The Blue Jays haven't made any bold off-season moves, but when I look at the 2012 lineup, I see major upgrades at center field and third base. Colby Rasmus, who'll be the only player in the clubhouse with a World Series ring, is going to have a career year. Although he had a rough start in Toronto, batting .173 in 133 ABs, Rasmus loved the atmosphere and overall mojo during a post-trade stint with the Jays.
We talked quite a bit during his rehab stop at Double-A New Hampshire. Rasmus really opened up and told me about his crippling relationship with TLR and how he couldn't step off the field without being micro-managed. It just didn't work there -- just like it didn't work for Yunel Escobar at the end of his time with Atlanta. Rasmus will have a career in 2012 with 26 HR, 80 RBI, .277.
A full-time Brett Lawrie at third base, for my money, is the most significant team upgrade. There is no substitute for the energy and power of The Beast. It's contagious. Lawrie's August 10 grand slam beat the A's and woke up the Blue Jays (winning six of nine). Lawrie's year? 27 HR, 91 RBI, .280, 22 SB.
8 comments:
Nix/Patterson/JoJo = Lawrie/Rasmus/Alvarez.
Equals? Or less than? Insert < ...
Huge upgrades times three!
Given the failure of the Blue Jays and the success of the Cardinals, it's a reach to assume someone who batted .173 is going to be an "upgrade" playing a full year with a team with one great hitter and a bunch of streaky undisciplined hitters.
Let's see if he can rise up to and sustain mediocrity before we count our chickens....
How about a lineup like this
Eskobar
Rasmus
Lawrie
JoBau
Lind
EE
JPA
LF
2B
This way they dont need protection for JoBau as the Jays now have 3 above league average On base guys batting ahead of JoBau
Snider or Thames in the 8-hole doin' work.
Completely agree with your assessment on Rasmus and Lawrie. If only AA can now trade for Heyward from ATL or Morrison from FLA to complete the hat trick. (i.e. 1. Eskobar 2. Rasmus) Wonder if both Snider and Thames will be enough to get one of those 2 guys....
"Given the failure of the Blue Jays and the success of the Cardinals, it's a reach to assume someone who batted .173 is going to be an "upgrade" playing a full year with a team with one great hitter and a bunch of streaky undisciplined hitters."
This is essentially irrelevant, since the Blue Jays were never attempting to make the playoffs in 2011. It can only be explained so many times that the Jays-Cardinals trade was a "win-later for win-now" situation. It's also staggering that anyone considers a couple months of playing time on a new team, part of that time injured, to be an accurate gauge of a player's skill.
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