Blue Jays: Ranking the offseason checklist priorities

3- Outfield/Defence

On one hand, the Blue Jays are arguably already set with their outfield picture in 2021. They have a returning trio of Teoscar Hernandez, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and Randal Grichuk, and potential reserves like Jonathan Davis and maybe even Derek Fisher. They’re not a perfect group, but they got the the job done in 2020 for the most part.

That said, the Blue Jays have coveted a strong glove in centre field for a few years now, pretty much since the departure of Kevin Pillar. Grichuk has been an adequate choice up the middle, but adding an elite defensive outfielder to the mix could move the middle in a real way for the Blue Jays.

Of course, they’d likely have to make a trade from their current roster in order to make that work. That doesn’t necessarily mean that an outfielder would have to be traded, as they could give someone like Hernandez more regular at-bats as the designated hitter, but it would require some shuffling of the deck.

Alternatively, the Blue Jays could decide that the greater defensive need is in the infield. There have been shortstops connected to them in the rumour mill like Francisco Lindor, and Andrelton Simmons, but it will probably take a solid upgrade to move Bo Bichette off of shortstop.

There are a few solid options like George Springer and Jackie Bradley Jr. available on the free agent market, and the Jays have been rumoured to have some interest in the former, which makes sense. They’re at a stage where they need to improve in more specific ways, and while the Blue Jays have a decent outfield trio already, you can always get a little bit better.