5:38 pm: The Dodgers have also expressed interest in Taylor, writes Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic. Los Angeles is looking for a right-handed bat who can see some acton in the outfield, where the lefty-hitting Jason Heyward currently projects to man right field.
2:57pm: Outfielder Michael A. Taylor has been linked to both the Mets and the Red Sox this week, and MLB.com’s Jon Morosi adds the Reds and Blue Jays as another pair of clubs who’ve reached out.
There’s some sense to either party pursuing the righty-swinging defensive standout. The Reds currently project to have left-handed hitter TJ Friedl and Will Benson in center field and right field, respectively. Friedl has excelled in left-on-left matchups in his brief big league tenure and in the upper minors, but Benson has not (.130/.200/.174 in a small sample of 50 plate appearances). As things stand, Stuart Fairchild is probably the favorite to platoon with Benson, but he’s only a .229/.343/.389 hitter in 170 career plate appearances versus lefties.
Taylor, meanwhile, slashed .252/.313/.602 and pounded nine home runs in his 112 plate appearances against southpaws this past season. He’s a career .256/.310/.436 hitter against left-handed pitching. Taylor is also a plus defender in the outfield, evidenced by strong marks in Defensive Runs Saved (5) and Outs Above Average (8) in just 129 games and 965 innings of center field work with Minnesota this past season. He’d not only give the Reds a potential platoon partner for Benson but also a viable late-game defensive upgrade or pinch-running weapon off the bench.
Over in Toronto, Taylor would only further add to a heavily right-handed roster. However, the Jays currently project to have Daulton Varsho and Nathan Lukes line up for regular time in the outfield. The Jays have been linked to a number of alternative options in the outfield, but even if they do make an outfield addition, bringing Taylor into the fold as a fourth outfielder makes some sense.
Taylor, who’ll turn 33 in March, had a characteristically strong defensive showing and belted a career-best 21 homers with the Twins in 2023, though his season wasn’t all roses. The longtime Nationals outfielder turned in a .278 OBP — a career-low in a 162-game season — and punched out at an alarming 33.5% rate (nearly eight percentage points higher than his mark over the past three seasons).
Taylor was perhaps selling out for some of the power he displayed, and the resulting bottom-of-the-scale OBP wasn’t pretty — but it was overall a fairly useful package. He went 13-for-14 in steals with plus defense and enough power to offset that OBP; both FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference had him just shy of two wins above replacement in only about 60% of a season’s worth of plate appearances. Taylor has previously expressed interest in returning to the Twins, though it’s not clear whether they’ll make a strong effort to do so amid their RSN-driven reported payroll cuts.
Really like the fit for the Reds. Jays need lefties in their lineup.
Agree. Fralet and Benson borh bad against lefties, but then again, do not see many.
@Joel P
The Jays need a RHH to platoon with Varsho and capable of playing a decent OF.
Jays need lefty bats not a platoon partner for Varsho.
Joel, re-read what Bishop said. Bishop is 100% correct. Furthermore, the Jays need bats that can hit, lefty or righty.
I know what Bishop said. Varsho is elite defensively he doesn’t need a platoon partner.
Right now the Jays have 3 lefty bats they have Varsho, Biggio and Horowitz. Biggio and Horowitz are bench guys. The Jays badly need lefty bats. Nick Gordon of the Twins would be a good fit. Bringing Kiermaier back would make some sense. I like Taylor better on the Reds.
Cardinals have Carlson and Burleson available. ONeill is Canadian but he’s a right and the Cardinals wouldn’t send ONeill somewhere he actually wants to play out of spite.
Varsho can’t hit.
Read it again. Slower this time: Varsho can’t hit.
Varsho can be a defensive replacement when a left handed starter is on the mound. Despite what WAR says, Varsho’s job should not be secure enough to start 162 games, especially when he can’t hit pitching from either hand.
If you play elite defense you don’t have to hit to be worth playing. The Jays could perhaps use a bench bat for center who hits right handed but Taylor is more of an everyday option.
