Snider doesn't seem discouraged by the demotion.  His reaction on Twitter is mature and upbeat:

It seems like management is using the minor leagues in a different way than in the past.  All the youngsters that have struggled are being shuttled, similar to some of the other sports.  Maybe they think it aids in their development?  Guess we'll see how it works.  The only positive is that no one has complained too loudly yet.

Seems like people are still eager to blame Snider's problems on everyone except himself.  Just like last year, people assume that nothing is his fault and that he is simply being treated shabbily and unfairly for unknown reasons (as if the Jays are so foolish that they would be recklessly oblivious to the development of one of their best young prospects).

The reality is that he's not a reliable veteran who is going through a bit of a slump.  He's a young prospect, still just 23, who has never proven himself in the majors for an entire season (unless you include his September hot streak in 2010).  Like almost any other young prospect, he needs normal development in the minors, and it might be time to try it.

.....Snider mashing at Vegas proves nothing....

Right.  I agree. So, when he was mashing in the minors at age 21, maybe that didn't actually prove that he could mash in the majors.  Lots of players hit very well in the minor leagues.  It doesn't prove that all of them are ready for the majors.

This time, the Jays will presumably want to see more than just "mashing" at Vegas.  They'll want to see proof that Snider can handle the kinds of pitching that seems to beat him in the majors.  The goal, this time, should not be merely to pile up impressive numbers in the minors.  The goal should be to establish clearly to his coaches that he can adjust to the kinds of pitching that beat him in the majors.

Snider doesn't seem discouraged by the demotion.  His reaction on Twitter is mature and upbeat

Of course your response to this would be - what did you want him to say? "I ****ing hate the Blue Jays, that piece of **** bush league organization decided to send me down".

I don't think this i meant as punishment. I think it is meant as motivation.

If this DOESN'T motivate him, that tells you all you need to know about his future prospects.

C'mon, Magpie.  Campusano was given a total of 158 plate appearances for the Jays.  Snider has been given a total of 774 plate appearances so far, from 2008 to 2011.  Isn't that a long enough leash?

By the way, Campusano managed an OPS of .641 for the Jays at the age of 22.   Snider, in his age 23 season, has posted an OPS of .540.    If he could drag himself up to Campusano heights, he would probably still be in the majors this week.

But Campusano was never brought back to the majors, year after year after year, and handed a full-time job on the Jays each year.   Snider has always been granted that privilege.

 It's bloody April, people!

Magpie's mad as hell, and he's not going to take it anymore.

Here's my thing. Last year at this time, when Snider had proven basically nothing, when I was wondering how long the leash should be, I was asking how much longer the team should let him struggle. And everyone told me "as long as it takes, ya moron." And yet now that he's actually shown he can work his way out of these things, now that he's actually had some success... now the leash is shorter?

This is fair comment.  To my eye, however, the swing didn't look horrible last year, it just looked like he was fighting timing and pitch selection.  This year, his swing is inside out.  It needs to be corrected, and, right or wrong, the Jays feel it is easier to correct in the Minors.

.....he's capable of doing it....

Yes, of course he is capable of doing it, just like Brett Cecil is capable of winning 15 games in the majors, and Juan Rivera is capable of posting a .887 OPS in the majors.  They've all done it.  Doesn't mean that you keep them on the roster indefinitely, hoping it will happen again.

Anthopolous, in his conference call today, gave a pretty cogent explanation for the Snider move.  He says Snider needs to make some mechanical changes to his swing -- he's pulling off the ball, he's out front of pitches, he's hooking too much.  He says they could have "stayed the course" and Snider would have "underachieved."  They don't want him to be a 7-8-9 hitter, they want him "back on track" so that he's a middle-of-the-lineup hitter, and they feel it is easier for him to make those adjustments in the minors.  The implication is that Snider's current mechanical issues with his swing are worse than what the Jays saw in his swing in April 2010.   If that's the case, it certainly seems reasonable to me that he should go to the minors, make the adjustments and come back to the majors as soon as possible.

