Blue Jays: Looking beyond dealing just the “rental” contracts

Justin Smoak

The Blue Jays have been fortunate to receive a gigantic bargain from Justin Smoak’s production over the last season and a half. He made just 4.125 million during his 2017 All-Star campaign, makes the same this year, and has an option for six million for 2019. The option is a no-brainer for the Blue Jays to pick up at the end of the season, even if the rest of this year doesn’t go quite as well. For the moment though, his production has been certainly worth the salary, as he’s slashed .237/.373/.431 with nine home runs and 33 RBI in 59 games so far.

When you add up his power, his solid on-base percentage, his above-average defence, and his affordable salary, Smoak should have some appeal on the trade market. Slugging first baseman aren’t that hard to find, but Smoak adds a little more than just power to his highlight reel, and the extra year of commitment might make him more interesting to an acquiring team than another option who will be a free agent at the end of the season.

It’s hard to say what the Blue Jays could back in a trade for the former first round pick, but it likely wouldn’t be a huge game changer by any means. That said, we saw Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins get Teoscar Hernandez from Houston last year by sending over Francisco Liriano (the deal also included the Blue Jays taking Nori Aoki‘s contract), so exploring the market is absolutely worthwhile.

Smoak is a nice player for sure, but I don’t know that we should expect the Blue Jays to be pushing hard to contend in 2019, especially if they can’t pull themselves back into the race this year. The front office wanted to reward the fans for their loyalty by avoiding a full on rebuild at the end of last season, but I don’t think they’ll sacrifice much the second time around this winter. Because Smoak only has one year remaining on his deal, and it will likely be a lot more expensive to retain him after that, I don’t know if he fits into the long term plans all that well.

I don’t think you just give him away, but if the right deal presents itself I think Atkins and Shapiro will have to consider it. If Steve Pearce can ever get healthy he could man first base if he’s not traded too, or there are other options like Yangervis Solarte, and some in the minor league system. In a worse case scenario, there will be plenty of other veterans available if the Blue Jays find themselves in need of someone to finish out the season, especially after a brutal winter that saw so many experienced players looked for an opportunity at all.