The Blue Jays have some level of interest in Rhys Hoskins and Justin Turner as they evaluate their options at designated hitter, reports Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. That’s part of a wide net being cast by the front office, as Nicholson-Smith reiterates previously reported ties to J.D. Martinez, Joc Pederson and Joey Votto as well.
Toronto has a vacancy at DH with Brandon Belt returning to the open market. Bringing in a left-handed bat to complement a lineup led by Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and Danny Jansen would be ideal, but the interest in Martinez suggests they’re not limiting themselves solely to lefty hitters. GM Ross Atkins has alluded to the potential for multiple lineup additions, after all. The Jays could add a right-handed DH while bringing in a lefty bat in the outfield.
Hoskins lost the 2023 season after tearing the ACL in his left knee during Spring Training. He’d likely have made it back as a DH or pinch-hitting option had the Phillies made the World Series. While that didn’t happen, the 30-year-old (31 in March) projects as one of the better offensive players on the market. Hoskins has been a consistent middle-of-the-order presence throughout his career, compiling a .242/.353/.492 line. He has hit between 27 and 34 home runs in each of the four full seasons he’s played while running better than average walk rates on an annual basis.
Turner has been a consistently strong lineup presence as well. He hasn’t had a below-average offensive season since his 2014 breakout with the Dodgers. At age 39, he’s no longer suited for 140+ starts at third base. Yet Turner could serve as a primary DH while rotating in at the hot corner, where the Jays have a question with Matt Chapman still in free agency. Turner is still more than capable of handling a primary DH role. He’s coming off an impressive .276/.345/.455, 23-homer showing for the Red Sox.
It doesn’t seem either player is a priority target for the Toronto front office. Nicholson-Smith suggests the Jays could wait out the market for another few weeks to determine whether anyone in a broad group of hitters of interest presents strong value later in the offseason.
Hoskins has also drawn reported interest from the Cubs, Mariners and Nationals. Turner has been on the radar of the incumbent Red Sox, Mets and Diamondbacks. MLBTR predicted Hoskins to land a two-year, $36MM guarantee that allows him to opt out after next season, although a standard one-year pillow contract is also possible. Turner seems likelier to sign for one year given his age, but he could also command a salary in the $16-18MM range.
Jays need about 3 hitters and 2 of them should be left handed. A lefty hitting 3b would be a great fit but I don’t believe that actually exists. A long term outfielder makes sense. Short term infielder.
1 of there top prospects is a LHH 3b/SS who has power and a cannon arm, he also played some RF this past season to. Id like him to be there starting 3b, trade for Nick Castellanos or eloy Jimenez as the DH and bring in a legit OF bat with power, aswell as a platoon type 4OF who can hammer LHP but could play 100 games if he needed in case of injury, a la mike talyor
I assume you mean Barger? He had a 756 OPS at AAA last year. That’s not good enough to get an opening day start in 2024.
Right now they have Varsho, Biggio and Horowitz as left bats. Varsho can’t hit. Biggio doesn’t play everyday and Horowitz might not make the opening day roster.
I will say it again the Jays need 2 lefty bats. At least. Long term outfielder short term infielder.
Bellinger is probably the guy. He’s not a perfect fit but it’s close. I wouldn’t give him a giant contract but perhaps nobody else will either.
This isn’t MLB2K why would the Phillies trade Castellanos when they are a good team trying to win a World Series?
My thought when I read that too. Untethered from reality.
I am sure the Phillies would love to trade Castellenos. He has negative trade value. I don’t think the Jays would want him unless Philly was taking on some of the contract.
Why not a lefty/righty platoon at 3B with Addison Barger and Orelvis Martinez? Or Damiano Palmegiani?
Unless there’s a 3B that bats left and throws right thats a horrible idea, put it this way in ALL of professional baseball since it was created how many Lefty 3Bs (throwing) has there been?
I looked it up, only 1 lefty played more than 1 game at 3b and he played a whopping 14 games. Dreams may come true though in finding that magical lefty third Baseman unicorn.
Freddie Freeman played more over there than that a few years ago when the Braves picked up Matt Adams.
Your research must have missed that.
@steelerbravenation Freeman doesn’t throw lefty, comrade.
Freddie Freeman doesn’t throw left-handed, which was what the post was about. And you have “Brave” in your name. Shame!
only 1 lefty played more than 1 game at 3b
===========================
I’m pretty sure Devers still hits lefty. One of my only favorite Yankees, Graig Nettles, hit lefty.
What does a lefty throwing 3b have to do with anything? They need lefty bats what arm they throw with makes no difference at all. As already stated Barger is a lefty bat 3b but he’s not ready yet.
@Joel, are you joking why a LH 3B matters?? It’s about fielding and throwing. Most players discover this at some point in Little League.
