Monday, August 10, 2009

Should Overbay or Millar hit clean up?

When Scott Rolen was dealt at the trade deadline the Blue Jays have been in search of a cleanup hitter to fill the void left by the 14 year veteran, receiving mixed results from both Lyle Overbay and Kevin Millar.

The 37 year old Millar had struggled, posting just 1 hit in 7 at bats prior to his breakout performance Sunday, where he went 3 for 3 with a home run and 2 RBI. The quality game was a shocking surprise, considering his average has dipped from .350 on May 1st to .236, driving in just 17 runs during that span.

Meanwhile, Overbay, who has started in the cleanup spot in 5 of the 8 contests following the deal, has hit for a solid .357 clip (5 for 14), but has just 1 RBI to show for it. Overbay has been non existent offensively, driving in a measly 3 runs since June 23rd after racking up 18 RBI in the previous 17 games before his swoon.

This is why the Jays need to rebuild this organization. If we are even alternating between these two guys in the cleanup role, we obviously aren't a strong enough team in the ultra competitive American League East.

2 comments:

Jay McMahon said...

Perhaps Overbay will be a little more aggressive at the plate batting in the 4 hole. It can't hurt.

Please release Millar and bring up Randy Ruiz!

Michael Harrison said...

Overbay seems to be hitting pretty well in limited at bats in that clean up role. Obviously it should be his job over Millar's, that's for sure. And in an ideal world, as I stated earlier, we wouldn't be discussing whether to put either one of these guys in that 4 hole...