Blue Jays: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in Tampa Bay

The Blue Jays went into Tampa Bay for their final games of the season against the Rays this weekend during a four game set.  With the win on Monday the teams split the series two games a piece, here is a look at the Good, the Bad and the Ugly from the series.

The Good
A series split is always good when they go into Tampa Bay.  It has long been known that for whatever reason the Blue Jays struggle playing at Tropicana Field so the fact they are able to walk out even is always a good thing.

Flat out Cavan Biggio has been so good that in my view he has been the Blue Jays MVP for the season so far.  During the four game set, Biggio recorded seven hits as he went 7 for 15 (.467), along with three walks for an On Base Percentage of .556.

When you get on base lots, you are going to score a lot of runs and he tied with Teoscar Hernandez with four runs during the series.  Biggio also brings so much on defense as he can play any position on the field if need be and had arguably the defensive play of the weekend on the below play.

Teoscar Hernandez continues to have a very strong start to the season at the plate as he was able to get on base eight of his 16 at-bats during the series.  As part of his success, Hernandez led the team in home runs (2), stolen bases (2) and base on balls (4).  If you prorate his 10 home runs to start the season so far over 160 games, that is a 59 home run season.  I am not saying he would finish with that, it just speaks to his early success at the plate.

On the mound, you have to give a ton of credit to the bullpen as Thomas Hatch, A.J. Cole, Rafael Dolis, and Jordan Romano all pitched in multiple games failing to give up an earned run.  The group combined to pitch 9 innings allowing just six hits.

The Bad
I feel like this is going to be a broken record, but the managerial skills of Charlie Montoyo.  As

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stated in the Good, Cavan Biggio has been your best player but in Game 1 of the series for an unknown reason, Montoyo put him batting eighth.  While it worked out in the end as he led off in extra innings where Biggio hit a double scoring a run, what it meant was if the game was over after nine innings Biggio would have had just three at-bats in the game.

I also disagreed with a decision in the seventh inning in the fourth game of the series.  Danny Jansen led off the inning with a walk.  The next batter up was Joe Panik with Santiago Espinal on deck before the order flipped back to the top and to Biggio.  There was no attempt for a sacrifice bunt from Panik and instead, he hit into a double play.  Even with his struggles, I’d rather have Espinal hitting with a runner on second and one out than Panik with a runner on first with none out.  Worst case scenario Espinal gets out and you still have Biggio hitting with a runner in scoring position.

The Ugly
It is getting really ugly the number of pitchers the Blue Jays are sending to the Injured List that now joins Bo Bichette.  This past weekend we saw Nate Pearson, Matt Shoemaker, and Trent Thornton all join that 10 day injured list after sustaining different elbow injuries.

The Trade Deadline is less than a week away, would you trade any of the Blue Jays Top 10 prospects for a front of the rotation starter who is a free agent at the end of the year?