So 16 Games in, the Blue Jays are 10-6, Tied for first in the AL East.  Eric Thames won the Left Field job in spring, although it was not really a battle, since Thames was the incumbent, and the job was all but his to lose. His start has been shaky, both at the plate and in the field, and you hear snippets here and there about the guy he ‘beat out’ for that Left Field job…you know the guy that we’re not really allowed to talk about, Travis Snider, he of the .414/.481/.729/1.210 slash line playing for “your” Las Vegas 51′s.

If you were allowed to talk about him you’d be met with “its the PCL”  “Its Vegas”  “He’s repeating the level”  “its early” “Hes always hit well in AAA”…

If you were allowed to talk realistically about Thames you’d be met with “He ‘won’ the job, give him a longer look” “Its early” “His D is improved”  “Hes Working Hard”   “He has a great attitude”   “He played well last year”   “He’s only made a few bad plays on D”  “Its early”  “Small Sample Size” …

To me, the deciding factor is the fact they pull him out of LF in the 7th when they’re up.  Unless you’re putting up Bautista like numbers, you shouldn’t be on the team as a non-DH if you have such defensive liabilities and managerial mistrust.  As such, I’d rather see Snider up here, and not limit what we can do in the late innings with Rajai, who is often wasted as a defensive replacement.  Snider definitely has the better upside, and its no less than a tossup as to whether he’d be hitting as well as Thames.

If we were allowed to start talking about him, i’d say Snider should never have had the job taken away from him last year (Thames and him had very similar numbers at the time of Snider’s demotion), played well enough to win the job this year, and should be the starting Left Fielder for the Blue Jays right now.

But…We’re not allowed to talk about him. So…Go Thames.