When Brett Lawrie arrived with the Blue Jays in 2011, he looked even at age 21 to have the raw potential to become one of the franchises greats. In a 43-game stint, he batted .293 with nine homers and 25 runs batted in with a .953 OPS. He played spectacular defence and seemed to have a skill for pumping up his teammates and electrifying the crowd. You had to ask yourself how Milwaukee let him get away in that trade for right hander Shaun Marcum? But in the last two seasons, Lawrie has gone through some growing pains. Hes had injury problems, some awkward in-game moments, such as throwing a batting helmat in the direction of an ump, and the berating of a teammate for a perceived miscue on the bases. (Lawrie was wrong). On top of that his production has dropped off, to the point where some have wondered if that blaze of glory in his first stint with the club was a fluke or a flash in the pan. The thing to remember is, Brett Lawrie is only 24. Skipper John Gibbons suggested this week that Bretts peak performance years could still be a couple of seasons away. If you go by a couple of third basemen from the Blue Jays past, Gibbons may well be right. Kelly Gruber spent nine years with the Jays, hitting .259 with 114 homers, 439 runs batted in and 80 stolen bases. He was stolen away from Cleveland in the Rule 5 draft and spent his first couple of years as a Jack-of-all-trades utility man before becoming the primary third baseman in 1987. At age 24 for the Jays he hit just .196 with five homers and 15 runs batted in. It took until 1990 for him to have a star impact season. At 28 years old, he hit .274 with 31 homers and 118 RBIs. Gruber was still the starting third sacker for a division title run in 1991 and for the Jays first World Series victory over Atlanta in 1992. Ed Sprague offers up another example of a player who peaked in his late 20s. Sprague was the Jays regular third baseman for six seasons. After Gruber was moved to the Angels, Sprague took over at third in 1993 at 26. He hit .260 with 12 homers and 73 runs batted in and was a key member of the Jays second straight World Series victory over the Phillies in 1993. Still he didnt have his first really big year until he was 29, when he broke through with 36 homers and drove in 101 runs. Yes there are exceptions to the rule...guys who hit the ground running and continue to thrive practically from the moment they arrive in the Majors. Two of those kind of guys enjoyed brief stints with the Blue Jays in the last decade. Troy Glaus came over from the Diamondbacks along with Sergio Santos in a deal for right hander Miguel Batista and infielder Orlando Hudson. Glaus played third for the Jays for two seasons in 2006 and 2007. As a 22-year-old with his original club the Angels, he hit .240 with 29 homers and 79 runs batted in. At 24 with the Halos, he upped his power numbers to 41 homers and 108 runs batted in. Glaus had a good year with the Jays in 06, but his numbers fell off a bit in 2007, and he ultimately asked for a trade since the artificial turf at Rogers Centre was playing havoc with his back. The Jays dealt Glaus to St. Louis for another standout third baseman in Scott Rolen, who had had a falling out with Cards manager Tony LaRussa. As a 22-year-old with his original club the Phillies, Rolen - arguably the best defensive third baseman the Jays have ever had - hit .283 with 21 homers and 92 runs batted in. Rolen only spent one season with the Jays, at age 33 before asking for a trade to the U.S. midwest to be closer to his family. He wound up going to Cincinnati in a deal that saw the Jays land two pitchers, Zach Stewart and Josh Roenicke and a guy named Edwin Encarnacion. The point of all this is, Lawrie is still young enough to take off the way Rolen and Glaus did, or he may take a little longer like Gruber or Sprague. If you want to pipe dream a bit, consider Royals legendary Hall of Famer George Brett. At 24 he batted .312 with 22 homers and 88 runs batted in. The bottom line on Lawrie is, with the defence he plays, and the infectious hustle he plays with, the Blue Jays will be very patient with him indeed. The real Brett Lawrie could even emerge this season, if only he can stay healthy. Spring Roots The Blue Jays may not be leaving their spring training home in Dunedin after all. About a year ago a story first surfaced that the Houston Astros were talking with the Jays about teaming up with them on a new two-team state of the art facility in Palm Beach County on Floridas east coast. The Astros lease with Kissimmee, Florida