The All-Star break is over, and the Arizona Diamondbacks are in town to kick off the second half of the season. With the D-Backs in town, it marks the return of Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno both of whom were traded to Arizona this past offseason for Daulton Varsho. With this being the first time Gurriel Jr. and Moreno will face the Blue Jays, I thought it would be fun to revisit the trade and see how it’s worked out for both teams thus far.
Heading into last offseason, a couple of goals the Jays wanted to accomplish was to improve defensively in the outfield and get more left-handed hitters. To help with the defensive side, they signed Kevin Kiermaier to be their centre fielder, but they still needed another lefty to put in the middle of their lineup. With there being very few impactful left-handed hitting outfielders on the free agent market, the best way to address this need would be via trade. The Jays had an area of depth at the catching position which they were to use using to use to their advantage to acquire a player to fill this need. Two teams that seemed like perfect trade partners for the Jays were the St. Louis Cardinals and the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Cardinals were in need of a catcher since their legendary catcher Yadier Molina retired after last season, and they have a plethora of young outfielders. However, once they signed free agent catcher Willson Contreras to a 5-year deal, a trade with them seemed unlikely. This now left Arizona as the best match for the Jays, and it felt like if any trade was going to be made, it was going to be with them.
At 26 years old, Varsho was coming off his third season in the majors where he hit .235/.302/.443 with 27 homeruns and ranked first in MLB in both defensive runs saved (DRS) and outs above average (OAA). While he doesn’t hit for a high average, he does have some power, but most importantly, he has shown to be one of the best defensive outfielders in the game. He’s also not a free agent until after the 2026 season, which makes him part of this Jays core and fills a key spot in the outfield for the foreseeable future.
Now let’s look at it from the Diamondbacks’ perspective. After losing 110 games in 2021, they had a better 2022 season finishing with a record of 74-88. They were a young team looking to turn the corner and they needed to find a way to supplement some of their core players. With them having a potential superstar in Corbin Carroll, they were looking to part with one of their other talented outfielders to address other areas of need. Acquiring Gabriel Moreno gives them their catcher of the future and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. can be a good veteran to have to play alongside their younger players.
So far this season, it’s no question that from an offensive standpoint, Gurriel has been having the better season compared to Varsho. He is hitting almost 50 points higher than him and is slugging 125 points better. Gurriel has also rediscovered his power stroke as he has launched 15 homeruns coming into the All-Star break after hitting only 5 all of last year. It’s no secret that Varsho has struggled at the plate thus far in his first season with the Jays, but he has not taken his offensive woes into the field with him. He is first in the majors in DRS with 16 and has played gold glove calibre defense in left field and centre. For reference, Gurriel has played more than 300 fewer innings than Varsho in the outfield and has a DRS of only 2. Gurriel was not the greatest defensive player and while there is a small difference between the two batting averages, the difference in the field is drastic. Varsho gets much better jumps on balls, takes better routes, and since he is a faster runner, he is able to cover more ground and catch balls that others may have drop. This is also a big reason why the Jays acquired him, as their outfield defense has been shaky over the last few seasons.
The other part of this equation is Gabriel Moreno who was the Jays’ top ranked prospect last year. Moreno only played 25 games last season with the Jays so you can’t take too much stock into his numbers, but he showed a glimpse of what he could become. Until they prove themselves in the majors, prospects are just that, they’re prospects, but when a team trades their top guy, they can ill afford to mess it up. Moreno has played in 68 games for Arizona and is hitting .267/.312/.343 which is very respectable for a 23-year-old rookie catcher, but he hasn’t hit for much power as he only has 2 homeruns. The Jays were comfortable trading Moreno because they had arguably the best catching duo in the majors with Kirk and Jansen last year, and while they may have had a rough first half (especially Kirk), it made sense for the Jays to trade one of the three, and Moreno would give you the most back.
Whenever a top prospect is traded, it’s always big news, and this was no different. This trade also hurt a little more because of the inclusion of Gurriel Jr. as he was a fan favourite and beloved by teammates. However, this was a trade that made sense for both sides, and each team used their area of depth to fill a need. Gurriel Jr. was going to being a free agent after this season, so the Jays needed to replace him eventually. Trading him when they did allowed them to get something for him, and they now have his replacement for at least the next the four seasons. If the Jays held onto Moreno, he would’ve started the season in minors, and should he get hurt and/or play poorly, his value would only diminish. The Jays weren’t going to get a player with the toolset and age of Varsho without giving up Moreno; it was only a matter of which team was going to give the Jays what they wanted, and it was ultimately Arizona. Despite some fans feeling like the Jays got the short end of the stick in this trade, the reality is that it is still too early to tell as you can’t fully judge a trade like this from just half a season. In a few years we can look back to see how each player has done, and where each team stands, but for now I’m sure it isn’t a trade that the Jays’ regret and nor should they.