Blue Jays: Why this roster is well-suited for the “Arizona Plan”

If Major League Baseball goes ahead with some version of their “Arizona Plan” to get baseball back, the Blue Jays could have a small advantage because of their young roster.

Right now we really don’t know when baseball is going to be back, and it’s hard to say if we’ll have an answer to that question for a while. What we do know is that there are a lot of people trying to find creative ways to get the MLB season started as soon as possible, and there are some interesting solutions being banded about.

The most commonly discussed idea lately has been an “Arizona Plan” that would see players quarantined in Arizona with their teams and playing games without fans in the stands. There are a lot of complicating factors with it, and that’s one of many reasons why we haven’t heard a lot of concrete details beyond “discussions” at this point. However, one of the recent rumours is that players could be asked to take a reduced salary in order to make this work, but that’s a discussion for another day.

Regardless of how they work out the financials, it would be very interesting if MLB can get the player’s union to agree to this type of scenario. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure these guys want to get back on the diamond as soon as possible, but it’s not as simple as that here. In order to make this “Arizona Plan” work, they would likely have to sign up for some pretty extreme circumstances. It’s even possible that many players would have to agree to be separated from their families during the season, or at least until restrictions have been lifted across North America in regards to Covid-19.

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While thinking about that particularly difficult aspect of the proposal, it dawned on me that even if it’s not something worth celebrating, that could actually work in the Blue Jays’ favour a little bit. That’s because their roster is largely made up of young players, many of whom haven’t yet settled down in a marriage or started families yet. For players of that description, the idea of being away from “home” might not make that much of an impact, at least compared to those that are away from their wives and children.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. actually has two daughters, but there are several others without that responsibility in life just yet. Bo Bichette is all of 22 years old and is relatively unattached, as is the case for 25-year-old Cavan Biggio. No worries there for young catchers like Danny Jansen or Reese McGuire, and there are plenty of other youngsters poised to make the team if the season ever starts like Rowdy Tellez, or Trent Thornton. I’m not going to give you a run down of each player’s personal life, nor do I know or want to know all of those details, but I’m sure you get the idea.

That’s not to say there wouldn’t be players that would have to deal with being away from their families, and most of them would be members of the pitching staff. Hyun-Jin Ryu and his wife are expecting their first child in the fairly near future, and other veterans like Matt Shoemaker, Tanner Roark, and Chase Anderson are all husbands and fathers, as is the case for new first baseman Travis Shaw.

Any professional athlete is conditioned to be away from their family to a certain degree, but this “Arizona Plan” would be on the extreme end of that for sure. That said, the Blue Jays would definitely qualify as one of the younger teams in baseball right now, as the average age of their lineup fell from 29 to 25.9 from 2018-19, and it will be in roughly the same ballpark this year once things get underway. That means these young guys are probably a little more adaptable than some veteran clubs, especially for those that aren’t that fall removed from playing in the minor leagues.

Personally, I hope the league and the player’s union can work out an agreement that would allow players to have access to their families. Safety has to be the priority, but I can’t imagine asking them to do that for any significant length of time, even if it means they can collect their pay cheques. That said, if it does happen, it might be a small advantage for this young Blue Jays club.