runs through 2016, so the target date for moving obviously would have been 2017. However a local group of citizens didnt want any part of having this type of complex in their area and threatened a lawsuit. So now the Astros are looking elsewhere in Palm Beach County and are now talking with the Washington Nationals about being their potential partners. Nike Vapormax 2019 Cheap . -- With his team down 16 points in the second quarter and headed for another blowout loss at home, Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson yelled out to his players to keep shooting and keep fighting on defence. Vapormax Flyknit 2 Nz . MLB.com reported that the Dodgers locked the left-hander in for one year at $10 million with up to $4 million in incentives. http://www.airvapormaxnz.com/. Of course that doesnt mean hes ignoring it. Thats actually rather impossible given the behind-the-scenes access to the Toronto Maple Leafs the network is getting. Nike Tn For Sale Nz . The D-Backs came into being in 1998 and appear destined to finish second in the AL West after the Tsunami that is the Los Angeles Dodgers swept over them. I thought it might be interesting to see what the D-backs have done over their 16 years compared to what the Blue Jays have done over their past 16 campaigns. Vapormax New Zealand . -- Jerel Worthy and his Michigan State teammates charged across the field, holding four fingers in the air while celebrating another sweet victory over their biggest rival.Colorado gets an epic goaltending performance, Backes drops four on Arizona, another strong game from Mason, lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Semyon Varlamov – Recorded a 54-save shutout in Colorado’s 2-0 win at Chicago, the most saves in a road shutout since 1987-88. In his past six starts, Varlamov has a .942 save percentage, a step forward after a relatively slow start to the season, which included a .909 save percentage through his first 15 games. David Backes – The Blues centre scored four goals in a 6-0 rout over Arizona. He now has eight points (5 G, 3 A) in the past six games and comes following my post that included data about how Backes was generating a lower percentage of scoring chances. Steve Mason – Philadelphia’s netminder stopped 41 of 42 shots in a 2-1 shootout win against Ottawa, giving him a .927 save percentage over his past 10 games and he currently has a career-high .919 save percentage. ZEROES Goalies: Anders Lindback – Allowed four goals on 20 shots in a 4-2 loss to Columbus, not unusual for the Stars backup, sporting an .856 save percentage this season. Mike Smith – Arizona’s former starter isn’t going to reclaim the crease from Devan Dubnyk after surrendering six goals on 39 shots in a 6-0 loss to St. Louis; he has a career-low .882 save percentage after 25 games this season. Michael Bournival – The Habs winger only played 6:24 at even-strength against Tampa Bay, but was on for zero shot attempts for and nine shot attempts against, despite starting half of his shifts in the offensive zone. Nail Yakupov – In 11:39 of even-strength ice time against Detroit, the Oilers winger was on the ice for eight shot attempts for and 27 against (22.9%). He has one goal in the past 25 games and seven shots on goal in the past five games. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Claude Giroux – Returned to the Flyers’ lineup, after missing a game with a lacerated leg, and had an assist and 12 shot attempts (8 SOG) in a 2-1 shootout win over Ottawa. Martin Hanzal – Arizona’s 6-foot-6 centre missed Tuesday’s game against St. Louis with an upper-body injury. Adam Larsson – The Devils defenceman played 23:35 against Buffalo, the third straight game in which he played more than 23 minutes. Prior to this three-game ice-time surge, Larsson had played more than 23 minutes in a game once in 84 games since the start of the 2012-2013 season. Nick Schultz – Played a season-high 23:46 in Philadelphia’s 2-1 shootout win against Ottawa. Zach Parise – The Wild winger missed Tuesday’s 4-3 shootout loss to San Jose, spending time with his father, J.P. Parise, who is gravely ill. Jeremy Morin – Played just 5:20 for the Blue Jackets at Dallas, the first time that he’s played under 10 minutes in a game since joining Columbus. Tomas Jurco – Detroit’s winger, a high-end possession player, left Tuesday’s win at Edmonton early with a back injury. Michael Grabner – Returned to the Islanders’ lineup, with Josh Bailey going out due to an upper-body injury. Radim Vrbata – Missed Tuesday’s 3-2 win over the