Monday links!
The number 37 is scratched across the back of the jersey of the guy on the right in the above photo, a guy coming off injury and in camp on a non-guaranteed contract. His previous team had the option to retain him and declined, and he waited into March before finally coming to terms with a new club.
Said club – the Toronto Blue Jays – has a star 1B on its roster already, a guy who, in a non-Ohtani world, would have an American League MVP trophy in his cabinet alongside his Silver Slugger, 3x All Star Games, and All Star Game MVP trophy. Toronto also has an in-house veteran to be their DH most days – a former Cincinnati Reds draftee who hit 23 dongs and boasted a 114 OPS+ in a mostly-healthy 2023 at age 38.
#37 has a hill to climb to reach the big leagues, and precious little time to climb it. He took a major first step yesterday, however, as he took the first pitch he saw from the pitcher who just inked the highest average annual value contract in history and swatted it for a homer to left-center – the kind of throwback swing to when he claimed a National League MVP himself. And as David Singh of Sportsnet noted, he later stepped on a bat in the dugout and rolled his ankle a bit.
It was a wild first day on the diamond for Joey Votto, that #37 in blue who became an icon for the Cincinnati Reds over the last 17 years. It was also the latest in a series of great first impressions from the future Hall of Famer, as Jayson Stark of The Athletic made note of yesterday, too.
Joey Votto the last two years:
Today: HR on the first pitch he sees as a Blue Jay
Last June 19: HR in his first game of the season
Last Sept. 10: HR in his first game off the Injured List
Some guys just know how to make an entrance https://t.co/NMZfUGVwp8
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) March 17, 2024
You didn’t have to squint to see the 104.3 mph rocket off Votto’s bat looked like a vintage, healthy swing from him, the kind we didn’t get much of a chance to see over the last two seasons as he recovered from major surgeries to his shoulder and biceps. But now, at age 40, Votto insists he’s healthier than he has been, and we all know that his health paired with his hitter’s mind and intense physical preparation means he’s most certainly still got a bit left in his tank.
I referenced Vlad Guerrero, their incumbent everyday 1B. I mentioned Justin Turner, signed to a guaranteed deal to, at the time, be their primary DH. Thing is, if you do squint in Votto’s direction with a side-eye on Toronto’s roster, you can see a path to pretty regular PA for him in the right circumstances.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa has a lovely glove and a fresh free agent deal that guarantees him $15 million over a pair of years, and FanGraphs lists him atop the 3B depth chart at the moment. IKF also posted just a .646 OPS last year (and .648 against RHP), while Turner – an everyday 3B in his younger years – actually owns a slightly better career OPS vs. RHP (.830) than LHP (.826). Turner spent 58 games on the dirt last year and started 66 games at the hot corner for the Dodgers in 2022, and if the Blue Jays see enough in Votto to want to get him into the lineup against RHP, using Turner in the field provides a path for Joey’s time to DH.
They’ll just need to make sure they keep the bats off the ground in the dugout, of course.