Whither Johnny Mac?

So the Jays have acquired left fielder Fred Lewis from the San Francisco Giants for a player to be named later or cash considerations. The 29 year old outfielder provides, by all accounts, plus defense, plus speed and solid numbers against right-handed pitching. That he would be an excellent lead-off platoon candidate with Jose Bautista has already been pointed out numerous times. The deal even has Giants fans jumping on the bandwagon of Tank Nation. The player fell out with his former organization, and Alex Anthopoulos provided both with the opportunity for a fresh start, all the while acquiring a talented player with much more use than the Menchersons of past seasons. No brainer.

It does however create an interesting roster question. For the next 7 days there isn't a problem; with Aaron Hill on the 15 day DL they have room on the 25 man roster for Lewis. However, on April 23rd Hill is eligible to be reactivated which will mean someone has to be re-assigned. Lewis has no remaining options and is a very likely candidate to be claimed so he will almost definitely stay. Considering the uncertainty in the rotation I highly doubt they will be shortening the bullpen anytime soon. So in terms of bench players with options, that leaves Randy Ruiz and Mike McCoy. Considering McCoy was essentially the 25th man out of camp and Ruiz's usefulness as a slugging pinch hitter, it'll probably be the speedy utility man packing his bags for Las Vegas. But should it?

.258/.271/.384

Not a particularly good line, right? In fact, for John McDonald that was a career high. In 151 at-bats last year, the rangey shortstop posted an OPS of .655, which was a personal best and also about a hundred points below league average. Defensively Johnny Mac was his usual self, as his -0.1 Ultimate Zone Rating was really more or less a product of his struggles at third, which is not by any means a strong position for him (career UZR of -2.1 at the hot corner). He is a useful middle infielder.

On the other hand, Mike McCoy posted a line of .307/.405/.400 in Triple-A Colorado last year. He stole successfully on 40 of 46 attempts. Defensive metrics in the minors are not particularly advanced so UZR is not an option, but he did post range factors at 2B/SS/3B of 5.33/4.80/2.21 compared to the Prime Minister of Defence's 4.75/3.35/2.00. McCoy showed excellent patience at the minor league level and can potentially provide some top of the lineup production to go with a solid glove.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not using range factor to argue that Mike McCoy is any way a better fielder than John McDonald. What his solid numbers in that category conceal is that he did make 12 errors last year, compared to Johnny Mac's 3 (those over 475 defensive opportunities for McCoy vs. 198 for Mac). McDonald has proven over his career that he is a well above average defender and will continue to prove very useful as a late inning defensive replacement. He just isn't suited for how the Jays have been using him.

21 of Mac's 73 appearances last year came as a late inning pinch runner. Not exactly one to strike fear into the hearts of catchers, Johnny didn't steal a base last year. He only stole three the year prior. 9 more of his appearances came at third, where he's proven himself well below average defensively in his career. 14 of his 20 starts at shortstop came after the season ending injury to Marco Scutaro in September of last year which, given the history of Alex Gonzalez, may very well happen again. But does Johnny Mac really have the skill set to be a useful utility man? I just don't see it.

Ultimately, I'm sure that it'll play out just like I'm predicting with the Real McCoy heading to Vegas to help what looks to be a terrific team this year. I don't think anyone in the front office wants to move another fan favorite, and on top of that it's hard to know what, if any, market there would be for John McDonald on a 2 year contract paying him 1.5MM per. I'm not even sure they should move him, considering we we've seen 18 plate appearances from McCoy and he just seems to be settling in now with presumably a week before he joins Las Vegas. But in terms of the value he could potentially bring, there is really little comparison between he and Johnny Mac, especially given his league minimum wages. And in a season like this, isn't potential exactly what the Blue Jays should be looking for?