Islanders due to the flu, allowing Alex Burrows to skate with the Sedins on Vancouver’s top line. Mark Letestu – Returned to the Columbus lineup for his first game since October 28, and scored a goal in 9:38 of ice time at Dallas, skating with Jeremy Morin and Jared Boll. Freddie Hamilton – The 23-year-old winger played his first game of the season for the Sharks, playing 8:27 at Minnesota. He had 21 points (6 G, 15 A) and was minus-13 in 32 AHL games when he was called up. SHORT SHIFTS Yet another note on Tampa Bay’s line of centre Tyler Johnson, who scored two goals, and wingers Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov, who each had two assists in a 4-2 win at Montreal. Undrafted Johnson now has 45 points (17 G, 228 A) on the season, behind only Jakub Voracek and Tyler Seguin…Canadiens D Sergei Gonchar assisted on both Montreal goals, giving him five assists in the past six games…Devils LW Patrik Elias recorded a goal and two assists in a 4-1 win over Buffalo, has five points (3 G, 2 A) in his past five games and reached 1,000 points for his career, ranking sixth among active skaters…Devils C Travis Zajac added a goal and an assist, giving him five points (2 G, 3 A) in the past five games…Hurricanes C Eric Staal had a goal and an assist in a 3-2 loss at Nashville, giving him six points (4 G, 2 A) in the past six games…Sharks D Brent Burns had two assists in a 4-3 overtime win at Minnesota, and has 14 points (4 G, 10 A) in the past 15 games…Sharks RW Joe Pavelski picked up a goal and an assist at Minnesota, giving him 17 points (11 G, 6 A) in the past 15 games…Wild RW Jason Pominville had a pair of assists in the 4-3 overtime loss to San Jose; he has 12 points (2 G, 10 A) in the past 11 games.dddddddddddd Wild LW Jason Zucker – one of the league’s most efficient goal-scorers – recorded two goals and an assist, with eight shots on goal and team-leading possession stats (21 shot attempts for, 11 against, 65.6%) in the loss…Blue Jackets winger Nick Foligno had three assists in a 4-2 win at Dallas, giving him 15 points (6 G, 9 A) in the past 12 games…Blue Jackets LW Scott Hartnell had a pair of assists, giving him nine points (3 G, 6 A) in the past nine games…Blue Jackets C Ryan Johansen added a goal and an assist, and now has nine points (4 G, 5 A) during an eight-game point streak…Blues RW T.J. Oshie had three assists in a 6-0 win vs. Arizona, and has 11 points (5 G, 6 A) during a six-game point streak…Blues C Paul Stastny notched a goal and an assist against Arizona, giving him eight points (1 G, 7 A) in the past six games…Blues LW Alexander Steen added a pair of assists and has nine points (2 G, 7 A) during a four-game point streak…Red Wings LW Justin Abdelkader had a goal and two assists in a 4-2 win at Edmonton, giving him six points (3 G, 3 A) in the past six games…Islanders C John Tavares was held without a shot attempt in a 3-2 loss at Vancouver; credit to the Sedins, who won the territorial head-to-head matchup…Avalanche RW Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist in a 2-0 win at Chicago; it’s been a rough stretch for MacKinnon, with six points (2 G, 4 A) in the past 16 games. Lightning D Mark Barberio had excellent possession stats (20 shot attempts for, 5 against) in Tampa Bay’s 4-2 win over Montreal…Blackhawks C Jonathan Toews kept play in the Colorado end (29 shot attempts for, 7 against, 80.6%) in a 2-0 loss. Blues G Brian Elliott had a 23-save shutout in a 6-0 win against Arizona…Senators G Craig Anderson stopped 33 of 34 shots in a 2-1 shootout loss at Philadelphia. FANTASY FOCUS Four games on tap tonight. Here are four players to consider for your lineup: Daniel Winnik – Here’s a limited recommendation for a winger with one goal in 38 games, but the defensively-responsible Winnik is also skating with Nazem Kadri and Phil Kessel on Toronto’s top line. Steve Downie – The Penguins winger leads the league with 141 penalty minutes and has 10 points (4 G, 6 A) in the past eight games. Playing on Sidney Crosby’s wing certainly helps. Joe Colborne – Played a season-high 21:42 last game for Calgary and has three goals in the past four games. Rene Bourque – When he’s not a healthy scratch, the Ducks have been force-feeding Bourque an opportunity on the top line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry and he does have a couple of points (1 G, 1 A) in his past three games. Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, www.puckalytics.com, www.hockeystats.ca and www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca ' ' '