Two for Tuesday

We sometimes like to joke about Batter's Box, and steal their pictures, and we probably don't link to them nearly as much as we should-- but today I can't possibly ignore the amazing work they've done, putting together a positional analysis of how teams in the majors have either improved or regressed from last year to this. Some Jays-related highlights:

The biggest jump in production among NL third basemen (143.8%) belongs to the St. Louis Cardinals. Uh-oh. Though it's true that the Greatest Blue Jay Ever had a rough year last year, that's... well. . . that's not good. It should be noted, though, that Rolen is actually producing 90.3% of what Glaus and whichever shitbags filled in for him last year did. So... it's maybe not so bad when you factor in Rolen's defense and the fact that Glaus would have surely lost more games to injury if he was still playing on turf (right? right???).

The biggest improvement at the shortstop position among AL teams belongs to... uh... the Toronto Blue Jays. This of course is due more to the fact that Clayton and McDonald were just brutal with the stick last year, and less to do with the offensive exploits of Scutaro and Eckstein. Way, way, way less.

The Jays have fallen off the map at DH (still not as badly as Seattle, though), the corner outfield spots, and second base. Which... well... might explain why they can't score any fucking runs.

OK. I think I've aped enough of their work. Go check it out-- definitely an interesting read.

Parkes, I Take Back My Defense of John Lott
Hale has already got to this over at the Mockingbird, but it's provoked too much of my ire to not mention it in this little corner of the interweb as well.

Here is what JP Ricciardi told the Manchester (NH) Union Leader-- a paper whose calls he actually takes, apparently-- about the Jays' shortstop situation going forward:

"We think (Justin) Jackson ultimately will be our shortstop, but he's obviously a ways away. We've got (Marco) Scutaro for another year. We've got Johnny (MacDonald) for another year. We can hold the fort down with those guys, and you never know what you'll get in the way of a trade or something else."

And here's how the Post summarized that statement:

"The GM also said he expects 2007 draft pick Justin Jackson, now at Low-A Lansing, to become Toronto’s regular shortstop in several years. Meanwhile, he looks to Marco Scutaro to play short through next year."

Like, what the fucking fuck? Do I even need to go on a tirade over this? It's just plain, obviously, indisputably wrong. (Did they think it was going in the Post's editorial section or something? Zing!)