The storm after the calm after the storm

Plus: Atkins speaks!!

⚾ Welcome to the Batflip, a free, independent, reader-supported site providing coverage of Toronto Blue Jays baseball. If you enjoy what you see, please subscribe to have every post emailed to you as soon as it goes up.

Please also consider upgrading to paid. Not only does a paid subscription unlock access to post comments and submit questions when I do a mail bag, it allows me to avoid using a paywall and keeps all my work free for everybody else. ⚾

Aaaand we’re back!

No, no. Not the Toronto Blue Jays! Certainly not the Blue Jays. They still feel like a shell of a team, despite the fact that—even after barely moving the needle so far this winter (more on which later)—they’re currently projected to be the fifth-best team in baseball according to FanGraphs’ “Depth Charts” system.

I'm not going to lie, I really thought they’d have given me something more to write about these last few weeks! Kinda been waiting on you to move that needle, Ross. And I don't think I'm alone. Though I did appreciate getting to take a little break for the holidays, and from having to think about this team after the humiliations of last month.

As regular readers will have noticed, I haven’t yet had much to say about the whole Ohtani Thing. And that’s because, what even is there to say?

The Jays took a shot they absolutely had to. The player exercised his rights as a free agent and made what he felt was the best decision for himself and his family. His agent did his job and got the best possible deal for his client. And fans, understandably, got wrapped up in the saga.

The whole thing played out pretty much how you’d expect. How a lot of people expected, in fact. Right down to the Yu Darvish-esque heartbreak. Everybody did what they should have, basically. Except, of course, the supposed journalists who got played by CAA and tweeted that the deal was done or Ohtani was on the plane and—either out of genuine naiveté or animated by a pathological lust for more clicks and radio station appearances—seemingly didn't bother to get a second source for their reports. And also, it pains me to say, the very good one who wrote the piece about the perils of social media that elided mention of Sportsnet's favourite rumour-mongering radio guest, and basically implied that a false report from Dodgers Nation should never have been trusted in the first place, without noting that the author was just one week removed from a 17-year gig covering MLB (and hockey before that) for the Southern California News Group (i.e. the L.A. Daily News, OC Register, etc.) and is a frequent in-studio analyst on Dodgers broadcasts for Spectrum SportsNet LA.

The “unchecked social-media gossip,” it seemed to me, was coming from inside the house BBWAA. Or at least the thousand gallons of accelerant poured all over our fun little bonfire was.

That's really all I've got. Somebody had to lose, and in sports, when the stakes are this high, that means losing very publicly. And in this case, while I understand the parallels to the Darvish saga of 2012, the stage here was significantly bigger.

What it actually reminded me of—because I’m me—was that moment in the 2010 World Cup final, when in the 62nd minute of a 0-0 game, a falling Wesley Sneijder slipped a perfect pass to send Arjen Robben in one-on-one against Spain's keeper, Iker Casillas. The elation. The anticipation. An unlikely, honestly undeserved, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity coming directly to a head. Robben gets closer and closer. Casillas has to commit. He goes the wrong way! Robben strokes the ball toward the gaping net, and just when you think this is it—this is The Moment, that the greatest thing ever is actually happening—the keeper throws out his leg and just barely deflects the ball with the outside of his boot. It skips wide. Robben facepalms. The game continues. Everything goes back to normal. But deep down you know that it really was the moment—the closest you were going to get—and it’s over. Nothing will ever feel quite like it again.

Only, you know, at least in that case I didn’t have a “journalist” granted credibility over and over and over by a team broadcaster telling me the ball was actually in the back of the net.

Ho ho ho, and now, a mere 13-and-a-half years later, I can put a picture of it at the top of a blog post and only feel a little bit like my entire soul is violently exiting my body.

So… no harm, no foul? People eventually moved on to briefly talking themselves into Michael A. Taylor somehow, and getting weirdly mad about cheap Rogers and feckless “Shatkins” as though the last half-decade didn’t happen, meaning that maybe they’re as over it as they need to be for the moment. And maybe I should be too.

