Who could have foreseen that the Blue Jays new manager, John Farrell, would direct his team to the head of the pack in stolen bases? More than the other offensive fantasy stats steal totals for individual players can be significantly impacted by the decisions of a manager and coaching staff. Just take look at players like Aaron Hill and Travis Snider each of whom sit at five steals so far in 2011, each just one shy of his previous career high in thefts. Middling speedsters Jayson Nix and Jose Bautista, who was running more last year as well, are also both on pace to either meet or exceed their previous career highs. I'm still waiting for J.P. Arencibia to get the green light, though.
We'll see whether this burst of aggression on the base paths is a short term attempt by Farrell to catch the league off guard or whether he'll continue this strategy but now might be the time to take a flyer on a Blue Jay if you need every little bit of extra speed.
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