Again Carlson is available. He’s a switch hitter. Can play some center. Jays and Cardinals definitely like to trade with each other.
That’s the key here. The Jays do need a CF capable player and logically would be a guy who is right handed as it makes more sense to sit Varsho against lefties. But like you say, Taylor is probably going to find a starting gig rather than sign to be a platoon or fourth outfielder type. But if his market in a starting role doesn’t develop, Toronto makes some sense to find lots of playing time even if he’s a fourth outfielder on the depth chart. They only have two outfielders right now. One is going to be playing his age 34 season and the other doesn’t look to be able to hit enough to be an everyday player even with the defensive ability. Varsho lost outfield playing time to Whit Merrifield last year.
I think next season Varsho will hit better. It was his first year on a new team and a new league. Both Seager and Olson for example had down years by their standards in the first year in a new league and then got much better in the following season. If changing leagues even affects players of that caliber then it shouldn’t be a big surprise that Varsho was affected.
With the value he can put up in CF defensively if he even just hits like 2022 that is an extremely valuable player. See below for a more in depth analysis by someone who can explain it better than me:
bluejaysnation.com/news/a-deep-dive-into-daulton-v…
“Varsho lost outfield playing time to Whit Merrifield last year.” — Yeah when he was covering centerfield for Kiermaier. He played center just as good or better than the guy who won the gold glove for center. He played every day in the field. Not sure what you are talking about. Varsho is playing every day in center this year hopefully and will get the GG.
Unless the Jays sign Keirmaier.
Bullred, sure Varsho will play most days, but they still need another CF capable OF on the roster. In the last month, Varsho still got into games in September but he was pinch hit for or was a PH/defensive replacement himself. When the games really mattered, the team’s faith in him as an all situations player waned as shown by their usage of him. He held his own against left handed pitching last year but that’s not the same outlook as his career splits. I’m not going to say he’s absolutely not a major league regular calibre player, but I’m also not going to ignore that there is a line where that outlook tips. If he continues to struggle to get on base at any kind of respectable rate and the CF defense slips to merely very good rather than elite (possible for a guy who is not as fast as most CF and doesn’t have much arm strength) then it’s really easy to see his usage being changed. He plays hard too. Not having a floor raising contingency for injury would be a bad idea.
For the purposes of this article, Taylor probably isn’t the right use of resources. With 13 position player spots, you could probably just have a pinch runner/defensive replacement guy and a hit only bench bat and do a full line switch. If the other corner OF they get is CF capable (Lee or Kepler perhaps) then they can just get a corner lefty masher or something.
Just so you are aware Varsho actually had a better OPS vs. LH pitchers. He isn’t one of those players that hit righties much better than lefties.
I would rather them put him in everyday for his defense. He was tied for 2nd in CF with 18 DRS last season despite only playing there around 1/3 of the time. He should be able to put up a very large amount of value playing there everyday.
Its funny cuz the jays do need LHH bats but they also need a platoon type that can Hammer LHP
Funnily enough last year because of Dalton and Kk both being lefties they were stuck playing one of them against a lefty starter. Seems to me there trying to not have that this year if they signed Taylor. Would still rather have KK back though guys a Beaut
I don’t really see either The Reds or Blue Jays needing Taylor.
@terry g
The have Varsho and Springer. The definitely could use Taylor.
The Reds do not need any more hitters. If there are any spots open, they have guys waiting in the wings like Hurtubise, Dunn, Hinds, and Miguel Hernandez.
There’s not really enough room for Taylor on the Reds’ bench. Unless they’re including one of their right-handed hitting infielders in a trade for more pitching.
Exactly. I don’t know if you saw the Candelario rumors but attempting to get him just so he would take away playing time from the six other infielders is asinine.
Good fit as a platoon guy for Jays with Varsho in CF and spot starting for Springer to give him time off once a week. Still need a strong power hitting LF though and maybe they look at Kepler in a trade once the Ohtani distraction is finished, one way or the other.
