Toronto’s top decision-makers talked with reporters to discuss a number of ways they hope to improve upon a 91-win club that came incredibly close to a playoff berth. While a good deal of attention has been paid to who the Blue Jays stand to lose this offseason, executives are rightfully pointing to improvement from within as a reason for optimism.
Chief among those internal improvements is getting a healthy season out of highly touted right-hander Nate Pearson. First he’ll have to recover from offseason surgery to repair a sports hernia that plagued the 25-year-old’s most recent season. Fortunately, GM Ross Atkins expects the surgery to be a blip in the pitcher’s offseason routine and won’t impact his Spring Training availability, stating “He should be fine — he should not be disrupted at all” (per Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling).
Anything resembling a full return to health for Pearson will surely be a welcome sight for Toronto brass, as the talented pitcher has tossed just 33 innings at the highest level owing to groin and elbow injuries. These recurring maladies very well may have contributed to what’s been a rough Major League tenure so far, as evidenced by a career 5.18 ERA and bloated 16.5% walk rate. Toronto will accordingly proceed with some caution, though Atkins reiterated his hope for Pearson to build his strength back up as a starter and provide “the impact of someone that can punch people out and pitch deeper and deeper into games.”
Other improvements, Atkins notes (via Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi), can come in the form of simply giving left-handed batters more playing time. For context, Toronto lefties stepped to the plate less than any other team last season, combining to produce a .653 OPS that ranked 28th in baseball. While both Atkins and president Mark Shapiro were tight-lipped about players who could help strike a better lineup balance, the latter did speak to the ability of trades that could “take an addition by subtraction.”
Speculatively, any left-handed addition could come from the trade of oft-rumored trade candidates Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Randal Grichuk, both of whom hit from the right side. While Grichuk’s underperformance this past season (.241/.281/.423 through 149 games) — to say nothing of the remaining two years and $20.7MM on his contract — hampers his value, Davidi does note the outfielder drew interest at the most recent trade deadline. Achieving more left-handed opportunities in the lineup might not stem directly from a return in any hypothetical Grichuk trade but may be done so by simply freeing up the at-bats of a previously entrenched right-handed hitter.
The Jays also boast an enviable crop of Major League-ready catchers in their system and could subtract from this group to achieve Shapiro’s aforementioned addition. Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk provided strong offensive production from the position last year, posting nearly identical OPS marks of .772 and .764 from the right side. But either could prove expendable given the similar production of the other.
Further crowding the catching picture is the presence of prospect Gabriel Moreno, who had a huge showing in limited action at Double-A this year and continues to mash in the Arizona Fall League. Then again, farm director Gil Kim notes Moreno has done “a lot of work at third base at the Player Development Complex. While that’s not his primary position, it is an option that maybe down the road will be in play. Right now we’re focused on catching but as we’ve seen, maximizing versatility is huge.” With Moreno also batting from the right side, it’s possible his presence affects the status of other righties around the infield, like breakout infielder Santiago Espinal. Whatever transactions are made to address the Jays’ perceived lack of lineup balance and desire to build on last year’s record, the front office surely has room to maneuver with both Major League trade chips and payroll space at their disposal.
Pearson reminds me of the Pirate version of Glasnow.
Idk why lefties would need more ABs. The entire Jays roster had massive reverse splits. The righties crushed RHP while soft-tossing slobs like Yarbrough baffled them
Agreed,
Also, they did lead the league in OPS, HR’s, and slugging while also ending in 2nd for batting average and 3rd in runs scored. I think that would suggest they didn’t have that hard a time hitting either lefties or righties very often!
Blue Jays fans have to feel pretty jipped right now. They win 91 games in the toughest division in baseball but miss the playoffs. Then and 88-win teams wins the whole thing. The Jays would have really had a shot if they made it this season. They were one of the best teams to miss the playoffs I’ve ever seen. An incredible run differential and 91 wins in a division with the Yankees, Rays and Red Sox is really hard to accomplish. Based off run differential one could argue the Jays were better than the Yankees or Red Sox. Their records were so similar and the Jays outscored their opponents this season by a lot more than either of those teams.
All the parks in the AL East except the Trop play up to right handed power. AA figured that out a while back. If you look at the 2015 Jays outside of switch-hitting Smoak it was right handed bats up and down the lineup. And nobody complained about the need for “balance” as they led the league with a 117 wRC+.
I think balance is much more of a concern of sportswriters than for the Jays.
Then let the Yankees be a cautionary tale for you.
You are describing exactly what the Yankees were. And it worked for a while and then the league figured then out. Lineups need balance.
Joe Says, it seems to me like Rizzo and Gallo didn’t really do a ton themselves, but Stanton and Judge were pretty hot after they were added. How much of a factor do you think those lefties had on the other guys in the lineup? I think there’s something to be said for forcing pitchers to do something different and even forces the opponent’s manager into more difficult decisions. Especially with the 3 batter minimum rule now in place.
