The Mystery at Second Base

At this point, we can all agree that the Kelly Johnson project in Toronto has been a failure, and that his time playing for the Blue Jays is over, at least I hope you think that way.

Kelly is approaching the franchise record for single season strikeouts(at the time of this writing). He plays defense rather half-heartedly. His demeanor is almost as if he doesn’t want to be playing professional baseball. He plays with little passion, and passion is something that this era of the Blue Jays is built around. (Not everyone is Brett Lawrie, but you guys get the point.) Now, enough ranting about how bad Kelly Johnson has been with the Jays, I think we have all heard it enough, I’m here to crack the case at second base.

There are a few options at 2nd next year for the Blue Jays, but none of them involve a superstar. There isn’t too much elite talent out there this year, but I do think I have the best solution for this problem right now.

The most talked about option is to start Adeiny Hechavarria next year. I, for one do not want this to happen. Adeiny Hechavarria is a plus plus defender. There’s no doubt about that, but he needs one more year in Buffalo, his bat isn’t very productive right now, regardless of how much Buck and Pat Tabler praise how much progress he has made. I am not expecting him to ever be a star with the bat, but I don’t think he’s ready for Major League pitching. His average was inflated in AAA this year, playing in the PCL, and I think a year in Buffalo will be very telling.

Another thing about Hechavarria is, that although us fans love him, he is not as loved by scouts. They believe his bat is a huge liability, and he can only start in a very good lineup, which fortunately, we have. Hech wasn’t even on the Baseball America Blue Jays top 10 prospects list, which tells you a lot, considering that in the same feature, they ranked him the best defensive infielder in the system. When SBNation’s “Minor League Ball” ranked the Jays prospects before the season, Hechavarria was ranked 17th, behind the likes of Matt Dean, Joseph Musgrove, Dwight Smith Jr, and Jacob Anderson, the praise isn’t too high. So, Hechavarria at second base next year is a big no from me.

Some fans seem to like Marco Scutaro, and I like him as well, but with the way he is playing right now, his price will go through the roof. I think we have to realize that it is Marco Scutaro we are talking about. The guy will never be the answer at a specific position for a full year, in my humble opinion. So, is Scutaro the answer? Nope.

There are some 2nd basemen that are free agents this year, like Mike Fontenot, Jeff Keppinger, and Jose Lopez, but they are all subpar players at best, and deserve nothing more than a bench role.

Now we get to Mr. 2013 Blue Jays Second baseman. He hasn’t shown up in the stat sheet too often this year, but that’s only because he hasn’t played an inning this season, his name is Freddy Sanchez. Freddy is our savior! Freddy Sanchez is a career .297 hitter, with a career .335 OBP. That would be significantly better than Kelly Johnson. Sanchez’s career OPS is .748, which, for a second baseman is stellar. He plays very solid defense, and plays with some real passion. He would bring that “veteran leadership,” to the clubhouse, along with some World Series experience. He is also very consistent, which would be a breath of fresh air, after a year of Kelly Johnson. Sanchez can also bridge the gap for the real arrival of Adeiny Hechavarria. Coming off a season in which he didn’t play, he should be relatively cheap. Oh yeah, and he has won a batting title and is a 3 time All Star.

So, AA, now it’s your job. Sign Freddy Sanchez to a 1-year deal. You will not regret it.

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The Assassination of Johnny Giavotella by the Coward Dayton Moore

The Assassination of Johnny Giavotella by the Coward Dayton Moore

(Or another buy low candidate for Alex Anthopolous)

            Heading into the off-season, there are 3 obvious holes that the Blue Jays will need to address before the season starts next April.  One is in the rotation, another is in Left Field, assuming Anthony Gose doesn’t prove he can stick, and the last is at the keystone, where Kelly Johnson’s horrendous 2^nd half slump means he certainly won’t be back next season.  If you look at the free agent crop this off-season its especially poor, where the top two names available will likely be Freddy Sanchez of the Giants, and Johnson himself.  Neither of those excite me in the least, so in order to address that position Anthopolous will need to get creative.

