The Bichette criticism seems a little bit over the top. I was cheering so hard for him as he rounded third but I knew that it was a huge risk and probably wasn't worth taking. At least, he was doing what he thought it took to try to win.
The Guerrero criticism is totally valid. I don't think he came into the season very fit. Did he look fat? Not really but he also wasn't as fit as he was a couple of years ago. He's an athlete and every tiny edge matters in performance. He was markedly slower than he was a couple of years ago and less flexible with poor footwork at first base. To perform at your best, you need to be at your best. I think Vladdy needs to look at himself and compare who he was this year versus who he was in 2021. He did what he needed to do to get the best of himself in 2021 and he didn't do that this year.
Manoah, Kirk, and Guerrero are all big guys and I don't mean to pick on them but they simply cannot be complacent in their training. MLB is an elite game (look at Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, etc) and you need to be at your peak performance to be competitive over the long haul.
Manoah reportedly came in at 320lbs this year. That should have been a massive red flag. Kirk has time to make some progress. Guerrero has regressed.
The Jays need to require their players to come into camp at peak fitness or they should risk being benched...even Vlad. They should be instituting hockey style fitness testing in spring training. Does the game of baseball require the same level of cardio fitness as hockey? No but it does require a level of fitness that allows an athlete to perform at their peak over a 162 game season. A base level of fitness should simply be part of the game so that we never have to think about it.
This year was evidence that even Vlad Guerrero is completely replaceable. He had a lower WRC+ than Brandon Belt and a WAR lower than 18 players on his own team. He had the same WAR as Cavan ####ing Biggio (god love him). Guerrero has coasted on the success of 2021. He has coasted on his talent alone. Well, talent isn't always enough. You need a lot more than just talent and daddy's name to be a long term success in professional sports.
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