Scott Mitchell: Toronto Blue Jays begin process of remixing outfield for 2023

Spring training is finally here and the start of camp could not have come fast enough for the Blue Jays, who would like to put the focus back on the field instead of the inactivity surrounding it. After the Jays made a failed run at Shohei Ohtani and watched rivals acquire impact players such as Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes, it's safe to say the…

TORONTO -- The Blue Jays are betting on The Blip. Coming off another season that ended in a cruelly familiar fashion, fans are searching for a savior. Until the Instagram heartbreak of Dec. 9, that savior's name was Shohei Ohtani, but now Toronto needs to pivot once again to reinvigorate an offense in need. Speaking Wednesday for the first time…

The most surprising omission was Seattle Mariners outfielder Teoscar Hernandez. Last winter, 14 players received a Qualifying Offer, even borderline candidates for the QO like Joc Pederson. Perhaps the Mariners assumed that after a down-year Hernandez would actually accept the Qualifying Offer and force Seattle to pony up the $20.3-million owed to…

Many Blue Jays fans were left asking, "that's it?" as the 2023 trade deadline passed on Tuesday. The Jays added three players in three separate deals with the St. Louis Cardinals: relievers Génesis Cabrera and Jordan Hicks, and shortstop Paul DeJong. Hicks and DeJong are both two month rentals, and could be seen simply as backfill players for the…

The Toronto Blue Jays have had one rollercoaster of a season so far. Over the winter months, the Jays revamped their roster to be more defense-oriented and less power-hungry, trading away a bevy of players in Teoscar Hernández, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and top prospect Gabriel Moreno in exchange for outfielder Daulton Varsho and reliever Erik Swanson…

It's tough to know exactly what to make of the Toronto Blue Jays as we near the 2023 MLB trade deadline. On the one hand, a recent surge on either side of the All-Star break has them up to 54-44, just five games back in the loss column of the division-leading Baltimore Orioles. On the other, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are breathing…

TORONTO - Very few teams head into opening day with a complete, World Series-ready roster. Even the odds-on favourites have a need here and there, and if they don't, the four-month-plus grind between March 30 and the trade deadline is sure to reveal a couple of weaknesses. This year's Toronto Blue Jays club is no different, even if it looks like a…

As the start of spring training gets closer, the Toronto Blue Jays signing reliever Chad Green to a two-year contract last week looks great on paper. At age 31, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound righthander had 99 strikeouts and a 3.12 ERA in 83.2 innings pitching for the New York Yankees in 2021, and had a 3.00 ERA, 15 IP and 16 Ks before undergoing Tommy…

The Toronto Blue Jays are betting big on themselves come 2023. Bringing in three new position players into their everyday lineup, Toronto opted for a fairly massive roster overhaul after a disappointing end to the 2022 season that saw them crash out of the playoffs with a Wild Card series sweep loss against the Seattle Mariners. While names like…

The Toronto Blue Jays continue to try and break out of the giant shadows cast by the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the AL East ahead of the 2023 season. While general manager Ross Atkins and president Mark Shapiro have undergone heavy criticism for not pulling the trigger in the past, they have made some solid moves this winter, ahead of a…

Now that the free-agent market is mostly settled, the next major player movement to monitor will be trades. For teams unable to check off their free-agent wishlist, it's still possible they can address some needs by making deals. Pittsburgh Pirates All-Star center fielder Bryan Reynolds officially requested a trade earlier this month after the two…

The 2022 MLB Winter Meetings officially got underway on Sunday night. Former Toronto Blue Jays slugger Fred McGriff was selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, with names such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens missing the cut. However, the Hall of Fame isn't what gets baseball fans excited for the Winter Meetings. It's the flurry of trades, signings,…

After a slow-to-develop off-season, there has finally been some movement in Major League Baseball's free agency, and with the annual winter meetings just around the corner, the pace might be about to pick up even more. This week saw veteran slugger José Abreu join the Houston Astros on a three-year deal worth $60 million (all figures US).…

The Blue Jays made the first big move of the MLB offseason, sending All-Star outfield Teoscar Hernandez to the Mariners. What motivated the move? The Toronto Blue Jays had the best offense in the American League and had almost all of their position players returning in 2023. The Blue Jays lineup was too right-handed heavy and making a trade was the…

The Toronto Blue Jays are reportedly interested in outfielder Brandon Nimmo. The Blue Jays just traded Teoscar Hernandez to the Seattle Mariners and are looking at Nimmo as his replacement. Brandon Nimmo had a good season with the New York Mets in 2022. He didn't miss much time, playing in 151 games. He batted.274 with 16 home runs. He also led the…

The sunflower seeds are heading west. So is that great giant smile. And so is the man in the middle of all of the Blue Jays silliness, the ringleader of frolic and in-game fun. Teoscar Hernandez and his tossing of seeds were traded away by the Blue Jays on Wednesday in what looks on paper like a one-sided deal in favour of the Seattle Mariners. A…

Yesterday, the Blue Jays made some moves to their active roster that caught a few people by surprise (myself included). They activated Hyun Jin Ryu and Vinny Capra, both of whom were on the 60-day IL and needed a roster spot, as there is no IL during the offseason. For Ryu, he will return to the injured list in 2023 considering he will likely be…

The Toronto Blue Jays open their playoff series with the Seattle Mariners at Rogers Centre on Friday in the first MLB postseason game played in Canada in 2179 days. The pregame narrative: George Springer is one of the few Blue Jays who could thrive against Mariners starter Luis Castillo - who could pile up punchouts against a righty-heavy lineup.…

The Toronto Blue Jays entered the 2022 season as one of the favourites to not only make the playoffs but contend for the World Series title. Although the club lost Robbie Ray, Marcus Semien, and Steven Matz through free agency, the Blue Jays front office brought in Kevin Gausman, Yusei Kikuchi, Matt Chapman, Raimel Tapia, Yimi Garcia, and Bradley…

A postseason berth in the shortened pandemic campaign of 2020 helped advance the Toronto Blue Jays' timeline, and now they enter the new season as a team to watch in the American League. While it's fair to wonder whether they would have made the playoffs under normal circumstances, and if the stat lines of certain players would have leveled off…

The last time fans saw Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, he was hitting two homers in that painful 10-9 wild card series loss at Rogers Centre in October that ended their season. That was against the Seattle Mariners, who, ironically, just acquired the 30-year-old in a stunning trade announced earlier today. Hernandez goes to the…

Look for your mobile phone to light up with news updates this week as the Winter Meetings unfold in San Diego. The Toronto Blue Jays are going to be front and centre, as they look to upgrade their roster and take advantage of a closing competitive window led by star players like Bo Bichette, Vlad Guerrero, and Alek Manoah. Bichette will be a free…

Seemingly out of nowhere, the day before Christmas, the Toronto Blue Jays pulled a monster trade that not only shook up the American League East but also re-shifted. We reached out to Johnny Avello, director of race and sportsbook operations for DraftKings, and a member of the Sports Betting Hall of Fame, for his thoughts on the trade the brought…

Major league baseball spring training begins in a little more than six weeks. Let that sit for a few seconds, as waves of polar vortexes sweep over Canada and much of the U.S. For more of us, visions of Cactus League games start swimming in our heads. This means that despite some roster tinkering, most of the off-season heavy lifting has been…