Lawrie back up after K'ing 7 of his last 9 AB's in AAA. To his defence, he have an OB% of over .400 in his rebah stint. Assumption is that he plays 2B. Kawasaki going down?

JA Happ pitched 3 innings for the GCL Jays today.

Kawasaki going down?

Yup.

Meanwhile, Emilio Bonifacio walks the streets disguised as a major league baseball player...

Lawrie at second. Do not like. Izturis at 3rd and Boni in LF. The line-up is getting closer and closer to Billy Martin's protest line-up for the completion of The Pine Tar Game.

Without Bautista or Encarnacion at 3B it makes no sense to me for Lawrie to be at 2B. I'm very curious to see where AA is going with this. Headley?

I think that's a reasonable guess.

"....The line-up is getting closer and closer to Billy Martin's protest line-up for the completion of The Pine Tar Game..."

I'm baffled by the sarcasm. Kawasaki has been replaced by Lawrie and you consider this a downgrade??

I believe he meant one of the best 3B in the game playing 2B, a light hitting 2B playing 3B, and one of the worst hitting 2B playing a corner OF position.

"....one of the best 3B in the game playing 2B, a light hitting 2B playing 3B, and one of the worst hitting 2B playing a corner OF position..."

All of which is perfectly defensible. Lawrie is a fine 3B and will probably be a fine 2B as well. Having greater positional flexibility on the roster is an obvious asset to the team, not a liability. Izturis has been hitting adequately, with an OBP of .336 since moving to 3B on June 7, so there's nothing wrong with leaving him where he is. As for Bonifacio, his appearance in LF today is purely a result of Cabrera's injury and the fact that the Jays don't want to play Davis in LF every day. It's surprising that people are resorting to bitter sarcasm about how the lineup looks after the injury to the regular LF starter. Of course the lineup is worse when a regular is injured, that's completely normal on any team -- why the sarcasm?

Personally, I'm excited to see Reyes and Lawrie lining up in the middle infield together for the first time ever. It's an intriguing development, and should be good for the Jays. Why not wait to see how they look together, and try a little optimism, instead of negativity?

It is bizarre, the man-love the Jays management has for Bonifacio.  This is a guy who in a 7 year career (6 with over 150 PA) has cracked 76 for OPS+ just once.  He has a 49 OPS+ this year which would be back for a backup shortstop or catcher, but they have played him 9 times in LF, 7 in CF, 5 in RF, 58 times at 2B and for 4 innings at shortstop.  That level of offense is so poor that Alfredo Griffin only had years that bad 3 times over 14 seasons with 150+ PA and he was as bad a hitter as I think I've seen get to play everyday (67 OPS+ lifetime vs Boni's 77).  At every position he has played this year outside of his 4 innings at shortstop he has a negative UZR/150 score.  His outfield play is so poor that it results in a -28.8 UZR/150 score which is about what I'd expect to get if I played.  Adam Dunn's lifetime outfield play (which is considered horrid) is a -13.3 UZR/150 score - although he did reach Boni levels in 4 of the past 5 years (what on earth are the White Sox thinking putting him out there anyways?).

No matter how you cut it Bonifacio is not a good ML baseball player.  He is a pure speed with no real skill elsewhere player.  His defense is a negative, his offense is a negative, there is nothing there.  Now, I am not arguing this time for Kawasaki as he did not hit well after coming back and with Lawrie at 2B there is nowhere for him to play (SS/2B occupied) but anyone in AAA would have to be better than Bonifacio the way he has played this year.

Now, in a desperate effort for positives... in July (16 PA) he has hit 286/375/357 but geez is that a super small sample size.  Push to the past 10 games and it drops to a 535 OPS.  In June he hit 172/209/219 over 67 wasted PA.  In May a 634 OPS over 81 PA.  In April a 536 OPS in 73 PA.  Just insane.  He should be used as a pinch runner, emergency replacement, used in blowouts only guy.  No more than that until he figures out how to either hit the ball or catch it.

Btw, who I'd probably have up instead of Bonifacio is a guy who can play the outfield and be used as a pinch runner/etc. and be mixed with Davis.  Gose fits even though he has hit horribly this year, Luis Jimenez (1B/DH but can't be much worse than Bonifacio for defense in LF) has a great bat in AAA but no speed or defense still I'd rather have the bat than Boni's.  Eugenio Velez has hit 271/371/439 in Buffalo playing 2B/3B/LF/DH with 19 SB vs 5 CS (37 SB last year) so he could do Boni's job easily.  71 OPS+ in majors over 718 PA.  Basically he is a bit older version of Bonifacio but at this point I'd take that as Bonifacio has moved from hopeful to frustrating to 'what the heck is wrong with Gibbons'.

I'd go with Pillar, and I think that could actually happen soon.

