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| Vladdy and Bo |
Settle back, put the coffee on and relax, this is going to be a long blog.
With Spring Training only 3 weeks away, I thought about the upcoming season.
With current and former Blue Jays players in Toronto this weekend to take part in the fan festival known as Winter Fest, the media got a rare opportunity to check in with members of the 2020 team during what has been a busy offseason for the franchise.
How has Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s winter workouts been going? What do the players think about their new ace, Hyun-Jin Ryu? And what are the new expectations for the team heading into the new season?
1. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has slimmed down and remains the Blue Jays third baseman, for now.
When the 2019 season stretched into September, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grew tired. He told his manager he was simply out of gas.
The fatigue served as a wake-up call for the 20-year-old third baseman, who appears to have tackled the Blue Jays challenge for him to improve his fitness head on this offseason.
Since the season ended, Guerrero has been working through the plan the Blue Jays training staff built for him, as he approaches an offseason routine more seriously than he ever has. He’s already seen results, saying he feels “stronger” now than when we last saw him in Toronto.
“Basically, it’s my entire body. I feel a big change in me. I feel lighter and I will continue with that. There’s still one month to go before spring training, so I’m not done yet,” Guerrero said through team translator Hector Lebron.
Guerrero has spent the bulk of his time working out at the team’s complex in Dunedin, Fla. Typically, Guerrero spends his days running through various baseball drills, followed by weight lifting and then finishing with cardio. Guerrero’s Instagram account has frequently served as a window into these workouts as the infielder has posted videos throughout the winter months.
Blue Jays staff and his teammates said they have been impressed with Guerrero’s dedication to his regiment, with manager Charlie Montoyo saying he’s “proud of him.”
“Him working out this offseason and really committing to it, I think it’s something that’s going to take him even further, going to take him to the next level,” teammate Cavan Biggio said. “I think not even this year, but even moving forward with his whole career. He’s just going to be able to learn more about it, and learn more about his body, what’s good for him and whatnot. He’s 20 years old. He’s still a kid.”
Guerrero has committed to this plan with an eye on playing third base more regularly next season, identifying 150 games as his target. But, presumably, all the work fielding groundballs, taking swings in the cage and lifting weights in the gym is meant to improve his performance when it is on the field, too.
In 123 games in 2019, Guerrero hit .272 with a .772 OPS and 15 home runs. His season was respectable, but underwhelming when compared to the insane hype that surrounded him as the sport’s No. 1 prospect heading into the season.
The plan, however, remains for Guerrero to continue playing third this season, although the option to move him to first remains on the table.
“There’s always going to be that conversation with the kid because he’s a big kid,” Montoyo said. “But he’s got such good hands that you’ve got to give him the chance to play third. Then if we get to the point that he goes to first, he goes to first. But right now, he’s our third baseman.”
As for Guerrero, he said the only personal goals he’s carrying into this season is to be in the lineup every day.
“The rest will come,” he said. “I don’t want to put any personal goals about hitting right now. I just want to stay healthy all year and just somehow try to help the team win.”
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| We know Bo |
Last season, Bo Bichette hit the ground running following his late July call-up, setting a number of rookie and MLB records as he hit .311/.358/.571 through his first 46 games in the big leagues.
His season came to an unfortunate halt when he suffered a concussion on Sept. 19. But cleared to resume baseball activities on the final day of the season, Bichette has been back at work this offseason, heading to the cages nearly every day with his dad, former major-leaguer, Dante, to make sure that when the 2020 season begins, he once again gets off to a strong start.
“It’s been really great so far,” he said of his offseason work. “I’m just trying to get in better shape, get faster, stronger, figure out how to become a better hitter, fielding — everything.”
Following his standout rookie campaign, Bichette identified areas where he wanted to improve, namely achieving more consistency in every aspect of his game, from falling into few slumps at the plate to eliminating errors in the field to becoming stronger mentally. In terms of personal goals for 2020, Bichette isn’t the type to set his sights low. And, if his play in 2019 proved anything, why should he?
“There’s definitely things that I want to accomplish,” he said. “I’d love to be the MVP of the league. I’d love to make an All-Star game. I’d love all that stuff, but for me it’s more about having goals that I can control and those goals are just making sure every day I’m getting better, becoming a better teammate, becoming a better player on the field, playing hard every day, working hard every day to put myself in a position to succeed. So that’s what I’m trying to focus on.”
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| Korean Import |
3. You know when you learned the Blue Jays signed Hyun-Jin Ryu and you just had to text your buddy right away?”
Well, members of the Blue Jays experienced a similar feeling when news broke that the South Korean left-hander was coming to Toronto. General manager Ross Atkins received a handful of texts from his players, who were also busy texting each other, too.
