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Obviously something is wrong with JPA lately... he's hitting like garbage out there (just 6 for 39 in the month of july) and his average has dropped to .211. Whether it's his thumb is still hurting or he's just in a huge slump I don't know but either way he's been a weak point in our lineup as of late (even going 0 for 6 in the opener of the mariners series). The best thing for Arencibia right now is a break from major league baseball for a little bit. We don't necessarily need to demote him but he does need a break from playing time in Toronto... What we do need to do is promote Travis d'Arnaud. As much as I hate to say it we are not exactly playoff contenders at this point of the year (although you never know). Since we don't have much to lose at this point of the season we need to give d'Arnaud a chance in the majors, after all I would be shocked if he didn't hit better than Arencibia is right now. Also, we have no reason to promote d'Arnaud to AAA since the PCL has shown to be a hitters friendly league (by that I mean he won't be much more challenged offensively there and therefore it won't really help his development). So the basic points are that we have nothing to lose, JPA has a .211 average in the MLB, d'Arnaud is hitting .330 in AA, and time off from major league ball may hugely benefit JPA.

Why do you think the best thing for him would be a break from playing right now? You just kind of state that as a fact and move on.

Fairview4Life wrote:Why do you think the best thing for him would be a break from playing right now? You just kind of state that as a fact and move on.

Maybe because he was battling through a wrist/hand injury and might still be. Young guys never show it if they are really hurt because they no what that means - no PT. (e.g. see Thames after his thigh injury)

Those kind of injuries sometimes linger and I bet that is why his avg. is hurting. See what Travis can do this year so you can evaluate a bit atleast who the better long-term Catcher may be. Also, could help trade value. But other than that, no reason to bring him up when you have Molina.

Just start Molina more if you have concerns with JPA's potential injury problems/workload, there's no reason accelerate D'Arnaud's development at this point

Yeah, I'm with Randle. Instead of sending him down, just lighten the load. Give Molina more games.

Yeah no reason to rush D'Arnaud. Molina has been good at the plate as well.

Catcher is the hardest position to rush as they need to know the staff, pitch calling, and opposing hitters to do their job. Hard to jump in and just do that for a young kid. Answer is just for Molina to play more than the Morrow starts.

Randle McMurphy wrote:Just start Molina more if you have concerns with JPA's potential injury problems/workload, there's no reason accelerate D'Arnaud's development at this point

This

D'Arnaud should play a full season of AAA before playing full time in the majors, for now i agree with Randle, jus play Molina more.

Randle McMurphy wrote:Just start Molina more if you have concerns with JPA's potential injury problems/workload, there's no reason accelerate D'Arnaud's development at this point

Yeah that makes sense especially considering molina's .300 avg right now. I'm just saying that we would have nothing to lose by giving d'arnaud a chance.

our lineup could be:
Escobar ss
Patterson LF
Thames RF
Bautista 3B
Lind 1B
Hill 2B
Snider CF
Molina DH
D'Arnaud C

Avp115 wrote:I'm just saying that we would have nothing to lose by giving d'arnaud a chance.

Uh yea we do, probably the most important factor in this conversation, considering this is a completely meaningless season.

You would be jeopardizing D'arnauds development.

Its a pretty useless conversation anyways, because its obviously not going to happen.

our lineup could be:
Escobar ss
Patterson LF
Thames RF
Bautista 3B
Lind 1B
Hill 2B
Snider CF
Molina DH
D'Arnaud C

Avp115 wrote:

our lineup could be:
Escobar ss
Patterson LF
Thames RF
Bautista 3B
Lind 1B
Hill 2B
Snider CF
Molina DH
D'Arnaud C

Playing both catchers is really risky and why would you carry 3 catchers on a team ?

JoeyBats wrote:

Avp115 wrote:

our lineup could be:
Escobar ss
Patterson LF
Thames RF
Bautista 3B
Lind 1B
Hill 2B
Snider CF
Molina DH
D'Arnaud C

Playing both catchers is really risky and why would you carry 3 catchers on a team ?

Because I see Molina as more of a DH than a catcher and I guess they would probably demote JPA or they could put him on the 15 day dl. Sniders hot as of late and getting on base often so its important to have a bat after him that can drive him home.

Avp115 wrote:

JoeyBats wrote:

Avp115 wrote:

our lineup could be:
Escobar ss
Patterson LF
Thames RF
Bautista 3B
Lind 1B
Hill 2B
Snider CF
Molina DH
D'Arnaud C

Playing both catchers is really risky and why would you carry 3 catchers on a team ?

Because I see Molina as more of a DH than a catcher and I guess they would probably demote JPA or they could put him on the 15 day dl. Sniders hot as of late and getting on base often so its important to have a bat after him that can drive him home.

If D'Arnaud gets injured the team would be screwed. If the injury is during the game Molina would come out of DH and play C and the pitcher would bat. Also if you assign JPA to 15 DL and D'Arnaud gets injured your screwed again, because you don't have a backup catcher.

Why would you risk the development of a top prospect and at the same time limit the playing time of another prospect? That makes no sense JPA is struggling because pitchers have adapted to him he needs AB's to learn to adjust his approach at the major league level. If hes hurt give more starts to Molina and rest/ DL him, moving D'Arnaud up 2 levels while hes having the best season of his minor league career does nothing for him ether.

I'm a huge fan of d'Arnaud right now, and really, everyone should be given his breakout offensive season in AA. However, it makes no sense to promote him two steps when we have a capable backup in Molina to share the load with JPA.

I would like to see him get a taste of AAA this year though, and given a shot to catch in the major leagues at some point next year if he continues his progression.

WpgPage wrote:Why would you risk the development of a top prospect and at the same time limit the playing time of another prospect? That makes no sense JPA is struggling because pitchers have adapted to him he needs AB's to learn to adjust his approach at the major league level. If hes hurt give more starts to Molina and rest/ DL him, moving D'Arnaud up 2 levels while hes having the best season of his minor league career does nothing for him ether.

I agree with just starting molina but how would a call up risk d'arnauds development? Also, I don't think it's just pitchers adapting seeing as how thumb injuries can linger for batters making their grip really uncomfortable, and playing for 20 straight games only makes it worst. On top of that I don't see why pitchers would worry enough about adapting to him when they could be focusing on Escobar, Lind, and ESPECIALLY Bautista.

JoeyBats wrote:D'Arnaud should play a full season of AAA before playing full time in the majors, for now i agree with Randle, jus play Molina more.

Exactly. I think all players need to spend a full season in AAA before the Majors. Drabek has been the only real exception and look how that turned out.

I don't feel like risking a top prospects development to give a player a "rest"