The Blue Jays didn't spend the 2011 season hitting the snot out of the ball, though they did okay for themselves. They averaged 4.59 runs per game, just above the league average, but after adjusting for park, they were a league-average offense at best. Getting better would make them ... better.
Report: Blue Jays Might Be Interested In David Ortiz
C’mon, it’s not like you pay for a subscription to this.
But if they could get better while poaching a hitter from a divisional rival? Hey, all the better. From the Boston Herald:
Coming off an 81-81 season and with money to spend, the Jays “will not rule out” making a serious push for Ortiz, a major league source said yesterday. In fact, he could conceivably be a good fit north of the border.
Last season, the Blue Jays gave the bulk of their DH at-bats to Edwin Encarnacion, who somehow, somewhere, turned into one of the more predictably consistent hitters in either league (an OPS+ between 108 and 110 for four out of the last six years). But consistent and predictable doesn't mean he can't be replaced with someone a lot better, which Ortiz most certainly is.
Acquiring a bulky, hyper-productive DH in the late stages of his career is reminiscent of when Frank Thomas when to the A's as a 38-year-old and finished fourth in the 2006 MVP voting. It's also reminiscent of when he went to the Blue Jays after that for a healthy chunk of money, and had two up-and-down, injury-filled seasons. There probably isn't going to be an in-between with Ortiz.
A 3-4-5 of Bautista/Ortiz/Lawrie, though, has to be awfully tempting for a daydreaming Alex Anthopoulos.
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