Blue Jays part of lengthy list still interested in Christian Yelich

According to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag Sports, the Toronto Blue Jays are reportedly still one of a number of teams interested in acquiring the services of Miami Marlins outfielder Christian Yelich.

Christian Yelich along with many of his teammates have been the subject of trade talks for the entire offseason as the Miami Marlins new ownership group continues to shed payroll. Presumably, the next chips to fall will be Yelich and catcher JT Realmuto who have both expressed interest to take their services elsewhere since the firesale gained full steam.

According to Heyman, there is a long laundry list of teams chomping at the bit to acquire Yelich, however, there is no indication of a clear frontrunner at this point in the talks. Heyman mentions the Blue Jays along with the Phillies, Rangers, Angels, Dodgers, Red Sox, White Sox, Diamondbacks and Padres as teams with varying degrees of interest.

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You would have to assume the Blue Jays are attempting to acquire Yelich without surrendering their two top prospects in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette. That task would have been inconceivable a few months ago however the Marlins may soon not be in an advantageous position to play hardball with teams if Yelich pushes the issue of being dealt out of Florida.

Yelich owns a career line of .290/.369/.432 with 59 round trippers and 72 stolen bases in 90 attempts while accumulating a 17.7 WAR in his first five seasons with the Marlins.

Yelich is just what the doctor ordered in terms of the need for the Blue Jays, the 26-year is controllable, athletic and makes them better on both sides of the field. Even aside from the dynamic duo, the Jays still have some very sought after prospects in their farm system. The likes of Anthony Alford, Nate Pearson, and Logan Warmoth all have very high upside especially seeing Alford could slot in for Yelich on the major league team right away in 2018.

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The management has added some nice complimentary pieces this offseason in Aledmys Diaz, Yangervis Solarte, and Curtis Granderson but they still need that show-stopper and Yelich would be that if the Jays could pull it off.