Blue Jays complete their outfield overhaul with Varsho trade

Dec 23 2022, 11:03 pm

The Toronto Blue Jays will have a very different outfield come Opening Day 2023.

They started the 2022 campaign with Lourdes Gurriel Jr., George Springer, and Teoscar Hernandez. Two-thirds of that outfield alignment will now include two of the best outfielders in baseball.

The Blue Jays completed their outfield overhaul by acquiring Daulton Varsho from the Arizona Diamondbacks for Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno. He may not be a household name like Gurriel Jr. or Hernandez, but Varsho is precisely what the Blue Jays needed this offseason.

This isn’t quite the degree of a shake-up that was the Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez deal for Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar back in 1991, but it’s in a similar vein. A lot of high-profile players shuffled in the hopes of changing the fortunes of this Blue Jays team.

Coupled with the acquisition of platinum glove outfielder Kevin Kiermaier, the complexion of Toronto’s outfield is a stark contrast to what it was just one year ago. While the prior trio prioritized run creation, the Varsho-Kiermaier-Springer alignment is mostly about run prevention.

It falls in line with comments made by Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins about how the team was focused on run prevention, and in Varsho and Kiermaier, they couldn’t have found two better candidates for their outfield.

The Gurriel-Springer-Hernandez trio wasn’t revered for their defensive ability, rather it was their offensive contributions that helped propel the Blue Jays to a 92-win season in 2022. But that also may have been to the team’s detriment by employing a lack of glove-first players in the outfield.

The Blue Jays go from a three-man outfield that posted -2 defensive runs saved in 2022 to an outfield that amassed 14 defensive runs saved in 2022. And that’s with Kiermaier playing barely half a season.

If there’s a team that can afford to lose two big right-handed bats, it’s Toronto. The Blue Jays had one of the best lineups in baseball last season, and even with the subtractions of Hernandez and Gurriel Jr., they still profile to have a lethal lineup in the American League.

But with the additions of Varsho and Kiermaier, the team finally has some of that balance they’ve been so desperately lacking. With two left-handed outfielders, Toronto no longer will parade a batting order of eight or nine righties in most games. Blue Jays manager John Schneider has much more flexibility with his lineup card.

It’s true the Blue Jays are losing some hitting power with the losses of Hernandez and Gurriel Jr., but with a player like Varsho, the Blue Jays are banking on the bulk of his contributions coming on the defensive side of the ball. The fact he’s a left-handed hitter (and can field the catcher position) is a bonus.

The biggest x-factor in this trade is Moreno.

Gurriel Jr. only had one more year of team control, but Moreno was a top-10 prospect and one of the Blue Jays’ best prospects in their farm system. But as a team with three potential starting catchers, Toronto had a surplus and saw Moreno could provide more in the short-term as a trade chip rather than the long-term as a starting catcher.

Unless the Blue Jays were going to trade one of Danny Jansen or Alejandro Kirk, it would’ve been a struggle to find regular playing time for Moreno, anyway. And that’s likely where the Blue Jays saw the opportunity to parlay him into a stud defensive centre fielder like Varsho.

The Blue Jays lose two fan favourites in Gurriel Jr. and Hernandez and a big prospect in Moreno, but with Toronto’s latest additions to their roster, they’re a much more complete team top to bottom.

No longer right-handed heavy with a lack of defensive wizards in the outfield, now the Blue Jays have two more lefties and a pair of the best outfielders in the game. And oh yeah, don’t forget, there’s Springer in right field, too.

One underrated fact about the Varsho trade is how it will benefit the Blue Jays’ pitching staff as well. It’s no secret that Blue Jays outfielders had their defensive woes in 2022, and amassed -6 defensive runs saved and -3 outs above average. Varsho alone posted 16 defensive runs saved and 18 outs above average in 2022.

It’s easy to see why the Blue Jays coveted Varsho so highly. He’s a perfect complement to an outfield and lineup in need of some dire change. It’s a much different complexion compared to previous years, but as a team with World Series aspirations, the Blue Jays needed to do something drastic to alter their fate.

Ian HunterIan Hunter

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