So we’re nearing the end of May and the Jays are showing little to be excited about going forward into the summer. Offence is down, pitching is down, wins are down, attendance is down and their best prospect is down in Double-A. Yes, that is right, you’re about to read another article about why the Jays are fucking idiots for not calling up Vlad Jr yet.

In case you’re unaware, Vlad Guerrero Jr aka Dominican Jesus (just made that up), is hitting .421 with 8 HR and 45 RBI in 39 games in Double-A. He has some other ridiculous stats that I won’t bore you with, and has been lighting pitchers up down in New Hampshire on the regular. So why is a player who could probably hit anywhere between the 2-spot and 6-spot on the Jays, still in the minors? Beats me, but I’ll examine some of the dumb fucking reasons I’ve seen on the internet from shit head Jays fans who know dick all (the same kind who were getting wet when we signed Morales).

“Why Rush Him?”

Who says they’re rushing him? Every prospect develops at their own pace. There is no proven formula on how to develop a player. Sure many people follow the same steps and path, but some prospects develop A LOT quicker. ARod debut at 18, Bryce Harper was 19, Mike Trout was 18….Vlad is 19. I could produce a list of players who debut at around 18/19 to show it isn’t rare and isn’t out of the question for Vlad. Rushing him would suggest he’s not ready….this mother fucker is ready.

“It’ll hurt his development”

No it fucking won’t. You know what will hurt his development? Playing an entire season against inferior competition that you just smack around and aren’t challenged by (which is what he’s doing right now). That’s what hurts development of a young budding star. Playing against challenging competition only helps development. Now if Vlad came up and was getting killed in the MLB and hitting worse than Morales (no chance), then he’s not ready, but I don’t think that’ll be the issue. I’d rather have him play against the best pitchers in the world, learn from his mistakes, be challenged and improve himself rather than toy with kids in Double-A as if he’s playing PS4, because that’ll really help his development.

“You’ll burn a year of control over him and have to pay him sooner”

This is a piss poor fucking excuse and sadly I think is the main reason why the Jays haven’t called him up yet. If it is, Rogers should sell the team, because they aren’t serous about winning, they just care about their bottom line. God for-Fucking-bid you pay your star players. I’m tired of the Jays stringing along players through controllable years or nickel and diming players in arbitration like they’ve done with Encarnacion, Donaldson, Osuna and Stroman. This ownership group has a track record of pulling this shit and is why I think it’s the real reason he isn’t up yet…just to save money in the future. Fuck it, if this ownership group has balls, they call him up and pay the kid what he deserves, when he deserves it like a real fucking ball team does. That’s why we’ll never be the Yankees or Red Sox because we operate with this frugal mentality to squeeze every penny out of contracts. Pay the fucking kid when it’s time, because I can guarantee by that point, he will have brought this joke of a franchise more value than it deserves.

“…But…his defence”

Fuck his defence!! Scouts haven’t been saying this kid has franchise, all-star and hall of fame potential since he was 16 because of his defence. His defence is and forever will be mediocre at best. Get over it, his bat will win the Jays games. Ground balls in Double-A are the exact fucking same in the MLB. 4 more months in Double-A won’t turn him into a gold glover, nor is his defence an excuse to stagnant his offensive development in Double-A. Put it this way, his glove hasn’t lost New Hampshire any games in Double-A, so this defence argument is irrelevant. He’s 19 and will start at 3B, by 23 he’ll be at 1B and by 27 he’ll be a full time DH. His defence will never be gold glove calibre, so get over it. Guys don’t have long lasting successful MLB careers with only good gloves (look at John Mcdonald or Darwin Barney), but guys can have hall of fame careers with great bats and no glove (Manny Ramirez). His defence means shit. His bat is worth more than his glove.

Final Thoughts

There is legitimately no good reason for him to be in Double-A still. If you say bring him up to Triple-A for a bit, then you know shit about baseball. Triple-A is for washed up guys, keeping active in case a guy gets injured, utility men and older prospects. Vlad is neither of those. Nor would the competition in Triple-A do anything for him. If the Jays were doing well, I’d say ok we don’t need him…but the Jays could use a fucking solid power hitter right now, both to help their batting order and help with getting fans in seats. The roster is toiling, the batting order is an embarrassment and the fans aren’t buying the bullshit. Call the kid up, let Gibbons figure out who to play and sit and see if the kid can do his thing. Who knows, adding a guy who would be a top 3 bat in your lineup might actually help win some games, what a fucking novel idea. Vlad can help this team win now and might even inspire a run. Why wait until the season is totally lost to call him up? So we can say, ‘man imagine if we called him up 2 months earlier when we were still in a race’?

I might even spend some money to watch the Jays overpriced/inferior product if they call him up, and so will others. The kid is doing everything to force his MLB debut, and the longer he stays in Double-A, the more Jays Management looks stupid in front of the entire MLB for keeping him down there.

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