Alex Anthopoulos is hoping he just stole himself a second baseman of the future, and possibly even the present, in Devon Travis from the Detroit Tigers. While the Toronto Blue Jays general manager made the right decision in parting ways with Anthony Gose in order to get his hands on the player who was rated as the Tigers top prospect, the guy who could benefit most from his departure is none other than Canada’s own Dalton Pompey.

With Gose no longer part of the equation and the likelihood of the Jays going out and acquiring a pair of outfielders or re-signing Melky Cabrera and bringing in another body to man centerfield being almost nil, the opportunity for Kevin Pillar and/or Pompey to earn regular duty in 2015 is now at hand.

By the sounds of what we had been hearing out of Toronto in recent weeks, it appears as though the plan all along was to give the kid from Mississauga every chance at winning the job heading into the spring. Considering he started 2014 with the Jays Class A Affiliate in Dunedin, absolutely no one in their right-mind would have even thrown the possibility of this even being option this soon into the youngster’s career.

While his boxscore numbers were quite good in Dunedin (.319, 6 HR, 34 RBI, .397 OBP in 70 games), they were arguably just as good in New Hampshire (.295, 3 HR, 12 RBI, .378 OBP in 31 games) and Buffalo (.358, 15 RBI, .393 OBP in 12 games) before he received the call to the show for a September audition.

The twenty-one year old was far from dominant during his brief appearance in the bigs but he did show flashes at the dish and at times, was downright brilliant in the outfield. There is no question the kid has all the necessary tools to be a solid major leaguer for years to come but one has to wonder if allowing him to at least start the year in the minors wouldn’t be the better route for the organization to go.  

With a grand total of roughly sixty plate appearances at the AAA level under his belt and it is hard to see how rushing him into the majors on a team that has more than a few holes on it makes any sense. The Blue Jays seemed to have soured a little on Pillar as a potential long term fit, with his refusal to make adjustments at the plate and take the occasional walk being at the top of their list of concerns, he would likely still be an upgrade on the disaster that was Colby Rasmus in 2014.

While he may not be the defensive wizard as the recently departed Gose, the former All-American centerfielder can hold his own with his glove and is frankly light years ahead of the former second round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies as a hitter. With that said, suggesting Pillar could be an everyday guy at this stage of his career would be a massive stretch.

Now if Anthopoulos were able to plug some of the aforementioned holes in his lineup, Toronto could possibly survive with some sort of platoon situation in center but if that were the case, Pompey simply cannot be part of that equation.  Unless he is going to be in John Gibbons' starting lineup day in and day out, it can’t even be a consideration. At this stage of his career, the kid needs at bats…regardless if where they are.

Should the Toronto Blue Jays decide Dalton Pompey is ready to take a shot at it, than fine but expectations have to be kept realistic and the team must ensure he well insulated in the batting order. If the organization can accomplish that and the kid earns his spot in Spring Training, than have at it but they had better have a solid backup plan in place.