Adam Lind hit .305/.370/.562 for the Blue Jays in 2009 and finished fifth in the AL with 35 homers and third with 114 RBI. Toronto rewarded him after that season with a four-year, $18 million contract that took him right to free agency.
So far, Lind hasn’t paid them back. The 29-year-old has hit .240/.290/.424 in 1,169 at-bats since the beginning of the 2010 season. He opened this year in the cleanup spot behind Jose Bautista, but he was dropped to eighth in Wednesday’s lineup. He’s currently hitting just .198/.283/.347 in 101 at-bats this season.
That puts the Jays in a tough spot. They’re still committed to Lind for about another $4 million this year, $5 million in 2013 and then a $2 million buyout of his 2014 option. However, he’s nothing more than a fringe platoon guy at the moment, and it’s hard to imagine that he has any trade value.
The Jays already had to be giving some thought to trying 2008 first-round pick David Cooper a look in his place. Cooper didn’t exactly thrive in his major league debut last season, hitting .211/.284/.394 in 71 at-bats, but he’s back tearing up Triple-A pitching again, albeit in a very favorable environment for offense in Las Vegas. He’s hitting .328/.398/.546 with just 13 strikeouts in 119 at-bats.
Now Toronto has another option: putting Guerrero at DH and making Edwin Encarnacion the new first baseman. It’s not an immediate solution -- Guerrero is going to have to go to the minors and show that he has something left in order to earn the opportunity -- but it is a pretty intriguing possibility. Personally, I like Guerrero to outperform Cooper and probably Lind as well, if he gets the chance.
