Here is the latest in what may seem like a never-ending series of monthly report cards for the Blue Jays. Enjoy (or, at least, tolerate).
Offense
You know this story already: the team's power numbers went south at the end of the month,
joining the Jays' pennant hopes and summer on the list of things that were here and
are now leaving. The fall is a sad-making time of year.
Russ Adams
.269 .361 .413
Down a tick or two from earlier in the summer, but he's still got decent leadoff
numbers. And I expect things to stay this way for quite some time. Adams'
development was one of the good things that happened this year; the focus
on Hill kept the pressure off him. People have forgotten that
Russ, too, is a rookie.
Grade: B+
Frank Catalanotto
.237 .314 .373
Has walked seven times in August, seven in July, and seven in June.
His at-bat total is very low. Was he injured this month? Or are the Jays platooning him?
Someone please refresh my memory. My guess is that his August numbers
are off because of bad luck: he
didn't have as many hits drop in this month as he did last month.
Grade: C
Aaron Hill
.255 .309 .392
Going through his adjustment period: his walks are down, his average is down, and his
power is down. This is where we see exactly how good Hill is going to be. I think
he'll bounce back, and he still has star potential, but player development is not
an exact science.
Grade: C
Shea Hillenbrand
.260 .300 .462
Has more power than any other Jay this month, but that's not saying too much. Has gone back to
hacking at everything; he drew only four walks all month. Perhaps he's trying too hard
to be a #4 hitter, which is really not part of his skill set. The Jays need to find a big
bomber to play first - somebody like *sob* Delgado.
Grade: C+
Eric Hinske
.348 .413 .500
I can't say that I expected this. He isn't hitting for much power, but I don't think anybody
is complaining. I don't know what he's going to do from here on in, but he's probably
bought himself another year on the roster with this performance. It'll likely be another
year of hitting .240, but that's kind of how the world works.
Grade: A
Ken Huckaby
.500 .500 .583
Now gets the chance to go back to the role he was intended to play: emergency catcher and
triple-A mentor. I suspect he could work for the rest of his life as a roving catching
instructor if he wanted to. It beats selling insurance for a living, I should think.
Grade: Gone
Orlando Hudson
.293 .324 .444
Hudson is now a known quantity: he will hit .270 or so with occasional power, very few walks,
good speed, and world-class defense. He won't get better than this, but his current
performance level is good enough to help a team win. Somebody ought to compile a DVD of
Orlando Hudson's greatest defensive plays. I'd buy it.
Grade: B+
Reed Johnson
.261 .316 .352
Sparky is also a known quantity: he basically has the same offensive skills as the O-Dog,
and the ability to play all three outfield positions. He's a perfect fourth outfielder.
The problem is that the Jays don't have three outfielders who can consistently hit better
than Reed.
Grade: B-
Corey Koskie
.244 .363 .407
That's more like it. He's still not got his average up, but he's
got his batting eye back, and he's starting to hit the ball a little harder.
Before anyone considers jettisoning Corey, compare his August numbers to Aaron Hill's.
And his defense is better than Hill's too.
Grade: B+
Frank Menechino
.158 .304 .316
One sign of a good team is one with bench depth. There are lots and lots of teams
with 25th men who are a heck of a lot worse than this. Mini-Me's average was off
this month, but he's still drawing walks, and the sample size is too small to
draw any conclusions anyway. As long as he's not grouching because he's not playing
much, everything will be just fine.
Grade: C+
Guillermo Quiroz
.000 .000 .000
The rule is this: as soon as you're better than the guy ahead of you, you come up.
Quiroz is a raw talent, but he's better than Huckaby. In his first game, he hit two
balls harder than Huck will ever hit the ball in his lifetime. Neither of them went
out, but then not much has gone out lately.
Grade: Too early to tell
Alex Rios
.207 .242 .333
Oh dear. He was doing rather well for a while, and now he's fallen into a hole again.
Gabe Gross must be perking up a bit, don't you think? Rios has almost limitless
potential, but it looks like it's going to take years to unlock it, and none of us
have that much time. At this point, I'd be willing to package him in a deal for
a better hitter.
Grade: D-
Vernon Wells
.252 .287 .363
I would venture that it is clear by now that Vernon is not going to be a megastar.
This isn't a knock: he's a very good player. But I'll be surprised if he's
ever among the league leaders in anything ever again. He's not a world-class power hitter,
he's not going to reach .300, and he doesn't walk all that much.
He's not going to make it to the Hall of Fame, and he's
not an inspirational leader (not that inspirational leadership is all that important).
But he has good power, he runs well, he's a great fielder, and he's not causing
any problems in the clubhouse. A team with nine players as good as Wells
in the field would win a heck of a lot of games. As for this month: he slumped. It happens.
Grade: C+
Gregg Zaun
.238 .347 .325
His reduced power numbers suggest fatigue. He must have welcomed Quiroz with open arms.
Sleep in this morning, Gregg - you've earned it.
Grade: C+
Pitching
The Jays' pitching this month was about as good as can be expected when a team's
#1 and #2 starters are subtracted from the rotation. In other words, not all that good.
But you can't win a war without weapons.
Miguel Batista
13.1 15 9 11 6.08
Had a couple of unpleasant misadventures this month, including one total meltdown in a
crucial save situation, but he also quietly saved seven other ballgames. You've got to give
him credit for holding the job all year. The last guy who did that was Billy Koch,
and Batista has been more consistent than Koch was.
