Kiermaier a start for Blue Jays outfield, but they need more
The Toronto Blue Jays have a deal in place to sign outfielder Kevin Kiermaier.
December 13, 2022
By Evan Christie
Canadian Baseball Network
Kevin Kiermaier is a Toronto Blue Jay.
It’s a statement that almost seems wrong on its face value. A man who was once one of the faces of a division rival and public enemy No. 1 in Toronto for picking up and not returning catcher Alejandro Kirk’s data card after a play at the plate late in the 2021 season will be donning a Blue Jays uniform.
But in an offseason where Toronto’s outfield has had a massive shakeup, he is a good piece to have.
Contrary to what some reactionary fans are saying, Kiermaier is not the replacement for Teoscar Hernandez. Moreso, he is a replacement for the departed Jackie Bradley, Bradley Zimmer and Raimel Tapia.
Bradley was a failure with the Blue Jays. He failed as a hitter, where he sported an abysmal wRC+ of 58 (a stat where the league average is always 100). He also failed as a fielder, where the once elite defender logged an awful Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) of -2.5 in centre field.
Zimmer was worse at the plate, with a wRC+ of 24. While Zimmer had an elite 15 innings in right field, that wasn’t his primary role, and he put up a -1.6 UZR patrolling center.
While Tapia was better than Zimmer and Bradley, he was not good enough to justify starting for a major league club. He put up a wRC+ of 90 and a UZR of -1. While Blue Jays fans tended to like him because of his quirky nature, you don’t win a World Series with quirkiness.
The question remains though, is Kiermaier a good replacement for Bradley, Zimmer, and Tapia?
Yes, yes he is.
While Kiermaier is projected to be a slightly worse hitter than Tapia, he will more than make up for it defensively. In 2021, his 7.6 UZR had him ranked fifth among big-league centre fielders (min 600 innings). Even when coming off of knee surgery in 2022, he still put up positive numbers at the position, which is more than the other three can say.
With that comes the biggest problem. Kiermaier is coming off two surgeries in as many years. First was knee surgery in 2021 and the second was hip surgery in 2022. The latter forced him to miss the final 80 games of the 2022 season.
We have previously seen elite defenders fall completely off a cliff for little to no reason. Case and point being 2021’s sixth-best defensive centre fielder: Bradley.
Should the Jays sign another outfielder, say a Michael Brantley or a Joey Gallo, then this will be seen as a fine move. If they don’t, this is concerning. Those kinds of players are rapidly disappearing from the market, and the Jays need to act fast, given their precarious position in a wide open AL East.