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I'm not particularly enamored with Jackie Bradley Jr. as a center field solution for the Blue Jays. What can we realistically expect him to add to the roster beyond what is already there? Maybe 1 win or so? There should be far better value to be had with the available money than paying 10 million a year for several years for this type of production. He certainly had a nice season with the bat in 2020, but his batted ball numbers don't support the likelihood of him repeating that success. His .343 BABIP looks to have led to much of his WRC+ improvement compared to his previous 3 seasons, but without a corresponding increase in exit velocity, hard hit rate or barrel % he's super unlikely to have that type of success going forward. He has never been a burner in the outfield relying more on great jumps and instincts, but his sprint speeds have been trending downwards for the last 3 seasons, so it's no sure bet that he continues to provide plus defense for much longer. I'd like to see what Jonathan Davis can do with more playing time. He's shown to be a very adept fielder in center field in his limited action, and in his small sample of playing time in 2020 he absolutely pounded the snot out of the baseball with a hard hit rate of nearly 65% and exit velocity approaching 96 MPH. His strikeout numbers were a bit concerning, but that very well may be a blip as he didn't have that much of an issue in his previous major league callups.

LOL I'm Just pulling your leg with the throwing the baseball bit, but there's no denying that Kim is going to face incredibly intense pressure when he makes his way over to North America. In a small way covid will help lower the temperature a little bit, as the likely media circus that would have followed the guy around constantly should be lessened quite a bit.

He won't be pitching with a new ball but he'll certainly have to get used to throwing the different baseball that is used in North America.

One thing that just dawned on me that is getting lost in the Kim discussion is the massive adjustment the guy is going to have to make in basically every aspect of his life in moving to North America. He is going to be dealing with a major cultural adjustment, moving to a new team, changing leagues, moving half way across the planet, adjusting to hitting major league pitching, likely working on his English speaking skills, getting used to fielding balls hit at a much higher exit velocity than he's used to, etc. etc. It might be an unreasonable expectation for Kim to learn how to play an entirely new position in the outfield on top of all the other pressures that he will be under.

The two aren't really all that comparable situation wise. Kim is an established professional baseball player who has excelled as an infielder, whereas Martin is a young player who played both the infield and outfield as a college amateur, and hasn't settled into a position as a professional as of yet. If you sign Kim you likely have an MLB or super close to MLB ready quality infielder to insert into your lineup, as compared to Martin who is much younger and can still be molded into the position of need with the club.

I find myself wondering what level of the minors Martin begins his career at. He's already been exposed to some pretty high level pitching at the Jays alternate training site, as there were plenty of AA/AAA level pitchers there, and some pretty talented pitchers as well. He absolutely crushed college pitching, and with the Jays regularly faced guys like Patrick Murphy, Simeon Woods Richardson and Joey Murray, so it's possible that starting him in A ball or high A wouldn't provide much of a challenge for him at the plate. I could see the club being much more conservative with Groshans initially as he's played so little baseball the last few years comparatively speaking.

If Kirk doesn't make the club out of spring training it won't be because the club doesn't think he can contribute. I could see them starting with McGuire to see if they can salvage any value out of him for a possible trade after a completely disastrous 2020, both off the field and on the field. Kirk was added to the major league roster in the thick of a playoff race into the most important position on the diamond. He earned his way onto the club through his performance in the alternate training site, it wasn't a gift due to covid. Besides that fact covid is still likely going to be an ongoing concern for baseball in 2021, so there very well may be expanded rosters again and taxi squads implemented as was the case in 2020. I wouldn't be so sure about there being no possibility of Martin contributing in 2021. This is a high level prospect who is in the Bo Bichette realm talent wise, who coincidentally made his major league debut at age 22, right where Martin will be age wise in 2021. I think a good comparison is Alex Bregman, who played all of 146 games in the minors before making his big league debut. Martin spent his 2020 season at the alternate training site instead of getting his feet wet in the minors as Bregman did in 2015. Bregman spent about half of 2016 in the minors before debuting in the majors later that season. All that Martin is likely missing is real game competition as a pro, if he shows that the bat is ready he's the type of talent you make room for.

