Micky, no. the sleeve is to fill the gap on a compact/subcompact version of the pistol. If you remove the sleeve, it will still lock in and function but, will just have the sleeveless portion of the magazine exposed. It is just a full size pistol magazine that will function in most models still. In short, the sleeve pretties it up for the short handled smaller pistols.

According to springfield it will not fit the full size gun so if you remove the sleeve it would still only fit the subcompact and wold have a gap at the bottom of the grip from springfield Fits:
Springfield Armory XD 9mm Luger Sub-Compact model only
Mod 2 Grip Zone