We pulled this transcript from an internet baseball chat as we thought many of you would be interested in reading some of these stats and seeing how the Jays stack up in the AL.

The Blue Jays rank 6th in the league for the most errors commited with 36 (.983 fielding %) and 2nd in assist with 614.

Positions Rankings -

Catcher:    Team fielding - 10th in field.% (.990) with 4 errors

Player: Jason Phillips and Sal Fasano do not qualify for a ranking, but Phillips has a .996 Field.%, 3.86 CERA (great number!!!)and a  8.10 Range Factor.  Fasano ranks in the middle of it all (but the sample is small), and Zaun had a 1.000 Field.%, 5.67 RF and a good 3.98 CERA.  Zaun will be back as the #1 catcher, but with the way Fasano plays these days, Phillips will be having some competition to stay with the big club.  In the end though, he should stay, if only for the way he handles pitchers….3.86 CERA….

1B:    Team fielding - 4th in field.% (.997) with 2 errors

Player:  Lyle Overbay - tied for 3rd in field % at .996 with 2 errors, has completed the most double plays in the AL, he has the Range Factor at 10.40 (.40 over NYY Mientkiewicz) and the seventh best Zone Rating at .854.  Overbay is there to stay, no questions about it.  The 6 million dollars a year he will get for four year is great for the team and the BJ fans.

2B:    Team fielding - 6th in field% (.987) with 4 errors

Player: Aaron Hill ranks 4th in Field.% with .987, second in RF with 5.33 and 6th in Zone Rating with .849.  I know there’s still the possibility of moving over to SS, but in my opinion, it’s not even an option.  When you have a player developing the way he is right now, you just don’t mess with it.  What do you think?

3B:    Team fielding - 3rd in field% (.974) with 4 errors

Player: Troy Glaus doesn’t qualify for ranking but he has FP of .973, RF of  2.29 and a ZR of .972.  I like Glaus at 3rd base, except that now it is taking its toll on his heel.  The running catch he makes (especially bare hands….) are quite incredible for a a guy that tall.

SS:    Team fielding - 5th in field% (.976) with 6 errors

Player: Royce Clayton is tied for fifth place with a .967 FP, 12th with a 4.17 RF and third with a .868 ZR.  John McDonald doesn’t qualify, but the numbers in the same order are: 1.000, 5.06 and .898.  Listen, I like Clayton, but I feel it was McDonald’s job from the beginning.  You spend a million bucks with the signing of Royce and you didn’t really gain in at this fielding position.  I’ll get some rumbling about it, but Russ Adams could have been a player (left-handed bat) off the bench, though I have to admit that the at-bats in AAA are doing some good.

LF:    Team fielding - tied for 1st in field% (1.000%) with no errors

Player: With Reed Johnson gone since the beginning, Adam Lind was put in a position in which anybody saw him as a liability to the club.  Well, let’s see: tied for first in FP with 1.000, second in RF with 2.12 and second in ZR with .944.  Do I need to say anything?  Oh yeah, I almost forgot: tied for first in Assists with 4.

CF:    Team fielding - tied for last (.977) with 3 errors

Player: Vernon Wells id tied for 4th in FP with .992, 11th in RF with 2.35 and 4th in ZR with 9.29.  He has no assists this year.  He takes such good routes when the time comes to reach a baseball. I don’t think I have to say much more about him. 

RF:    Team fielding - tied for 6th in field.% ( .990) with 1 error

Player: Alex Rios is tied for 4th with a .988 FP, 11th in RF with 1.74 and 4th in ZR with .872.  I always have the feeling Rios comes in the field knowing he is good and he seems very lackadaisical when catching the ball or running after one.  He is not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but when you know he can be so much more,  it gets frustrating after a while.  Also, is not the Reed Johnson-type to run into a wall, that would mess up his uniform…….