Archive for the ‘Aaron Cibia’ Category

It’s a game of adjustments, they say, and the Jays seem determined to keep making them with their players when things aren’t working well. And why wouldn’t they? They’ve seen their changes work to dramatic effect in recent years, from Jose Bautista to Edwin Encarnacion, from Adam Lind to Colby Rasmus, we think. And now– perhaps– to Esmil Rogers and J.P. Arencibia, as well.

The former, Esmil Rogers, I tend to believe in.

John Lott of the National Post writes about how the reborn starter has begun throwing a sinker– something I noted in last night’s Game Threat– with great success. Jeff Blair also spoke about the pitcher’s new weapon on this afternoon’s edition of Baseball Central, explaining to Dirk Hayhurst that it came from none other than Pat Hentgen.

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Mike Wilner of the Jays’ radio crew, and the host of the Fan 590′s post-game show, was one of the first and most visible proponents of blowing old school narratives apart and looking at the game of baseball through a Sabermetric prism– not only in this city, but you’d have to think in just about any, as far as members of an official team broadcast crew are concerned. For that, he has long been an extremely welcome voice in the local media for those of us intolerant of irrational bullshit and the typical radio call-in dreck.

And that’s why it’s especially weird to see him doing what he’s been doing this week, defending J.P. Arencibia for being in a “slump,” despite the catcher’s abysmal career .267 OBP and 86 wRC+ through now more than eleven-hundred big league at-bats.

For example, here’s an exchange from the first caller on last night’s JaysTalk:

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Let’s all agree on one thing: J.P. Arencibia is a divisive figure among Blue Jays fans. He’s a fan favorite for what some might call the “wrong” reasons. His popularity outstrips his productivity by most measures, but the popularity game is not always won on the field of play.

Arencibia is off to a…strange start to 2013. Hitting for power like never before, currently sitting second in the AL with nine home runs. He’s also making outs like never before – quite an accomplishment for a man who entered 2013 with a .275 on base percentage. More than anything, Arencibia is a frustrating player to watch. The power is nice — using all fields is a welcome offensive adjustment as noted by Mop Up Duty earlier this year — but the approach, the complete inability to draw a walk, is troubling. Two walks against 42 strikeouts? That is downright unpleasant.

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soundboardGIF

Calling 162 games every year is not an easy thing to do. That’s 500 hours (give or take) of talking non-stop about the same topic. While you get to cover some great games, you also have to cover the really shitty games. I gotta give credit to Buck – in my opinion, he does a good job. Sure, the BOWTEESTAH’s get annoying after a while, but such is the case when listening to someone talk for a long time.

I teamed up with Vince from BuckBlunders.com to find some of the best/worst of Buck. If you don’t know about the site, it’s a catalog of all of Buck’s fuck-ups. He gave me a ton of material to work with so shoutout to him. So here you go, the Buck Martinez soundboard:

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Pardon me, but Don Kelly has no business making this catch. A double from Prince Fielder and a home run off the bat of Alex Avila have the Tigers up 2-0 early in the second, so yeah, maybe one of those afternoons. Stay tuned.

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Gibbons, come on, man, you can’t leave the desk like that!

In anticipation of the hoopla over the weekend, I was saving this one as on last kick in the ass on the way out of town for the Senator from Massachusetts, John Farrell, but… since the series against the Red Sox didn’t quite work out the way anyone outside of Greater Massholia had hoped, it didn’t seem real appropriate to post it. Today, though, I think we’re all safely calmed, ready for the Detroit Tigers, and ready to hear how, on an episode of Tim and Sid last week, J.P. Arencibia compared the communication the club received from ol’ fuckface with how it’s been like so far with Gibbers.

SID SEIXEIRO: How, so far, has John Gibbons communicated with you guys in comparison to Farrell. What are the differences?

J.P. ARENCIBIA: I feel like just more letting the guys be themselves and play the game. And, you know, understand that guys are here for a reason and they’ve done what’s made them successful, and you need to let them go out there and not try to force the hand or change the way the game is played. I think last year we might have tried to reinvent the wheel a little bit, and that hurt us sometimes. So I think Gibbons really has a laid back feel. But, I think another thing that he did, and he did with me yesterday, is that I missed a sign and I came into the dugout and he was all over me, and, you know, ripping me apart– in a great way. And I think that’s necessary, and we didn’t have that last year, and I think that’s a big part of who he is.

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Listen, I know catching a knuckleball isn’t the easiest thing to do. And I sure as hell couldn’t do it. So I do what I do best. Make GIFs of those who can’t either.