Blue Jays: Under the radar adds- Carlos Gonzalez?

With the Blue Jays in need of an outfielder this offseason, could Carlos Gonzalez be a match? The left-hander power hitter is a free agent for the 1st time.

It’s that point in the offseason where pretty much everything is on the table, at least for us dreamers anyway. With that in mind, it’s a fun exercise to look at the free agents available on this year’s market, and wonder who the Blue Jays could end up with in 2018.

One of those names is a former teammates of Troy Tulowitzki‘s in Colorado, and a left-handed swinging power hitter that is a three time All-Star, and three time Gold Glover. I’m talking about Carlos Gonzalez.

The now 32 year old has flown under the radar during this year’s free agent market discussions, mostly because he had a regrettable year in 2017 with the Rockies, likely his final season in Colorado. He ended up playing in 136 games in a crowded outfield, slashing a respectable .262/.339/.423. That line is below his career norms, but it’s still more than acceptable for a power hitting outfielder. Only problem was, that dropped significantly too.

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After having 25 HR’s and 100 in 2016, and 40 and 97 in 2015, CarGo struggled to find the pop in his stroke this past season, finishing with just 14 home runs and 57 RBI. The biggest problem for the Venezuelan was a recurring shoulder issue, which was likely the cause of his lack of a power stroke.

As a result of his down year, Gonzalez won’t be staring at the kind of free market he had hoped for a few years ago, and has the potential to provide a lucky team with a great bargain in 2018. The Blue Jays could make a great deal of sense as that team, especially because the Rockies declined to offer him the Qualifying Offer, so there is no draft pick compensation tied to him.

With a plethora of outfield talent in their minor league system, the Blue Jays don’t necessarily need a long term solution in their outfield picture. It’s expected that names like Anthony Alford and Teoscar Hernandez will join the ranks, perhaps as soon as 2018, so bringing in an outfielder like Gonzalez could make a lot of sense as a stop gap option. MLBtraderumors.com has a prediction of a one year contract for 12 million dollars, and I’m not even sure it’ll cost that much to bring him on.

The idea of course is that Gonzalez would be seeking to re-establish his value as a premier hitter in Major League Baseball, and prove that the number he put up all those years weren’t just the result of hitting at Coors Field in Colorado for his home games.The Rogers Centre wouldn’t be the worst place for him to transition to, even if we haven’t had a fair comparison from Tulowitzki’s time in Toronto.

He would be a gamble to be sure, but one that I consider to be far more worthwhile than Jay Bruce. But maybe that’s just me.

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