Yea i agree amd if Joc cost 15-18 per season they are better off signing Teoscar for 18 per for 3-5 years
I like Kepler for the Jays. He’s more of an everyday lefty than a platoon guy. And they could then just get a corner right handed lefty masher and Kepler could cover some CF vs. lefties.
Come back to The Cities. Plenty of playing time opportunity when Buck needs some IL time
I’d rather see the reds go after soler, but imo pitching is much more important than hitting for them.
Agree but Taylor is better than Bader at $15,000,000 a year.
Not a Taylor fan at all, really hope if the jays get him he won’t be playing everyday.
This would be a great move for Toronto as we get ready to welcome in Ohtani as well
If the Reds are going for a RH bat, I’d rather they go get Teoscar Hernandez..
Pass… What’s with Krall and his retreads? He probably still talks to all his ex-girlfriends on My Space.
Fraley is RF Benson is LF
And yes they need RH OF as Steer will play LG vs LH and Taylor would play RF vs LH
How on earth are you going to platoon Spencer Steer anywhere? Dude is one of our best players, he’s not coming out of the lineup.
I don’t see how this guy fits in for the Reds. We need another sub .300 OBP outfielder about as much as we need another 23 year old short stop. This news, paired with most of the other reports that include the Reds interest in other position players tells me they may be planning to trade off pieces from their current 25 man roster.
For instance, maybe India or Marte are being used as the base of a trade for the starting pitcher they so desperately need. Or what if they are trying to move Friedl, and plan to move one of these young infielders to CF?
I don’t think it’s impossible for De La Cruz to play CF, even with zero experience, I think his freak athleticism would ensure he is at least average at that position. I’d find it hard to believe that DLC couldn’t play just about every position on the field. If it were me I would force this and my Reds roster for 2024 would look something like this..
C – Stephenson
1B – Encarcion-Strand
2B – India
SS – McClain
3B – Marte
LF – Steer
CF – DLC
RF – Power Righty from FA/Trades
Play De LA Cruz at center he will be on the IL by June. Do you want to turn him into another Senzel???
How is playing OF any different than IF as far as injuries? Was DLC not running half way into the OF, diving into the stands, etc. all while playing 3B? He was basically covering all of 3B and all of shallow left field. With his speed and stride would he not be standing under a lot of fly balls that other fielders generally have to catch on the run? Where does Senzel come into this equation? He’s not nearly the athletic specimen, and all together an entirely different player whom already had a list of injury issues prior to his callup to the big leagues.
Why not just keep Friedl in CF, move the switch-hitting De La Cruz to RF, and use the FA money on pitching?
I’m okay with this. So then Fraley has to go? We can’t have Fraley and Benson on the bench as left handed bats with potentially already two outfield spots locked and I doubt we get anything for Fraley in a trade as he’s the least valuable OF we have.
Jays already have a left handed defensive CF we don’t need taylor
I suppose the Dodgers could use a platoon OF bat for Heyward or Outman, but surely they can do better than this. His “alarming” strikeout rate in 2023 was not so much a deterioration as a reversion to mean.
Dodgers don’t need another light hitting player. Teoscar Hernandez far better than Taylor and won’t require trading anyone.
T. Hernandez in left.
Outman in center.
Heyward in right against rhp
Pages’ or Deluca against lhp
Or after signing Teoscar Hernandez, trade for Randy Arozarena to play in right and center if Outman struggles any.
LA Dodgers already have enough RH, light hitting, All-Star outfielders named Taylor already.
I like Nathan Lukes, he went to the same university as me… but no sane person actually projects Nathan Lukes to “line up for regular time in the outfield” next season. Barring a slew of injuries. Somebody will obviously be added to the Blue Jays outfield at some point.
Adams SUCKS. “Meanwhile” can’t be inserted mid-sentence, separated by commas. It needs to START the sentence.