“I did text Ross and I know a couple other people texted Ross,” Bichette said. “And I got a ton of texts myself from teammates, so everybody’s super pumped about it.”
Unsurprisingly, Ryu was a major talking point this weekend, with many Blue Jays expressing enthusiasm about what the 32-year-old can bring to their club after a season in which he posted a league-best 2.32 ERA with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“He can pitch. That’s the thing,” outfielder Randal Grichuk said. “He doesn’t just go out there and light up the velo and just intimidate guys. He knows how to pitch and I think he’s going to teach a lot of guys — younger guys — what he knows and I think he could be a difference-maker for the whole staff.”
Already, lefty Ryan Borucki plans to ask Ryu about his cutter, a pitch Ryu added to his repertoire in 2017 and has since been a valuable weapon in his arsenal. Meanwhile, right-hander Trent Thornton was studying Ryu’s repertoire as soon as he signed. Thornton hopes to pick his brain this spring, potentially about Ryu’s bread-and-butter changeup.
Ryu not only improves the rotation, but for players such as Bichette, the signing — along with the other additions, including right-handers Tanner Roark and Chase Anderson, and infielder Travis Shaw — also represents a confirmation that the front office believes in their talent, and worked hard to bolster it this winter.
“It’s really cool to see the front office realize what we all thought we had,” Bichette said. “We all thought in the clubhouse that we had a chance to be good this year. We wanted to take a step forward and we wanted the front office to help us with that. For them to kind of agree with us and show us that by the moves they made and all that is really exciting.”
4. And an old friend helped catcher Reese McGuire compile an early scouting report on Ryu.
Former Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin caught 20 of Ryu’s 29 starts with the Dodgers last year. With Martin behind the plate, Ryu’s ERA was 1.52 in 130 2/3 innings.
McGuire, who was impressive down the stretch for Toronto last season, joined the Jays in a 2016 trade with the Pirates and got to know Martin over the next two years in spring training. They spoke again by phone last Friday.
“He’s the perfect guy to reach out to because he caught Ryu last year,” McGuire said. “That’s something Russ has always been good at, is having an open line of communication. It was fun when he was here.”
In particular, McGuire asked Martin about Ryu’s repertoire. Without sharing state secrets, the young catcher said he thinks he’ll enjoy working with the left-hander.
“He’s easy-going,” McGuire said. “He’s definitely a master of his craft. He’s not a guy that just chucks it and hopes his stuff plays. He’s dialed-in when he’s out there. He does his homework. I’m really looking forward to getting down there (in Florida) and meeting him.”
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| The shoemaker |
With the moves the club has made this offseason, they undoubtedly are a better team than they were a year ago. Improvements from their own players should also lead to better results on the field, too.
But, on paper, the Jays still look to be in the bottom third of the league. An improvement to a .500-ish ballclub looks the most likely. That, according to Bichette, wouldn’t necessarily be a bad outcome. But he believes the team should — and could — perform better than that.
“If we ended the season at .500, I don’t think we’d be happy, but I think it’d be a good building block,” he said. “We fully expect to compete and I think that a successful season in our view would be competing for the playoffs late into September and I don’t see any reason why we can’t.”
That sentiment was shared by some of his teammates, such as starting pitcher Matt Shoemaker, who pointed to the improvement the club experienced late in the season, including a 12-13 mark in the month of September, when most of the club’s young stars were in the lineup every day.
“Watching what this club was capable of doing, I was like, we need to take that and build off that because it was exciting,” said Shoemaker, who spent most of last season watching from the sidelines after tearing his ACL in April. “We all saw it. It was super exciting, the talent level, what the team could do and go out there and win. Like I said, we’re just going to build off that.”
Of course, hope always springs eternal at this time of year. But the Blue Jays appear quietly confident they may surprise this season.
“Realistically, the goal is to make the playoffs,” Shoemaker said. “That’s our goal — to go out there and win. And we know with the pieces that we added and potentially more pieces that we could be adding, we know that’s always the mindset and we know that it’s very realistic. We just have to go out there and do it and play as a team and do it together.”
6. It’s been a long time since Cavan Biggio played some centre field.
From the 24-year-old’s point of view, he’s long maintained he’s willing to put the team first and play any position his manager needs him to.
“I just want to be able to provide Charlie with the best possible team and the best chance to win,” he said.
Biggio primarily played second base for the Blue Jays in 2019, logging 85 games at the position. But Biggio has long been tagged a utility-type player. He spent some time at first base and right and left field last season, too. However, to find the last time Biggio played centre field, you have to go all the way back to his high school days.
“I played one game in centre field in high school and that was only because my brother, who was the centre fielder at the time, got ejected the game before and was suspended for our next game,” he said. “So, I had to go and play centre field in the playoffs.”
