Back in May, I wrote a piece about the Blue Jays absolutely, positively needing to call up Vlad Guerrero, Jr. To share with the major league world what the minor leagues had been enjoying to that point, and to finally allow him to mash baseballs as a major league player just like his dad.
The case for and against the Blue Jays calling Vlad Guerrero, Jr. up to the majors
Should the Jays finally add him to their roster or let him keep raking in the minors?
Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
Since that time, Vlad has continued to mash and — thanks partially to an injury and partially to the Blue Jays still sticking to their previous plan — still hasn’t seen a lick of playing time in Toronto. He’s currently hanging out in Buffalo, New York with the Bisons and hitting the laces off the ball which is at least an improvement over him spending time in Double A and fully embarrassing his competition.
The case for Vlad, Jr. on the Blue Jays
The Blue Jays aren’t going anywhere this season. We knew this in May, we knew this in June, and we definitely know this in August. It’s a lost season and they did decently at the trade deadline to set themselves up for the future. You know what would also set themselves up well for the future?
Vlad Jr. playing in front of a few thousand Jays fans for a month and a half to end the season. He’s currently hitting .395 with a 1.253 OPS with Buffalo in 12 games since his return from injury, including four games in a row with a home run.
A call up might merit a sellout or anything but lots of Jays fans are excited about Guerrero and his future so it wouldn’t hurt to try and goose interest for a few weeks and lay the foundation for what could be a fun next season in 2019. Think of the good will this would engender towards the team from all corners of baseball! He’s their top prospect and right now their easiest way to some good PR.
One of the major reasons excuses the Blue Jays turned to when they were receiving criticism for not calling him up this spring — besides the obvious gaming of service time — was that they were concerned about his defense. What a nice chance they have, then, to call him up and give him some reps at third base when (one) it literally does not matter how many mistakes he makes because there is no upside for the Jays’ win/loss column and (two) if his defense is really as atrocious as they think it will be at the next level they’ll have concrete details on how bad it is and be able to work on those issues during the offseason and during Spring Training. Or get some mentorship from Donaldson while he’s still with the club.
Isn’t that better than calling him up in 2019 — when they might have a chance at the postseason — and hoping any problems are magically smoothed out in Triple A before then? Especially when they might want him as an everyday starter at third by then depending on how their free agency moves pan out?
The aforementioned service time shenanigans (which are as lame as they are common) might make sense for the Jays’ financial future if they’re competing in a few years and not trying to trade their top assets once again, but just because they want to save money by keeping Vlad down doesn’t mean we can’t be mad about it and call them out at every turn for doing it. They already have him under team control one extra year because they declined to call him up this spring, doing that for another year is straight up absurd.
Even if his offense drops off a little bit during his call up the reps are important. And if the Blue Jays try to pretend one more time that Yangervis Solarte’s .959 fielding percentage and -3 DRS is worth not giving Vlad some time at the hot corner to get comfortable in the majors we’re going to have serious problems. “Writing letters to the Jays front office that just say ‘STOP LYING’” kind of problems. Especially when you also factor in that Solarte just followed Josh Donaldson to the disabled list and they didn’t take that opportunity to call up Vlad.
In short: Let Vlad Rake. In Canada. Thank you.
The case for Vlad, Jr. staying in Buffalo
Besides the fact that those with MLB TV wouldn’t get to watch him whenever we want until at least next season, or that he’d have to live in Buffalo for a few more months (readers from Buffalo ... sorry but show me the lie), Vlad staying in Triple-A wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. It would be very annoying but there is one thing
Right now, as mentioned, Vlad is hitting .395/.489/.763 in Buffalo. That’s ... really good. His average is more than 100 points higher than the next guy on the list (minimum 10 games with the team) and has the highest OBP with the same qualifications. In 77 games across all levels in the minors this season, he is hitting exactly .400.
If he gets called up to Toronto, the chances of him doing well at the plate are good. The chances of him being able to maintain a .400 average or higher are not as good. It would be really fun if he hits .400 over a whole season and we can look back at his final pre-majors season and go “oh wowwwwwww” for many years to come whenever we feel like it.
But that’s about the only upside. And that upside isn’t quite fun enough to give up all of the positives that would come with him getting called up. We can still look back at this minors season of him and remember what it was like to realize Vlad, Jr. is a wrecking ball at the plate for the first time. But he should be getting a chance to rake against major league pitching. ASAP, preferably.
Come on, Blue Jays. Please?
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