The 2011 Blue Jays infield raises a number of questions. 12 games into the season, the Jays are a disappointing 6 and 6. Compare this record to their first 12 games of past seasons:
2010: 7 wins, 5 losses
2009: 8 wins, 4 losses
2008: 7 wins, 5 losses
2007: 7 wins, 5 losses
2006: 6 wins, 6 losses
The last time they started this slowly was 2006. I don’t have to remind any true Blue Jays fan of how that year ended. Sure, it may have been their best season in the last 10 years; they finished 2nd in the AL East to the Yankees, but they still finished 2nd, which is still losing. And that’s where this gets frightening. They were losers in 2006, and their infield barely resembles that of the 2006 season. Obviously this is the reason for their disappointing start. One has to wonder:
- Would that record be 8 and 4 if the Blue Jays had won 2 games instead of losing them?
- How much better would the Jays be if they hadn’t messed with a good thing, and kept double-machine
Lyle Overbay - What is new catcher J.P.Arencibia’s relationship to ex-GM J.P. Riccardi?
- Edwin Encarnacion… yes or no?
- Who the hell is Mike McCoy, and does he have the potential to dethrone Rance Mulliniks as the king of the hearts of Blue Jay fans?
All of these are valid questions, and all are answered after the jump:
1. Would that record be 8 and 4 if the Blue Jays had won 2 games instead of losing them?
Surprisingly, yes. According to the mathematical theory of equality, the identity relation is the archetype of the more general concept of an equivalence relation on a set: those binary relations which are reflexive, symmetric, and transitive. The relation of equality is also antisymmetric. These four properties uniquely determine the equality relation on any set S and render equality the only relation on S that is both an equivalence relation and a partial order.
2. How much better would the Jays be if they hadn’t messed with a good thing, and kept double-machine Lyle Overbay
Not to keep playing moneyball, but let’s look at the numbers and try to extrapolate how much better (or worse) the Jays would be if they kept Lyle Overbay
Current team doubles (2011 Season): 3
Current doubles hit by Overbay (with the Pittsburgh Pirates): 4
Projected wins these Overbay doubles would lead to: 5
Therefore, based on the above math, the Blue Jays would be off to an 11 and 1 start, if they had kept Overbay, instead of relying on Adam Lind.
3. What is new catcher J.P.Arencibia’s relationship to ex-GM J.P. Riccardi?
Even though they share the same name, they are NOT related
4. Edwin Encarnacion… yes or no?
Probably yes.
5. Who the hell is Mike McCoy, and does he have the potential to usurp Rance Mulliniks in the hearts of Blue Jay fans everywhere?
This is a tough one. Let’s refer to the below chart to see how they match up:
McCoy | Mulliniks | Advantage | |
Bats | Right | Left | Mulliniks |
Throws | Right | Right | Mulliniks |
Career Batting Average | 0.204 | 0.272 | Mulliniks |
Height | 5'9" | 5'11" | McCoy |
Weight | 180lbs | 162lbs | Mulliniks |
Named "Rance" | no | yes | Mulliniks |
So there you have it. McCoy has a lot of work to do to catch Rance. Based on the above data the only reason he only loveable stat he beats out Rance in is the height category. He is short in such a way that you want to call him “little fella”. His weight, however is too proportionate to his height. He needs to either lose or gain 40lbs in order to be raise his loveability profile. Even then, without going by the name “Rance”, he has a long road to travel in order to meet Mulliniks.
Grades
Even with the above concerns, I’ll give the infield: B+
No comments:
Post a Comment