Edwin "E5" Encarnacion is allegedly healthy and on track to start at third base for the Jays this season. I'd be OK with that, except E5 racks up errors seemingly for the hell of it. Even this guy is better at fielding a baseball. The creaky and not as old as you think (27) Encarnacion has just got back to playing ball following surgery on his wrist. He's going to be fine this year, right? Wrong.This injury already has a stench so rancid emanating from it that it's time to break out the axe body spray. I can see it now; a blistering .210 batting average, a razzle dazzle grand total of 8 home runs and a paltry RBI total of 35, all the while inventing new ways to airmail first base by five miles. Then we'll find out sometime in the winter that he was a hurt bag all season. Vernon Wells anyone?
Another plausible scenario is he'll be on and off the DL all year. That will force Jose Bautista to third base, ensuring Adam Lind and Travis Snider ample opportunities to run circles in the outfield and give career minor leaguer Randy Ruiz a chance to show everyone exactly why he hasn't been in the big leagues in 11 years. Maybe I'm too cynical. After all, Edwin does have one hit in nine at bats this spring.
Then again, considering this buffoon traded for him in the Scott Rolen deal last July, would we expect anything different?
(Note: Toronto Blue Jays Way realizes J.P. Ricciardi consummated a good trade by also netting prospects Zach Stewart and Josh Roenicke in the Rolenpalooza. However, in the interests of ripping him at all costs, it must be pointed out that he sucks. Big time.)
4 comments:
Ok.. I agree he sucks, and I'd rather see someone else at third, but I don't understand the stench reference and I don't think it's fair to completely rip on him, but support Bautista.
Edwin had a crappy year last year, but he played half-decently on the Jays, smacking a fair few dingers. Obviously he's not Scott Rolen, and you mentioned the other pieces they got back, so I need not touch on that.
But realistically, you can rip on a number of guys on this roster that are taking up valuable spots that should go to kids. Bautista tops my list. Sure he has had a monster spring and finished last year well, but he's a career utility man who lost his high prospect rating when he was labeled as a guy who doesn't care. That's not to mention he has TOO MUCH patience at the plate - too many times last year he'd bat with 2 outs in the ninth with guys on and take strike three.
Rip on E5 all you want, but don't stop at that. What about Overbay taking at-bats away from Ruiz/Dopirak? What about Tallet taking innings from Cecil? What about Jesse Carlson actually being paid major league dollars in the first place?
At the end of the day, there are things out of our control. The team is going to suck this year, so realistically, who cares who plays where? As long as Cito is here, things are going to be run a certain way, and we're not going to get a full idea of the team's future until a new manager takes over.
He's an alright player. But considering he's just now coming back from his injury, I can clearly see a bad year coming if he's already hurting. Bautista might be the next Marco Scutaro, no? Shock everyone by being a decent table setter.
See you know what's funny about that? Start of last year, I was hardcore against Scutaro starting, much less leading off. My opinion was that he was very mediocre, had a very average career coming in, and was (like Bautista) just one of Cito's faves with questionable grounds.
Hear me out: After Inglett's 08 (still mad they let him walk), I thought he deserved to lead off at second and I wanted them to put Hill at short.
I was wrong. So I could easily be wrong about JB, he just infuriated me in the games I saw him play at the Dome. Maybe all these guys need is a manager who shows them unfaltering confidence, because we know Scutaro didn't have that with the A's and Bautista didn't get that in Pittsburgh. And he started to really hit when Rios was dealt and he was playing every day.
I guess we can only wait and see.
I already miss Joe Inglett. Seriously.
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