Toronto Blue Jays: What does Travis’ early activation mean?
Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Troy Tulowitzki tweaked his right quadricep stealing second base in a game versus the Yankees yesterday. He’s out of the lineup tonight and is listed as day-to-day for the time being.
It was merely hours ago that manager John Gibbons was telling the media the organization’s plans about bringing Devon Travis along slowly from his rehab assignment:
"“… he’s had just a couple of games in Triple-A, the big leagues is still different. You want to make sure he has seen enough breaking balls, hopefully sees some of the best pitchers down there. If you jump the gun too soon, you don’t want him to get off to a struggle either.”"
Gibbons is right. Travis hasn’t seen Major League pitching since July 28, 2015. He’s registered only 22 at-bats in Triple-A this year since working his way back from shoulder surgery. So contradictory to Gibbons’ previous tune, the club has now decided to activate their second baseman from the disabled list.
This means a couple of things. Russell Martin saw playing time at second base on Tuesday after Tulowitzki exited. An unusual substitution, it’s apparent Tulo might miss more time than he’d like to. That means Ryan Goins will be needed at shortstop and Gibbons can cycle between Travis and Darwin Barney at second base in his lineups.
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Another point to this promotion is that the Blue Jays are reeling. Sitting in last place in a once again competitive AL East, the 22-25 Jays are looking for a momentum swing. Currently, the only player hitting over .246 in Toronto’s lineup is left fielder Michael Saunders.
If Travis gets caught up quickly the way the club would like to see things go, he is an ideal candidate to hit leadoff and return some familiarity to the lineup that won the Blue Jays 93 games in 2015 with MVP Josh Donaldson hitting second and Jose Bautista behind him.
The timing for Tulowitzki to hurt his quad is terrible. Though his defense at shortstop has been solid all season, the slugger started April with a dreadful .169 batting average. In May, he’s been hitting .250 and .317 over his last 11 games. So Jays faithful are crossing their fingers he isn’t out of the lineup for too long so he can continue 2016’s ascension.
Travis is in the Toronto Blue Jays’ lineup tonight versus New York. He is slated to hit eighth and start at second base, with Goins hitting behind him and filling in for Tulo at short. Travis has to be excited about his debut, but as Gibbons said, there is still a looming concern he might struggle early on because of being away from the game for so long.
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Opening pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm EST at Yankee Stadium, with Marco Estrada taking the hill for Toronto and Ivan Nova as the opposing arm in the Bronx.