Toronto Blue Jays: Should the organization deal from their infield depth?

The Toronto Blue Jays possess one of the top-ranked farm systems in the MLB, and it may be time that the organization looks at dealing some prospect depth to improve the current roster.

The Toronto Blue Jays have been very active in the free-agent market, pursuing and checking in on top free agents such as George Springer, Trevor Bauer, and D.J. LeMahieu. The Blue Jays have also looked into trading for higher impact players such as Francisco Lindor, which may seem like a route that could bode well given the organization’s farm system (whether it be Lindor or another player).

As it sits right now, the Toronto Blue Jays top 30 prospects consist of 15 pitchers, 9 infielders, 3 catchers, and 3 outfielders. It makes sense that the Blue Jays have quite a few pitchers on the depth charts, but the organization does have a majority of their talent towards the infield/catching departments when compared to the outfield counterpart.

The current infield roster consists of a significant dose of farm developed talent, with Bo Bichette at shortstop, Cavan Biggio at second base/utility, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first base/third base. All of these players are guaranteed to be on the roster for the next 5-6 years given their current contract status, meaning that the Blue Jays have a bulk of young infield talent who might have nowhere to play if the organization keeps their young core plus any possible free agents additions over the next few years.

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This puts the Blue Jays in a spot where they could capitalize on infield prospect talent in order to improve the team in other areas.

The top infielders in the Blue Jays system are Austin Martin (SS), Jordon Groshans (SS), Orelvis Martinez (SS), and Miguel Hilrado (SS/2B), with both Martin and Groshans making the Top 100 prospect list in 2020 as per MLB Pipeline. Rounding out the Blue Jay’s top 30 infielders are Otto Lopez (SS/2B), Leonardo Jiminez (SS/2B), Estiven Machado (SS), Rikelvin De Castro (SS), and Kevin Smith (SS/3B). Looking at the list, there is a lot of overlap with players occupying shortstop as well as second base, with most players’ estimated time of arrival in the MLB being around the 2022/2023 seasons. It should be noted that the Blue Jays could lose Kevin Smith to the Rule 5 draft on December 10th, as he was left off the 40 man roster.

This brings us back to the possibility of potentially trading away some of this depth in order to fortify weaker areas on the current roster, especially given the prospect depth at the two positions and with Bichette currently occupying shortstop for the foreseeable future (barring a veteran free agent acquisition).

The Blue Jays could choose to trade a higher valued prospect like Martin (highly doubt due to being a recent draftee), Groshans, or Martinez in order to bring in a veteran infielder, outfielder, or starting pitcher, something the organization could use given the current active roster. This idea could gain some steam if the Blue Jays do bring in a few higher tier free agents this off-season, which could see Groshans or Martinez be dealt due to their higher potential/value if the team acquires an infielder like LeMahieu or Kolten Wong on a long term contract.

There will always be the associated risk with trading away a young prospect and having them blossom into an all-star caliber player, but having a boatload of prospects at one position doesn’t help solidify the current roster considering most of the players are ‘estimated to arrive’ in the MLB at around the same time.

Trading one or two away to acquire a veteran player who could help in the ‘now’, rather than down the line, could bode well for the Toronto Blue Jays given the team is gearing towards the end of the rebuild and could (and hopefully will) be knocking on the playoff doors again over the next few seasons.

Obviously, you wouldn’t Alex Anthopoulos the entire infield farm system and you wouldn’t be able to trade a 20-30 ranked prospect and snag an ace like Gerrit Cole 1 for 1, but utilizing some of this prospect depth for other areas on the current roster could give the slight push this team needs to be a more prominent contender in the upcoming playoffs rather than squeaking in as a wild card.

Should the Blue Jays trade from their infield depth to acquire a need for the team now or should they keep their farm system the way it is and build from within?