Blue Jays: Dee Gordon both feasible and highly advantageous

Since there’s been a lot of chatter about the Blue Jays apparent interest in acquiring Dee Gordon from the Miami Marlins, it’s worthwhile taking a closer look at the talented second baseman and evaluating him for ourselves.

Let’s make no mistake – Dee Gordon is having a fantastic season, slashing .294/.339/.355 with 14 doubles and over 100 hits, just a few games past the halfway point (on pace for a 200-hit season) and of course let’s not forget, 32 stolen bases.

Look at those numbers: that’s just the kind of player the Jays were searching for in the off season; speed relative youth – the right side of 30, well he actually turned 30 on April 22nd, Jimmy Key’s birthday (that’s got to be a good omen!). He’s relatively young while being a proven vet, and controllable (his contract runs through 2020).

And people let’s put the PED talk behind us already. He’s clean, and he’s demonstrating every night his ability, without performance enhancements.

The instant insurgence of a classic bona fide leadoff man to the lineup, the kind of player who makes opposing batteries very nervous when he’s on base, is just the kind of player this team is screaming for.

No offence to Devon Travis. Heck, I was a Travis fanboy, just check out one of my earlier pieces where I thought he was going to have a breakout season this year. Instead, he just broke, again.

For those running the club, and we the fans, and of course Travis himself, it’s just plain demoralizing to be dreaming of the post season, and having a strong run towards that, but falling short due to injury and sub-par play.

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Travis would’ve been a key cog in such a playoff worthy team. Don’t get me wrong; let’s not hang it all on him – the injury bug hit the 2017 Jays hard. And that’s not making excuses – it’s a reality. There are other problems too obviously, but this piece is not meant to be a dissection of failure. That’s for another day, perhaps.

The main point though is that the club can’t keep banking on Travis as their everyday second baseman. The odds have proven long, and we can’t keep scrambling and throwing out utility guys à la Ryan Goins and Darwin Barney on the fly, in season, every season. Personally, I’m not big on platoons either – you have to give guys a chance at success with regular reps (just take a look at Justin Smoak, or even Steve Pearce now).

The reality is that if not now, then certainly in the off-season, the front office has its work cut out for itself – might as well get started on some of that work before November, and the accompanying feeding frenzy of all 30 clubs that is the winter meetings.

Gordon would be a great acquisition to help bridge the organization to 2020 when some of our prized farmhands will be ready for the show.

Let’s move out the utility platoons that severely weaken the team, and go get someone that can get the job done every day. The Marlins are ready to move him: time for Mr. Shapiro to pick up the phone and have a conversation with Mr. Loria of the Marlins. A fair deal can be made: we’ve got a glut of great catchers in the system, at least a couple of live arms, outfielders like Dwight Smith Jr., Anthony Alford, Dalton Pompey; all already with MLB experience. Plus potentially an everyday second baseman in Goins, with the right organization: a worthy reclamation project who has shown flashes of power and some slick defence.

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Trades take cahoonas. Time to shuffle the deck.

And during that phone call between Shapiro and Loria, Mark might just as well ask Jeff about Dan Straily, since you’re talking anyway. Not like the Jays aren’t subtracting from the rotation due to expiring contracts and poor performance (Liriano, Estrada), so it can’t hurt to ask about an established starter who racks up K’s every time he’s on the hill, yet not a “number 1” so Loria (or any club for that matter) can’t ask the world for him.

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