Giant-Size Scold - Early Offseason Roundup
(Belated José Berríos news, awards season, Gabriel Moreno, and more)
Nothing like the first major piece of news of the offseason for the Jays to make the reality that I’ve been sitting on my ass for the past month and a half or so more apparent than ever. Break’s gone long enough, let’s get this bread, gamers.
With the offseason starting to heat up at a pace that seemed unlikely given the looming CBA negotiations, it’s time to take stock of what’s gone on so far for the Jays over the last 40-plus days. While nothing huge has happened (except for the one thing) there is stuff here that could affect how the Jays’ offseason progresses, directly or otherwise.
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(Note: A separate post on the players protected from and exposed to the Rule 5 draft will be out soon)
Smaller Transactions
Aw yeah, this is what we’re here for. This is what it’s all about, baby.
Robbie Ray, Marcus Semien, Steven Matz, and Corey Dickerson are the higher-profile Major League free agents (to various extents), but some depth pieces have also elected free agency. Among those, Joakim Soria (more on him in a sec), Jarrod Dyson, David Phelps, Rafael Dolis, Carl Edwards Jr. and Kirby Yates are now major league free agents, while minor leaguer relievers Dany Jiménez, Travis Bergen, and A.J. Cole have also elected free agency.
Of all those names, I’m intrigued by Yates and Phelps for potential reunions. Phelps looked good for the Jays until a lat injury cut his season short, and could find himself back with the Jays on a one-year deal, though I can’t imagine Toronto would be the only team looking for cheap but solid mid-to-low-leverage relief help. I could say similar things about A.J. Cole actually, and signing him to a minor league deal (I don’t see him commanding a bigger payday than that) would benefit any team, though his shakier peripherals would, I assume, strictly limit him to low leverage and minor league depth.
Kirby Yates is an interesting case. We have documented footage of Yates being elite, and the Jays clearly liked him enough to sign him to a one-year $5.5 million deal last year. Not to mention that the opportunity to make Kirby’s Dreamland references for a whole season is a tantalizing one indeed.
But as the injuries have piled up for Yates the last few years, we’re getting further and further removed from him being one of the best relievers in the game. While a reunion is certainly possible, undergoing Tommy John surgery means that Yates wouldn’t be able to make an impact on a big league team until mid-2022 at the earliest.
I don’t hate the idea of bringing him back, but any team that does sign Kirby Yates should not count on him making a meaningful difference. Jays should still do it, though. I have a whole stable of unused Nintendo puns ready to go.
Speaking of relief depth, Jacob Barnes was designated for assignment and getting outrighted to Triple-A, where he’ll presumably stick around as an insurance policy for the Jays. As we’ve mentioned, Barnes did better than could have been expected with the Jays in 2021, at least for a while, and while you’d prefer he only be used in a case of absolute necessity, he’s not a bad piece to have in the organization.
Also, hard-throwing reliever Bryan Baker, who struck out one hitter (Josh Harrison) and conceded no runs in his one inning with the Blue Jays in 2021, was claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles. You’d rather not lose someone like Baker if you can (the 26-year-old had a terrific season in Triple-A and wouldn’t be half bad as a depth option), but the Jays made the defensible decision that the 40-man spot was better left opened up for new additions and players to be protected from the Rule 5 draft.
Lastly, veteran reliever Joakim Soria announced his retirement on November 11 after 14 seasons in MLB. Over 773 games and 763 innings, Soria had an excellent 3.11 ERA with a virtually identical 3.12 FIP. An 18-year old Los Angeles Dodgers signing out of Monclova, Mexico, Soria underwent Tommy John surgery as a very young player and played in the Padres organization (as well as the Mexican League’s Diablos Rojos del México), Soria was selected in the Rule 5 draft by the Kansas City Royals, thrust into the KC bullpen as a 23-year old rookie who hadn’t pitched above A-ball. After five excellent years with the Royals, Soria underwent a second Tommy John surgery, a career-ender for many. He came back strong though, eking out a career as a journeyman reliever, bouncing around to the Rangers, Tigers, Pirates, two more years with the Royals, White Sox, Brewers, A’s, Diamondbacks, and, finally, the Blue Jays. It was a quietly remarkable career for the stoic, ubiquitous Soria, whose time in the big leagues is summed up well in this video by Jolly Olive.
The 131 Millon Dollar Man
On Tuesday, it was reported by Héctor José Torres Donato that José Berríos, who was due to hit free agency after the 2022 season, had signed an extension with the Blue Jays. Shi Davidi later reported the exact terms.