Now let us never speak of it again. There’s an offseason to salvage!

---

Initial impressions

KK and IKF, huh? Not exactly the Christmas presents Jays fans were hoping for.

As always, it would be foolish to get too angry at the picture Ross Atkins is trying to paint before it truly comes into focus, but some of the details here appear quite weird at first glance. At least on the surface. A two-year deal for a right-handed utility player who was basically replacement level in 2023, has never been even close to a league average hitter, and has a career wRC+ of 84 against left-handed pitching? Un-solving one of the few roster problems seemingly solved by the end-of-season exodus—getting Daulton Varsho and his potential pool noodle bat into centre field full time—by bringing back Kevin Kiermaier?

I mean… enh? Like, there are ways to not hate these moves, though that’s not exactly the first phrase you’d like to come to mind when discussing (relatively) fresh transactions.

Kiner-Falefa seems redundant on the Jays’ roster until you remember that he really can play third base—and plenty of other positions. But I think third is the important one for the moment, and in just over 1,200 career innings he's +19 by DRS and +22 by OAA, and was +3 by both in just 240 innings there in 2023. The team’s other current options either can't say anything close to that, or simply aren't ready to start trying.

Santiago Espinal’s bat and glove both took a step back last year. Cavan Biggio looked more than passable there down the stretch last season, but we all remember the last time his was handed the keys to the position. Davis Schneider seemed fine for 17 MLB innings at third but was really kept away from the spot. And when you look at the way the industry perceives him—MLB Pipeline had his arm graded at 45 (below average) before he graduated from their list and BA's Geoff Pontes said in a recent chat that the “big issue” with him “is he's not playable in the field”—and you start wonder if the Jays are simply accepting the cold, hard reality here.

They certainly are doing so—much more than many fans, I should add—on Orelvis Martinez and Addison Barger. Martinez slashed .224/.333/.437 (.769 OPS) against Double- and Triple-A right-handers in 2023, and Barger slashed .250/.353/.403 (.756 OPS) overall, in a league where the average OPS was .794. They’re simply not ready yet, though it might not take long for Barger to force the issue if he hits the ground running in Buffalo, and Martinez could certainly get a look as a lefty-mashing option in the middle of the season.

Raising the floor to replacement level may not seem very exciting—because it’s not!— but I suppose it’s not nothing. That’s also the case in left field, where they’ve now gone from no one all the way up to Daulton Varsho.

It’s a start, at least. And while they appear to potentially be walking into the same exact problem that plagued the 2023 Blue Jays all the way to 89 wins—handing way too many at-bats to guys who can’t hit—I don’t entirely hate that the front office hasn’t knee-jerked all the way back in the other direction and decided that run-prevention no longer matters. Even if it feels like much of the fan base has done exactly that—myself included.

I mean, obviously run prevention matters. But aesthetically, psychologically, and because evidently people get super cranky about watching an otherwise elite team that just quite doesn’t hit enough, I’d sure exchange a bunch of random misplays to not feel absolutely demoralized every time a Jays hitter came up in a potentially game-changing spot for five months of my life I’ll never get back. You know, all things being equal.

But the thing is, I also don’t hate that bringing back Kiermaier signals that the Jays aren’t willing to fall into the trap that is the sunk cost fallacy on Varsho—a weird thing to say for a guy who put up a 3.9 rWAR somehow, and perhaps even odd for one who also had a 2.1 fWAR, but a thing I’ll say nonetheless—and vice versa, I suppose.

Hell, I might not even hate the idea of trying to do something similar to 2023 as I feel like I definitely should.

I know the pitching won't stay as healthy and the lineup felt dreadful, but they hit better than the Orioles in 2023. Better by wRC+, better walk rate, more home runs—literally more home runs! The O's out-SLG'd the Jays by .421 to .417, but that was it. Well, and Baltimore timed their hits better, managing a 128 wRC+ with RISP compared to the Jays' 102, and belting 55 of their 183 HRs with RISP versus 34 of 185 for the Jays.

