6 difficult roster decisions the Toronto Blue Jays must address ASAP

2. Where should Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit in the lineup?

This is a question normally one wouldn’t have had any doubt in the past, as Guerrero has always been near the top of the lineup, either in the second slot, and most prominently in the third slot for the past three years to ensure maximal damage and run production. However, this year has been different for Guerrero, as he appears to be struggling with power at the plate despite his numbers, somewhat similar to the time when he first joined the big league team back in 2019. He is currently hitting only .275 with 31 runs scored, nine home runs and 42 RBI, with his lowest OPS since his rookie year with .767.

Recently, Guerrero has been moved to the cleanup spot by John Schneider in hopes of giving him a spark at the plate. Unfortunately, results have been underwhelming, as in nine such games, he has hit close to .200, with an OPS around .500, with no runs, no home runs, and just two runs batted in to show for it. He certainly hasn’t been flourishing in the spot, so not sure how much the Jays should experiment with him any longer in that important spot in the lineup.

If one could recall, despite his hitting prowess, even Bo Bichette was in somewhat of a slump during the 2022 season when he was eventually moved to the fifth and sixth slots in the lineup for a while. Afterwards gaining some momentum and traction in turning around his hitting, he moved back to his usual second or third spots higher in the batting order and has not looked back since. So as much as it may hurt his ego a bit, perhaps a similar type of move down the batting order can be done with Guerrero to jumpstart his offensive power again. Either that or have Bichette hit behind Guerrero to provide protection to increase the chances of Guerrero seeing good pitches to hit. Anything is worth a shot to finally get Vladdy going again which the Jays desperately need before it’s too late.