand on an errant pitch, thus delaying
the inevitable and postponing his callup until early August. Then, he
arrived…and lasted less than two months. On September 21st a broken
finger during batting practice forced him to miss the remainder of the season. But
by that point he had made his mark – he was the heir apparent by Spring Training
2012.