I mean, there’s a reason the Jays’ projections—even with plenty of offseason work still to go—have them ahead of the O’s. And it’s this. The well-understood randomness of the RISP thing we spent way, way, way too much of the summer talking about.

Well… this and the fact that the systems don’t think Alejandro Kirk, George Springer, Daulton Varsho, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. could be nearly as bad again in 2024.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

---

---

Atkins speaks!

I wrote that entire section above on Tuesday, and here on Wednesday Ross Atkins has gone and stolen my Thunder by way of a Zoom call with reporters. I might have looked quite smart had I just hit publish before going to bed! But alas.

On a more positive note, however, I at least don’t have to furiously rewrite it all and can get straight into the meat of a fresh edition of Atkins speaks! So here’s everything the Jays’ GM said on Wednesday’s call, verbatim, and in order, with some of my thoughts added for good measure. You know the drill…

How do you feel about what you've been able to accomplish so far?

Yeah, great. We've had a strong stretch for the organization where we've continued to improve upon the group that is in place, which we feel very good about. Feel very good about the team that is in place, and as we look to improve upon it, see opportunities for us moving forward.

No two Ross Atkins sentences are ever the same, and yet they’re also kind of exactly the same. He’s the human equivalent of Josh Goldberg’s 2023 Jays tweet! These lines could have literally come from any single media availability since 2016, I think.

What's your direction from here?

Really just focussed on getting better, Keegs. You know, we're, again, a strong team that we're committed to improving upon. Feel really good about the progress that's happened throughout development. Seen a lot of good gains this offseason, seen a lot of really positive things that have happened throughout the 40-man roster and in our system, and excited about opportunities ahead.

I will always object when fans’ criticisms of Jays executives amount to “please do P.R. at us better,” but oof. These secret gains, made in secret, which you can’t see, are really definitely exciting.

This might even be entirely true—the club prefers players to winter at the PDC in Dunedin, so they’ve been seeing a lot their work up close lately—but it doesn’t exactly pass for a sales pitch. (Not Ross’s job, but… it kind of is!)

Did Ohtani go to Dunedin?

Yes, we did meet with him. He was in Dunedin. You know, today's about the players we've acquired and the team, and we'd like to focus on them. But I can clarify that question for you.

Never heard of him.

Were you manipulated by Ohtani’s agent into helping strike a better deal for the Dodgers?

No, absolutely not. I feel strongly otherwise. And again, we feel really good about the process. It was an incredible effort from ownership to business, to baseball, people coming together. Not the outcome we wanted, but feel really good about the process and absolutely felt like it was authentic and real.

MR. ATKINS, IF THAT IS YOUR REAL NAME, WOULD YOU ADMIT THAT WHILE YOU WERE NEGOTIATING TO OUTBID OTHER CLUBS FOR THE SERVICES OF A FREE AGENT PLAYER THAT YOU WERE, IN FACT, INVOLVED IN A FREE AGENT NEGOTIATION? [*POINTS TO PRESS CARD IN HAT, HIGH-FIVES STEVE SIMMONS*]

What would you say to Jays fans who were really hopeful for Ohtani?

That disappointment is shared. We were obviously disappointed with the outcome, and it was a very difficult phone call to receive. One of the more difficult ones in my career. At the same time, incredible process, and just group effort and collaboration that I feel so good about. Not only that process, but what it meant to be in that position for this organization, for the city for the country. There's no doubt in my mind that he was exceptionally attracted to this country, this city, this team. Felt incredible about the process. But we've moved on.

This is obviously all loser talk. But, I mean, they did lose. And I think it really was meaningful that they got so deep into the process. There are a lot of fan bases around the league that would have been thrilled if their front office could have got their bosses to even just listen to the business case, let alone genuinely commit to doing the thing. Another signal of just how far out of the dark ages they’ve managed to drag Rogers over the years. (But yes, meaningless without the player. And with Eddie’s unyielding potential to scurry back at a moment’s notice.)