Based on comments from Montoyo, Biggio in centre appears to be nothing more than a contingency plan. Maybe he’ll get reps there during spring training. But if he doesn’t, Montoyo won’t play him there in-season. “That’s not fair for the kid,” he explained.
So, who then will be in centre field for the 2020 Jays? It’s currently under discussion. Barring a major upgrade on the trade front, the team will likely go with either Teoscar Hernandez or Grichuk in centre. Meanwhile, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. has the inside track on left field, while Derek Fisher, Jonathan Davis, Anthony Alford and Billy McKinney will fight for the remaining outfielder jobs.
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| Rowdy |
Even if Biggio doesn’t play centre field, he’s still a guy that can move around the diamond — and the same can be said for a few of his teammates. The front office has built a roster that is easy for Montoyo to mix and match, which is to his liking.
Travis Shaw, who signed a $4-million, one-year deal, is a versatile infielder who can play first, second or third base. The expectation is that Shaw will primarily play first base, but he can swap in at another position, too, should he need to. If Brandon Drury makes the team out of camp, he’s a candidate to take over a utility role. Santiago Espinal and Breyvic Valera are options for that job, too.
The DH spot will also likely cycle through the team as a way to give players a day off from playing in the field, Montoyo said.
So, what does all this mean for Rowdy Tellez, who hit 21 home runs with a .742 OPS through an up-and-down 2019 season?
“Rowdy’s going to have a chance,” Montoyo said. “I’m a fan of Rowdy and you guys know that. And he’s still a young kid. Some guys take a little bit longer, sometimes they do it faster. That’s above-average power that he’s got and you don’t find that everywhere, so Rowdy’s going to get a chance to make the club also, for sure.”
8. Shoemaker is healthy and excited to pick up where he left off.
His knee feels great. And his arm feels even better.
“I’m ready to go,” he said.
For three straight years, Shoemaker has seen his season interrupted by injury, with the latest being a freak ACL tear that ended his 2019 in April. It was even more heartbreaking considering Shoemaker had got off to a blistering pace on the mound, pitching to a 1.57 ERA through five starts.
But after about six months of gruelling rehab, Shoemaker was cleared to throw off a mound in October. It’s been a normal offseason routine for him since and he is expected to be a key piece of the rotation this season.
“I think as much as injuries really do suck, you just come out a stronger, better person because of it,” he said. “You come out stronger physically and mentally. You just got to mentally stay strong each day when you’re down in the dumps, not playing. It’s not fun. But something about fighting through that and then now being great, just having a fresh mind and, like we just talked about, fresh arm, fresh body. Really excited.”
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| Mr. Giles |
9. It doesn’t sound like we should expect a Ken Giles extension anytime soon.
Blue Jays closer Ken Giles has made it known that he’s enjoyed his time in Toronto, especially as he’s experienced a career renaissance following his trade from Houston in 2018. But so far, talk of staying with the Blue Jays beyond 2020 doesn’t seem to have gained much ground.
Giles was in his final year of arbitration-eligibility this winter. In theory, the days leading up to the Jan. 10 deadline for teams and players to exchange salary arbitration figures seemed the prime time to discuss a long-term deal. But Giles said his focus was on getting a one-year deal done. The Blue Jays agreed to pay the 29-year-old closer $9.6 million in 2020.
“I just wanted to focus on this year, and just make sure we come out with an agreement,” said Giles, who is scheduled to become a free agent following the season. “That was the main priority for me.”
The Blue Jays certainly welcome him back. When Giles was on the mound last year, he was among the best relievers in baseball. He pitched to a 1.87 ERA over 53 innings. His 14.09 K/9 ranked seventh among all qualified relievers, while his strikeout rate of 39.9 percent was fourth. He went 23-for-24 in save opportunities.
But Giles also spent some time on the injured list with various elbow ailments, most critically around the trade deadline, which in all likelihood is why he remains with the Blue Jays today. But after resting his arm this offseason, Giles said his body feels “fantastic.”
“I got into the gym a little bit earlier to try to strengthen up a little bit sooner and we’ll see how the results come out,” he said.
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| New Uniforms, old uniforms,eh |
10. Count Bo Bichette among fans of the Blue Jays new (polarizing) alternate jerseys.
By now, you’ve surely seen that the Blue Jays have re-introduced a powder blue alternate jersey to their uniform rotation for this season.
The Blue Jays first revealed the new threads on stage on Saturday, with Biggio, Bichette, Grichuk and Guerrero acting as models.
The updated uniform, which includes a powder blue button-up shirt and pants featuring navy accents, pays tribute to the road jerseys the Blue Jays wore from 1977 till 1988, but with a modern twist.
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