One possible wildcard that blows up any preseason scenario is the potential 2021 arrival of Austin Martin. As a polished college bat I could see the Jays being very aggressive with his movement through the system. The club showed that they are willing to push certain prospects super quickly as Kirk made the jump to MLB without having seen a single at bat above high A ball. I really have no idea where Martin ends up on the diamond though, if the club strikes out on attaining Springer I suspect center field would be his for the taking. If they fail to acquire an impact infield player Martin could end up at third base. It sounds like he has the athleticism to play all over the diamond, but reports of his arm strength haven't been overly positive.

The only way I see Kim spending a significant amount of time in the outfield with the Jays would be if they acquired both Kim and another top infield target. But if the team signs somebody like LeMahieu or Turner, or trades for a player like Bryant, Lindor etc. I doubt Kim would be of interest anymore at that point.

Which middle infielders have become good center fielders though? There's a distinct difference in difficulty in parking an infielder into left field and not seeing disastrous results vs moving a 25 year old shortstop to center field and expecting plus defense.

Kim is reportedly a good infield defender but it's unclear whether he's even remotely comfortable in the outfield. The Jays have a clear need to upgrade their infield defense and Kim would likely provide above average defense at third and be capable of providing quality cover for short in case of any Bichette injuries. Switching Kim to the outfield feels like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

I wouldn't be so sure that Grichuk is going to act as a defensive upgrade for the club by switching positions. He likely takes over as 4th outfielder from Anthony Davis who is in fact a superior defender to Grichuk. With Vladdy Jr. and Rowdy Tellez both in the fold there will be limited DH bats available for the outfielders to rotate through. Barring trade Teoscar and Gurriel are still going to be roaming the outfield most games as they offer a lot more overall value than Grichuk due to their far better offensive abilities and higher upside.

I think the guy took a clear step forward in 2018. What are the red flags with regards to Bauer? He's not getting a Gerrit Cole 10 year contract, if it only takes 5 years to lock him up then that's a no brainer decision. During the last 3 seasons he's accumulated the 6th most pitcher FWAR, I really don't get how people are viewing him as a one year flash in the pan. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2020&month=0&season1=2018&ind=0&team=&rost=&age=&filter=&players=&startdate=&enddate=

You can say the same of every starting pitcher in baseball though. He's still putting up elite numbers against MLB competition either way in 2 out of the last 3 seasons.

Bauer had a monster 2018 season as well with the Indians, so it's not like 2020 is the only good season he's had in his career. He was good for 2.21 ERA/2.44 FIP/3.14 xFIP and 5.8 FWAR. His numbers were off a little in 2019, but he revealed that he was dealing with partially torn ankle ligaments and back spasms throughout that season that affected his mechanics.

Interestingly enough Biggio and Gurriel are within 2 points of each other in career WRC+. They obviously go about producing it in different ways though. Gurriel will most likely produce better power numbers during his career, but he's super streaky. Biggio's elite plate discipline shouldn't be discounted however, it should allow him to avoid deep slumps as he will be able to work the pitchers for walks even when his timing is off.

Sportsnet's Arden Zwelling has a very interesting piece up outlining the ways in which the Jays have been utilizing their new Dunedin complex to allow the minor league players to continue their development despite the pandemic. https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/blue-jays-development-complex-prospects-making-lost-2020/

I was thinking of Jon Gray for some reason instead of the obviously more appealing Sonny Gray. Although I suspect Sonny Gray's acquisition cost would likely be super expensive in terms of prospect capital given the remaining years of control and super reasonable contract.

Gray isn't particularly appealing. He had a really bad 2020 season and only has 1 year of control remaining.

If Vladdy Jr. breaks out completely and the Jays add a chunk of quality players to the roster the Jays suddenly look very legit as a contender. They are going to score a ton of runs from the looks of the lineup that's already available, just need to sort out the pitching staff so that the team can slow down the runs from the opposition a bit.

If Bo can play short stop there's no reason he wouldn't be able to play third. I think he has the tools to become an excellent third baseman if that's where he ultimately ends up.

There's no good way to know how good Semien will be either. His upside is very high, but generally he's provided roughly a league average bat, with his one above average offensive season being the clear outlier.

I recall Semien's agent mentioning that Semien is worth a 9 figure contract, so it sounds like his asking price is initially very high. Unless there is a decimal place missing in the asking price though there's no way in hell Semien is going to approach an actual 9 figure offer though.

That looks to be largely predicated on an exit velocity and subsequent babip that are well above his typical career values.

And in other news it's been announced that water is wet.