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When I look at the Jays roster. I see players that were utility guys for other teams. Guy that would make solid utility guy for other teams. Plus guys that are treated as game changers but are better suited as utility guys, if it weren’t for their salaries or big name reputation.

Problem is, the Blue Jays are depending on these utility guy types to be difference makers.

- Diaz, Solarte, Pearce, Granderson are key players on this roster. All were utility guys on other teams.

- Travis, Tulo, Martin, Pillar are all possible bench guys if it were not for their big salaries and big name repuatations. I mean 2 if those guys can’t physically handle a full load and 2 are scrubs at the plate. I’ll let you figure out who is who.

I know players can always develop, especially if they are young. That’s why I’ll give Smoak and Grichuk a pass. But this team is basically a bunch of bench players trying play with the big guys.

I wouldn’t call Solarte, Grichuk or Granderson “utility guys”


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Travis projects for 1.7 fwar,Tulo 1.6, Martin 2.1 and Pillar 2.2. They're all within the range of what you want from a starting MLB player as far as value but health is an issue with all them.

Yeah, it's less that they're 'utility' guys and more that, for varying reasons, they're all bang average starters or slightly below. There's advantages in the fact that we have a lot of guys who shouldn't be trash, as well, but we could really do with some breakout performances, as we got with Smoak last year.

Hard to say who we could look to there, though we do have some who have hit in the not-that-distant past. Grichuk if he makes some damned contact, and Travis if he gets back to 2016, I guess, and you could dream on Solarte or Diaz who are both a couple years out from being above-average bats. We aren't awash with players likely to be top 50 position players, however, so we need most/all of those guys to clock in around average at least if we're to have any chance.

North_of_Border wrote:When I look at the Jays roster. I see players that were utility guys for other teams. Guy that would make solid utility guy for other teams. Plus guys that are treated as game changers but are better suited as utility guys, if it weren’t for their salaries or big name reputation.

Problem is, the Blue Jays are depending on these utility guy types to be difference makers.

- Diaz, Solarte, Pearce, Granderson are key players on this roster. All were utility guys on other teams.

- Travis, Tulo, Martin, Pillar are all possible bench guys if it were not for their big salaries and big name repuatations. I mean 2 if those guys can’t physically handle a full load and 2 are scrubs at the plate. I’ll let you figure out who is who.

I know players can always develop, especially if they are young. That’s why I’ll give Smoak and Grichuk a pass. But this team is basically a bunch of bench players trying play with the big guys.

If the Jays are full of utility guys, then most teams are putting a bunch of utility guys in their everyday lineup.

Even if you’re correct that’s a very narrow minded way of looking at things. This isn’t basketball where having a couple superstars who can control the ball is immensely important Baseball is about depth and players you think are utility type players or worse, say like Justin Smoak, can suddenly play better than allstars for a season or two. And multiple seasons allstars, let’s say Jose Bautista, can play like they don't even belong in the league.

Granderson and Pearce are platooning together, how are they considered key players, or difference makers? Diaz is the backup SS, and Solarte is our second-string-backup-MI. We replaced Barney and Goins with two guys who can legitimately hit. I don't see how you can complain about that.

As for Pillar and Martin being bench guys on other teams, I'll assume you're just trolling. Between the two of them, their worst season over the past 3 years is 1.8 WAR. Considering Pillar is playing for $3.25M I hardly think it's his huge salary that's keeping him in the lineup.

And Grichuk - he hits the ball as hard as pretty much anybody in the game. Ranked 6th overall in barrels-per-PA last season behind Judge, JD Martinez, Stanton, Gallo, and Khris Davis. Yes, a lot of those non-barrels will be K's. That's how it goes with all of the premier power hitters in the game. Considering the quality of defense he plays, combined with his elite batted ball profile, he is a full-time OF. He's 26 years old and has rated as the #36 OF by WAR over the past 3 seasons.

I'm pretty sure I was just feeding the troll on this one, but I hope it's clear how absurd these arguments are. It reads like a hot-take-clickbait blog.

They're full of stop-gaps is what you're looking for