Jays Should Consider Familiar Lineup Order

Sep 27, 2012; Toronto, ON, Canada; Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie (13) is congratulated by center fielder Colby Rasmus (28) after his 2-run home run in the third inning against the New York Yankees at the Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY SportsLast season the Toronto Blue Jays offense struggled at the start of the season. Imagine that!

But by the time Jose Bautista suffered his wrist injury in July the Blue Jays were leading the major leagues in runs scored.

That turn around for the Jays offense didn’t just come out of nowhere. It started at the beginning of June when John Farrell made a drastic lineup change. Or as I like to call it the one thing he did right in his 2 years as Blue Jays manager.

At the start of June last season the Blue Jays put Brett Lawrie in the lead-off spot and Colby Rasmus as the number 2 hitter in front of Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion who are still chilling in the 3 and 4 spots. When the Jays did that last season the offense took off. Why not try it again?

For one the Blue Jays have had Munenori Kawasaki, Rajai Davis, Adam Lind and Emilio Bonifacio hitting either 1st or 2nd recently. So it’s not like Lawrie and Rasmus would be taking the spots away from players that really deserve to be there.

Yes Adam Lind has been walking and getting on base. And yes Lawrie and Rasmus both have ugly on base percentages, 225 and 286. But those factors are a product of a small sample size and should change.

Out of all the 6 players just mentioned none of them make more sense to hit 1st or 2nd than Melky Cabrera. But it also makes a lot of sense for him to continue hitting 5th because when Bautista and Edwin start getting on base like they can the Jays need someone that can actually drive them in.

You can keep Lind in the 2 spot unless he stops getting on base. You could hit Melky 2nd. But Lind’s probably not going to continue having a 396 on base percentage and there’s a lot to like about Melky in the 5 spot.

Try and tell me this lineup doesn’t look beautiful:

Lawrie/Rasmus/Bautista/Encarnacion/Melky/Lind/Arencibia/Izturis/Kawasaki.

Lawrie and Rasmus hitting 1st and 2nd worked last year so it’s worth giving a shot.

What it really boils down to is if you can’t trust Lawrie and Rasmus at the top of the lineup more than Kawasaki, Rajai, Lind and Bonifacio the Jays offensive problems are way bigger than we think.