Author Archives: Chris

Kelly Johnson? Yes, please

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Oh man. There are a lot of things for Jays fans to be excited about so far this season: Colby Rasmus looks like he’s figuring it out; Edwin Encarnacion has figured it out to the point that he’s been officially handed the cleanup hitter’s role; Brett Lawrie is being Brett Lawrie and that gets people excited even if he’s not yet playing as well as he’s capable of playing; the pitching!

Yes, there’s a lot of to be excited about. But there’s one guy who seems to be flying under the radar. Perhaps it’s because he doesn’t seem to have a personality that lights the world on fire. Perhaps it’s because his offensive production isn’t the flashiest. Perhaps it’s because your Toronto Blue Jays had to trade John McDonald and someone other scrub to get him. Continue reading →

Slumping sluggers

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11 games in and the superstar outfielder has, compared to what people are used to seeing from him, struggled. He’s coming off a season in which he was arguably robbed of the MVP award — I mean, just look. He led the league in home runs, walks, OPS+ and intentional walks.

But now, 11 games in, his team is at 6-5 and some fans are kind of freaking out. He’s got a sub-.800 OPS. In a little more than 50 plate appearances and he’s only hit two home runs! Should we be worried? Is he finished?

Am I writing about Jose Bautista? No, although all of the above applies to him.

In 1959, Mickey Mantle was in the exact same situation. Well, I say exact, but I don’t know for sure what the fans were saying about him. Other than that, it was pretty much the same. Really, check out the stats!

(Click the pics to embiggen, or the links to see the source at Baseball Reference.)

Mantle’s 1958:

Bautista’s 2011:

Mantle’s first 11 games of 1959:

Bautista’s first 11 of 2012:

Obviously Bautista is not Mantle, but to everybody out there worrying about Bautista: Don’t. It’s way, way too early yet. If you hear people talk about small sample size, listen to them. If you don’t want to believe them, remember the above stats — and remember this: Despite his slow start in ’59, Mantle went on to hit 31 home runs and post on OPS of .904. It wasn’t Mantle’s best season, but it was still very, very productive.

Louisville Slugger, the making of

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The first baseball bat I ever owned was a black Louisville Slugger. It had white tape wrapped around the handle for grip. When I started playing organized ball, and aluminum bats became an option, I didn’t look back. Why would I? Aluminum makes the ball fly!

But that Slugger, it holds a special place in my heart. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling like this about the old wooden bats.

I guess I had always assumed the bats were made by a dude with a lathe. Until relatively recently, I would have been correct. But no more! Wired recently toured the Louisville Slugger factory and the footage they came back with is pretty interesting. Babe Ruth-bat interesting, even!

Rogers Centre staff*

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Year before last, I went to a game in San Francisco. During the third inning, I went to get myself some of the famous garlic fries (highly recommended!) and upon attempting to return to my seat, was told by an usher to wait until the end of the half inning before going down the aisle. Having only previously attended games in Toronto, this was a shock to me, but not an unwelcome one.

“You’re right, man. Thanks for doing what you do,” I said to the usher. “This would never happen in Toronto and you know what? It sucks. This is a much better system.”

The usher seemed confused by statement and proceeded to actually chain off the aisle as more out-of-towners (obviously, right?) tried to make their way to their seats.

That game in San Francisco remains the only MLB game I’ve attended outside of Toronto, so I don’t know if Giants ushers or Blue Jays ushers are more typical of the league-wide experience, but I can say that, on the whole, the experience in San Francisco is a much more pleasant one. The ushers there seem to be in place to enhance the experience of people who wish to watch the game and have fun. Continue reading →

Cecil murders lefties

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Yesterday’s news that Brett Cecil, after a terrible spring, has been demoted to Double-A New Hampshire came as a not-unwelcome surprise. Putting him in Toronto’s rotation to start the year would have been bad for everyone, but I really believed that’s what would happen.

It’ll be interesting to see how Squints fares in the pitcher-friendly confines of Northeast Delta Dental Stadium as he faces Double-A hitters with stuff that works (to some degree) at  the major league level. Maybe success there, if he finds it, will give transfer to the Majors whenever he gets another chance. But if he struggles in New Hampshire, it likely won’t (or, at least, shouldn’t) be the end of Cecil.

I’ve made the argument before that ol’ Squints should be moved to the bullpen. I still think he should be used as a starter if at all possible, but as time goes on that seems less and less likely. I still think he has a future in the ‘pen. But in what role? Just now, as I was going through Cecil’s velocity charts and pitch outcomes and splits looking for something to defend the guy with, I found something that seems interesting:

Brett Cecil is really good at getting left-handed batters out

I doubt any pitcher aspires to being a LOOGY (lefty one-out guy) but they have an important role to play in the modern game. Brett Cecil, if he can’t get it together enough to start again, could be a great LOOGY.

Over the course of his career, Cecil’s held lefties to an OPS of .664. While that’s a good number, it’s inflated by his relatively awful 2009 performance against lefties. In 2010 and, yes, even 2011, Cecil murdered left-handed batters. Check out these lines:

2010 vs LHB: .224/.255/.342/.597 (AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS)
2011 vs LHB: .186/.282/.240/.522

Pretty crazy, eh? Even when Cecil’s putting together a season like last year’s that makes everyone doubt his future, he’s still able to hold lefties to pretty anemic numbers.