Reclamation projects: 5 free agent hitters and 4 pitchers the Blue Jays should pursue

The Toronto Blue Jays have had some luck in the past when it came to reclamation projects. Some of the more notable ones in recent memory include Robbie Ray, Steven Matz, Marcus Semien and Whit Merrifield. Of course, in the case for Ray, he went from struggling immensely with his control and command in his final few years with the Arizona Diamondbacks to eventual Cy Young winner in just a little over a season with the Jays, marking perhaps one of the greatest turnarounds in MLB history. 

The Matz project turned out quite well too after the Jays took a chance on him for the 2021 season. The former front-end starter was in a constant struggle to find his game ever since starting off strong in his first two seasons of his career. But after coming over to the Jays in an offseason trade, Matz went on to post a career-high 14 wins along with a solid 3.82 ERA, 144 strikeouts in 150.2 innings pitched, netting him a big contract with the St. Louis Cardinals in free agency during the 2021-22 offseason.

Semien and Merrifield both had shown glimpses of stardom prior to joining the Jays but each turned into All-Star caliber (and in Semien's case, MVP caliber) players.

As of this moment, the Jays are currently looking at potential free agents to fill some of the holes on their roster, which includes the outfield, third base, designated hitter, and starting pitching depth. In doing so, could they take a chance in free agency in pursuing a reclamation project or two to help meet their needs? Here, we will examine nine intriguing candidates that could provide the Jays with surprising value if given the opportunity to shine once again.

Hitters

Gio Urshela

When it comes to the name Gio Urshela, Jays’ fans may often remember him as one of the ones that they gave up on too soon. That was because following his short, unspectacular stint with the Jays back in 2018 in which he hit only .233 in 19 games, he went on to star for their arch rivals New York Yankees for the next few seasons.

Since his breakout season with the Yankees in 2019, Urshela has averaged close to 20+ home runs and 70+ RBI while batting around .290 each year when projected over a 162-game schedule pace. That is considered solid run production and would come close to matching the numbers put up by Matt Chapman, but with a more palatable batting average. Obviously he won’t come close to Chapman’s defensive prowess, but he has displayed some respectable numbers with a career .967 fielding percentage at the hot corner, along with posting a positive DRS for the past two seasons.

In 2023, Urshela had somewhat of a power outage to start the season, as his home run and RBI totals decreased drastically compared to his previous seasons. Eventually, he suffered a season-ending injury in June when he fractured his left pelvis while running in an attempt to break up a double play. At just the age of 32 entering the 2024 MLB season, he should have a handful of productive years remaining ahead of him.

Eduardo Escobar

Eduardo Escobar has had quite the career so far in the 13 years he's been in the big leagues. Having suited up for six different teams over that period, he has put together a nice resumé in terms of his offensive production and performance. With the ability to play multiple positions in the infield as well, it gives him the added flexibility for a team to deploy him wherever help was needed.

For the 2023 season, it was actually the first time in a long time that Escobar was no longer an everyday starter for a team. Splitting his time between the Mets and Angels as a part-time player, Escobar registered some of his worst production numbers since when he broke into the league. In 99 games, he batted .226 with a .613 OPS, along with 32 runs scored, 6 doubles, 5 triples, 6 home runs and 31 RBI.

However, he is only two years removed from his 28-homer, 90 RBI All-Star season in 2021, and 20-homer, 69 RBI season in 2022. So Escobar has shown he can get the job done in terms of offence when given starting time duties. If he were to join the Jays, he can cover third base along with occasionally making starts at second when needed, given his flexibility in playing all positions in the infield. For a Jays’ team that was hungry for offence all last season, Escobar would be the perfect antidote to that problem for the ballclub.

