Spanky99

Allen suxxxxxxxxxxxx

What an absolute circus this offseason has been for Correa.

Go piss up a rope. Dumn-Dumn!

lol

Atkins said Varsho is predominantly playing LF.

Jano's projected for a 3.7M Arb 2 contract. https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/toronto-blue-jays/danny-jansen-24590/

Blue Jays make win-now move, getting Daulton Varsho for Gabriel Moreno, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. By Kaitlyn McGrath Months ago, the Blue Jays’ offseason began with a series of questions. Every team always faces them. Some of the big ones for Toronto included: 1. Will this offseason be transformative? 2. Could the team address its lineup imbalance by acquiring left-handed hitters? 3. Would the Blue Jays have to trade from their healthy stock of MLB-calibre catchers to address a need? And if so, which of the three? About six weeks ago, the Blue Jays answered the first question with a resounding yes with their first major move of the offseason, trading fan favourite Teoscar Hernández to the Seattle Mariners for reliever Erik Swanson. And now, with the club’s latest trade, the other two questions have been answered and the first has been underlined again. The Blue Jays traded Gabriel Moreno, their 22-year-old catcher and No. 1 prospect, along with left fielder and another fan favourite, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., to the Arizona Diamondbacks for left-handed outfielder Daulton Varsho. The two-for-one swap, announced Friday, saw both clubs deal from their areas of depth to complete the significant trade. The Blue Jays landed the best player in the deal as of this moment, but the steep price was sending the Diamondbacks a consensus top-tier prospect, the kind rarely dealt these days as teams increasingly cherish their young talent. However, with Toronto’s depth at catcher, moving on from Moreno was likely made easier. Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk can stop checking the trade rumours. They’ll form Toronto’s catching tandem next season. Gurriel has been with the Blue Jays since he signed as an amateur free agent in 2016, and he developed into a solid contact hitter while converting from an infielder to an outfielder. Gurriel has been well-liked among players and coaches. The Blue Jays weren’t looking to trade him. But according to a person familiar with the negotiations, he had to be included to get the deal across the finish line. He gives Arizona an experienced, right-handed outfielder who can make up for some of the loss of Varsho before he becomes a free agent after the season. Meanwhile, Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen said parting with Varsho was “very difficult.” “We drafted him, developed him through our system. One of the players that, I think, we’re very proud to have on our team and in our organization,” Hazen said on a videoconference with reporters. “(He) does it the right way, plays hard. I think fans appreciated the way he played both offensively and defensively. So, that was a challenge.” In all trades, teams are looking to match up in value and circumstance. With this deal, the Blue Jays have paid the hefty cost for a win-now move that fills a desperate need. The Diamondbacks, on the other hand, might take a step back in the short term but will hope to reap the benefits of acquiring a prospect with All-Star potential. In Varsho, the Blue Jays acquire a young, elite defensive outfielder who hits for power from the left side, giving much-needed balance to their predominantly right-handed lineup. Even after the club signed Kevin Kiermaier to a one-year deal, general manager Ross Atkins said Toronto was still seeking more offence from the left-hand side. Varsho can provide that for at least the next four seasons; he’s scheduled to become a free agent after the 2026 season. Varsho, 26, had his best season to date in 2022, hitting .235/.302/.443 with a career-high 27 home runs in 151 games. During his three years in the majors, he’s struck out at a slightly higher-than-average clip (24 percent) while walking at an average rate (8.6 percent). What he lacks in average, he makes up for in his slugging ability, with a 10.2 percent barrel rate, which ranked in the 70th percentile leaguewide, per Statcast. His 106 wRC+ in 2022 suggests he was a slightly above-average hitter, and he projects to be around the same in 2023, per FanGraphs’ Steamer system. He’s traditionally performed better against right-handed pitchers (112 wRC+) than left-handers (66 wRC+). Steamer’s fWAR projections suggest the Blue Jays have effectively replaced Hernández and Gurriel (3.6 fWAR) with Kiermaier and Varsho (4.2 fWAR). The latter two outfielders pack more of their impact defensively compared with the former two, although if there was an area from which the Blue Jays could spare some effectiveness, it was the offence. Their position player group still projects to be worth 33.5 fWAR, per FanGraphs Depth Charts, a number that’s tied for first in the American League with the New York Yankees. A sizable portion of Varsho’s overall value comes from his defence, and he’ll go a long way toward addressing the Blue Jays’ emphasis on better run prevention. While playing centre and right field for Arizona, he recorded 18 outs above average in 2022, which ranked first among all outfielders. His aptitude in the outfield is largely thanks to his sneaky speed and first step. His 4.6 fWAR ranked eighth among all qualified outfielders last season. His speed serves him on the bases, too, leading to 16 stolen bases a year ago. By dealing Hernández and now Gurriel, both scheduled to be free agents after the 2023 season, the Blue Jays have remodelled their outfield into one that could be among the best in the majors defensively. Varsho and Kiermaier are plus centre fielders, and their presence will allow George Springer to spend more time playing right field. Varsho can play all three outfield spots, but with Kiermaier expected to get the first crack at centre field, Varsho projects as the team’s left fielder. He hasn’t played there much in his MLB career (17 games), but his instincts should make him a quick study. Cavan Biggio and Whit Merrifield can cover the outfield, too. Although this deal serves to remix Toronto’s outfield, it also solidifies the outlook behind the plate, with Jansen and Kirk projected to be the primary catchers next season. Varsho, who was drafted and developed as a catcher, can function as an extra backup, which will be useful in instances when the Blue Jays use one of their catchers as DH. Even with Moreno off their depth chart, the Blue Jays project to have the majors’ best catching tandem — with Varsho as a third — with a 5.9 fWAR, according to FanGraphs Depth Charts. Moreno had topped the Blue Jays’ prospect list, per The Athletic’s Keith Law, and made his MLB debut in June, playing 25 games with Toronto. In a small sample, he flashed his athleticism, especially his powerful arm. He put the ball in play a lot at the plate, although there were questions about his power after he hit four home runs in 87 combined games in Triple A and MLB. Moreno still needs development time, perhaps especially from a game-calling perspective. A win-now club like the Blue Jays might not have had that luxury, especially with two other MLB-calibre catchers. Although Atkins maintained that the team would have been comfortable rostering all three next season, the ideal path for the club was using that valuable depth to bolster an area of weakness, especially if the player coming back had years of control, as Varsho does. The Blue Jays may not yet be done this offseason. The club is still open to continuing to add on the pitching front, especially if there is an opportunity to enhance the bullpen. With Gurriel gone, the Blue Jays could look to still add on the position player side as well, most likely again in the outfield. But in trading for Varsho, the Blue Jays have landed the lefty power bat they need while cashing in their best trade chip.

Who are you replying to dude? lol... seems so random.

lol

Thanks.

This was my pick.

It doesn't though? What am I missing?

Jim, could you stop degrading women, please, don't be a pig. Also it's *chose*.

Where does it show where you voted???

Sure thing, botox boy. lol

Someone pull the trigger on c-poop, dude's insufferable and dumn!

Yeah, like the pitcher we got from Seattle, Macko. Something like that.

Sublime flexibility and defense now on this club and it's glorious.

Ovi ties Howe @ 801 goals tonight, so far.

Anywhere from 10-20 starts barring injury, our flexibility and depth is sexy AF. Good deal by the Birds, pumped for this season. Few more things to do, but it's looking good.

Probably, Buster Olney, lol.

Bingo!

lmao

I'm fine with the trade, value seems on par. Going to be a fun season.