A Look Back

So, with less than 2 weeks remaining, it is time to look back at how the Jays have have done this season, offensively.

Catcher

Four players have seen time behind the plate this season. Rod Barajas has had a shitty season. Do not be fooled by the pretty number of 18, which is his HR total. Rod has been terrible behind the plate, with an OBP of .264 and only 19 walks all season, leading to a 74 OPS+. Being a catcher, you would think he would have a pretty good idea of what is and isn't a strike. Dreadfull, and thank god he is a free agent.

Raul Chavez has played the second most. He has actually been worse than Barajas, with a 66 OPS+, with 2 HR. He is a better hitter than Rod, but has almost non-exsistant power. There are conflicting reports on whether he is a free agent after the season, but his defense is amazing, and he would be nice to have as a back-up.

Michael Barrett was the early season back-up, but a shoulder injury has side-lined him for the season, pretty much. I like the signing when it happened, as he was a no-risk, potential upgrade at a troublesome position. He had a 41 OPS+ in 19 plate appearances with 1 HR. He has an option for next season, and it would not be terrible to see him brought back to compete for the back-up job.

Kyle Phillips is the "prospect" of the catchers that have played this year. He is 25 years old and had a steller season in AAA. He has been pretty bad in 11 plate appearances, posting a 18 OPS+. He is a good hitter, and September should have been the month to see if he can hit major league pitchers a little.

Overall, the catchers position has been pretty terrible all season (although they did hit 19 HR as a group). The positional OPS+ was 76, which is well below average. Only 4 teams had a lower OPS than the Jays at catcher.


First Base

Three men have played 1B this season, and surprisingly, Jose Bautista was not one of them after seeing a little time there in 2008. Lyle Overbay was the starter the majority of the time, facing mainly right-handed pitchers. Overbay has been fantastic this season, posting a 121 OPS+ and hitting 48 extra base hits. Lyle need a platoon partner at this stage in his career, but he has shown that he can pound righties, while playing top flight defense.

Kevin Millar has been the most dissapointing player this season, when including expectations. He was supposed to come in and do what Lyle did against left-handed pitchers. His OPS+ versus lefties was .722 which isn't terrible, but his numbers versus righties were horrendous, which a .545 OPS. Overall, a 69 OPS+ is terrible for a 1B/DH.

Randy Ruiz has played very little 1B, so his 4 at bats in this slot are not worth duscussing.

Overall, the Jays are 22nd in the Majors in OPS at .814. They really need Overbay's platoon partner to do his job next season. Randy Ruiz could be an excellent choice to be that guy, and judging by his performance as a DH, he can adequately do the job.


Second Base

Four guys have played 2B this season. Aaron Hill has been great this season in regards to power and production. It would be nice if he could walk a little more and use the whole field better, but it is hard to complain about Hill's season, in which he has a 115 OPS+. With 33 HR and 101 RsBI, Hill has been the elite 2B in the American League this season. He is well deserving of the Silver Slugger that he will win this season.

John McDonald has played the second most at 2B with 55 innings. Joe Inglett has played 20 innings, and Marco Scutaro has 4 innings at 2B.

Overall, they have the 4th highest OPS at the position, the most HR, total bases, and the most RsBI. Aaron Hill has been amazing this season and the Jays should seriously look at using him as the clean-up hitter next season behind Adam Lind.


Third Base

Overall, the Jays have been about league average in OPS this season, but that is due to Scott Rolen, who is no longer with us. Aside from Scott, 4 others have played the hot corner.

Edwin Encarnacion, who was acquired in the Rolen trade, has played the most. His 85 OPS+ isn't terrible, and it has been improving this month. He is showing enough improvement to give a little hope for next season from him. He has some power, as he has 6 HR.

Jose Bautista has 209 innings at 3B, and has been pretty decent this season overall. As a 3B, he has a .605 OPS and 1 HR in 82 AB.

John McDonald has 78 innings at 3B and Kevin Millar has 1 inning at 3B.

It is tough to gauge the Jays at 3B, due to how well Rolen played in Toronto and how bad the rest of the guys were.