No the Jays definitely need a 3rd baseman that is a lefty hitter and thrower for sure.
The missed out on the blonde bombshell so they have to settle for the red head or the girl with the huge nose.
What wrong with the red haired girl with the big nose? They should consider themselves lucky if they get all of that.
Correction: Jays need 3 hitters and 2 must be a 3B and corner OF.
“a lineup led by Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and Danny Jansen”
They need 3 hitters just to replace the ones that are supposedly leading their lineup.. Guerrero is a washout, Springer’s past his due date and the last one doesn’t even have a due date. They traded their best player last year for a minor league outfielder who can’t hit. If they hold off the Sox this year for 4th place that will be Mission Accomplished.
Vlad’s not even 25 years old. Too soon to say he’s washed out. He needs to trim the 245-250 pound frame to about 220.
As for Springer, he’s a guy that should DH more. Yet the Jays seem interested in DH players. Uninspiring work.
Yeah, get 2 OFs to rotate them through the DH spot (mostly Springer and whoever the second lesser OF they bring in is).
Doesn’t matter much how old Vlad is. He’s had 5 seasons now, 3 of which are sub .800 OPS including last year. He’s not getting any better. If his last name was Schwartz he’d be largely anonymous
Springer will be 35 by the end of next season. He’s man with a good career behind him that Toronto is on the hook for paying like he’s still a star.
I imagine if they could trade Springer they would. Guerrero they may give a monster contract to because no one else will and so he might stay.
Neither they nor the Sox have a sunny 2024 ahead, but of the two I’d much rather be the Sox.
Vlad already trimmed down. He looks pretty fit. Looks to be under 220 actually.
I wish his last name was Schwartz. Vlad Schwartz would be a guy I’d root for just on name alone..
Brandon Belt can still play.
Part-time so he stays healthy.
Toronto has a mlb team??
You’d never know it! FO is brutal for this team. Nice renovations though. Maybe a little league game or two can be played there. Would probably be more entertaining!
Grrrrr. Pure frustration this offseason….
Yeah, how dare the FO assemble a team that’s made the postseason consecutively the past few years & put a winning team on the field in the toughest division in baseball.
And before you go there, they’re not perfect, there are areas they need to improve in but to call them brutal shows how ill informed you are.
Yes…and an airport!
No that plane that was ticketed to Toronto had no wings & no wheels.
…and it has Pizzeria Badiali!
I see you haven’t leave your basement since 1977!
Canada has an MLB team. The Toronto Blue Jays.
Here we go again with who the Jays are interested in. I have interest in a lot of things but what does that really mean?!! Absolutely nothing! Pathetic is what this offseason has become. Get it together FO as you are going to start losing your fan base if you’re going to continue to sit on your thumbs. I don’t understand why it is so hard to recruit players to Toronto?! You would think it would be pretty amazing to not only have a City behind you but also have a whole Country is even better! No other MLB team has that. I would think that is a once in a lifetime experience for any player but obviously there’s greater unknown factors involved that make it such a struggle for signing free agents. This offseason has honestly been exhausting to say the least.
Dude it’s December not March. The Jays obviously were in the running for Ohtani until the end. Probably in the running for Yamamoto. And there are lots and lots of talented players still available.
If this has been exhausting perhaps you should watch football and come back after the super bowl.
And Bellinger, seems like he’s amused with how his experience has gone.
I hope you are right as March will be here before we know it.
I’ll pass on football but thanks for the suggestion though. Think I would rather watch golf! The announcers are quieter so they don’t wake you up.
How many of the top 50 free agents have signed so far? Maybe 15? Complaining about what your team did or didn’t do in December is ridiculous. Just chill out and wait and see what happens.
Football ended weeks ago with the Grey Cup….
Let me guess it ended in a tie 0-0. Soccer is by far the worst sport out there. The players work hard but for so many games to end in ties is ridiculous
😀
Love,
Os fan
This paragraph is the kicker:
“It doesn’t seem either player is a priority target for the Toronto front office. Nicholson-Smith suggests the Jays could wait out the market for another few weeks to determine whether anyone in a broad group of hitters of interest presents strong value later in the offseason.”
Okay so Toronto is not really THAT interested in those players and will just wait out most of the off-season to find out what’s leftover at the end. Now that’s the kind of strategy a fanbase can rally around!!!!! Weeeeee!
Couldn’t agree more.
And here I’ve been refreshing this page continuously for the last few weeks hoping the Jays had signed or traded for someone of significance. Sigh.
you and me both lol, jays are looking but aint getting anything done. Hope it isnt one of them yrs.
I mean DH is literally the easiest position to fill. It does make all the sense in the world to wait out the market.
Funny how none of the well run teams agree with you.
What is there to agree with? There is no easier position to fill. That’s just fact.
Why can’t the Jays retain any of their free agents or former players who are now free agents? It seems that the shenanigans from the end of last season is showing some true colours….
