According to Baseball Reference, J.P. Arencibia over a 162 game season, averages 31 homeruns and 93 RBIs, not to mention in 2012 he hit .295 with RISP.   How many catchers in the league can give a team that type of production fit for the middle of the order? The answer is not many! Yet fans and baseball analysts look at his career .225 batting average, his high strikeout rate (175k/162 games) and his .271 on base percentage along with his tendency to give up pass balls or his inability at times to block balls in the dirt as ingredients to put together a recipe for criticism. The facts are that J.P Arencibia will never be a high on base percentage guy or win batting titles like Joe Mauer or Buster Posey. It is not his strength, thus not his job. His job is to be a run producer and he is one of the best run producers among catchers in baseball.

Fans and media alike love to criticize and highlight every error J.P commits defensively.  The overtly negative Toronto Sports media along with the city’s pessimistic fan base seem to a greater extent highlight his mistakes compared to those committed by other players on the team.  Two aspects of his defensive game that seem to be much more under the lens are his technique behind the plate blocking balls in the dirt and his inability to throw out base runners. Fans and baseball media “experts” have to keep in mind the pitchers the Blue Jays have fielded over the last couple of years when analyzing the rate at which he catches runners stealing. These pitchers have affected J.P’s ability to throw out runners due to their inability to hold runners on or shorten their delivery towards home plate with men on base.

This concentration by the fans on the negative or “still work in progress” side of J.P’s game, seems to be feeding of the harsh criticism (at times) from two former MLB catchers, Buck Martinez and Gregg Zaun, who are part of Rogers Sportsnet’s television broadcast team. To be fair they are not saying that J.P. Arencibia is not a fine defensive catcher because he is, but it seems like fans are taking their harsh and at times realistic criticism and amplifying it to a degree 100 times of the intended meaning. The fact is that J.P. Arencibia is not a great defensive catcher, but he is not a defensive liability either. He has taken leaps and bounds offensively and defensively through his development as a catcher. I would take J.P. Arencibia’s only “fine” defensive play for his outstanding offensive production any day of the week. But the fact is that there is more to J.P Arencibia’s value than just his offensive and defensive stats/output.

Arencibia has intangible qualities, both on and off the field, that make him such an asset to the Blue Jays organization. Aside from being a fan favourite on and off social media (great for marketing),  J.P brings a leadership quality and mental toughness rare for a young 27 year old Major League player. He has developed relationships with his pitching staff making them confident of his ability to call games. Most importantly J.P. is unselfish and brings to the team dynamic a “team first mentality”.  He was even quoted as saying, “I would run through a wall for this team”, after he found out that AA (Alex Anthopoulos) kept his word and did not include him in the Dickey trade, despite the belief of both fans and experts.

Despite all these non-quantified assets, almost every Blue Jays fan was ready to throw him off the ship for an unproven prospect by the name of Travis D’arnaud, and concede him by assuming he was part of the Dickey deal with the Mets. I for one, applaud the Blue Jays for keeping J.P. because just like he was a very highly touted prospect, D’arnaud currently holds and use to hold the title as the “prospect” . That word prospect is so key because they can be a bust, but the beautiful thing with Arencibia is that he has a track record. He has not only passed the stage of his development where he is learning and experiencing “growing pains”, but entering the prime of his career as one of the top offensive catchers in Major League Baseball. In a year where the Blue Jays appear to be “all in” do you really want to take your chances with an inexperienced catcher who is going to experience many of the typical developmental challenges most young catchers face to start their careers? With an experienced veteran starting rotation? The answer is NO.  Now, I don’t believe Arencibia will ever be as good defensively as Yadier Molina or Ivan Rodriguez, but is it really fair to put that type of expectations on a young 27 year old player? At least one or both of those guys I mentioned above are first ballot Hall of Famers. What I do Know is that I have faith Arencibia will become a proven winner in the game and will be one of the core pieces of many Jays teams to come. But I want to leave you with a question, which you all know what my answer is going to be: Which catcher either than Buster Posey, Matt Wieters, Yadier Molina or Joe Mauer would you want have on your team?

The post Why are Fans so Critical of J.P Arencibia? appeared first on MLB Nation.

The Rockies will take a shot to see if Oswalt has anything left in his arm, and career for that matter. It’s still unclear what role he will feel but it is rumored that he would prefer to start to no ones surprise. It also is reported that there are out clauses in the contract if Oswalt is not added to roster by certain dates. Oswalt wasn’t with any major league team this spring, so it might take him a month or two in order to get him ready for big league competition.

