We might be able to sit back some time down the road and laugh about the day the Toronto Blue Jays moved Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to third base to get Daniel Vogelbach’s bat (!) in the lineup, and what that says or about the state of play in 2024.
But the Blue Jays can’t worry right now about how a move looks or what it says about their passive off-season, even though I’d wager that three years ago most of you believed Bo Bichette was the more likely of the two starlets to move position. OK, I’m being a little silly here: manager John Schneider has made clear that the shift of Vladdy to third, enacted Sunday to start a game for the first time since his 2019 rookie season, is just an occasional to try to squeeze as much water as they can out of a stone – in this case, their lineup. The message is clear: if you can hit, or have done so for, say, three of four days, we’ll find a spot for you in the lineup. Boy, will we ever …
And why not? You got a better idea?
The Blue Jays will host the Baltimore Orioles in a four-game series beginning Monday at the Rogers Centre. Toronto still is two games under .500 after going 8-5 in what was supposed to be the soft underbelly of the schedule: home and home with the Chicago White Sox, split up by four games in Detroit against the Tigers and three at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Despite missing rising Pittsburgh youngsters Paul Skenes and Jared Jones, the Blue Jays eked out two wins – one in 14 innings – and got buggy-whipped 8-1 in the middle contest.
The Guerrero move came on a day when general manager Ross Atkins made a rare public statement about his team, going on MLB Network radio to give Schneider a vote of confidence and affirm that the team had no intention of trading Vladdy or Bo, intending instead to sign them. That might mean something. But it probably doesn’t, since Atkins has always responded in that manner to questions about the two – usually reminding a questioner that there needs to be a recognition of ‘shared risk’ in any deal.
Seems to me the risk-o-meter has ticked waaaaay over to the players, who have more to lose by signing now so close to free agency – especially, Bichette.
Atkins said that trading them “just doesn’t make any sense for us,” which either means:
• The offers so far have been underwhelming;
• The Blue Jays will make a real run at the pair this winter, when they can move a few things around here and there, get Orelvis Martinez’s bat in the lineup cheaply and get deals done without blowing past the luxury cap;
• The front office knows that a Vlad or Bo-free summer is a marketing disaster or;
• Atkins will have one year left on his contract when the two are eligible for free agency; president and chief executive officer Mark Shapiro’s contract expires at the same time as Vladdy and Bo. So … let the next dudes worry about what happens post-Vladbopocalypse.
Not even I could be so cynical as to buy into that last point, since I don’t doubt the sincerity of this front office’s respect for stewardship or its good intentions. But the time-table is tailor-made for conspiracy theorists.
Absent a significant trade, it seems as if Sunday’s move might be as much about figuring out a way to eventually get Spencer Horwitz’s hot triple-A bat into the lineup (he’s played second but is more comfortable at first base) or … I mean, Joey Votto’s still a thing, yeah? Maybe? And as much as Vladdy says third base is his favorite position (remember: when former GM Alex Anthopoulos first saw Guerrero in person in the Dominican Republic he essentially didn’t have a position; he responded “third” when Anthopoulos asked him: “OK … what position do you like to play,”), he has developed into a reliable defensive first baseman.
The fact that the Blue Jays are willing to sacrifice their much-cherished run prevention to eke out a little more offence tells you pretty much where we are as the calendar flips to June. We’re squarely in beggars-can’t-be-choosers territory, where how the wins come doesn’t matter anymore.
The importance of buy-in.
Alek Manoah’s sidelining evokes memories of 2023, when the rest of the Blue Jays rotation had to at times sacrifice their own routines to make up for his absence. It was something of which Manoah was acutely aware and mentioned frequently this spring.
Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Yuseki Kikuchi are all good pros but let’s be clear: the fact all were under contract at least through this year – longer than Kikuchi in the case of the first three – made it easier to get buy-in.
So, it was interesting to hear Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton tell us on Blair & Barker that the five-year, $77-million contract the team gave to Mitch Keller before the start of the season was an important part of the organization’s strategy in handling it’s two gilt-edged starters, Skenes and Jones. The pair of 22-year-olds have been put back-to-back in the team’s rotation to start Skenes’ career but Shelton said that was less a strategic decision than the fact it simply fit Skenes’ normal schedule. But that might change, especially once Martin Perez comes back so he doesn’t go back-to-back with fellow lefthander Bailey Falter … and that’s where Keller comes in.
