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Here is the latest in what may seem like a never-ending series of monthly report cards for the Blue Jays. Enjoy (or, at least, tolerate).

Offense
You know this story already: the team's power numbers went south at the end of the month, joining the Jays' pennant hopes and summer on the list of things that were here and are now leaving. The fall is a sad-making time of year.

Russ Adams
.269 .361 .413
Down a tick or two from earlier in the summer, but he's still got decent leadoff numbers. And I expect things to stay this way for quite some time. Adams' development was one of the good things that happened this year; the focus on Hill kept the pressure off him. People have forgotten that Russ, too, is a rookie.
Grade: B+

Frank Catalanotto
.237 .314 .373
Has walked seven times in August, seven in July, and seven in June. His at-bat total is very low. Was he injured this month? Or are the Jays platooning him? Someone please refresh my memory. My guess is that his August numbers are off because of bad luck: he didn't have as many hits drop in this month as he did last month.
Grade: C

Aaron Hill
.255 .309 .392
Going through his adjustment period: his walks are down, his average is down, and his power is down. This is where we see exactly how good Hill is going to be. I think he'll bounce back, and he still has star potential, but player development is not an exact science.
Grade: C

Shea Hillenbrand
.260 .300 .462
Has more power than any other Jay this month, but that's not saying too much. Has gone back to hacking at everything; he drew only four walks all month. Perhaps he's trying too hard to be a #4 hitter, which is really not part of his skill set. The Jays need to find a big bomber to play first - somebody like *sob* Delgado.
Grade: C+

Eric Hinske
.348 .413 .500
I can't say that I expected this. He isn't hitting for much power, but I don't think anybody is complaining. I don't know what he's going to do from here on in, but he's probably bought himself another year on the roster with this performance. It'll likely be another year of hitting .240, but that's kind of how the world works.
Grade: A

Ken Huckaby
.500 .500 .583
Now gets the chance to go back to the role he was intended to play: emergency catcher and triple-A mentor. I suspect he could work for the rest of his life as a roving catching instructor if he wanted to. It beats selling insurance for a living, I should think.
Grade: Gone

Orlando Hudson
.293 .324 .444
Hudson is now a known quantity: he will hit .270 or so with occasional power, very few walks, good speed, and world-class defense. He won't get better than this, but his current performance level is good enough to help a team win. Somebody ought to compile a DVD of Orlando Hudson's greatest defensive plays. I'd buy it.
Grade: B+

Reed Johnson
.261 .316 .352
Sparky is also a known quantity: he basically has the same offensive skills as the O-Dog, and the ability to play all three outfield positions. He's a perfect fourth outfielder. The problem is that the Jays don't have three outfielders who can consistently hit better than Reed.
Grade: B-

Corey Koskie
.244 .363 .407
That's more like it. He's still not got his average up, but he's got his batting eye back, and he's starting to hit the ball a little harder. Before anyone considers jettisoning Corey, compare his August numbers to Aaron Hill's. And his defense is better than Hill's too.
Grade: B+

Frank Menechino
.158 .304 .316
One sign of a good team is one with bench depth. There are lots and lots of teams with 25th men who are a heck of a lot worse than this. Mini-Me's average was off this month, but he's still drawing walks, and the sample size is too small to draw any conclusions anyway. As long as he's not grouching because he's not playing much, everything will be just fine.
Grade: C+

Guillermo Quiroz
.000 .000 .000
The rule is this: as soon as you're better than the guy ahead of you, you come up. Quiroz is a raw talent, but he's better than Huckaby. In his first game, he hit two balls harder than Huck will ever hit the ball in his lifetime. Neither of them went out, but then not much has gone out lately.
Grade: Too early to tell

Alex Rios
.207 .242 .333
Oh dear. He was doing rather well for a while, and now he's fallen into a hole again. Gabe Gross must be perking up a bit, don't you think? Rios has almost limitless potential, but it looks like it's going to take years to unlock it, and none of us have that much time. At this point, I'd be willing to package him in a deal for a better hitter.
Grade: D-

