Mid-term Report card.

Mid-term Report card.
Time for grading of current Jays franchise according to this set of eyes at least.

Starting with Manager definitely a C.
I have never been a big Cito supporter and this half of the season reinforces my concerns. One I do think he is a good hitting coach with the young guys. However I give him low marks for lack of aggression and inability to change strategies when things go wrong as they have done in the last month. I also give him low marks for his handling of the pitching staff.
Granted 1. Many of the issues are due to the fact that all of the starting rotation has been on the DL at some stage of the season and most remain there.
2. The first two months of the season were excellent and it could have been over-achieving as opposed to true reflection of ability. Most observers expected Jays to be in fourth spot for the season after losing Burnett and not having Marcum and McGowan available. Add in to the mix the loss of Janssen, Litsch, Richmond, and BJ Ryan. That is a huge handicap for any major league team and thus one analysis could be that Jays have overachieved.

Good news. Marcum 4.2 scoreless innings last night in his rehab. Richmond and Janssen also on their way back.

Lineup evaluations:
1st Base: Overbay and Millar. On average B + . Lyle has done much better this season than 2008 but gets a lower grade for the inconsistency that has plagued him this last month. Ditto for Kevin Millar although he has been a great addition to the staff. One recent article credited him with some of the success in the performance of Scott Rolen. Evidently close friends on the team he enables Scott to lighten up and even Scott admits that Kevin has made him laugh on the field a couple of times. If that has been a contribution by Millar then he has more than justified his backup role.
2nd Base. Hill. A+. the huge undisputed number one success of Jays this season. Coming off a disastrous year in 2008 almost career ending, none could have anticipated this turnaround for Aaron. But if you take a look at Aaron’s history this ability was certainly there. Before he was injured so perhaps it should not be a total surprise. But already surpassing franchise second base record for home runs and only half way through the season undoubtedly he deserves an A. Add in his A++ fielding abilities and Aaron is by far and away the star. And deserved his All-Star appearance. My only concern is that the last couple of weeks he appeared to be wilting with his at bats. Fatigue ???
Shortstop. Scutaro another A++. Both as lead off and at short, he has overachieved in both. 56 walks. Not bad for a leadoff. He has been a great tandem with Hill in hitting order and in the infield. These two have been a major reason why Jays started off so well.
Third base. Rolen. A ++. Rolen has had a great first half both with his gold glove performance and his bat. So much so that he has made that cleanup spot his not by default but by his performance.
Catcher. Barajas and Chavez. B+. Definitely a huge improvement over the Zaun years. One of the major improvements has been in the caught stealing category. Chavez has a great arm much better than his bat but Barajas has done more than average in both with ability to hit home runs from number eighth or nine positions. Michael Barrett injured early in season may return later but I think Chavez has done more than fill in and management may decide to let Barrett take his time in rehab. There is no obvious rush to get him back. And evidently Arencibia is knocking on the door for 2010.

The outfield and this is where the major problems are.
Starting with left field and Travis Snider. B--. Travis started off like a house on fire and did more than justify his position despite being rushed through the system maybe a year ahead of schedule. It finally caught up to him either his failure to adjust to the pitchers second time around or pitchers pitching to his weaknesses. Sent down to the minors his back problems sidelined him. Maybe that was bothering him in May as well. Despite that, Travis in this last week has hit three home runs and may be getting ready to return.
Lind. Adam deserves an A. Initially alternating with Travis at DH and left. Adam had a great start and has racked up some great numbers in the first half. We tend to forget that he too is a young guy and only in his second real season in the majors. But the future is very good with Lind/Snider combination.
Centre field. Wells. C-. Vernon has continued his slide of the last three seasons. Two years ago he had the excuse his injured shoulder, the following year after surgery he was recovering this season ??? in Spring training he reported with his own personal fitness consultant and ready to go. His numbers have just recently started to improve but he at least 50 points below what should be expected of him with his ability and hope hat he would be the team leader. Dropped down the order to six he did respond and now that Rolen has taken his cleanup role and by default the leadership role, perhaps Vernon can come back with less pressure on him and quietly put up his expected numbers in the second half. If he does then this team could still surprise the East.
Right field. Rios, the only D on the team. Like Vernon he has bitterly disappointed with his performance. This is not a sudden occurrence and most fans have watched this happen over the last three seasons, ever since that appearance in the All-Star home run classic. Did he do something to his swing? Before that he had 18 home runs before the All-Star break. Yes he was injured for half a season, but for the last season and a half he has been shadow of his former self. Most agree that he has the abilities and that is why most fans are so frustrated with him. Grounding into double plays ? 14 this season already in 88 games compared to 20 in the whole of last season. Batting average 30 points lower than last season.
I rank him lower than Vernon as his fielding is below Vernon who has managed to continue his high standards even though his hitting has suffered. Alex on the other hand has just gotten worse. Early in the season he was hit in the face with ball bouncing off the wall and ever since then he has gone into the corner very cautiously on most of the plays. Fans remember Raoul Mondesi charging into the corner and more recently young Travis Snider, fearless in their hustling. That is what we are missing in right. Also Alex’s refusal to steal more when he is on base, a great stealer of bases he is also one of the very worst base runners and has ruined several plays by apparently brainless mistakes on the bases. Moving him down has not achieved any different results unlike Vernon and thus this is why I rate him the lowest.

