The Cleveland roots of the Toronto Blue Jays front office will never cease to be an issue in this market. Yet considering Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. is now tantalizingly close to the major leagues, it’s time to contemplate the manner in which the Indians laid the groundwork for the emergence of Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez.
As colleague Shi Davidi pointed out last week, the biggest task facing this organization hasn’t changed from spring training: getting the house in order for Vlady, Jr.
My guess is we still won’t see him until next May, when he clears any possibility of Super-2 status, just as Alex Anthopoulos’s Atlanta Braves did this season with their own transcendent player, Ronald Acuna. Yet as Davidi also pointed out, one area of difference between the organizations is that the Blue Jays don’t have their own Freddie Freeman; that as of right now Guerrero will be the best player on the team the second he arrives which is hardly optimal.
This can change, of course. The Blue Jays won’t be able to attract that type of talent through free agency – they haven’t been able to do so for the better part of three decades – but a trade of Roberto Osuna or Marcus Stroman could address the matter and, according to what I’m told, both options are an iron-clad certainty to be aggressively explored. Quite rightly, too, as baseball decisions are based purely on controllability and window of opportunity.
But I thought Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins made an intriguing point on my show this week when he suggested it was the Indians model that was of greater significance to the Blue Jays than that of the Braves. Of course, he’d like the team to have a Freddie Freeman in place — “Sign me up,” he said — and he no doubt realized there were great swaths of Blue Jays fans rolling their eyes at the mere mention of the Indians. (To which I would add, “A team that has made the playoffs two years in a row, been to the World Series, and is currently in first place with a payroll that has been between $30 million and $40 million less than the Blue Jays? Sign me up!”)
At any rate, Atkins wondered openly what was wrong with the way Lindor and Ramirez became each other’s all-star support system? Ramirez had played a little more than 100 games when Lindor burst on the scene in June 2015, and his story was the opposite of Lindor’s. He was signed for $50,000 out of a tryout and bounced around from spot to spot early in his career, playing well enough at shortstop that the Indians delayed Lindor’s promotion.
In fact, it was Atkins as the Indians vice-president of player personnel who had to break the news to Lindor in 2014 that he would not be getting a September call-up; that Ramirez was doing so well at shortstop they were going to let him run out the season. This stuff isn’t always linear, you know?
So who knows who will be Vlady, Jr.’s Ramirez. Could he and Bo Bichette be the pairing, with Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. or Cavan Biggio factoring in? Could Aaron Sanchez play Corey Kluber? Could it be Stroman?
I know, I know … building a contender in the AL Central is one thing. It’s another to do it in the East when you’re chasing the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, who both seem to have figured out this whole player development deal while having payrolls capable of dwarfing that of the Blue Jays.
But Shapiro and Atkins can’t do anything about the fact that the Blue Jays are in the East. Neither could Anthopoulos, Paul Beeston, Pat Gillick or anybody else you want to think about. So your choice is to either stop watching baseball and pine for the past or remember that unlike 90 per cent of their critics the folks now in charge of Vlady, Jr. have kind of been here before. Did a pretty good job, too.
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NOW TWEET THIS
Some random baseball thoughts ahead of tomorrow’s 4 p.m. ET non-waiver deadline …
• The award for biggest cojones has been claimed by the Brewers’ David Stearns, who sent a nice prospect (Brett Phillips) to the Royals for defensive shift magnet Mike Moustakas and is asking Travis Shaw to play second base for the first time in his career. #ballsy
• The Orioles received $250,000 in international signing money from the Braves in the Brad Brach trade and now you know they’re in for the long haul in a rebuild: they’ve spent a grand total of just $1 million in international money the past two seasons combined. #philosophyshift
• The Yankees addressed immediate pitching concerns without trading pitching prospects. J.A. Happ’s acquisition is a safety net allowing top prospect Justus Sheffield a look in the majors without pressure. He has to be added to the 40-man roster before the Rule 5 draft. #bonus
• The most interesting team will be the Nationals, a game under .500 with one of the best rosters in the game despite not having Dusty Baker as manager. No, they’re not going to deal Bryce Harper. But they should go after controllable assets such as J.T. Realmuto. #goodbusiness
• I’m told Jays outfielder Curtis Granderson will be moved, freeing up a major-league spot for recently acquired Billy McKinney. Oh, and as a reminder of how fickle this game is: McKinney was drafted eights spots ahead of Aaron Judge in 2013. #inexactscience
• Sometimes a team forces management’s hands. Enter the Rockies: one game back of the Dodgers, half a game out of the wild-card with a rotation that has a sick 1.71 ERA at Coors Field in July, a club single-month record. #happyhumidor
• Manny Machado singled Sunday and has reached base in all 10 games since his trade to the Dodgers, extending his career-high streak to 29 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the majors. #machine
• Yankees manager Aaron Boone called J.A. Happ “a significant dude” after his winning start Sunday. Don’t know why exactly, but it brought a smile to my face. #warmestbestwishes
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THE ENDGAME
All eyes will be on triple-A Buffalo this week as Roberto Osuna continues to make ready for a possible return in Seattle for this weekend’s series against the Mariners. Osuna, who was suspended under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse protocol, is eligible to pitch as of Aug. 5. That’s four days after a scheduled court date, and Blue Jays management has said they are prepared to bring him back to the major-league team even if there is no final resolution to his case by that time.
The allegations against Osuna have severely damaged his standing with the team’s fan base, but he remains the single most attractive trade chip the organization has and is an intriguing possibility as a post-deadline acquisition for a contending team. There is a feeding frenzy for relievers at this deadline, but Osuna is a cut above: still young, playoff-tested, cost-effective, well-rested and with two more years of control. This is going to be a delicate matter for the Blue Jays front office, maybe the most trying in a season full of trying situations. But morality be damned, the bottom line remains the same: for this organization, his value must be maximized.
Jeff Blair hosts The Jeff Blair Show from 9 a.m. to noon ET and Baseball Central from noon to 1 p.m. ET on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. He also co-hosts ‘The Lede’ podcast with Stephen Brunt and appears frequently on Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown.