Vernon Wells
.252 .287 .363
I would venture that it is clear by now that Vernon is not going to be a megastar. This isn't a knock: he's a very good player. But I'll be surprised if he's ever among the league leaders in anything ever again. He's not a world-class power hitter, he's not going to reach .300, and he doesn't walk all that much. He's not going to make it to the Hall of Fame, and he's not an inspirational leader (not that inspirational leadership is all that important). But he has good power, he runs well, he's a great fielder, and he's not causing any problems in the clubhouse. A team with nine players as good as Wells in the field would win a heck of a lot of games. As for this month: he slumped. It happens.
Grade: C+

Gregg Zaun
.238 .347 .325
His reduced power numbers suggest fatigue. He must have welcomed Quiroz with open arms. Sleep in this morning, Gregg - you've earned it.
Grade: C+

Pitching
The Jays' pitching this month was about as good as can be expected when a team's #1 and #2 starters are subtracted from the rotation. In other words, not all that good. But you can't win a war without weapons.

Miguel Batista
13.1 15 9 11 6.08
Had a couple of unpleasant misadventures this month, including one total meltdown in a crucial save situation, but he also quietly saved seven other ballgames. You've got to give him credit for holding the job all year. The last guy who did that was Billy Koch, and Batista has been more consistent than Koch was.
Grade: B

Dave Bush
35.2 40 6 25 4.29
On a per-game basis, he's the most extreme of the Jays' starters. Some days, he has nothing, and Gibbons yanks him early. Other days, he pitches deep into the ballgame. He has roughly the same skill set as Josh Towers; like Josh, his relatively low K/IP ratio means that he has to have everything together in order to be successful. The Jays should not pitch Bush and Towers back-to-back if they can help it, as the second guy out will get stomped.
Grade: C+

Gustavo Chacin
37.1 38 19 23 5.30
All his numbers went bad: his walks shot up, his home runs shot up (he surrendered nine), and his strikeouts went down. I suspect fatigue is a factor, but I worry that hitters may have adjusted to him. Chacin's main weapon is the ability to bust right-handers inside; if hitters aren't biting, Chacin may be in trouble. We sometimes forget that he is still a rookie, and young pitchers often take years to learn their trade.
Grade: D

Vinnie Chulk
12.0 11 2 5 3.75
There isn't really much to say about him that hasn't already been said. He throws strikes, takes the ball whenever asked, and quietly does his job. Every team needs about three guys like this. Wait a minute: the Jays do have three guys like this! Yay!
Grade: B

Scott Downs
29.0 25 10 23 2.79
Now that's an unexpected surprise. His K/IP and K/BB ratios suggest that the ERA isn't a fluke. I don't know whether he'll stay at this level, but he's earned a spot in the rotation for the rest of the season and maybe even next. Had Doc and Ted not gotten hurt, who would have discovered that Downs is capable of this?
Grade: A

Jason Frasor
13.0 14 4 15 2.08
Back in top form this month. One advantage of having a deep bullpen is that there is always somebody at the top of their game; Gibbons can temporarily shuffle the deck and get the effective guy out there in the seventh and eighth.
Grade: A

Roy Halladay
N/A
At this point, all we can hope for is a full recovery. A broken leg is a serious injury. Pitching is such a delicate operation that the slightest thing wrong can ruin a pitching motion. The good news: Doc's arm won't be overworked for 2006.
Grade: MIA #1

Brandon League
9.2 13 5 2 9.31
I sometimes forget that he's still here. I guess he's a work in progress, but right now he appears to be going in the wrong direction. I'm wondering whether it's better to forget that 2005 ever happened, and just have him do what he was doing before he got here.
Grade: F

Ted Lilly
N/A
Who would have thought, back in the spring when the Tedster looked horribly lost out there, that his loss would be a significant blow to the team's fading pennant hopes? And who would have thought that he would return before Halladay did?
Grade: MIA #2

