The end is near for Toronto Blue Jays: JP Arencibia quits Twitter

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for the Toronto Blue Jays, outspoken catcher JP Arencibia had to go and quit Twitter. Yes, that’s the sound of 145,000 or so of his followers groaning in unison.

Arencibia might go over the line at times, like when he jumped all over Sportsnet sportscasters Dirk Hayhurst and Gregg Zaun earlier this month, but at least he’s relatively interesting. That’s more than we can say about the team as a whole at this point in the season.

“It’s unfortunate to see how words are twisted to make false stories,” he said on Twitter Tuesday. “I give way too much of myself to have others try and make me out to (be) something/someone I’m not.”

“I will no longer be on twitter,” he added. “Thanks to all the fans who support and praying for the others that hate. God bless.”

For Arencibia, it’s probably a good thing he closed his account shortly after those tweets.. He’s obviously too wrapped up in what’s going on in the Twittersphere when he should be more worried about helping the team turn the season around. The 27-year old does have 17 homers and 43 RBI, but he’s also hitting just .219 this year while allowing 34 stolen bases behind the plate and 10 passed balls.

So you can understand why frustrations were running high after the Blue Jays were pounded 14-5 by the Los Angeles Dodgers Monday night. Toronto has lost five straight games and is now 13.5 games off the pace in the AL East heading into the second meeting of a three-game set with the Dodgers Tuesday night. The Jays are set as -105 underdogs.

While it’s not impossible for the Jays to mount a charge to get back into the playoff picture, it doesn’t look good. John Gibbons and Alex Anthopolous said the club would come out strong after the All-Star break and the team just hasn’t gotten it done. If this slump stretches much longer, Toronto will be tempted to move some pieces before the July 31 deadline.

And if that goes down, it’s going to be pretty boring waiting for next year – again. Maybe Arencibia quitting Twitter is just another sign that the end is near for this year’s edition of the Toronto Blue Jays.