            Throughout his tenure as the Jays general manager Alex Anthopolous has routinely targeted players who have talent, but for one reason or another have fallen out of favour with their current club.  He did this with Yunel Escobar from the Braves, again with Brett Lawrie in the Shaun Marcum trade, and most recently with Colby Rasmus after he’d fallen out with Tony LaRussa. 

Another player who fits that bill perfectly is Royals 2^nd base prospect Johnny Giavotella.  After being a 2^nd round pick in 2008, Giavotella exploded in 2010 in AA Northwest Arkansas, finishing 6^th in batting average with a .322 average, to go with a terrific OBP (.395), and Slugging % (.460).  He followed that breakout season, by posting even better numbers the next year at AAA in Omaha (.338/.390/.481), even earning a promotion to the majors in August.  However, like many young players getting his first taste of the big time, he disappointed despite getting regular at bats over the last two months of the season hitting just .247/.273/.376.  This was evidently enough for the Royals to completely sour on him as a player, despite the fact they’d invested a high draft pick in him.

Even though they had Giavotella seemingly ready to step into the lineup, and a perfectly acceptable fallback option in Chris Getz, in one of the strangest moves of the off-season the Royals decided to block Gio’s progress by bringing back Yuniesky Betancourt.  Betancourt had spent the better part of two seasons as the Royals starting shortstop, and had been massively disappointing, managing to combine atrocious defense, with one of the worst OBP’s in the league both years. 

After getting to the Brewers to take his poor contract in the Zack Greinke trade, the Royals brought him back seemingly as the utility infielder, and gave the starting 2^nd base job to the decidedly average Getz out of spring training.  The reason they gave was that Giavotella’s defense needed more seasoning at AAA before they were ready to commit to him.  With the Royals seemingly making a push to win this season, these decisions make some sense, as going with the 28 year old Getz was presumably safer than risking the unproven Giavotella. 

They did give Giavotella a brief shot in May when Yuni hit the DL, but despite hitting the ball very well (31% Line Drive rate), hit into a lot of bad luck, and when Betancourt returned he was sent back down.  At this point in the season, the Royals had already gone through a 12 game losing streak, and had already lost starters Danny Duffy & Felipe Paulino to Tommy John surgery.  All pretences of winning this season had gone out the window, but they continued to let Giavotella rake down in the minors, where he’d already proven he could defeat.  Keep in mind, that the reason they had given Getz the job out of spring training was reportedly because of his defensive acumen, but now not 2 months later, they were turning to Yuni and his atrocious glove.

It really dawned on me how much the Royals had soured on Giavotella until this week, when they finally cut ties with Yuniesky Betancourt.  It should be noted that this team is so poor at evaluating talent, that it wasn’t Betancourt’s poor defense that led to him being cut, nor was it his .256 OBP that got him cut.   Rather it was his poor attitude, lack of willingness to accept a reduced role.  Anyway, with Yuni’s spot on the roster coming open, that seemed to give them another great opportunity to give Giovatella an extended look to close out the year.  Again they are turning to Getz, and because they need a backup shortstop (despite Alcides Escobar playing all but 2 games at short this year), they called up 27 year old Tony Abreu.

            At this point, the Royals have screamed from the rooftops, that we don’t want Giavotella, and have effectively killed any real trade value he has.  Despite hitting .335/.401/.488 in almost 900 AAA plate appearances, this year alone they’ve chosen to give playing time to Yuniesky Betancourt, Chris Getz, Irving Falu, and now Tony Abreu instead a promising 24 year old former 2^nd round pick.  This has all the makings of someone that Anthopolous could swoop in and get on the cheap. 

            This isn’t to say that Giavotella is a perfect player.  He does have defensive deficiencies, and has disappointed in his very brief major league stints.  Despite all that, Giavotella still has the type of bat that inspires alot of faith, especially given how weak the alternatives at 2^nd base are this off-season.  I’m not sure if the Royals and Blue Jays could work out a deal, especially given that both teams most pressing need is in the starting staff, but if something could be worked out, and I think it could, then he could be just the low cost alternative that could plug the 2^nd base hole next year, and for years to come.

