Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has every intention of playing third base in 2021, per Emily Sadler of Sportsnet.ca. Guerrero understands why the move was made, but the decision to move Vlad Jr. to first was in part to protect him from a knee injury that contributed to his struggles at the hot corner in 2018. With the injury behind him, Guerrero apparently has some newfound fervor to turn himself into a viable option at third. Vlad’s defensive marks at first in 2020 were similar to his DRS and UZR at third base in 2019, which is to say they weren’t great (-4 DRS, -13.8 UZR/150). To his credit, Vlad took responsibility for letting himself fall out of shape during the pandemic shutdown.
If Guerrero succeeds, the Blue Jays could broaden their free agent search to include a full-time first baseman or second baseman. Cavan Biggio could move to first base full-time, leaving Toronto to explore pacts with Kolten Wong, DJ LeMahieu, or Cesar Hernandez, suggests Shi Davidi of sportsnet.ca. Of course, that probably presumes not only that the Jays are comfortable with Vlad at third, but that they are comfortable committing to him there for a couple of seasons. They have the designated hitter to play with as well, and Biggio’s versatility serves as a safety net of sorts, but it’s still worth a consideration. Travis Shaw is the incumbent at third, but he’s not likely to return as the full-time starter (.239/.306/.411 in 2020).
Timing might be an even bigger factor than Guerrero’s progress at the third for Toronto, depending on how quickly the hot stove shapes up. There are a number of high-profile third baseman available via trade should the Jays choose to go that route. This year’s platinum glove winner Nolan Arenado could theoretically be available via trade from the Rockies, as is Kris Bryant of the Cubs. Bryant can move around the diamond a bit as well, so even a star acquisition at third doesn’t preclude manager Charlie Montoyo from utilizing Vlad at both infield corners. Beyond LeMahieu, World Series champ Justin Turner is probably the best option at third base, though we here at MLBTR predict Turner to return the Dodgers.
I hope they don’t sign turner. If they really want to compete they need to trade for Arenado or Bryan and hey some starting pitchers.
He’ll take a discount for Carly Rae Jepsen
Hey I just met you and this is crazy, But here’s my number so call me maybe!
Omg you are so funny wow
They just signed Robbie Ray. Turner would be somewhat redeeming. Besides, he’s earned another contract.
Ha-Seong Kim or Marcus Semien as a back-up plan is who I want to see Toronto bring in for 3b.
Hey, it looks like he’s putting in the work to ge back to thirdbase shape. He said he’s lost just over 30 LBS and counting. Put on his instagram some of the work he was doing and he does look slimmer.
He is a scary prospect 50lbs lighter. He could very well live up to the hype this season. I hope to see him succeed.
Seems to be improving too. Put up a 115 OPS+ last year compared to 106 OPS+ the year prior. Turning some of that fat into muscle will definitley help him add some power.
He already has plenty of power. he just needs consistency
He will keep getting stronger naturally too as he gets older which is crazy to think
And have a better eye at the plate. He has great power but he very susceptible to pitches outside the zone and pitchers exploited that last season.
He just needs to hit the ball up instead of down. Doesn’t matter how hard you hit it, if it’s on the ground it’s not going out of the park.
If he can get that to 60 or 70 we’d be talking. His been massively overweight since his debut.
If assets are to be used in a major trade, is it better to go for Arenado or Lindor? Personally I’d prefer Lindor, I think they would have a better chance to re-sign him than they would with Arenado.
You don’t resign Arenado since he already comes with the big contract.
…and a no trade clause 🙁
If they would trade for Arenado, he would most likely guarantee to not waive his opt out clause. If that was the case he would be signed for a few more years. I don’t know exactly how long. I would like Lindor more only if we re-sign him. Arenado is a stud at 3B but also 31-32 years of age I believe. So Lindor would add a bit more youth. Either choice can be huge for us.
Arenado is 29 turning 30. But he will see a drop in his production leaving Coors with lots of money tied to him. It’s a risk but if the deal means taking the contract and giving up very little, Jays should consider it.
This is not the year to expect large contracts to be traded. Until there is a guarantee of fans in the stands and a full season, no one wants those contracts, including Toronto. They don’t even know if they will be playing in Canada, yet.
Save the assets for pitching whenever possible.
Arenado is 5th or 6th best target on the Rockies. Trying to get Senzatela, Freeland or Gray closer to sea level would be huge. Getting a bat closer to sea level seems like a trap. Go for Story. Or Dahl. The Arenado contract is brutal.
Save beefing up your offense when you really need pitching for the Angels.
What if Nats start slow, Strasburg has a setback and Scherzer hits the market, but the chips are all gone.
Pitching is the bigger need to me! Save the chips for trade deadline!
Manaea or one of these Rockies arms could become available and make a bigger impact than any non-Bauer starter on the market?
Vlad Jr is not a 3rb baseman in the big leagues and never will be. Stop this nonsense and leave him on 1B. Yeeesh.
What’s wrong with Vlad Jr entering the offseason with the goal of playing third base? Why wouldn’t the Jays see how the changes in the offseason show up on the field for him?