I am sure any number of teams would love to pry one of those young catchers away.
Catcher is the most important position on a MLB team today. Primarily due to teams using upwards of 30 Pitchers during a season. It’s difficult to handle that many, and be in sync with what the Pitcher, the manager, and the coaching staff are all trying to achieve that day.
GM Dayton Moore made the observation last year that there are fewer quality Catchers in MLB than there are quality QB’s in the NFL. He was right…..and he wasn’t referring to their hitting ability.
Jansen is excellent behind the plate. What little I’ve seen of Kirk I’m not particularly impressed. The minor leaguers I obviously haven’t seen. If those guys can handle a staff, call a game and block balls in the dirt well, the Jays should be able to get something quite substantial for them in trade.
–
BTW – Shapiro is great on offense, His teams can bludgeon opponents and win games 14-11. But MLB is about pitching….which is why the Catcher is so important. The Jay’s are turning out exactly how I thought they would when Shapiro went to Toronto and immediately stated clearing the decks and brought in Carrington to help build the farm system. Trading excess hitting for pitching only works temporarily. If a team cannot produce quality pitchers, when they trade for one they can’t help him maintain his edge.
Exactly.
Whatever you do, don’t trade Gurriel. Keep Pina Power north of the border
Agreed and not just because I’ve got a bat and ball signed by him
Grichuk still has two years left? Good lord my idea was Bradley jr for Grichuk but that isn’t going to work if Grichuk has two years left.
They need Pearson to be a impactful starter next year.
I’m sure a minor sweetener from the jays would help, like a Kevin Smith or 2. Love that idea though.
What about Grichuk for odorizzi
Why would Houston make that trade?
Do you think they are happy with what they’ve got from odorizzi ? They have better, cheaper options at the back end of their rotation.
So if they could get a bat in that can play CF in exchange for the bad contract, it would probably be something they consider.
Yep, 2 more years. He looked so promising coming up.
Stretching out Pearson to be a starter next year seems like a bit of wishful thinking. He pitched great in September, likely better to let him throw 60 quality innings out of the pen and look at him for the rotation in 2023.
I appreciate that Lourdes isn’t great in the field, but unless he’s part of a package to land a good 2/3 starter with control or someone like Jose Ramirez, I don’t know why the Jays would look to move him. He hits for average, has decent power, and doesn’t strike out a lot. Even if it’s just a salary dump, I would rather get rid of Grich for nothing than give up Gurriel for anything less than what I mentioned above.
Got to work out an extension with Berrios this year, find a solution at 3rd base and likely add another 3/4 starter like Eduardo Rodríguez (assuming they don’t pay to keep Ray) to call it a decent offseason. Keep Simien and use some younger assets to land another decent starter and look out MLB in 2022.
Everybody said the same about Aaron Sanchez before the 2016 season. I’m glad they stretched him out.
Pearson is giving me some Alex Reyes vibes. Might be best for him to be a bullpen arm.
I’m pretty sure Reyes will be a starter next year. Wouldn’t it be a waste of potential to leave them in the bullpen when they could be dominant front end starters?
I wonder if the Jay’s and Brewers could set a trade of like Gurriel, Biggio, Jansen, Grichuck and Español for Woodruff, Hader, Wong and Bradley
Huh?
Those 4 players wouldn’t get you Woodruff and it’s not even close. Try using a site like baseball trade values.
The Grichuk / Bradley portion of the deal is a net zero..
After that and this is completely one sided. Gurriel and Biggio would be an extremely slight over pay for Hader and Wong..
The Brewers would be advised to pass on that deal as they really cannot afford to lose Hader at this time… That is, unless the Brewers were using part of the return from the Jays for a “next” deal:
The Brewers keep Biggio as Wong’s replacement then trade Gurriel and some other players, not pitchers, to the Guardians in a package that could include one or more of Mitchell, Kelly, Feliciano Frelick, Turang, Quero, others. The obvious target would be the Guardians 3B..
The Jays/Guardians match up well for the same target..
Neither deal would include Woodruff..he’s in a special category unto himself..
Hader will be traded prior to arbitration.
That would cost at least one of Pearson, Moreno, and Martinez as well.
The Reds have a logjam at 3B and need a catcher, how about Moose and a prospect for Grichuk and a catcher. The Jays need a left handed bat and the Reds need an OF. This would be a swap of bad contracts for a position of need.
Moose has a .731 OPS vs RHP last year
Espinal had a .771 OPS vs RHP last year
Doesn’t make sense to get more LH bats if they don’t add incremental offensive gains
I don’t think the Reds need a catcher. They traded Barnhart in part to shed salary but also because Stephenson looks worthy of an everyday (for a catcher) role. Moose is still guaranteed $38m. That’s nearly twice Grichuk. It would have to be a heck of a prospect attached.