Penton: Jays stumble during Guerrero, Jr.’s power outage
By Bruce Penton
One of the most perplexing sports stories in Canada this year is about Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., and his woeful power statistics.
There’s more to baseball than hitting home runs, but in Guerrero, Jr’s case, hitting home runs and driving in batters reaching base ahead of him are why the Toronto Blue Jays signed him to a contract extension last year that pays him an astronomical sum — in the vicinity of $500 million for 14 seasons.
At last glance, Guerrero, Jr., stood tied for 205th in the list of Major League Baseball home run leaders, with six in more than 90 games, all on the road. That’s a pace that brings his season total to around 10, about one-third of what the Jays’ hierarchy expects of him annually. Another sick stat is his double play grounders — only four MLB players have more than Vladdy.
Guerrero, Jr., who has never hit fewer than 20 homers in any of his past five seasons, is reportedly playing with tightness in his back, which could be the reason for his meagre offensive production. But the health situation is apparently not bad enough to keep him out of the lineup.
It’s a slump, pure and simple.
There’s a definite correlation between Guerrero, Jr.’s feeble hitting stats and the Blue Jays’ overall team performance. Last year’s American League champions, who came within one out of winning the World Series, are struggling this year, A playoff position is possible, but unlikely since the Jays found themselves struggling to get to .500 in mid-July.
So what are the Blue Jays’ options with Guerrero, Jr.?
They can continue to play him, get decent batting average numbers from him (in the .260 range) and hope the natural power he has shown to possess returns. They could try to trade him, but which general manager in his right mind would take on a massive contract for a player whose hitting skills have seemingly diminished? The Jays could bench him, but management would have a hard time justifying having a player earning $500 million sitting on the bench. They could demote him to eighth or ninth in the batting order from his normal No. 2 position until the power returns. A radio listener in Saskatchewan even suggested recently the Jays send Guerrero, Jr., to the minors so he could work on his hitting approach out of the major league spotlight. That’s not going to happen.
Toronto manager John Schneider continues to pencil Guerrero, Jr.,’s name into the lineup, giving him a day off only occasionally. The manager, whose employment fortunes could be tied to his first baseman’s power numbers, is confident of a rebound. “I don’t want to push it with him,” Schneider told Mike Petriello of MLB.com “He’s been working a lot and I think that plays into how he’s feeling … I think he’s where we want him to be. He’s really close, so I didn’t want to set him back.”
Cathal Kelly of the Globe and Mail, in a satirical column about the U.S. trying to fix the World Cup: “The only way this was getting fixed right was convincing Gianni Infantino to announce that he’d just found Lionel Messi’s and Erling Haaland’s real birth certificates – twins, born in Boise, Idaho, separated at birth.”
Philadelphia Inquirer, on President Trump exerting his influence to suspend the red card penalty against U.S. star Folarin Balogun, but the U.S. ultimately losing 4-1 to Belgium: “The USMNT lived down to Donald Trump’s expectations: They played like the losers he thought they were.”
Comedy guy Torben Rolfsen of Vancouver: “James Harden was arrested and charged in Houston for carrying a concealed weapon. Police found the gun when they frisked his beard.
Headline at theonion.com: “MLB Demands Return Of All Foul Balls”
Another headline at theonion.com: “PGA announces all caddies must be leashed.”
Super 70s Sports: “Even after decades of laboratory testing, scientists still have no idea what was in Topps' (baseball card package) gum.”
Another one from Torben Rolfsen, on the Sharks’ drafting of 7-foot-1 Alexander Karmano, the tallest player in NHL history: “The Sharks are now just mocking the rest of the league.”
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: “If you do the math and try to do that data, the Leafs have at least nine bottom-six forwards.”
Cathal Kelly again, astounded by the $18-million-per-season offer sheet given to Anaheim’s Leo Carlsson by Philadelphia: “That’s half-again as much as Connor McDavid makes, for a guy who would be backing him up on his best day.”
Another Cathal Kelly offering, on the poor offensive showing in the World Cup by a Canadian star: “If Jonathan David was a duck hunter, he’d be a hero to all ducks.”
Headline at theonion.com: “FIFA Admits It Has No Idea Why Soccer Players Walk Out On Field With Little Kids”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca