4. Toronto Blue Jays
Biggest need: Bat to replace
Marcus Semien
Potential targets: Carlos Correa, Trevor Story, Seiya Suzuki, Matt Chapman,
Kyle Seager,
Josh Harrison, Freddie Freeman
The Blue Jays have a lot of moving parts -- they would like to trade one of the four catchers on their 40-man roster (not prospect
Gabriel Moreno), they've been rumored to be shopping
Randal Grichuk, and they likely will add another starter to fill out the rotation. The biggest priority, however, should be replacing Semien. They have flexibility here:
- They could sign one of the shortstops and move Bo Bichette, who ranked in just the sixth percentile among shortstops in Statcast's Outs Above Average metric, to second base.
- They could go after a third baseman -- Chapman in a trade, Seager as a free agent -- and let Santiago Espinal and Cavan Biggiohandle second base. Seager would provide a lefty bat in Toronto's righty-heavy lineup.
- They could sign Harrison to play second base.
- Or maybe they go in a completely different direction. The Blue Jays have reportedly been interested in Freeman and Suzuki, which does suggest they're looking for another big bat. Freeman feels like an awkward fit with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first base, but maybe the Jays would move the slimmed down Guerrero back to third (it seems way too early in his career to make him a permanent DH).
What they should do: Sign Correa. Toronto's current payroll via Cot's Contracts is $159 million. They should be operating closer to the Yankees and Red Sox. Dumping Grichuk's $10.3 million would help in that area. Realistically, with
George Springer,
Jose Berrios and
Kevin Gausman on $100 million-plus deals and Guerrero and Bichette coming up in the future, Correa might be too pricey for the Blue Jays' comfort level. In that case, Seager can plug in at third base for a year and they can use their farm system depth to acquire one of the Cincinnati or Oakland starters.
