Editor’s note: Every Saturday, NESN.com Red Sox reporter Tony Lee will look at Boston’s competition in the AL East.
Can some of the Blue Jays’ big bats bounce back?
John Farrell‘s guidance should make a quality stable of young pitchers very competitive, but one promise he made was to diversify the offensive attack. The Blue Jays hit 46 more home runs than anyone in baseball in 2010 but still finished fourth in the the AL East in runs scored. A key to the attack will be whether two specific players, second baseman Aaron Hill and designated hitter/first baseman Adam Lind, bounce back from subpar seasons.
Hill and Lind are power hitters, so they won’t necessarily diversify much. But a return to the form they showed in 2009 — when both players won Silver Slugger Awards for their respective positions — would go a long way toward stretching out the lineup, especially if Jose Bautista falls back to earth a bit in the power categories.
In 2010, Hill’s average fell 81 points, his home runs dropped from 36 to 26 and his RBIs total from 108 to 68. Meanwhile, Lind had a 220-point drop in OPS and was almost an automatic out against left-handers, sporting a .117 (16-for-137) average with 52 strikeouts against five walks. Yuck.
The arms will be solid. The bats, even after a season that saw Toronto set a franchise record for home runs, could use a boost from these two guys.
