TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays’ lineup on Aug. 16, 2022 featured a major surprise — Bo Bichette dropped from fifth to seventh in the order, the lowest he’d ever started a game in the majors.
John Schneider, interim manager for about a month at that point, was looking to rouse his all-star shortstop, slumping at .260/.300/.427, and the switch was a sure way to accomplish that. In hindsight, Schneider calls the decision “reactionary,” a byproduct of “me being young in the job and kind of dumb,” but at the time he felt he needed to “like, kick a dog a little bit.”
After some initial expletives and a lot of discomfort, Bichette responded as Schneider had hoped, batting .361/.408/.565 with seven homers and 29 RBIs in the season’s final 47 games, a run that helped carry the Blue Jays to the post-season. Bichette didn’t start in the seventh spot again.
“Does that work for everyone? No,” said Schneider. “But it kind of worked for him.”
The anecdote was pertinent Wednesday afternoon, as Schneider conceded that he’s kicked around the idea of dropping the slumping Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the batting order, but isn’t certain about what such a move would accomplish. For better or worse, there was intent in the shift for Bichette, while with Guerrero, a change at this point is more blind grasp than purposeful plan.
“Bo is different than Vlad to where you can strategically try to piss him off to get him going. But I don’t think strategically pissing off Vlad is going to change much,” said Schneider.
“I don’t want to punish him, you know what I mean?” he added later. “If there were guys that were tearing the cover off the ball, it’s a little bit easier to think about, too. But we are built as a team for Vlad to be a focal point of our offence, and I don’t think where he hits, he will be pitched any differently. I don’t think there’s going to be more or less pressure if he’s hitting down in the order. But I want him up in important spots, you know what I mean? … I’m always going to have confidence in him.”
That confidence continued Wednesday evening, when Guerrero went 1-for-4 out of the two-hole in a 3-0, bullpen-game victory over the Kansas City Royals. Opener Spencer Miles began the game with two clean innings and Chad Dallas started his 2.2 frames by striking Salvador Perez to end the third and escape an inherited bases-loaded jam.
Nathan Lukes’ three-run homer in the fourth took care of the offence while Louis Varland, the last of seven relievers needed on the day, got the final four outs as the Blue Jays (65-69) ended a two-game skid.
Lukes made the final out of Monday’s 5-3 loss at second base trying to stretch a two-run single, taking the bat out of Guerrero’s hands in a crucial spot. While that led to some focus on the club’s baserunning, it also fed the ongoing external discourse about whether the struggling slugger would benefit from a move down in the order.
Schneider doesn’t know what material changes would follow as a result, which is why Guerrero was up in the two-hole against Randy Dobnak.
“He’s pretty fine with anywhere,” said Schneider. “But I think that he deserves to be somewhere in the middle of the order, looking at him in relation to elsewhere on the roster.”
Before the game, Lukes popped into Schneider’s office and apologized for Tuesday’s baserunning blunder. “I said, ‘Dude, most important game is tonight, so don’t worry about it,’” relayed the manager. “Pretty fitting that he had the big hit.”
Lukes’ ninth homer of the season came on a 1-0 changeup from Dobnak, the fourth time he’s gone deep over his last 16 games, during which he’s 14-for-52 with 12 RBIs and seven runs. Despite that recent hot stretch, getting thrown out to end Tuesday’s game lingered with him — “It sucked,” he said — which prompted his visit to Schneider’s office.
“I go in, give Schneids a big old hug and say sorry, and that’s that,” said Lukes. “That’s one thing that’s good with this team, we’re good about leaving things in the past. That’s what I needed to do.”
Hitting the homer “felt good,” he deadpanned. “There were a few guys that came up to me and said that I was going to come up big just to make up for what happened. I guess you can’t screw up baserunning if you just hit the ball over the fence. It’s great.”
The 16th bullpen day of the season for the Blue Jays nearly went awry in the third inning, when Tyler Tolbert opened the inning with a single off Miles, Carter Jensen worked a one-out walk off Brendon Little and Bobby Witt Jr. was walked intentionally after a Royals double steal.
But Little rallied to strike out Jac Caglianone and in came Dallas to face Perez, who struck out on a 2-2 cutter to end the threat. It was a big moment for the 26-year-old righty, pitching in his fourth big-league game during his fifth time up this season, who showed plenty of mettle in a leverage spot.
“When you get on the mound, it’s compete,” Dallas said of his mindset. “Obviously you know the guys are on there, you’re trying to get Perez out. But in my head I just tried to stay focused on the pitch that was called, the pitch we agree on, and just try to execute that pitch. I feel like if I execute my pitches, then I have a good chance. It was definitely a bigger situation with the bases loaded, but focus on execution and don’t focus on the things outside of that.”
Dallas added another 2.1 innings after that, didn’t allow a hit and struck out four in a performance as impressive as his big-league debut on June 4 in Atlanta, when he allowed one run in 3.2 innings in another bullpen day win, that one 7-2.
The strikeout of Perez changed the course of both the game and his outing, as “if there’s a hit or a walk, that kind of turns things around,” said Dallas. “Getting out of that gives the offence a boost of like, all right, still the same game, 0-0. To me that changes, not necessarily that they had the momentum, but puts it back on our side, at least in our heads.”
Dallas, a starter before he lost last year after Tommy John surgery, has pitched in bulk most of the season but has been shortened up as of late. The Blue Jays can only option him once more this season without having to pass him through waivers, so they need to manage him carefully, with Schneider saying he envisions his role being “kind of like tonight.”
“The sweeper and the curveball are really good with the four-seam that cuts, so I think finding spots for him and not throwing too many pitches,” said Schneider. “His stuff has kind of ticked up in this role and I like where he is right now, where he can go one, he can go three. He’s figuring out how to be a big-leaguer.”