Few players raised their stock more this past season than Teoscar Hernández. A competent but unspectacular hitter from 2018-19, Hernández had what looked like a breakout in 2020. Over 207 plate appearances, the Blue Jay outfielder hit .289/.340/.579 with 16 home runs. Along the way, he ranked in the 94th percentile or better in such Statcast metrics as average exit velocity, hard contact, expected weighted on-base average and barrel rate.
Hernández isn’t a flawless player. He’s a below-average defender. He has long had issues making contact, with a career 31.6% strikeout rate only marginally higher than last year’s 30.4%. Moving forward, the 28-year-old looks more like a solid regular than a star in the making. Regardless, Hernández is a valuable and important part of a Toronto roster coming off a berth in the expanded playoffs and looking on the verge of perennial postseason contention.
With that in mind, it’s worth looking back at the deal that landed Hernández with the Jays in the first place. Originally signed as an international amateur by the Astros, Hernández was flipped (alongside veteran outfielder Nori Aoki) to Toronto in advance of the 2017 trade deadline for left-hander Francisco Liriano. To that point, the veteran southpaw had posted just a 5.88 ERA as a starter for the Blue Jays. He had stifled opposing left-handed hitters, though, holding them to a .230/.254/.361 slash line.
The Houston front office thought a bullpen transition, where Liriano could be heavily leveraged against same-handed batters, could make him an asset. With George Springer, Josh Reddick, Derek Fisher and Jake Marisnick all on hand (and Kyle Tucker rapidly climbing the minor-league ladder), the Astros felt they could part with an MLB-ready outfield prospect to acquire a relief weapon. Unfortunately, Liriano continued to scuffle down the stretch, pitching to a 4.40 ERA with an 11:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 14.1 relief innings as an Astro.
Despite mediocre production from Liriano, the Astros went on to win the World Series. However one feels about the legitimacy of that title after subsequent revelations of Houston’s sign-stealing operation, the team probably wouldn’t undo any specific transaction related to the roster in retrospect. But from a pure value perspective, there’s no question Toronto came out ahead in the swap. Aoki barely played for the team, but Hernández looks to have emerged as a capable everyday performer as the Jays’ new contention window opens. He remains under club control through 2023.
I remember I wanted the Phillies to take him in the rule 5 draft(Houston) and instead they took Tyler Goeddel(Rays).
Goeddel was the consensus pick to be fair
I think DarkSide is right. I can blame a team for reaching on a player that they like most most people don’t value as much when that reached for player doesn’t turn out as well as the obvious candidate. But when a team takes the consensus pick and it doesn’t work out… I think that just happens sometimes. If any team skips over a consensus pick and reaches on another player they better be right every single time. Most of the time they are wrong.
…what??
My thoughts exactly
Odrisamer Despaigne should be the Jay’s top target this off season.
Pair him with Ryu and you have a nice one, two punch at the top of the rotation.
I pitty anyobe who feels differently.
sorry, KT already won that race for him. superstar like him will kill it over there.
Is there another Odrisamer Despaigne besides the one who stinks?
5.74 ERA since his first year.
Gotta be just one. Very unlikely two sets of parents would be so cruel to name their sons, Odrisamer!
There must be an Odrisamer Despaigne Jr. I’m unaware of.
Learn to spell T
Learn punctuation, goalieguy41. =D
Always one of those guys lol
Depaigne is a #4 or5 starter in mlb on a weak team at best
Teoscar helped me nail second place in my Rotisserie league this year.
That is crazy! I came in second in a Rotisserie Chicken cooking league earlier this year as well.
Holy crap. I didn’t look at MLBTR for a few days and I thought I missed a teoscar trade over the holidays when I saw this. Heh reading the whole first paragraph like “why aren’t you saying who they got for him!…”
Retrospective, got it mow lol
Despaigne should not be anyone’s target this offseason
I spend a LOT of time at training camps every spring (hoping for a normal spring this year) and every year I think Teoscar is going to break out. He needs to be patient and KNOW he has a job to build confidence. He could end up a premier DH in the right situation, he’s a bit of a CLANK in the field, but that explosive bat, wow. Cut down on the K’s and he’s a difference maker.
