10 Game Report #1 - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Last 10 games : 4 - 6
Projected Finish: 65 - 97

This will be the first of what will hopefully be regular 10 game updates. It is a long season and 10 game chunks seem like an appropriate way to view the season. Assuming a target of 90 wins (this is a number that should have the Jays on the cusp of the playoffs) the Jays need to average 5.5 wins every 10 games.....I have no idea how you win half a game, but damnit, it is worth a shot.

I hate it when writers take the easy way out and use this particular vehicle for a summary. It tends to focus on the negative as opposed to the positive.  However considering the Jays first 10 games, this is a perfect fit.  And this way I get it out of the way for the year.

 

THE GOOD

1. The bullpen has been pretty much lights out.  Cecil, Loup, Delabar, Santos and Janssen have been awesome....which has been necessary considering the starting staff;
2. Bautista's wrist has been fine.  He turned his ankle, but he is OK and his power is back;
3. Arencibia appears to have taken another step.  He has had a lot of strong AB's thus far;
4. Offensively the new guys have settled in.  Melky and especially Reyes have been the bright spots in the lineup; and
5. When healthy, this lineup looks scary deep, filled with power, speed and switch hitters.

THE BAD

1. The record.  It's early, but 4 wins out of 10 is not an ideal start.  But people need to relax about the record.  Don't go looking for this yet:
   
2. EE has not looked good.  I think he will figure it out, but we need him to get going;
3. Lind has also looked pretty bad.....he will not get it going and the sooner the Jays limit his AB's the better; and
4. The infield defence has been pretty bad.  Both Bonafacio and Izturis have struggled.  I think Izturis will be fine once he gets back to 2B after Lawrie's return but wait....

THE UGLY

 

1. Reyes destroyed his ankle last night.  He cried, I cried, half the city cried.  He has been better than advertised and he is likely gone 3 months or longer.  We have no backup except Izturis and that is a huge downgrade.  Maybe Lawrie's return will be sparkplug, but the sooner Reyes is back, the better.  From the looks of things the Jays future will be without Reyes.  Hopefully Bonafacio can play a competent 2B and his bat really takes off.  This is quite possible and could really mitigate the loss of Reyes; and
2. The starting pitching has sucked.  Dickey, Johnson and Buerhle have been pretty much shitting the bed.  I suspect that their third turns through the rotation will see some dramatic improvements.

SUMMARY

 

The record doesn't matter, the bad pitching even doesn't concern me too much.  But losing a man and his donkey is going to hurt. It is going to hurt real bad.