Last years’ team needed some fine tuning, but now it almost looks like there’s enough players changing to reflect a rebuild.
The fans deserve better than this from the front office. Instead, there are new corporate seating and renovations that the fans don’t want.
Time to get a new front office staff Mr. Rogers….
Have any of their former players actually signed anywhere else yet?
Belt hasn’t
Kiermier hasn’t
Chapman hasn’t
Merrifield hasn’t
What are you guys complaining about????
Yeah because nobody wants any of them.
The fans don’t want renovations? I’ve been to that stadium, and ‘stadium’ is the right word. It and the Trop are the dumps of baseball now that Oakland is moving. And I bet the Rays get a ballpark before Toronto does. .
Hard to imagine the fans don’t want renovations. The ones they did last year looked like an improvement. What I think Toronto fans want are cheap prices because a) they don’t tend have much disposable income after Canadian taxes, b) their currency is weak and they have to compete with the USD and 3) although there are some hardcore ball fans in Toronto baseball is not widely popular enough for there to be a strong market. I think they want renovations, they just don’t want to pay the major league rate.
Toronto doesn’t have a strong market? They were 1 of 8 teams to top over 3M attendance last season.
And the notion that Toronto residents don’t have disposable income is laughable. The average annual income their is $63k. For reference NYC was $51K last year. Mind you Toronto residents also have $0 in health care expense.
Speaking of what we think, “I think” you made some pretty clueless assumptions while being oblivious to facts.
This is trade rumors don’t you know facts get you laughed out the door. It’s about coming here and spouting off nonsense like you think you’re knowledgeable.
” Instead, there are new corporate seating and renovations that the fans don’t want.” The lover level corporate area that’s currently being renovated is sold out for the next 3 years.
The Dome needed a massive facelift, finally gets one & half of the casuals cry about it while the other half max out their credit cards for tix, merch & drinks so they’ll have pics for their social media stories.
They could retain them, but as a fan who just watched a season that felt uninspired, would you really want them to just run it back?
Besides, Belt has openly contemplated retirement, Merrifield was replaced internally in the second half of last season and they have a plethora of 2B options already, Kiermaier and Varsho already felt like redundancies so Varsho getting to play where he provides the most value now makes more sense, Hicks was fine but they brought Green back instead. The only guy that still fits is Chapman and it kind of feels like the fans would rather move on from that experience. Especially on a multi year deal. And especially if you are trying to convince us that it’ll be better this year.
If Guerrero and Manoah played to their potential with the players from last year the Jays could win an additional 10 games. They would be one of the best teams in baseball.
Re-signing Marco Estrada and Jose Bautista not count?
Seriously, the rebuild idea is more sound than the current strategy of finding DH’s. We don’t want a repeat of 2016-2017 offseason.
Rhys Hopkins’ agent working overtime to get some action on his client. Psst: fans don’t believe this rumor, either.
Do any of those fine gentlemen have a cat named “YYZ”?
Id like for the jays to trade for Nick Castellanos as there DH. Im sure the phils wouldn’t mind parting with him, but only if the jays pay 30-40 of the 60M left in his deam
The Phil’s aren’t going to eat that much cash on his deal
Phillies might eat that much if the Jays trade them a decent prospect.
We’ve reached the dynamic and exciting part of the offseason when some teams are expressing “some” interest in certain players, while other teams are “considering” making offers.
Running out Turner to play 150 games at 3B? Rhys going back out to LF to struggle on defense? Seems the Jays need to take the trade route.
I do not understand the Jays taking heat for missing-on Ohtani. Twenty-nine teams missed on Ohtani, at least the Jays hung-in-there a while. Seems too many Jays fans are suffering from Maple Leafs Syndrome, a syndrome causing excessive whining & persistent delusions (I blame the unending mediocrity of Sportsnet). Turner is a good idea and I’d look at a veteran manager for this club – Mattingly.
Jays GM is slowly closing their window. I am not saying Ohtani was his fault at the end of the day he winded up staying in the same location he was in . Just a different team.
But that Guerriel/Monterro trade was terrible.
The “window” is closing, Steeler – agreed. Didn’t the Jays front office guys do the same when they ran Cleveland? Played it a little too careful? Jays window is closing.
LMAO you don’t even know the name of the player we traded & yet you feel qualified to criticize it. While MORENO was the better hitter last year, Varsho was the better overall player & there’s no reason to think Daulton’s bat can’t improve. Did you see how poorly the rest of the team hit? It wasn’t an isolated incident.
Trading Moreno was a mistake. His value at catcher will outweigh Varsho’s contribution in the OF – I don’t even think it’s close. Varsho is a ball player, I’m a fan, but trading Moreno was an error in judgement.
Moreno was the least sought after catcher by other teams.