He had pretty darn great year with the bat this past season
Hey, the AL has the DH so Teoscar’s glove needn’t be an issue. Still, would not be shocked if the Jays try to sell reasonably high and trade him.
I agree. I would be looking to trade Hernandez before the year starts
They can have the Happ deal, besides that it’s faux outrage or using alternative facts pretty much. The Donaldson deal wasn’t good but that was something out of their control.
The only alternative here is your history lesson on Happ and Donaldson which has nothing to do with this article.
For some reason I thought Teo had positive defensive numbers this season. Either way he isn’t terrible out there, his biggest issue is misplaying routine balls.
That’s kind of a big issue, no?
If routine fly balls still give someone trouble at this point; it’s not an issue in the way they man the position, it’s an issue they are even manning the position at all.
That just confirms the thinking that Teoscar is a DH with a strong throwing arm.
He enjoys missing the cutoff man enough to force the infielder to run a mile to catch it. Jays have two DHs in Vlad and Teoscar, and another on the way (Kirk). Someone will have to be moved.
Rowdy is a DH too, and Gurriel has his days of looking like one. But the thing about young players is they can learn and improve.
Teoscar has no idea where the ball is going when it is hit, and no idea where the ball is going after he throws it. He is fast and does have a strong arm, though.
Liriano did what the Astros acquired him to do which was be a lefty out of the bullpen for the stretch run. The only hindsight issue here is Hernandez would be in RF for the Astros right now and Tucker in LF leaving the Astros with only one hole to fill in the OF instead of two.
Fields for Alvarez evens it out.
Teoscar is a very good bat, natural easy power. He now uses Bo Bichette’s cut down swing fulltime hence the uptick at the plate.
He can’t field worth anything. His routes and reaction times are very poor. Teoscar is a DH or emergency depth outfielder. .
Since Vlad Jr and Tellez are at 1B and Kirk is coming where does Teoscar fit? When Teoscar is hot he can carry a batting order so he has very good trade value. Someone has to go to break the logjam. My bet it is Kirk to go or be sent down for conditioning.
I alluded to this idea above. Kirk, presumably, begins in AAA in 2021. Grichuk’s not going anywhere. Gurriel, for some reason, is being rumored in a potential Lindor trade. Forget it. Teoscar is the guy to move. See if the Cubs want him in LF for Contreras and come up with some kind of deal to even it out.
Astros won that trade… world series rings forever
Astros got their rings but it was the beat of a different drummer that got them over the top, not this. Liriano helped but it’s hard to say his efforts were essential.
Even with Teo’s shortcomings, Jays are “winning” the trade
Teo comes out of a cheating system in Houston and crushed it this past year in Toronto. Literally. this guy can hit the ball a long way. Look at some of his top distances…damn!!!
Turns out Shapiro and Atkins aren’t so bad. Add this to the list of excellent moves they’ve made!!!
Are we still pretending the Yankees and Red Sox (among others) weren’t doing the exact same thing?
The Astros also dumped Aoki’s salary.
Teoscar is just the kind of player the Pirates should acquire., especially with Polanco’s injury. Cheap, yet talented enough to play every day. Bucs have some interesting pitchers in the low minors that might interest the Jays. Like several posters before me, sooner or later there will be no room in the inn for Teoscar in Toronto, so get something back now before you have to give him away.
Just like they though with J.D. Martinez before he turned into a huge Slugger for Boston. Same case with Villar before he broke out nicely with the O’s.
Now, they’re in need of OF help because all of Marisnik, Reddick, Brantley p and Springer are gone……..when it comes to baseball, it’s never too much. Got to find a way to keep for now and latter and play them all.
Buccos could really use him but unfortunately, will never pay up! Honestly, the league needs to investigate the pirates
Hernandez is 28 years old!