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Melky Cabrera had a .284 average and a .338 OBP (on base percentage) in his time in the 2 spot through 67 at bats. While putting those numbers he also had 6 walks and 6 RBI’s and striking out 7 times. The switch hitter was one of the better Blue Jays hitters through the early part of the season. However Melky was not getting a chance to produce more RBI’s because of the lack runners on base once he was up and that was one factor in the lineup swap.

Adam Lind spent most of his time this year hitting in the 5th spot before being move up in the order. In the last 7 days, Lind has a .400 average and .750 OBP while working 7 walks and only striking out once. Lind also had a streak where he had reached base on 9 straight plate appearances. Once you look at the numbers and the hot streak of reaching base that Lind has put together the move begins to make sense. Riding Adam Lind’s ability reach base of late is a good way to have runners on for the big 3,4,5 hitters in the lineup and try to jump start a struggling Blue Jays offense.

It will be interesting to see if this can help the Blue Jays offense and how long the switch will last. We will see how long Lind is kept in the 2 hole and if Melky can produce from a prime RBI spot in the 5th slot. If Adam Lind begins to struggle who will John Gibbons move to next? Colby Rasmus? Brett Lawrie? We can only wait and see how this move plays out and what holds next for the preseason World Series favourites Toronto Blue Jays.

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Is Jose Fernandez already the best pitcher in the Marlins rotation?

If you can say that the Marlins have had any bright spots so far this season, one of them has to be the debut of pitching phenom, Jose Fernandez. Fernandez has been nothing short of fantastic in his first two starts in The Show.  He has yet to record a win, but he has pitched to the tune of a 0.83 ERA in those two starts and has 13 strikeouts to 3 walks in 11 innings pitched. But let’s not forget that he is only 20 years old. Yes. 20 years old. After signing late in 2011, he was assigned to A-ball and pitched a handful of innings there. But Fernandez really began to show what type of guy he really was in 2012 by totally dominating the minor leagues. After a season in which he went 14-1, with a 1.75 ERA and a 158/38 strikeout to walk ratio, the Marlins decided to start him in AA for the 2013 season. But after injuries to Nathan Eovaldi and Henderson Alvarez, Fernandez was called up to pitch without a single inning logged above A-ball.

On April 7th, 2013, Jose Fernandez made his debut against the recently hot-hitting New York Mets. After a 5 inning performance in which he struck out 8, the Marlins went on to lose the game. His 2nd start came against the Phillies in Miami in which Fernandez pitched 6 strong innings for of shutout ball. He didn’t get the win, but he made his presence known.

Now can Jose Fernandez be a Cy Young contender in next few years? Of course. The Marlins obviously took a huge risk by starting his service clock so early into his career, but they know that this kid can pitch and win games now. Not in  two or three years down the road. He can win now. The scouting reports all point to Fernandez as an up and coming ace of the Marlins staff. He has a great fastball that can reach 98 MPH, a plus curveball, and a changeup and slider to keep the hitters off-balance. His innings will be limited this year, given the fact that he really is just a kid and the Marlins obviously want to protect his arm and prevent any wear and tear on it. But with the bulldog presence on the mound, and his ability to blow away hitters, Fernandez will be one of the top pitchers in baseball in the next few years.

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Now, it’s his blood alcohol level.

Early Tuesday morning, Gallardo was pulled over for swerving through traffic lanes on Milwaukee’s interstate highway, as well as driving 15 miles per hour under the speed limit.

When pulled over, police asked Gallardo to preform a routine series of sobriety tests, which Gallardo was unable to do. When given a breathalyzer, Gallardo’s blood alcohol levels read .22, nearly three times the legal limit.

Gallardo was arrested and charged at a local police station. Milwaukee County Sheriff spokeswoman Fran McLaughlin stated, ”This was a first offense for him, so that is a citation, so there is no associated potential jail time on a first offense.  He faces penalties of a maximum of $780 in fines.”

The Milwaukee Brewers front office issued a statement today at 11:20 a.m. stating:

“We have been made aware of the situation with Yovani and we take this matter very seriously. We have expressed our disappointment to him and know he understands that behavior of this nature is of great concern to everyone in the organization. Yovani has acknowledged the seriousness of this incident and is taking full accountability for his actions.”

