Blue Jays GDT: *ALCS GM 5* vs CLE | Wed, Oct 19 | 4pm ET/1pm PT | Merritt vs Estrada

[Suntouchable13]

A power laden lineup is not enough if players can't hit for average. Our World Series teams in the 90's had several players that hit .300 or close to it. Management has to try and address that in the off season.

I think average is a bit overrated. I bet many players that hit .300 have about the same OBP as guys like Bau, JD, Edwin, etc.

 

[JS19]

A power laden lineup is not enough if players can't hit for average. Our World Series teams in the 90's had several players that hit .300 or close to it. Management has to try and address that in the off season.

As easy as it sounds, that also means shifting out players. We'd need to be able to slot these guys in. And that's a hard decision considering how fantastic the Jays' defence is.

 

[The Nemesis]

A power laden lineup is not enough if players can't hit for average. Our World Series teams in the 90's had several players that hit .300 or close to it. Management has to try and address that in the off season.

FWIW, the Dodgers have an almost identical batting average and a worse OBP for hte 2016 season than the Blue Jays. The Cubs are only 0.008 higher on average and 0.13 on OBP and they were the BEST TEAM IN BASEBALL (but also currently trailing to those Dodgers in their series)

Cleveland was .014 higher on average, but actually a couple points lower on OBP than the Jays.

I don't think it's as simple as saying that better contact teams win. Because the Indians were much higher up the ladder, but the other 3 teams in the LCS were clumped together in roughly the middle 3rd of the league and not significantly different from one another.

The Jays' problem was that their offence went back into its September swoon/cold period after the Texas series. It's a streaky thing and the streak went against the Jays this series.

 

[TimeZone]

well i wouldn't say the jays were humiliated as a team or the results were really that shocking. The Jays offense has been frustrating much of the season and this is simply an extension of that. Perhaps the texas series made people forget all those weeks of terrible AB's and hopeless offensive showings. Our bats made a lot of pitchers look like Cy Young in September so really if anybody should be humiliated it's the Rangers starting pitching. Texas Starters were pretty much the only pitchers the jays could hit the past two months.

The Texas series gave a little hope, that maybe the bats were waking up. A damn shame, considering that it's looking more likely that the Rangers just choked, more so than the Bats woke up. 3 runs in 4 games is simply inexcusable against any team, especially a banged up Indians team.

 

[Longshot]

A power laden lineup is not enough if players can't hit for average. Our World Series teams in the 90's had several players that hit .300 or close to it. Management has to try and address that in the off season.

Those two teams had five players hit .300 or more.

92: Alomar
93: Alomar, Olerud, Molitor and Fernandez (who did it in 94 games with the Jays).

In 1992, they won the World Series with 8 of 9 regular guys hitting under .300. In 1993, they won the World series with 5 of 9 of the regular guys hitting under .300. One one of the 4 that was over .300 was on the team just over half the season.

 

[JS19]

The Texas series gave a little hope, that maybe the bats were waking up. A damn shame, considering that it's looking more likely that the Rangers just choked, more so than the Bats woke up. 3 runs in 4 games is simply inexcusable against any team, especially a banged up Indians team.

It's "inexcusable" if you don't want to admit how Cleveland did a good job taking away fastballs and forcing the Jays to hit in unfamiliar territory. Cleveland pitching continues to be underrated.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Would they ever consider bringing Eric Wedge down into the dugout next season to be beside Gibby? He is somewhere with the organization, right?

 

[Longshot]

FWIW, the Dodgers have an almost identical batting average and a worse OBP for hte 2016 season than the Blue Jays. The Cubs are only 0.008 higher on average and 0.13 on OBP and they were the BEST TEAM IN BASEBALL (but also currently trailing to those Dodgers in their series)

Cleveland was .014 higher on average, but actually a couple points lower on OBP than the Jays.

I don't think it's as simple as saying that better contact teams win. Because the Indians were much higher up the ladder, but the other 3 teams in the LCS were clumped together in roughly the middle 3rd of the league and not significantly different from one another.

The Jays' problem was that their offence went back into its September swoon/cold period after the Texas series. It's a streaky thing and the streak went against the Jays this series.

To me, the Jays biggest offensive issue (other than being ice cold the last month, which was attributable to a number of 30+ players being beat up physically - a simple reality when you rely on older players), was the lineup was a bit one dimensional.

Bautista, EE, Donaldson, Martin, Tulo, Martin and Saunders are (to varying degrees of ability) basically the same kinds of hitters. All of them right handed (except Saunders) and all of them pull hitting power guys, with little or no speed to their games.

The rest of the players in the lineup on a regular basis (except Travis, when he was healthy), weren't good enough to make much of a difference on a consistent basis.

Not sure how they do it, but it would be nice to see a bit more versatility sprinkled into the lineup for next year.

 

[Bad News Benning]

I think average is a bit overrated. I bet many players that hit .300 have about the same OBP as guys like Bau, JD, Edwin, etc.

I think OBP tends to get a bit overrated to be honest. I mean OBP is great don't get me wrong but a hit is more valuable than a walk. A walk can't score a runner from 2nd or move a runner 1st to 3rd. Walks are great when you can hit a lot of HR's but when the power dries out you're left with a lot of stranded runners.

Jays badly lack .300+ hitters in their lineup. It's fine to have a couple lower average/high obp types on your team but we simply have too many regulars who hit below .260 to sustain offense over an entire season.

 

[Suntouchable13]

I think OBP tends to get a bit overrated to be honest. I mean OBP is great don't get me wrong but a hit is more valuable than a walk. A walk can't score a runner from 2nd or move a runner 1st to 3rd. Walks are great when you can hit a lot of HR's but when the power dries out you're left with a lot of stranded runners.

Jays badly lack .300+ hitters in their lineup. It's fine to have a couple lower average/high obp types on your team but we simply have too many regulars who hit below .260 to sustain offense over an entire season.

We need a couple of .300 hitters with speed. That's what we need. Speed that gets on base.

 

[Bad News Benning]

We need a couple of .300 hitters with speed. That's what we need. Speed that gets on base.

We need Left handed hitters or switch hitters
A speed element outside of Pillar
A higher team batting average.


curious to see if they can pull it off

 

[Longshot]

We need a couple of .300 hitters with speed. That's what we need. Speed that gets on base.

Speed would be nice, but it's only valuable with on base behind it. A fast guy with a sub .300 OBP is useless.

They need a few of things this winter:

* a power bat for DH/1B
* a couple of leftie hitters
* more versatility (speed yes, but how nice would a hitter like Pedroia like?, a couple of batters that are real tough outs would be nice)
* a real back up catcher. If I was Atkins/Shapio, I would re-sign Dioner immediately. They need a back up who can catch 45-50 games and keep Martin, who was a physical wreck by the end of the season, healthy. Dioner is pretty much the perfect guy. Switch hitter, knows the staff, is popular, has some pop in his bat.