TORONTO – All of a sudden Vladimir Guerrero Jr., taking grounders at third base over the weekend as part of some contingency prep work is a whole lot more relevant to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Travis Shaw’s departure from Tuesday night’s 9-7 loss to the Boston Red Sox with right knee discomfort is a worrisome development for a club starting to face the type of attrition to its position-play group that has already whittled down its starting rotation.
The severity of Shaw’s soreness wasn’t immediately clear – manager Charlie Montoyo said for now his third baseman is day-to-day – but with Bo Bichette only due to resume baseball activities this weekend, and Randal Grichuk grinding through lower back pain that relegated him to DH duties, the Blue Jays can’t afford to lose another body.
Even with Shaw, owner of a .635 OPS, on the field, the Blue Jays are soft in the bottom third of the batting order, and more Brandon Drury and Joe Panik isn’t the answer. When you consider that their only realistic options at the alternate training site are Andy Burns and Ruben Tejada – they’re not promoting highly touted prospect Jordan Groshans, who has yet to play above low-A ball – shifting Guerrero back across the diamond becomes more appealing.
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Before the game, Montoyo tried to tamp speculation that Guerrero might be used at third even occasionally – “I’m not saying he’s going to play third – he’s our first baseman,” he stressed – but was much more open to the possibility afterwards.
“I want to give him more time to prepare for it, but we’ll see,” said Montoyo. “He’s another guy I have to DH one of these days, too. I’m trying to rotate (players at DH) so I can keep them healthy, because as you know it’s a grind playing every day. We’ll see where we are but there’s always a chance he could do it this week sometime.”
Adding to the pressure is that the Blue Jays are currently carrying 16 pitchers and 12 position players, and with Shaw needing at least a day or two, that leaves Montoyo with a two-man bench, which ties his hands both before and during games.
Some type of roster reconfiguration is needed, but with the Blue Jays facing bullpen days Wednesday and Friday, and only a third of the way through 28 games in 27 days, they need as many arms as they can get. They don’t have an internal option that can step in and throw 100 pitches.
“We might have to make some moves,” Montoyo acknowledged. “It’s all about how much pitching we need. It’s a day-to-day deal. To me more important right now is not so much the bench, it’s just having enough pitchers to cover all these innings the next three days.”
Playing Guerrero at third isn’t ideal defensively, but using him at the hot corner with Rowdy Tellez at first base and then intaking Daniel Vogelbach at DH puts significantly more thunder in the batter’s box.
“Whatever the team needs, I’ll be ready,” Guerrero said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “If Charlie needs me at third base, I’m going to be at third base. The days I DH, I go out early with Luis Rivera and I take groundballs at third base just in case the situation comes. …
“Obviously, the angles now at first base (are different) from third base, but I’m ready. For me, it’s pretty much the same.”
Now, it’s worth remembering why the Blue Jays shifted him from third in the first place, believing the lessened demands defensively would help him at the plate, while allowing Shaw to provide better glovework at the hot corner.
The Blue Jays have been better, of late, but loose play in the field has haunted them often this year, and there was some of that Tuesday, when they jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first but couldn’t close out the 6-3 lead Chase Anderson handed to the bullpen in the sixth.
Anderson, boosting a staff down Matt Shoemaker, Nate Pearson and Trent Thornton, threw five innings for the first time this season, and allowed a leadoff walk to Mitch Moreland in the sixth before exiting his fourth start of the season.
“When you see guys go down, I take pride in trying to get our team deeper into games,” said Anderson. “Today I felt the best I have overall so far building up. Hopefully next time I’ll have a little bit longer of a leash, hopefully I can get over 100 pitches and get into the seventh, eighth inning. Body is feeling good, feel like every time it’s recovering better, so it feels like I’m kind of at the end of spring training, if you know what I mean, ready to start the season.”
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Once Anderson left the floodgates opened, as Wilmer Font thought he had Christian Vazquez struck out for the first out but didn’t get the call, with the Red Sox catcher following with a smash to centre just beyond Teoscar Hernandez’s reach. RBI singles by Jackie Bradley Jr., and Alex Verdugo were sandwiched around an 0-2 hit by pitch to Jose Peraza, while Rafael Devers delivered a three-run triple off A.J. Cole that turned the game around.
Anderson was solid, allowing four runs, three earned, the unearned run set up when he and Danny Jansen got crossed up leading to a passed ball that advanced Moreland and allowed him to score on Bradley’s infield single in the fourth.
“I thought I saw a fastball, but he said he put a different finger down for I think it was a curveball,” said Anderson. “That’s on me, for sure. That’s why I kept stepping off, because it’s hard to see here in Buffalo, behind home plate it’s a little darker. I made sure to step off to make sure we’re 100 per cent on the same page, because you never want that to happen and cost you a run, that’s for sure.”
The veteran righty was up to 83 pitches and the rotation needs him all the more at the moment with the rotation in flux. As the front office considers adding external help, they’ve discussed bringing up right-handed prospect Patrick Murphy, who’s been throwing multiple innings at Rochester.
Already making things up as they go on the pitching side, the Blue Jays are now being forced to scramble with their lineup, too. At least Guerrero’s flexibility offers them an intriguing possibility.
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