Austin Meadows

A former first-round pick of the Pirates in 2013, Austin Meadows was always destined for a bright future due to his hitting prowess. His career finally took off after he was traded by the Pirates in a package including pitcher Tyler Glasnow and prospect Shane Baz to the Tampa Bay Rays for starting pitcher Chris Archer. That trade certainly turned out to be one of the worst trades ever by the Pirates, as Archer amounted to almost nothing, while all three that ended up heading the Rays’ way prospered.

More importantly, Meadows had his breakout season in 2019 when he compiled a solid .291 batting average, .922 OPS, 144 OPS+, 83 runs scored, 29 doubles, 7 triples, 33 home runs, 89 RBI and 12 stolen bases. He would have one more strong season in 2021 when he tallied a career high 106 RBI before he was ultimately traded to the Detroit Tigers in 2022. That was when his promising career became derailed due to a slew of illnesses and injuries, including COVID, vertigo, inner ear infection, and Achilles tendinitis.

More recently, Meadows has stepped away from the game as he has been dealing with anxiety issues. As a result, in his two seasons with the Tigers, he managed to get into only 42 games and hit .248 with a .655 OPS, along with 9 runs scored, 7 doubles, no home runs and 13 RBI. In the end, the Tigers non-tendered him during this offseason, making him available in free agency. If Meadows manages to overcome his anxiety issues, then the Jays should consider taking a flyer on him given his prominent run production and the ability to play all of the outfield positions in the past. At only the young age of 28, hopefully Meadows will be able to get his career back on track.

Wil Myers

As a former top 5 prospect in all of baseball, expectations have always been high for outfielder Wil Myers ever since he stepped his foot into the majors. He certainly did not disappoint in his rookie debut season in 2013 when he batted .293 with an .831 OPS, along with 50 runs scored, 13 home runs and 53 RBI in just a little over half a season with the Rays. His impressive performance earned him AL Rookie of the Year honours at the conclusion of the season. However, he was often plagued by injuries that limited his overall production early on in his career.

As a result, Myers’ career didn’t really continue to take off until he became a part of the San Diego Padres via trade by the Rays. In 2016, he put together an All-Star season in which he accumulated 28 home runs and a career-high 94 RBI while scoring 99 runs in 157 games. It was also then when the Padres began to use Myers more in the infield after being previously used primarily as an outfielder with the Rays. Defensively, his strongest position is at first base in which he has posted a career .997 fielding percentage along with 11 DRS. His strongest outfield position albeit a smaller sample size is left field, with a career .995 fielding percentage and 5 DRS.

Last year, Myers endured an uncharacteristic rough start to the season where he struggled mightily with the Cincinnati Reds. He managed to only get into 37 games before landing on the IL with kidney stones and a sprained left shoulder. At that time, Myers had compiled a mediocre .189 average, .541 OPS, with only 3 home runs and 12 RBI. When he was healthy once again, the Reds designated him for assignment and ultimately released him. As a result, it shouldn’t take a lot to obtain Myers’ services, with potential of a low-risk, high-reward outcome. If he could revert to his usual form, he should be good for 20 home runs and 60-70 RBI per season. He would fit in well with the Jays as a stop-gap solution in left field, or by filling the designated hitter role while making spot starts at first base when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. needs a rest day.

Jesse Winker

Jesse Winker may not be a household name compared to some of the other free agents on this list, but he should not be counted out. After all, he is a former first-round pick by the Reds and is still young enough to have some untapped potential. However, it took him a little while before he finally became a regular in the Reds’ lineup, but when it finally happened, he became a main contributor in the process.

In particular, Winker broke out during the 2021 season in which he batted .305 with a .949 OPS, along with 77 runs scored, 32 doubles, 24 home runs and 71 RBI in 110 games played. His career year even earned him his first All-Star nod as a result. However, he has struggled in his following two seasons, including an injury-plagued 2023 year with the Milwaukee Brewers. His batting average fell almost 100 points while his OPS fell between 300-400 points from his 2021 All-Star season.

