Blue Jays: Let’s get crazy with five blockbuster ideas

Are the Rockies ready for a rebuild?

I don’t know if the Colorado Rockies are serious about entertaining offer for Nolan Arenado or not, but the chatter around the idea has been going for at least a year now.

If he were available, Arenado might be the best available player in baseball for the Blue Jays to pursue. He could slide into their vacant spot at third base and provide Gold Glove calibre defence (8x NL winner), and hit in the middle of their lineup. He’d be expensive at 35 million in 2021 and 199 million owing over the final seven years of his current deal, but he’s probably worth it. He does have an opportunity to opt out after the 2022 season, but who knows what the free agent landscape will look like by then. Our own Josh Pedvis also looked at the idea last month. 

As for a trade, here’s what I’ve come up with.

Blue Jays get: (-43.7)

• Nolan Arenado

Rockies get: (16.30)

• Gabriel Moreno
• T.J. Zeuch
• Kevin Smith

This is a rare case where I feel the trade simulator is way off, as it badly punishes Arenado for his expensive contract. It legitimately has his trade value rated as a -43.7, and that’s just not the reality, even with a very expensive and lengthy deal in place, and one that includes an opt out.

It’s hard to say what the Rockies would need to part with their superstar, but I’ve put together a package highlighted by Moreno, and a couple of lower level prospects. Zeuch is known for keeping the ball on the ground, which could be useful in Colorado, and Smith was once a highly rated prospect and could help fill some third base depth.

This one doesn’t feel all that likely, and it’s hard to gauge given Arenado’s value on there, but the Blue Jays would be fools not to explore the idea at the very least.