"if you're going to come out here and play, you might as well win."
-- Cito Gaston, yesterday
Today the Blue Jays enjoy their first off day, and it's safe to say that even
those of us who were starry-eyed optimists about this year's team (I
think that's WillRain and myself) weren't expecting a 10-4 start.
It's encouraging that the team has been able to mount an effective offense despite the struggles of the number three hitter. They've been able to do this largely because of the two guys hitting in front of him. It's probable that all three hitters will return to something much closer to their established levels of production. There are always things to work on - David Purcey and Brandon League don't seem to be firing on all cylinders. They throw the ball as well as anyone on the staff, but the pitching part kind of comes and goes. And is it just me, but has Aaron Hill not quite recovered the defensive form we had grown accustomed to? (Relays from the outfield aside.) Although if Hill decides to continue hitting like this, I really couldn't care less.
People are still getting used to Cito Gaston and his ways, and occasionally reminding us all what it was that people never did like about his approach to the job. He hates to pinch hit - he always has - because he regards it as telling one of his players that "I don't think you can do the job." Gaston is a manager who works by building up his players. The only guys he isn't going to mind saying that to are John McDonald and probably, now that he's here, Raul Chavez. Everyone has observed that he won't send Snider up to hit for Bautista. Fair enough, but the reverse is true as well. He's far less likely than most managers to send Bautista up to hit for Snider (and there are any number of pitchers in the AL where Bautista is a much more logical choice). One of Gaston's previous teams had a whopping 4 pinch hits over the entire season; another team had 5 (hey, this year's squad already has 1 pinch hit!.) Gaston will happily sacrifice a game matchup to stick with his approach. He manages the team and the season, rather than the game. So - get used to it.
It does mean that Gaston might not be the best manager of a computer simulation or a fantasy team.
And while Gaston says the road is open for Snider to move up in the order, know this - Rios isn't going anywhere while he's struggling. Right now, the LH bats line up 5-7-9 which makes it a trifle inconvenient for the other manager to fire a LOOGY at a couple of them. I'm not sure how Gaston can mess with that without putting two LH bats in succession. Or dropping Scutaro and/or Hill to the bottom part of the order (and why would he want to do that at this moment in time?) My own ideal batting order would be radically different (probably something like Rios-Overbay-Lind-Wells-Snider-Rolen-Hill-Scutaro-Barajas). But it really doesn't make an enormous amount of difference either way.
Next comes 20 games in 20 days. Twelve of them are on the road. After the three games with Texas they're off to Chicago for three games and on to Kansas City for four. They come home to play three games against the Orioles and two against Cleveland, and then it's off to the west coast for two games with the Angels and three with the A's. Then comes their next off day and after the flight home they get the Yankees. They may have upgraded their third base situation by then. The schedule and the travel alone makes it tough, so I'll be more than pleased if they can split these 20 games.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20090420093534359