Dustin McGowan
24.0 35 11 15 9.75
Clearly not ready. This is why you can never have too much pitching: McGowan is the best #5 starter option the Jays have right now. I hope that being beaten up a lot isn't hurting his confidence. I suppose it's a good idea to find out exactly what it takes to succeed at the major league level. McGowan has the potential to become an ace pitcher if everything breaks right, but command is what separates the stars from the bums, and McGowan doesn't have it yet.
Grade: F

Scott Schoeneweis
9.2 10 5 7 1.86
Had a quietly good month, though 15 baserunners in 9 2/3 innings suggest that he was a bit lucky.
Grade: A-

Justin Speier
13.2 11 3 10 3.95
Had a couple of outings where he got beaten up rather badly. It happens. At this point, Chulk, Frasor and Speier are roughly equal on the depth chart. As long as he isn't secretly dreaming of becoming an ace closer somewhere, he'll be of service for some time to come.
Grade: B+

Josh Towers
43.1 45 4 21 2.49
Josh is another known quantity: he's going to give up a fair number of hits and homers, he's going to throw strikes, and he's going to compete. Went deeper into ballgames this month than he usually does; his innings pitched total led the club. I don't want to think where the Jays would be without him.
Grade: A-

Pete Walker
12.1 11 7 9 3.65
Restored to his rightful role of long man, P-Walk is pretty much back to normal. A few more walks than when he's at his best, but he didn't allow any home runs all month.
Grade: B-

Overall
As the Jays sink back towards .500 and the annual struggle to finish ahead of the Evil Baltimores, let's take a moment to reflect on what John Gibbons and his team have done. Gibbons has taken a team with one power hitter, no offense from the DH slot, rookies in two or more key defensive positions, and a starting rotation consisting of three rookies and two castoffs, and kept them in contention for the better part of the summer. This is an impressive achievement for both him and the Fighting Jays. The club is going to top 2 million in attendance for the first time this millennium, and people are now thinking good things about the club for the first time in eons. This season has to be considered a ringing success.

Unfortunately, the next part is the hard part (as I keep saying). To get over the top, the Jays are going to have to find some star hitters and maybe a star pitcher. They're hard to find, they demand top dollar and they sometimes disrupt a clubhouse, but you need them in order to win big. I don't know whether J.P. is going to be able to find such stars. Unless things change radically, I suspect that winning is going to be very difficult to accomplish, unless the minor-league pitching really begins to develop, and the club simply overwhelms people with their pitching and defense.

But let's not end this on a sour note. The Jays are now being taken more seriously, and have a chance to contend, so they may be an attractive destination for someone wanting to take some of Ted Rogers' money. This wasn't the case a year ago. There are grounds for hope. Faint hope, but hope nonetheless. As a fan, that's all I ask for.

Blue Jays Report Card for August 2005 | 14 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
greenfrog - Saturday, September 03 2005 @ 09:55 AM EDT (#127304) #
Nice job, Dave.

I think Wells should be given some credit for holding his own without a legit #4 hitter behind him (or a high-OBP hitter in front of him). I agree he isn't a superstar, but I'm guessing that in a better lineup, he's closer to being one than he's currently showing. Compare his numbers this year to 2003, when he had a healthy Delgado behind him in the order. I still wish he'd control the strike zone more, though.

Gerry - Saturday, September 03 2005 @ 02:30 PM EDT (#127312) #
That's a lot of guys off their first half numbers, Zaun, Cat, Rios and Hillenbrand. Plus Koskie still not hitting explains the recent struggles.
Ron - Saturday, September 03 2005 @ 03:22 PM EDT (#127314) #
I agree that Wells isn't likely to reach those gaudy numbers he had before like driving in over 115+ RBI's, .317 AVG, etc...