Looking for more free agents still? What type?

We feel really good about this team, because of the reasons I've mentioned. The core that is in place, the progress that has happened—fundamentally, physically, and mentally— throughout the 40-man roster, the players that will be in Double-A and Triple-A for us, and in some of the process and staffing changes we've made, from a structure and communication [standpoint], and just getting the best possible information to our hitters—more specifically on the offensive side. Because of those reasons feel like we have a really good foundation in place, and we'll work to improve upon it over the course of the offseason.

I feel I have to cut in here, because any time I hear “physical, mental, fundamental,” or some iteration of the three, it takes me straight back to the John Farrell era. Those are precisely the words he used, after he got his “dream job” in Boston, to describe the way a proper “player development organization” functions, as compared to whatever the Jays had been doing at the time.

Farrell was, of course, the director of player development in Cleveland under Mark Shapiro in 2003 and 2004. And as Atkins’ echo of Farrell here reminds us, the Jays went to great lengths to transform themselves into one of those “player development organizations” immediately after former GM Alex Anthopoulos was all-but-ousted. I wonder what he’s up to these days.

Anyway, moving on…

Specifically, as to what the shape of that is, certainly not going to name names. But because we have a lot of versatility on our roster, players that can play multiple positions, we have several ways that we can improve upon our roster—but most likely will be in the outfield or DH category. But we're not limited to that.

The fact that third base isn’t mentioned here is at least a little bit concerning. A lot of fans who were absolutely finished with Matt Chapman as a hitter by the end of 2023 are going to be begging for a player like that after a season of IKF and his fellow utilitymen, I suspect. But, again, maybe someone like Martinez or Barger blows the doors off and grabs the job. It’s not like the bar will be set terribly high. And, as always, Atkins isn’t closing the door on Chapman there either. (Though I do get the sense from some of his posturing toward complacency—not to mention the fact that Cody Bellinger no longer really seems like a fit—that the idea here might be to wait out free agents, avoid handing out deals beyond a couple years, and keep The Big Pivot on the table for next winter).

Where do you see the biggest opportunities for internal improvement?

I think it's really just how we're helping and how we're supporting them. And that starts with me. How we can put them in the best possible position.

*PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED*

We have a team that performed relatively well last year, with a disappointing ending, that has had good in-season success for four years now. Has been, broadly, together for four years now. Coming into another year where we feel better about the group because of their experience, their experiences, and the work that they put in. So, the development system being in a position to support them, the players—the entire Triple-A infield, almost the entire Triple-A pitching staff—being in a position to support them. Good outfielders there that could support the group. Some of those may be starting on our team, on the major league roster. But a really good group behind our 26-man roster to support us over the course of the year.

And, you know, again, back to your original question, it's really just putting our staff in a position to best support the players that are here to get us back to that run scoring that we had in '22, and '21, and '20. Feel like last year was just a blip in terms of run scoring.

Well then it must have been a pretty big blip!

But I think you could also see it as a progression. Springer is aging, Chapman was a downgrade on Semien and now he’s also gone, Teoscar and Lourdes too, Vlad keeps stagnating for some reason, Kirk is a mystery box. Expecting this lineup to be more like those lineups, and not like the 2023 one, feels kinda foolish—even while acknowledging that there should at least be some positive regression for Springer, Vlad, Kirk, and Varsho.

It also feels like a lot is being placed on the Triple-A guys here. And while I will grant that it’s a pretty robust group, compared to most years, in terms of guys you wouldn’t completely hate having to see in a major league uniform at some point, that still makes me pretty queasy.

Or it would if not for the fact that, as I said way back at the top of this post, we’re still not seeing the full picture yet. (It also doesn’t hurt that few other AL contenders have done anything significant yet. More talent has left the AL East than entered it, I’d say.)

So last year was an outlier?

