FanHouse GustavoChacin

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Toronto Blue Jays.

There's no team in baseball in a worse spot than the Blue Jays. They've had to contend with the megapowers in New York and Boston for years, watching their competitive payroll and over-.500 seasons amount to nothing more than third-place finish after-third place finish. No matter how much they have spent and how much they have won, it has never been enough to catch the Red Sox or the Yankees.

Toronto's 2007 DL already reads like a copy of The Bonfire of the Vanities, so it's not surprising to hear that yet another Blue Jay may be going under the knife.

Earlier today, Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi noted on the team's official site that he'd like to see Gustavo Chacin have his ailing left shoulder surgically repaired before the season's end. Chacin's been sidelined with shoulder problems since April.

"We're trying to find out if we need to have exploratory surgery in his shoulder," said Ricciardi, who added that the only throwing Chacin might do over the next few weeks would simply consist of light rehab work. "He's probably going down that road."

It's the latest twist in what's been a tough season for Chacin. So in an effort to lift the spirits, we're presenting this fabulous bit of Gustavo Magic: A commercial for Chacin Cologne Night at the Rogers Centre. It smells like... awesome.

On the DL since April with a bum shoulder, Gustavo Chacin was unceremoniously plucked out of his AAA rehab stint by Jays management last week and optioned to the minors. The thinking here, Jays GM JP Ricciardi explained, was that being optioned would give Chacin ample opportunity to get a lot of starts under his belt without any pressure or deadlines.

Major League Baseball, however, smelled a rat, and voided the option.

The reason? MLB suspected that the Jays sent Chacin to the minors to try to squeeze another year out of his contract.

Chacin was victimized, whether on purpose or not. The 26-year-old entered '07 with two years and 14 days of major-league time. If he's on the DL under an injury-rehab assignment, he is gaining major-league time. The free-agency clock is ticking. If he's optioned in good health, no service time accrues.

If the Jays hadn't been asked to void the option on Sunday, they could have left him in the minors until Sept. 1 or beyond, some 35-plus days of time lost. He would then have finished the season with less than three years of major-league time, at around two years and 150 days. Good for the club, bad for the player.

Intentional or not, a manuever like this could tarnish the Jays' rep among players and potentially harm their future chances of landing prized free agents. Seems like a high price to pay for another year of Chacin's services.