[moon]

Originally Posted by JayP

Rios is 27 and in his 5th full MLB season. There's no excuse for not at least matching his numbers from last season (and most Blue Jay fans would expect him to exceed them as he is entering his prime).

Hill is 26 and in his 4th MLB season. Like Rios, at least the status quo must be expected from him. Neither of these guys are kids anymore.

With Rios and Hill I should have said still young in their careers, and even by that I mean they haven't established themselves as top level hitters that you can rely on every year at this point. I think a lot of Jays fans and media wanted/expected them to keep progressing but I am not sure it is huge surprise that they are not as good as their top years.

I don't expect guys in their early 30's to have their numbers drop completely off the map. Wilkerson and Overbay are only 31 and Mench is 30 - age is not an excuse for poor production. Rolen is only 33. Stewart I can understand since he's been slipping for awhile, but even he's dropped from around a .725 OPS average the past 3 seasons (.711, .715, .739) to a .631. I find it hard to believe that his 34th birthday turned him from a below average hitter to a pathetic one.

You're acting like all these guys are 36+ and the only one who fits that mold in Stairs (who I mentioned in my original post).

I think that with many pro athletes real age can be a bit misleading. For guys who were already mediocre like Wilkerson and Mench 30+ is starting to get "old" for what they provide. Their stats do start to see a slide because they were marginal when in peak form. There was a reason that they were available mid-season.

Rolen is a guy that played at a young age and has had injury trouble. I am not surprised in the least that he is not putting up his "normal" numbers. His shoulder is not what it should be and is much "older" than 33.

Overbay has been declining as of late. It may not be due to age but considering what he has done the past few years these numbers shouldn't be surprising.

Perhaps with the above mentioned guys the surprise isn't that they are older and declining, because as you point out they aren't ancient. For me the lack of surprise is that they were never that great to start with so if they lose even just a little it will likely show up in a big way.

EDIT: Here's the offensive stats for 2008: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/...atting&group=9. Look through the rosters of the teams who join the Jays in the bottom 10 of the league and tell me if the Jays core of hitters belongs in the basement with these teams.

I am not sure they are any better looking in paper than either of the LA teams who are in the bottom ten of most hitting stats, also I am not sure they are any better than Colorado either who shows up in the bottom ten.

Not looking at all the teams in the MLB's roster I wouldn't be surprised if on paper the Jays finished somewhere around in the bottom 7-10.