Well, it was an outlier over the last four years. Now, having said that, we're not going to rest on that. Now we're focussed on improving our process. As the league has adjusted to us, we need to adjust back. Of course we were working to do so last year, and just continued that work over the course of this offseason. And really excited about the progress that Donnie as the bench coach/offensive coordinator has made to build out a better process with John Schneider. We've added Matt Hague to our staff, which I don't think everyone is aware of yet, who was in Triple-A and had incredible success with a lot of our major league and player development hitters. So, feeling really good about the staffing structure and the process to best support them.

We may be overdoing it a bit on the accountability thing by this point, Ross. But, man, whoever was hiring all those staff members to implement all those bad processes sure was doing a shit job, huh?

Reading between the lines, I don’t think much good is being said here about banished former “hitting strategist” Dave Hudgens. And honestly, at the risk of sounding like one of those fans who develop parasocial relationships with all the members of the coaching staff, I’ll happily take the move from Hudgens to Hague—A PART OF YOUR 2015 TORONTO BLUE JAYS.

Hague's title and role?

Assistant hitting coach.

Like anybody else, I have no idea whether this is good or bad, but Hague’s a sharp guy who seems to be well-liked. And Blake’s endorsement really seals it.

Will IKF be in more of a Merrifield role, or is he a Chapman replacement?

It will depend on the rest of our offseason, really. There could be a pathway for him to get a lot of third base at-bats, the way we're currently constructed. That could change.

The things that were exceptionally attractive about Isiah were, one, the defensive ability, the contact rates, the very plus baserunner—but all of those things being versatile (defensively) and complementary to us.

RAISE THE “85 wRC+ BUT WITH GOOD CONTACT RATES” BANNER!

He also was—it was clear to us that he wanted to come to the Toronto Blue Jays, and he wanted to be on a winning team. I know we weren't the only positive destination for him, he had a lot of opportunities to go and play everyday shortstop—or more than one opportunity to go play on an everyday basis—and what was important to him was to win. He said, "I want to be in a winning environment." And that was exceptionally attractive to us.

Hopeful translation: He'll be fine with it if he stinks and we need to start letting one of the kids take his at-bats away.

Any particular offensive skillset you're still looking for?

The things I think were missing aren't people. I think the things that were missing were our ability to support and help the players, which we feel like we've worked to offset and put ourselves in a much better position. Obviously we've been a little bit right-handed, so could it lean a little left-handed as we look for fits? It certainly could. It doesn't have to be outfield/DH, because of the versatility. Certainly we could be open to a trade. We are not actively looking to trade away from our major league team. So there's a lot of different ways that we could continue to complement, or add, to the team in an impactful way.

Uh…

So you have sufficient power on the roster then?

Yeah, I think we have plenty of power to drive in runs. That doesn't mean we're not open to adding another power bat, but if you just name off four or five guys at the top of our lineup, they all drive in runs, they all hit home runs. We have plenty of power. We project to score runs again, and feel optimistic we will.

Ross, man. I am trying to see the method in the madness here, and to be as fair as I can. I understand that it’s a part of your strategy to be a little coy about your needs—that it’s good not to let agents and other teams know where you’re desperate. But just between us, please, for the love of god, go get some more guys who can hit home runs.

The playoffs are so random that an 84-win Diamondbacks team that was 32-39 in the second half beat 104- and 100-win teams on their way to the World Series. We can all accept the low odds of actually winning a championship. I mean, do not take that as an excuse to go on some Jerry DiPoto aim-to-win-54%-of-the-time kind of nonsense, but we can accept it. What we can’t accept is a repeat of whatever-the-hell 2023 was. It’s brutal out here, man. Spare some too-clever-by-half platoons and a little projected WAR for a few guys who can actually rake! Please entertain us!

Where is IKF the best fit defensively?

The way we're currently constructed, the pathway would be at third, but the versatility, his openness to that—his willingness to do so—is very attractive.

Center field? Catcher?