Would you prefer the Front Office tell him that they have no intention of putting him at third ever again upon hearing of his offseason motivation?
He’s been putting in the work to get better at the position. He’s lost 30-32 pounds already and it doesn’t look like he’s stopping there.
I mean everything points to him being a terrible 3rd baseman. Why try to force a square peg into a round hole? He’s a Major League Baseball player getting paid. Motivation shouldn’t be an issue, though we’ve already seen reason to be concerned about his work ethic. I don’t think it’s a bad idea for him to have the ability to cover at 3rd if necessary but it makes no sense having the worst defender on your team being your starter at the hot corner on an AL team
He’s young and was no better at first. Teams like to have first base open for guys who have proven they can’t play another position. Maybe he ends up there I’m not sure but I wouldn’t write off his potential to get better. I like that he’s admitted fault and as someone who has been 50lbs overweight and lost it even at 38 I get around a lot better. It’s hard toting around that weight it slows everything down. He’ll be better for it and extend his career without the heavy abuse on his body
If he’s equally bad at 3B or 1B then put him at third. You can find a first baseman anywhere. Third basemen are far rarer.
Ted, that is bizarre logic. Vlad Jr will eventually be a very good at 1B. He needs a few more years of learning how to be a pro. He will never be very good at 3B.
He was rushed to the big leagure based on natural talent and still has a lot of development to do.
Everyone relax, Vlad Jr will be a star in this league. It will take years.
He mentioned he was around 280 in July and that’s after he arrived to spring training in good shape from what I read.
Hopefully he gets to his 240-245 goal and can maintain his weight for the long run. Would hate for weight fluctuations and eventual knee problems to prevent him from reaching his potential.
Best of luck to him.
Don’t worry Toronto. DC will take him off your hands if he demands to play 3rd.
DC i’snt taking another product of Montreal from us.
I do remember plenty of people over the last couple of years swearing black and blue he wouldn’t be moved off 3B, and that his “baby weight” would be easy to shake. Bottom line is, he hasn’t shown any real desire to get (and stay) in shape, and his defense suffers badly for it. A knee injury is very likely relevant to the fact he was trying to play at 280-290lbs+.
Considering he’s been in the Toronto system for nearly 6 years, it’s borderline ridiculous that they haven’t gotten his conditioning under control.
He is also 21. Keeping weight under control that young is no easy task. When his body matured the weight fluctuations will decline and stop. Needs to be patient with young players
He’s a been a pro player since 16 with meal plans and a father who is a baseball legend. Pretty sure if he had any desire to he’d be fit
And he was 16. With his body type having one cheat day ruins a week worth of dieting. No 16 year old has the willpower to not have a cheat day if dieting. Once his body matures he will be fine. Desire is one thing and how your body handles food is another. You can measure ones desire on their body that’s ludicrous.
Exactly. What does his father being a baseball legend matter? Cecil Fielder was no Vlad, so based on
that should one expect Prince Fielder to have only been in great shape not MLB legend‘s son shape?
What was his meal plan? I never heard about that. Could you send me the link for the Jays minor league meal plans and how they are adjusted based on age, prospect ranking, and heredity.
I assume he’s learning as he ages like most humans and the Jays probably wouldn’t coddle him with specific meal plans. I’d guess they wanted him to mature as a professional and take some personal responsibility. And he is doing just that right now
He was to take personal responsibility last winter too. Came into camp so out of shape that the broadcast staff made numerous comments on it. The whole offseason last year the jays brass said how great Vlad was doing and how he’d been committed in their exit meetings about losing the weight and getting on a regimented system. Clearly that didn’t work. Only in baseball can you have someone who would never work out and eat right still be able to make millions a year and have people defending their bad habits
If I were succeeding beyond anyone’s wildest dreams and being ranked one of the top prospects in the game and hitting close to .400, I wouldn’t be risking radical changes to my body either (plenty of players have struggled for a bit after losing a lot of weight, it can change your balance, power, etc). There was no reason for him to slim down until he started struggling.
His meal plan was grandma’s cooking. There was an article a year ago about how grandma cooks for VG jr and other MLB players. nytimes.com/2019/08/25/sports/baseball/vladimir-gu…
At 21, it is easy to lose the weight. Your metabolism is high. As he gets older, he’ll struggle to lose weight.
I like to say I’m like vladdy, body wise definitely not talent wise. I’m the same age and build and I learned after weeks of hard dieting one cheat day sets you back greatly. Some bodies metabolism aren’t as high until later ages. All I say is be patient as there are many athletes who struggle with weight until mid twenties before they gain better control. Like Jokic off the nuggets of the NBA. Some struggle until they are older and Vlad may be the case with that as well.
Yadier Molina
I like to say I’m like vladdy, attitude wise definitely not talent, size or coolness in general. But I am generally in a pretty happy mood, much like Vlad seems to be!
Sano, Sandoval, Fielder are some of the comps that I see as possible guides for Vlad to follow!
