DENVER – Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash knows very well what Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is capable of after watching the Toronto Blue Jays slugger rough up his pitchers for five home runs and a .913 OPS in 13 meetings so far this season.
Serving as manager of the American League all-star team offered him a different vantage point on Guerrero and the up-close look didn’t offer him much comfort.
“Everybody’s talking about how good he is and how good he is going to be,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash. “I’m not that thrilled that he’s going to be that good because he’s in our division. But, look, getting to meet him and all these guys, so much appreciation and respect. And Vladdy is just a fun talent that we are all going to get to see for many years.”
The Blue Jays resume play out of the break 6.5 games back of Cash’s wild-card leading Rays and 4.5 games behind the Oakland Athletics, who currently hold the second spot. They are eight games back of the American League East leading Boston Red Sox, but have a chance to upend the standings with 10 games against them in the next three weeks.
Guerrero maintaining his MVP-calibre pace is without doubt critical to that and his gaudy numbers against the Red Sox – .486/.561/.971 with four homers and 11 RBI in nine games – bode well for that series.
But the Blue Jays pick up the schedule at 45-42 in large part because they haven’t played tight enough in close games, carrying a 6-10 record in one-run contests, 7-12 in two-run affairs and 2-5 in extra innings. In contrast, they’re 14-9 in blowouts decided by at least five runs.
That’s why second baseman Marcus Semien immediately replied “close games,” when asked what area the Blue Jays most needed to improve over the season’s final 2½ months.
“A lot of our wins have been big blowouts and you get to the close games and we’re not doing as well in them,” he continued. “That takes better pitching, better defence and timely hitting. That’s what it always comes down to in the close games. We know that we can blow a team out some nights because we have the bats to do it with, it’s those other games that we’ve got to tighten up.”
Late-game leverage is a primary culprit, they have lost nine games when leading after six innings. Additionally, they’ve lost seven times when tied through seven, and six times when tied through eight, a key reason why the Blue Jays have underperformed an expected won-loss record of 50-37 based on their plus-72 run differential.
Even if they converted only half of those games, the standings would look completely different, with the recent additions of Adam Cimber and Trevor Richards to the bullpen designed to patch up a critical deficiency.
More additions are expected, too, with trade talks expected to pick up after going “ice cold” during the draft in the words of one executive.
“We showed what we’re capable of and that’s really important for us to know as a team,” said shortstop Bo Bichette. “In the second half, we’ve got to come out and do it. We’ve got some ground to make up, but we believe we can do it and it should be fun.”
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An all-star they could have had:
All off-season long there appeared to be an obvious match between the pitching-needy Blue Jays and 2020 trade deadline acquisition Taijuan Walker. Instead, he lingered on the open market until spring training when he signed a creative deal with the New York Mets that guarantees him $23 million over three seasons.
What happened with the Blue Jays?
“Honestly, I’m really not sure. I still ask myself why not?” said Walker. “I talked to a couple of guys there, some players, coaches and staff, and I thought it was going to happen. And it didn’t. It is what it is, I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be right now. I’m in a good spot and I’m on a really good team right now.”
No doubt, as Walker’s 2.50 ERA in 90 innings over 16 starts has helped the Mets build a 3.5-game lead atop the National League East. He’s struck out 89 batters against a WHIP of 1.033 while allowing only six homers.
Those numbers would certainly have looked good on a Blue Jays team Walker wanted to rejoin because of “the young guys.” He kept in touch with pitching coach Pete Walker throughout the winter – “he helped me with some things, so I really appreciate him for that,” he said – but it didn’t happen.
“I knew they were going to be a really good team, a lot of young studs,” said Walker. “I mean they have four all-stars here, probably should have had another one in Robbie Ray, he’s been pitching lights out. But just the way they play the game, they play the game hard. I was really intrigued by that and I had a good time there.”
An all-star that got away:
Locking down Ray was the Blue Jays’ first piece of business over the winter and if they had their way, a multi-year deal with Kevin Gausman would quickly have followed.
Instead, the right-hander ended up accepting the $18.9-million qualifying offer extended by the San Francisco Giants, betting on himself to deliver a big season and then return to the free-agent market unencumbered. Good move, as he’s delivered a 1.73 ERA in 114.2 innings across 18 starts, striking out 133 batters with a microscopic WHIP of 0.820.
“More than anything the decision came down to comfortability,” said Gausman. “It’s hard to want to sign somewhere for multiple years when you don’t know what to expect, even more so adding in all the COVID-19 (uncertainty). The fact that they’re in Buffalo didn’t have anything to do with my decision, but after the fact you think about those things and it’s like, ‘Maybe we made the right decision.’ I love Toronto, it’s one of my favorite cities, I’ve always loved playing there. It has a special place in my heart because I made my debut in Toronto and they made a very competitive offer to me.
“But the one for $18.9 million was just too much to pass up and I was going back to a place where I felt comfortable with all the people that I knew were going to be in place, from the pitching coach to the manager, to all the strength coaches, knowing that they were just going to let me do what I did the year before and had success doing. All of those things factored into it.”
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In performing so well, he’s positioned himself extremely well for an intriguing pitching market set to include Ray, Clayton Kershaw, Marcus Stroman, Dylan Bundy and Noah Syndergaard.
“I would be lying if I said there weren’t times in spring training where I was like, ‘Man, maybe I should have signed a multiyear.’ But it was more just betting on myself and, yeah, it feels good when it works out, for sure,” said Bundy. “Even early in my career when I was struggling, I always was confident in myself. And maybe it’s naive looking back. But whenever I wasn’t having success, it was almost like I just have bad luck or they’re just getting lucky, you know? Maybe that was me just being naive. But somehow it just allowed me to keep moving forward.”
Props for Vlad Part I:
“He is dominating the American League right now with a bat in his hand. He’s enjoying it. He should be.” – Cash.
Props for Vlad Part II:
“It’s remarkable. I remember seeing him in the home run contest a couple years ago, and for a young person to be on centre stage and play to the crowd and still perform like he did in that derby showed me something. Obviously watched his career and he’s become one of the stars of the game. So I don’t know if he was sitting slider (on his home run), but man, (Corbin) Burnes is a heck of a pitcher and he got every bit of that baseball. And also with Vlad, the next at-bat he had an RBI situation and hit a ground ball to drive in a run. Those are things I just love with ballplayers.” – Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
Memories of the Jays-Baltimore Orioles rivalry:
“The rivalry was just so good because the teams were just so good. It was power against power, and good pitching against good pitching. We have Aaron Sanchez on our team (in San Francisco) and I was talking to Sanchie about Toronto on a Friday night back then, when everybody in the division was really good. That was the place to be. That place was rocking, the whole city was just all in on the Toronto game that night and it made for a really fun environment. The wild-card game in ’16 is one of my best memories. – Gausman.
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