With Addison Barger off the IL, Blue Jays make a puzzling "tough decision"

Addison Barger is back. The Toronto Blue Jays announced that the 26-year-old will be activated for their game this afternoon (May 9) against the LA Angels. Barger has been out since Apr. 5 after suffering an injury to both his ankles while running down to first in a game against the Chicago White Sox.

But in order to get him back in the lineup, the Blue Jays needed to make a corresponding move and that move was announced on Saturday afternoon that left a few people scratching their heads. Yohendrick Piñango was sent back down to Triple-A Buffalo, even though the 24-year-old outfielder has arguably been the Blue Jays' best hitter since he was called up.

Sportsnet reporter Arden Zwelling spoke to Blue Jays' manager John Schneider who said, "Tough decision, obviously, with his performance. We’re just looking at the runway for him and the runway for others, and it didn’t really match up. I could see him being part of us again at some point. He definitely showed well.”

That part makes sense. Both Piñango and Barger play in the same spots on the field and both hit from the same side at the plate. The Blue Jays already have an abundance of left-handed hitting outfielders when you factor in Daulton Varsho and Jesús Sánchez. But Schneider did say at the beginning of the year that playing time on this team would be given to those who earned it, and Piñango has more than earned it.

He's slashing .423/.444/.462 with a .906 OPS. While Piñango didn't show much power as he wasn't able to hit a home run, he kept his strike out rate down to 11.1% and produced a 160 wRC+. The Blue Jays certainly have a few other players that were candidates to be sent down that aren't producing nearly as well as Piñango, which again, makes the move a little bit confusing since this is a team starving for offense.

Blue Jays hoping their latest roster transaction doesn't back fire with Piñango sent down

Other candidates that could have been moved are Myles Straw, Lenyn Sosa, and Davis Schenider. Straw has been hitting the ball harder than he ever has before and he's actually been very productive when he's been called upon, so we can remove him from the list right away.

Sosa gives the team some infield positional flexibility. He's played at first and second with the Blue Jays, but can also play shortstop and third base when needed. While his stat line has taken a dip as he's slashing .238/.235/.350, he does put the ball in play, with a .290 BABIP. Even though he doesn't walk, at all, with zero walks in 82 plate apperances (through Friday May 8) he keeps putting the bat on the ball. The Blue Jays obviously love that trait, otherwise they wouldn't have traded for him in a deal with the White Sox a few weeks ago. He has no options and so cutting Sosa from the big league roster would potentially mean losing him for good.

That brings us to Schneider, whose numbers are worse than Sosa's at .127/.314/.236, although he does know how to talk a walk, and that's probably been his saving grace. Schneider has a great eye for the zone, with a 21.4% walk rate which is the highest on the team. But he also is striking out 32.9% of the time which also leads the team, and his .194 BABIP is the lowest on the team.

Scheider also has some minor league options that the Blue Jays can still utilize and that's the part that makes this move the most perplexing. It's not as if they were going to send him down and he'd need to clear waivers first. But, as the manager said, this allows the Blue Jays to have another right handed hitter on the bench who can play in the outfield as well as sub-in on the infield.

It seems as if Schneiders hitting handedness is the one thing that has saved him for now. But it might not be enough to get him through when Nathan Lukes returns. Another left-handed hitting outfielder, Lukes was on fire before a left hamstring strain sidelined him on Apr. 25. Recent reports indicate that Lukes started running on Friday and has resumed light hitting in the batting cages as well and could be returning relatively soon.

With the Blue Jays having scored just 27 runs in the seven games played in May (3.85 per game) the hope is that Barger comes in and not only replicates Piñango's contributions, but adds some pop as well.

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