It's interesting that they sent Snider to the PCL to figure his swing out. He might as well be playing 75% of his games on the moon. The unrealistically favorable physics will help him rebuild his confidence, I guess, but it'll be a shock when he gets back to the majors. I wonder whether on balance Vegas makes him more or less likely to return to form, as opposed to if he'd been sent to Syracuse, or New Hampshire. I have no clue, and no clue how you'd measure it either...

Okay, so I'm hearing more detail on the AA conference call, and he is explicitly saying that Snider is having mechanial issues with his swing that he did NOT have with his swing in April 2010.  In other words, the Jays felt that Snider had no problems with his swing in April 2010, which is why they decided to stick with him (and were rewarded with an improvement in his hitting), but this year they are seeing problems that did not exist before.

Magpie, doesn't this directly address your point?  If the Jays are correct in their assessment of Snider's swing, isn't it reasonable for them to decide that he should solve those issues at Las Vegas instead of in the majors?  

Alternatively, you might be saying that you have a better assessment of Snider's swing than the Jays do.  But as far as I can tell, you're not making that argument.

An option isn't used until a player is in the minors (other than on injury rehab) for more than 20 days.  So if Snider's up on or before May 18, no option will have been used.

People are simply not paying attention to what AA is saying - Snider success in AAA will not be judged only by stats. but how the team evalutes his swing and his approach - so he may rake in AAA but if the adjustments are not there, he is likely to stay in AAA longer. I also am impressed with his comments about Lawrie & Thames  and their lack of plate discipline even though they are raking because of natural ability & environment.

I also want to give Kudos to the FO - since taking over they had sidlined Cooper, never mentioning  him in discussions of the jays future, bringing in Wallace, moving Lind to 1st - yet, when Cooper started to turn his fortunes around starting midway last season & continuing this spring, they have taken notice & rewarded him.

Magpie, often you are the one reminding the rest of us that the team knows more than we do about the players. They know how Snider is reacting to the coaches/coaching, the clubhouse, and after years in the organization they likely know his swing. If the higher ups feel that Snider would benefit from time in the minors right now, what makes you think they are wrong.

I agree that the interchangable parts on this team (the various utility guys and end of rotation/BP arms) have been more, well, interchanged, than usual, but I don't see that the team has a general problem with screwing around with prospects. If they option Arencibia down later on as well, I'd start worrying more about it. But for now, I'm giving the benefit of the doubt and not worrying about what happened with guys 20-25 years ago. 

I'm still waiting for an explanation as to why a team in a rebulding year that doesn't care about wins and losses can't have Snider work on his mechanical issues with the best coaches the organization has (and presumably they are in the majors). If the Yankees can stick with Brett Gardner in their everyday lineup, the Blue Jays can do the same with Snider, who even if he was in a funk was still playing good defense, running the bases well, and was on a 6 game hitting streak.

And why do the same people who consistently twist and contort what the FO says to fit their narrative all of a sudden believe every word they say as entirely factual?!

I guess it's not a lie if Alex knows the truth.

If they option Arencibia down later on as well, I'd start worrying more about

Why? Why not just assume, like with Snider, that when the team sends down Arencibia it's doing it because they know how JPA is reacting to the coaches/coaching, the clubhouse, etc? It's pretty easy to be a sports fan in a world where your front office can never do any wrong.

Arencibia, for what it's worth, has been pretty bad since Opening Day, but has that one good game keeping his stats afloat. I don't think he's looked any better at the plate than Snider has, and it's probably mostly a function of luck where their respective BAs are.

Mylegacy,

                I believe Josh Sale was in the 2010 draft (Deck McGuire) & Cooper in 2008 - I also was not a fan of the Cooper draft & still am not, but I give him credit for reaching the show and hope he does well - will be happy to be wrong - the no defence & lack of power are still my issues

Not saying of course that it would be the right thing to do and I would prefer to see Snider in Toronto. It just seemed like too much of a coincidence not to be mentioned.