I mean, I hope it's off the table, because we don't need it. We also have Daulton Varsho, who's done that before. So, the centre field ability is definitely attractive. And being right-handed, with Daulton and KK being the other centre fielders on our team, that level of defence and having complementary skillsets is part of the attraction.

Baseball’s evolution into a game of “how many guys who can’t hit can we hide in our lineup every day?” is not my favourite. Thanks, Rays!

Also: CF IKF? Grim.

Also also: I want to see Varsho break out the catching gear on day one down in Florida. Don’t give me Payton Henry or the re-acquisition of Tyler Heineman when the inevitable onslaught of Kirk and Jansen injuries begin. Stop blocking Varsho from the only spots where his bat plays!

How many more position players are you looking to add?

I would say (one or two) is accurate, but I also would say that we feel very good about the team that is in place, and are really excited about the opportunities for players within our system. But we are open to additions and have been and will continue to work tirelessly on external additions.

Look, I know there are moves still to come. I really need to stop getting so negative here. But I’m just getting some very “I don’t have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you” vibes from all of this. The acceptance of mediocrity many feared when the playoff field was expanded.

I hope I’m wrong! I mean, I must be wrong, because there are still too many free agents left on the board. Teams are going to get better, the Jays very much included. But it’s a pretty uninspiring stage of the offseason that we’ve reached. Especially since it also feels like the work has barely started.

What would an outfield addition look like?

I was just saying that we could add an outfielder. With Cavan Biggio and Davis Schneider that can go out there, we don't need to add an outfielder. But we have outfield at-bats for a potential external acquisition.

RASIE THE “CONSIDERING RUNNING IT BACK WITH THE 20th RANKED OUTFIELD BY wRC+” BANNER!

What will third base look like?

We feel really good about the team that we have. So, between Santiago Espinal, Cavan Biggio, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, we have opportunities to deploy different lineups, and different players playing third base potentially.

I feel this is workable at one or two positions, but Ross would have us believe that third base, second base, DH, and to an extent left field could look like this. I mean, it’s your funeral, buddy.

Still looking for an impact addition, or will it be divided between two or three?

Well, I don't think we'll add three players. I think most likely that it's closer to one. But I think most importantly is we feel very good about this team that is in place. Defining the impact of that, we're open to different ways to acquire talent and make the team better, but we have a very good team in place that we are exceptionally excited about.

Not my favourite bit, but at least he’s committed to it.

The “closer to one” statement is interesting, I suppose. But I think I’ve decided I can’t take any of this seriously enough to get any more worked up about it, even in jest.

I will, however, take a moment to remind everyone—maybe especially myself—of how this front office really approaches this stuff. Naturally, it was articulated by Shapiro rather than Atkins. Here’s something he said on Bob McCown’s podcast last winter, just a few days before the Varsho trade broke.

It's a fair question, and if you're a fan it's a fair—'I want to know what's going on'—but I always say this. Think about this for one second, just logically. People don't think about, from a fan's lens, logically, right? We've got 30-40 guys and women working 60 to 80 hours a week, thinking of ideas and how to make our team better. The bulk of the ideas you see come across Twitter and Instagram and blogs and call-in to radio shows—the bulk of those have been explored. There's rarely an idea out there that's not preposterous that has not been explored.

And there's a lot of offseason left. We're halfway through it. We're a little more than halfway through the offseason. So don't panic. Assume that we've got an understanding of the market to get better—that means, could be trade, could be free agency. And assume that we're still going to make moves. That's the best answer I can give.

Now, Atkins wasn’t being quite as adamant on Wednesday about moves still to be made. He did seem to downplay the notion of adding impact talent pretty significantly, leaning hard into selling what’s already here. Which is fair, even if it’s not a message that anyone is ready to listen to. It’s also hardly unlike him. But… yeah, moves will be made.

Are you still exploring additions on the pitching side still?

Yeah, we stay plugged in and have to be open-minded, but it's less of a focus for us.

I should hope so.

