Smoak mirrors Saunders
Coincidentally on Wednesday, almost one full year after Victoria-born outfielder Michael Saunders was named to represent the Blue Jays in the 2016 allstar game via online voting for the 34th and final man, the club announced it had re-signed him to a minor-league contract at Triple-A Buffalo for the remainder of 2017.
Saunders was released by the Phillies on June 23 after having signed a oneyear, $8-million free-agent deal, with a $1-million buyout in 2018. That was nowhere near the amount of the contract he had been expecting to sign as an AL all-star.
Consider that at the time Saunders reached the ’16 all-star break and represented the Jays in San Diego he was hitting .298 with 16 homers, 42 RBIs and a .923 on-base plus slugging mark. It seemed like a true feel-good story for the 29-year-old, who had missed most of the 2015 season after stepping on an exposed sprinkler head on a practice diamond in Dunedin in February, tearing the meniscus in his left knee.
However, Saunders numbers took a nosedive in the second half. Held to just 58 games as the Jays battled for a postseason berth, he hit .178 with eight homers, 15 RBIs and a .638 OPS. He entered a free-agent class deep in sluggers surrounded by more question marks than the Mysterians. Now he’s a Bison.
“They mentioned they were going to do it and I was like, ‘Yeah, send him down to Triple-A. See if he can get going,’ ” manager John Gibbons said, prior to Wednesday night’s game against the Orioles, about the former Mariner who spent two seasons in Toronto. “You never know. Mike’s one of the good guys and a real pro. I like it.”
For the Phillies, Saunders played 61 games, hitting just .205 with six home runs, 20 RBIs and a .617 OPS. He had yielded playing time in Philly to a trio of younger outfielders: Odubel Herrera, Aaron Altherr and Cameron Perkins.
At 30 years old, Saunders still has time to rebuild his career, but will it be with the Blue Jays beyond this year or — more likely — is he simply veteran insurance the rest of the way in case the Jays make moves at the trade deadline?
Looking at the organization, Saunders is one of a dozen outfielders on the major-league depth chart. The list includes Jose Bautista, Kevin Pillar, Steve Pearce, Ezequiel Carrera, Ian Parmley, the injured quartet of Chris Coghlan, Anthony Alford, Darrell Ceciliani and Dalton Pompey, plus minor-leaguers Dwight Smith Jr. and Harold Ramirez. That’s outfield quantity.
There is another odd coincidence in play. At the moment, another 30year-old Jay is on the verge of shocking the world and being voted onto the AL all-star team — this time as a starter.
First baseman Justin Smoak entered Wednesday’s game trailing Kansas City’s Eric Hosmer by just 71,654 online votes for the starting role in the July 11 game at Miami. With the voting period coming to an end Thursday at 11:59 p.m., Canadian fans have jumped on the Smoak express and there is a strong likelihood he will win the vote. It happened twice with Jose Bautista and once with Josh Donaldson, where they led all vote-getters. It happened with reliever Steve Delabar and with Saunders, earning the late nod as the last man in.
Canadians love their online voting, and when the Blue Jays organization decided Smoak should be the object of this year’s push, fans responded. Smoak does not seem at all surprised that he has surged into a favoured position.
“Honestly, I just think with the Canada vote, having seen Saunders go through it last year, you knew the support was going to be a lot,” Smoak said matter-of-factly. “I think it’s awesome. We play for the Blue Jays, but you play for this country, too. And it’s a big country. It’s something that’s pretty cool, epecially when you get the West Coast fans. Normally they don’t get a chance to come (to Toronto). . . . It’s an honour for me and hopefully it happens.”
Nobody wants it to happen, but — like Saunders — the Jays first baseman has been a late bloomer, leading to some doubt as to whether he can do it over a full season. The comparison can’t be avoided.
A former first-round draft pick of the Texas Rangers, 11th overall in 2008, Smoak has already surpassed his career high in home runs — smashing No. 21 on Wednesday night — and should easily beat most of his other offensive numbers.
Smoak and Hosmer have led the voting among AL first basemen, with Yonder Alonso (A’s), Miguel Cabrera (Tigers) and Carlos Santana (Indians) rounding out the top five. If Smoak doesn’t earn the starting nod, he will have another chance to follow in the footsteps of Delabar and Saunders in a one-week vote for the final spot.
Oh, and before that he will also have a chance to be voted in by the players. If not there, Cleveland manager Terry Francona and the AL have the final decision on eight players, and must make sure that every team has a representative in the end.
The only other reasonable Blue Jays choice might be closer Roberto Osuna. But it says here that Smoak’s the one as a starter. Then the Jays will hope that his second half stays as strong as his first.