Griffin: Farrell offers fans intriguing glimpse of future

PHOENIX-The Jays had seemed intent on slow-playing their future when they headed out on a road trip to play nine inter-league games in three cities, but after being swept by the Braves the fornt-office frustration of a punchless offence may have caused them to accelerate some of their moves. On the off-day they moved Jose Bautista to third base and brought up outfielder Eric Thames. The changes had to be made.

“Personally, taking a step back from that Atlanta series, they really pitched,” manager John Farrell said. “We were feeling some frustration at the time. We were coming off a good series in Cincinnati, swinging the bats well and they shut us down.

“There were moves in the offing that, I don't want to say were scheduled for certain days. We had an eye on moves that we felt were going to take place at some point in the near future. That might have helped that move at the time. Thames, for one, coming back and once Travis Snider got past the concussion, because he was showing the adjustments and taking them into the game.”

The Jays have one more move to make as soon as is humanly and health-wise possible in terms of position players when 21-year-old third baseman Brett Lawrie returns to form. They had been planning on bringing him up, but like the misguided Atlanta situation, were confident they could manipulate the timing of the promotion. It cost them dearly as Lawrie was hit on the hand in a Triple-A game and set back a month.

“From a position player standpoint, anytime you add a player of the talent of Brett Lawrie, assuming he's back to the timing that he showed and the performance prior to the hand injury, that's an exciting youg player to add to the team,” Farrell said. “When he comes, he's going to be an everyday guy. You look at the young, athletic type of player that we talked about, that gives us additional speed, it gives us explosiveness, maybe a little bit more of a glimpse into what is just around the corner from a position standpoint, but we have to continue to make strides on the mound.”

The other glimpse of the future that Farrell wants to see more of is the glimpse of a full Rogers Centre that he observed during the energized Phillies series on the Canada Day weekend with Roy Halladay back in town. The first-year manager believes that those fans bought into what the Jays will have moving forward.

“I would hope that people came away from that series, even thugh it was a series won by Philadelphia, knowing that we played a pretty good brand of baseball,” Farrell said. “Not only competitive, but I think a spirited brand. I think there was a feeling as you walked away from the ballpark – even we felt it – that the way we came back in game three, because we had every ability – if a game was to be mailed in, that might have been it. In the first four innings, we were kind of looking like that and yet Rajai, a couple of stolen bases and we were a couple of runs away. Then we catch fire and take the game. That is a glimpse of what people might see.”

The Jays have 70 games remaining in the season, starting with a four game weekend set against the Yankees, a chance for some good, enthusiastic crowds, who will be coming off the feel-good experience of watching Jose Bautista and Ricky Romero at the All-Star Game. The Jays may not end up contending for the post-season but what fans will see is a team that has turned younger and more exciting since the torching in Atlanta.

“There's a number of different ways this team can score runs and come back on people,” Farrell said. “That day (against Cliff Lee) was a clear indication. There was speed to chip away, then there was three home runs late in a game we won.”

Lawrie, the native of Langley, B.C., has been cleared days ago to take batting practice after progressing from hitting off a tee to soft toss. That recent clearance of the prized youngster is another step in his rehab, but there is no indication yet when he will get into some minor league games. But it's all just a stop on his inevitable road to Toronto. This time they won't slow play him to manipulate service time.

 

 

 

Comments

[Dennis]

Griff, you keep alluding to this sinister plot by the Jays to manipulate the service time of Lawrie. How do you know this? The fact is (& supported by numbers), Lawrie's walk rate had not been good prior to the Front Office requesting that he show more patience. If a player is unable to display patience & show that he's able to control the strike zone - than you've got yourself yet another player whacking & hacking at the plate. The Blue Jays hitters (with the exception of Bautista) exhibit terrible plate discipline & if Lawrie is able to be patient & disciplined - that will serve the Jays much, much more. Lawrie obviously took the Front Office's request to heart (again, supported by an improved walk rate) & was working on adjusting his approach at the time of the injury. Your suggestions of service time shenanigans are supported by...well, nothing. I'll take the long term effectiveness of a patient Lawrie over the guy who was swinging at everything.

[Mozart55]

We can all be optimistic and positive about the future Jays' offensive capability, quality young arms and aggressive style. But, until the Jays can get a bona fide closer that can nail down those close games (all championship teams have them), we will continue to languish as a mid-tier team suffering again and again from ninth inning blown saves - demoralizing for everyone, especially young players.

Conventional baseball logic says that the closer is supposed to be the last piece of a championship team's puzzle. Lord knows the Jays have brought in countless (and expensive) "pretenders" who have flamed out withn a year. Why not bite the financial bullet and get a legitimate closer in the off season? It would add to the winning spirit and philosophy needed to get to the next level.

[Al]

Why do you continue to be so harsh on the Lawrie timing decision? It's management's job to "manipulate" timing to the best advantage of the team and the player. That he broke his hand was nothing but bad luck.

sheesh.

[Gary Slippoy]

How about keeping Bautista at 3rd base. It would save the wear and tear on his legs and he could use his voice as team leader a lot better from there. Lawrie was playing 2nd base when he was traded for. Aaron Hill has regressed to the point where he is a negative factor at bat and his fielding seems to have slipped dramatically. I would be very surprised if the Jays picked up his option for next year, so let's see what "the kid" can do at second base.

[Colin W]

Reasonably good article though I do not think it is fair to imply that Lawrie's injury was a result of him not being called up soon enough. The obvious fact is that he could have been just as easily injured in his first game in the majors. As for the team, I like this team though like most fans, the inconsistency of the pitching is galling at times. It seems Blue Jays pitchers tend to have that one bad inning that costs the team a game. And what's with the reluctance to throw strikes? Having starting pitchers throwing 100 pitches half-way into a game suggests there is a problem somewhere. Same thing for the number of walks issued. Sure the team is exciting, but they need to start winning and move up in their division to challenge for the second spot at the very minimum. Moral victories do not count for anything, which might explain why the crowds at Rogers' Center have not increased as significantly as Blue Jays management would wish.

[Tabber]

Questions need answers, so here are mine:

Biting the bullet on a closer? How'd that work out with Caudill and Ryan? Most closers these days seem to come from within when young guys are put ini a trial and error situation - I'd be more in favoiur of that than spending $50M on someone whose arm goes dead after 1 or 2 years, but Jays don't seem to do that - generating the question of why not?
As far as leaving Bautists at 3rd and putting Lawrie at second, the kid has been playing third all season (until injury) so why put the added pressure on him when they didn't want him at second anyway? And the odds of him being injured in the majors would be less, due to the better control by major league pitchers (on average or more pitchers have better control in the bigs).