“he hasn’t shown any real desire to get (and stay) in shape”
That’s simpily not true. Vlad said that he was coming into last Spring around 280, however he’s been putting in the work to cut down on his weight. He said he’s already lost ~32 pounds and counting since his off season began. He’s clearly showing a desire to get and stay in shape to move back to the hot corner. If you don’t believe me, look on his most Instagram posts. Definitley looks slimmer than he was back in August.
I can say a lot of things that doesn’t mean there true. Unless he using performance enhancements he’s not losing that much that fast. Maybe 5 lbs a month naturally
Four months with three of those consisting of a daily baseball game. Losing 30 lbs in that span is believable.
Keeping it off over the next four months with zero of those consisting of a baseball game is the real challenge.
A lot of sweaty sex can make a human lose 20 pounds a month
Kind of suspicious you put “human” in there. Have your studies shown varying results in other species?
How would you know?
He actually stated he lost around 30 lbs since he reported to summer camp (spring training 2.0), which would have been towards the end of July.
Yea, I read the report wrong.
Two years in a row he has played overweight. How much more truth do you need?
Depends on the amount of lawsuits
Lose a solid 50 pounds and maybe
Well he’s lost just over 30 since the Jays were eliminated so he’s got a head start on that.
Thirty pounds – got it. Guy is out of shape, no excuse for same, he’s got private chefs and personal trainers. Hope he finds some lasting discipline.
That is literally impossible to lose 30 lbs in 1 month. Unless he is using hydroxicut which just cut water and is terrible for you. Naturally you can lose about 5 lbs a month so that would take about 6 months to get down the weight you are claiming. Also how does someone in majors get to 280 only being 6’2 with trainers and cooks at the call. Carrying about 80 lbs of pure fat.
Life hasn’t been normal these last few months for anyone including the rich and famous. I can’t get on the dude, I got myself into some gnarly habits myself with the world being shut down and being stuck inside all day every day.
It’s not impossible. You can lose more than 5 pounds in a month naturally. Where do you get that idea.
Lost 30 lbs……Says who…..Vlad Jr?
Do you really think he would Instagram that he was the same weight or actually put on 10-20 lbs to invoke criticism from the Jays?
Come on man….don’t be so gullible…its pretty impossible that a guy that heavy would lose 30 lbs in just over a month unless he had his mouth wired shut!
I believe he lost 12 pounds since the Jays were eliminated and the other 18 were lost during the season but at least he looks to be going in the right direction at least for now..
32lb was since summer camp, not after the Jays were eliminated.
I read elsewhere it was 12lbs since elimination, which means 20lbs during the season. And one can easily see he was in physically better shape towards the end of the season vs the beginning.
I really hope he can pull it off, it can only help his career longevity. He doesn’t need to be Matt Chapman as long as his offense improves
Vladdy needs to work on getting in the best shape of his life, and work in the batting cage. You’re fine at 1B and DH for now.. Work on the thing that everyone swore you were so elite for, which is your hitting..
Tell classy no he lost his chance when he pledged to get in shape after the 2019 season and came back bigger than ever
Plus of course he sucks at defense at third
We were told a year ago he lost weight. Season starts in late-March. Let’s see where his weight is at then. Christmas holidays really kills our diet.
People forget how bad Bo was at SS in the minors for anyone who watched. Just a couple years ago some would have argued Vlad was better at 3B than Bo was a SS. Bo has come a long way. Vlad could too. That said, Jays still need a starting INF. Vlad’s fluctuating weight doesn’t give us confidence he can hold 3B down defensively.
Great point…. Bichette turned himself into the ball player he is today with hard work. A lot of hard work. While Vlad obviously doesn’t do that.
Prince Fielder says hello
The smart decision is to trade him NOW. his value will never be higher and his metabolism will get worse from this point forward. He will battle pounds his entire career.
Yep learn from other people’s mistakes- Panda and Prince Fielder come to mind. Add in that he’s immature and nerds a wakeup call and it’s ironic, but a change of scenery probably is the only way to help him reach his potential.
Vlad “fell out of shape during the pandemic shutdown” is hilarious. That kid was all ready eating his way off 3B when he was 17 years old.
Man people are harsh sitting on their couches gaining weight every day while Vlad is out there working his ass off (Literally). I turn your attention to Miguel Cabrera. Yes he was not as big as Vlad at the same age, but he never graded out as an average defender at 3rd either, yet he played there for years before they finally moved him.
If you look at the defensive metrics month to month over Vlads rookie season, he actually graded as a league average defender in September, showing he made major improvements on the field as the season went on. He is an athletic kid, just bigger. Once he slims down to that 250 range I see no reason why he cant grade out to a league average 3rd baseman. He looks completely lost at 1st, let him go back to 3rd for a few seasons so he can feel comfortable again on the field, which will translate to the plate.
Vlad needs to play at around 230lbs if he wants to stick at 3B. He should do all he can to get down to 220 and then fluctuate a little bit, with 230 bring his top weight. Given his level of exercise and working with the right nutritionists, it is certainly a reasonable goal. Guys that big can easily lose 20 lbs in a month just by exercising and eating the right types and quantity of food.
He is maybe 6 foot. Probably closer to 5’11”. He’ll need to be below 220, at least.
Needs to get in better shape… period