Phillies Show Interest In Blue Jays' Daulton Varsho

[Steve Drumwright]

 

With the Toronto Blue Jays in sell mode after a disappointing first four months of the season, the players on expiring contracts are more likely than not to be wearing another uniform next week.

Center fielder Daulton Varsho is one of those and he is drawing a good bit of interest, but not necessarily for his bat, but for the tremendous defense he provides.

Among the teams looking for a center fielder is the Philadelphia Phillies, who indeed have "interest" in Varsho, according to MLB insider Jon Heyman. The Phillies are 6½ games off Atlanta's NL East lead, while tie with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the second (and third) NL wild card after Philadelphia was swept by the Miami Marlins. 

 

While the Phillies are in need of an offensive boost—they rank 22nd in team OPS at .703—Varsho would provide more experience in center field than rookie Justin Crawford with maybe a nudge in the power department. Varsho has a .247/.308/.383 slash line with seven homers and 26 RBIs in 96 games to Crawford's .257/.306/.339 with two homers and 23 RBIs in 99 games. Crawford does have more steals 13-9.

There are other pieces the Phillies and Jays match. Right-handed starters Kevin Gausman and Shane Bieber are free agents after the year, while the Jays could also spin off bullpen pieces such as right-handed closer Jeff Hoffman.

 

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[Terminator]

The Phillies do make some sense as they could use damn near every trade chip we have. Gausman, Varsho, Hoffman....even Jesus Sanchez would fit for them.

I would take Crawford but I'm not sure how sold I am on him. His defensive metrics aren't great and they kind of need to be with his subpar bat.

Gage Wood and Aidan Miller are damn good prospects but they might be worth more than the type of vets we could offer. The shine is wearing off of Painter but I would be interested. Ramon Marquez is another good pitching prospect.

The rest of their prospects kind of stink. But there's probably something there though if the two sides can get creative.

[Jonn]

Tell Daulton I will be driving over the border this weekend. I will be more than happy to take him through PA in my route back to VA

[metafour]

56 minutes ago, Terminator said:

The Phillies do make some sense as they could use damn near every trade chip we have. Gausman, Varsho, Hoffman....even Jesus Sanchez would fit for them.

I would take Crawford but I'm not sure how sold I am on him. His defensive metrics aren't great and they kind of need to be with his subpar bat.

Gage Wood and Aidan Miller are damn good prospects but they might be worth more than the type of vets we could offer. The shine is wearing off of Painter but I would be interested. Ramon Marquez is another good pitching prospect.

The rest of their prospects kind of stink. But there's probably something there though if the two sides can get creative.

Its not an amazing system, but there are some interesting pieces.

Crawford is a stretch for me. His bat looks terrible with huge flaws, and the defense being mid makes him much less intriguing than you'd expect a 22 year old former top prospect to be. He needs a complete offensive overhaul, otherwise he looks like a future Raimel Tapia.

Painter is more interesting to me as a buy-low candidate. I don't see him reaching his draft hype unless the fastball changes a lot, but he's still talented enough to be a ~mid rotation or #4 starter.

If they send over Hoffman, Alex McFarlane is an interesting potential piece as a reliever only profile who could help the Jays in 2027. He throws 100+ with a big slider.