Major League baseball announced the initial voting for July’s All-Star game on Monday, with two Toronto Blue Jays leading the way at their positions - Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ernie Clement.
Though he has struggled mightily this season, Guerrero’s spot atop the first baseman voting comes as no surprise. The veritable superstar and five-time All-Star is the face of the franchise and one of the highest-paid players in the sport.
Clement’s spot atop the second baseman voting is a bit more unexpected, and the continuation of a story that has helped Clement become a fan favourite in Toronto and around the league.
ESPN’s Buster Olney joined First Up on TSN1050 on Tuesday to discuss Clement’s season so far, Guerrero’s ongoing struggles and how aggressive the Blue Jays might be at the trade deadline in August.
“Ernie’s earned it, he’s played great,” Olney said of Clement’s early All-Star attention. “And he was so important last October, but I don’t know anybody who’s going to enjoy it more than him. The All-Star festivities, being a part of that, hanging out with other superstars, really cool to see him in that position.”
The 30-year-old Clement is hitting .304 entering action on Tuesday, third-best in the American League. His 20 doubles leads the AL, and he is second in the league in hits (84). Clement’s ascension to this role with the Blue Jays is part of his charm, Olney said.
The Rochester, NY native was drafted by the Cleveland franchise in the fourth round in 2017, struggled in a brief debut with the Guardians in 2021 and was cut by both the Guardians and Oakland Athletics in 2022 before he landed with the Blue Jays.
“That background sort of feeds into the perception of him as an ‘everyman,’” Olney said. “Vladdy is a really likeable guy, but Vladdy’s been a superstar, it feels like, since we first saw him when he was a little kid, like he was destined for that.
“On the other hand, Ernie Clement has had to grind, he’s had to battle ... I remember talking to him and [ESPN’s] Tim Kurkjian about what his experience has been [in the World Series last year], just to see his eyes light up about playing in the most meaningful games at the most important time of the year and how much he was loving that. Then to see him play and get off this year and be such an important player, clearly the Blue Jays’ best position player so far this year, and helping to prop up their playoff chances - it’s really neat. It adds to the connectability that people have for him.”
Guerrero has sat out the past two games for the Blue Jays with a lower-back issue amidst a trying campaign at the plate. The 27-year-old has three home runs on the season - his last home run came on May 17 - and is slugging just .366.
Not only would that be the lowest slugging percentage of his career by almost 100 points, it ranks 58th of 73 qualified hitters in the AL.
“I think Vladdy, you continue to feel optimism that... he’s such a talented guy, at some point he’s going to figure it out,” Olney said. “I’m sure that when the news came in to [Blue Jays manager John] Schneider that Vladdy’s not going to be able to play, he probably said ‘Good, we’ll give him a chance to have a couple days off.’
“It is such a grind, and you get into that mental box, and it now gives him a chance to breathe a little bit, and rather than having to go to Vladdy and saying ‘hey, we need you to take a couple days off,’ we have this sort of forced absence by this lower-back injury that doesn’t seem serious, and I do think he’ll be back in the lineup tonight.”
The Blue Jays are entering a series against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park Tuesday sitting third in the AL East at 34-38, 10 games back of the New York Yankees. Trade chatter is starting to build around the league, and Olney is not expecting the Blue Jays to be too aggressive.
“I wrote a piece today about 12 executives under the most pressure as we get close to the trade deadline, and Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro is not one of those. General manager Ross Atkins is not one of those,” Olney said.
“Because they reached Game 7 of the World Series last year, there’s not pressure on them [like there was] a year ago when you’re trying to get into that position.”
The Blue Jays have lost four of their past six games as they try to find some consistency, but even with the losing record they still sit just two games behind the Athletics for the final wild-card slot in the AL.
“With the American League being so mediocre ... if you’re the Jays and you get into the postseason you’re going to feel like you’ve got an excellent chance to beat [the Yankees],” said Olney.
“So I do think that they’ll do something - what that is, it’s not totally clear, because we don’t know exactly who is going to be available. There are going to be buy opportunities for the Blue Jays, especially given their standing as one of baseball’s financial superpowers, so I do think they’ll do some things, but I think it will be a proportional response.
“In [former Blue Jays general manager] Alex Anthopoulos’ last year [with the Blue Jays in 2015], he was very aggressive in adding help to get the Blue Jays back in the playoffs and Shapiro, behind the scenes, was not a big fan of that approach,” Olney said. “I just can’t see Shapiro being the guy to say ‘We’re going to strip down our farm system to add Tarik Skubal for three months.’ It’s not really his style.”
