It’s Time to Be Honest about the Toronto Blue Jays…

It’s Time to Be Honest about the Toronto Blue Jays…

the MLB trade deadline is just about a month away which means it’s decision time and I think the most interesting team to look at for the trade deadline is the Toronto Blue Jays they’re coming fresh off a seven game skid that pushed them down in a fifth place in the American League East 15 games out of first 6 and a half out of the third wild card slot and of course I’ve got a couple really attractive pieces that are going to be free agents pretty soon and seem likely that they could be traded although the Jay’s general manager has said that’s not going to happen we’ll see about that so that’s what we’re talking about today leave a like down below and subscribe to the channel if you guys do enjoy the content a lot of more baseball discussions coming up very soon but let’s kick things off so Toronto they’re not a terrible team by any stretch of the word if they did not play in the highly competitive American League East I’m sure their fortunes would be a bit better but they play where they play and you just have to take it at face value they’re in fifth place and it looks unlikely that they’re going to be able to surpass the top two teams Baltimore and New York anytime soon so let’s break it down a couple names that will be free agents by the end of this season you say Kikuchi Kevin K Meer Justin Turner and Danny Jansen now Kikuchi was not very well loved his first year in Toronto but he has pitched better since then although I don’t know if he’s a big name that the Jays are really psyched about needing to get back on the roster Kier Meer had a much better last season than this season Toronto bronen back on one-year deal of course still brings you plus defending but they also have Dalton varo who is kind of leading the charge in the Outfield Justin Turner had a slow start he’s been better he’s old we’ll see what happens with him and then Danny Jansen when he does hit he hits I mean he’s had some great moments for the Blue Jays and that’s a name I do think that they probably would look at returning you look at the end of next season 2025 that’s where you get the big names Vladimir Guerrero Jr is going to be an unrestricted free agent alongside Bo bashat and Chris Basset finished 10th in saong voting last season who has been pretty good as a Jay but there is a decent bit of money tied up to him and the Jays might be looking to get off of that but the top two names there Vlad and Bo bashet and that’s what we want to talk about namely because those are the biggest trade chips that they’ve got to offer other teams now of course vlat his hype when he first came out in 2019 was enormous he was one of the top prospects in baseball and any time you’re a second generation major Leaguer especially when your dad was VL vadir Guerrero one of the game’s greatest players there’s going to be a lot of expectations and I think he has done a decent job of living up to that so far now of course he did Peak and really broke out in 2021 he had a 166 WRC plus weighted runs created plus 100 being the median and that means he’s 66 points above the average MLB hitter and he hit 48 home runs that year when he was the runner MVP to sh Otani now since then he had a 133 WRC Plus in 2022 including a gold glove win at first base won 18 WRC Plus in 2023 and this season back up into the 130s at 132 now Vlad Guerrero does have his doubters he does have his haters it might be because of the things that he said in the media could be because of you know his dad being who he is could be because he plays for a big Market team like the Blue Jays I don’t know but he has been good now a couple things to dissect with Vlad because obviously he’s not performing to what he did in 2021 he hasn’t came close to hitting 48 home runs and his WRC plus has been at least 30 points off ever since now his ISO which separates power from batting average looking strictly at extra base hits has dipped every single season season since a 290 ISO in 2021 is all the way down to 147 this season which obviously Is Not Great you want to hire ISO but he’s still performing well if you look at his plate skills he’s walking over 10% on his career and he’s striking out about 16% of the time he’s a good hitter and he’s hitting the snot out of the baseball stat cast really does like Vlad you see a ton of red a lot of 90 percentile attributes for his hitting problem is what he’s not doing from 2021 it’s his launch angle the proof is in the pudding 9.4 average launch angle last season is down to 5.2 this season generally speaking The Sweet Spot of the bat not quite where you want it to be ideally for power but he’s still been a very good hitter 130 WRC plus you’ll take that every day and stack would expect that he’s a better hitter than he actually is I’m not concerned about vat’s bat the problem is what do he give you besides that fan grass has him noted as a bottom five base runner in major league baseball this year if you take a look at their XBR base running above average statistic and he’s also been a bottom five defending first baseman it’s a position that you mainly look for hitting but that’s all that he gives you in 132 WRC plus when that’s all someone brings to the table what value is that how much in dollar amounts and I think that’s been the big issue why Vlad and the Blue Jays haven’t been able to find a deal to this point now I will say I do think Vlad is a guy I would try and get back 100% if you are the Toronto Blue Jays he’s still very young I don’t expect this hitting to go away anytime soon and again what I’m talking about here I think there’s reason to believe he can be even a bit better is he going to put up those 2021 stats each and every single year I doubt it but you’ll absolutely take what you’ve gotten so far especially considering there’s reason to expect he could be even better now I don’t know how much money you have to pay him I don’t know how many years he wants but his value is high right now unless you get a really good offer I don’t think I would trade him we’ll move on to B bashet that’s a bit of a different story you’re looking at guy that pretty much came up alongside Vlad Another Second Generation star you know his dad Dante bashet not a Hall of Famer but one of the great hitters in you know the 1990s or so in Major League Baseball chorus effect be damned you look at bashat he’s a 121 career WRC plus hitter that’s all the way down to 78 see he’s a below average hitter by quite a ways this season when you look at it he’s striking out less than ever but he doesn’t walk I always say someone like Juan stto if the balls aren’t falling you know if it’s just finding leather you can count