Former Toronto Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin was critical of the way the Toronto Blue Jays handled super prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and wanted the world to know his opinion on the subject.
It was no secret that the Toronto Blue Jays were keeping baseballs #1 prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the minor leagues in order to gain a 7th year of control on the star prospect.
The Jays organization got lucky when Guerrero Jr. went down with an oblique injury in spring training and would not be able to start opening day with the team ‘due to injury’. This made the team not look bad when they couldn’t call him up due to Guerrero needing more time to be major league ready.
While many fans and baseball insiders believe Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was major league ready, he wouldn’t make his MLB debut until April 26, and this had former Blue Jay and current Los Angeles Dodger Russell Martin weighing in on the matter.
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Martin would go on to explain to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times that, “They try to make smart decisions. Whether they want to admit it or not, it is a business move, right? Whether we criticize it or not, they have a purpose to what they do.”
He would follow these comments up with, “If somebody is good enough to play, they should play,” and “The business side gets in the way of that sometimes.”.
It is safe to say that Russell Martin is not a fan of how the Blue Jays, or how some of the other teams in the MLB, have handled super prospects like Guerrero Jr. or Kris Bryant when it comes to service time.
Now it was pretty obvious what the Toronto Blue Jays were doing. They wanted the extra year of control over their prospect and the team was following the Collective Bargaining Agreement as set out by the MLBPA and the MLB. Score one point for the major league teams.
Was it a scuzzy move to keep one of baseball’s best prospect in the minor leagues until the end of April? Sure.
Was Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ready to be an MLB player when he returned from his injury? His AAA stats this season would say he was.
As a team, what the Blue Jays did is considered a ‘business decision’ by many fans and players of the game (especially to Russell Martin).
The teams found a loophole in the CBA and because the players signed onto the agreement, and they are going to continue to use this loophole to keep control of their top prospects for as long as they can.
I don’t blame them personally. While I too wanted to see Vladimir Guerrero Jr. make his debut on opening day, the Blue Jays were thinking long term in regards to their top prospect, Whether Martin likes it or not, this will not be fixed until the next CBA when this one expires in 2021.
It is safe to say when the next Collective Bargaining Agreement is being ironed out, the players will probably want to look into how service time is going to be determined to prevent situations like this from happening in the future.
Until then, Russell Martin will probably not be a happy camper when April/May rolls around over the next few years.