Carson on Jays: Broke bats mounting

It’s hard to know where to begin when trying to come to grips with how anaemic the Blue Jays offence currently is.

I guess the easy way is to just look at this from a statistical standpoint. Over the last 13 games – in which they’ve only won four times – the Jays have combined to hit a measly .194, averaging just 2.4 runs and 6.3 hits per game while striking out 103 times. What is most alarming is the fact it’s not like they are getting blown away by anyone expected to capture first place votes in this year’s Cy Young award balloting, save for Jon Lester. They’ve been held down by the likes of Luke Hochevar, John Lackey, Bronson Arroyo, Mike Minor and Brandon Beachy.

The last four losses, heading into the off-day in St. Louis on Thursday, have been the toughest to swallow. They’ve scored a grand total of three runs in the four losses thanks to lack of clutch hitting that has seen them go – gulp – 1 for 20 with runners in scoring position, striking out in 12 of those at-bats. It’s a level of ineptitude that I can’t ever remember happening, certainly in my 19 years on the scene.

To put this into perspective, only eight other times in franchise history have the Blue Jays scored three or fewer runs over a four game span – and seven of those occurred during the expansion years (1977-81) when they were basically throwing a Triple-A line-up on the field:

In the process, the Jays have wasted some solid staring performances from their own starting rotation. Over the aforementioned 13 games, Jays’ starters have made 8 quality starts, posting a solid 2.41 ERA in those games. No blames to be laid here.

But what is really starting to bother me, and my cohorts in the booth, is the lack of action by general manager Alex Anthopoulos to try and bring in some bats to help correct this. Swinging hot sticks down at Las Vegas (AAA) are Eric Thames, David Cooper and Adam Loewen, all left-handed, something that has been sorely lacking on the Major League roster to this point. Thames (.375 in June) and Cooper (.380 on the season with 50 RBI in 53 games and an OPS over 1.000) have been with the Jays at different points this season and neither looked out of place.

Loewen, on the other hand, is still making the transition from pitcher to outfielder and has yet to get the call. Holding him up, I’m guessing is the fact that he’s not on the 40-man roster. But his .318 average, with 12 home runs and 50 RBI, warrants that he gets a shot to show if he can handle hitting at baseball’s top level. And once again, Loewen’s a lefty swinger that would certainly beef up the bench in Toronto.

As it currently stands, John Farrell is forced to play players on an everyday basis that, frankly, would be bench players elsewhere. Third base has turned into an offensive black hole with Jayson Nix, Mike McCoy, Edwin Encarnacion and John McDonald combining to hit .177 with 30 more strikeouts than RBI and just five home runs – the worst production in the Majors from a power position.

Perhaps, until Brett Lawrie’s hand heals and is deemed to be game ready and finally make his Blue Jays debut, the smart move would be to bring Jose Bautista in from right to play third in the short term, with Loewen in right and Thames in left and a platoon of Corey Patterson and Rajai Davis in centre. That might help the sagging offence and at least give them a fighting chance again at the plate. Then when Lawrie arrives towards the end of July, ‘Joey Bats’ goes back to right and they rearrange the deck chairs accordingly.

But until some moves are made, it doesn’t seem like the Jays have much of a shot and manager Farrell has few options. Not an ideal situation until some new blood is brought on board, because what they have right now sure isn’t working.