Toronto Blue Jays: Potential free agent target off the board

An interesting player the Blue Jays could have targeted in free agency is no longer available.

The Toronto Blue Jays season is over as they were just eliminated from the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Rays in the opening round. The Jays now enter offseason mode where the players will rest and train for next season while the front office seeks upgrades to make the team better.

One player Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro might have had their eyes set on in free agency was Yulieski “Yuli” Gurriel. He is no longer available as he recently signed an extension with the Houston Astros for seven million with a club option for 2022.

Atkins and Shapiro probably had him circled as a target for multiple reasons. On the field, he can play both third and first base. While bringing in Gurriel may create a logjam in the corner infield positions, if you map it out, he would have a path to full playing time even if everyone stayed healthy. Gurriel could play third or first with Travis Shaw playing the other position, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.could shift to full-time designated hitter duties and mix in at first on occasion.

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Also after slashing .239/.306/.411 and striking out 50 times in as many games, Shaw isn’t guaranteed to be picked up for his third and final arbitration year.

At the plate, he also does pretty well and is a great contact hitter. He wasn’t himself this season as he slashed .232/.274/.384 but only struck out 27 times in 57 games. In 2019, he was really good, slashing .298/.343/.541 with 168 hits, 40 doubles, 31 HR and 104 RBIs while only going down on strikes 65 times. Throughout his entire major league career, he holds a .287/.324/.468 slash line with 565 hits, 71 HR, 301 RBIs and 229 strikeouts.

He’d also be a great leader and a veteran in a relatively young clubhouse. Gurriel will be 37 years old next July and would be the oldest player on the Jays. He’d be a fantastic leader and would mesh well with the young Latino and Dominican players like Vladdy, Teoscar Hernandez and his brother Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

It would also be a great thing for the Gurriel family having both Lourdes and Yuli playing for the same team after defecting from Cuba. I’m sure both of them would have loved to play on the same team.

It’s too bad the Jays weren’t able to pitch themselves to the elder Gurriel brother. He truly would have been a fantastic fit in Toronto.