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John Schneider Blue Jays
Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider criticized his team’s offense as they dropped a second straight game to the New York Yankees.
The Blue Jays lost 5-4 to the rival Yankees on Tuesday night in The Bronx. While the team had 9 hits, all of them were singles. Not one double, triple, or home run, despite having a lineup of high-priced sluggers such as first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., designated hitter George Springer, third baseman Kazuma Okamoto, and others. For the Blue Jays’ manager, Schneider, this lack of slug is simply unacceptable, and a reason why this team can’t string wins together.
Speaking to reporters following the Blue Jays’ latest loss, Schneider criticized his hitters for not being able to get any extra-base hits.
“If it’s not going to be continuous hits or productive at-bats adding on, there needs to be some slug. There needs to be extra-base hits or home runs with guys on … It seems like we’re stuck in the middle there,” Schneider said (via Keegan Matheson).
John Schneider on the offence:
“If it’s not going to be continuous hits or productive at-bats adding on, there needs to be some slug. There needs to be extra-base hits or home runs with guys on … It seems like we’re stuck in the middle there.” #BlueJays
The Blue Jays have already dropped the first two games of this series against the Yankees, their longtime division rival in the American League East, so they will have to win the final two games of the series if they want to split it 2-2. Right now, the Blue Jays are 21-27 and 11.5 games out of the division lead. While it’s still only May, it will be difficult for the Jays to make up that many games and catch the Yankees for the division lead, although a Wild Card spot is still in play.
The Blue Jays made a big move last week when they moved Guerrero up from his customary No. 3 spot in the batting order to the No. 2 position. Guerrero typically prefers to bat third, but he said after being moved up a spot that he was open to even batting leadoff, as long as it would help the team pick up wins.
Moving Guerrero up a spot is certainly a change the team needed to make as they try to get their offense to break out of its slump, but it’s not enough, and more changes need to be made.
The next change could be moving Springer down in the lineup. Although he had an amazing year last season for the Blue Jays, winning the Silver Slugger as the AL’s top DH, he has been quite bad so far this year, and the team can’t afford to keep trotting him out at leadoff if he can’t hit consistently. Everyone loves Springer, but he hasn’t earned the right to keep hitting leadoff this season, and it’s probably time the team moves him down in the lineup.
If that happens, then young outfielder Yohendrik Pinango could take over the leadoff hitter, at least for now. Since being called up from the minors, Pinango has been one of the team’s top hitters, and after getting a cup of coffee at leadoff over the weekend, the team could consider giving him more starts in that spot of the order to shake up its lineup.
Adam Martin Adam Martin is a sports journalist with over 15 years of experience. He has a speciality in MMA, while also covering the Big 4 Sports. Adam is currently a contributor to Heavy.com, with previous experience working for The Toronto Star, Sportsnet, theScore, Bookies, BJPenn.com, and MMAOddsbreaker.com. More about Adam Martin
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