I remember John Gibbons starting Troy Glaus at SS for 8 games in 2006 to try to go all-out offense when starting flyball pitchers.

The Jays were otherwise running out sub .600 John McDonald for most of the year.

Troy had played 10 games at SS as a younger giant for the Angels, but never started.

I don’t recall any horrors and remember he didn't see much traffic there.

BBRef says he even finished 3 games there.

Glaus' line at SS in 2006:

55.1 innings, 18 assists, 5 putouts, 2 DPs, 0 errors.

Saw some translation of recent Guerrero Jr interview on Twitter, and not at all sure there's a relationship to repair there. It feels inevitable that he will be traded/ leave.
I don't see a way to succesfully thread the needle. Even winning & letting people leave (and falling back 2026) feels like it will have huge repercussions for years. FO is in a corner holding paint & brushes.

Russ Martin played SS with the Jays, and Pitched - we know this, but he also played a game in RF with the Pirates, and he had innings at 2B/3B throughout his career.

RE: the Vlad situation - I read the comments. I think it is entirely like that his price probably looks like a "F off price" to the front office. He spoke publicly about Atkins not showing up to his arb hearing, about the way the team went after Ohtani and Soto compared to how they've dealt with him including being blunt with him about coming to camp fat and out of shape among other things. So, like lexomatic said: this is a corner they painted themselves into.

Gonna be weird seeing another player the Jays developed go into the Hall with a non-Jays cap.

That is accurate soupman. Being out of shape was Vlad's fault but the FO has to take some blame for other things.

I saw excerpts from the same interview as lexomatic and Vlad's asking price went up after each of the Ohtani and Soto deals. He also stated that he was dealing with personal and emotional issues in 2022 and 2023. I know his mother was very sick during the 2023 season so that weighed on him.

It seemed like there was a more mature version of Vlad last year, still having fun but also more focused. I was in the "sign him at all costs camp" but now I also wonder if a huge contract to him would cripple the team down the road. Besides seeing the youngsters perform, Vlad was the only reason to watch the Jays at times last year. I am conflicted now about what is the best strategy going forward regarding him now.

Looking at past Jay star 1B (Delgado, Olerud, McGriff, Fielder) you can see that odds are Vlad will produce around 30-40 more WAR over his career, which sounds fantastic but for $500 mil? Is it worth it?

Vlad is at 17.0 fWAR right now through age 25. Let's look at guys within 5 of that (12-22) through age 25. You get 261 players all-time from Yasiel Puig to Robin Yount. Of those 261 the best post age 25 was Mike Schmidt with 87.1 to go (wow). Cut out active guys (such as Bo) and we are down to 242 players.

• Below 0 WAR: 5 (Ruben Sierra, Carlos Baerga, etc.)
• 0-9.9 fWAR: 61 (Pablo Sandoval, Ellis Valentine, Tony Kubek, Yasiel Puig, Adam Dunn, Delino DeShields, Mike Greenwell, etc.)
• 10-29.9 fWAR: 100 (Willie Horton, Travis Fryman, Nick Markakis, Prince Fielder, Nomar Garciaparra, Bill Mazeroski, Troy Glaus, Rick Monday, Don Mattingly, Troy Tulowitzki, many others)
• 30-49.9 fWAR: 61 (Robin Ventura, Keith Hernandez, Andre Dawson, John Olerud, Fred McGriff, Dave Winfield, Ernie Banks, Gary Carter, etc.)
• 50+ fWAR: 15 (Willie McCovey, Rod Carew, Jeff Bagwell, Brooks Robinson, Chipper Jones, Carl Yastrzemski, Mike Schmidt, Joe Morgan, etc.)

Basically you get 30+ after age 25 and you are a HOF or damn close to it after a solid start like Vlad has had. Didn't expect as clear a bell curve as we got with this. The 10-30 range is clearly the odds on area to end up, with equal odds of being sub 10 to being 30-50 range. If the Jays do a 15 year deal they are betting on the 30+, ideally 50+ fWAR from Vlad (but 50+ being unlikely). Prince Fielder is the guy most look to as a 'oh crap' for the Jays but it is unlikely Vlad would also get C4-C5 herniations in his neck (that is what ended Fielder's career).

So, imo, from a pure baseball POV signing Vlad for a 15/$500 deal is risky and I'd hesitate to do it. From a PR POV it is a no-brainer to do it. Would a $34 mil a year loss should Vlad get hurt or become ineffective kill the Jays? No, but it would hurt (around 15% of the budget). The longer the Jays wait the more expensive it has become. Well past time to just bite the bullet and sign him.