What you missed in Blue Jays land: Gurriel takes the reigns

In the run up to the all-star break, the Toronto Blue Jays have had themselves a rather eventful week. Ryan Borucki had a fantastic second start, Jose Bautista made his Rogers Centre return, and J.A. Happ put on an abysmal audition for the New York Yankees.

At the end of the day, though, it was another 2-3 stretch for the Blue Jays, keeping them firmly in sell mode, cruising along amongst the American League’s also-rans.

Here are a few things you might have missed from the week:

Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s role continues to grow

When Gurriel returned to the Blue Jays, the team indicated that they wanted to give him a chance to show what he could do. That’s fair considering the team invested $22 million in him during the 2016 offseason.

It wasn’t entirely clear that he would be an everyday player, but that appears to be the case so far. This week the 24-year-old made 16 trips to plate, compared to just 9 for Devon Travis and he appears to be the primary second baseman right now.

Whether he can shoulder that burden and produce at this level is an open question. The young Cuban has played just 46 games above Single-A, all this season. Plate discipline is a serious worry as he’s walked just 8 times against 58 strikeouts in 288 plate appearance across three levels this year.

On the other hand, Travis is a tough player to see as a long-term solution given his injury history and struggles this year, so perhaps giving Gurriel some run is the right move. It certainly doesn’t affect the Blue Jays competitively as they aren’t going anywhere, and this is the time to throw a few things at the wall and see what sticks. That said, this exercise won’t last long if Gurriel can’t improve on his .227/.244/.375 line.

Rhiner Cruz completes a lengthy journey

In the middle of a year-long reliever carousel it would be easy to quickly forget Cruz despite his two appearances this week, especially seeing as he’s now on the way out.

However, the right-hander is worth noting because of his lengthy fight to reach the Blue Jays bullpen. The 2011 Rule 5 first overall pick last appeared in the majors with the Astros in 2013, pitching 21.1 largely-ineffective innings where he walked more hitters than he struck out.

Since then, he’s pitched for two Triple-A teams, two Mexican League teams, and done a stint in Japan. Last year he was stellar for the Atlanta Braves’ Triple-A affiliate and the Blue Jays wisely snapped him up. Cruz looked solid in two outings allowing one run in 2.1 innings and throws mid-90’s with a nasty slider. He could be useful as a middle-reliever who faces primarily right-handers going forward.

Russell Martin having an eventful time behind the plate

Although Martin consistently draws praise for his defence, his ability to control the running game has slipped in recent years. In his first season with the Blue Jays in 2015, he lead the league with a caught stealing rate of 44 percent. Since then, that number has slipped to 15 percent in 2016 and 20 percent last year.

Things have looked slightly better this year as Martin threw out his 13th runner on Wednesday, already surpassing his mark from last season. He’s caught 23 percent of base stealers, which is an upgrade over the last two campaigns, but still below average.

It’s obvious that opponents are targeting him now, though, because he’s conceded 44 steals already – only four less than he did all of last season. Only Jonathan Lucroy has been on the hook for more, and he’s been behind the plate for 130 more innings.

When Martin is dons the tools of ignorance, teams are making sure he stays busy. Although he’s been better this year, opponents are going to take a 77 percent success rate any day. Luke Maile and his 38 percent caught stealing rate is a far better deterrent right now.

Preston Guilmet experiment mercifully ends

On Sunday night the Guilmet era appeared to end in Toronto, which is probably a good thing.

It’s always important to remember that everyone who makes the majors is an exceptional baseball player, but Guilmet looked overmatched in his brief time in Toronto, posting an 11.70 ERA in eight outings. The 30-year-old has consistently posted strong Triple-A results, but he’s struggled mightily at the highest level.

In fact, since 2013 there have been 970 pitchers who’ve logged at least 30 MLB innings. Guilmet’s ERA of 9.27 ranks 969th behind just Mike Kickham of the San Francisco Giants. Are those numbers cherry-picked specifically to highlight Guilmet’s struggles? Absolutely. Are they also a pretty good indicator he’s not a guy you want in the your MLB bullpen? Absolutely.

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