Toronto Blue Jays moving Vladimir Guerrero Jr across diamond

In a surprising development, the Toronto Blue Jays have decided to move Vladimir Guerrero Jr to first base, effective immediately.

When the 2019 season began, the Toronto Blue Jays decided to keep Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the minors to start the season. Although the nominal reason was for him to work on his defense at third, it was understood that it was a matter of playing with his service time. Indeed, shortly after an extra season of team control was added, Guerrero was brought to the majors.

The excuse of his needing to work on his defense at third is even flimsier with the benefit of hindsight, especially since the Blue Jays announced that Guerrero will be moving across the diamond effective immediately.

With Guerrero moving across the diamond, the Blue Jays needed to find a place for Travis Shaw. That, as it turns out, is simple enough, as he will just swap positions with Guerrero, taking over his spot at third.

This move was inevitable. Although he easily had the arm to handle third base, his glove was questionable at best. His soft hands and excellent footwork was considered assets, especially for a move to first, but he simply lacked the range needed at the position.

This bore itself out with his defensive metrics. Guerrero cost the Blue Jays 16 runs at third, the worst showing of any third baseman with a minimum of 500 innings at the position. Likewise, he was last with a -0.7dWAR, which was all the more impressive given that he had just 96 appearances at third.

Moving Guerrero across the diamond, and with his spending more time as the Blue Jays designated hitter, could also help unlock his potential with the bat. His .272/.339/.433 batting line, with 26 doubles and 15 homers, was relatively solid, but more was expected. Perhaps, with this move across the diamond, his bat will come alive.

Sooner or later, the Toronto Blue Jays were going to move Vladimir Guerrero Jr. across the diamond. That move came sooner than expected.