But it's very rare to see a player have his career season at such a young age and never even come close to those numbers again. It's pretty obvious Wells isn't a franchise hitter and more along the lines of a Robin to a Batman. I wish he would stop swinging at the first pitch and generally hacking away in his AB's. He has a disdain for the walk. But even with that said it was very smart for the Jays brass to give him a 15mil/5yr extension. He's well worth the contract.
slitheringslider - Saturday, September 03 2005 @ 04:12 PM EDT (#127315) #
I have to say that I have been impressed with Wells being able to fend for himself while being the only real power threat in the Blue Jays lineup. With a real cleanup hitter, Vernon would see more quality pitches to hit. The fact that he's swing at everything right now is partly due to the fact that he doesn't get any good pitches to hit, and he may just be frustrated and try to make things happen (I don't know if there's a stat that could show this, but I'll be interested to see). Where would Manny be without Ortiz? I'm sure he would still put up good numbers, but not ones he would have right now.

But even with that said it was very smart for the Jays brass to give him a 15mil/5yr extension. He's well worth the contract.

I don't exactly know what you mean by 15mil/5yr extension, but either way the numbers don't work out. If you're saying 15mil/year, then we're grossly overpaying him. But if you're saying 15mil over 5 years, then that would be the biggest bargain ever, and if Vernon Wells is stupid(or loyal) enough to sign that contract, someone got to fire his agent. I don't know what his contract status is right now, but I think it would be reasonable to expect him command a contract around 8million/year (give or take a few on each side). I think locking up Wells in a multi-year deal would be a good idea, at least we know we would have a constant in the lineup who is capable of above-average production.
Mick Doherty - Saturday, September 03 2005 @ 04:16 PM EDT (#127317) #
What grade for Gibbons? Ricciardi?
Gerry - Saturday, September 03 2005 @ 04:18 PM EDT (#127318) #
Did Bill James not prove years ago that "protection" in the lineup was overrated? For most of the year Shea Hillenbrand has been hitting behind Vernon and his batting average has been better than Vernon. I think the whole "pitching around" issue comes up once per game tops, usually a lot less. Most pitchers are confident in their abilities and believe they can get anyone out, if you consistently pitch defensively, avoiding certain hitters, you want last long in the league (Bonds and Vlady excepted).
Ron - Saturday, September 03 2005 @ 04:55 PM EDT (#127319) #
slitheringslider, the Jays brass gave Wells a 5yr/15mil contract extension after his rookie season. The Jays did the same thing for Eric Hinske.

Both players still have 2 years left on their deals. Wells is set to make 4.3 mil in 06 and 5.6 mil in 07.
BallGuy - Saturday, September 03 2005 @ 05:34 PM EDT (#127321) #
I have heard a lot about McGowan being the Jays' 5th starter next season but I don't see it myself. He doesn't look that close. Wouldn't Bush, Towers and even Downs all be considered ahead of Dustin McGowan?

On a related note, I heard Wilner on the Baseball Show on the Fan this afternoon and he said that there is no way the Jays will be outbid for A.J. Burnett in the offseason. Wilner rhymed of the rotation as thus: Halliday, Burnett, hurtin' Ted, Towers and Downs presumably with Chacin getting traded for some hitting help.
Wilner also wants the Jays to go after Brian Giles as a free agent signing in the winter to give them that extra bat they need. I don't know if he has enough power anymore. His days of 30+ homeruns are long gone but he has a good avg and OBP.
Gerry - Saturday, September 03 2005 @ 05:56 PM EDT (#127322) #
Its hard to believe the Jays will outbid the Yankees or Red Sox for Burnett. Look for the Jays to target Jared Washburn too.
Maldoff - Saturday, September 03 2005 @ 06:20 PM EDT (#127324) #
I would be a big advocate of signing a guy like Washburn (who is much more consistent than Burnett), and then trading Chacin. While I love Gus for all he has done this year, I think this is the best he will be (judging by his peripheral numbers), and his trade value will never be higher. If the Jays could get an outfield bat for him and another prospect (Rios), I would do it in a second.
Ron - Saturday, September 03 2005 @ 06:55 PM EDT (#127325) #
Washburn was on Rome last week and he was asked if he would give a hometown discount. He said no although he wants to remain with the Angels.