There's no room for Pillar unless the plan is to activate Melky, DFA Bonifacio, and keep the 8 man bullpen. AA has a big decision coming up when he's going to be forced to choose between his two most overrated commodities on the team.

AA says the Jays are "going for it", they still can make the playoffs.

Gibbons is trying out Lawrie at second to see if it gives the Jays options for the future.

If a team is "going for it" do they try a middle infield conversion in the middle of the season?

Pillar would be nice.  Of course, I was looking for someone to platoon with Davis while Cabrera is gone (which could be for another 100 games post-break depending how the commissioner's vendetta goes).  Pillar bats right.  Pillar also isn't on the 40 man yet, but I think he has to go on it this winter regardless.  He has climbed fast, from rookie in 2011, to A/A+ in 2012, to AA/AAA this year.  Composite for this year is 326/374/488 while AAA is 373/422/663.  After going 51-9 in SB-CS in 2012 he is 16-12 this year - needs more time with Tim Raines I think.  I'd probably leave him in AAA for now though until we know if Cabrera is gone for the year.  Once up he should play everyday as he might be something special.  Short term I'd go with Gose to platoon with Davis and send back down as soon as Cabrera is back, as even hitting horribly at least he fields well which gives him one more tool than Bonifacio.

All of which is perfectly defensible. Lawrie is a fine 3B

Sure, it's defensible. The moves are just pointless. Lawrie isn't just a fine 3B, he is an exceptional 3B. Moving him from 3rd to 2nd is being done for no clear reason. It's not being done to get someone's bat into the line-up, like Troy Glaus moving to SS, or Aaron Hill having to learn 3B and 2B on the fly in 2005, or even moving Hinske to 1B (so Koskie could play 3B) or RF (to platoon with Rios, and to get Glaus, Overbay and Hillenbrand in the line-up). It's not an emergency move, like Snider moving to CF in 2011 (Davis couldn't stay healthy, and Patterson was an unmitigated disaster).

The fact that Lawrie has had ankle issues, and has never been afraid of throwing his body around, putting him at 2nd base with a few games under his hat doesn't exactly fill me with confidence that he is going to be able to avoid the takeout slides while turning the double play. This is a move you make in the off-season, and let Lawrie work the kinks out in Spring Training. It's something to have in the back pocket in case a move needs to be made. It's not something that should be done in the middle of a season, to a player who hasn't been good this year. It's especially annoying because it gives the appearance that the organization has no clear idea of what it is doing.

Some roster choices coming up...
Offense: Cabrera returns, who goes down/out?  DeRosa and Bonifacio only candidates for offense.
Pitching: if go down to 7 who is sent away?  Redmond is first out I'd think, although Wagner has not been as good lately - last 10 games 9 IP, 9 H 5 R/ER 3 BB 9 SO 1 HR barely positive WPA - geez, that is a bad streak? Bit of bad luck in R allowed by other stats look good.

Yeah, a trade has got to be coming soon as this roster crunch is going to hit hard very, very soon unless Cabrera is gone for 2013 and part of 2014.  Unless AA gives up on the Bonifacio experiment and 8 man pen of course.

Santos is just around the corner and then Happ. Then the what if Romero continues to improve? What is the ETA of Morrow? Things could get crowded in the next few weeks.

Hmm. Bonifacio just drew his third walk of the month - the most he's walked in any entire month prior to this.

Baby steps...

Then Bonifacio is promptly thrown out stealing second.  The one thing he is paid to do and he fails.  Sigh.

Remember all those times JPA explained to the public that his real job was driving in runs?

How come he's stopped doing it?

He's temporarily forgiven.

Gibby is managing the bullpen beautifully today.

Actually not a bad game for that supposed joke of a lineup.

The long sequence offence works against a weak pitching staff.  Hopefully the club puts this one in the memory bank and learns from it. 

Both Arencibia and Bonifacio now have their OBPs over .250.  Baby steps indeed.

Interestingly, the last four relievers in today's game have all been using the weighted ball program. Their respective ERA's this year: 1.54, 1.94, 1.71, 2.76.

I think Lawrie at 2B is an excellent idea. He is an excellent defender and the 2B position makes at least twice as many plays over a season than 3B so it makes sense to have you best defender there. Besides, 3B is an easier position to find a impact Bat available. Mack Reynolds is the youngest Free Agent 3B while Michael Young or Aramis Ramirez might be the easiest to acquire.

Friday: 14 hits, 2BB and a pitching collapse. Saturday: 12 hits, 3BB, 1HBP and another ineffective Pitcher, but Bullpen Magic gets us a split. Sunday determines whether of not we find the Team 2 games under .500 or 4 games down.

2 games under .500 is not good. The Jays are closer to the Marlins than to the top of the division.