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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. Vapormax Wholesale . Hollis-Jefferson went 5-for-6 from the field and added six rebounds, while Stanley Jefferson contributed 14 points for the Wildcats, who used their trademark tough defense to dominate the games final 24 minutes and advance to Tuesdays winners bracket matchup with Kansas State. Vapormax Plus Mens Ireland . Paul, MN (SportsNetwork. http://www.outletvapormaxireland.com/. The same cant be said of last Saturdays 2-2 draw at Olympic Stadium against a very weakened New York Red Bulls side and one which had three stalwarts in Henry, Cahill and Olave back home in Harrison, NJ. Cheap Air Foamposite . City, fielding a depleted team having already qualified, was twice pegged back by the plucky Czech champions but substitute Negredo tapped home in the 78th minute and Dzekos header made sure of victory in the 89th. The result kept City three points behind Bayern Munich ahead of their meeting in Germany in two weeks. Vapormax Flyknit Ireland . But its also a smart game. Theres more to the Kings than banging bodies. They take a toll mentally on their opponents.PARIS -- Paris Saint-Germains hopes of a domestic treble are over after a surprise 2-1 home defeat by Montpellier in the French Cup on Wednesday. PSG had scored 15 goals in the four previous games, but coach Laurent Blancs decision not to start with regulars Zlatan Ibrahimovic, midfielder Thiago Motta and goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu backfired against an inspired Montpellier team that advanced to the last 16 of the cup. Backup goalkeeper Nicolas Douchez was at fault for the first goal as he failed to come for a cross and defender Daniel Congre headed home in the 20th minute. Uruguay forward Edinson Cavani equalized for PSG 10 minutes later, but slack marking allowed Colombian forward Victor Hugo Montano to head a 69th-minute winner for a team languishing in 16th place in the league. "Its an upset, I hope we wont be too tired against Nice on Saturday, but its extraordinary to win here in Paris," Montpellier owner Louis Nicollin said. "It was impossible. Theyd scored five at the weekend (against Nantes)." Cavani scored his 20th goal of the season with a tap-in from left back Lucas Dignes cross, but he somehow missed an open goal moments later. Javier Pastores shot was then saved by goalie Laurent Pionnier in the 55th as PSG squandered chances. Blanc brought on Ibrahimovic and Motta in the 66th, but poor defending let PSG down again as Montano was unchallenged to head past a static Douchez. Also, Monaco advanced with a 3-0 win at amateur side Chasselay. The win was tempered by a knee injury to Colombia striker Radamel Falcao, who faces an anxious wait to find out if he has a serious injury ahead of the World Cup. He opened the scoring for Monaco in the 29th minute with his 11th goal of the season, but was caught by a heavy tackle from Chasselay centre half Soner Ertek in the 40th. After receiving treatment he was stretchered off a few minutes later and replaced by Emmanuell Riviere, who scored twice in the second half.dddddddddddd Monaco coach Claudio Ranieri was furious with match referee Philippe Kalt for not taking firmer action against Chasselays players. "If Falcao has a serious injury, its the referees fault. Its not possible to let things go like that," Ranieri said. "When there are fouls, you have to whistle. When its a bad foul, you have to get a yellow card out and if theres another bad foul, then its a red. Tonight I saw neither." On a night of upsets, amateur side Lile Rousse and Moulins advanced against first division sides. Lile Rousse, which plays in the equivalent of the fifth division, beat Bordeaux -- ninth in the top flight -- 4-3 in a penalty shootout after the match finished 0-0. Moulins, which plays in the fourth division, followed up with a 2-1 win against Toulouse -- 11th in Ligue 1 -- thanks to two goals from striker Sebastien Da Silva after Israel forward Eden Ben Basat had given Toulouse a first-half lead. Elsewhere, Lyon survived a scare to beat Yzeure 3-1 -- with Lyon winger Jimmy Briand equalizing straight from the restart after the non-leaguers went 1-0 up in the 74th through midfielder Lamine Mbaye. Yoann Gourcuff continued his fine recent form with a splendid strike from 25 metres to give Lyon the lead and Steed Malbranque added a neat finish as Lyon caught Yzeure on the break. "We have good memories of the French Cup because we won it two years ago," Gourcuff said. "They were very motivated against us but I think we showed the right attitude and didnt panic when we conceded that goal." The 27-year-old Gourcuff has scored three times in the past four games and is pushing for a recall to the France squad. "Im just thinking about playing and enjoying myself out on the pitch," Gourcuff said. "Im injury free now and the more I play, the better I feel." ' ' '