There has been no comment from the MLB nor potential suspension time yet.

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David Aardsma only appeared in one game for the Yankees last season as he was recovering from a Tommy John surgery which he had in 2011. Aardsma  was drafted in the first round by the Giants in 2003. The right-hander struggled early in his career, however from 2009-2010, Aardsma posted a 2.90 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 and 69 saves in 126 games for the Seattle Mariners.

Aardsma, 31, was released by the New York Yankees on April 6th. Two days later, he cleared waivers and was gaining interest from multiple ball clubs since his velocity reached 94 miles per hour this Spring, and he showed that he’s healthy. Aardsma appeared in eight Grapefruit League games, while posting a 3.52 ERA in 7 2/3 innings.

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We want to make sure he is 100 percent healthy when he gets back,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “All things considered, you certainly hope when a guy goes in an MRI tube that there’s no ligament damage and that you’re not looking at surgery, so that being one of the options, maybe we got a little bit of a [lucky] break.”

The Cuban native injured his left thumb and the top of his hand when he made a weird slide into second base in the eighth inning. The right-handed hitter didn’t leave the game right away, but he would exited in 11th inning. In seven games this season, Cespedes is posting a .200 (8-for-40) with three home runs and seven RBI’s.

In related new, the A’s have recalled Michael Taylor to take Cespedes place in the roster.

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However, multiple sources have indicated that Reyes could be out for a prolonged period of time. GM Alex Anthopoulous even told reporters that a best case scenario has his star shortstop on the DL for one month, although it could be as much as 3 months. Reyes will undergo an MRI today to deterimine the extent of the injury.  What will the Jays do until Reyes returns?

In the short-term, Ken Rosenthal reported that the Jays have recalled infielder Muenori Kawasaki from Triple-A Buffalo and will be available for Saturdays’ game.  In a year the Blue Jays expect to contend, light hitting Kawasaki is simply not going to cut it.

Other internal options with Major-League depth include Mike McCoy, Andy LaRoche, Eugenio Velez, and recently claimed Mauro Gomez. Beyond that, there isn’t really a top shortstop prospect ready for the Major leagues.

One option could be to recall outfielder Anthony Gose to replace the also-speedy Jose Reyes. However, that would require Bautista to move to third base for at least the next few months – which is something Toronto doesn’t want to do.

Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos also told reporters that he has already begun talking to other General Managers about possible deals to fill the void until Reyes is able to return.  Potential trade targets could include Mike Aviles, John McDonald, Yuniesky Betancourt, Jonathan Herrera, Ramiro Pena, Cesar Izturis, and Dee Gordon, according to the Toronto Star’s Richard Griffin. Buster Olney of ESPN.com suggested McDonald could make sense – for reasons other than nostalgia – in that he occupies a limited role in Pittsburgh on the bench that also has other options.

Jose Reyes suffered the nasty ankle injury sliding into second base during the sixth inning of the Jays’ 8-4 win over Kansas City Friday. He was seen crying as he was carted off the field. Entering the game, he hit .412/.487/.559 in nine games.  He extended his hitting strek to 9 games with a hit Friday prior to his injury.

For now, it appears Toronto will use some combination of Mark DeRosa, Emilio Bonifacio, and Maicer Izturis at second, shortp, and third until Brett Lawrie and Jose Reyes return. Lawrie figures to be back within the next few weeks.

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Fujikawa, who was recently named as the Cubs’ closer, has a 12.46 ERA with four strike outs and has given up six runs -all earned- on eight hits in just 4 1/3 innings this season.

While Fujikawa is out, the Cubs will a closer-by-committee. However, Carlos Marmol and Rafael Dolis won’t be apart of it.  The Cubs will likely use more right-hander Shawn Camp and left-hander James Russell to close.

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Wells, who will soon turn 36 on April 21st, posted a 4.58 ERA with 4.6 K/9 and 4.8 BB/9 in 37 1/3 innings over the course of seven starts with the San Diego Padres last season. In 12 years in the majors, Wells owns a 4.71 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9 in 296 games with the White Sox, Pirates, Rangers, Cardinals, Rockies, Royals, Nationals, Reds and Padres.

The right-hander had worked out with the ball club yesterday and had a deal by late night, says Heyman. Wells adds depth to the Angels rotation as they will be without Jered Weaver for the next four weeks.

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