Blue Jays: McCutchen and Duvall have signed. What's left for the Jays in free agency?
Over the past week, multiple free agent outfield options for the Toronto Blue Jays have come off the board.
Andrew McCutchen is returning home to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Adam Duvall is signing with the Boston Red Sox.
Tommy Pham is heading to the New York Mets.
Brian Anderson is the newest member of the Milwaukee Brewers.
The options are beginning to dwindle for the Jays, who are very one decent backup outfielder away from being "done" with the offseason.
But that does not mean that there isn't anyone left for the Jays to sign. After bringing aboard Kevin Kiermaier, Daulton Varsho and Brandon Belt, the left-handed void on the depth chart is no more. This is one of the main areas Ross Atkins and Co. entered the offseason hoping to address.
Of the remaining outfielders in the free agent pool, the switch-hitting Robbie Grossman and Jurickson Profar are the only names of note that are capable of hitting from the right side.
David Peralta, Odúbel Herrera, Kole Calhoun and Tyler Naquin also remain available but with their at-bats coming from the left side, don't count on them being targeted by the Jays.
Grossman, 33, is coming off of a down year with the Tigers and Braves in 2022 but has shown throughout his big league career that he is a lefty masher if I've ever seen one. That continued for him last year.
In a total of 129 contests last season, Grossman hit seven home runs and managed just a .209 batting average with an OPS+ of 80. However, such a massive part of that dip in production is how often his teams used him against right-handed pitchers.
Against righties last year, Grossman hit six home runs with a .163 batting average and 47 OPS+. He had 328 plate appearances against them and had his weaknesses exposed left and right against them.
On the other side of that, he torched left-handed pitching, just like he always has. In 72 games and 149 plate appearances against southpaws last year, Grossman hit 12 doubles and only one home run, but he made up for the lack of power in other ways. He drew 25 walks and struck out just 36 times, posting a .320 batting average along the way.
Then there's Profar, who has much less drastic splits between left-handed and right-handed oppositions and plays better outfield defense than Grossman.
Last year for the Padres, Profar, who is still somehow only 29-years-old, hit 15 home runs with 82 runs scored and 58 driven in. His OPS+ of 111 was the best he's ever put up in a full season of games (114 in the COVID-shortened 2020 season) and he adjusted really well to having left field being his full-time home on defense.
In the past, the Rangers tried to use Profar, who debuted in 2012 at the age of 19, as a super-utilityman but it quickly became apparent (to everyone but the Rangers) that he is not one that should be lining up at shortstop or third base on a regular basis thanks to below-average range and a highly questionable throwing arm.
After finally getting a full season of games tied down to one position in 2019 for the Oakland A's, Profar's arm as a second baseman continued to be suspect. When he was acquired by the Padres in 2020, the club realized the same thing and began to give him much more time in the outfield, where he has adjusted nicely.
One more outfield option is all the Blue Jays need on offense to become a juggernaut in the American League. Grossman is a lefty killer and Profar is a solid defensive outfield who comes with a strong bat versus both lefties and righties. Ending the offseason with one of these players would be the perfect cap on a stellar offseason for the Jays.