With 62 days left until Spring Training and just under 100 days until Opening Day 2023, the Toronto Blue Jays continue to radically alter their lineup this offseason, trading starting left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and top catching prospect Gabriel Moreno to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a blockbuster deal for 26 year old, left-handed hitting outfielder/catcher Daulton Varsho.
BREAKING: The Toronto Blue Jays and Arizona Diamondbacks are in agreement on a trade that will send outfielder Daulton Varsho to the Blue Jays for a package that includes top catching prospect Gabriel Moreno, sources tell ESPN.
Could this be a move similar to the December 1990 trade made by then-General Manager Pat Gillick for OF Devon White, who went on to win five Gold Gloves and two World Series championships as a Blue Jay?
The move continues the clear pattern this offseason of upgrading the Blue Jays run prevention ability – at the expense of offense. Right fielder Teoscar Hernández (2.8 bWAR in 2022 with an OPS+ of 127, BABIP .335 and wRC+ of 129) was traded last month to Seattle for reliever Erik Swanson, who can generate ‘swing and miss’ to the tune of 70 strikeouts in only 53.2 innings pitched in 2022. He struck out 34% of batters faced this season (11.7/9 innings) versus the MLB average of only 22.1%, and only walked 4.9% of hitters faced, with a minuscule 1.68 ERA.
Free agent Chris Bassitt was signed to be the No. 3 starter in the rotation. He’s elite at generating weak contact, with an average exit velocity off the opponents’ bat of only 85.7mph – good for 95th percentile in MLB – and a hard hit percentage of only 32.8% versus the MLB average 35.8%. While his ERA and FIP at 3.42 and 3.66, respectively, were higher in 2022 than the starter he replaces in the Jays’ rotation, Ross Stripling (3.01, 3.11), he’s also been more consistent in pitching 5.9 innings per start on average since 2020 over 68 starts, and 6.1 innings on average in his 30 starts in 2022; Strip only averaged just over 5 innings per start this year, and averaged 4.8 innings/start over 45 starts as a Blue Jay since 2020.
Free agent center fielder Kevin Kiermaier (2022 bWAR 1.1, OPS+ 89, BABIP .290, wRC+ 90) was signed to a one year, $9M deal to bring his three-time Gold Glove winning platinum glove to Toronto. He’ll likely push George Springer to a corner outfield spot, which will be an upgrade over both Hernández and Gurriel defensively.
Hernández had a -3 defensive runs saved (DRS) in 2022 and a cumulative -8 since 2020. He was a -5 in terms of outs above average (OAA) in 2022. Gurriel posted a DRS of +3 over 896.2 innings played in LF this year after +6 last season. Springer is a cumulative -5 DRS for Toronto in CF since 2021, but has a cumulative DRS of +12 in RF since his rookie season in 2014. He’ll likely be shifted to an outfield corner more often in 2023 to reduce the wear-and-tear on his joints, allowing Kiermaier to patrol center, where he has a cumulative DRS of +134 since his rookie year in 2014, including +25 since 2020. He’s been good for total OAA of +71 since 2016.
And now the Jays have acquired OF/C Daulton Varsho from the Diamondbacks, which further strengthens the outfield defense. Varsho, who was a finalist for the NL Gold Glove in RF, tied for second among MLB outfielders with a DRS of +19 this season, including +14 in 541.2 innings played in RF (OAA +10) and +5 in 378.2 innings played in CF (OAA +8). His OAA of +18 led all MLB outfielders. He fills a big need in the hitting lineup as well with his left-handedness, and was good for a bWAR of 4.9 in 2022, with an OPS+ of 109, BABIP of .269 and wRC+ of 106 with 27 home runs in a much weaker Arizona lineup. He should benefit from better protection in the Jays’ batting lineup, where he replaces Gurriel’s 2.2 bWAR, OPS+ 113, BABIP .346 and wRC+ of 114.
By subtracting the one year and $5.8M left on the Gurriel contract, of which the AAV of $3.1M counts against the luxury tax payroll, RosterResource puts the updated Blue Jays luxury tax payroll just above the CBT threshold of $233M. Varsho qualified for Super Two status this offseason with his 2.128 years of MLB service time, which makes him eligible for arbitration this offseason even though he hasn’t accumulated three years of service time yet. Per RosterResource, he’s projected to earn $2.8M in 2023.
Amongst teams in the AL East, the Blue Jays trail only the NY Yankees’ $292M estimated CBT payroll. Arguably the Jays front office have done exactly what they said they would at the beginning of the offseason in focusing on run prevention and pitching, as well as on improving the balance in the Blue Jays batting lineup. But including in Gurriel in the trade for Varsho could be construed as a luxury tax driven move?
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