Blue Jays Mid-Season Grades:Part 3

The third part of the series for you!

Rajai Davis: B-

Rajai Davis is back! After being horrendous last season, Rajai has returned to form, since taking over the staring left field job at least. Since taking over on May 29th, not including tonight’s game, Rajai is batting .303 with a .345 OBP. He has stolen 12 bases in that span, while only being caught 4 times. His defense has been average, but much better than what Eric Thames would have provided. If he keeps this up, he probably will be traded, because his value just keeps on rising, and Travis Snider will almost certainly be called up to replace him.  If he is kept, I can’t see him keeping this up, so a C at the end of the year seems realistic.

Davis and Mathis have both been
played well for the Jays this year

Kelly Johnson: C+

Kelly Johnson started off the season so well.  But then he stopped getting on base, and instead of getting on base, he would strike out. Since May 9^th, KJ has struck out 59 in only 48 games. His OBP since then is .297, and he only has a .318 slugging percentage. His numbers are clearly taking a hit because of the K’s as shown by his BABIP since May 9^th. His BABIP is .320, a product of getting so many of his outs without putting the ball in play. His defense has not been so good, but I can live with that. I don’t see him coming back next season for a few reasons. One is Adeiny Hechavarria, and the second is Jon Berti. Hech should be ready to take over short next year with Yunel Escobar moving to second, if Adeiny figures out how to hit. Berti is tearing up the minors right now, and I can see him starting in Las Vegas next season, putting him into consideration for a mid-2013 call up.  To end, if KJ wants to stay with the team next season, and increase his grade, he needs to cut down on his strikeouts, by a lot!

Jeff Mathis:C+

Mathis has a WAR of 0.6 this season. JP Arencibia has a WAR of 0.0. Mathis has played in 26 games; Arencibia has played in 67 games. Personally, I would be starting Jeff Mathis and his .288 OBP (Arencibia’s is .260). Both catchers are very bad offensively clearly, although JPA does have that power aspect to his game. Mathis’ defense has been amazing again this season, and that is why he is the best catcher on this team. His defense is so much better than JPA’s, and he deserves to start. Mathis has been a very good backup catcher this season, but if he wants to increase his grade, I believe he needs to get on base more, like he was during his hot start to the season.

Henderson Alvarez: C

Before I go on a rant about how bad Henderson Alvarez is, I’ll say that he is 22, and he has time to improve. But right now, he is not good. This is a in part due to the fact that he was brought up to the majors without getting enough time in the minors to develop an out pitch.  It is impossible to succeed in this league if you don’t miss bats, and Henderson does not. Nobody has been successful with a K/9 of 2.8. A 4.00 ERA is what Henderson will stay around if he doesn’t add that “Out Pitch”.  It is a shame that there is no way he could get sent down because of all the injuries, but the AL East is not a place to try to learn an out pitch. He has been quite lucky that he has had a fairly good defense behind him up to this point, but he needs to start missing bats. C is probably what he will be at the end of the season unless magically he learns to strike batters out.

Brett Cecil: C

Cecil has done what has
 been expected from him so far.

Cecil is one of the replacement pitchers for the 3 injured ones, so all you can really ask for from him is to go 6 innings of less than 5 runs allowed. He has done much better than that, well except for one start. He hasn’t been giving inning, as he has pitched 22.1 of them in 4 starts, but minus that game against the Angels in which he allowed 8 runs, he has only given up 6 runs in 3 starts. He is going to need to start keeping the ball in the ballpark, which he has not done at all to this point if he wants to improve, but overall he has been average.  When Morrow and Hutch come back, he will probably be moved to the bullpen along with Carlos Villanueva, depending on how Aaron Laffey continues to pitch.

What do you think of the 3rd part? Comment with your grades below and we could discuss what we did differently! 

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