can't believe this stat hasnt bothered you people

[YiddyKong]

eric hinske - 7 homeruns
rios - 3 homeruns
wells - 4 homeruns

[Schad]

Hinske is off to a great start. An unsustainable start, really...he's not going to lead the AL in OPS this or any other year.

With Rios, the home runs are down but his overall numbers are quite good. I have no doubt that he'll rally to hit 20+ home runs, get on base at a high rate, and smack enough doubles to compensate. It's unlikely that he'll ever turn into a 30-40 HR a year masher, but that doesn't make him any less valuable.

Wells is concerning, but I suspect that he's about to go on a bit of a run. From mid-May through July is usually his most productive time of the year, and he has put together some very nice at-bats this week, hitting the ball up the middle and to right-center with power. With Vernon, that usually means that a week or two of launching bombs is around the corner...which of course will be followed by a two-week slump as he tries to hit everything out of the park. In the end, though, he'll outpace Hinske in practically every major category.

[RingItUp!]

Hinske is off to a great start. An unsustainable start, really...he's not going to lead the AL in OPS this or any other year.

With Rios, the home runs are down but his overall numbers are quite good. I have no doubt that he'll rally to hit 20+ home runs, get on base at a high rate, and smack enough doubles to compensate. It's unlikely that he'll ever turn into a 30-40 HR a year masher, but that doesn't make him any less valuable.

Wells is concerning, but I suspect that he's about to go on a bit of a run. From mid-May through July is usually his most productive time of the year, and he has put together some very nice at-bats this week, hitting the ball up the middle and to right-center with power. With Vernon, that usually means that a week or two of launching bombs is around the corner...which of course will be followed by a two-week slump as he tries to hit everything out of the park. In the end, though, he'll outpace Hinske in practically every major category.

Wait... are you suggesting that Rios and Wells are actually better than Eric "I can't believe Jays fans would boo me because I was so awesome at baseball when I played for them except for all the seasons after my first one" Hinske?

[arrpy]

eric hinske - 7 homeruns
rios - 3 homeruns
wells - 4 homeruns

It makes me sick to think about it...

[youreachiteach]

Hinske is off to a great start. An unsustainable start, really...he's not going to lead the AL in OPS this or any other year.

With Rios, the home runs are down but his overall numbers are quite good. I have no doubt that he'll rally to hit 20+ home runs, get on base at a high rate, and smack enough doubles to compensate. It's unlikely that he'll ever turn into a 30-40 HR a year masher, but that doesn't make him any less valuable.

Wells is concerning, but I suspect that he's about to go on a bit of a run. From mid-May through July is usually his most productive time of the year, and he has put together some very nice at-bats this week, hitting the ball up the middle and to right-center with power. With Vernon, that usually means that a week or two of launching bombs is around the corner...which of course will be followed by a two-week slump as he tries to hit everything out of the park. In the end, though, he'll outpace Hinske in practically every major category.

Vernon and Rios are better players than Hinske. There is no debating that. But let's not be disingenuous here. Eric, if playing to his capabilities, is a nice player (.275., .360, 25 home runs ceiling).

Eric always did whatever Jays management asked of him--learn newpositions, go off and on the bench, andbasically got shunted off to the side after he got hurt (Reed Johnson style).

They finallythrew him a bone a while ago and traded him to Boston, who didn'treally need him, either.

It seems Eric is back to what he was in his rookie year, that is, a player with moderate power (20plus home runs), lots ofdoubles and surprising quickness and hustle for a man of his size.

Eric's problem, as we all know, had been at the plate. He had progressed enough in the field to be passable at several positions, even outfield.

It was laughable how many times they'dthrow him soft away and hard in and get a desirable strikeout, double play or groundout. He lost his confidence so badly he actually developed a loop in his swing he didn't have his first year.

Perhaps, after a fewyears riding the pine and only focusing on his hitting, (and gotten an opportunity to play every day) he has realized and worked out what his weaknesses were in this area.

When Eric is selective, swings for the fastball andstays back for the offspeed stuff he's a dangerous player. I think booing him sucks, because despite what our former resident hall of famer did (Frank Thomas) Eric was always the go-getter who just did his part for the team.

Was he overpaid as a result of his below average years? Sure. But it wasn'tlike he wasn't trying. In fact, if he goes on to complete this year on a high note, you could make a compelling argument he just might have been trying too hard when he was here, compounded by a lack of time in Boston.

Pro sports is a game of confidence. Look at Adam Lind. The guy came up looking like a world beater the first few games with his confidence up. He made loud outs for the first few games and then started flailing.

Here'smy take:

I liken Hinske's situation to Overbay's. Has a great season, starts to come around the next year but then gets hurt. Second season is a write off. Gets replaced due to management's impatience with his poor season. Never gets a true shot again. Withers away on the bench. Overbay is just starting to hit NOW. Look how long it took him to get his swing back. By the time Hinske turned around, they had replaced him with Hillenbrand and then Glaus.

Gets a new kind of job, works on his selectivity and his swing. Goes to Tampa. Gets a shot. Puts it back together. It's a nice story, and he deserves better than to be booed by the yahoo's in the stands.

[asif9t9]

It's disgusting. But Rios is now a leadoff hitter so we shouldn't be expecting homeruns. Vernon is a good guy. He makes the most money and he chose Toronto. So he's cool.

[Geddy]

i'm not worried. Fatske will come back to earth soon enough.

[Dr Octagon]

i'm not worried. Fatske will come back to earth soon enough.

Pretty much.

Nothing to be scared of. Yet...

[The_Hater]

The thing is, Hinske could always hit RHP but the Jays made an investment in him as an everyday 3B, he couldn't hit lefties or field his position so they deemed him an expendable failure. JP even paid most of his salary for Boston to take him off his hands.

Now he's in TBay being deployed properly. He's an underrated defensive RF who is versitile enough to play LF, 1B, 3B and probably just about every other position in a pinch. He sits against most lefties and he tees off on RHP. Exactly what he should he still doing in Toronto.

Just add it to the list of proof that JP is a poor GM.

[Raptor_Guy]

I remember in 2005 he got off to an amazing start and we all thought he was going to be one of our best hitters..a couple months later he was being booed everytime he came up to bat.

[Vincey]

It's disgusting. But Rios is now a leadoff hitter so we shouldn't be expecting homeruns. Vernon is a good guy. He makes the most money and he chose Toronto. So he's cool.

No.

That would be like Cubs fans saying "Soriano is our leadoff hitter so we don't have to expect him to hit HRs"

Rios can decently hit for power so we should expect him to hit HRs, leadoff or not.

[Vincey]

eric hinske - 7 homeruns
rios - 3 homeruns
wells - 4 homeruns

Cmon now, were only 1/4 of the season in. Nice sample size