Twitter Feedback: Brett Lawrie to See Time at Second?

Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

With Brett Lawrie set to rejoin the starting nine, there is a log-jam of impact players at 3rd, DH and 1st. Juan Francisco has been very impressive since being called up to fill in for an injured Adam Lind, but with Lind coming off the DL earlier this week and Francisco looking like a reincarnation of Edwin Encarnacion……where do we put all these guys?

I thought it would be fun to pose the following question to my limited number of Twitter followers to gauge their response:

I would like to point out that the question I asked does not indicate that I am a proponent of having Lawrie be our everyday 2nd baseman. Quite the opposite,  the question that is posed is, “should he seem time at 2nd.” I didn’t get the number of respondents that I was hoping for; however, the debate by the few respondents was exactly what I was hoping for. As expected there were those that were forLawrie seeing time at 2nd and there were those that were against him seeing time at 2nd.

Let’s look at some of the Tweets.

The first Tweet goes to a much more experienced blogger than I, Seth Allen

I couldn’t agree more with Seth on this point. Lawrie’s glove, range, and arm is undeniably in an elite class. I haven’t seen enough of Francisco at 3rd to completely right him off, but he seems to be able to make the routine plays and catches the balls that are hit to him. I can’t imagine that he is any worse than having Miguel Cabrera at the hot corner….I am only making the comparison of Cabrera and Francisco on D, not at the dish. I understand the Tigers did it to accommodate the acquisition of another premier power hitter in Prince Fielder.

Seth also had this to say about the loss of Lawrie’s D at the hot corner:

Regular contributor and blogger for Justin Jay echoed my feelings about having Lawrie’s D over at 2nd:

Jays Journal’s Shaun Doyle feels Lawrie has the ability to play anywhere and be effective:

But Shaun also echoed most peoples feeling in regards to Francisco’s ability at 3rd:

Justin Jay wasn’t opposed to having Lawrie play some 2nd base but liked this new alignment of the Blue Jays infield:

I shuttered a little thinking about EE at 3rd and I also remember watching a Sportsnet profile on EE at the beginning of the season where EE said that he never wants to play 3rd again. So that is out of the question.

This is when David Shemie over at Blue Jays Plus jumped in the conversation quickly pointing out that Steven Drew should be signed, that Francisco will regress, and that Lawrie actually hates playing 2nd.

Now “hates” is pretty strong word, but Shemie is right. I heard the exact same thing while listening to Bob McCowan on the FAN590 on Friday. So if Bob says it, it has to be right? If Lawrie really hates it at 2nd, then we don’t want him playing there too much in case it begins to negatively impact his development at the plate and as a club house guy.

I made reference to a post I wrote when Francisco was called up and how I thought it was a bad idea and that he is similar to J.P. Arencibia with his ability to swing and miss. I have been very wrong so far, as his plate discipline has been a pleasant surprise.

Could Justin be right, could Francisco’s turn around be attributed to work being done with Kevin Seitzer? Shemie provided me with a couple links and a piece he wrote that might shed some more light on that subject.

As baseball fans we see all types of players. We see players come and go. We get excited by prospects that never fulfill their promise. As a baseball fan we have to show patience and an ability to ride the wave. It is a long season, filled with hot streaks and cold streaks, filled with joy and disappoint. After all a good major league hitter only gets a hit around 30% of the time, that means he fails to accomplish his goal 70% of he time.

I am sure we all agree with Shemie’s Tweet:

As a Blue Jays fan I am hopeful that Francisco can. I leave you with the Tweet of the day by Justin Jay:

Thank you to all those that participated and for expressing you view in a mature matter. Feel free to leave your comments below and make sure you follow me on Twitter to have your say.