Berríos will be a Toronto Blue Jay for the better part of a decade. Which is exactly what the Jays needed to ensure. While “La Makina” may not be among the elite starting pitchers in the game, he’s still not only exceptionally good but exceptionally consistent with regards to staying on the field. Since his first full season in 2018, Berríos has chucked the fifth-most innings of any pitcher in MLB behind only Gerrit Cole, Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, and Zack Greinke. His nickname does mean “The Machine”, after all.
They’ve been good innings too, with a 3.71 ERA and 3.78 FIP over those seasons. He’s been exceptionally solid in his 12 games with the Blue Jays thus far, and there’s little reason to believe he won’t be able to sustain it over the years to come.
Not only that, but the breakdown of the money means that the Berríos extension should have minimal impact on their ability to sign free agents this offseason. Such as, for instance, the new Cy Young Award winner.
Awards Season
As expected, almost flying under the radar even, some Jays cleaned up during awards season. Now-free agent Robbie Ray beat out Gerrit Cole for the American League Cy Young Award while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. finished well short of Shohei Ohtani for the AL MVP, though this one was never really in doubt.
I’m not sure what possible reason anybody could have ranked Salvador Pérez over Vladdy other than KC homerism, but I would be a hypocrite if I complained about that, as will soon be readily apparent. Also, anyone who bemoans Vladdy missing out on unanimous second-place should reconsider their priorities a little bit.
Where Vladdy did take home hardware was the inaugural Juan Marichal Award, given to the best Dominican player in Major League Baseball. He finished well ahead of Fernando Tatís Jr. and Juan Soto with 97 votes. Tatís and Soto got two votes and one vote, respectively.
Vladdy also received his first Silver Slugger Award as the AL’s best offensive first baseman (pretty incontestable) while Marcus Semien took home both his first Silver Slugger and his first Gold Glove for his play at second base on both sides of the ball. Finally, Teoscar Hernández won his second consecutive Silver Slugger.
Not announced yet are the results for the All-MLB Team, in which Vladdy, Semien, Bo Bichette, Hernández, Ray, Berríos, and Jordan Romano are all nominated at their respective positions.
For the record, here is my ballot:
Choosing Teoscar Hernández over Aaron Judge is admittedly blatant homerism on my part, but he’s my favourite player and this is a popularity contest anyway, so bite me. If Judge doesn’t win, it’s because he didn’t want it enough. That’s what I’m going with.
FUTURRRRRRRRE
After an injury-shortened 37 game minor league campaign in which he slashed .367/.434/.626 in mostly Double-A, the Jays assigned catching prospect Gabriel Moreno to the Arizona Fall League to make up for some lost time. In 22 games with the Mesa Solar Sox, Moreno has been business as usual, slashing .329/.410/.494 and being named to the “Fall Stars Game”. He’s likely to start 2022 in Triple-A, and it shouldn’t be all that long before Moreno, now the consensus top Jays prospect, Baseball America’s Number 12 prospect overall, and Keith Law’s Number Four prospect makes his Major League debut.
In a piece from TSN’s Scott Mitchell, Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins says the following on Moreno:
“I hear about [Moreno] three or four times a day, which I think that’s probably a good sign,” […] “Other executives, other media members, other agents. It literally comes up three or four times a day.
“I’m not surprised based on the performance, the plate discipline, the contact rates, using the whole field, the numbers of pitches he’s seeing, the excitement around his catching, as well, and hearing positive things about his third-base play. There’s a lot to be excited about.”
Jays first base prospect and current Solar Sox teammate Spencer Horwitz says this:
“Moreno is The Show,” […] “He’s the best hitter I’ve ever seen. He’s a freak. He’s a special player and will be for a long time.”
I mean, sign me the fuck up. I can’t remember a Jays prospect with the same level as Moreno, who may already have eclipsed the likes of Bo Bichette and Nate Pearson in terms of hype level. As far as I can remember, the only Jays prospects with higher levels of excitement that I can remember were Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Travis Snider. I realize that one of those isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement.
One possibility that has captured some fans’ imaginations is the idea of Moreno moving to third base full time, thus filling the team’s current vacancy at the position (with all due respect to Santiago Espinal). After all, he was originally drafted as a shortstop before shifting to catcher, and both the Solar Sox and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats have employed him at third base.
The thing is that if the team was serious about moving him there full time, I think they would have played him there for more than three games in 2021. And while his offensive projections would work well at third base, they would be outstanding at catcher, where he also grades out well defensively. At most, giving him some time at third is meant to give him some more versatility to get his bat in the lineup every day when he’s not playing catcher or DH. But in no ways should this be the deciding factor against the Jays getting José Ramírez or Matt Chapman, or even Eduardo Escobar.