Blue Jays just got a timely Daulton Varsho trade reminder with Diamondbacks rumor

The Toronto Blue Jays were reminded of a huge trade they made back in 2023, with the news that the Arizona Diamondbacks are interested in extending catcher Gabriel Moreno. D’Backs team president/CEO Derrick Hall made an appearance on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM last week and confirmed that the two sides had begun discussions about a long-term extension.

Blue Jays fans will remember Moreno as a top prospect in the early 2020s. His rise through the minor league ranks coincided with Toronto having one of the best catching tandems in franchise history in Alejandro Kirk and Danny Jansen.

After appearing in 25 games with the Blue Jays in 2022, it was clear that the Venezuela native was too good for the minors and was traded in a blockbuster deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Toronto traded the catching phenom, along with popular outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr., to the desert in exchange for Daulton Varsho. In the first season after the trade, it appeared as though the Blue Jays got fleeced.

Moreno hit .284 with 50 RBI and a 4.3 bWAR; Gurriel Jr. hit a career-high 24 home runs and made his lone All-Star team. Varsho hit 20 homers, but was a below-average hitter (84 OPS+), with most of his 3.6 bWAR being earned via his defensive abilities. 

D'Backs cleary got the better of 2023 trade

Varsho showed improvement as a hitter (96 OPS+) in 2024 and won his first Gold Glove Award, taking over full-time as a center fielder after splitting time with Kevin Kiermaier in 2023. The lefty seemed to be on the verge of an offensive breakout following the 2025 season that saw him launch 20 homers in just 71 games, hitting for a higher OPS (.833, 120 OPS+) than he had in any previous season. 

This season, Varsho has shown a different approach at the plate, one that has emphasized contact over power. He has hit for a higher average (.244, his highest since 2021) and cut down on his strikeout rate (19.1% this season, his lowest ever), but, like many of his teammates this season,  his game has lacked slug, and those adjustments have resulted in a .685 OPS (87 OPS+)

Meanwhile, Moreno kept up his solid play, but struggled with his availability in 2024 and ‘25, with 97 and 83 games played, respectively. This season, the 26-year-old has returned to health and is in the midst of his best season, hitting .310 with 18 doubles, 7 home runs, 41 RBI, and an .844 OPS. Gurriel Jr. enjoyed a solid follow-up to his starry 2023 campaign (18 HR, .757 OPS in 2024), but has seen his production drop off significantly since.

With the trade deadline approaching, the talk around Moreno is centred around extending him and keeping him in Arizona long-term, where Varsho has been routinely brought up as a trade piece.

Moreno and the D’Backs avoided arbitration with a one-year, $2.55 million pact for this year. The young catcher is arbitration-eligible for two more years before potentially hitting free agency during the 2028-29 offseason.

The Blue Jays were dealing from a position of strength when they made that trade, and they believed they were getting an outfielder to build around for the next several years. With Varsho set to hit free agency after this season, Toronto needs to decide if they want to retain him or trade him away as part of a potential trade-deadline sell-off that could have major implications for the club’s future. 

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