The biggest domino in the 2023 MLB fell when Shohei Ohtani signed a mammoth $700 million contract and made not only baseball history, but professional sports history. Acquiring Ohtani would have been a coup for Toronto, as he is a two-way player and would have addressed multiple needs for the team.
With Ohtani off the board and staying in Los Angeles, the Blue Jays must pivot quickly if they want to save their off-season and keep themselves in contention for a World Series title in 2024 and beyond.
In the wake of the Ohtani deal, the Blue Jays must re-sign one of their own free agents, make a splash or two in the free agent pitchers market, and then pull off a blockbuster trade for a young offensive star.
Needless to say, it will not be easy for the Blue Jays to achieve all of these goals, but it can be done. Toronto’s front office must follow these steps if they want to salvage their off-season and remain competitive in 2024 and beyond.
Re-signing their own star free agent slugger
The first order of business for the Blue Jays needs to be re-signing slugger Matt Chapman.
Chapman is far from a perfect player, and he has several notable shortcomings, most notably in the strikeout department. However, he’s still a slugger who is able to hit the cover off of the baseball when he is making contact. Perhaps more importantly, Chapman is the best free agent hitter on the market and he is already familiar with the Blue Jays organization.
Blue Jays need a splash acquisition (or two) in free agency
The next step Toronto’s front office must take is to sign at least two quality free agent pitchers.
While there are limited free agent bats available this off-season, quality arms are plentiful. It will be important for the Blue Jays to sign multiple pitchers to shore up their rotation, especially in light of missing out on Ohtani, who would have been a cornerstone of their pitching staff in addition to being an elite hitter.
The Blue Jays have several quality arms in their farm system, but they may need to trade some of these pitchers in order to acquire another quality bat to fill holes in their lineup.
Four pitchers that the Blue Jays should have on their radar are Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jordan Montgomery, Blake Snell and Sonny Gray. If the Blue Jays want to salvage the offseason, it is borderline essential that they acquire at least one of these players. In an ideal world, they will sign two or even three of them. Signing two pitchers would allow the Jays to bolster their rotation while also giving them breathing room to trade away Ricky Tiedemann along with one of their other high-end pitching prospects to acquire a difference-maker at the plate.
Trading for an offensive star
This brings us to the third key move that the Blue Jays must make to salvage this offseason: They must trade for an All-Star level hitter. The ideal target should be Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals. The Royals have a history of letting young talent go rather than resigning them to big money contracts. The Royals are also about as far away from playoff contention as they could possibly be, and it is far from a guarantee that they will be able to contend during Witt Jr.'s career.
There have already been rumors about trading Witt Jr., and these rumors may become reality sooner rather than later.
Alek Manoah was a Cy Young candidate in 2022. Unfortunately for Manoah and the Blue Jays, 2023 was a disaster that saw Manoah get demoted to the minor leagues and even get lit up by the Yankees rookie ball team. Manoah refused a Triple-A assignment in 2023, and that led to a poisoning of the relationship between the former star pitcher and his organization.
A fresh start may be just what the doctor ordered for both parties, and Kansas City would likely be enticed by the prospects of trading for a pitcher who had Cy Young potential as of just one year ago.
Unfortunately for Toronto, because of the disaster that was 2023 for Manoah, it won’t be enough to have him as the primary or only trade ship going back to Kansas City.
A trade for a player on Witt Jr.’s level would likely require at least two premier pieces going back to Kansas City. Manoah is one, and this trade package could be co-headlined by star pitching prospect Ricky Tiedemann. This type of transaction might also require one of Toronto’s top position prospects, possibly Leo Jimenez or Damiano Palmegiani.
If Tiedemann stays with the Blue Jays, it is likely that he will be promoted to the big league squad at some point this season. This is part of why signing multiple quality arms in free agency is so important for Toronto, as it will allow them the flexibility to trade from a position of strength in order to obtain a player to bolster an area of need. Witt Jr.would be a perfect fit in Toronto because he can play multiple infield positions, and he can hit for power as well as for average.
These moves can help Toronto overcome striking out on Ohtani
There’s no way around it. Missing out on Ohtani, especially after being rumored to be close to securing his services, represents a big blow to the Blue Jays organization and their hopes for the 2024 season. If Toronto’s front office makes some or all of the moves mentioned above, however, they can mitigate the effects of missing out on Ohtani and set themselves up for success, both now and in the future.
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