Grade: B
Dave Bush
35.2 40 6 25 4.29
On a per-game basis, he's the most extreme of the Jays' starters. Some days, he has
nothing, and Gibbons yanks him early. Other days, he pitches deep into the ballgame.
He has roughly the same skill set as Josh Towers; like Josh, his relatively low K/IP
ratio means that he has to have everything together in order to be successful.
The Jays should not pitch Bush and Towers back-to-back if they can help it, as the
second guy out will get stomped.
Grade: C+
Gustavo Chacin
37.1 38 19 23 5.30
All his numbers went bad: his walks shot up, his home runs shot up (he surrendered nine),
and his strikeouts went down. I suspect fatigue is a factor, but I worry that hitters
may have adjusted to him. Chacin's main weapon is the ability to bust right-handers
inside; if hitters aren't biting, Chacin may be in trouble. We sometimes forget
that he is still a rookie, and young pitchers often take years to learn their trade.
Grade: D
Vinnie Chulk
12.0 11 2 5 3.75
There isn't really much to say about him that hasn't already been said. He throws
strikes, takes the ball whenever asked, and quietly does his job. Every team needs
about three guys like this. Wait a minute: the Jays do have three guys like this! Yay!
Grade: B
Scott Downs
29.0 25 10 23 2.79
Now that's an unexpected surprise. His K/IP and K/BB ratios suggest that the ERA isn't
a fluke. I don't know whether he'll stay at this level, but he's earned a spot in
the rotation for the rest of the season and maybe even next. Had Doc and Ted not
gotten hurt, who would have discovered that Downs is capable of this?
Grade: A
Jason Frasor
13.0 14 4 15 2.08
Back in top form this month. One advantage of having a deep bullpen is that there is always
somebody at the top of their game; Gibbons can temporarily shuffle the deck and get the
effective guy out there in the seventh and eighth.
Grade: A
Roy Halladay
N/A
At this point, all we can hope for is a full recovery. A broken leg is a serious
injury. Pitching is such a delicate operation that the slightest thing wrong can
ruin a pitching motion. The good news: Doc's arm won't be overworked for 2006.
Grade: MIA #1
Brandon League
9.2 13 5 2 9.31
I sometimes forget that he's still here. I guess he's a work in progress, but
right now he appears to be going in the wrong direction. I'm wondering whether it's
better to forget that 2005 ever happened, and just have him do what he was
doing before he got here.
Grade: F
Ted Lilly
N/A
Who would have thought, back in the spring when the Tedster looked horribly
lost out there, that his loss would be a significant blow to the team's
fading pennant hopes? And who would have thought that he would return before
Halladay did?
Grade: MIA #2
Dustin McGowan
24.0 35 11 15 9.75
Clearly not ready. This is why you can never have too much pitching: McGowan
is the best #5 starter option the Jays have right now. I hope that being
beaten up a lot isn't hurting his confidence. I suppose it's a good idea
to find out exactly what it takes to succeed at the major league level.
McGowan has the potential to become an ace pitcher if everything breaks
right, but command is what separates the stars from the bums, and McGowan
doesn't have it yet.
Grade: F
Scott Schoeneweis
9.2 10 5 7 1.86
Had a quietly good month, though 15 baserunners in 9 2/3 innings suggest that
he was a bit lucky.
Grade: A-
Justin Speier
13.2 11 3 10 3.95
Had a couple of outings where he got beaten up rather badly. It happens.
At this point, Chulk, Frasor and Speier are roughly equal on the depth chart.
As long as he isn't secretly dreaming of becoming an ace closer somewhere,
he'll be of service for some time to come.
Grade: B+
Josh Towers
43.1 45 4 21 2.49
Josh is another known quantity: he's going to give up a fair number of hits and homers,
he's going to throw strikes, and he's going to compete. Went deeper into ballgames
this month than he usually does; his innings pitched total led the club.
I don't want to think where the Jays would be without him.
Grade: A-
Pete Walker
12.1 11 7 9 3.65
Restored to his rightful role of long man, P-Walk is pretty much back to normal.
A few more walks than when he's at his best, but he didn't allow any home runs all month.
Grade: B-
Overall
As the Jays sink back towards .500 and the annual struggle to finish ahead of the Evil
Baltimores, let's take a moment to reflect on what John Gibbons and his team have done.
Gibbons has taken a team with one power hitter, no offense from the DH slot, rookies
in two or more key defensive positions, and a starting rotation consisting of three
rookies and two castoffs, and kept them in contention for the better part of the summer.
This is an impressive achievement for both him and the Fighting Jays. The club is going
to top 2 million in attendance for the first time this millennium, and people are now
thinking good things about the club for the first time in eons. This season has to
be considered a ringing success.
Unfortunately, the next part is the hard part (as I keep saying). To get over the top, the Jays are going to have to find some star hitters and maybe a star pitcher. They're hard to find, they demand top dollar and they sometimes disrupt a clubhouse, but you need them in order to win big. I don't know whether J.P. is going to be able to find such stars. Unless things change radically, I suspect that winning is going to be very difficult to accomplish, unless the minor-league pitching really begins to develop, and the club simply overwhelms people with their pitching and defense.
But let's not end this on a sour note. The Jays are now being taken more seriously, and have a chance to contend, so they may be an attractive destination for someone wanting to take some of Ted Rogers' money. This wasn't the case a year ago. There are grounds for hope. Faint hope, but hope nonetheless. As a fan, that's all I ask for.
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