Short Stop

Marco Scutaro has been the primary SS this season and has had a break-out/career season. He has scored the 2nd most runs of all SS this season and the 4th highest OBP. Marco's 109 OPS+ has been icredible to watch this season, but he is a free agent and there is a high chance he is not back in Toronto next season.

John McDonald is the only other player with SS time this season. We all know his deal, he plays great defense and can't hit. Well, while that is definately true, Johnny has shown some pop this season with 3 HR.

Overall, the Jays rank pretty well in comparison to baseball sue to Scutaro's big season. They rank 4th in runs scored, 5th in OBP, and 5th in OPS. They are in the top 10 in hits, SLG%, doubles, HR, total bases, and batting average.


Left Field

The outfield corners have been kind of a revolving door this season. Seven guys have played in LF this season, with Adam Lind leading the way. Since he has more DH time this season, I will go over him in detail there, but his LF numbers are pretty nice too. In fact, his rate stats are better as a LF than a DH. He has 14 HR in LF with 40 RsBI. His .316 average and .991 OPS are incredible, along with his 20 doubles.

Travis Snider has the 2nd most innings in LF with 357. His numbers seem week, but his 94 OPS+ says otherwise. Sure, it is not what was expected, but being slightly below average at such a young age is pretty good. He tore apart AAA pitching when he was demoted early and has come back up and hit for power, but not for average as of yet.

Jose Bautista had a lot of early season LF action in place of Snider. As a LF, he has been steller offensively. His .384 OBP is very nice, but his SLG% was lower than I expected it to be. His power seemed to have dissappeared this season, but he emmerged with some impressive plate discipline.

Joe Inglett has been pretty allright this season with a 85 OPS+. His average is usually pretty decent, as is his walk total. His lack of power hurts, especially if he is playing more OF than 2B.

David Delucci, Russ Adams, and John McDonald all saw over 20 innings in LF with pretty terrible offense.

Overall, the Jays were 9th in baseball with a .810 OPS in LF. The rest of the numbers range from average to bad. Adam Lind's time in LF makes them respectable overall.


Centre Field

Vernon Wells. He hasn't been as bad as publicized, with a 90 OPS+. The he gets media fucked, you'd think he was hitting worse than J-Mac. His 15 HR are kind of pathetic from him, as are his 66 RsBI. His 34 doubles are nice, though.

Alex Rios has the 2nd most innings with 61. Jose Bautista has 31 innings in CF, while Joe Inglett played 1 inning.

Overall, besides doubles and HR, the Jays are in the bottom 10 in almost every category in CF. Wells will need to bounce back to the better than average hitter that he is next season if the Jays are to show any semblance of respectability.


Right Field

The Jays are worse in RF than any other position on the team. Alex Rios really wasn't that bad, with a 95 OPS+ in 915 innings. Since he has left, Jose Bautista and Travis Snider have splitt RF duties.

Bautista has been brutal offensively in RF with a .739 OPS. Snider has been oven worse in RF with a .701 OPS.

Joe Inglett is the other RF with 75 innings of .687 OPS.

Overall, with the really bad performances of Bautista, Snider, and Inglett while playing RF and Alex Rios being not good, the Jays are left with some of the worst production out of RF in baseball.


Designated Hitter

Adam Lind has been terrific. He has been a little better as a LF, but still has been steller when DHing with a .854 OPS. Adding in Randy Ruiz and his good production in 25 games as a DH (.878 OPS) gives you a good place to start. Unfortunately, Kevin Millar's poor 21 DH strarts and the parade of 1 or 2 game DHs such as Russ Adams, David Dellucci, Aaron Hill, Jose Bautista, Marco Scutaro, Travis Snider, and Vernon Wells bring the numbers down a little.

Overall, the Jays are about average accross the board in the American League at DH. Next season, the Jays need to decide whether Adam Lind is a DH or a LF. My vote is for DH, as he is pretty brutal in LF.


Well, that is a look back at how the Jays have done position by position. The remaining 9 games shouldn't change the results too much.