Blue Jays Discussion: Off-season Edition II - Winter Meeting Madness

[canucksfan]

 

[Forgotusername]

Varsho is another former baseball players son right?

He is. Gary Varsho played for 5 MLB teams. He was a bench coach for 2 teams I believe.

 

[Marshy]

Varsho is another former baseball players son right?

Yes Gary Varsho late 80s early 90s...Cubs/Pirates/Reds

 

[Suntouchable13]

Are we elite now?

 

[Kurtz]

watching his defensive reel above, i totally thought to myself "this guy moves like a fullback" lol

Some extra incentive for Bo to be a little more careful out there...

 

[Zero1]

I can’t really complain here. This is a win-now move even if it’s an overpay and we have 2/3 outfield spots filled for at least the next 4 years.

I love the Kirk/Jansen catching duo too so I would have hated breaking them up.

I would have preferred keeping Gurriel though but it’s a contract year for him so I don’t see him accepting a bench role.

 

[phillipmike]

 

[habamillions]

And besides, our OF defence now is incredible. If you have Varsho-KK-Springer in the OF that's 3 CF playing. That's what you want, ideally.

Literally cannot be better

 

[phillipmike]

BNS says the Jays are looking to add another OF bat. They only have 11 position players on the roster and they need 13. Says they will add at least another bat to this team.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Wow, both Teo and Lourdes gone. That's a big shakeup, IMO.

Hopefully that doesn't affect Vladdy. Wasn't he supposed to be besties with both?

 

[Canada4Gold]

Isn't Varsho bad against LHP though? I guess you can just stick him at the bottom of the lineup and hope for the best. It is not like the Jays are short on RHP who can hit lefties and the Jays could still add another RH OFer in addition to having Merrifield there.

He was pretty bad last year at it. In 129 PA he slashed .221/.250/.303 for a .553 OPS, 52 wRC+, 2.3 BB% and 27.9 K%.

However in 2021 he was better against LHP than he was against RHP. In 90 PA he slashed .293/.356/.463 for a .819 OPS, 117 wRC+, 8.9% BB% and 17.8% K%.

I would guess he's probably somewhere inbetween?

 

[Dr.Funk]

Hopefully that doesn't affect Vladdy. Wasn't he supposed to be besties with both?

They're not dead. He'll see them.

This is a business and Vlad knows it. He'll be fine.

 

[Eyedea]

Crazy that the Jays were likely in on Conforto, missed out, and plan B’d their way to Varsho (albeit Gabby and Gurriel are now no longer Jays).

 

[phillipmike]

 

[ER89]

Crazy that the Jays were likely in on Conforto, missed out, and plan B’d their way to Varsho (albeit Gabby and Gurriel are now no longer Jays).

Wonder if we sigh gurriel or teo in a year lol.

Also a couple of lowkey BP adds that could have swing and miss profile could do the trick. Kikuchi for Hendricks would also do the trick verrrrry nicely.

 

[djdev]

at the end of the day, the jays decided that their catchers were set for a long time already and used moreno to upgrade another glaring weakness. kirk is only 2 years older and is already an allstar/silver slugger in just his second year, its just as likely that he ends up the best of the 3 overall. its not like we traded moreno and are starting luke maille all year lol. GO JAYS!

 

[canucksfan]

The heavy lifting of the off-season has been done IMO. Need a bench outfielder that can hit lefties well and a fifth starter. Not too comfortable going into the year with Kikuchi and White as the fifth starters. A lefty bullpen arm would be a decent add as well.

 

[Ciao]

I have a feeling that the Blue Jays dugout will be a lot less fun-and-games and a lot more down-to-business with Teo and Gurriel out and Mattingly, Kiermaier and Varsho in. Pay attention and keep your head in the game there. I don't think that's a bad thing.

 

[djdev]

I have a feeling that the Blue Jays dugout will be a lot less fun-and-games and a lot more down-to-business with Teo and Gurriel out and Mattingly, Kiermaier and Varsho in. Pay attention and keep your head in the game there. I don't think that's a bad thing.

i can already see mattingly randomly going off, i love it.

 

[Kurtz]

This is good news - looks like a bunch of outs he made in Arizona would have been homers at the dome.

 

[Fonzieleaf]

Our outfield is now one of the best in baseball with this add. Varsho brings a lot to the table it seems. Very versatile, great defensively, and can slash. Moreno was our best prospect and Gurriel was good but sometimes you got to give up big to get bigger.

Hopefully it pays off.

 

[canucksfan]

What about AJ Pollock or will he be too expensive?

 

[Ciao]

If the Blue Jays got the best player in the deal then I'm all for that.

From the sounds of it, the best player will either be Varsho or Moreno, but we won't know which for some time.

I don't think Gurriel matters much here.

If the Blue Jays didn't move him to Arizona or elsewhere, one of Gurriel or Kiermaier or both would become part-time players. You can only play so many starting outfielders.

If the Blue Jays kept Gurriel, he would become a free agent soon anyway. If they really want him back, he might even be available as a free agent soon enough.

 

[Langdon Alger]

So, what else do we need? If anything?

 

[Woodman19]

So, what else do we need? If anything?

Depth, a RP and a versatile positional bat would be a nice luxury add.