In a low-profile MLB move earlier this week, the Toronto Blue Jays picked up struggling power hitter Daniel Vogelbach from the Seattle Mariners for some cash. The cost was cheap, as Seattle had designated Vogelbach for assignment and clearly was looking to move on. And you can understand why: Since the end of last April, Vogelbach has hit .178, he's already 27 and doesn't defend. They were done waiting on Vogelbach to develop into a consistent take-and-rake producer.
Here's a fun fact about Vogelbach: At the end of April 2019, he ranked sixth in the American League by the FanGraphs version of WAR. He was hitting .310/.462/.732 and led the AL with a 208 wRC+. Anyone picking a 2019 All-Star Game based on those numbers would have put Vogelbach on it.
As we hit the halfway point of the weird and unprecedented 2020 season, it's only natural to take a snapshot of the proceedings to date. After all, we're 50% finished, right? True but, then again, we've played a month, which, in 2020, is a half-season. Very, very strange. But as we proceed on to picking midseason All-Star teams for each league, bear in mind the Vogey saga. It has only been a month.
