As Blue Jays seek more offence, bench must be part of the solution

TORONTO – Describing what’s already happened is the easy part: when the Toronto Blue Jays have turned to their bench for support this season, it hasn’t often worked.

The hard part: determining what’s next at a time that multiple Blue Jays regulars need breathers. With Kevin Kiermaier battling an illness and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. dealing with right knee discomfort, this would be an ideal time for Toronto’s reserves to step up.

With two walk-off hits in one week, at least Danny Jansen is delivering on behalf of Toronto’s part-time players. But elsewhere on the bench, there are more questions than answers, and it’s a reason the Blue Jays have dropped from second in the American League in runs scored a year ago to eighth, entering play Friday.

Alejandro Kirk and Santiago Espinal are hitting the ball into the ground far too often. Nathan Lukes barely plays, and remains hitless on the season. And then there’s Cavan Biggio, who’s in the midst of a career-worst stretch at the plate during which he’s striking out 37.9 per cent of the time and hasn’t drawn a walk in six weeks.

“It's tough because it's sporadic playing time,” manager John Schneider said of Biggio Thursday afternoon. “The biggest message to him is, when you're in there, don't lose what you're good at. The tendency is to probably try to do too much at times. But, everyone goes through those things. Cav's a valuable part of our team and he will be. So, it's just a matter of trusting who he is.”

Complicating matters for Biggio, pitchers are attacking him more than before, delivering first-pitch strikes 71.2 per cent of the time, up from 56 per cent in his 2019 debut season, when he posted a .364 on-base percentage. Put simply, if they’re determined not to walk him, he must make pitchers pay within the zone.

Despite the underwhelming results to date, it sounds like Biggio will get more chances to prove he’s capable of more. Realistically, it’s not as though Toronto’s other bench players are playing well enough to definitively claim that playing time for themselves. And Schneider managed the 28-year-old in the minors, so he’s seen him recover from struggles before.

“He's always been a pro,” Schneider said. “He grew up around the game and understands why things are the way they are. It's nice that it's easier to have those conversations. I've seen him great. I've seen him bad, just like a lot of these guys. So it's hopefully just a matter of time.”

Ultimately, the results on the field will determine playing time. If Biggio doesn’t produce, he’ll bat less often, regardless of his history in the organization. And even if he’s part of an eventual solution with his versatility and baserunning, there’s room for the Blue Jays to upgrade over Lukes, shifting Biggio into more pinch-running opportunities while pursuing an extra bat in trade.

Deals are rarely completed so early in the season, but the Blue Jays are mapping out targets, if nothing else. Speculatively, the left-handed hitting Joc Pederson of the Giants and the right-handed hitting Brent Rooker of the A’s look like intriguing possibilities to consider.

BALTIMORE: GETTING SCARY

You know what’s scary about the 28-16 Orioles? Not Adley Rutschman, the top prospect turned MVP candidate who's walking more than he strikes out with power from both sides of the plate. Not Yennier Cano, the reliever with a 0.00 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 21.2 innings, who was acquired in a seemingly minor trade with the Twins last summer.

Or at least it’s not only those players – it’s also what you see when you look a little deeper. Beyond the big leagues, the Orioles have an elite farm system that’s now starting to push even more talent toward the majors, including Saturday starter Grayson Rodriguez. Consider the starts for top prospects Jackson Holliday (1.206 OPS at high-A), Heston Kjerstad (1.008 OPS at double-A), Colton Cowser (1.023 OPS at triple-A) and Jordan Westburg (1.010 OPS at triple-A), and it’s clear more meaningful reinforcements are coming. Not only will they help Baltimore’s big-league team, they’ll open up trade possibilities, too.

There’s no comparable wave of talent in the Blue Jays’ system, and part of that’s to be expected. While the Blue Jays were making the playoffs in 2020 and winning 91 games in 2021, Baltimore tanked, securing high draft picks. And while the Blue Jays pushed to improve their big-league team with top free agents that cost draft picks, the Orioles declined to spend, accepting a worse MLB roster to preserve picks.

Now, high selections alone don’t guarantee anything – just ask Detroit or Kansas City – but it’s certainly helped Baltimore when combined with the front office’s ability to identify top talent. At this point, it’ll be a while before Baltimore picks so high in the draft again – and for the Blue Jays, this turnaround makes life in MLB’s deepest division a little tougher.

A THOUGHT EXERCISE

If the playoffs started today, the Blue Jays would qualify as a wild-card team, meaning they’d have to play a three-game series to advance to the ALDS. In that scenario, what would their rotation be?

Kevin Gausman would pretty clearly be the team’s first option and the way Chris Bassitt has pitched he’s obviously in there, too. After that, it’s probably Jose Berrios, who pitched into the seventh against the Yankees Thursday while lowering his season ERA to 4.61. That trio’s certainly good enough to win a playoff series, but ideally Alek Manoah would reinsert himself into that conversation well before the actual post-season begins.

NO LOVE LOST

An incomplete summary of this week’s Blue Jays vs. Yankees series: The Blue Jays tipped their signs in at least one instance, and the Yankees appeared to catch on, relaying pitch information to Aaron Judge, Jake Bauers and perhaps others. The Blue Jays called them out on it. The Yankees denied it, then – this part isn’t up for debate – broke the rules with too much sticky stuff on Domingo German’s hand. As it all unfolded, the coaching staffs shouted back and forth, arguing over where base coaches can stand, among other things. From what was captured on camera, Schneider appeared to call someone on the Yankees’ side “fat boy” while Aaron Boone offered the opinion that Jays pitching coach Pete Walker is “(expletive) crazy.”

Now, the teams go their separate ways for four months before meeting again twice more in the final weeks of the season. Maybe by then they’ll have cooled off.