Blue Jays: The biggest disappointments of the 2019 season (so far)

Even in a rebuilding year with lowered expectations, the 2019 season has been filled with disappointment for Blue Jays fans. What are some of the biggest let-downs?

We knew we were in for a season that had the potential to be very difficult for the Blue Jays and their fans. To be fair, we had a nice little run there for a few years, and that recent success doesn’t make it any easier to get used to watching a rebuilding squad.

All that said, I would argue that this season has gone far worse than anticipated so far, even with the lowered expectations that come with a rebuild. The team has battled injuries, especially to their starting rotation, and have been looking for a trio of outfielders to grab ahold of the job since Opening Day.

There have been some positives to be sure, but overall I would say that this season has been a disappointment so far. The good news is that there is plenty of time to change the narrative of the 2019 campaign, as we’re not even at the All-Star break yet, and hopefully salvage some more wins and a lot more player development out of this season.

In order to do that, the Blue Jays will hope for better luck in a wide range of categories on the field. In particular, they’ll hope for a different story from their biggest areas of disappointment so far, and realistically, it won’t be hard to at least improve on what’s happened in the first half.

Here are some of the biggest reasons for disappointment with Canada’s only baseball team thus far.

Aaron Sanchez’s health

Counting on Aaron Sanchez to make 30 or more starts this season would have been foolish, but we were allowed to believe that it was still possible.

To his credit, Sanchez has battled with more blister and fingernail issues on his pitching hand again this season, but at least it hasn’t landed him on the injured list just yet. He did have to be removed early from a couple of starts last month, but somehow the time off between his turns in the rotation was just enough to help him get ready.

The story isn’t much different than it’s been for a couple of years already. Sanchez has top of the rotation type of stuff, but he just can’t stay healthy long enough to put things together. He hasn’t been bad this season by any means, but it doesn’t take a refined scouting eye to see there is a lot more potential in that right arm if only his body would cooperate.

Now that we’re inside seven weeks before the July 31st trade deadline, there is going to be a lot of focus on Sanchez’s health and what the Blue Jays plan to do with him for the long term. I would be genuinely surprised if there was any discussion around a contract extension, as it’s far more likely the Blue Jays shop him on the trade market this summer. He won’t be a free agent until after the 2020 season, which adds to his value, but it’s that precarious health that will keep the Blue Jays from getting the type of haul they would have if he was still performing as he did back in 2016.

That said, it only takes one believer to overpay for his services, and if he can stay healthy and perform well before the calendar flips to August, maybe the Blue Jays can still get a solid return for the California native. For all of the frustration that the two sides have been together over the last couple of seasons, here’s hoping he can do just that.

Randal Grichuk’s disappointing first half

When the Blue Jays signed Randal Grichuk to a five year, 52 million dollar extension back in April, I thought that Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro had done very well to get ahead of his market, especially after a fantastic second half to the 2018 season when it looked like he had turned a corner in his career. So far in 2019, he hasn’t been the same player.

Yesterday I wrote about how I may have celebrated his extension too soon, but there’s a lot left to be decided before that question will be truly answered. Headed into last night’s game he was slashing .221/.280/.411 through 66 games. He’s added 12 home runs, 10 doubles and 26 RBI, but his strikeout ratio is 77-19.

After the Blue Jays traded Kevin Pillar to the San Francisco Giants, they’ve relied on Grichuk to help fill the void in centre field. He hasn’t been as sharp as a defender this year, currently sitting at a -0.5 dWAR rating, which would put him on pace for his worst season as a defender since entering the big leagues. To be fair, he has switched back and forth between centre and right field, but you’d still like to see those metrics improve in the second half even if he is moving back and forth.

Ideally, Grichuk would produce like the hitter that put up a slash line of .280/.326/.569 in the second half last season, using a patient approach at the plate and hitting the ball with power and authority. So far we haven’t witnessed that version of the 27-year-old this season, so hopefully he’s able to put together another post-All-Star break performance like the one he had last season.

The outfield

We knew that the strength of the Blue Jays this year and beyond was likely going to be in the infield, but they definitely need some improved production from the outfield.

Grichuk hasn’t been the only disappointment out there, as Teoscar Hernandez played so poorly that he was sent back to Triple-A Buffalo, and the same fate took place for Billy McKinney as well. Socrates Brito was so bad that the Blue Jays designated him for assignment and no one claimed him.

They’ve tried Alen Hanson (who was also DFA’d), Brandon Drury, Jonathan Davis, and even a few games from Anthony Alford. Thankfully Lourdes Gurriel Jr. looks to have settled into left field, at least for the time being, but they are still searching for a third piece to join him and Grichuk to make an adequate big league outfield.

It’s a real shame that Dalton Pompey sustained another concussion during spring training or I really believe he could have been a good fit up the middle around Grichuk and Gurriel Jr. As things stand right now, Hernandez is getting a shot in centre field, and with all due respect, I don’t think that’s going to be a long-term solution.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Blue Jays target a few outfield prospects as the trade deadline approaches this summer, as it’s a clear need, especially when compared to the infield pipeline. The fact that they’ve already moved Gurriel Jr. to left (also because of his defensive struggles at second) and that Cavan Biggio has appeared out there as well shows that Montoyo is looking for solutions. Unfortunately, there haven’t been enough of them yet.

The front office

If I’m going to spend time talking about which players and sections of the team that have let me/us down, then I had better address the front office as well.

I’m willing to give them a bigger break than that average fan (I think?) because of the early stage of the rebuild, but there have been decisions made this season that don’t make a lot of sense to me. Two of the players I mentioned above, Socrates Brito and Alen Hanson, represent a situation that baffled many Blue Jays fans, as each player got an extended look earlier in the season despite very clear struggles.

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It’s been the failure to address the starting rotation, who I’ll concede have been ravaged by injuries, but the organizational depth just hasn’t been there to help this team navigate the 2019 season. We’ve literally got a situation where the manager is saying “We don’t have anybody else”, and that’s not a good place to be. Blame injuries if you want, but the rest of the fault belongs to the front office with that issue.

If I’m going to criticize them in one more direct way, I’ll say that the idea of trading Marcus Stroman this summer confuses me, especially when there is such a clear need in rotation both now and in the future. That said, I can’t fault them for gauging interest and seeing what kind of return they can get, but at this point, Stroman can’t be feeling too valued by the General Manager and his staff and that’s not going to help if and when it comes time to start a real extension negotiation.

On a day after the Toronto Raptors have won the NBA championship, it’s very clear that the Blue Jays have a lot of work to do before they’ll be in a similar position. That comes with deciding to rebuild and take a patient approach, but the disappointments in the 2019 season have been plentiful so far, and hopefully they’ll make steps in the right direction over the remainder of the campaign.