“We also have to be responsible and try to win as many games as we can,” Anthopoulos said.

This quote is precisely my problem with the move. If you want to try and sell me on the fact that he can fix his swing better in the minors than the majors, at least that's defendable. But to come out and say that you are trying to win as many games as possible while insisting you see what you have in JoJo Reyes is a contradiction.

I don't believe a word that comes out of Alex Anthopolous or Paul Beeston's mouth.

I don't believe a word that comes out of Alex Anthopolous or Paul Beeston's mouth.

I usually disregard everything a manager or GM says on record these days. It's all fluff. Unless we're talking about Ozzie Guillen.

I wonder if we'll see Lind in LF with Cooper at 1B.

Griff's thoughts from the Wednesday mailbag, when asked about the struggling Snider :

As for the Jays' Travis Snider, the kid needs to find himself at the major-league level. Nowhere else. He has been farmed out every year since that devastating demotion at Fenway Park in 2009, a punishment that he took so very poorly. What else can he prove in Vegas? He's been a great Triple-A player. They call it Triple-A-Plus. He now needs to prove it in the majors. Sending him down would merely be clearing him off the Jays deck and washing your hands of a problem and would have nothing but a negative impact on his career. The Jays need to stay with Snider until that time when he stops staying with himself. As long as the effort is there. This is not a championship year for the Jays but they do need to find out if Snider will be a part of a championship run in 2012 and beyond or if they need to look to Thames or others for next year. Snider is the kind of player on the brink where if he finds what he's looking for from a mental standpoint can become an impact player. He's not going to discover anything back in Vegas. The Jays aren't going to discover anything with him at Triple-A.     

Probably makes sense then that he'd follow that up with this article : http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/mlb/bluejays/article/983072--griffin-snider-demotion-belies-jays-commitment-to-future

The Jays beat the Yankees and we're discussing the NDP? 

Another great start by Romero.  The Jays have four-fifths of a great rotation at the moment.  I think they can take a few more weeks to sort out the fifth starter.

If they give up on Reyes, and if Cecil is not ready, I wonder if Brad Mills might be worth a shot. He had another superb start for Las Vegas last night -- six innings with no runs, 9 strikeouts, only 2 walks.  This year he has had one bad start and four excellent starts.  That's a pretty good ratio.  The opposition is hitting just .216 against him.  If this is a rebuilding year, let's find out what we've got in Brad Mills.  He seems to be significantly improved over his 2009 and 2010 performances.

Encarnacion had another bad error at 3B.  A potential triple play and he blew it.  (Wilner says he deserved two errors on the same play.)  That's now 6 errors in 7 games at 3B for Encarnacion.  It will be interesting to see if the Jays give 3B back to Nix when he returns from injury -- although Nix has been pretty bad at 3B too.

The Jays beat the Yankees and we're discussing the NDP? 

Hey, when you get to the end zone, act like you've been there before...

Drabek vs. Burnett today. This could get serious.

Kyle, meet your downside.

Hopefully he pitches against Doc in June.

how would that potential triple play have worked last night

I'm not sure it could have been a tripleplay. That would have involved the batter running very very slowly to first base. But a doubleplay was there for the taking. Just think of the dropped line drive as a ground ball.

Encarnacion throws the ball to second base. McDonald tags Gardner, who was technically due to vacate second base en route to third base. McDonald then steps on second, forcing out Rodriguez en route from first base. If there's time, McDonald then throws to first base to get the batter.

Now, I believe that if McDonald were to step on second base before tagging Gardner (who was literally back at second base), then I don't think he can get Gardner out by tagging him, since Gardner is now technically allowed to be at second base (the force having been lifted). Perhaps those with umpiring in their background can correct me if I'm wrong here.

Encarnacion, no marksman at the best of times, panicked after having dropped the ball, not realizing all the time he had to right the ship. Worst case scenario, he could have stepped on third and gotten the force. But his brain was elsewhere, Tralfamadore perhaps.