Toronto Blue Jays: Mid-season Analysis

                Another All-Star Break is upon us and I don’t think it’s any surprise that the Toronto Blue Jays have had the air let out of their balloon. They limp into the break losing five of their last seven games including another feeble pitching effort on Sunday afternoon.

                Sure, it was great to see the hitters knock the cover off the ball in the top of the sixth to erase a 7-0 deficit. And it was nice to see them tack on another run in both the seventh and the eighth. But a three-hit effort by Jose Reyes, and two-hit performances by Devon Travis, Danny Valencia and Kevin Pillar were pretty much wasted as the bullpen again pitched pitifully in an 11-10 loss. Of course, the six-run first the Royals put up against Jays’ starter Felix Doubront weren’t exactly helpful either.

                If we were told back in March that the Jays would be going into the All-Star Break at 45-46, I wouldn’t have been surprised. We knew back then that this team wouldn’t be much more than mediocre and, surprise, surprise, that’s what they are.

                And considering they needed an eleven-game winning streak to even reach mediocrity doesn’t bode well for the second half of the season.

                But let’s be positive for a minute and look at the plus side of things.

                The signing of Russell Martin has been a good one, despite much of the talk from the media and the fans at the time was that they overpaid to get him. Russell’s 12 homeruns and 41 RBIs, plus his savvy behind the plate more than improves the catching position from a year ago.

                The trade of Brett Lawrie to the Oakland A’s for Josh Donaldson is, by far, the best transaction that Alex Anthopoulos has made in his tenure as the Jays’ General Manager. Donaldson is proving his worth batting .293 while smashing 21 homeruns and driving in 60. He has definitely earned his record-breaking All-Star votes.

                Both Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion have been a little disappointing with their batting averages, but that can be overlooked when you look at the power numbers. (18 and 54 for Edwin, and 17 and 60 for Jose.)

                Devon Travis and Kevin Pillar have posted above average numbers as well, making this a very formidable offensive line-up.

                Now before, I get into the pitching, I just have to address the negativity being directed at Jose Reyes. The fans and media have been all over him for some not-so-good fielding performances lately. And while it is true that he has made a few errors, I can’t help but think that the criticism is a bit unwarranted. It’s not from lack of effort from Reyes, although his hitting hasn’t been as good as in years past. Keep in mind that he is getting older and eventually every player starts to see their skills deteriorate with age. That being said, it’s completely unfair to single him out. After all, he doesn’t pitch.

                And pitching is what has been the Jays’ problem in the first half of the season. Even looking at the majority of games during the big winning streak in June, it was the offense that propelled the team through that streak, with scores of 7-6 and 13-10 mixed in there. In fact, if it weren’t for the offense, this team might very well be ten games or more under the .500 mark.

                Let’s face it. As nice a guy as R.A. Dickey is, and given the fact that he won the Cy Young Award for the New York Mets the year before he came to the Jays’, he has been a colossal failure during his time in Toronto. Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy, but a 31-36 record with a 4.15 ERA during his two and a half years with the team, doesn't deserve the 29 million dollars he’s received during that time. He’s also scheduled to make another 12 million in 2016, but don’t be surprised if the Jays exercise their option to buy him out for a million.

                The pre-season injury to Marcus Stroman really hurt, and the combination of Drew Hutchison, Marco Estrada and Aaron Sanchez haven’t exactly been intimidating American League hitters. Yes, Hutchison’s 8-2 record looks good, but his 5.33 ERA sure doesn’t.

                The only bright spot on the pitching staff in the first half has been Mark Buehrle. The left-hander is 10-5 with a 3.34 ERA and has chalked up 121 innings already. He has been about the best thing to come out of all the deals made by Anthopoulos during the off-season of 2012-13. While he hasn’t shown the All-Star form he once had with the White Sox, he’s at least decent with a 35-25 record and a 3.67 ERA during his time in Toronto.

                I don’t even want to talk about the bullpen, but I will briefly. Choosing Brett Cecil as the closer was a bad idea as evidence by his blown saves earlier in the year, but who else is there to do it. Good closers are hard to come by, and it’s too bad they couldn’t bring back Casey Janssen, but that’s the way the game goes.

                I always wondered why, when management acquired all those players a few years ago, they hired a manager like John Gibbons, who really did not have much of a track record when it came to managing ball clubs. During the first part of this season, I have figured it out. So management can stick all the blame on him if the team wasn’t successful on the field, and then get rid of him when the media and fans start looking for blood.

                Anyway, maybe I’m just being overly critical and the team will get it together in the second half, maybe pull off a trade for a couple of pitchers and sneak into the playoffs for the first time in twenty-two years. I really hope so.