Return of Donaldson and Tulowitzki brings Blue Jays back into equilibrium
For the first time in weeks, John Gibbons wrote down a lineup that resembles the 2017 Toronto Blue Jays as they were intended to look.
As the Blue Jays open a three-game set with the now-rival Texas Rangers, the club’s manager is pleased with seeing the entire left side of his infield return to action – as well as the way his team played without them.
“They’re two huge parts of our team. We feel good, we survived their absence. We didn’t totally disappear,” Gibbons said of getting back Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki. “Now at least our lineup looks like it was supposed to look. We’ll see if we can do anything with it.”
Precisely eight days ago, this was a team that had Triple-A outfielder Darrell Ceciliani hitting in the cleanup spot. Now it’s a group that can afford to hit a five-time all-star like Tulowitzki in the seven hole, with arguably the team’s hottest batter – Devon Travis – hitting eighth. A lineup that had been woefully thin appears to have some seriously length, especially if guys like Kevin Pillar and Justin Smoak can keep their hot starts rolling.
Not only has the lineup been strengthened, so too has the bench as a number of role players have returned to the part-time duty they are ultimately better suited for. At times during the team’s injury crisis Gibbons had benches as small as two or three position players, with Donaldson and Tulowitzki back he finally has a full complement of four bench players: Darwin Barney, Ryan Goins, Chris Coghlan and Luke Maile. It’s certainly nice for the manager to have a few more moves to work with now that’s he’s no longer undermanned.
“[Having a short bench] can tie your hands a little bit. Now, this is how this team was designed,” he said of the increase in his substitution options. “The other guys go back to their role that they were originally going to be in and you put your regular everyday guys out there and hopefully we can get hot.”
Getting hot, however, is easier said than done. Assuming that the Donaldson-Tulowitzki boost will suddenly send this squad into the stratosphere is unfair. The Blue Jays had their dynamic infield duo when they fell into their early-season hole and their return is no guarantee of an amazing stretch to come – as Tulowitzki well knows.
“It’s not that easy, you get get back two guys and all the sudden you’re on a run? That’s not the case at all,” he said, holding court in the dugout during batting practice. “It’s baseball. [The unpredictability] is what makes it fun. That’s why we’re sitting here.”
Beyond the fundamental volatility of baseball, there’s also the issue of the Blue Jays pitching staff. Although the lineup has been re-energized, beyond Marco Estrada and Marcus Stroman, the club’s rotation is a fog of uncertain injury timelines. Even if the offence takes off, they may be unable to hold other teams in check in the homestand to come.
That, however, is a worry for another day. For now, the Blue Jays’ lineup looks dynamic on paper for the first time in weeks. That’s cause to celebrate for a team that’s been defined more by who they’re missing than who they’ve trotted out on the field so far.
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