The chances of Burnett landing with the Jays are slim imo. I assume AJ wants 2 things when looking at a team. 1) Is this team going to show me the money 2) Does this team have a chance to be a World Series contender? The Red Sox and Yanks will be looking at SP this off-season and both teams have vastly deeper pockers and are better teams. Don't forget it looks like the O's, Rangers, and Tigers will also be in the AJ mix. I would be shocked if AJ signs for anything less than 4yrs/50 million.

JP should be offering around Rios and Chacin to see what's out there. I doubt the 2 power bats come through FA so he needs to include top prospects (i.e. Purcey, Jackson, McGowan, etc..) if that's what it takes.

Even with the big spike in payroll I'm not sure JP can obtain a front line starter and 2 power bats. And then there's the issue of needing a closer, perhaps a starting catcher, and a better bench.
slitheringslider - Saturday, September 03 2005 @ 10:00 PM EDT (#127350) #
Thank you for the clarification Ron, the Vernon Wells contract situation makes a lot more sense now.

The chances of acquiring A.J. Burnett may be better than the popular perception. Burnett did say (if my memory serves me right) that he would love to reunite with Brad Arnsberg and would definitely look into coming to Toronto. But then again, so did Clement, and he's wearing a Red Sox Uniform these days.

However, Burnett's pricetag is going to be an issue:
Bad free agent class = mediocre pitchers getting overpaid.

By no means is Burnett a mediocre pitcher, but I feel like it's a gamble to invest 10+ million a year in a pitcher who is a arm/shoulder trouble waiting to happen, especially pitching for Jack McKeon in Florida. But then again, a healthy Burnett would give the Jays quite the 1-2 punch.

Jarrod Washburn would definitely be a solid pickup, but he's no better than a middle of the rotation starter. And because of the bad free agent pitching class, he would also cost a fortune. Besides, he stuff is no better than Ted Lilly's, and we already have an abundance of contact pitchers.

I agree with Ron that we should trade for a power bat, as we have a bountiful of pitching in the farm, perhaps packaging an A-pitching prospect with a B-pitching prospect + others. I don't think it's a good idea to trade Rios.
GeoffAtMac - Saturday, September 03 2005 @ 10:47 PM EDT (#127353) #
I say Burnett is totally worth it.

1. Halladay
2. Burnett
3. Lilly
4. Towers
5. Bush / Chacin / Downs

Nice to have depth like the above -- this would be a nice shield in terms of injuries. Don't forget that Matt Morris will be on the market too, as will Jason Marquis.

I think a trade combo though of maybe Lilly / Hillenbrand, or Lilly / Rios or Lilly / Gross might yield some nice big ticket players if traded to the right buyers.
Dave Till - Sunday, September 04 2005 @ 10:22 AM EDT (#127369) #
What grade for Gibbons? Ricciardi?

I can't really give letter grades for them, as I don't really know what the standards are. To a certain extent, Gibbons can only do the best that he can with the players he's given. He hasn't done any of the obvious things that a manager can do to screw up a club, such as get into a row with his best hitter, or mess up his bullpen.

And I find it hard to rate general managers because I don't know what options were available to them. J.P. can only sign players who want to come here, for example. I think that he's done a good job turning the Jays into a competitive team. But he should have found a backup catcher to replace Huckaby, and he should have drafted some hitting: the Jays have nobody above class-A who can hit the ball for any distance. (As I've said before, part of this is Josh Phelps's fault: J.P. assumed that Phelps would solve the first base problem, so he went looking for middle infielders and pitchers.)

Blue Jays Report Card for August 2005 | 14 comments | Create New Account
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