The Trade Market
The trade market can be difficult to navigate. For the Blue Jays to find a suitable upgrade they would really need a younger, controllable player that would match up with the team’s current contention window. So let us rule out the Jays trading for Mike Trout or Christian Yelich because lets just face it, that’s not going to happen. To scour through the possibilities you could dream up just about any trade but the problem is that the Jays would have to give back something substantial and by that I mean a package of Jordan Groshans and another good pitching prospect to start. So I’ll throw a couple of names out there.
Ramón Laureano
Laureano currently plays with the Oakland Athletics and was on pace for a 30 homer, 20 steal season before a late-season injury derailed those efforts. Laureano did produce a 3.9 WAR campaign in 2019 while playing centerfield. Laureano’s slash line was .288/.340/.521. Now let’s remember that the projected 2020 Blue Jays starting outfielders produced WAR of 0.5, 1.2, and 1.8 which combined still doesn’t equal Laureano’s production. Laureano is young at 25 years of age, controllable until 2025 and doesn’t cost much (which shouldn’t be a decider for the Jays).
McNeil, like Laureano, is controllable until 2025 but is a bit older as he is currently 27 years of age. McNeil is not your typical outfielder as the New York Mets moved him around the field playing in both corner outfield positions, 3B and 2B. McNeil benefits from good contact ability and low strikeout rates and produced a 2019 slash line of .318/.384/.531. Those numbers are consistent with what he did as a rookie in 2018 over 63 games. In 133 games in the 2019 season, McNeil was able to produce a WAR of 4.6.