Gap to gap: How Blue Jays' Kiermaier stayed on his feet in 2023

DUNEDIN, Fla. — The only thing more difficult than pronouncing metatarsalgia, a condition marked by persistent pain and inflammation in the ball of the foot, is trying to play centre field regularly on turf while experiencing it.

That’s what Kevin Kiermaier learned last season after he developed the condition in both feet in July and played through intense pain for the rest of the season. By the stretch run, Kiermaier couldn’t do pre-game defensive work — he still won the fourth Gold Glove of his career, mind you — or even walk barefoot in the Blue Jays clubhouse after a night spent running down flyballs. He needed a pair of padded recovery sandals to move around and adopted an extensive daily routine including massage and heavy taping of each foot just to take the field.

“It was awful — it was one of the worst things I’ve ever dealt with,” says a guy who played through a labrum tear for nearly two seasons before undergoing hip surgery in 2022. “There were times when it was unbearable.”

How did the issue develop? Tough to say. One theory is simple overuse running around on Rogers Centre turf. But Kiermaier played on worse turf at Tropicana Field for the decade prior with the Tampa Bay Rays and never experienced anything like this.

Another is that Kiermaier’s feet were moving around too much in his cleats, a problem he’s done a couple of things to address. For starters, he was fitted in Dunedin this winter for custom orthotics that he’s inserted into every pair of footwear he owns. That’s provided both a better platform for his feet and a huge relief this spring. Now, he doesn’t need to have a thick pad taped to the soles of his feet as he did prior to every game he played late last season.

Kiermaier also turned over his garage this winter to dig up an old pair of purple throwbacks he used with the Rays years ago — by far the most comfortable cleats he’s ever worn. They’re Nike Huaraches circa 2020 and if you happen to have a set in size 11.5 or 12 Kiermaier would very much appreciate you getting in touch. They just don’t make them like that anymore and Kiermaier’s down to his final two pairs. Don’t be surprised to see his purple cleats clashing with Blue Jays uniforms throughout the season. He’ll ride those things as far as they’ll take him.

And please don’t remind Kiermaier about how he gave away around 20 pairs of those cleats to the University of Tampa’s baseball team, which he works out with each winter. He’s scoured the internet; he’s contacted every Nike rep he knows. He found an old pair on eBay but of course it wasn’t in his size. The search shall continue. After overhearing Kiermaier recounting this story at his locker on an early morning last week, Justin Turner pulled out his phone and started texting friends around the league who might know how to get a pair.

So, that’s what Kiermaier was playing through as he posted a perfectly league-average 100 wRC+ over the second half of 2023, capping off a typically elite 13 Outs Above Average season. As if further evidence of Kiermaier’s resolve was required. He’s given us a decade’s worth of highlights smashing onto turf while laying out for low liners, barrelling head over heels while putting every ounce of himself into outfield throws, and running full speed into walls and fences, like the one at Fenway Park that gave him an elbow laceration that required eight stitches to close last August.

That deep laceration was the only thing that sent Kiermaier to the IL last season — not the back issues he intermittently battled, not the wrist contusion that cost him a few days in June, and not the metatarsalgia he played through for the better part of three months. Kiermaier spent eight weeks rehabbing the issue this winter, scrunching towels with his feet, pistol squatting on balance pads, and picking up marbles between his toes. It wasn’t until American Thanksgiving that he was finally walking around pain-free in bare feet again.

“I’ve never dealt with anything like that — it was really tough,” Kiermaier says. “But got through it — I’m proud of that. Adrenaline helped get me through the games, for sure. And now we have a plan. I know what I need to do now to strengthen my feet — I do it every day. I just did my marble stuff before I put on my shoes. If I stay on it and keep my feet happy, we should be good to go.”

•••

So, there was Max Castillo last Thursday, starting for the Philadelphia Phillies against the Blue Jays on a hazy Thursday afternoon in Dunedin. The 24-year-old is on his third team in the last two months after riding the DFA carousel throughout the winter and is now in Phillies camp competing to share a clubhouse with the player the Blue Jays traded him for only 18 months ago — Whit Merrifield.

All three principals from that August 2022 trade — speedy utility player Samad Taylor also went to the Kansas City Royals — are now on different teams, a fitting reminder of how quickly the overcooked reactions to deadline deals can be rendered utterly immaterial. Looking back on the trade now that all is said and done, the results are rather lopsided:

Whit Merrifield for the Blue Jays

189 GP, 98 OPS+, 2.3 fWAR

Max Castillo for the Royals

39 IP, 65 ERA+, -0.2 fWAR

(AAA: 116 IP, 4.58 ERA)

Samad Taylor for the Royals

31 GP, 52 OPS+, -0.1 fWAR

(AAA: 89 G, .884 OPS)

Castillo and Taylor were both pushed to the edge of Kansas City’s 40-man roster this winter as the Royals surprisingly went volume shopping for veterans in free agency. Castillo was designated for assignment and claimed on waivers by the Red Sox, who later designated him for assignment themselves and lost the right-hander to Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Taylor was flipped to the Seattle Mariners for a player to be named later or cash.

Now, part of the appeal of the Merrifield trade for the Royals was getting out from under the roughly $10 million he was still owed on the restructured deal the sides agreed to in April 2021. Merrifield was struggling at the time of the trade, riding a 78 wRC+ through his first 95 games of the season. And as he entered his mid-30s, there were no guarantees he’d recapture prior form.

But the Blue Jays were wise to leverage a payroll over twice the size of Kansas City’s, receiving 2.3 fWAR from Merrifield over a season-and-a-half. The market value for that production while Merrifield played in Toronto was $19.1 million, as calculated by FanGraphs.

That’s the figurative. In the literal world, Merrifield provided the Blue Jays cover at second base and all three outfield spots — he even pitched an inning against the Angels shortly after the trade — while hitting .274/.319/.394, grading as a plus baserunner, and earning an all-star nod last season. He went on an absolute tear last July, OPS’ing .997 over 23 games in a month that saw the Blue Jays improve their record from six-games above .500 to 11. By the end of the month, Blue Jays manager John Schneider was regularly batting Merrifield leadoff.

Ultimately, tasked with playing a versatile, supporting role on a contending team, Merrifield did everything he was asked and occasionally more. The price the Blue Jays paid to acquire him ultimately proved comically light. And, for as little as fans should care about such things, his salary was efficient, creating around $9 million of surplus value which is roughly the same amount the Blue Jays used to sign Brandon Belt — 2.3 fWAR in 2023 — to his one-year deal.

It wasn’t hard to find unfavourable opinions of the Merrifield trade on the day it was made. But it looks rather sound with the benefit of hindsight. Compared to splashy, nine-figure free agent deals or headline-grabbing trades for superstar rentals, this wasn’t the kind of transaction that electrifies a fanbase or transforms a roster. But it is the kind of value-oriented maneuvering that clever teams pull off consistently and reap dividends from over time.