Blue Jays: Would management take on bad contracts to gain prospects?

Ian Desmond

The Colorado Rockies currently sit in second place in a crowded NL West division. They are 10 games back of the Dodgers for the top spot and are fighting off multiple teams to stay in a wild card position.

There are a good number of teams chasing those wild card spots this year in the National League. Atlanta, Milwaukee, St Louis, Arizona, and San Diego all share similar records with Colorado and will be fighting tooth and nail to make it through to the toughest postseason in sports.

Usually a competitive team wouldn’t think to trade away a veteran player during a playoff push, however, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Rockies were actively shopping Ian Desmond’s terrible contract. Desmond is under contract for two more seasons after this year with a two million dollar buy out in 2022. Next season Desmond is set to make 15 million dollars and will take home eight million in 2021. The 15 million for next season would be a nonstarter for Jays management to take on, yet if Colorado were to pony up a large chunk of his salary, and include one of their top pitching prospects, I can see an opportunity where the Blue Jays may take on Desmond’s bloated contract.

If the Rockies were to pay 50% of Desmond’s contract going forward I could see the Blue Jays trotting him out as a platoon outfielder next season, and simply eating the four million remaining for 2021 when hopefully the Jays are competitive again. It may take one of Colorado’s top prospects like Riley Pint and Ryan Rolison coming back to Toronto to make a deal like this make sense. Colorado should be looking for starting pitching or relievers in the coming weeks due to their lacklustre ERA from their current rotation, fortunately for the Blue Jays, they are well stocked to make a trade from those positions.