With the entire offseason to heal up and get back to full health, Winker will be hungry to show his suitors once again that he could be a major contributor in the big leagues. Early on, the Yankees have been linked to him this offseason. With the ability to play both outfield corners and as a designated hitter, Winker would address one of the Jays’ key offseason needs. But given he has a career -23 DRS in left field and a -39 DRS overall in the outfield, having him serving as the left-handed bat replacing Brandon Belt would be the ideal arrangement.

Pitchers

Lucas Giolito

As the former ace of the Chicago White Sox pitching staff, Lucas Giolito has been among the best pitchers in recent years in the league. He was also one of the hottest commodities at the trade deadline this past season when contending clubs were looking to augment their starting pitching for the stretch run. After all, with a career 1077 strikeouts in 1013.2 innings of work and a 1.25 WHIP, along with consistently maintaining an ERA below 4.00 in four of the past five MLB seasons, he was as steady as it gets.

However, Giolito totally fell apart after being dealt to the Angels at the 2023 trade deadline, as he went 1-5 with a 6.89 ERA and 1.47 WHIP, giving up 25 earned runs including 10 home runs in just six starts. He practically single-handedly knocked the Angels out of playoff contention in the process. Eventually he was waived by the Angels, with the Cleveland Guardians picking him up for the final month of the season. Ultimately, he would be just as bad in that stint as well, with numbers closely mirroring those put up in Los Angeles.

Given his proven track record in recent years, perhaps Giolito just wasn’t comfortable after leaving the city he had played almost his entire MLB career with. Nevertheless, for someone with his skill and talent level, they don’t just suddenly forget how to pitch overnight. As a result, the Jays may be able to buy low with Giolito and reap the benefits of having a potential ace pitching in their back-end of the rotation for 2024.

James Paxton

For Canadian pitcher James Paxton, he's always been a promising pitcher that has run into some severe bad luck when it came to injuries. When it appeared that he had finally put his injury troubles behind him with a clean bill of health during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, he ran into the same issues once again in 2020. After one start in 2021 in which he lasted only four outs with the Mariners, Paxton underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery. In the end, his string of bad luck would continue as he suffered several setbacks during the recovery process and didn’t end up returning until the 2023 season.

When healthy over the course of his career, Paxton has posted stellar numbers; with a 64-38 winning record, 3.69 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 932 strikeouts over 850.2 innings pitched in 156 games started. However, he struggled a bit coming off his two-year layoff in 2023 by compiling a 4.50 ERA and 1.31 WHIP in 19 starts with the Boston Red Sox, though he did end up with a winning record at 7-5. Once again, he ran into injury woes with right knee inflammation near the end of the season, but at least this time, the injury didn't put him out for an extended period of time.

Noah Syndergaard

Wouldn’t it been great to come full circle with former Jays' pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard? He was part of big blockbuster trade between the Jays and the Mets that brought Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey to town. Many believed at the time that the Jays had dealt their future ace away in exchange for a couple of championship runs with Dickey in 2015 and 2016. Dickey did end up providing some value to the ballclub, but more as a back-end of the rotation starter than the Cy Young-level performer they were expecting him to be.

On the other hand, Syndergaard went on to become the Mets’ ace up until the 2019 season. After undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2020, he has yet to fully regain his prior dominant form. Although, he did have a solid 2022 season split between the Angels and Phillies in which he went 10-10 with a 3.94 ERA and 1.26 WHIP. More importantly, in his eight-year MLB career, he has amassed a solid 59-47 record with a 3.71 ERA and 1.20 WHIP, along with 928 strikeouts in 941.1 innings pitched over 162 career starts.

If Syndergaard can come anywhere close to what he produced during the 2022 season, he would be an ideal back-end of the rotation starter for the Jays for the 2024 season. Even though he may no longer be the strikeout king he used to be, he could provide quality innings for the ballclub to give them a fair opportunity to win ballgames in which he pitches in. At just the age of 31, he has a good chance of turning things around tremendously with a little tutelage from Jays’ pitching coach Pete Walker.