Jansen was first although his injury history gave other GM”s pause.
Kirk was second but his build played a factor in other teams wanting to acquire him.
While we (Jays fans) valued Moreno highly that wasn’t the case with other teams. One season isn’t enough time to judge a trade on.
I think it seemed like a questionable trade by Toronto from the outset. Though Varsho had some power and played great defense, his bat was barely above league average. They already had a guy in that mold in Chapman (who’s obviously a little better at the plate). Moreno seemed to fit their lineup needs more, and Gurriel is another slightly above league average bat that at least lengthened the lineup.
But, that’s exactly what you did in valuing Varsho over Moreno after only one year. Remember? When you ridiculed the original reply? The fact you think Moreno was the third most sought after is irrelevant, the Jays didn’t properly evaluate what they had in Moreno. Bad deal & Varsho’s .674 OPS is pitiful.
I didn’t think that. It was literally the case. Other Gm’s didn’t want Moreno b/c they saw him as a defense only catcher. They worried about his power after the wrist injury.
This franchise is pathetic. Only team that leaks its interest in every free agent so they can seem like a player – until they finish third again.
I look at the MLB and I really don’t know how or why most of these teams are not following in AA’s feet.
It is not sustainable for these mid market & small market teams to buy FA.
I feel Toronto is a bit more of a big market than they let on but I wouldn’t think it’s very easy to convince these guys to go up to Canada to play.
Toronto has to do something they are on the cusp of contenting for a WS title but what do you do overpay for a Cody Bellinger & hope you get a few really good years or does he go back to the in consistent guy who was nontendered by the Dodgers.
I am really interested in the Orioles & DBacks over the next couple years and see if they follow the Braves way and try & lock up as much of their talent as possible and see how they fill their holes either through FA or trades.
Not sure how you quantify market size, but by most metrics Toronto is the third or fourth biggest media market in North America, and that doesn’t take into account that the entire country is the Jays’ market. They are a big market team.
MORE “Jays in on everyone CRAP” !! Useless Atkins has signed a AAA catcher so far…29 other teams in baseball have gotten ” better,,,This as good as it gets with ShapieRo and his carry on baggage Asskiss !!
More jays interested articles tells me they are out on Yamamoto
It’s funny in its way to hear the Mets are in on Turner then to hear Mets fans insist it makes sense since they have a hole at 3B.
If Justin Turner, 39 years old and –4 OAA in a few games at 3B in 2023 is your primary 3Bman, you still have a hole at 3B.
In fact he only makes sense if the Mets deal Alonso, in a roundelay of Vientos at 1B, Baty at 3B, and Turner in the newly opened hole at DH once Alonso’s dealt and Vientos is needed at 1B.
Sorry, Mets fans.
The Mets should be in on Hoskins , with a power need at DH and the uncertainty of Alonso signing a long term at least that’s a backup plan. Or sign Turner and make a trade with Miami for Josh Bell to DH/ backup 1b and Luzardo, kill 2 birds with 1 trade.
Several larger market teams such as San Diego, Jays, Texas, and Seattle have 2 or 3 holes in their lineup
If you’re a Jays fan, don’t take this personally. For a somewhat mediocre yet competitive team, they get way too much press on this website.
There is nobody that this site doesn’t say the Jays are interested in. Just saying…
Joey Votto lol
hopefully only as a hitting coach
The Dodgers buy everyone and seem to be the only team that cares enough to actually do anything but it’s nice to know the Blue Jays “have some interest” in maybe kind of sort of doing something.
I like Hoskins signing with the Twins. He can play 1st base and platoon every now and then with the lefty Kiriloff. Twins should get off their asses and get it done. We also desperately need a solid starter and one or two bullpen pieces.
Do any of Matt Chapman, Brandon Belt, Kevin Kiermaier, Rhys Hoskins, Justin Turner, J.D. Martinez, Joc Pederson and Joey Votto actually improve this team’s flawed and mediocre offence over the 2023 Jays? I’m getting Kendrys Morales circa November 2016 vibes…
Chapman definitely, Thats a 3 to 4 WINS above whoever they currently plan to slot at 3rd. JD definitely at DH (I trust him more than Belt) or Rhys but you are looking at hopefully 2 WAR from whoever you sign at DH between JD, Rhys or Belt (no belt unless very cheap). Also Vlad is an awful defender so Rhys could play 1B some times? The rest no. Chapman is well above the others and Morsel in terms of goodness and value.
“Nicholson-Smith suggests the Jays could wait out the market for another few weeks to determine whether anyone in a broad group of hitters of interest presents strong value later in the offseason.”
LOL! The Toronto writer saying Toronto is looking for a “strong value” sounds like the Titanic captain asking if lifeboats will be going on sale soon.
If Jays are only somewhat interested, then it means they have never heard of these two.