Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is out for a second straight game, and John Schneider is trying to calm a Blue Jays panic he can already hear building.
That reaction makes sense. When Guerrero misses back-to-back starts after taking a pitch off the inside of his right elbow, fans are going to wonder whether this is bigger than the club first let on.
The fear got louder because the moment looked bad. Guerrero said his arm went numb after the hit-by-pitch and he lost feeling in his middle and pinky fingers before leaving the field.
That is not the kind of description that lets anyone relax right away. Even with negative X-rays, numbness around the elbow is the sort of thing that makes fans expect a longer wait than «day-to-day.»
Schneider, though, has kept pushing the same tone. He has described Guerrero as day-to-day, and Monday's reporting said the manager did not want to push him while the soreness was still there.
That is where the tension sits now. The Blue Jays are talking like a club being cautious, while fans are reading a second straight absence and hearing something heavier.
Why Blue Jays fans still feel uneasy
Part of it is simple trust in what they saw. Guerrero almost never leaves games early, so when he walked off right after the pitch, it carried more weight than a routine bruise scare.
Part of it is the calendar. A player can be called day-to-day and still miss a few games, but once the second lineup card goes up without his name, the questions change fast. That is an inference from the lineup pattern and Schneider's comments.
Schneider's side is still easy to understand. If the elbow is sore enough to affect how Guerrero swings or extends, there is no sense forcing him into the box just to prove the injury is minor. That is an inference based on the reported soreness and day-to-day status.
The good news is still the most important part of the story. MLB.com reported the X-rays were negative, which means the Blue Jays avoided the fracture fear that hit the second he got clipped.
That does not mean fans are wrong to be nervous. It just means Toronto is starting from a much better place than it looked like in real time when Guerrero lost feeling in his hand.
The lineup effect is obvious, too. Without Guerrero, the Blue Jays are asking other bats to carry more of the middle-order load while they wait for the soreness to settle. That is an inference from his absence and his usual lineup role.
So the panic and the calm can both be true at once. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. missing 2 straight games is enough to make Blue Jays fans uneasy, even while John Schneider keeps saying the club is not treating this like a major injury.
Are Blue Jays fans right to worry more after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. missed a second straight game?
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