And what have we learned?
I see there was a big discussion here about the Blue Jays last week. I understand y'all were deciding which guys to get rid of. David Cooper was one of the suggested candidates for riddance, and indeed, young Cooper has been returned to AAA. This will clear a spot for Jayson Nix, a unique player who combines the defensive wizardry of Encarnacion with the offensive stylings of Johnny Mac. But before he left, young Cooper did manage to key the beginning of what is now a five game winning streak.
I also recall that it was suggested Corey Patterson would make a fine fifth outfielder. If that's true, it's very bad news for Patterson. Does anyone in the AL actually carry a fifth outfielder? Hell, the Angels don't even carry a fourth outfielder. When Mike Scioscia wants to give one of his regulars a day off, he has his DH grab a glove.Boston does it different - they actually do have five outfielders, with Cameron and McDonald supporting the three LH starters, and just one extra infielder. The Tigers spent some time trying to get by without a backup catcher, seeing as how that's the position their DH plays. But those are the exceptions - the normal bench configuration in the AL these days is generally a
catcher, a middle infielder, a corner infielder, and an outfielder.
I've decided I have a new favourite player. (Jose is not a mere player, he is Divine Intervention.) It's Casey Janssen. I just find him fun to watch. It's the way he prances around the mound, as light on his feet as a dancer. So I hope he keeps pitching well....
Elsewhere - does anyone else think we just might have overestimated the impact of all the money the Red Sox spent this winter? Carl Crawford will certainly play better than he has so far - he should at least turn out to be as productive as, oh, Jacoby Ellsbury - nevertheless, I still persist in believing Crawford is one of the most overrated players in the majors. (Yes, I did once say I was "insanely enraptured" over Crawford's future. I've gotten over it.) Adrian Gonzalez is a certifiably great player, of course, and he's playing like one. But the guy he's effectively replacing, Adrian Beltre, was a great player for the Red Sox himself. The little more Gonzalez gives them with the bat over Beltre is pretty much erased by the difference between having Youkilis playing third base rather than Beltre. The Red Sox real upgrades this season will prove to be the return to health of Beckett, Ellsbury, and Pedroia.
The Yankees are being reminded that time really can tear down a building, destroy a woman's face, and it sure won't wait for thee. The Jorge Posada show attracted a lot of attention this weekend. While it's possible that Posada simply has fallen completely off the cliff, he was still a reasonably productive bat just last season. For the moment, I think it's still possible that he's just having a devil of a time adjusting to the switch from catcher to DH. A catcher is involved in the game, and many catchers have had trouble when that part of the game is taken away from them. (Joe Torre once recalled how when he started playing in the infield his mind used to wander - "I had to kick myself to pay attention.") Posada doesn't even have that anymore, he's just sitting there thinking about his at bats.
On the other hand, he is 39 years old.
Posada's even older than the Yankees shortstop. I rather blithely assumed that Derek Jeter's struggles in 2010 were largely a matter of the god of BABIP giving Derek the back of her hand, and expected to see things return to something a little more like normal this season. Through 2009, Jeter had hit .360 on his balls in play. In 2010, it plunged to .307, and I thought he was suffering the Aaron Hill Experience, that it was random and unlikely to happen again. But this year it stands at .287, and it's beginning to look more like a symptom of Advancing Decrepitude.. He's still one of the greatest 37 year old shortstops in major league history, of course. But that's a little like being the tallest jockey... Alex Rodriguez, who will be 36 in a couple of months, is still a very productive player. But he's no longer a Mighty Force, and the Yankees will be paying him something like $24 million dollars every year until he's 42 years old. This is unlikely to end well, either.
And C.C. Sabathia still weighs about 300 pounds...
And then there was Tampa, doing their damndest to prove that baseball really might be 75% pitching. No Carl Crawford? No Carlos Pena? No problem. Matt Joyce is, and will continue to be, better than either of those guys anyway. Casey Kotchman may prove to be their latest reclamation project made good, in the tradition of Pena himself. B.J. Upton, as unpredictable a talent as there is in the game, so far seems to be having one of his good seasons. And Joe Maddon is demonstrating that it is indeed always possible to cobble together a working bullpen, and any team that can't manage this fairly elementary feat should be ashamed of themselves.
Anyway, one last thing. I implore you, I beseech you, to always remember this: baseball was
designed, not to break our hearts, but to teach us lessons in humility.
In baseball, you don't know nothing. And whenever you lose sight of that, the game wastes no time reminding you.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20110515191051569