Blue Jays Should Capitalize on Gold Glove Outfielder's Power Surge With Trade
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The Toronto Blue Jays have enjoyed a surprising hot streak from an outfielder that started the year injured and could parlay that into a nice trade before the deadline comes.
Daulton Varsho was sidelined to begin the year, dealing with a shoulder injury that he suffered towards the end of last season.
He did some batting during spring training but it took him a couple of weeks to log any time in the regular season.
Varsho has continued to play stellar defense and is as hot as he has ever been at the plate. A trade surrounding him has already been popular speculation. If there is ever a time to trade him, it's probably soon.
Why would Toronto Blue Jays trade Daulton Varsho?
Varsho has been fun to watch at times, but likely isn't in the long-term plans for the Blue Jays. He becomes a free agent after next year, so they may as well trade him and get something back in return that could help them in the future.
Trading a Gold Glove winner with more than a season left of team control would get a nice return, more than what someone that is a career .225 hitter would normally get.
Plus, since he's returned from injury, he has a whopping five home runs in 10 games. He's slashing .222/.268/.667 overall.
One would like to see his on-base numbers go up, but that's about best-case scenario for him when looking at his past seasons. As long as he is hitting home runs, he is valuable.
What teams could trade for Daulton Varsho?
There are plenty of teams around the league that would likely be interested in adding a gold glove-level defender that could also hit for power.
The top teams that come to mind, though, are the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cleveland Guardians.
For the Phillies, center field has been a plague for them for some time. Youngster Johan Rojas has started to put it together more, but the outfield as a whole has still been a problem.
The only move they made to add it it this offseason was Max Kepler, so they could very well look to make another move at the deadline.
The Guardians have Angel Martinez in center field right now, who has been fine at the plate but profiles more as a corner outfielder.
Moving him to right fielder and having Varsho take over center would be a net positive for them.