“The one thing we’re fortunate in is having Mitch comes through our system and make extreme developmental strides in two and a half years,” Shelton said. “We optioned him. We moved him to the bullpen. He was a top prospect who had to find his footing. The fact they’ll have Mitch to lean on is extremely helpful. The other thing is we made a long-term commitment to Mitch, and when you do that you can have very frank and open conversations. As long as you’re up-front in communicating and if what you’re doing is going to benefit not only the player but the team, you’ll get buy-in.
Skenes is quite simply the biggest deal in pitching right now. He is already a marquee name, and the chattering classes love picking apart how those commodities are handled. Everybody is a development expert these days. And while Shelton said the Pirates are aware that there will be times where “we might have to back them down a little,” he said that Skenes’ experience at LSU, which was coached by former Minnesota Twins pitching coach Wes Johnson (who has since moved on to Georgia), has given him an edge both mechanically and intuitively. Johnson was on the Twins’ staff from 2019 to the middle of the 2022 season. Shelton had a two-year stint as the Twins bench coach and crossed paths with Johnson, who was heralded for his innovative approaches.
“One of the things we talked about (with Johnson) was (Skenes’) ability to repeat his delivery,” said Shelton. “He spent a year under the tutelage of someone who was basically an MLB pitching coach. That’s prepared him.”
Not so Rocky
It was going to be difficult for Canadian Cal Quantrill to extend his sizzling 4-0 May run into June, considering he was facing the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday. Done in by a sub-par split-fingered fastball, the native of Port Hope, Ont. faced his nemesis for the first time in two years and lost 4-1, giving up nine hits and lasting 4 1/3 innings, just the second time in 12 outings that he didn’t complete five innings.
He is 1-4 (7.89) in his career against L.A. but let’s not overlook what Quantrill has done this season: His 1.71 ERA in May was fourth lowest in the National League, and he became the first Colorado Rockies pitcher since Jorge De La Rosa (June 2016) to win four games with a sub-2.00 ERA in a calendar month. As for surviving at Coors Field? Yeah, he’s done that in his first season there, with four consecutive quality starts, the first Rockies pitcher to do so in three seasons.
There is a book in Jesse Chavez’s career.
On Thursday, the Atlanta Braves right-hander pitched 2 1/3 innings in relief of Ray Kerr, who went just 3 2/3 innings in what would be a 3-1 loss to the Washington Nationals.
Chavez is just two strikeouts away from 1,000 career strikeouts. Think about that. In his 21st Major League season, he is on his third stint with the Braves, one of nine teams who have employed him. Chavez leads the National League with opposing batters hitting .069 with runners in scoring position and ranks second in the majors to New York Yankees starter Luis Gil.
The next closest reliever (minimum 35 batters faced) is Jose LeClerc of the Texas Rangers at .111. Chavez, a 40-year-old, former 42nd-round pick, has the sixth-most strikeouts among active MLB relievers.
Chavez, who appeared in 48 games over two years (2012, 2016) with the Blue Jays, while posting a 5.89 ERA, has a 2.11 ERA from 2021 to present day with the Braves. He has appeared for three other teams during that time, owning a 7.16 ERA. He has earned north of $25 million during that time, been granted free agency on nine separate occasions and has been part of trades bringing in Kip Wells, Akinori Iwamura, Rafael Soriano, Rick Ankiel, Kyle Farnsworth, Liam Hendriks (to the Oakland Athletics by the Blue Jays), Mike Bolsinger, Sean Newcomb and Raisel Iglesias. He’s a one-man Immaculate Grid …
Dumbing down the discourse
I’m not a jersey guy. Or a hat guy. Or a sneaker guy. I just don’t have the time or the inclination or financial urge to contribute to landfills. But I like the Blue Jays’ new ‘City Connect’ jerseys; not as much as the San Diego Padres or Tampa Bay Rays jerseys but, well, that’s not your concern.
The colours work for me, the ‘Night Mode’ thing is a vibe, and although I still find it odd when teams feel the need to have their city’s name on their home jersey, I kind of get it in this case – the ubiquitous TORONTO sign and all that.
I know some were hoping for some kind of national imaging, but I’m pretty sure sensitivities across the country will survive it. You’ll always have those ghastly red alternate jerseys to remember.
Mostly, I’m just amazed that something new emerged without creating any type of significant socio-political backlash. I’ll bet more time was spent ensuring there was nothing that could be seen as ‘hidden messaging’ than anything else: the 2020’s version of playing records backward to check for Satanic messages (ask your parents, kids.).
Jeff Blair hosts Blair & Barker from 2-4 p.m. ET on Sportsnet 590 The Fan and Sportsnet. Blair & Barker also host Blue Jays Talk following Blue Jays weekday games.