Can you describe the way the market has played out?

Yeah, there's several factors at play there. One of which is, on the position player front there weren't, or aren't, just a ton of players available. But some of them still are. I think the other factor is teams are less willing to trade away talent from their systems, and trade away players from their major league roster than they have been, say, five to 10 years ago. And then the third factor is really out of our control, and that is the market that's happening and occurring that we have a sense for and a feel for—we certainly have some influence and impact on it. But those three factors end up defining the shape of what's available, what the costs are, and what decisions end up occurring.

Mealy-mouthed stuff here, but with maybe a hint of the important answer that he’d give next…

How does the fact that additions are happening late impact you?

It's positive for the Blue Jays. I would never choose it to be that way, personally, because I would rather have clarity for players knowing where they're going to be and having a home sooner than later, starting to plan for spring training. That's difficult for players. I would always prefer that things happen earlier, from a player's perspective. But from Toronto's perspective, we have a really good team, we have support from ownership, we have agility, so when you have those things, being patient can be advantageous.

In other words, like everyone else, they’re waiting for prices to go down because they don’t really feel the need to jump at what’s out there. The markets for guys like Jorge Soler, Rhys Hoskins, J.D. Martinez, Joc Pederson, Justin Turner, Teoscar Hernandez, Brandon Belt, Michael Brantley, and several other guys of that ilk haven’t really come into focus yet. And though there aren’t a ton of impact position players left out there overall, the Jays’ needs would be well served by a guy or two from out of that group.

Maybe if they keep waiting them out, they’ll be able to land a pair at a price that makes sense for them. Maybe they flex some financial muscle and eventually choose the one they like best and beat off all suitors. With their situation and several teams facing financial restraints they might even be in the driver’s seat. Or maybe the market eventually tells Bellinger and Chapman to take pillow contracts and they can pull another Semien Swoop. Or maybe a trade happens now that Kiner-Falefa gives them an extra body. Or they find a reasonable way to get out of the Varsho business—HINT HINT.

I don’t know. It will be fine! Or it won’t. Eat Arby’s!

Was the Ohtani meeting you acknowledged the one that kept you away from day one of the Winter Meetings?

I think getting into the specifics and the details further than saying yes and yes is as far as I'm comfortable going, out of respect for Shohei, out of respect for Nez Balelo. And we've moved on. Now, today's about Isiah and KK, and excited to talk about our team that is in place.

Out of respect for who??

Are you looking for a reduced role for Kiermaier this year?

No, and I'm glad you brought him up. I'll answer the question first, then I'd like to talk about KK a little bit. So, the outfield at-bats could just come from rotating guys through the DH spot, if we didn't acquire a pure DH—as you've seen us do from time to time in the past. Again, we have good internal options to do so, but open to external acquisition, if there's a way to make this roster better.

On the KK front, I would expect and hope that his role is largely similar, where he is playing very regular for us. Based on, obviously, health, performance. KK has been remarkable in his career, for two organizations now. We benefitted last year from having him around. It is so difficult for someone to bring that level of energy and positivity on a daily and nightly basis, and KK somehow finds a way to do it. Fans felt it, our clubhouse feels it. Our entire team feels it. When he's on the field that lift is powerful for us.

I don’t have a bad word to say about Kiermaier, honestly. Nice player, even if it’s a weird fit and hard to fathom having enough belief in Varsho to keep him in a spot where the offensive bar is fairly high.

And lastly, had you planned on going back to KK with Varsho already here as the likely CF?

We had planned on him being a very strong alternative for us. But as a free agent, we can't control that. We also want to do good business. So, we plan on him being a strong fit and strong potential fit, and feel very good about having added him.

RAISE THE “RAISED THE FLOOR” BANNER!

---

Twitter ⚾ Facebook ⚾ Bluesky

⚾ Want to support without going through Substack? You could always send cash to stoeten@gmail.com on Paypal or via Interac e-Transfer. I assure you I won’t say no. ⚾