Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - A New Middle Infield

Edgardo Alfonzo's contract was purchased this afternoon. He'll cover second base until Russ Adams pushes him out. To make room on the active roster, John McDonald was placed on the 15-day DL after pulling his groin in Saturday's loss. Aaron Hill will likely move to shortstop.

Alfonzo's pretty much done, so don't expect anything here, offensively or defensively. He hasn't been a league average hitter since 2002 and hasn't cracked six games at second base in a season since 2001. The Jays will be paying him the major league minimum pro-rated to however long he's with the team.

Hill looked good at shortstop last year, but he is changing positions again this year, so a transition period is expected. For whatever reason, I never pictured him as a long-term shortstop, but obviously the Jays know more than I do and they think otherwise. I expected him to end up at 2B or 3B, but it looks like he'll be #1 on the depth chart for a while.

Figueroa, known to us so far as the guy whose glove broke on a Jim Thome line drive and also someone who runs as fast as he possibly can down the first base line to stay two steps ahead of the bus to Syracuse, is now the backup infielder to Alfonzo and Hill.

With the 40-man roster full before Alfonzo's arrival, the Jays made room by placing A.J. Burnett on the 60-Day DL. Burnett wasn't going to be back by late June anyway, so that's a non-event.

Posted by Rob on Monday, May 29 2006 @ 06:36 PM EDT.

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The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

Geoff - Monday, May 29 2006 @ 10:38 PM EDT (#147909) #

I'm sure Alex Gonzalez would make himself available if asked.

King Ryan - Monday, May 29 2006 @ 10:47 PM EDT (#147911) #

Why not just call Adams back up? Honestly, this is just pointless.

Ron - Monday, May 29 2006 @ 10:49 PM EDT (#147912) #

One game was all I needed to see from Alfonzo. Well okay I'll also include the Angel games I saw this season. He's worthless at the plate and there's a reason why he was let go by the Angels, who I believe are on the hook for almost 7 million dollars.

I refuse to believe Alfonzo is the best option out there at 2B when Hill is playing SS. I hope JP is extremely busy working the phones.

DepecheJay - Monday, May 29 2006 @ 10:54 PM EDT (#147913) #

What's lost in all this is that Aaron Hill is a much better fielder than anyone gave him credit for heading into this season. The difference between he and Adams at SS was apparent on the double play ball where Hill got taken out and still delivered a laser to Overbay to turn two.

Alfonzo is a joke though, and I'd rather stop messing around with Adams at AAA and let him work with 55 instead. This is a waste.

Twilight - Monday, May 29 2006 @ 11:38 PM EDT (#147915) #

I would love to see the Fonz make a huge splash, hitting .300 with a .370 OBP and making highlight reels, but we know that's not going to happen. Kudos to him for the determination, but he was hitting under .250 in the minors. You can imagine how he will be hitting here.

I know that the Jays have been getting little offense out of the middle infield, but honestly, it's okay not to have the Mad Slugging Powah one through nine. The rest of the guys are handling it easily. The weak spot right now seems to be the pitching. You can never have enough of it, in the rotation or the bullpen. If any trades are made, I really hope that it brings some good pitching to Toronto, not a middle infielder with a .030 higher average and a negligible improvement in defense.

Magpie - Monday, May 29 2006 @ 11:52 PM EDT (#147919) #

I may be wrong, but I think Adams has to remain with Syracuse for 10 days before he can be recalled.

I said in the other thread that Doc didn't have the good sinker tonight (no ground balls to the shortstop, just one to the second baseman) - but who knows? Maybe he wanted to break in his new middle infield very, very gradually.

Elijah - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 12:40 AM EDT (#147921) #

Magpie, the Blue Jays could have called up Adams after placing McDonald on the DL.

I think it's going to be hard to find anyone that can hit at a replacement level. If the Blue Jays aren't going to get any offense from a position, it would behoove them to find a defensive wizard to play there.

I think everyone in the front office, the coaching staff and the fans would rather see Adams than either Figueroa or Alfonzo. I'm sure once they feel Adams is capable of playing second, he will be up. Hopefully, that will be sooner rather than later but with Hill readjusting to shortstop, I kinda understand why the Jays want to at least get one experienced defender at a middle infield position though I don't see Alfonzo fitting that description.

