Blue Jays monitoring CarGo’s free agent status

According to a tweet from ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, the Blue Jays are among the clubs interested in free agent outfielder, Carlos Gonzalez.

Now that we’re in the winter meetings, there have been several more notable moves, and plenty of rumours on the side. The Blue Jays have yet to make a move since acquiring Aledmys Diaz from the Cardinals not long ago, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see them add player sometime this week.

In fact, according to a tweet from ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, the Blue Jays are among the interested parties in free agent slugger, Carlos Gonzalez. “CarGo” had a down year in 2017, and at just 32 years old it’s expected that he’ll be looking for a short contract in order to re-establish his value.

The lefty-swinging power hitter slashed just .262/.339/.423 last season, and adding just 14 home runs and 57 RBI in 136 games played. Those represented some of the worst marks of his career, as he averaged 33 home runs and 99 RBI from 2015-16 while playing with the Rockies in the National League. He’s no gold glover in the outfield either, but he should be at least serviceable, and would provide an upgrade from what we saw out of Jose Bautista and Steve Pearce last season.

More from Jays Journal

• Matt Chapman has been exactly what the Blue Jays needed
• Blue Jays: The goalposts are moving in the right direction
• Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays advance to the Championship Series
• Blue Jays: Comparisons for Alek Manoah’s Second Season
• Blue Jays: Adam Cimber, the unlikely decision King

According to Krasnick, the other teams that have expressed interest in Gonzalez at this point are the San Francisco Giants, the Kansas City Royals, the Oakland A’s, and the Tampa Bay Rays, as well as the Blue Jays. With the exception of the Giants (and that’s debatable), most of these teams are expected to struggle in 2018, and CarGo would represent a short term fix that could translate into a tradable asset at the deadline, should be bounce back.

MLBtraderumors.com has him projected for one year at 12 million, and it’s hard to say how that projection will stand up. He could end up being offered multi-year deals, but given that he was an All-Star as recently as 2016, it makes sense that he would like to be compensated after he’s had a season more in line with his career norms.

While Gonzalez may not represent the kind of response Blue Jays’ fans are looking for to the Yankees acquiring Giancarlo Stanton, he would be a potential upside play that could pay off in a big way, especially since he figures to sign for a bargain contract. If the Blue Jays are contending, he’ll be a significant reason why that’s the case.

If not, the Blue Jays could have themselves yet another veteran on an expiring deal, and those always hold trade value in July. For that reason and several more, Gonzalez makes sense as a free agent edition for the Blue Jays, as he could hold value regardless of how the season goes for the boys in blue.

Next: Blue Jays expressing interest in Marcel Ozuna