Axe falls hard as Jays prepare for return of Reyes
Kawasaki back to Buffalo with regular shortstop activated
ST. PeTeRSBuRG, FLA. • As the Toronto Blue Jays awaited a superstar’s return, the romance and ruthlessness of the baseball business mingled in their clubhouse.
The plane carrying Jose Reyes landed at Tampa International Airport in the late afternoon. Meanwhile, among some of his teammates, anxiety mounted over whose place Reyes would take on the roster when he rejoins the club for Wednesday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Would it be Munenori Kawasaki, the shortstop who has become a darling of fans and teammates alike? Or one of the late arrivals to the relief corps, which owned a collective ERA of 1.79 entering Tuesday’s action?
The announcement was due after Tuesday night’s game. Naturally, manager John Gibbons was short on clues. He did say hard-throwing reliever Neil Wagner had “nothing to worry about.” He also said he liked having four left-handers in the bullpen, which seemed to leave Juan Perez in the clear.
Reliever Dustin McGowan has no minor-league options left, and a contract that runs through next season.
Gibbons said management had made a decision, but would wait until after the game to reveal it, in case something unforeseen happened.
“Sometimes the baseball gods interfere to save people,” Gibbons said. “I don’t know why it happens, but it happens a lot.”
The choice, in the end, was Kawasaki, which will be a letdown for him, his teammates and his legion of fans. The quirky, fun-loving infielder will return to Buffalo, where he played in only two games before his promotion to serve as Reyes’s primary proxy.
Pitcher Esmil Rogers is one of Kawasaki’s closest friends on the team. Rogers was cut by the Colorado Rockies a year ago, so he knows how harsh the business can be. He also knows that the value of Reyes is inestimable.
“This is baseball,” Rogers said before the game. “You see who’s coming here. Somebody has to go back. I don’t make that decision, but if it’s going to be Kawasaki, we’ll be a little sad, but we have to play baseball.
“We need Reyes right now. I think he can’t wait to come here to play because he texts every Dominican guy, every Latin guy. He say, ‘I want to be there to be happy like you guys winning all those games in a row.’ He can’t wait to come here to win the games. He’s the kind of player, he plays baseball for winning.”
Which nicely sums up the situation. The Blue Jays, whose Monday loss snapped an 11-game winning streak, have ostensibly climbed into a pennant race and the return of Reyes is propitious.
“This team [was] built around bringing him here,” Gibbons said before the game. “He was a huge addition, and he was playing pretty darn good when he got injured.”
Reyes was batting .395 with a .465 on-base percentage when he suffered a severe ankle sprain in Toronto’s 10th game of the season. A speedy switch-hitter, he also enlivens the dugout and clubhouse with his omnipresent smile and flamboyant personality.
“It’s different when we have him in the lineup, the way he plays, the way he runs, the way he steals bases,” said fellow Dominican Edwin Encarnacion. “He’s going to help us out to continue the way we’ve been playing.”
Encarnacion has known Reyes since 2001, when both were playing in Class-A. Asked whether he has ever known a player that combines as much talent with as much infectious energy, Encarnacion replied: “He’s the only one I know.”
Management will soon face more tough roster decisions. Third baseman Brett Lawrie, out since May 28 with an ankle injury, is scheduled to start a rehab assignment with ClassA Dunedin Wednesday night and could be back within two weeks. Reliever Sergio Santos, who is recovering from minor elbow surgery, threw a bullpen session Tuesday at Tropicana Field and expects to start a rehab assignment next Monday. If all goes well, he could be back around the allstar break.
In two seasons since the Jays acquired him from the White Sox to be their closer, Santos has appeared in only 11 games owing to shoulder and elbow surgeries. He says his elbow is fine now and he is eager to make up for lost time.
“I want to come in here and show guys, ‘ Hey, this is what I bring to the table,’ ” he said. “I want them to have confidence in what I do, and not being able to show that so far in a year and a half is pretty frustrating.”