Kawasaki certainly is endearing himself to the fans, but the Jays need Reyes back in the worst way. Kawasaki as an occasional spot start is fine, but as an every day guy, a 277 slugger doesn't cut it. He is quite good at drawing walks though for a guy with those power numbers.
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While I agree that Reyes is a better player and the Jays need him back, I really wish they could find a place for Kawasaki. The guy gives 150% every night and even though he isn't exactly dynamite at the plate he deliver some pretty clutch hits. He's made some pretty spectacular defensive plays too, and it would be nice to see him get rewarded for his efforts with a roster spot.
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While I agree that Reyes is a better player and the Jays need him back, I really wish they could find a place for Kawasaki. The guy gives 150% every night and even though he isn't exactly dynamite at the plate he deliver some pretty clutch hits. He's made some pretty spectacular defensive plays too, and it would be nice to see him get rewarded for his efforts with a roster spot.
He is decent defensively, not sure his defense is that much different than a player like Izturis or Bonifaco...
As they would be completing for the same spot roster spot when Reyes returns.
Kawaski has little offensive ability at all.... I believe he is 3 for 35 or something like that last little while...
Little offensive ability but is able to get a decent amount of walks and always challenges the pitcher. Everytime he bats he seems to make the pitcher work for the out and sees on average 8+ pitches a bat.
I do love Kawaski's ability to grind at bats constantly, but his results just are not there. Sure, a nine pitch at bat is good, but if they always turn into ground outs I'm not sure his at-bats are better than guys with their average 40 points higher, seeing only 4 pitches an at bat.
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For someone who doesn't really follow baseball, but does have a passing interest in the Jays just by virtue of being a Canadian sports fan....
Are the Jays back in it? With Reyes coming back and all that. Are they back in the contention conversation?
Last I read was awhile ago that few if any teams come back from the hole they dug for themselves.
They absolutely have a chance...
They are currently:
6.5 games back of the division lead (Boston)
5.5 games back of the wild card (Oakland/Texas)
3.0 games back of the 2nd wild card, one game playoff spot (New York, Baltimore)
...with 85 games left to play.
They made a huge dent in the hole they dug with the recent 11 game win streak.
The biggest problem for them though, is that they are still in the toughest division in baseball (NL Central is tough though too), where every single team is currently above .500, and they are currently in last place in that division.
This next 4 game set vs. Boston is pretty huge.
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They have gotten themselves close enough to make a run at it but I don't think their rotation is good enough to actually make it.
I can't think of one rotation that doesn't have question marks - yeah the Jays staff isn't what we all thought it would be, but I don't think they are horrible either. If Dickey/Johnson can become consistant, and we know Dickey has been in the past - their staff is probably top 5 in the AL. Add Happ/Morrow coming back from injury, and Romero is actually starting to throw quite well in AAA... this club may have something left in the tank in August/September.
It will be the Jays play within the Division that determines where they finish. It's the toughest Division in Baseball because there are no bad teams in the AL East. In the NL Central the Cubs and Brewers are both bad teams so the other 3 can tee off on them. I think teams play 18 games against each Division opponent a year so ultimately I think the AL West will hae a Wild card team. Texas and Oakland get to play 36 games against Houston and Seattle and 18 more against the hyped up Angels gives them both 54 Division games against teams that look to be sub 500. There aren't enough games against the rest of the league for two AL East teams to overcome that.
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