Sam Blum

To his credit, Peter Lambert did a good job spotting around the edges of the zone against the Jays' top pitchers.

But in that, I think it was the eighth inning when Pearson, right before the Pearson era, like a very clear Vlad should challenge this, and he didn't challenge it.

And when I think of locked in Vlad, I know this is the first year we've had the challenge system and we haven't seen locked in Vlad, but those are the kind of things that you would expect to see him on top of.

His season line now, even adjusting for the declining league offensive environment,

is the worst of his career.

It's below his rookie year.

So this is beyond a cold stretch at this point.

The other guy in that top three, Zach, and I'm moving on because we've talked a lot about Vlad over the couple of weeks, and one day Kevin Barker or Joe Siddle or someone's going to lose their mind being asked about diagnosing that swing.

Jesus Sanchez was also in that top three, and there was a period there where

He was not quite floating the offense, but he was their hottest hitter for maybe two, three weeks there.

And maybe when he's hitting that well, you can live with some of the defense, live with some of the base running, live with some of the strike zone judgment.

That has turned around now that he is not particularly hot.

I know they don't have all the options in the world at the top of the lineup, but when you see what it looks like when...

Sanchez is playing more to his floor than to his ceiling.

What do you make of that?

And big picture, is that a guy who has an everyday top of the lineup spot for this team if other guys get healthy?

Yeah, the little profito swap.

Yeah, and it's, you know, as we look ahead, the Addison Barger mystery injury is hard to put a timeline on.

He's expected to begin a rehab assignment tomorrow, if all goes well.

And paying $7 million and Joey Loperfito for Jesus Sanchez, you don't want to do a sunk cost mistake here, but it's hard to imagine him losing his roster spot.