Blue Jays need some positivity and the next Teoscar Hernandez

TORONTO — Time to rub some salt in the wounds and talk about Teoscar Hernandez.

Hah!

Just kidding.

In all seriousness, we need to talk about Teo and how he came to the Toronto Blue Jays in the first place because I’m of a mind to find some sparks of positivity in the ashes of the 2024 season. I don’t know how I’ll feel at 5 o’clock today, let alone tomorrow but, well, let’s have at it, shall we? It’s easy these days to shed a tear at Teoscar’s absence: the man, the smile, the Home Run Derby crown — the home runs! The happiness he brought Vladdy. The happiness.

Teo … the man whose absence is being cited as part of the reason not just for the Blue Jays' pop-gun offence but also for the Seattle Mariners' offensive woes. Teo … acquired not by Alex Anthopoulos and Paul Beeston, but by Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro at the 2017 trade deadline, along with Norichika Aoki in return for Francisco Liriano — who had himself been acquired by Atkins and Shapiro the year before from the Pittsburgh Pirates (along with Reese McGuire and Harold Ramirez) for the stems and seeds of Drew Hutchison’s career. Teo, back in the good old, pre-run-prevention days. What we wouldn’t give, now, to see Teo get picked off first or forget to tag up, eh?

It will no doubt come as a shock to those who think ol’ Roscoe’s successes depend on spending ownership's money on 30-ish free-agent pitchers that, yes, there have been some trade wins. And while it would have been nice in retrospect if Atkins hadn’t traded Hernandez and Lourdes Gurriel, Jr., and Gabriel Moreno — one-third of a freaking lineup — without a plan to replace them …

No.

I said this would be positive.

Let’s look at some of Atkins’ deadline deals and talk about how Hernandez ended up here in the first place: July 31, 2017, with the Blue Jays in last place in the American League East, eight games back and nine out of the second of what were then two available wild-card spots. There were six teams ahead of them.

Now, it’s true that the Blue Jays might have been able to get more for Marcus Stroman in 2019 (although that deal helped land José Berríos). Yeah, there have been some trade-deadline howlers (Derek Fisher and Mitch White are reminders that it’s better to understate and overdeliver) but not at the loss of anything significant, give or take a Nick Frasso. And, yes, you wonder what might have happened in 2022 had the Blue Jays been more aggressive in pursuit of closer Raisel Iglesias, who was apparently there for the taking.

Landing Hernandez was maybe Atkins’ best moment as a trader — deadline deal or not — although adding Robbie Ray, Ross Stripling and Taijuan Walker in August of the 2020 COVID season was not half-bad. It will shock his legion of detractors to know that Atkins has had some successes: witness his understated fixing of the bullpen on the fly when he added Trevor Richards and Adam Cimber in 2021, never mind adding Berríos for Simeon Woods-Richardson and the under-the-radar acquisition of Joaquin Benoit for Drew Storen in 2016. Benoit’s 0.38 ERA post-trade had him positioned for post-season leverage, only to see him tear his calf running in from the bullpen to take part in a stupid dugout-clearing incident with the New York Yankees in the final week of the regular season.

No one talks about those deals. Just Daulton Varsho and, yes, Teo.

Hernandez was one of the odd men out as the Houston Astros were putting together the core of their championship teams. He was not the top-ranked prospect in the Astros organization at the time. Or second. Or sixth. In fact, he wasn’t even the top-ranked outfield prospect; wasn’t even thought of as highly as Fisher which is … woof!

Anyhow, if you’re a frequent flier in these parts, you’ll know we take prospect rankings with no small amount of salt. Still: Hernandez was the Astros' ninth-best prospect at the time, and he’d go on to hit 129 home runs and post an .823 OPS in six years with the Blue Jays, earning two Silver Sluggers in the process.

Hernandez’s emergence is a cautionary tale (if you say you were invigorated by the deal the day it was announced, you’re a liar) and it also kind of keeps faith with the way the Blue Jays put together those 2015-2016 teams. I mean, let’s be clear: José Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, god bless them, fell in the Blue Jays' lap. Had the Pirates continued to ask for catching prospect Brian Jeroloman in return for Bautista, before pivoting to Robinzon Diaz, the trade might not have been made. Bautista was at the time a guy at the bottom of the Pirates roster. We all know that Eddie came here as part of the Scott Rolen trade in 2009. But why did the Blue Jays put him on waivers? And why did the Oakland Athletics claim him, then release him, a few days later so the Blue Jays could re-sign a player maligned as being soft-bodied and defensively challenged?

There was as much providence as genius at work on those 2015 and 2016 teams, which added to the magic of the whole thing.

So here we are: the Blue Jays are, as of Monday morning, 45-54 — 15 games out of the American League East race and 9.5 back in the wild-card race with six teams ahead of them. To be sure, there are different pressure points at work now, compared to 2017: ownership was not running a luxury-tax level payroll and hadn’t sunk $400 million to $500 million into refurbishing the ballpark. Bo Bichette had just been drafted the year before and Bo & Vladdy were on the cusp of becoming the next big thing. Atkins & Co. were not on their third manager. The afterglow of 2015-2016 was sort of/kind of still there, not yet sullied by playoff images of Bo and George Springer colliding in the outfield or Berríos being taken out for ...

Never mind.

The Blue Jays' needs are myriad: for the third consecutive year, a run-producing bat to replace You-Know-Who, half a bullpen, a third of an everyday lineup and at least one more starting pitcher, given the likelihood that Chris Bassitt or Yusei Kikuchi or maybe Kevin Gausman are dealt. The minor-league system is threadbare, with anybody of consequence either suspended or perpetually injured. Having said that, I’m not certain any of the Blue Jays' rentals are needle-movers: Kikuchi has great stuff but is maddeningly inefficient and is no guarantee to be in a playoff rotation; Danny Jansen has one home run and three doubles in 91 at bats since June 1; Trevor Richards has one pitch that is elite and he's been getting hit hard; Kevin Kiermaier cleared waivers and is, at best, a fourth outfielder; Justin Turner’s intangibles carry less weight at 39; and Yimi García is one outing removed from the IL.

Still, if you look at the Cincinnati Reds’ return at the 2022 deadline — Noelvi Marte, Spencer Steer, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Steve Hajjar, Hector Rodriguez, Jose Acuña and Victor Acosta — you can see how a front office that knows what it’s doing can bring in an infusion of talent to bolster a minor-league system and help the Major League team.

The Blue Jays' front office, at least, seems to have a clear plan for resetting its luxury-tax burden, the retro-fitted Rogers Centre offers a solid avenue of revenue so that there is a path forward here, starting with retaining Guerrero and Bichette for the rest of the year — prudent, I think, because I’d prefer franchise-altering moves be made in the off-season, when teams can move pieces around and because it increases the chances of a fresh set of eyes and voices making one more run at signing Vladdy before turning the page.

In the meantime, I’d settle for the acquisition of the next Teoscar Hernandez, maybe a few pieces of the next core — and providence, too. Lots of it.

Jeff Blair hosts Blair & Barker from 4-6 p.m. ET on Sportsnet 590/The Fan and Sportsnet. He also hosts Blue Jays Talk following weekday games.