WHO’S ON THIRD?
A one-day lineup change with Jose Bautista at third and Josh Donaldson at short should become permanent.
The Blue Jays departed Wrigley Field on Sunday with their tails between their legs after being swept out of town in a dramatically absurd 6-5 walk-off loss.
Despite getting outclassed by the Cubs, the Jays had at least two good things going for them this weekend: the great show of support by their travelling fans; and a John Gibbons move that may have flown under the radar. The lineup the manager sent out Sunday featured Jose Bautista moving from right field to third base and Josh Donaldson sliding to his left to play shortstop. This lineup should happen more often.
While it may have seemed that the Jays’ imaginative Sunday lineup was simply the result of needing to lengthen the batting order due to a National League ballpark, Gibbons slyly suggested he might do it again . . . and why not?
The bottom five in the Jays’ batting order on Saturday were centrefielder Kevin Pillar, shortstop Darwin Barney, catcher Raffy Lopez, second baseman Rob Refsnyder and pitcher Nick Tepesch. Not exactly anyone’s idea of Murderer’s Row against the World Series champs. The Cubs’ starter lefty Jose Quintana handled the lineup easily.
And in the bottom of the sixth in a tie game, Chicago shortstop Javy Baez bounced a grounder up the middle with a runner on second base. Barney raced across as the ball tipped off his glove for the go-ahead run. With two outs, that ball has to be kept on the infield. It wasn’t.
At one point, post-Troy Tulowitzki, the second base and shortstop became a mix of Barney, Ryan Goins and Refsnyder for the Jays. The inconsistent Refsnyder should not play any more major-league infield, while Goins and Barney make a better platoon combo at second base than a regular double-play duo. The Jays have to accept that, meaning someone else has play shortstop. That someone is Donaldson.
On Sunday, according to STATS Inc., Donaldson became the first player who began his career as a catcher to start a major-league game at shortstop since Ronnie Brand of the Expos in 1971.
Donaldson was a catcher at Auburn University and began a serious conversion to third base with Oakland in the winter of 2011-12 while playing for Escogido of the Dominican Winter League. The Bringer of Rain has now played four majorleague games at shortstop, including Sunday’s start, but has looked comfortable. He’s still on the left side of the infield and it should not be that much of an adjustment. With takeout slides on double plays no longer allowed, and with the unpredictable positioning in all defensive shifts, shortstop’s just another name for nothing left to lose.
There is a proud history of bigleague players who started their pro careers behind the plate or were drafted as catchers and subsequently became all-star position players. In addition to Donaldson, the list includes Joe Torre, Dale Murphy, Craig Biggio, Kenley Jansen, Joey Votto, Justin Morneau, Jayson Werth, Bryce Harper, Paul Konerko and Pablo Sandoval.
As for Bautista, he has already played more than 3,000 majorleague innings at third base, his primary position especially with the Pirates up until 2008, a year in which he played 99 games at the hot corner. After he joined the Jays in a trade late that season, he shifted and became primarily an outfielder.
But Bautista’s effectiveness as an outfielder has been diluted with age. What better way is there for the 36-year-old to enhance his value on the free-agent market (if the Jays fail to pick up their side of the mutual option for 2018) than to demonstrate for six weeks that he is more than a one-position player, plus DH.
The change of positions for Donaldson and Bautista should be for the remainder of the season, with Tulowitzki injured and done for the year and with no left-side infielders knocking on the door in the minors. It would spruce up the outfield defence, and the domino effect would allow Bautista to be dropped to an RBI spot in the batting order.
With Pillar a fixture in centre field, Gibbons could choose from a mix in left and right of Steve Pearce, Ezequiel Carrera and Nori Aoki, with one of the latter two outfielders taking over the daily leadoff role, batting ahead of Donaldson, Bautista, Justin Smoak and Kendrys Morales. It would give the lineup more length.
There’s another benefit. With Donaldson and Bautista on the left side of the infield, once the Jays accept the reality that they are not going to be a 2017 wild-card team, the team could bring outfielder Anthony Alford up and give him a five- to six-week trial.
The hallmark of the Jays when they went to the playoffs the last two seasons was their mix of starting pitching, a stout defence and the relentlessness of the batting lineup. Right now, they are not benefitting from any of those.