on that on base percentage being high because he’s going to work walks he’s going to get on base Bob bat’s about a 5% walk rate guy so if he’s not getting Pace hits he’s not going to give you too much and you look even further than that just like Vlad he’s not a great defender and he plays a premium position Short Stop probably the second or third most important defensive spot you know if you want to rank like catcher Center Fuel and shortstop he is -10 defensive run saved on his career and -4 outs above average now he’s still a good hitter I don’t doubt that he’s going to resurface I don’t think he’s this bad and he is injured at the time that we’re recording Liz biggest issue right now he’s not getting the barrel to the ball you know he’s pretty much haved his percentages of getting the barrels and sweet spot percentages that he’s gotten in the past obviously not a huge home run hitter like we have seen from vlat previously but once again what do you have here what’s the dollar sign amount and what is his value to other teams when he hasn’t been that good this season and both him and Vlad being free agents at the end of next season I do think you try and trade bobash CH I do think there will be teams vying for him maybe they try him out at second base or something we’ve seen that swap happen before for Short Stops and they wind up playing a bit better there and maybe you do you know try and look at the options for vlat as well because he is a good hitter it just really depends on where you see your window going forward for your franchise if you look at the end of 2026 the year after Vlad Guerrero and Bo B are free agents you’ve got um George Springer and Kevin Gosman both of those contracts slated at 24 million each season they’re going to be off the books for those two and then that’s also in Dalton varo who’s been a pretty damn good blue jay since he came in great defender one of the best in baseball and then Alejandro Kirk who has been an Allstar for them both of those are going to hit free agency for the first time so I would absolutely look at trading at least one of them now I do think they’ve got um some interesting guys at those positions in their system now the Blue Jays mlb.com ranks them 24th in Major League Baseball not particularly high but they have some captivating young players they’ve got in orelis Martinez who is the 89th uh Prospect in baseball according to mlb.com and he’s a second base Third Base Short Stop he’s a an infielder he’s got a lot of power sled over 500 from 2023 and 2024 problem is he just got pumped for steroid he played one game he got the call up to the bigs played one game got his first hit he suspended for the next 80 uh we’ll see what that has um in store for him going forward but I don’t really see him as a short stop he’s more of a second baseman so again I I don’t think that’s necessarily a bow replacement but you look at a couple guys that can be bow Replacements such as Arun Nala who is uh I believe the first Indian player he was drafted last year 20th overall in the first round and he’s a short stop he’s a better defending short stop than b bashet you can pretty much count on he is a bit raw offensively but he is also 18 years old so you kind of come to expect that they’ve also got Leo am menz who I believe is number six in their rankings and he’s another short stop that I think can play the position better than Bo so if you look going forward I don’t think you got to be too worried that you don’t have anybody to fill that spot and then you look at potential first base options in replacement for Vlad Spencer Horwitz has been really good for Toronto since he’s came up I mean he’s been playing mostly second base because vlad’s at first the Blue Jays have tried and have definitely looked at getting Vlad more opportunities at third uh but Spencer has been pretty ridiculous this year he had a cup of coffee with Toronto in the majors last season but he’s put up an eye popping 193 WRC plus this season through 59 plate appearance it’s not a ton but you look further at the plate skills 19% walk rate to 10% K rate I mean that is very good and he showed that he’s can play the position of first base in the minor leagues if you are looking to get off flat if you think he’s going to ask for more money a longer contract than you’re willing to pay him I think that’s a viable option it really does come down in my opinion to what teams have to offer you know are they going to give you guys the farm are they going to give you maybe potential proven young players for a guy like Vlad or Bo that they can rent for a year and a half and maybe look to an extend long term you know MLB landscape has been weird this year there’s the top dogs and then there’s been a lot of you know teams right in the middle of the pack you look at the national league besides Philadelphia Atlanta Milwaukee and Los Angeles you’ve got a lot of teams right around 500 vying for the wild card slots I believe the third wild card slot still under 500 so I think there’s lots of teams that are going to look to buy they might believe they’re more contenders than they actually are but I think that could work out really well for Toronto so all all in all I think Bo is a guy I would look to move on from I think I like the guys they’ve got in their system enough to where they could move on from that going forward it doesn’t seem at least to me as an outsider maybe blue J fans can you know air their opinions as well I don’t know if Bo wants to be a blue J long term that’s kind of the perception that I’ve gotten and then Vlad Guerrero again it’s you know what kind of value can he get from him if it’s really high maybe you decide to part ways if you don’t think that you’re going to be able to find a good spot to get him locked up long term so that’s what I think about the Blue Jays here obviously they’re in a kind of weird spot with two franchise cornerstones right there they’ve been a pretty good team I me they’re just in the playoffs last season uh they they lost uh somebody but um yeah it it’ll be interesting like I said we’ll talk more about the trade deadline going forward I’m very interested it’s going to be a one hell of July 30th I believe this year so if you guys did enjoy this leave a like down below and let me know your thoughts and opinions on the blue Jason what do you think that Toronto should do

The Toronto Blue Jays have two of the biggest trade chips for this year’s MLB Trade Deadline in Vlad Jr and Bo Bichette.

Should the Jays tear down the roster and make a big trade with a hopeful contender? Its time to play ball and get serious about the future of the Toronto Blue Jays organization.

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