Rob - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 07:48 AM EDT (#147928) #

Speaking of "a new middle infield," the Jays used only four shortstops all of last year -- Adams, Hill, McDonald, Menechino -- but in the last five games, they have had five different starting shortstops.

Mike D - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 10:54 AM EDT (#147937) #

I agree 100% with each and every point in Twilight's post. For all of the angst over the middle infield, overall the Jays have had an excellent offence and perfectly respectable defence. The largest statistical weakness the Jays have had has been keeping the ball in the ballpark.

The most pressing need for the team, in my opinion, is to improve their bullpen with less homer-prone relievers not wearing No. 52. As for Adams, if the club wants him to try something out mechanically with his defence, then they should give him a bit more time in Syracuse. But it hasn't been his fault that Rogers Centre has been Homer Central for the opposition.

Dave Till - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 11:08 AM EDT (#147939) #

Alfonzo is playing for the same reason Huckaby was playing last year - the Jays are down to Plan C.

Plan A was to have Adams at short and Hill at second. That worked until Adams lost confidence in his throwing (or Gibbons lost confidence in Adams' throwing, or both).

Plan B was to send Adams to Syracuse to learn how to play second, put McDonald at short, and have Hill take ground balls at short. That was a perfectly reasonable plan in the short-term, but the Jays didn't expect McDonald to get hurt.

Now, the Jays are forced to move Hill to short right away, and are using Alfonzo at second until Adams is ready. Alfonzo isn't going to help much, but he's likely to be better than Figueroa. Adams needs a bit of time to learn to play second; he's never played anything other than shortstop. (Hill has played a lot of short, so his transition isn't as difficult.)

The question that needs to be answered isn't, "Is Alfonzo a good second baseman?" The question is, "Is Alfonzo is the best choice among the currently available options?" The answer to this is probably yes - Alfonzo is probably still capable of playing at least acceptable defense, and he has considerable experience, so he won't make pressure errors.

I would assume that, as soon as Adams is comfortable at second, he'll be back up, and Fonzie will be gone.

Chuck - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 11:38 AM EDT (#147944) #

and Fonzie will be gone

Happy Days indeed.

Flex - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 12:07 PM EDT (#147948) #

It was my first game of the year in person last night, and I have to say I was blown away by the production values of BJ Ryan's entrance -- his name in massive, metalic animated letters surrounded by exploding flame on the all the video screen acreage, plus pounding intimidating rock music. It was almost as if the very bowels of Hell had opened up to produce some demon seed of destruction ready to lay waste to the opposition.

The mood of the place was a little sombre at the time, given the three run jack that had just tied up the score, but I can see why people normally get excited by BJ's entrance. They are COMMANDED to get excited on PAIN OF DEATH if they don't. This wouldn't work with any other closer I can think of, save maybe Gagne. But by being a big man who blows batters away, Ryan makes it work.

SimonB - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 12:55 PM EDT (#147952) #

The flames may be a little tacky but I still think they're great; there's a pensive feeling of excitement virtually every time BJ comes in - a feeling of impending victory, even in a tie game. I especially like how the crowd has taken to chanting his name once there gets to be two down in the ninth. If we work on that all year, maybe by next season it will be the whole stadium that gets into the act.

MatO - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 01:09 PM EDT (#147954) #

Adams needs a bit of time to learn to play second; he's never played anything other than shortstop.

According to the Blue Jays Media Guide, Adams was 1st team all-ACC for North Carolina in 2001 as a 2nd baseman.

Jordan - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 01:59 PM EDT (#147960) #

Happy Days indeed.

No ... they weren't all happy days. There was the time I lost all my money to those gamblers, and my dad Tom Bosley had to get it back.

Ski - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 04:09 PM EDT (#147972) #

No ... they weren't all happy days. There was the time I lost all my money to those gamblers, and my dad Tom Bosley had to get it back.

Did you fail Remedial Science 1A too?

HollywoodHartman - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 05:26 PM EDT (#147976) #

Clemens has signed a deal with the Astros for the rest of the year. It's for around $3.5 Mil per month. Good news that he's out of the AL, but the move is no surprise.

Four Seamer - Tuesday, May 30 2006 @ 07:07 PM EDT (#147990) #

Clemens has signed a deal with the Astros for the rest of the year. It's for around $3.5 Mil per month. Good news that he's out of the AL, but the move is no surprise.

Apparently it comes as something of a surprise to the Astros, who are denying that a deal is done.

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