Crisis creates opportunity for Jays

Steve Phillips

TSN Baseball Insider

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It’s a different week but the same old story for the Toronto Blue Jays: more injuries.

Russell Martin (neck) and Francisco Liriano (shoulder inflammation) have joined Josh Donaldson, Troy Tulowitzki, J.A. Happ and Aaron Sanchez on the injured list. Kendrys Morales is dealing with a hamstring issue. The Jays are the walking wounded right now. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. It’s impossible to evaluate the quality and capabilities of the club because their roster has been decimated. No club’s depth has been tested more than the Blue Jays.

The good news is that Toronto has a roster of tough, hard-nosed competitors.  They are battling to compete despite being undermanned. The backups have been thrust into everyday roles. 

Where there is a crisis there is an opportunity. Guys are stepping up and make statements about their ability. The front office is finding out something about players that they might not have been able to if everyone was healthy. 

Ezequiel Carrera proved last year that he can sit and play once a week or play every day for a month. This year, he’s showing more of the same. He isn’t an impact offensive player but he can impact each game in some way with his bat, base running or defence. 

Darwin Barney has shown that he could still be a starting second baseman on the right team. It would have to be a strong and deep offensive club because he doesn’t have impact power or speed, but he can put together a quality at-bat. He’s an outstanding defender at second base and plays an adequate shortstop and third base.

After a couple of tough seasons, Joe Smith has reclaimed his career in the bullpen. He’s regained his domination of right-handed hitters and an adequate approach versus lefties. He’s a championship-calibre setup man. 

Joe Biagini has built upon his successes from last season. He’s shown tremendous versatility by pitching in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings and then moving into the starting rotation. He has shown improvement in neutralizing left-handed hitters. Biagini has proven that he can pitch in any role and at any time of the game.

Dominic Leone and Ryan Tepera have shown the ability to handle more important innings. With the struggles of Jason Grilli and the transition of Biagini to the rotation, more has been asked of these two young relievers and they’ve been up to the challenge. 

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Harvey’s star fading in New York

The New York Mets are another team that has faced tremendous adversity this season. They’ve lost Lucas Duda, Yoenis Cespedes, Travis d’Arnaud, Steven Matz, Noah Syndergaard and Jeurys Familia to injuries.

Plus they lost Matt Harvey to himself. 

I was at the Mets - Marlins game last Saturday night but Harvey wasn’t. He was at his luxury condo, recovering from a night of partying and a morning of golf with his buddies. After that, he claimed that he had the worst headache he’s ever had and wasn’t able to show up for work. His lack of communication with the club worried them enough to send two security staff to his home to make sure he was okay. 

Harvey’s behaviour reeked of entitlement and self-centredness. He showed a complete lack of regard for his teammates and the Mets organization. The club suspended their right-hander for three games for his bad decisions.

Upon his return to the team, Harvey sincerely apologized to his teammates, coaching staff, front office, ownership and fans. At this point, his words mean very little. This isn’t Harvey’s first offence. He missed a workout before the 2015 playoffs, claiming bad traffic held him up. He suggested that he wouldn’t pitch in the postseason that same year because he had reached his innings limit. He later did take the ball and pitch. He balked at rehabbing his injuries in Florida, preferring to stay in New York so he could enjoy the night life.

Harvey wants to be seen sitting courtside at Knicks games. He’s a big Rangers fan and wants to hang with their players. He loves the night clubs and partying. He wants to date supermodels. All of these things are the perks of being a star in New York.  What he has forgotten, or never understood, is that to be eligible for the perks you have to do the work to continue being a star. 

Certainly, no dedicated player stays out all night, plays golf and doesn’t show up to work the day before he is scheduled to pitch. What did he think the result of his behaviour would be?  The consequences seem pretty clear.

Harvey isn’t the pitcher he once was. He has had injuries which may have diminished his ability to a degree, but his commitment has to be a big reason for his decline. The Mets did what they had to do by suspending him. Manager Terry Collins said it best: he hopes Harvey starts to make baseball his number one priority. 

