Blue Jays: What signing Freddy Galvis means for the other shortstops

At first glance the signing of Freddy Galvis looks like a solid move to shore up the infield depth, but there could be more to it than that.

Earlier this offseason Ross Atkins made it clear that he wanted to bring in another infielder to help shore up the depth chart for new manager Charlie Montoyo. This statement was made after the Blue Jays had already traded Aledmys Diaz to Houston, and released Troy Tulowitzki and the two years remaining on his contract.

Those moves were each made for valid reasons, with the former bringing back Trent Thornton in trade, and the latter cutting loose a veteran that was taking space on the 40 man roster, and wouldn’t be a part of the rebuild, or likely even the 25 man roster. And while each departure made sense, it left the Blue Jays a little vulnerable at shortstop. They have Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who was assumed to be the starter, and beyond that were names like Richard Urena and MiLB signing Eric Sogard. Bringing in another veteran made sense.

Only in this case, the Blue Jays were able to snag a pretty significant veteran. I’m not talking about someone on an All-Star level by any means, but Freddy Galvis is a pretty decent fit for a lot of teams up the middle, and it sounds like there was a lot of interest. In fact, there may have been as many as 12 teams that were interested in his services, which makes me wonder what he was promised in order to come to Toronto.

Wherever the conversation went, there’s no doubt that Galvis liked the Blue Jays offer enough to sign his next contract in Toronto, and I sincerely doubt it was the five million in guaranteed money, including an option for next year. More likely it had something to do with playing time, and let’s have a look at how that could effect the other shortstop options in Toronto.