Trade Rumors: Could Blue Jays’s Adam Lind be first major player moved?

There is no secret that the Toronto Blue Jays are looking to land some upgrades this season. However in order to do so, General Manager Alex Anthopoulos is going to have to get creative when it comes to finding the resources to make deals happen. The game’s 9th highest payroll ($129.4 million) does seemingly have its limitations. Perhaps that is why there is so much speculation revolving around the Blue Jays clearing salary through trades.

Earlier this week we heard talk that the Blue Jays would make Mark Buehrle available to potential suitors, and given his $19 million price tag in 2015, that would seem like a no-brainer. Granted, his salary in comparison to his overall value will certainly make Buehrle tough to move without the Blue Jays eating much of that salaary.

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That’s where Adam Lind enters the picture, falling right into that “get creative” motif that the Blue Jays will need to live by. Last week we heard that Lind was already drawing interest on the market, even though no such moves can be completed until after the World Series is completed. That has seemingly led to Joel Sherman at the New York Post to speculate that Adam Lind could be the first significant player moved via trade this winter.

“If you want to take a guess on the first significant trade of the offseason, the Blue Jays moving Adam Lind is a good bet. Toronto has to either pick up a $7.5 million 2015 option or buy out Lind for $1 million, and there are strong indicators the Jays want to reallocate those funds elsewhere.” (Joel Sherman, New York Post)

Those indicators are pretty prevalent as the offseason is still in its infantile state. Toronto has needs to fill at second base, possibly two outfield positions, and nearly an entire bullpen to construct. Financial commitments to Buehrle, R.A. Dickey, Jose Reyes, and even the bargains due to Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion have seemingly strapped a team that ownership has put a payroll ceiling on. Lind, with his reasonable 2015 salary and equally reasonable option for 2015 would be attractive for a team looking for a solid left-handed bat for the line-up.

In his piece, Sherman notes both the Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Mariners as possible landing spots, as both teams have the DH at-bats to commit to Lind. Earlier reports also indicated that some National League teams could also have interest in the 31-year-old, with Pittsburgh surfacing in the 2013-14 offseason as a possible landing spot.

That all said, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of interest Lind garners and if the Blue Jays could swing him, not only to save money, but to also fill a need on the Major League club.