Blue Jays fans received a good scare on last week, when one of the few remaining villains of the 2016 ALCS Bryan Shaw lost a fastball up-and-in on Vladimir Guerrero Jr in the eighth inning of a 3-0 Blue Jays win1.
I think Sportsnet’s social media wiz and enjoyer of good dogs Kailey Sibley speaks for us all, asking the question on all our minds:
It could’ve been much worse as the 95 mph caught Guerrero on the back of the left hand, where many small bones live and many a good season has gone to die.2 But a failure to plan is a plan to fail, so whoever had the foresight to equip Vlad Jr with one of those pads on the back of his bottom hand deserves a ton of credit.
Guerrero stayed in the game, appeared to be no worse for wear and played in all four weekend games against the Red Sox. Par for the course for Guerrero, one of the most durable players in baseball.
Since the start of 2020, only a handful of players have logged more games on the field than the Blue Jays’ first baseman. His first day off of the season was Sunday against Kansas City, at which time the Blue Jays’ slugger made such a nuisance of himself to all but ensure his name stays on the lineup card just to keep him out of everyone’s hair.
This HBP scare and something Shi Davidi said to me on the latest episode of Spin Rate had me thinking. Shi dropped Prince Fielder’s name when describing what some internal conversations about Vlad Jr might sound like, should the team consider tabling a long and lucrative contract extension. Fielder’s name is a cautionary tale but also one worth reconsidering.
Obviously, Fielder’s body type was atypical for a high performance athlete. But Fielder was not only good but incredibly durable, earning a cool $248 million dollars, hitting 319 home runs and amassing 28 Wins Above Replacement over more than 12 years in the league. Nobody in baseball played more games than Fielder between 2006 and 2013.
Now, this sort of buries the lede because of that princely sum of money, about $75 million was paid after Fielder’s career ended. He was the most durable player in baseball until he wasn’t, missing significant time in 2014 before bouncing back in 2015. He played half of the 2016 season before a neck injury ended his career.
There’s risk in everything, especially when millions of dollars are on the line. Did Fielder’s extra carriage prematurely end his career? Is a player like Vlad Jr, who required a new level of fitness to unlock the superstar within, a risk long term?
Those are not questions I am paid to answer. Those are questions for people entrusted with giant piles of telecom bucks, to be doled out in a way that acquires even more telecom bucks. If it was my money, I’d keep him in dusty blue pyjamas and winning dinner jackets forever.
But it is somebody’s money and somebody needs to be accountable for it. That said, a high achiever who has their sights set on something more than just a few good seasons in the big leagues seems like a pretty good place to invest.
3-0, you might remember, was the final score of game 5 of the ALCS that sent Cleveland to the World Series. Shaw picked up the win that night.
As a noted locked account enthusiast and dental professional noted: “Lyle Overbay's broken hand was the most traumatic thing, he was never the same.”