You have to give Alex Anthopoulos credit; he’s not afraid to make the tough decisions
So far this season, he has already sent two-fifths of his rotation to start the season – Jesse Litsch and Brett Cecil – down to triple-A and then dropped what is considered to be a big bomb by handing Travis Snider a plane ticket to Las Vegas mere moments after the Jays took three of four from the defending A.L. champion Texas Rangers.
The shock waves were felt throughout the blogosphere.
Snider, expected to be the everyday left fielder this season – and the only Jay to have played in each game this season – just couldn’t get it going through the first 25 games, as his .184 average, one solitary home run and 23 strikeouts attest.
To put it into perspective, his average ranks him 172nd among hitters in the majors that have enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title, while his 23 strikeouts puts him on pace to whiff a whopping 149 times this season, which would tie for second most in franchise history.
Now, I’ve read all your comments of the many accounts of this roster shocker, and it seems as if y’all are split 50-50. There’s no denying that we have caught glimpses of a skill set that could lead Snider to a long and productive career. Some of his 26 career home runs have been quite majestic.
I think of a line drive home run that he hit at the Metrodome back in 2009 that caused many a jaw to drop.
But this season, his flaws were continually exploited. There was a glaring hole in his plate coverage – down and in – that caused him to continually swing over pitches. There was hesitancy, on the bases and on defence, that was also troubling. At some point, raw ability and baseball smarts have to intersect, and that was not the case for young Travis.
And what everyone tends to forget – myself included – is that Snider is still just 23 years old and had played just two full seasons in the minors before being fast-tracked to Toronto by a front office that picked him 14th overall in 2006. Also, let’s not forget, Snider still has options, which also greased Litsch’s and Cecil’s slide back to triple-A. New Jays manager John Farrell also has no allegiances to anyone on the current roster and is still getting know everyone in the organization.
What is a bigger surprise is the player replacing Snider on the 25-man roster. Most would have expected that to be Brett Lawrie, batting a robust .398 this season in his first trip to triple-A and the apple of Farrell’s eye all spring. Or even Eric Thames, who also turned heads this spring in Florida and has followed it up by hitting .373 to start this season. But instead, it was David Cooper who got the call after being chosen 17th overall in 2008 and having seemingly flat-lined after back-to-back seasons a double-A New Hampshire.
But like Thames, Cooper also opened a lot of eyes this spring after playing in more Grapefruit League games – 27 – than any other Blue Jays’ minor leaguer and batting a solid .378 with two home runs and 10 RBI. He picked up right where he left off once the triple-A season began, batting .395 in his first 20 games.
Now, it’s all up to Snider to go down, work hard and rediscover his hitting stroke. If he succeeds, his stay in Las Vegas should be short. The same holds true for Cecil, although his horrible first start with Vegas – 4.1 IP, 13 H, 10 ER, 3 BB, 3 home runs allowed – means he might be in triple-A for a while yet.
Alex Anthopoulos and John Farrell have been true to their word – those who succeed will be rewarded, and those who don’t will have to work that much harder.
It’s a refreshing change in club policy.
