Explosion compared to what I would have expected for a 23 year old catcher in their 1st year. I just don't like it. I loved Moreno, loved his D and his potential bat. I still wish we dealt Jansen or Kirky. Just my opinion, I am ok with being wrong on that long term.
I really fail to see the explosion or surprise as his bat is worse than last year. Last year Moreno had a 113 OPS+ and was on pace for 4.5 WAR season. This year he has a 93 OPS+ and is on pace for 3.7 WAR. But Moreno isnt going to play the full season, he is their 1A.
Moreno is very much a MLB ready prospect last year. But Varsho was and is an established major leaguer. Last year he had 4.9 WAR season (on pace for 5.3 WAR over 162) with an average of 4.3 WAR per season since stepping into the league. So if you arent giving similar production, you will have to trade more control for the established major leaguer. Varsho is on pace 3.7 WAR this season.
Moreno is a nice player and i like him very much too. I would have preferred Kirk for Varsho or Moreno for Carroll but that isnt happening. I wasnt a fan of the deal at the time but since Varsho has proven to be very productive when is bat isnt going.
Moreno has a BABIP of 341 to Varsho's .235, if that normalizes, Varsho's bat will take off. Also there have been quite a few concerns regarding Moreno's game this year; his power is non existent, his K/BB in the minors went from 0.59 to 0.38 in the majors . He was touted as an elite defender with an elite bat but now he looks like an elite defender with an average bat. Obviously he can improve but in terms of the 2023 Jays, Varsho is much more valuable than Moreno.
Zips is low on Moreno now too, next 3 years they project the following WAR for Moreno; 2.0, 1.8 and 2.0 compared to Varsho's 3.5, 3.4 and 3.4. And a lot of that has to do with Moreno's average bat and health, as you can see with catchers, they get injured a lot.