Toronto Blue Jays: Patience still needed with Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

If any Toronto Blue Jays fans are expecting to see Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the lineup on opening day, they’re going to be disappointed.

MLB announced the spring training workout dates for all 30 team on Wednesday. For the Toronto Blue Jays specifically, pitchers and catchers will report on Feb. 14, followed by the rest of the team on Feb. 18.

For the majority of Blue Jays fans, this gives them another couple of dates to circle on the calendar. The countdown towards the start of the regular season on Mar. 28 continues in earnest.

With the team now in full rebuild mode, they are not expected to be serious contenders for the postseason. (No different from the two previous years then.) Regardless, there is still plenty to be excited by, including an intriguing crop of young, highly talented prospects.

However, if any fans are looking forward to seeing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. make his Major League debut on opening day, they’re going to be extremely disappointed. It’s not going to happen, despite him being ranked as the number one prospect in all of baseball.

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Fair or not, president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins are not particularly popular in Toronto. However, before fans think they’ve lost their minds, there is actually a pretty good reason for Guerrero Jr. not to be in the opening day lineup.

As per Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com, it all comes down to service time. By delaying the 19-year-old’s Major League debut a few weeks, the team will gain an extra year of control.

According to the rules, 172 days on a Major League roster in any given season counts as a full year of service. With the 2019 season lasting 187 days, the Blue Jays only need to hold Guerrero Jr. back for just over two weeks, in order to gain that extra year of control.

Having said all this, the Blue Jays cannot admit this publicly as it will be proof of manipulating the rules. Instead, as noted by Chisholm, the team will claim there are certain areas of Guerrero Jr.’s game which still need to be worked on, before he can make his Major League debut.

Everyone knows this is not really the case. However, if it benefits the Blue Jays, who are we to complain?

In truth, fans have already had to be patient, especially given the way Guerrero Jr. was tearing it up in Double and Triple-A last year. As such, what difference does a few more weeks make at this point?

Besides, as already noted, it’s not as if the team will be contending this season. It doesn’t really matter if Guerrero Jr. misses the start of the regular season; he’ll still have plenty of time to show what he can do and provide some much-needed excitement for the fan base as the prospective face of the franchise.

What are you expecting from Guerrero Jr. in 2019? Do you expect him to be successful with the Toronto Blue Jays during the coming season? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.