Blue Jays offseason: 6 questions to answer before 2016

Oct 21, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Chris Colabello (15) hits a home run during the second inning against the Kansas City Royals in game five of the ALCS at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Q5: Will the Blue Jays consider adding another bat?

This question should be the one most easily met with “Huh!?”, but I feel there’s a legitimate discussion to be had here. At the time of the Troy Tulowitzki trade, Anthopoulos made a point of saying that a run added is just as good as a run saved, so could the Blue Jays attempt to send their offense into overdrive by adding another bat, possibly to the 1B/DH position?

I’ve already heard the Chris Davis suggestion more times than I can count, which is a beautiful pipe dream but little more. Will the Jays be satisfied with Chris Colabello and Justin Smoak manning the other half of the 1B/DH dynamic with Edwin Encarnacion, though? I hesitate to believe that Smoak is capable of starting every day in this lineup, and Colabello doesn’t have the longest track record of sustainable success.

Considering both Encarnacion’s injury tendencies and the fact that he’s entering the final year of his contract (an option year), the Jays could always choose to put themselves ahead of the game. Even a depth bat could be an option, as that’s exactly how Colabello began his career with the Jays.

One place I’m confident the Blue Jays will add positional depth is in the middle infield. With Cliff Pennington hitting free agency and Munenori Kawasaki just not the answer, Toronto will look to bolster their AAA depth behind Tulowitzki, Goins and Travis. MLB-ready prospect depth at those positions is not strong, so expect to see some veteran additions.

Next: Q6: The hot-button topic of the offseason