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d'Arnaud took ground balls today at 1st and it looks like a move that they are making before calling him up IMO.

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=398971

Interesting to note; D'Arnaud has been taking some ground balls at first base lately. That could be another way to get him up to the big club in the second half.

What's more interesting is he played his first game as a 1B tonight in Vegas.

(Link to game day: http://www.milb.com/gameday/index.jsp?g ... de=gameday)

So far he is 3 for 6 with a HR, double and 2 SO.

d'Arnaud is currently hitting .333/.381/.596 with 16 homers in 64 games.

This is pretty big news, what do you guys make of it?

EE has locked onto first base for our team the rest of this year the way he's been playing. It might just be a way of getting him (d'arnaud) more at bats in AAA on some off days instead of just sitting on the bench.

BigLeagueChew wrote:EE has locked onto first base for our team the rest of this year the way he's been playing. It might just be a way of getting him (d'arnaud) more at bats in AAA on some off days instead of just sitting on the bench.

Personally I disagree. EE will likely DH. The only reason Edwin is playing 1st is because of inter league.

I expect d'Arnaud to be called up after inter league play.

I expect EE to be traded so this D'arnaud-at-1B stuff could be foreshadowing.

Probably not, though. I also expect/hope they deal away JPA so D'arnaud can play his natural position at C.

It would be a pretty big insult to Lind if d'Arnaud got the call at 1B. As much as d'Arnaud is tearing up Vegas, Lind is hitting even better by ~.150 of OPS. Factor in the contract and the fact he's left handed and I'd expect him to get the call well before d'Arnaud.

That said, they really should get a couple months worth look at him before next year. Ideally you don't want to hand a guy the starting catcher role without a decent looksie in the bigs.

Lind is in no position to be insulted by anything after what he's done for the last 2.5 years at the MLB level. He should consider himself lucky if he ever gets another chance with the Jays.

It is definitely notable that d'Arnaud is getting time at 1B in AAA, but I'm not about to speculate that a callup is imminent or that they're ready to play him at 1B in Toronto any time soon. I can't say I wouldn't like to see him getting ABs over Cooper and Gomes, though.

D'Arnaud would be pretty average for a 1B, his value lies with being a good bat at a premium position in catcher. Making him a 1B would be stupid.

I'd expect Snider to be called up pretty soon once he proves he's healthy and back to where he was before the injury. His presence would likely affect Davis' playing time more than anything, though.

Plus Lind is not even on the 40-man roster, so the idea of seeing him back at first base this summer has about as good a chance as a fourth season of Deadwood.

Garmfay wrote:D'Arnaud would be pretty average for a 1B, his value lies with being a good bat at a premium position in catcher. Making him a 1B would be stupid.

They're not making him a first baseman. He will likely play both 1st and C this season, and when that joker JPA is gone during the off-season, d'Arnaud will take over.

Garmfay wrote:D'Arnaud would be pretty average for a 1B, his value lies with being a good bat at a premium position in catcher. Making him a 1B would be stupid.

According to some scouts, d'Arnaud has a middle of the order type bat, in which case he wouldn't be out of place at 1B. The reason it would be stupid is because by all accounts d'Arnaud is the much better defensive catcher.

Garmfay wrote:D'Arnaud would be pretty average for a 1B, his value lies with being a good bat at a premium position in catcher. Making him a 1B would be stupid.

True in the long term, but in the short term we could have two these lineups:
JPA 2, TDA 3, EE 0
TDA 2, EE 3, JPA 0

With the rotation split up between JPA/TDA. With all the AAA call-ups we're going to need I think those would be the most obvious for TDA to backstop as the comfort level would be there with him and we don't cause an adjustment for Romero or Alvarez.

Sorry Mathis.

Man alot of you bash Mr JPA, no doubt I expected a bit more from JPA this year but i would still take him in a heart beat over 3/4 of the catchers in baseball. The fact that TdA is tearin up vegas seems to have a bunch of keyboard General Managers sending off JPA to some league in Japan, but the fact is JPA would still be useful to the Jays, it will just take the guys that actually get paid to call the shots make the right call and do what is best for the franchise.

SCF99 wrote:Man alot of you bash Mr JPA, no doubt I expected a bit more from JPA this year but i would still take him in a heart beat over 3/4 of the catchers in baseball. The fact that TdA is tearin up vegas seems to have a bunch of keyboard General Managers sending off JPA to some league in Japan, but the fact is JPA would still be useful to the Jays, it will just take the guys that actually get paid to call the shots make the right call and do what is best for the franchise.

Leads the league in passed balls by 25% margin, 27th in fWAR as a catcher. You're right, he's money.

I think that without a legitimate DH bat available (if you're playing EE at 3) then you have room for both TDA and JPA...

My problem with it is 3 RHB. But if TDA really is all he's been built up to be, who cares which side of the plate he hits from.

DOES NOT NEED SO MUCH COMPLEXITY

NEEDS JPA TRADED FOR A STIR-FRY

EE DH 4 LIFE

USE COOPER UNTIL WE CAN IMPROVE 1B

For everybody listening to Zaun and thinking d'Arnaud isn't a defensive catcher, last year in AA managers of every team in the Eastern League voted d'Arnaud best defensive catcher. He has also be an All-Star every single year except 2012.

flatjacket1 wrote:For everybody listening to Zaun and thinking d'Arnaud isn't a defensive catcher, last year in AA managers of every team in the Eastern League voted d'Arnaud best defensive catcher. He has also be an All-Star every single year except 2012.

zaun is a JPA fanboy. His opinions are irrelevant. That interview cheesed the **** out of me...

This seems to make sense. If d'Arnaud is going to be called up this year, it might be better NOT to use him as an everyday catcher right away. Supposedly, it takes a lot of time for new catchers to, uh, catch up with the pitching staff and the coaches, so maybe he could be a 1B/DH/second-or-third string catcher for however much he plays this season (while working with the pitchers, catchers, and coaches in practice), then take over the starting C spot next year.

AL Park:
DH: Encarnacion, 1B: d'Arnaud

NL Park (year round interleague) :
1B: d'Arnaud, 2B: Lawrie, 3B: Encarnacion, PH: Johnson