Pitching and Defense.

With the new acquisition of Scott Rolen the Blue Jays are considered to be one of the best defensive teams in baseball. Just how good are they? Well looking at every position and using BP’s Rate2 system let's find out. Rate, as defined by BP is: "A way to look at the fielder's rate of production, equal to 100 plus the number of runs above or below average this fielder is per 100 games. A player with a rate of 110 is 10 runs above average per 100 games, a player with an 87 is 13 runs below average per 100 games, etc. Rate2 incorporates adjustments for league difficulty and normalizes defensive statistics over time."

Blue Jays Career Rate2 Numbers and Career High

Position	Player	Career Rate2	Career High*	Year
C	Gregg Zaun	93	97	2005
1B	Lyle Overbay	104	108	2005
2B	Aaron Hill	112	126	2006
3B	Scott Rolen	112	120	2007
SS	David Eckstein	99	112	2006
LF**	Reed Johnson	105	112	2005
LF**	Matt Stairs	99	100	2007***
CF	Vernon Wells	95	103	2004
RF	Alex Rios	104	109	2006
		+22runs	+81runs

*I only included full seasons for career highs
**LF was averaged between Stairs and Reed for totals
***43 game season in Left was a career high at that position for Matt Stairs

When looking at the numbers the Jays defense as a whole can be expected to prevent an extra 22 runs per 100 games this year. If everyone plays to career highs (all of which were accomplished within the last 4 years) the Jays defense could prevent a staggering 81 runs per 100 games this year.

Of course all of this comes with a major caveat, Rate2 is just one of many different defensive rating systems and its efficiency has to be questioned. Nonetheless, the Jays defense looks very good, and a major contributor to the ’08 playoff push.