Blue Jays may be seeing a lot more of Kevin Pillar in 2020

The Toronto Blue Jays may be seeing a lot more of Kevin Pillar in 2020 if the reported rumours come to fruition surrounding the Red Sox and the outfielder.

According to multiple sources including Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Kevin Pillar and the Red Sox are nearing an agreement on a major league contract. The deal would make sense seeing Boston just shipped Mookie Betts out of town in a salary dump trade with the Dodgers.

By my count, the Blue Jays are scheduled to face their American League East rival 19 times this season including the season opener in Toronto on March 26th. Fans of Pillar will be provided with a number of opportunities to catch the 31-year old patrolling the outfield at the Rogers Centre once again, although he will be in Red Sox digs this time.

Pillar had his contract non-tendered by the San Francisco Giants earlier this offseason after the outfielder was projected to earn north of $9 million for the 2020 campaign. It will be interesting to see where the number value ends up on this latest contract, but you have to figure it will be somewhere in the neighborhood of the $5.8 million he earned in 2019.

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The Blue Jays shipped Pillar to the Giants at the beginning of April last season in exchange for Juan De Paula, Alen Hanson, and Derek Law. Pillar hit .264/.293/.442 with 21 home runs and 14 stolen bases in 156 games with San Francisco. Someone even tossed Pillar an MVP vote in the National League voting for his efforts in 2019.

Pillar is not the only former Blue Jays player still searching for a new employer heading into spring training. Devon Travis, Clay Buchholz, Melky Cabrera, Russell Martin, Aaron Sanchez, and Clayton Richard are all still searching for new contracts.

Former reliever Aaron Loup just inked a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays earlier this week while Kendrys Morales announced his retirement.

We will keep you posted on the Pillar/Red Sox negotiations, however, it appears that both sides are nearing the finish line and a deal could be consummated sooner than later.