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Blue Jays: Some big questions were answered in 2020

By Chris Henderson

BUFFALO, NY - SEPTEMBER 26: The Toronto Blue Jays celebrate a 5-2 win against the Baltimore Orioles at Sahlen Field on September 26, 2020 in Buffalo, New York. The Blue Jays are the home team due to the Canadian government's policy on COVID-19, which prevents them from playing in their home stadium in Canada. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)
BUFFALO, NY - SEPTEMBER 26: The Toronto Blue Jays celebrate a 5-2 win against the Baltimore Orioles at Sahlen Field on September 26, 2020 in Buffalo, New York. The Blue Jays are the home team due to the Canadian government's policy on COVID-19, which prevents them from playing in their home stadium in Canada. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON – SEPTEMBER 25: Danny Jansen #9 of the Toronto Blue Jays taps gloves with Reese McGuire #70 who helped him warm up the pitcher before the start of the next inning during MLB game action against the Houston Astros at Rogers Centre on September 25, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON – SEPTEMBER 25: Danny Jansen #9 of the Toronto Blue Jays taps gloves with Reese McGuire #70 who helped him warm up the pitcher before the start of the next inning during MLB game action against the Houston Astros at Rogers Centre on September 25, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /

Who to keep, and who to trade?

Last winter there were several rumours floating around that involved Blue Jay catchers. I’m not sure if there were any deals that got even remotely close, but it made sense that other organizations looked at the Jays and saw catchers that could be available, and would make their team better.

Most of us expected the 2020 campaign to be a battle between Danny Jansen and Reese McGuire for the long-term seat behind the plate in Toronto, but it turned out to be anything but. McGuire was brutal in just 19 games and eventually earned himself a demotion, earning a -0.5 bWAR rating. Jansen wasn’t a whole lot better, although he survived the season on the big league roster, but hit just .183 on the year.

That said, I think it’s fair to say that we can view Jansen as a clear stride ahead of McGuire when it come to long-term planning. In fact, with the emergence of Alejandro Kirk this year, the battle for playing time next year likely doesn’t even include McGuire as things sit right now.

My guess is the Blue Jays will be far more open to the idea of trading a catcher this off-season, and I wrote about just that here yesterday. I’m guessing that means that McGuire will be readily available, and assuming the return is appropriate then I expect that Atkins will trade at least one catcher this winter. I doubt that will be Jansen, and I’m all but certain it won’t be Kirk.

Every now and then these things kind of sort themselves out, and that appears to be the case in the battle between Jansen and McGuire.