The club held him accountable. It makes me wonder if that accountability hasn’t always been there. Typically, when a player is performing well, teams are hesitant to confront small violations of the rules. Managers and GMs don’t want affect the mental state of their star or risk diminishing his performance. This sends the wrong message to the player and his teammates, but it happens all the time. Unfortunately for Harvey and the Mets, this can be the consequence of those decisions. 

Harvey won’t be a Met next year. I don’t believe he’ll ever return to the all-star form that earned him the moniker of ‘The Dark Knight.’ My hope is that he will at least reclaim his life and career.

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In support of a tiebreaker

Last Sunday night, the Cubs and Yankees played an extra-innings classic. The game went 18 innings and featured more than 500 pitches and 48 strikeouts by 15 pitchers. The game, over six hours in duration, seemed like it would never end. 

I have a confession to make:  When I was the Mets’ general manager I would pray that extra-inning games would never go longer than 11 innings. I wanted them to end, even if my team was on the losing side.

Sure, extra innings means free baseball for the fans. There is something cool about saying you sat through the entire game, but the negatives far outweigh the positives.  An 18-inning game burns out the bullpen and can impact a pitching staff for a week. It crushes the legs of the players, especially the catchers, and makes players vulnerable to injuries. If it’s a travel day, it means that the team probably gets into the next city after 5 a.m. It is not conducive to a quality product. 

I am in favour of the WBC-style tiebreaker. After 11 innings, the team at bat should start with runners on first and second base. This would add to the element of excitement. It would also protect from the war of attrition that an 18-inning game becomes.

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Spitting Seeds

- The New York Yankees are retiring Derek Jeter’s No. 2 on Sunday. It’s not a surprise, as the former Yankee captain has the most hits ever as a Yankee and was an important part of five World Series championships. I wonder if Alex Rodriguez thinks his No. 13 will be retired. No chance.

- Tampa Bay Rays centre fielder Kevin Kiermaier committed three errors in four games against the Kansas City Royals this week. He has now committed four errors this season, twice as many as he had all of last season. Kiermaier is a two-time Gold Glove winner, and in 2015 he won the Platinum Glove Award as the best defender in all of baseball. Hopefully, this means that Kevin Pillar will finally get the recognition he deserves for his defence in centre field for the Jays.

- There has been no adjustment period needed by Boston Red Sox starter Chris Sale. He is 3-2 with a 1.92 ERA and MLB-best 73 strikeouts. It took a year for closer Craig Kimbrel to settle in Boston, but there’s no doubt he is back as one of the elite closers in the game. He entered Thursday’s game against the Brewers in the eighth inning with one out. He got the final two outs that inning with strikeouts and the came back in the ninth with an immaculate inning, striking out the side on nine pitches. The Sox have one of the best at the beginning of the game and one of the best at the end. Unfortunately for Boston, those two guys can’t throw every day. 

- Last year we saw big-time relievers traded at the deadline. Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, and Mark Melancon all changed teams. This season, there are good teams that will need help in the ninth inning to make or go deeper in the playoffs. The Washington Nationals, Detroit Tigers, Baltimore Orioles and New York Mets could fit the description. Despite a great start to the season, the Nats still haven’t found an answer for the last out of the game. They must be happy that Mark Melancon turned down their offers in the off-season as he has landed on the disabled list with forearm issues for the Giants. The Tigers have demoted Francisco Rodriguez and promoted Justin Wilson to the closer role. Jeurys Familia of the Mets has been diagnosed with a blood clot in his shoulder and Baltimore’s Zach Britton will be out two months or more with a forearm injury. Unfortunately for all of these teams, there won’t be any big-time closers available this year. Kelvin Herrera (Kansas City) looks to be the best out there and he has been stung by the home run ball a bit early in the season. 

- The Jays aren’t the only team that had big expectations this year only to see things completely disintegrate. The San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals all find themselves at the bottom of their divisions and may be sellers instead of buyers in July. To a lesser degree, the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins had visions of being competitive but instead are pushovers so far. This means the deadline could see names like Matt Moore, Johnny Cueto, Hunter Pence, Yu Darvish, Andrew McCutchen, Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas, Matt Kemp, Nick Markakis, R.A. Dickey, Julio Teheran, Martin Prado, Marcell Ozuna and Dee Gordon changing uniforms.

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