I always say it is hardest to blog about a middling team. A bad team, lots to talk about. A good team, lots to talk about. One in the middle?<\/p>\n
I think the Jays will get better. I think getting Alejandro Kirk<\/a> back will help a lot. I think getting, you know, five actual starting pitchers will help. Teams tend to do well on bullpen days, but I think using everyone in the pen in one game out of five (or in the Jays\u2019 case, two games out of five) puts a lot of stress on the relievers. As much as I like the old days when Mark Eichhorn could throw 160 innings in a season, Tom Henke could throw 90 innings, and Duane Ward could throw 110, it was a different game back then. Having Louis Varland<\/a> pitch in every other game isn\u2019t a recipe for long-term success.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n It would also help if we could get 4-5-6 runs a game. Yesterday, we had nine hits, including a home run, and we still only scored three runs. Until we start scoring consistently, we really can\u2019t blame the pitching for a mediocre record. There is hardly anyone on the offense who is heading better than we would have expected, except for Yohendrick Pi\u00f1ango (and I don\u2019t know of anyone who expected he would get playing time in the majors this year.<\/p>\n Even defensively, we haven\u2019t been the team I expected. Gimenez has been terrific at short. And Daulton Varsho<\/a> seems to be coming back to what we expected. But Ernie Clement<\/a> has been a -5 runs above average at second base, and I didn\u2019t see that coming. Jesus Sanchez and Pi\u00f1ango look like two guys who are new to playing the outfield.<\/p>\n Anyway, I do think things will get better with some of the guys coming off the IL. I don\u2019t know if it will be better enough, but the AL has been pretty crappy, and we aren\u2019t far out of a playoff spot, just one game back at the moment. Some or one of those teams hovering around the .500 mark are going to have to get better; maybe it will be the Jays. They had a great second half last year. Who is to say it can\u2019t happen again?<\/p>\n Baseball America has made some changes to its top 100 prospect list, and Jays prospect Nolan Perry has jumped on the list at #85. BA says:<\/p>\n