Bench: Bautista B + a great bench player and has performed well with his glove at third for Rolen and in left field. McDonald. Johnny Mc. Very surprisingly has had limited action due to performance of Scutaro and Hill. His bat remains a big issue and there is no way Cito can play him over Scutaro or Hill. Dellucci, awful to date 1-21 last time I looked. Cito, there are far better in Vegas.

Others: Inglett. C-. Joe had a few weeks of filling in but has now shown more than average abilities although playing well in Vegas AAA. Russ Adams D- mercifully let go but not after a long far too long a run in the majors. He just didn’t have it and it was only a surprise that Cito kept him here for so long with many equally deserving young guys in the e Vegas AAA.

September will be an interesting call up but now I see at least Ruiz, (19 Home runs 78 rbis to date) Snider, Arencibia and Phillips being top choices. It has been too bad that Jason Lane did not continue his hot bat from spring to Vegas. I can only imagine that it has to be a result of the huge disappointment at not coming north after overachieving in Dunedin and surpassing most of the first team in performance.

One to watch Brian Dopirak…. Just promoted from New Hampshire and goes 3-4 in debut in Vegas. His New Hampshire numbers .308 average 87 games, 101 hits, 19 hrs, 29 doubles, and 68 rbis. Interestingly he also went 3-4 in his debut with New Hampshire last year.

Pitching staff: Hammered very hard with injuries to all of the rotation, leads to a big question mark on this. Why ?
Are they overused? very definitely, and perfect example was during that stretch with National league where Cito was using five pitchers a night, many times back to back. Cito will get a pitcher up and then not use him, I don’t see that with other managers, if a guy is up in bullpen he is coming into the game. The other major issue with the pitchers has been walks and no one worse than Tallet 4-6 walks a game !!
But take a look at some of the usage stats for Frasor, Camp, Carlson… hmm a pattern here Cito ?

Halladay once again A++. Always great to watch him, when he is on there is no better. Of course the trade rumors are the big issue now. If JP can get great return then obviously it is a business decision, but it is hard to think of what would be an acceptable blockbuster exchange.
Romero A has been a pleasant surprise. Seems to be improving every outing after a poor start he has become the most reliable of the rotation. Cito says he will not overuse him and will put him on an innings count. We will see.
Frasor B. But great ERA of .245 lowest of his six year career. However I think Frasor is an example of what we have mentioned re overwork this season by Cito. So far Jason has already appeared in 36 games compared to 49 for the whole season in 2008.
Downs good to see him back and if he is fit that should start ripple effect for earlier innings.
Richmond. B. also on his way back from injury. Give him a B for earlier work but can he regain that ?
Tallet B-. Has had some good games but bottom line he is not a starter, he is long relief which Jays have missed so many times, not least during that long stretch of games with National League. He may be the one to go back in bullpen when Marcum returns. But with his team leading 51 walks. Along with 12 hrs and 60 runs he is by far the worst offender. He may even get the drop to Vegas.
Cecil C. Just not ready yet for the majors, he has been pushed into the first team through necessity but really a year away.
Hayhurst B-. Had a great spring and in Vegas one of the most reliable. Deserves to stay but will return to Vegas when Janssen, Richmond and Marcum return.
Mills C. Another like Cecil, great prospect but needs at least one more year in Vegas. He may be part of trade package though.
Rzepczynski. B+ . So far he has exceeded expectations, and definitely a qualifier evaluation based on only two starts, However bottom line he has seemed very poised and throws strikes the one big bugbear of pitching rotation.
Carlson. B- . Does not seem to be as dominant as last year but then he was rookie in 2008, but he is another being overused. Last season 69 games 60 innings, this season so far 44 games 41 innings. Could return to the lefty lefty matchups when the others return.
Camp. B-. Camp as with Carlson overused and inconsistent. Last season 40 games, 39 innings, this season so far 31 games 41 innings. Should be long relief with Tallet and once a week as opposed to every other day.
Accardo. B. another mixed performance, first game as closer was fine but then unreliable however I think this is due to the uncertainty with closer roles and with Downs back this could resolve itself in second half.
League. B. When Brandon is on and focused there is no better arm, but far too prone to wildness. He is a one inning guy and a very good one. Last ten games only four earned runs. Last season (post injury) 31 games 33 innings all season. This year already 38 games and 42 innings and his numbers of hits, runs and hrs are all far higher than 2008 but as above his last games have been far better.

So second half and Boston tonight. Let's play ball and start off on a hot streak.