BALTIMORE – Entering play Wednesday, only seven big-league teams were more than five games out of a playoff spot. One of those teams, the St. Louis Cardinals, is a perennial contender in a winnable division.
So let’s call it six teams that can safely be considered summer sellers: the Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals and Colorado Rockies. Conversely, you likely have 20-plus teams that are at least thinking about buying. For MLB, the setup’s ideal – the league expanded playoffs for this very reason.
But guess which of those two groups has more leverage? Now in theory, a buying team can bridge that gap by overwhelming a non-contender with an early trade offer. It’s certainly been done before. At the same time, that’s easier to do if your farm system’s loaded, and for the Toronto Blue Jays that’s not the case.
Eventually, more teams will emerge as sellers, losing teams will run out of time to make deals and the leverage will tilt back toward buyers by the Aug. 1 deadline. In the meantime, the Blue Jays need to look inward if they’re going to make the leap from fringe wild-card contender to legitimate playoff threat.
Consider:
• Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a .920 OPS when left wrist discomfort sidelined him on May 6. Since then, he has two home runs and a .666 OPS in 34 games.
• Matt Chapman was the American League player of the month for April. Since then, he’s hitting .192 with a .585 OPS.
• Alejandro Kirk quietly posted an .805 OPS through April. Since then, he has one home run with a .606 OPS.
Now, slumps are part of the game and it’s reasonable to expect all three hitters to bounce back. There’s no lack of effort here, as manager John Schneider pointed out at Camden Yards after Thursday’s loss. At the same time, the Blue Jays need more.
History tells us complementary pieces can and will be added to Toronto’s roster at the deadline. And sometimes those seemingly modest deals end up becoming far bigger (case in point: Whit Merrifield, who’s quietly hitting .308 with a 117 OPS+ and 18 stolen bases this year).
But impact players – the ones with the upside of a Guerrero Jr. or a Chapman – are incredibly hard to acquire mid-season. For the Blue Jays to get where they want to go, they need at least some of their existing stars to follow George Springer’s lead and elevate their game before outside support arrives.
ON THE HOOK FOR BASS
The Blue Jays had some trade interest in Anthony Bass before designating him for assignment and were said to be close on at least one deal that fell through.
But once the Blue Jays designated Bass for assignment and indicated publicly that they weren’t interested in keeping him in the organization, they essentially discouraged other teams from claiming him or making a trade offer. After all, with Bass now released, the Blue Jays are responsible for his $3 million salary (less the pro-rated MLB minimum should another team sign him).
Of course that’s just part of the story with Bass’s exit from Toronto, and not the most important part, but it’ll have some small impact on the Blue Jays’ payroll. Should the reliever sign elsewhere the savings would now be far more modest – something in the range of $400,000.
A BIG-NAME PROSPECT
The player who leads the Blue Jays’ triple-A roster in home runs stands five foot nine and was selected in the 28th round of the MLB Draft, but don’t let that stop you from being intrigued by Davis Schneider. The 24-year-old utility player has opened many eyes within the Blue Jays organization this year, including, of course, the big-league manager.
“He’s got a great last name, I know that,” said John Schneider, who’s not related to Davis. “But he’s really kind of turned himself into a major-league player. Wasn’t in (big-league spring training) camp. He was at some games. We’ve seen for a couple of years he’s matured physically, has matured mentally. It’s a lot along the lines of like, a (32nd-round pick) Kevin Pillar or a (20th-round pick) Vinny Capra, where they do a lot of things that open your eyes.”
Before the season, it would have been a reach to consider Davis Schneider a future big-leaguer. But the right-handed hitter now leads the Buffalo Bisons with 14 home runs and he’s batting .268/.392/.552. If the Blue Jays need a bat, he’s at least in the conversation. And while he may not be a future Gold Glover, he can hold his own at first base, second base or left field.
“Up to par, up to standards for a useful utility player,” John Schneider said.
